# Switchtower problem - \`sysread': bignum too big to convert i

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-problem-sysread-bignum-too-big-to-convert-i/74398>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [December 22, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-problem-sysread-bignum-too-big-to-convert-i/74398 "2005-12-22T23:54:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pergesu)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2005, 11:54pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-problem-sysread-bignum-too-big-to-convert-i/74398/1 "2005-12-22T23:54:43Z")

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I’m trying to set up switchtower, following the info in the Manual,  
but am getting this error when I run “rake remote\_exec ACTION=setup”:

servers: [“[cantona.dnswatchdog.com](http://cantona.dnswatchdog.com)”]  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.0.3/lib/net/ssh/transport/packet-stream.rb:203:in  
`sysread': bignum too big to convert into `long’ (RangeError)  
from  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.0.3/lib/net/ssh/transport/packet-stream.rb:203:in  
`read' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.0.3/lib/net/ssh/transport/packet-stream.rb:167:in `get’  
from  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.0.3/lib/net/ssh/transport/packet-stream.rb:147:in  
`synchronize' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.0.3/lib/net/ssh/transport/packet-stream.rb:147:in `get’  
from  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/needle-1.2.1/lib/needle/lifecycle/proxy.rb:60:in  
` __send__' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/needle-1.2.1/lib/needle/lifecycle/proxy.rb:60:in `method\_missing’  
from  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.0.3/lib/net/ssh/transport/session.rb:245:in  
`wait_for_message' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/net-ssh-1.0.3/lib/net/ssh/transport/session.rb:240:in `loop’  
… 53 levels…  
from  
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/switchtower-0.9.0/lib/switchtower/cli.rb:7:in  
`execute!' from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/switchtower-0.9.0/bin/switchtower:11 from /usr/bin/switchtower:18:in `load’  
from /usr/bin/switchtower:18

Any clue what’s going on with this?

Pat

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pergesu)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 1:31am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-problem-sysread-bignum-too-big-to-convert-i/74398/2 "2005-12-23T01:31:11Z")

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I finally found something on google, and apparently it’s again a  
problem with Apple’s install of Ruby. I did a manual install and it  
works fine now.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pergesu)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 2:01am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-problem-sysread-bignum-too-big-to-convert-i/74398/3 "2005-12-23T02:01:19Z")

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Pat,

Do you know specifically what the problem with Apple’s ruby install  
was? I installed and ran the fixrbconfig gem but I still get the same  
error. I wasn’t aware of any other problems with Apple’s ruby  
install.

Also, how did you manually install ruby? Did you use DarwinPorts or  
Fink?

Thanks,  
Shane

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pergesu)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-problem-sysread-bignum-too-big-to-convert-i/74398/4 "2005-12-23T04:16:34Z")

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Yeah, Step 0 is what I did, though I didn’t use his script or  
darwinports/fink. Just downloaded the source from [ruby-lang.org](http://ruby-lang.org),  
built and installed it, then removed /usr/bin/ruby irb and ri. But  
it’s just the same thing as the suggestions in the step.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/22d042/32.png) [@pergesu](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pergesu)\
**Post date:** [December 23, 2005, 3:25am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/switchtower-problem-sysread-bignum-too-big-to-convert-i/74398/5 "2005-12-23T03:25:30Z")

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Step 0 at [http://nubyonrails.com/pages/shovel](http://nubyonrails.com/pages/shovel) fixed the problem.

Shane