Problems with libxml2 when installing Ruby on Rails on OSX Mavericks

Question

I'm having a problem installing Ruby on Rails in my terminal.

Has anyone else encountered the following error in the terminal:

checking for main() in -llzma... yes
checking for xmlParseDoc() in libxml/parser.h... no
checking for xmlParseDoc() in -lxml2... no
checking for xmlParseDoc() in -llibxml2... no
-----
libxml2 is missing.  Please locate mkmf.log to investigate how it is failing.
-----
*** 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.

I'm using the standard bash:

$ gem install rails

How would I go about fixing this? I've tried a few things here on stack exchange but nothing so far has worked...

Using $ brew list in the terminal yields:

Michaels-iMac:~ iMacHome$ brew list
autoconf    libksba     libxslt     pkg-config
automake    libtool     libyaml     readline
libgpg-error    libxml2     openssl
Michaels-iMac:~ iMacHome$

It seems to be there...

Can you show the libs installed with ***brew installed*** ? Could cross-check and see what's missing. As it works for me and I do not have libxml installed. — codingbunny, Feb 27 '15 at 13:48
Which version of ruby is selected in rvm by default (`rvm list`)? — Maxim, Feb 27 '15 at 13:51
Michael, open Xcode and check if the commandline tools are properly installed and up to date as well. — codingbunny, Feb 27 '15 at 13:51
@NekoNova I used xcode-select --install but how can I check? — GCien, Feb 27 '15 at 13:54
Depends on your version but if you did http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9329243/xcode-4-4-and-later-install-command-line-tools then that rules out the commandline issue. Could still be a missing lib on your system... — codingbunny, Feb 27 '15 at 13:56
run **brew installed** and update your answer with the output, so we can see if a lib is missing. You could also check if the libxml2 library exists in /opt/local/ somewhere and link to it manually. — codingbunny, Feb 27 '15 at 14:01
@NekoNova I've tried brew installed and I get: Error: Unknown command: installed — GCien, Feb 27 '15 at 14:02
Ahh brew list did the trick. See an edited version of the question for the output. — GCien, Feb 27 '15 at 14:04

lx00st · Accepted Answer · 2015-11-20T09:05:51.453

4

assuming you have Xcode installed try this

gem install rails -- --with-xml2-include=/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/MacOSX.‌platform/Developer/SDKs/MacOSX10.9.sdk/usr/include/libxml2 --use-system-libraries

edited Nov 20 '15 at 09:05

answered Feb 27 '15 at 14:10

lx00st

1,566
9
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he's using RVM, it's better to use the package system of RVM to get the libxml2 library, as that is known to work properly inside the RVM installation. – codingbunny Feb 27 '15 at 14:13
This worked, it might be a rvm workaround but it seemed to work. – GCien Feb 27 '15 at 14:17
you should try NekoNova's answer as well because its not "rvm way" and you will have to run this wired params with all new gemsets – lx00st Feb 27 '15 at 14:19

codingbunny · Answer 2 · 2015-02-27T14:12:37.807

2

The problem could be your RVM.

Try either this command:

 rvm cleanup all
 rvm pkg uninstall libxml2
 rvm reinstall all --force

or upgrade/reinstall to the latest RVM installation.

-- To properly install the rails gem globally for a Ruby version:

rvm use <rubyversion>
gem install rails

example to use rails on ruby 2.1.5:

rvm use 2.1.5
gem install rails

edited Feb 27 '15 at 14:12

answered Feb 27 '15 at 14:07

codingbunny

3,989
6
29
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Side question: should I be using "$ dvm gem install rails"...? – GCien Feb 27 '15 at 14:09
`rvm pkg` is now deprecated in favor of `rvm autolibs`. – Franklin Yu Jul 30 '16 at 22:19

Problems with libxml2 when installing Ruby on Rails on OSX Mavericks

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