Ruby Gems returns "command not found"

Question

Ubuntu 9.10

Just installed newgem

gem install newgem

and when i try

newgem new_project

I get

adam@adam-ubuntu:~$ newgem newproject
newgem: command not found

Ive checked my path via echo $PATH

adam@adam-ubuntu:~$ echo $PATH
/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/home/adam/.gem

and my gem enviroment

adam@adam-ubuntu:~$ gem environment
RubyGems Environment:
  - RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.3.6
  - RUBY VERSION: 1.8.7 (2009-06-12 patchlevel 174) [x86_64-linux]
  - INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
  - RUBY EXECUTABLE: /usr/bin/ruby1.8
  - EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /usr/bin
  - RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
    - ruby
    - x86_64-linux
  - GEM PATHS:
     - /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8
     - /home/adam/.gem/ruby/1.8
  - GEM CONFIGURATION:
     - :update_sources => true
     - :verbose => true
     - :benchmark => false
     - :backtrace => false
     - :bulk_threshold => 1000
  - REMOTE SOURCES:
     - http://rubygems.org/

Im not hot with paths etc but all the gem directories listed above are on the path so how come it cant find the command?

rubiii · Accepted Answer · 2010-09-23T20:02:55.797

36

Your $PATH variable needs to include the exact path to your Ruby's bin directory. Adding a directory to the PATH does not include it's subfolders. Try adding the bin directory via:

export PATH=$PATH:/home/adam/.gem/ruby/1.8/bin

or if you installed the gem using sudo:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/bin

You might want to add this to your .bashrc file, so that you don't have to set this manually every time your open up a new bash.

edited Sep 23 '10 at 20:02

answered Mar 06 '10 at 13:53

rubiii

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ahh i was presuming that if i added /adam/.gem/ to the path then its subdirectories would automatically searched as well. dumb of me. thanks for that – robodisco Mar 06 '10 at 14:58
5

Note that on some versions of Ubuntu, the 1.8 gem bin path can be found at */var/lib/gems/1.8/bin*. This command is also handy for adding the sudo path to your bash profile *echo -e '\nexport PATH=$PATH:/var/lib/gems/1.8/bin' >>~/.bashrc* – jdev Mar 13 '12 at 20:28
2

You can find the exact patch by running "gem environment". The EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY is the line you need. – John Franklin Jun 25 '12 at 20:15

score 11 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 03 '17 at 14:32

11

(Just stealing @John Franklin's comment)

$ gem environment

Will tell you the EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY. Then put whatever that value is in your PATH like so (in your .bashrc or other shell config file).

export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/bin"

Reload your shell and you should then be able to use the installed gem.

answered Apr 03 '17 at 14:32

Niels Bom

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2

At last! Thank you for your theft :) – Uriel Frankel May 13 '20 at 17:50

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 09 '13 at 02:48

3

If you use RVM (most do), then it will take care of this for you. In fact putting it in your path directly may conflict. You have to set a ruby to use though. Run one of these on the command line.

rvm use 1.9.3

or

rvm use --default 1.9.3

answered Jul 09 '13 at 02:48

vish

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Ruby Gems returns "command not found"

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