How to install a gem or update RubyGems if it fails with a permissions error

Question

I m trying to install a gem using gem install mygem or update RubyGems using gem update --system  and it fails with this error   ERROR   While executing gem      Gem  FilePermissionError  You don t have write permissions for the  Library Ruby Gems 2 0 0 directory    Does anyone have an idea how to solve this

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As pointed out by bobbdelsol  rehash worked for me       gt  which ruby  usr bin ruby     gt  rbenv install 1 9 3-p551 Downloading ruby-1 9 3-p551 tar bz2    - gt  https   cache ruby-lang org pub ruby 1 9 ruby-1 9 3-p551 tar bz2 Installing ruby-1 9 3-p551    Installed ruby-1 9 3-p551 to  Users username  rbenv versions 1 9 3-p551      gt  which ruby  Users username  rbenv shims ruby     gt  which gem  Users username  rbenv shims gem     gt  gem install compass ERROR   While executing gem      Gem  FilePermissionError      You don t have write permissions for the  Library Ruby Gems 2 0 0 directory       gt  ruby -v ruby 2 0 0p648  2015-12-16 revision 53162   universal x86 64-darwin15       gt  rbenv global 1 9 3-p551      gt  ruby -v ruby 2 0 0p648  2015-12-16 revision 53162   universal x86 64-darwin15       gt  rbenv global 1 9 3-p551      gt  rbenv rehash      gt  ruby -v ruby 1 9 3p551  2014-11-13 revision 48407   x86 64-darwin15 4 0       gt  gem install compass Fetching  sass-3 4 22 gem  100   Fetching  multi json-1 11 3 gem  100   Fetching  compass-core-1 0 3 gem  100   Fetching  compass-import-once-1 0 5 gem  100   Fetching  chunky png-1 3 5 gem  100   Fetching  rb-fsevent-0 9 7 gem  100   Fetching  ffi-1 9 10 gem  100   Building native extensions   This could take a while    Fetching  rb-inotify-0 9 7 gem  100   Fetching  compass-1 0 3 gem  100       Compass is charityware  If you love it  please donate on our behalf at http   umdf org compass Thanks  Successfully installed sass-3 4 22 Successfully installed multi json-1 11 3 Successfully installed compass-core-1 0 3 Successfully installed compass-import-once-1 0 5 Successfully installed chunky png-1 3 5 Successfully installed rb-fsevent-0 9 7 Successfully installed ffi-1 9 10 Successfully installed rb-inotify-0 9 7 Successfully installed compass-1 0 3 9 gems installed Installing ri documentation for sass-3 4 22    Installing ri documentation for multi json-1 11 3    Installing ri documentation for compass-core-1 0 3    Installing ri documentation for compass-import-once-1 0 5    Installing ri documentation for chunky png-1 3 5    Installing ri documentation for rb-fsevent-0 9 7    Installing ri documentation for ffi-1 9 10    Installing ri documentation for rb-inotify-0 9 7    Installing ri documentation for compass-1 0 3    Installing RDoc documentation for sass-3 4 22    Installing RDoc documentation for multi json-1 11 3    Installing RDoc documentation for compass-core-1 0 3    Installing RDoc documentation for compass-import-once-1 0 5    Installing RDoc documentation for chunky png-1 3 5    Installing RDoc documentation for rb-fsevent-0 9 7    Installing RDoc documentation for ffi-1 9 10    Installing RDoc documentation for rb-inotify-0 9 7    Installing RDoc documentation for compass-1 0 3

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I had formatted my Mac and many suggested solutions did not work for me  What worked for me are these commands in the correct order    Install Homebrew    usr bin ruby -e    curl -fsSL https   raw githubusercontent com Homebrew install master install    Install Ruby   brew install ruby  Install Compass   sudo gem install compass

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Why don t you do    sudo gem update --system

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You don t have write permissions into the  Library Ruby Gems 1 8 directory    means exactly that  you don t have permission to write there   That is the version of Ruby installed by Apple  for their own use  While it s OK to make minor modifications to that if you know what you re doing  because you are not sure about the permissions problem  I d say it s not a good idea to continue along that track   Instead  I ll strongly suggest you look into using either rbenv or RVM to manage a separate Ruby  installed into a sandbox in your home directory  that you can modify fold spindle change without worrying about messing up the system Ruby   Between the two  I use rbenv  though I used RVM a lot in the past  rbenv takes a more  hands-off  approach to managing your Ruby installation  RVM has a lot of features and is very powerful  but  as a result is more intrusive  In either case  READ the installation documentation for them a couple times before starting to install whichever you pick

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Try nathanwhy s answer before using my original answer below  His recommendation of --user-install should accomplish the same purpose without having to muck with your  bash profile or determine your ruby version   If you are not concerned about a specific ruby version  you can skip the heavy-lift ruby environment manager options  and just add these lines to    bash profile  export GEM HOME  quot  HOME  gem ruby 2 0 0 quot  export GEM PATH  quot  HOME  gem ruby 2 0 0 quot   The path is stolen from the original output of gem env  RubyGems Environment    - RUBYGEMS VERSION  2 0 14   - RUBY VERSION  2 0 0   - INSTALLATION DIRECTORY   Library Ruby Gems 2 0 0   - RUBY EXECUTABLE   System Library     2 0 usr bin ruby   - EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY   usr bin   - RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS      - ruby     - universal-darwin-14   - GEM PATHS       -  Library Ruby Gems 2 0 0      -  Users mylogin  gem ruby 2 0 0    lt -- This guy  right here       -  System Library     usr lib ruby gems 2 0 0        No sudoing is required  and you can use the already-installed ruby  courtesy of Apple

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This will fix the issue on MacOS Mojave and Catalina in a clean way  brew install ruby  Then set GEM HOME to your user directory  On the terminal   Bash  echo    Install Ruby Gems to   gems   gt  gt     bashrc echo  export GEM HOME  HOME gems   gt  gt     bashrc echo  export PATH  HOME gems bin  PATH   gt  gt     bashrc source    bashrc   OR if on Zsh  echo    Install Ruby Gems to   gems   gt  gt     zshrc echo  export GEM HOME  HOME gems   gt  gt     zshrc echo  export PATH  HOME gems bin  PATH   gt  gt     zshrc source    zshrc

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The reason of the error is because you are not logged in as the root user on terminal   If you already have root use enable on your mac in terminal type    su   If you dont have root user  you need to enable it using the following steps   From the Apple menu choose System Preferences     From the View menu choose Users  amp  Groups  Click the lock and authenticate as an administrator account  Click Login Options     Click the    Edit       or    Join       button at the bottom right  Click the    Open Directory Utility       button  Click the lock in the Directory Utility window  Enter an administrator account name and password  then click OK  Choose Enable Root User from the Edit menu  Enter the root password you wish to use in both the Password and Verify fields  then click OK    More at the same on http   support apple com kb ht1528   Atleast it works for me after getting stuck for couple of hours

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sudo gem update --system sudo gem install  gemfile

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cd  Library Ruby Gems 2 0 0  open     right click get info  click lock  place password   make everything read and write

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Try adding --user-install instead of using sudo   gem install mygem --user-install

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I needed to do a rbenv rehash so it would point to my local Gem library    It looks like you ve got your gem manager pointing to the System Library  so  instead of messing with permissions  do the equivalent of  rehash  for your manager to get things pointing locally

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This worked for me   Plus  if you installed gems as root before  it fixes that problem by changing ownership back to you  better security-wise     sudo chown -R  whoami   Library Ruby Gems

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give the user  whoami to create somethin in those folder  sudo chown -R user  Library Ruby Gems 2 0 0

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Check to see if your Ruby version is right  If not  change it   This works for me     rbenv global 1 9 3-p547   gem update --system

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For me the problem was due to using rbenv and forgetting to set the proper version globally   So I had to set it with rbenv global xxx  In my case I installed 2 0 0-p247 so I had to issue the command   rbenv global 2 0 0-p247 rbenv rehash   Then all was working fine

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I found this how-to for sudoless gem    brew install rbenv ruby-build sudo gem update --system add exports to  bashrc   export RBENV ROOT    brew --prefix rbenv   export GEM HOME    brew --prefix  opt gems  export GEM PATH    brew --prefix  opt gems   And finally add this to your    gemrc   gem  -n usr local bin  gem update --system

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You really should be using a Ruby version manager   Using one properly would prevent and can resolve your permission problem when executing a gem update command   I recommend rbenv   However  even when you use a Ruby version manager  you may still get that same error message   If you do  and you are using rbenv  just verify that the    rbenv shims directory is before the path for the system Ruby     echo  PATH  will show you the order of your load path   If you find that your shims directory comes after your system Ruby bin directory  then edit your    bashrc file and put this as your last export PATH command    export PATH  HOME  rbenv shims  PATH    ruby -v  shows you what version of Ruby you are using  This shows that I m currently using the system version of Ruby  usually not good     ruby -v ruby 1 8 7  2012-02-08 patchlevel 358   universal-darwin12 0      rbenv global 1 9 3-p448  switches me to a newer  pre-installed version  see references below    This shows that I m using a newer version of Ruby  that likely won t cause the Gem  FilePermissionError     ruby -v ruby 1 9 3p448  2013-06-27 revision 41675   x86 64-darwin12 4 0    You typically should not need to preface a gem command with sudo  If you feel the need to do so  something is probably misconfigured   For details about rbenv see the following    https   github com sstephenson rbenv http   robots thoughtbot com post 47273164981 using-rbenv-to-manage-rubies-and-gems

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Tested on MacOS Mojave WITH SUCCESS    Uninstall all your old ruby versions  let s say you have 2 00 and 2 3 0      rvm uninstall 2 0 0    rvm uninstall 2 3 0 Install brand new ruby version     brew install ruby Set a default alias to your version     rvm alias create default ruby Reboot your system because this is the safest way your computer loads the new ruby version  recently installed    AFTER you done above procedure  you can successfully run any gem command

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Work for me   sudo gem uninstall cocoapods  sudo gem install cocoapods

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You need to correct your paths   To determine if this fix will work  run the following   which gem   This should output a directory you do not have permissions to    usr bin gem   To fix this perform the following steps    Determine the path you need to copy to your profile   rbenv init -   The first line of the output is the line you need to copy over to your profile   export PATH   Users justin  rbenv shims   PATH    path that needs to be copied source   usr local Cellar rbenv 0 4 0 libexec    completions rbenv zsh  rbenv rehash 2 gt  dev null rbenv       typeset command   command   1    if        -gt 0    then     shift   fi    case   command  in   rehash shell      eval  rbenv  sh- command                   command rbenv   command           esac    Copy the path to your profile and save it  Reload your profile  source    zshenv for me   Run rbenv rehash    Now when you run which gem you should get a local path that you have permissions to    Users justin  rbenv shims gem

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You can use  gem install cocoapods --pre --user

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Install rbenv by brew install rbenv   Then put eval    rbenv init -   at the end of    bash profile  or    zshrc   of MacOS    Open a new terminal and run gem install     will work

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Older and wiser  Don t do what I say here  just know to be wary any time you use sudo  You probably want to use something like rbenv to isolate whatever work you re doing     a way   learn about chown  I don t know if you like the command line  but this will make working on any project with any tool that installs packages to your system a breeze   chown as far as I can tell  stands for change ownership    The reason I came looking for this answer is because gem install threw this error at me today   ERROR   While executing gem      Gem  FilePermissionError      You don t have write permissions into the  var lib gems 1 9 1 directory    This is a perfect opportunity to use chown  You see Ruby has given us the directory it needs access to  and it seems like it s a directory it will use pretty often   In this case  there are only three things one needs to know to solve the problem  but chown is much more powerful  and grants you a lot more flexibility than I will demonstrate now  Please refer to the source at the bottom for more information   The Two Things   Username Directory   If you re in a shell finding the username is easy  Just look at the prompt   Mine looks like   breadly breadly-desktop   Desktop   The current user is just the name before the    We know the directory from the error messages  but you have two choices  You can either limit your permission to the current version by using    gems 1 9 1  or give yourself write permission for gems of all version by using    gems   The command to actually change ownership would look like this   chown -R   whoami   absolute path to directory   The -R is known as a flag and the -R flag typically tells a command to do something recursively  or in other words perform the command on every thing that is contained in the directory  and all the things contained in the directories contained within  and so on till there isn t anything else

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sudo chown -R  USER  Library Ruby Gems

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Installing gem or updating RubyGems fails with permissions error Then Type This Command  sudo gem install cocoapods

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I used this and worked     sudo chown myuser  var lib gems

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There are two routes  Use either rbenv or RVM  There are recipes for both below  Before you do  you probably want to turn off the installation of local documents for gems   echo  gem  --no-ri --no-rdoc   gt  gt     gemrc   Then   install rbenv   install ruby-build  run    rbenv install 2 1 2  or whatever version you prefer  rbenv global 2 1 2 gem update --system   This installs an up-to-date version of the gem system in your local directories  That means you don t interfere with the system configuration  If you re asking this question  you shouldn t be messing with system security  and you ll spend longer understanding what issues you may run into  than just having an easy way to avoid the problem you started with  Learn InfoSec later  when you know more about the operating system and programming   For an alternative use  RVM  instead  To install rvm run    rvm install 2 1 2 rvm use 2 1 2 gem update --system   This has the same result  you end up with a local Ruby and Gem system that doesn t interfere with the system versions  There is no need for Homebrew  or over-riding system libs  etc

[ruby] How to install a gem or update RubyGems if it fails with a permissions error

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