Ubuntu rails install fails on zlib

Question

I\'ve just moved over to Ubuntu 8.10 as my dev box; it\'s my first serious foray into Linux as a daily-use OS, and I\'m having a hard time getting Rails going. I have follo

Answer 1

On Debian (Squeeze):

libruby contains zlib for ruby amongst all the other stuff you'll need to make ruby work properly on Debian. So...

apt-get install libruby

Then...

cd /usr/local/src/ruby
make clean
make
make install
cd ../rubygems
ruby setup.rb
gem install rails

This made it work for me, but your mileage may vary. I did to a slight shotgun approach to zlib before finding that everything needed was covered by libruby.

Answer 2

When running Rails I would not recommend using Ruby 1.8.8dev. Stick with 1.8.6, preferably the Ruby Enterprise Edition. See this post on RailsLab what other people are using.

If you insist on going hi-tech, install Ruby 1.9.1.

But in both cases build it yourself or use Marans suggestion.

Answer 3

I am using Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid), i wanted to install ruby 1.9.2 because 1.9.1 is not recommended with Rails. So I downloaded the source for 1.9.2 and unzipped/unarchived it. my source distro is ruby-1.9.2-p0. After I unpacked it, I built zlib as follows:

cd ruby-1.9.2-p0/ext/zlib
ruby extconf.rb
make
sudo make install
sudo gem install rails

that fixed the problem. This is similar to what other people posted above, but not exactly, so I figured I may as well post exactly what I did to get it going.

Answer 4

I have the same problem in CentOS and fix it by executing the following command:

First, I ensure that zlib and zlib-devel exist (like many suggested above).

yum install zlib zlib-devel

Second, I recompiled and installed the sources of zlib that comes with ruby.

cd /home/myname/installers/ruby-1.8.7-p174/ext/zlib/
ruby extconf.rb --with-zlib-include=/usr/include --with-zlib-lib=/usr/lib
make
make install

That commands seem to fix the problem, then I execute gem update --system and the error with zlib vanished. Then I install rails with gem install rails. Note to mention I had installed gem before, and after recompile and install zlib, I don't recompile neither install gem (actually I don't knew how uninstall it because I don't found a script to do that)

That works for me...hope to you to.

Regards.

Answer 5

try

aptitude install zlib1g-dev

Then go about your business.

Answer 6

rvm package install zlib
rvm remove 1.9.1
rvm install 1.9.1

That did it. After numerous wild goose chases, I'm glad I found this page.