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Passing build options to bundler

When you have to pass build options to Bundler, bundler-config solves the problem very easily.

Andrei Kaleshka
Andrei Kaleshka · 2 min read

Problem

Have you ever had an exception while installing gems through Bundler, like the one below?

Installing mysql2 (0.3.11) with native extensions
Gem::Installer::ExtensionBuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

        /usr/local/Cellar/rbenv/0.3.0/versions/1.9.3-p0/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for rb_thread_blocking_region()... yes
checking for rb_wait_for_single_fd()... yes
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lm... yes
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lz... yes
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lsocket... no
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lnsl... no
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lmygcc... no
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
*** 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=/usr/local/Cellar/rbenv/0.3.0/versions/1.9.3-p0/bin/ruby
  --with-mysql-config
  --without-mysql-config
  --with-mysql-dir
  --without-mysql-dir
  --with-mysql-include
  --without-mysql-include=${mysql-dir}/include
  --with-mysql-lib
  --without-mysql-lib=${mysql-dir}/lib
  --with-mysqlclientlib
  --without-mysqlclientlib
  --with-mlib
  --without-mlib
  --with-mysqlclientlib
  --without-mysqlclientlib
  --with-zlib
  --without-zlib
  --with-mysqlclientlib
  --without-mysqlclientlib
  --with-socketlib
  --without-socketlib
  --with-mysqlclientlib
  --without-mysqlclientlib
  --with-nsllib
  --without-nsllib
  --with-mysqlclientlib
  --without-mysqlclientlib
  --with-mygcclib
  --without-mygcclib
  --with-mysqlclientlib
  --without-mysqlclientlib


Gem files will remain installed in /usr/local/Cellar/rbenv/0.3.0/versions/1.9.3-p0/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/mysql2-0.3.11 for inspection.
Results logged to /usr/local/Cellar/rbenv/0.3.0/versions/1.9.3-p0/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/mysql2-0.3.11/ext/mysql2/gem_make.out
An error occured while installing mysql2 (0.3.11), and Bundler cannot continue.
Make sure that `gem install mysql2 -v '0.3.11'` succeeds before bundling.

The problem is solved by passing build options for this gem:

$ gem install mysql -v '0.3.10' -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.5.20/bin/mysql_config

But this solution is ugly because you have to install problematic gems independently of Bundler, and if you have a lot of Ruby versions in your operating system, you will have to do it for each Ruby version. But there is another solution, much better than this one.

Solution

Just type in the terminal:

bundle config build.mysql2  --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.5.20/bin/mysql_config

And now you are able to install gems through bundler without issues:

bundler install

That’s it — you have installed all the gems for your project. The full documentation is located here.

rubybundlergems

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