Question

I have the following error during sqlite3-ruby install:

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

/usr/bin/ruby1.8 extconf.rb
checking for sqlite3.h... no
sqlite3.h is missing. Try 'port install sqlite3 +universal' or 'yum install sqlite3-devel'
*** 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.

Provided configuration options:
    --with-opt-dir
    --without-opt-dir
    --with-opt-include
    --without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include
    --with-opt-lib
    --without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib
    --with-make-prog
    --without-make-prog
    --srcdir=.
    --curdir
    --ruby=/usr/bin/ruby1.8
    --with-sqlite3-dir
    --without-sqlite3-dir
    --with-sqlite3-include
    --without-sqlite3-include=${sqlite3-dir}/include
    --with-sqlite3-lib
    --without-sqlite3-lib=${sqlite3-dir}/lib


Gem files will remain installed in /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sqlite3-ruby-1.3.1 for inspection.
Results logged to /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/sqlite3-ruby-1.3.1/ext/sqlite3/gem_make.out

sqlite3.h is located in /usr/include/

sudo gem install sqlite3-ruby --without-sqlite3-include=/usr/include

doesn’t work

ERROR:  While executing gem ... (OptionParser::InvalidOption)
    invalid option: --without-sqlite3-include=/usr/include

Ubuntu 10.04

Answer 1

You need the SQLite3 development headers for the gem’s native extension to compile against. You can install them by running (possibly with sudo):

apt-get install libsqlite3-dev