cannot load such file — zlib even after using rvm pkg install zlib

Question

I installed zlib package and ruby 1.9.3 using rvm, but whenever I try to install gems it says cannot load such file -- zlib

The commands I used to insta

Answer 1

The solution that worked for me is described in rvm github repo, issue #3389.

Run

rvm install 2.3.0 --with-zlib-dir=/usr/local/Cellar/zlib/1.2.8

for ruby 2.3.0 version.

Answer 2

The both other responses were almost right...

The rvm site for zlib provides a quick fix!

On the top off the page is a "Quick fix" follow it's instructions, it will:

• fix your installation,
• provide you instructions what to do to install zlib from your system
• and show how to reinstall ruby

Answer 3

Ruby has a bunch of package dependencies like the one on zlib-devel. They're nasty because there's nothing to indicate you need the library until get some obscure error message while trying to do something routine.

The solution is to use rvm. Use it even if you only need one version of ruby. Why? Because then you can do

rvm requirements

This will probe your particular OS and produce a set of commands you can copy back to the command line to install those missing packages.

Answer 4

I ended up installing zlib from apt-get and then reinstalling ruby to not use the rvm directory for zlib.

Here's how do:

$ sudo apt-get install zlib1g-dev
$ rvm reinstall 1.9.3

[Edit] As commenter @chrisfinne mentions, on CentOS/RedHat based systems:

$ sudo yum install zlib-devel
$ rvm reinstall 1.9.3

Answer 5

rvm pkg install openssl && rvm pkg install zlib && rvm pkg install libyaml &&
  rvm pkg install iconv
rvm install 1.9.3-p0 --with-opt-dir=$HOME/.rvm/usr \
  --with-libxml2-dir=/usr/local/Cellar/libxml2/2.7.8 \
  --with-readline-dir=/usr/local/Cellar/readline/6.2.1

Answer 6

Use autolibs to install dependencies:

rvm autolibs enable
rvm reinstall 1.9.3

RVM will automatically install missing dependencies and use them for compiling ruby.

More details on autolibs => http://rvm.io/rvm/autolibs