# Trouble setting up debugger (ruby-debug in Rails 2.0)

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trouble-setting-up-debugger-ruby-debug-in-rails-2-0/124541>\
**Category:** Engines\
**Created:** [December 30, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trouble-setting-up-debugger-ruby-debug-in-rails-2-0/124541 "2007-12-30T01:12:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![donkeytastic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@donkeytastic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/donkeytastic)\
**Post date:** [December 30, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trouble-setting-up-debugger-ruby-debug-in-rails-2-0/124541/1 "2007-12-30T01:12:55Z")

</div>

So I’m a newbie, trying to get better with the testing and debugging.  
Upgraded to Rails 2.0 and decided to use the ruby-debug gem. Installed  
gem successfully…

> > gem install ruby-debug  
> > Successfully installed ruby-debug-0.10.0  
> > 1 gem installed  
> > Installing ri documentation for ruby-debug-0.10.0…  
> > Installing RDoc documentation for ruby-debug-0.10.0…

but when I run my app with the -u (–debugger) switch get the following  
message:

> > script\server -u  
> > =\> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)  
> > =\> Rails application starting on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
> > You need to install ruby-debug to run the server in debugging mode.  
> > With gems, use ‘gem install ruby-debug’

but as you can see, it is already installed?! Get same message when  
trying to use WEBrick as well as Mongrel.

I am running Rails 2.0.2 and Ruby 1.8.6 on Windows XP (sorry). Tried  
messing with a few versions of rubygems to fix this (0.9.4 and 0.9.5)  
and am currently using 1.0.1.

Any help?

Thanks!

Martyn.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![donkeytastic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@donkeytastic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/donkeytastic)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trouble-setting-up-debugger-ruby-debug-in-rails-2-0/124541/2 "2008-01-04T00:37:16Z")

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Hi Martyn,

The problem is that the error message is not clear. Here is a suggestion  
to modify base.rb to get a clearer message:

[http://dev.rubyonrails.org/ticket/10593](http://dev.rubyonrails.org/ticket/10593)

In my case, the problem was made immediately clear with the above fix,  
showing:

#\<Gem::LoadError: RubyGem version error: ruby-debug-base(0.9.3 not =  
0.10.0)\>

I had version issues. ruby-debug was version 0.10.0 and ruby-debug-base  
was 0.9.3. Because I couldn’t upgrade ruby-debug-base to 0.10.0, I  
downgraded ruby-debug to 0.9.3 with the following commands:

gem install ruby-debug -v 0.9.3  
gem uninstall ruby-debug -v 0.10.0

and problem went away!

Hope this helps,

```
Andres Montano
http://www.gaugeus.com/ramblings

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![donkeytastic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@donkeytastic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/donkeytastic)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/trouble-setting-up-debugger-ruby-debug-in-rails-2-0/124541/3 "2008-02-06T03:58:44Z")

</div>

I not sure if this helps, but I was unable to gem install ruby-debug  
(0.10.0) on windows because it was trying to build a native extension. I  
posted the resolution at my blog at  
[Amitava's Technical Diary: gem install ruby-debug fails in windows](http://amitava1.blogspot.com/2008/02/gem-install-ruby-debug-fails-in-windows.html).

Amitava

Martyn Hill wrote:

> So I’m a newbie, trying to get better with the testing and debugging.  
> Upgraded to Rails 2.0 and decided to use the ruby-debug gem. Installed  
> gem successfully…
> 
> > > gem install ruby-debug  
> > > Successfully installed ruby-debug-0.10.0  
> > > 1 gem installed  
> > > Installing ri documentation for ruby-debug-0.10.0…  
> > > Installing RDoc documentation for ruby-debug-0.10.0…
> 
> but when I run my app with the -u (–debugger) switch get the following  
> message:
> 
> > > script\server -u  
> > > =\> Booting Mongrel (use ‘script/server webrick’ to force WEBrick)  
> > > =\> Rails application starting on [http://0.0.0.0:3000](http://0.0.0.0:3000)  
> > > You need to install ruby-debug to run the server in debugging mode.  
> > > With gems, use ‘gem install ruby-debug’
> 
> but as you can see, it is already installed?! Get same message when  
> trying to use WEBrick as well as Mongrel.
> 
> I am running Rails 2.0.2 and Ruby 1.8.6 on Windows XP (sorry). Tried  
> messing with a few versions of rubygems to fix this (0.9.4 and 0.9.5)  
> and am currently using 1.0.1.
> 
> Any help?
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Martyn.