Ruby on Rails and Rake problems: uninitialized constant Rake::DSL

Question

I'm having a really frustrating issue: Rake is being dumb.

Here's how the problem comes about:

$ rails new test_app
$ rails generate scaffold new_scaffold field1:string field2:text

Both of those work just fine, but then when I do this,

$ rake db:migrate

I get the following error.

(in /home/mikhail/test_app)
rake aborted!
uninitialized constant Rake::DSL
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake.rb:2482:in `const_missing'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.0/lib/rake/tasklib.rb:8:in `<class:TaskLib>'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.0/lib/rake/tasklib.rb:6:in `<module:Rake>'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.0/lib/rake/tasklib.rb:3:in `<top (required)>'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.0/lib/rake/rdoctask.rb:20:in `require'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.0/lib/rake/rdoctask.rb:20:in `<top (required)>'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/tasks/documentation.rake:1:in `require'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/tasks/documentation.rake:1:in `<top (required)>'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/tasks.rb:15:in `load'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/tasks.rb:15:in `block in <top (required)>'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/tasks.rb:6:in `each'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/tasks.rb:6:in `<top (required)>'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/application.rb:214:in `require'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/application.rb:214:in `initialize_tasks'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/application.rb:139:in `load_tasks'
/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/railties-3.0.7/lib/rails/application.rb:77:in `method_missing'
/home/mikhail/test_app/Rakefile:7:in `<top (required)>'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake.rb:2373:in `load'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake.rb:2373:in `raw_load_rakefile'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake.rb:2007:in `block in load_rakefile'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake.rb:2058:in `standard_exception_handling'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake.rb:2006:in `load_rakefile'
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rake.rb:1991:in `run'
/usr/bin/rake:31:in `<main>'

I've looked about the Internet for similar/same errors, and people have had them. Just no one ever seems to solve the problem!

How do I fix this problem?

score 193 · Accepted Answer · answered May 22 '11 at 04:11

193

A tweet from DHH earlier. Rake .9.0 breaks Rails and several other things, you need to:

gem "rake", "0.8.7"

in your Gemfile.

answered May 22 '11 at 04:11

Caley Woods

4,707
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17

This worked for me. I needed to do `bundle update rake` first. Then I checked with `bundle show rake`. It should say 0.8.7. Then `rake db:migrate`. – B Seven May 23 '11 at 01:25
26

Or even better: `gem "rake", "!= 0.9.0"`. This avoids the broken 0.9.0 release, but will update to newer once a fresher release is published (removing this later won't hurt, but keeping it shouldn't hurt either). – Spiralis May 24 '11 at 00:59
I ran into this issue during chapter 2 of the rails tutorial (demo_app). Specifically, while running `heroku rake db:migrate`. This fixed the problem. – dharmatech Jul 12 '11 at 07:25
6

@Spiralis I also ran into the issue with version 0.9.2. So you may have to add that line for a few versions. – dharmatech Jul 12 '11 at 08:02
@dharmatech Yes. I just noticed myself. Pretty annoying... :( – Spiralis Jul 19 '11 at 21:37
Likewise. It is odd that Rails.rc4 is defaulting to rake 0.9.x with this issue. – Micah Alcorn Jul 25 '11 at 20:38
3

this solution **worked** work for me. Like @dharmatech, I have this issue come up in `heroku rake db:migrate` and this seemed to fix it. remember to add and commit these changes to git before proceeding ;) – pruett Jul 26 '11 at 21:25
Worked for me. If you get the message, "The bundle currently has rake locked at 0.9.2.2.", just run "bundle update rake" and you'll be good to go afterwards. – NudeCanalTroll Dec 10 '11 at 08:15
This also helps when you're getting this error when you run the annotate error. – Jasper Kennis Jan 04 '12 at 20:29
hi, I am new to rubygems, where is the gemfile located on ubuntu 11.04? – Michael Z Jan 05 '12 at 10:07
1

This may work for Rails, but I also had to do `sudo gem install rake` to make sure that the `rake` version I was calling from the command line was not 0.8.7. – Translunar Mar 14 '12 at 18:07
doesn't work. ERROR: "While executing gem ... (RuntimeError) Unknown command rake" – KMC Sep 19 '12 at 10:35
@KMC you have bigger issues if you can't get RAKE to run. – Caley Woods Sep 19 '12 at 13:48

score 72 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 30 '11 at 14:31

72

I made some research just after my previous answer (sorry, I must do before it).

All problems are solved with Rake gem 0.9.2.. I followed these steps:

I installed gem install rake -v=0.9.2 (I had the 0.9.1 gem)
removed the 0.9.1 with gem uninstall rake -v=0.9.1
updated with bundle update
then the db:migrate showed a warning, WARNING: Global access to Rake DSL methods is deprecated. Please....

It was solved by adding the following to the Rake file.
```
module ::YourApplicationName  
  class Application
    include Rake::DSL
  end
end
```
I ommited the module ::RakeFileUtils extend Rake::FileUtilsExtend option sugested by @databyte.

It means that the Rake gem 0.9.2 works fine!

edited Jul 30 '11 at 14:31

Peter Mortensen

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answered Jun 08 '11 at 00:17

Arrumaco

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2

Followed the first three steps and I got no warning so didn't bother with the rest, Thanks for the suggestion! – Abe Petrillo Jun 26 '11 at 21:26
1

This begs me to ask... Why should I hack Rake to retain that feature? What is Rake trying to do, and what should I use now? – Ryanmt Jul 21 '11 at 00:38
@Arrumaco, What is the directory for the Rake file? – Ctak Jul 31 '11 at 04:57
It;s worth noting that the addition to the `RakeFile` should be before `require 'rake'` - caught me out :) – Ciaran Archer Aug 06 '11 at 22:19
I was still struggling with 0.9.2 but 0.9.3beta1 got me going. https://github.com/jimweirich/rake – Martin Carpenter Aug 15 '11 at 15:55
12

same issue, but I already had rake (0.9.2, 0.8.7). Re-installing 0.9.2 seems to fix the problem though: 1) `gem uninstall rake -v=0.9.2` 2) `gem install rake -v=0.9.2` – DK. Aug 18 '11 at 01:16
@DK : Your comment is the only thing that worked. It was driving me nuts. You won't believe how many sequence of steps I followed without any results.. all i had to do was uninstall reinstall, ANY IDEA WHY THIS IS NECESSARY? is it because im using windows, and installed rails using my rubymine ide?? – Zasz Aug 28 '11 at 09:45
C:\>rake db:migrate ----------NEW LINE-------------------------- rake aborted! undefined method `static_root=' for # – Arcolye Aug 31 '11 at 10:42

score 54 · Answer 3 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

54

Going through Chapter 2 of Railstutorial (demo_app) and ran into this problem. I tried all of the other answers listed here, but couldn't get it to work until I did this:

Put this in your Rakefile above require 'rake':

require 'rake/dsl_definition'

via How to fix the uninitialized constant Rake::DSL problem on Heroku?

I also recommitted and pushed all files to Github and Heroku.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

1
1

answered Jul 13 '11 at 22:52

djblue2009

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This seems like the best answer since downgrading from 0.9.2 to 0.8.7 would break some gem dependencies depending on each case, such as mine :) Thanks! – DiegoSalazar Oct 18 '11 at 15:51
It doesn't work for me. I get "no such file to load -- rake/dsl_definition" when doing rake db:create – KMC Sep 20 '12 at 03:20

score 25 · Answer 4 · answered Jul 04 '11 at 23:14

25

All I needed to do was use:

gem install rake

I had version 0.9.2 already, just needed installing.

answered Jul 04 '11 at 23:14

Branstar

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wow it worked for me. But could you explain why I have to install rake while I rake should be there already? – KMC Sep 20 '12 at 03:22
I'm not really an expert still, but my understanding is that there is a difference between 'installing' gems onto your PC and 'installing' them in a gem registry - I suspect this is because the Ruby installation needs to know which gems are where on your PC. Perhaps this is something that could be automated in future, or is already automated in certain Ruby distributions... – Branstar Oct 01 '12 at 14:34

score 19 · Answer 5 · answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:38

19

Reinstall the rake gem and it should work fine:

gem uninstall rake -v=0.9.2 
gem install rake -v=0.9.2

If not, specify version '0.8.7' in your Gemfile.

answered Sep 11 '11 at 19:38

hohner

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this approach worked for me and I preferred not having to downgrade the version.. – Tarnschaf Sep 13 '11 at 23:31
Worked for me as well, only for rake -v 0.9.2.2 – Haspemulator Jan 01 '12 at 18:59

score 10 · Answer 6 · answered May 23 '11 at 08:17

10

If not using Bundler:

sudo gem install rake -v 0.8.7
sudo gem uninstall rake

Then choose to uninstall 0.9.0.

answered May 23 '11 at 08:17

Travis Reeder

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87

this fixed it for me without bundler (rails 2.3.8). Had tried to install rake 0.9.2 but that didn't fix it. Installing 0.8.7 and uninstalling 0.9.2 was what finally worked for me. – Michael Durrant Sep 07 '11 at 00:48

score 8 · Answer 7 · answered May 18 '12 at 17:28

8

If like me you're stuck on rake 0.8.7, and you're using Rails 3.2.x then railties adds a requirement for Rake::DSL

To solve this, to the top of your Rakefile you should add:

module Rake
  module DSL
  end
end

answered May 18 '12 at 17:28

Jonathon Horsman

2,303
1
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18

score 7 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 10 '11 at 05:13

7

I solved the same problem with the following steps:

In Gemfile:

gem 'rake', '0.9.2'

Then ran this on the console:

sudo bundle update rake

Then added the following lines to Rakefile:

require 'rake/dsl_definition'
include Rake::DSL

answered Aug 10 '11 at 05:13

Gaurav Gupta

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score 6 · Answer 9 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

6

Rails 3.1.rc1 has been updated. For your own Rakefiles, you can add this before the call to load_tasks.

module ::YourApplicationName
  class Application
    include Rake::DSL
  end
end

module ::RakeFileUtils
  extend Rake::FileUtilsExt
end

https://gist.github.com/4cd2bbe68f98f2f0249f

UPDATE: Also noticed it's already answered here as well: Undefined method 'task' using Rake 0.9.0

edited May 23 '17 at 12:25

Community

1
1

answered May 22 '11 at 09:17

databyte

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10
7

score 4 · Answer 10 · answered May 22 '11 at 04:04

4

I had the same issue and had to use the rake 0.8.7 gem instead of 0.9.0.

answered May 22 '11 at 04:04

Paul

41
1

score 4 · Answer 11 · edited Jul 30 '11 at 14:37

4

I am a Windows XP user and I had the same problem.

I entered gem "rake", "0.8.7" into the gemfile, and then typed the following from the command window.

bundle update rake

This fixed my problem.

edited Jul 30 '11 at 14:37

Peter Mortensen

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answered May 24 '11 at 17:44

Mr. Beginner

41
1

worked for me too, as of today. just trying to code rails on Win7. – arscariosus Jun 22 '11 at 09:51

ka8725 · Answer 12 · 2012-02-15T14:11:20.323

4

Go to your project path
Type bundle install --path=vendor/bundle
Type bundle exec rake db:migrate

To start server type bundle exec rails s. Use bundle exec and you will be sure that you use right gems (required version) for your project. Also I would recommend you to add vendor/bundle to .gitignore if you use git and make alias for bundle exec. If you use zsh you can follow this approach

edited Feb 15 '12 at 14:11

answered Feb 15 '12 at 14:03

ka8725

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score 3 · Answer 13 · edited Jul 30 '11 at 14:39

Same as Branstar above - thanks Branstar!

OS: Windows Vista
Level: Completely new to Ruby on Rails
I already had Ruby 1.9.2 installed

I followed the instructions in Running Rails 3 on Windows.

All worked up until the "rake db:migrate" part which gave me the same output as original post.

I ran:

gem install rake

I ran again:

rake db:migrate

Then I was able to start the Ruby on Rails server and had everything in place.

Thanks again Branstar :-)

score 2 · Answer 14 · answered Jul 04 '12 at 14:53

2

I had the same issue using Rake 0.9.2.2. I solved this problem by using bundle exec.

answered Jul 04 '12 at 14:53

Sean Kibler

21
1

score 2 · Answer 15 · edited Jul 30 '11 at 14:42

I feel for you (mikhailvs), it's really frustrating. I have been going crazy for almost one full day. I even uninstalled Ruby and all its dependent files and shutdown my PC, but I still got the same problem.

What I got from the error message is the problem with Rake 0.9.2. It seems like it wasn’t fully installed. So I had to reinstall gem install rake -v=0.9.2

I wasn’t sure if I have rake –v0.9.1 installed. So to make sure I’m safe I tried to remove that old version with gem uninstall rake -v=0.9.1. But is showed me the error message

ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Gem::InstallError)
    cannot uninstall, check `gem list -d rake`

OK, so I checked all Rake directories on my PC, and found I only had Rake 0.9.2. Then to check if everything went alright, I migrated with rake db:migrate. And it worked :)

I think I didn’t have Rake 0.9.1 because I clean-installed Ruby (rubyinstaller-1.9.2-p180 - on my Windows 7 system) and all gems as well. In the meantime Rake 0.9.2 wasn’t fully installed.

score 2 · Answer 16 · answered Sep 25 '11 at 22:50

2

Uninstalling with "gem uninstall rake" worked for me, I had 2 versions installed, so I jest did a clean reinstall.

"rake db:create", to make sure the database exists and then "rake db:migrate" to seal the deal.

answered Sep 25 '11 at 22:50

Christopher

21
1

score 0 · Answer 17 · answered Jan 24 '13 at 05:58

0

For Rails 2.3 editing lib/tasks/rspec.rake like in this commit worked for me:

https://github.com/dchelimsky/rspec-rails/pull/11/files

answered Jan 24 '13 at 05:58

guapolo

2,443
2
20
19

score 0 · Answer 18 · answered Feb 25 '13 at 09:04

0

Install rake 0.8.7 and uninstall 0.9.2.2

$ gem install rake -v 0.8.7
$ gem uninstall rake -v 0.9.2.2

Now use

$ bundle exec rake db:migrate

i think this will help you ;)

answered Feb 25 '13 at 09:04

Anuj

1,737
3
16
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score 0 · Answer 19 · edited Dec 19 '14 at 16:20

0

Run

bundle exec rake db:migrate

it works for me.

edited Dec 19 '14 at 16:20

Giacomo1968

25,759
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answered Feb 18 '14 at 13:29

Ruby on Rails and Rake problems: uninitialized constant Rake::DSL

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