# Uninstalling RUBYGEMS

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uninstalling-rubygems/59269>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [May 3, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uninstalling-rubygems/59269 "2006-05-03T00:24:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![edlim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@edlim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/edlim)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 12:24am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uninstalling-rubygems/59269/1 "2006-05-03T00:24:13Z")

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Hi,

does anyone know how to uninstall rubygem?

I installed and it had the notorious hanging problem that no one seems  
to have an answer to.

So I am going to attempt to install Rails without gems.

Could someone point me in the right direction if you would not answer  
me? =)

Regards,  
Edmund

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**Author:** ![edlim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@edlim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/edlim)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uninstalling-rubygems/59269/2 "2006-05-03T19:05:17Z")

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What OS?

On 5/2/06, Edmund L. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> Could someone point me in the right direction if you would not answer  
> removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid  
> [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails)

–  
Ben R.  
303-947-0446  
[http://www.benr75.com](http://www.benr75.com)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![edlim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/e/91b2a8/32.png) [@edlim](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/edlim)\
**Post date:** [May 3, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/uninstalling-rubygems/59269/3 "2006-05-03T19:05:22Z")

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On May 2, 2006, at 4:24 PM, Edmund L. wrote:

> Could someone point me in the right direction if you would not answer  
> me? =)
> 
> Regards,  
> Edmund

If you installed rubygem with some sore of package management system, it  
probably provides for an uninstall capability. If not, here is one way  
to remove it.

1. Find out where ruby installs its libraries. If you don’t know where  
your libraries are located, you can execute the following command:

On my machine, this outputs:

```
 /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8
 /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/i386-freebsd5
 /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby
 /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8
 /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/i386-freebsd5
 .

```

1. Change into the /usr/local/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8 directory. In  
there  
you should find the following files that belong to rubygems:

You should also see the directory “rubygems”

Remove these files and the directory with the following commands:

```
 cd /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8
 rm -r gemconfigure.rb rubygems.rb ubygems.rb rubygems

```

1. In order to remove all the gems on your computer, remove the gems  
directory under /usr/local/lib/ruby with the following command:

If your ruby libraries are installed somewhere other than /usr/local/  
lib/ruby,  
make the appropriate changes to the above commands.

## Kim

Kim S. - principal, Shrier and Deihl - [mailto:removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)  
Remote Unix Network Admin, Security, Internet Software Development  
Tinker Internet Services - Superior FreeBSD-based Web Hosting  
[http://www.tinker.com/](http://www.tinker.com/)