# WxRuby installation solution for Ubuntu 9.10

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/wxruby-installation-solution-for-ubuntu-9-10/179134>\
**Category:** wxRuby\
**Created:** [November 18, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/wxruby-installation-solution-for-ubuntu-9-10/179134 "2009-11-18T07:10:34Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pnomolos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/85f322/32.png) [@pnomolos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pnomolos)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/wxruby-installation-solution-for-ubuntu-9-10/179134/1 "2009-11-18T07:10:34Z")

</div>

Hi  
Chauk-Mean P.

The wxruby Linux gem has been built with/for Ubuntu 9.04.  
A different C++ compiler version is shipped with Ubuntu 9.10 (g++  
4.4.1).  
So the gem is not compatible with Ubuntu 9.10.

We may provide a Ubuntu-9.10 binary gem in the future but in the  
meantime you have to build wxRuby yourself.

> I’ve tried to compile wxRuby from scratch but no luck.? What do I need to  
> do?

# I’ve added detailed steps to do that in the Wiki : [http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl?BuildingOnTopOfLinuxDistroPackages](http://wxruby.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl?BuildingOnTopOfLinuxDistroPackages)

Thank you for your assistance. However I still failed to get wxruby  
working after I followed your instructions.  
Below is a partial listing of my attempt to get wxruby working.

xxx:~$ g++ --version  
g++ (Ubuntu 4.4.1-4ubuntu8) 4.4.1

xxx:~/Downloads$ ls  
ruby-1.9.1-p243 swig-1.3.38 wxruby-2.0.1

xxx:~/Downloads$ xxx:~/Downloads/wxruby-2.0.1$ ls  
art INSTALL obj README swig  
ChangeLog lib rake samples tests  
doc LICENSE rakefile src wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux.gem  
xxx:~/Downloads/wxruby-2.0.1$

xxx:~/Downloads/wxruby-2.0.1$ sudo gem install  
wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux.gem  
[sudo] password for philip:  
Successfully installed wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux  
1 gem installed  
Installing ri documentation for wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux…  
Updating class cache with 68 classes…  
Installing RDoc documentation for wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux…  
xxx:~/Downloads/wxruby-2.0.1$

xxx:~/Desktop/Eyes$ cat wxminimal.rb

#!/usr/bin/env ruby  
require ‘rubygems’  
require ‘wx’

class MyApp \< Wx::App  
def on\_init  
@frame = Wx::Frame.new(nil -1, “Application” )  
@frame.show  
end  
end

app = MyApp.new  
app.main\_loop

xxx:~/Desktop/Eyes$ ruby wxminimal.rb  
wxminimal.rb:3:in `require': no such file to load -- wx (LoadError) from wxminimal.rb:3:in `’

xxx:~/Desktop/Eyes$ ruby --version  
ruby 1.9.1p243 (2009-07-16 revision 24175) [i686-linux]

At one time, sudo gem install failed when I tried to install the gem  
file but succeeded when I didn’t use sudo.  
So I installed rubygems 1.9.1 and then the sudo install gem -l …  
command worked. However when I tried the  
minimal test program shown above I get the shown error message.  
Another thing I should mention for people who  
start from a clean system is after you edit the .bashrc file you  
should close the terminal and re-open it to allow  
the path variables to take effect.

I hope you can help me. What other info do you require?

Philip

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pnomolos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/85f322/32.png) [@pnomolos](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/pnomolos)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2009, 8:36am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/wxruby-installation-solution-for-ubuntu-9-10/179134/2 "2009-11-18T08:36:00Z")

</div>

Hi Philip,

2009/11/18 Philip S. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> Thank you for your assistance. However I still failed to get wxruby working  
> after I followed your instructions.

I forgot to indicate a little step :  
add the following line to your .bashrc (replace the path with your  
home directory)

export GEM\_HOME=/home/your\_home/gems

This will allow the installation of rubygems somewhere in your home  
directory thus without requiring a sudo.

> xxx:~/Downloads/wxruby-2.0.1$ sudo gem install  
> wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux.gem

Be sure to add -l to the gem command to install the local gem.  
Otherwise gem will install the version from rubyforge which is not the  
good one.  
Also, when you do a sudo command, the environment changes so you  
probably use the gem command shipped with Ubuntu and not the one you  
built yourself (the one that is in /opt/bin).

> [sudo] password for philip:  
> Successfully installed wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux  
> 1 gem installed  
> Installing ri documentation for wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux…  
> Updating class cache with 68 classes…  
> Installing RDoc documentation for wxruby-ruby19-2.0.1-x86-linux…

The wrong wxRuby gem has been installed for the wrong ruby/gem 🙂

With the GEM\_HOME env parameter above set, just do the following  
command in your wxruby source directory :  
gem install -l wxruby-ruby19

Afterwards, some final checks :  
type gem # =\> /opt/bin/gem  
type ruby # =\> /opt/bin/ruby  
gem list # =\> should list wxruby-ruby19

Then you should be able to run the samples.

Cheers.  
Chauk-Mean.