Question

I am getting following error while installing ruby gems. I am using Ubuntu

Installing json (1.7.3) with native extensions
Gem::Installer::ExtensionBuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

        /usr/bin/ruby1.9.1 extconf.rb
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in `require': cannot load such file -- mkmf (LoadError)
        from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in `require'
        from extconf.rb:1:in `<main>'


Gem files will remain installed in /var/lib/gems/1.9.1/gems/json-1.7.3 for inspection.
Results logged to /var/lib/gems/1.9.1/gems/json-1.7.3/ext/json/ext/parser/gem_make.out
An error occured while installing json (1.7.3), and Bundler cannot continue.
Make sure that `gem install json -v '1.7.3'` succeeds before bundling.

I just saw this link, and not sure what to do with devkit*.exe files on ubuntu.

Answer 1

You are missing ruby-dev or ruby-1.9-dev package as described in this stackoverflow question. Install development package files first and then trying installing the gem.