Undefined method `empty?' for nil:NilClass in gem build

I’m trying to build a rubygem, but I keep getting the following error.
Can anybody help?

$ gem build wordnet.gemspec
ERROR: While executing gem … (NoMethodError)
undefined method `empty?’ for nil:NilClass

$ cat wordnet.gemspec
Gem::Specification.new do |s|
s.name=“WordNet”
s.author=“Ken B.”
s.email=“[email protected]
s.version=“1.0.1”
s.summary=“A binding to the WordNet C library”
s.require_path=“ext”

#disabled because it spews lots of errors
#but the generated rdoc isn’t useful in the least
s.has_rdoc=false

s.files += Dir[“ext/*”]
s.extensions << “ext/extconf.rb”
end

$ gem environment
RubyGems Environment:

  • RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.3.2
  • RUBY VERSION: 1.8.7 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 72) [x86_64-linux]
  • INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /var/lib/gems/1.8
  • RUBY EXECUTABLE: /usr/bin/ruby1.8
  • EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin
  • RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
    • ruby
    • x86_64-linux
  • GEM PATHS:
    • /var/lib/gems/1.8
    • /home/bloom/.gem/ruby/1.8
  • GEM CONFIGURATION:
    • :update_sources => true
    • :verbose => true
    • :benchmark => false
    • :backtrace => false
    • :bulk_threshold => 1000
  • REMOTE SOURCES:

On May 20, 2009, at 10:08, Ken B. wrote:

s.author=“Ken B.”
s.email=“[email protected]
s.version=“1.0.1”
s.summary=“A binding to the WordNet C library”
s.require_path=“ext”

#disabled because it spews lots of errors
#but the generated rdoc isn’t useful in the least
s.has_rdoc=false

Note that RDoc 1.3.3 ignores this setting and always generates RDoc.

DON’T be lazy, document your code! (You may want to install RDoc 2 if
you’re getting warnings)

s.files += Dir[“ext/*”]
s.extensions << “ext/extconf.rb”
end

$ gem environment
RubyGems Environment:

  • RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.3.2

Maybe there’s a bug in 1.3.2, try upgrading:

$ touch ext/extconf.rb

NOTE: DON’T be lazy, do it right! You forgot to specify all these
things. Filling them in is in the best interests of everyone.

$ gem build wordnet.gemspec
WARNING: no description specified
WARNING: no homepage specified
WARNING: no rubyforge_project specified
Successfully built RubyGem
Name: WordNet
Version: 1.0.1
File: WordNet-1.0.1.gem
$ gem env version
1.3.3

On May 20, 2009, at 18:08, Ken B. wrote:

NOTE: DON’T be lazy, do it right! You forgot to specify all these
$ gem env version
1.3.3

It was the missing homepage field.

But failure to specify a homepage or rubyforge_project shouldn’t be
considered lazy, when some projects don’t have one becuase they’re not
released yet,

That’s why you only get a warning.

or (for the rubyforge_probject) when they’re released
somehere other than Rubyforge, such as GitHub.

If a gem doesn’t show up in gem list -r using RubyGems’ default
sources it’s not released.

On Thu, 21 May 2009 04:11:27 +0900, Eric H. wrote:

On May 20, 2009, at 10:08, Ken B. wrote:

I’m trying to build a rubygem, but I keep getting the following error.
Can anybody help?

$ gem build wordnet.gemspec
ERROR: While executing gem … (NoMethodError)
undefined method `empty?’ for nil:NilClass

File: WordNet-1.0.1.gem
$ gem env version
1.3.3

It was the missing homepage field.

But failure to specify a homepage or rubyforge_project shouldn’t be
considered lazy, when some projects don’t have one becuase they’re not
released yet, or (for the rubyforge_probject) when they’re released
somehere other than Rubyforge, such as GitHub.

–Ken