Getting Error when trying to install json in Ruby on Rails

Question

Related Question: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension

I am trying to make ruby on rails (ruby 2.0.0p647 (2015-08-18) [x64-mingw32]) to work on my system. I'm running Windows 8.1 (64 bit)

The installation of ruby and rails goes smoothly but when i run rails new blog I get the following error:

       Installing json 1.8.3 with native extensions

        Gem::Installer::ExtensionBuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension
        .
        C:/Ruby200-x64/bin/ruby.exe extconf.rb
    creating Makefile

    make "DESTDIR="
    generating generator-x64-mingw32.def
    compiling generator.c
    linking shared-object json/ext/generator.so
    c:/ruby200-x64/mingw64/mingw64/bin/../lib64/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/4.8.3/../../.
    ./../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lgcc_s
    c:/ruby200-x64/mingw64/mingw64/bin/../lib64/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/4.8.3/../../.
    ./../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: cannot find -lgcc_s
    collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status
    make: *** [generator.so] Error 1
Gem files will remain installed in C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/json-
1.8.3 for inspection.
Results logged to C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/json-1.8.3/ext/json/ex
t/generator/gem_make.out
Using minitest 5.8.3
Using thread_safe 0.3.5
Using builder 3.2.2
Using erubis 2.7.0
Using mini_portile2 2.0.0
Using rack 1.6.4
Using mime-types 2.99
Using arel 6.0.3
Installing debug_inspector 0.0.2 with native extensions

Gem::Installer::ExtensionBuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension
.

I have already tried installing ruby and the development kit 3 times (with different ruby versions) I keep getting the same error.

I have tried the solution in the question above.

I get a very similar error:

    C:\Ruby200-x64>gem install --local json-1.8.3.gem
Temporarily enhancing PATH to include DevKit...
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing json-1.8.3.gem:
        ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    C:/Ruby200-x64/bin/ruby.exe extconf.rb
creating Makefile

I have tried to reinstall ruby with different ruby version (the newest one) as well as installing both of the x86 versions of ruby and the development kit which did nothing for me.

KelsyDH put together an excellent document on the topic of setting up a Windows box for RoR development: https://gist.github.com/KelseyDH/11198922. When I was setting up my Windows dev machine, Ruby 1.9.3 was newest version known to be stable on Windows. That was about a year ago. I don't know if that's changed. — Elvn, Dec 27 '15 at 23:28
just to be clear this is not only native extentions that fail. debug_inspector 0.0.2 also fails to build right after and than byebug 8.2.1 — Xitcod13, Dec 28 '15 at 07:57
Yep. Windows. Spurious failures, hard to track down. I would suggest you check with one of the Rails (the platform itself) developers on github and ask if RoR has been installed successfully on Win 8 by anyone. Good luck! — Elvn, Dec 28 '15 at 15:26

score 0 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

This is not a direct answer because I've not had an issue with JSON before; I'll tell you about the error itself though - just so you know what's going on.

Whenever you install a gem on your system, it needs certain files to run.

Most gems have all the files they need, but some need extra ones. mysql2,rmagick and nokogiri are some of these.

The gems which need extra files have to load "dependencies" from your system to help them install properly. They then compile the extra files with a c compiler. This is what building native extensions means.

When you install any gem, Ruby looks in ext/extconf.rb to see how to compile the extra files. This extconf.rb has compiler code which relies on the dependencies you add. This is why the error always says extconf.rb failed

--

You need a valid C compiler (DevKit includes gcc) and a make program (I believe Devkit includes nmake). Running extconf.rb with Ruby should use the gcc compiler in your PATH to create a Makefile. Running make on the Makefile will then build the gem's extra dependencies:

--

The most common form of this error is for mysql2:

The fix is to include the dependencies on your system, link to it and then install the gem again. EG:

 gem install mysql2 --platform=ruby -- --with-mysql-dir="c:/path/to/mysql"

JSON

It seems that JSON just has C headers which need to be compiled.

In this case, I would strongly recommend finding a new compiler & using it instead of Devkit. It might not work, but I think your JSON needs to be compiled rather than have extra dependencies.

We use MingW for compiling things in Windows.

Good ref: https://stackoverflow.com/a/33593870/1143732

You can download our MingW64 here, or download it yourself.

Install it & add it to your PATH. It will take the place of Devkit; its more robust for compiling gems.

Once you've done it, go to your ruby\lib\ruby\gems\[version]\json...\ext

Type ruby extconf.rb and see what happens. If it build a Makefile, type make and then make install

If not, post back what you found and we'll see if it gets fixed

by install MingW did you just mean unzip it and ad the bin folder to path?? I have tried to follow your directions and the ruby extconf.rb builds a Makefile. Make command outputs make: Nothing to be done. and make install outputs installing default libraries. I still get the same error when i run: rails new blog. — Xitcod13, Dec 27 '15 at 20:02
Yes exactly, you need to add the bin to path. There's nothing in extconf? Can you post the extconf and I'll see what it says — Richard Peck, Dec 27 '15 at 20:04
extconf path: "C:\Ruby200-x64\lib\ruby\gems\2.0.0\gems\json-1.8.3\ext\json" content: require 'mkmf' create_makefile('json') — Xitcod13, Dec 27 '15 at 20:17
mkmf.rb is in C:\Ruby200-x64\lib\ruby\2.0.0 directory and its too large to post. — Xitcod13, Dec 27 '15 at 23:18
Yes it's quite big lol. Do you mind if I look tomorrow? It's midnight in the UK right now :) — Richard Peck, Dec 28 '15 at 00:01

Getting Error when trying to install json in Ruby on Rails

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