`require': no such file to load -- mkmf (LoadError)

Question

I was trying to install rails on Ubuntu Natty Narwhal 11.04, using ruby1.9.1.

I installed ruby using apt-get install ruby1.9.1-full which contains the dev package. I googled the error and all have suggested I install the 1.9.1-dev which I already have.

Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing rails:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

        /usr/bin/ruby1.8 extconf.rb
extconf.rb:36:in `require': no such file to load -- mkmf (LoadError)
    from extconf.rb:36


Gem files will remain installed in /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/bcrypt-ruby-3.0.1 for inspection.
Results logged to /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/bcrypt-ruby-3.0.1/ext/mri/gem_make.out

I had a parallel error attempting to install watir-webdriver. It also was corrected by installing ruby1.0.1-dev — kaleidic, May 02 '13 at 11:27
possible duplicate of [Rails installation failed on Ubuntu with "cannot load such file -- mkmf"](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12731904/rails-installation-failed-on-ubuntu-with-cannot-load-such-file-mkmf) — David LeBauer, Jul 01 '14 at 14:56

score 980 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 03 '15 at 17:10

980

After some search for a solution it turns out the -dev package is needed, not just ruby1.8. So if you have ruby1.9.1 doing

sudo apt-get install ruby1.9.1-dev

or to install generic ruby version, use (as per @lamplightdev comment):

sudo apt-get install ruby-dev

should fix it.

Try locate mkmf to see if the file is actually there.

edited Jun 03 '15 at 17:10

Jeshua Lacock

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answered Nov 13 '11 at 17:09

Emil Ivanov

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the following will install the dev package matched to your currently installed ruby version: sudo apt-get install ruby-dev – lamplightdev Jan 02 '13 at 18:21
yeah worked for me. run ruby -v to find the version if you only want to install the current ruby version. – Dan Bradbury Jul 02 '13 at 16:52
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@lamplightdev Didnt work for me, ruby version was 1.9.3 and it was installing 1.8 If I tried to install ruby-dev – Karthik T Sep 05 '13 at 00:12
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I've installed `ruby-all-dev`, it will probably work for all versions. – jcubic Jul 07 '14 at 13:38
This is also required for aws-sdk now that SOAP is deprecated for AWS. A worry if stakeholders object to anything -dev on a production build. (SDK's don't thrill them either). – mckenzm Dec 20 '14 at 20:47

jmontross · Answer 2 · 2016-08-07T18:22:41.273

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This is the answer that worked for me. Was in the comments above, but deserves its rightful place as answer for ubuntu 12.04 ruby 1.8.7

sudo apt-get install ruby-dev
# if above doesnt work make sure you have build essential
sudo apt-get install build-essential

edited Aug 07 '16 at 18:22

answered May 09 '13 at 04:17

jmontross

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It's also worth noting that if you want to use the ubuntu software center there is an add-on for ruby-dev you can select for the 'Header files for compiling extension modules'. – RightHandedMonkey Aug 13 '13 at 01:38
I used `sudo apt-get install ruby1.9.1-dev` with ruby 1.9.3 before I saw the comment or this answer, and that allowed me to build the rails extension. Not sure if mismatching versions like that is going to cause me any headache later, but it should be noted that rails installed correctly using a slight alteration of the officially accepted answer. – DWils Mar 16 '14 at 04:54
What if you have RVM? Then don't you already have the ruby version you need? – thesecretmaster May 28 '16 at 16:36

score 37 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 01 '13 at 11:42

37

I also needed build-essential installed:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

answered Jul 01 '13 at 11:42

James Dunmore

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This was the ticket right here.. I imagine I had to also install ruby-dev but it didn't work until I installed build-essential as well. a million thanks – unc0nnected Nov 22 '15 at 22:49

kenju254 · Answer 4 · 2014-05-13T11:46:34.057

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The problem is still is recursive on Ubuntu 13/04/13.10/14.04

and

sudo apt-get install ruby1.9.1-dev

worked out for me okay. So If you are using Ubuntu 13.04/13.10/14.04 then using this will really come in handy.

This works even if ruby version is 1.9.3. This is because there is no ruby1.9.3-dev available in the Repository...

edited May 13 '14 at 11:46

answered Nov 23 '13 at 09:29

kenju254

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Yep, this one worked for me as well on ruby1.9.3. There wasn't a package in the ubuntu repository for ruby1.9.3-dev. – DWils Mar 16 '14 at 04:56
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not any more... worked after installing rvm from rvm.io with --ruby - and probably best to apt-get remove ruby before – dagelf Oct 05 '17 at 22:28

score 18 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 04 '11 at 09:44

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Have you tried:

sudo apt-get install ruby1.8-dev

answered Oct 04 '11 at 09:44

Matteo Alessani

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I'm using 1.9.1, why shall I install ruby1.8-dev ? – Omar S. Oct 04 '11 at 09:45
This is so weird indeed I installed 1.9.1 but it reads 1.8, when I run ruby -v I get: ruby 1.8.7 (2010-08-16 patchlevel 302) [x86_64-linux] – Omar S. Oct 04 '11 at 09:52
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you have ruby 1.8 set as default ruby on your system – Matteo Alessani Oct 04 '11 at 10:00

score 10 · Answer 6 · answered Jan 15 '14 at 12:41

10

I got the similar error when install bundle

sudo apt-get install ruby-dev

Works great for me and solve the problem Mint 16 ruby1.9.3

answered Jan 15 '14 at 12:41

Sergey Nikolaev

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score 2 · Answer 7 · answered Dec 12 '13 at 04:51

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I think is a little late but

sudo yum install -y gcc ruby-devel libxml2 libxml2-devel libxslt libxslt-devel

worked for me on fedora.

http://nokogiri.org/tutorials/installing_nokogiri.html

answered Dec 12 '13 at 04:51

JGutierrezC

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score 1 · Answer 8 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

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You've Ruby 1.8 so you need to upgrade to at least 1.9 to make it working.

If so, then check How to install a specific version of a ruby gem?

If this won't help, then reinstalling ruby-dev again.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:47

Community

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answered Jun 11 '14 at 09:48

kenorb

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score 0 · Answer 9 · answered Nov 19 '12 at 07:31

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You can use RVM(Ruby version manager) which helps in managing all versions of ruby on your machine , which is very helpful for you development (when migrating to unstable release to stable release )

or for Linux (ubuntu) go for sudo apt-get install ruby1.8-dev

then sudo gem install rails to verify it do rails -v it will show version on rails

after that you can install bundles (required gems for development)

answered Nov 19 '12 at 07:31

Mohit Verma

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You can still use RVM on linux. I am doing that (but still have the issue of this mkmf error when installing rails) – thesecretmaster May 28 '16 at 16:38

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Jun 17 '20 at 13:59

Ruby version: 2.7.1 gem version: 3.1.3

You need to check the extension that could not be installed, and find the reasons.

Read the mkmf.log file showed at the installation error under "To see why this extension failed to compile, please check the mkmf.log which can be found here" , perhaps there is a missing lib ( sometimes iconv ), and you must install it.

You can search the extension with your package manager(apt, yum, pacman...) too.

(Personal case) Arch Linux->nokogiri

gem install rails

Showed me:

To see why this extension failed to compile, please check the mkmf.log which can be found here: /home/user/.gem/ruby/2.7.0/extensions/x86_64-linux/2.7.0/nokogiri-1.10.9/mkmf.log

Go to: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ruby-nokogiri/

Make sure you have all dependencies installed
Make sure you have make installed
git clone the package
cd to package
makepkg the package

Hope to help!

`require': no such file to load -- mkmf (LoadError)

10 Answers10

(Personal case) Arch Linux->nokogiri

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