Rails + Passenger + Apache Production Deployment: “Missing Rails 2.3.5 gem” but it's installed

Question

I've looked all over the web for about a week now and not found a solution to my problem. I have a Ruby on Rails application I'm trying to deploy to a production Ubuntu 10.04 server edition box. I've got Apache2.2 and Passenger3.0.0 installed with Ruby 1.8.7, Rails 2.3.5 and RubyGems 1.3.7. My rails application is in /var/rails_app_name/ and rubygems/ruby is installed at /var/lib/gems/1.8

I have a test server with ubuntu 10.04 (gui edition) running the same setup and configuration which works like a charm. The only difference is my rails application root is in the user local folder e.g. /home/username/rails_app_name/

My problem is that on the production server, Passenger is giving me an error: "Missing the Rails 2.3.5 gem. Please 'gem install -v=2.3.5 rails'. update your RAILS_GEM_VERSION...." I installed the rails gem in both gem directories listed by running a gem environment. Here are some config results:

%> gem environment

RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.3.7
RUBY VERSION: 1.8.7 (2010-01-10 patchlevel 249) [i486-linux]
INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /var/lib/gems/1.8
RUBY EXECUTABLE: /usr/bin/ruby1.8
EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /var/lib/gems/1.8/bin
RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
- ruby
- x86-linux
GEM PATHS:
- /var/lib/gems/1.8
- /home/sross/.gem/ruby/1.8
GEM CONFIGURATION:
- :update_sources => true
- :verbose => true
- :benchmark => false
- :backtrace => false
- :bulk_threshold => 1000
REMOTE SOURCES:
- http://rubygems.org/
%> gem list

actionmailer (2.3.5) actionpack (2.3.5) activemodel (3.0.3) activerecord (2.3.5) activeresource (2.3.5) activesupport (3.0.3, 2.3.5) acts_as_audited (1.1.1) arel (2.0.4) authlogic (2.1.6) builder (2.1.2) cancan (1.4.1) daemon_controller (0.2.5) fastthread (1.0.7) file-tail (1.0.5) i18n (0.4.2) passenger (3.0.0) rack (1.0.1) rails (2.3.5) rake (0.8.7) spruz (0.2.2) tzinfo (0.3.23)

%> which gem

/usr/bin/gem

%> which ruby

/usr/bin/ruby

** /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/passenger.conf **

PassengerRoot /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-3.0.0 PassengerRuby /usr/bin/ruby

** /etc/apache2/mods-enabled/passenger.load **

LoadModule passenger_module /var/lib/gems/1.8/gems/passenger-3.0.0/ext/apache2/mod_passenger.so

Let me know if you want to see anything else. I installed everything with sudo, all my rubygems directories, ruby directories, application directories are chmod 755 so www-data should have access correct? I've tried setting GEM_HOME to both rubygems paths and making sure the rails gem is in there too.

Help this is killing me!

Update:

gem list for test server (which works fine)

abstract (1.0.0)
actionmailer (3.0.0, 2.3.8, 2.3.5)
actionpack (3.0.0, 2.3.8, 2.3.5)
activemodel (3.0.0)
activerecord (3.0.0, 2.3.8, 2.3.5)
activeresource (3.0.0, 2.3.8, 2.3.5)
activesupport (3.0.0, 2.3.8, 2.3.5)
acts_as_audited (1.1.1)
arel (1.0.1)
authlogic (2.1.6)
builder (2.1.2)
bundler (1.0.0)
cancan (1.3.4)
cgi_multipart_eof_fix (2.5.0)
daemon_controller (0.2.5)
daemons (1.1.0)
dbi (0.4.5)
deprecated (2.0.1)
erubis (2.6.6)
fastthread (1.0.7)
file-tail (1.0.5)
gem_plugin (0.2.3)
mail (2.2.5)
mime-types (1.16)
mongrel (1.1.5)
mongrel_cluster (1.0.5)
mysql (2.8.1)
passenger (3.0.0)
polyglot (0.3.1)
rack (1.2.1, 1.1.0, 1.0.1)
rack-mount (0.6.13)
rack-test (0.5.4)
rails (2.3.5)
railties (3.0.0)
rake (0.8.7)
spruz (0.2.2)
thor (0.14.0)
treetop (1.4.8)
tzinfo (0.3.23)
validates_date_time (1.0.0)

Do you use bundler ? do you need activesupport 3.0.3 ? - is it installed on the second system (please post the second server gems too). — mpapis
I don't use bundler, or need active support 3.0.3. Updated my original post with the test server gems. — sross

sross sross · Accepted Answer · 2010-11-22T21:55:37

I pulled in a co-worker to take another look at this problem and we found this post to convert the misleading and unhelpful error listed in my original post into the actual error text. The root of the problem ended up coming from which versions of particular gems were installed and where they were installed. AFIAK I ended up needing rack version 1.0.0 and version 1.0.1.

So passing what I learned from this problem to others: If you get a "Missing the Rails X.X.X gem..." take a look at your boot.rb file and make the change explained in the link above. This will display the real problem, which seems to always be an incorrect version of some other gem causing the rails gem to fail it's load process.

Thanks to everyone who spent time looking into my original post!

Rails + Passenger + Apache Production Deployment: “Missing Rails 2.3.5 gem” but it's installed

2 Answers