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Asked: 2026-05-24T19:29:47+00:00

I don’t know what I’ve broken but I can’t create any rails apps using

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I don’t know what I’ve broken but I can’t create any rails apps using sqlite any more.
When I try to run gem install sqlite3 or include sqlite3 in the gemfile for a rails app I get the following.

Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing sqlite3:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

        /Users/mark/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for sqlite3.h... *** 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 pretty new to ruby/rails etc so this makes very little sense to me.

I also ran a sudo gem update and ran into the same problem when it tried to update nokogiri.

Updating nokogiri
Fetching: nokogiri-1.5.0.gem (100%)
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing nokogiri:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

        /Users/mark/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p180/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for libxml/parser.h... *** 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.

Any idea/suggestions of what to try to get up and running with sqlite3 would be hugely appreciated.

Using ruby 1.9.2, OSX Lion.

Thanks, mark

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    The sqlite3 gem has to be compiled and link against the native sqlite3 libraries, so you’ll need a C/C++ compiler and the sqlite3 development headers/libraries properly installed.

    On Mac OS X, you can do this by installing the latest version of XCode. That should provide the C/C++ development tools and headers that the sqlite3 gem requires. It’s a big download, but without it, you can’t install the sqlite3 gem using the gem command, so make sure it’s installed.

    After you’ve installed XCode, reset your terminal and try running the “gem install sqlite3” again. It should work this time.

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