Welcome to the Treehouse Community

Want to collaborate on code errors? Have bugs you need feedback on? Looking for an extra set of eyes on your latest project? Get support with fellow developers, designers, and programmers of all backgrounds and skill levels here with the Treehouse Community! While you're at it, check out some resources Treehouse students have shared here.

Looking to learn something new?

Treehouse offers a seven day free trial for new students. Get access to thousands of hours of content and join thousands of Treehouse students and alumni in the community today.

Start your free trial

CSS Compass Basics Getting Started with Compass Installing Compass

Angela Dimler
Angela Dimler
7,969 Points
Posted by Angela Dimler
Angela Dimler
7,969 Points

Help? When installing compass, I receive the following error: "ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension."

I'm struggling to install compass using terminal. I receive the following error message:

"ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension."

Any ideas out there?

Thanks!

Angela Dimler
Angela Dimler
7,969 Points
Angela Dimler
Angela Dimler
7,969 Points

Do I have to install it? I cannot for the life of me figure it out. Can I just use koala instead?

6 Answers

Jovanny Elias
Jovanny Elias
16,204 Points
Jovanny Elias
Jovanny Elias
16,204 Points

Hello, the same thing happened to me I found another forum that helped me solve the issue. Give it a read and it may help you out too.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/22544754/failed-to-build-gem-native-extension-installing-compass

Angela Dimler
Angela Dimler
7,969 Points
Angela Dimler
Angela Dimler
7,969 Points

Jovanny, thank you! I'm trying one of the solutions now.

Angela

Angela Dimler
Angela Dimler
7,969 Points
Angela Dimler
Angela Dimler
7,969 Points

I'm still not able to install compass and I feel like I've tried everything. Any one have any more ideas?

This is the error I receive:

"ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension."

Jovanny Elias
Jovanny Elias
16,204 Points
Jovanny Elias
Jovanny Elias
16,204 Points

Hi I am not sure as to what the error means. I tried doing some research on it and found this article that may solve your issue.

http://hire.chrisjlee.net/node/229

Jovanny Elias
Jovanny Elias
16,204 Points
Jovanny Elias
Jovanny Elias
16,204 Points

Also found another treehouse forum post that might help if you are using a Mac it may be that you need to first install Xcode.

https://teamtreehouse.com/forum/installing-compass-error

Julian Pinzón Eslava
Julian Pinzón Eslava
11,401 Points
Julian Pinzón Eslava
Julian Pinzón Eslava
11,401 Points

Hey guys! Did you manage to solve this issue? I'm downloading Xcode now to see if that works but if anything else worked, let me know please!

Marco Boretto
Marco Boretto
29,821 Points
Marco Boretto
Marco Boretto
29,821 Points

try this out:

sudo gem install -n /usr/local/bin compass