Ruby on Rails: bundle fails… cannot gem install pg (not yet resolved - need help)

Question

Hi !

While building a simple Ruby on Rails app I ran into an error with the suggested command "bundle".

Fetching gem metadata from https://rubygems.org/.........
Fetching additional metadata from https://rubygems.org/..
Using rake (0.9.2.2)
Using i18n (0.6.0)
Using multi_json (1.3.6)
Using activesupport (3.2.6)
Using builder (3.0.0)
Using activemodel (3.2.6)
Using erubis (2.7.0)
Using journey (1.0.4)
Using rack (1.4.1)
Using rack-cache (1.2)
Using rack-test (0.6.1)
Using hike (1.2.1)
Using tilt (1.3.3)
Using sprockets (2.1.3)
Using actionpack (3.2.6)
Using mime-types (1.19)
Using polyglot (0.3.3)
Using treetop (1.4.10)
Using mail (2.4.4)
Using actionmailer (3.2.6)
Using arel (3.0.2)
Using tzinfo (0.3.33)
Using activerecord (3.2.6)
Using activeresource (3.2.6)
Using bcrypt-ruby (3.0.1)
Using coffee-script-source (1.3.3)
Using execjs (1.4.0)
Using coffee-script (2.2.0)
Using rack-ssl (1.3.2)
Using json (1.7.3)
Using rdoc (3.12)
Using thor (0.15.4)
Using railties (3.2.6)
Using coffee-rails (3.2.2)
Using orm_adapter (0.4.0)
Using warden (1.2.1)
Using devise (2.1.2)
Using request_store (1.0.5)
Using draper (1.0.0)
Using factory_girl (4.1.0)
Using factory_girl_rails (4.1.0)
Using jquery-rails (2.0.2)
Using bundler (1.5.2)
Using rails (3.2.6)
Using js-routes (0.8.5)

Gem::Ext::BuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/bin/ruby extconf.rb 
checking for pg_config... yes
Using config values from /usr/local/bin/pg_config
checking for libpq-fe.h... *** extconf.rb failed ***
Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of necessary
libraries and/or headers.  Check the mkmf.log file for more details.  You may
need configuration options.

Provided configuration options:
    --with-opt-dir
    --without-opt-dir
    --with-opt-include
    --without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include
    --with-opt-lib
    --without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib
    --with-make-prog
    --without-make-prog
    --srcdir=.
    --curdir
    --ruby=/Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/bin/ruby
    --with-pg
    --without-pg
    --with-pg-dir
    --without-pg-dir
    --with-pg-include
    --without-pg-include=${pg-dir}/include
    --with-pg-lib
    --without-pg-lib=${pg-dir}/lib
    --with-pg-config
    --without-pg-config
    --with-pg_config
    --without-pg_config
/Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:456:in `try_do': The compiler failed to generate an executable file. (RuntimeError)
You have to install development tools first.
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:587:in `try_cpp'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:1120:in `block in find_header'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:918:in `block in checking_for'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:351:in `block (2 levels) in postpone'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:321:in `open'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:351:in `block in postpone'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:321:in `open'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:347:in `postpone'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:917:in `checking_for'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:1119:in `find_header'
    from extconf.rb:41:in `<main>'

extconf failed, exit code 1

Gem files will remain installed in /Users/marc/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.0/gems/pg-0.14.0 for inspection.
Results logged to /Users/marc/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.0/extensions/x86_64-darwin-12/2.1.0-static/pg-0.14.0/gem_make.out
An error occurred while installing pg (0.14.0), and Bundler cannot continue.
Make sure that `gem install pg -v '0.14.0'` succeeds before bundling.

As the last lines of the output suggest I tried to do a "gem install pg" (did it with version 0.14, 0.17 and 0.17.1 all with the same results…

Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing pg:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for pg_config... yes
Using config values from /usr/local/bin/pg_config
*** extconf.rb failed ***
Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of necessary
libraries and/or headers.  Check the mkmf.log file for more details.  You may
need configuration options.

Provided configuration options:
    --with-opt-dir
    --without-opt-dir
    --with-opt-include
    --without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include
    --with-opt-lib
    --without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib
    --with-make-prog
    --without-make-prog
    --srcdir=.
    --curdir
    --ruby=/Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/bin/ruby
    --with-pg
    --without-pg
    --with-pg-config
    --without-pg-config
    --with-pg_config
    --without-pg_config
    --with-pg-dir
    --without-pg-dir
    --with-pg-include
    --without-pg-include=${pg-dir}/include
    --with-pg-lib
    --without-pg-lib=${pg-dir}/lib
/Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:456:in `try_do': The compiler failed to generate an executable file. (RuntimeError)
You have to install development tools first.
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:541:in `try_link0'
    from /Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib/ruby/2.1.0/mkmf.rb:556:in `try_link'
    from extconf.rb:39:in `<main>'

extconf failed, exit code 1

Gem files will remain installed in /Users/marc/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.0/gems/pg-0.17.1 for inspection.
Results logged to /Users/marc/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.0/extensions/x86_64-darwin-12/2.1.0-static/pg-0.17.1/gem_make.out

As the above result said that I would have to install Dev Tools first… I checked them in Xcode with the result that they are installed. Maybe make wasn't linked so I did a soft link from the developer tools make to /usr/bin/make

did not help either…

mkmf.log reports:

find_executable: checking for pg_config... -------------------- yes

--------------------

"/usr/bin/clang -o conftest -I/Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/include/ruby-2.1.0/x86_64-darwin12.0 -I/Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/include/ruby-2.1.0/ruby/backward -I/Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/include/ruby-2.1.0 -I. -I/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.3.2/include -D_XOPEN_SOURCE -D_DARWIN_C_SOURCE -D_DARWIN_UNLIMITED_SELECT -D_REENTRANT   -O3 -I/Users/mpapis/.sm/pkg/active/include -fPIC -mmacosx-version-min=10.6 -pipe conftest.c  -L. -L/Users/marc/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.0/lib -L/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.3.2/lib -L. -L/Users/mpapis/.sm/pkg/active/lib -L/usr/lib -fPIC -Bstatic -fstack-protector   -arch x86_64   -lruby-static -framework CoreFoundation  -lpthread -ldl -lobjc "
checked program was:
/* begin */
1: #include "ruby.h"
2: 
3: int main(int argc, char **argv)
4: {
5:   return 0;
6: }
/* end */

/Users/marc/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.0/gems/pg-0.17.0/ext/mkmf.log (END)

Any ideas?

Answer 1 · 2014-02-02T17:43:57Z

February 2, 2014 5:43pm

Hi Marc,

Welcome to the world of open source! :)

When I'm presented with these issues, I tend to pick a line and throw it out to the "Google Gods". In this case, I grabbed the following line because that is where I saw the first error.

checking for libpq-fe.h... *** extconf.rb failed ***

I found a link to stackoverflow with someone else having the same issue. As you grow and learn more and more, you will fall in love with StackOverflow! I have learned so much from there.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9668753/rails-3-cant-install-pg-gem

Now, I cannot guarantee that this is the solution, so please try it at your own discretion.

One quick question, are you using Homebrew? (http://brew.sh/)

If not, I cannot stress the importance of using it!

Let us know how it goes!

Answer 2 · 2014-02-02T20:07:47Z

February 2, 2014 8:07pm

Hi Nicholas,

thank you for your elaborate answer.

I all stack overflow articles that there are on stackoverflow regarding this topic and also tried this one. The article that you suggested really seamed a good idea to me - thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately also this one did not help. Same error again.

Yes I'm using brew. I used to use brew in parallel with ports which was not really the best idea :-) so I was fighting error messages all day within brew haha… :-) Now brew works as it should…

Nevertheless the error remains…

Will continue the lecture without bundle hoping that I'll get through without having to use it again… :-)

Thanks again Marc

Answer 3 · 2015-12-19T06:10:51Z

December 19, 2015 6:10am

This is an old thread but this may help others like me who ran into the same problem.

Running "brew install libpqxx" fixed it for me

Rod

Answer 4 · 2018-07-25T18:19:23Z

July 25, 2018 6:19pm

+1 to roddutra 's solution

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robberbaron

robberbaron

Ruby on Rails: bundle fails… cannot gem install pg (not yet resolved - need help)

4 Answers

Nick Fuller

Nick Fuller

robberbaron

robberbaron

roddutra

roddutra

Kevin Brunet

Kevin Brunet