ERROR: Error installing libxml-ruby: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension

[DavidIValencia]

Error installing version 5.0.0. ruby version '2.3.1' using rvm

→ gem install libxml-ruby -v '3.0.0'
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
ERROR: Error installing libxml-ruby:
ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

current directory: /Users/David/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/libxml-ruby-3.0.0/ext/libxml

/Users/David/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/bin/ruby -r ./siteconf20170721-35283-1f8lwpv.rb extconf.rb
checking for libxml/xmlversion.h in /opt/include/libxml2,/opt/local/include/libxml2,/usr/local/include/libxml2,/usr/include/libxml2... no
*** 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
--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=/Users/David/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.3.1/bin/$(RUBY_BASE_NAME)
--with-xml2-config
--without-xml2-config
--with-xml2-dir
--without-xml2-dir
--with-xml2-include
--without-xml2-include=${xml2-dir}/include
--with-xml2-lib
--without-xml2-lib=${xml2-dir}/lib
extconf failure: need libxml2.

Install the library or try one of the following options to extconf.rb:

  --with-xml2-config=/path/to/xml2-config
  --with-xml2-dir=/path/to/libxml2
  --with-xml2-lib=/path/to/libxml2/lib
  --with-xml2-include=/path/to/libxml2/include

To see why this extension failed to compile, please check the mkmf.log which can be found here:

/Users/David/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/extensions/x86_64-darwin-15/2.3.0/libxml-ruby-3.0.0/mkmf.log

extconf failed, exit code 1

Gem files will remain installed in /Users/David/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/gems/libxml-ruby-3.0.0 for inspection.
Results logged to /Users/David/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.3.1/extensions/x86_64-darwin-15/2.3.0/libxml-ruby-3.0.0/gem_make.out

[mlund01]

I also ran into this issue when upgrading from 4.11.1 to 5.0.0. Looks like v5 depends on libxml3, while Nokogiri depends on libxml2. The way to fix it is by installing libxml2 onto your system (NOT as a gem... I tried this and failed).

I added this (in my Dockerfile),

sudo apt-get install libxslt-dev libxml2-dev

before installing the gems. But what you need will depend on what system you are running on. Here is where I found the answer and should also have the details on how to fix for other systems,

https://stackoverflow.com/a/7811458/3789073

And also the guide for installing Nokogiri correctly for different systems...

http://www.nokogiri.org/tutorials/installing_nokogiri.html

[ilanbiala]

Also take a look at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/38129330/libxml-ruby-failed-to-build-gem-native-extension, which seems to have a reasonable solution similar to @mlund01's.

[KaraAJC]

I just helped a student of mine with this issue as well, and we found the following closed issues in libXML-ruby repo to be helpful (depending on your configuration):

• Can't update to 3.0.0 on Windows xml4r/libxml-ruby#139
• Cannot install v 3.0.0 OSX Sierra xml4r/libxml-ruby#140
• Cannot Install Via Bundler xml4r/libxml-ruby#141

[ilanbiala]

@DavidIValencia @mlund01 can this be closed?

[DavidIValencia]

@ilanbiala really up to you. I honestly think that gems should work out of the box, especially if they conflict with super popular dependencies such as nokogiri. Yes, I can totally get this working on my own machine, but it's a much tougher sell to reconfigure production just so that I can use the most current version of the gem.

As of now, I am using 4.xx of this gem so I feel confident about adding it to my production environment. Feel free to close the bug though if my feelings don't align with the goals of your team.

[mlund01]

@ilanbiala I think this should be further discussed as to how it should be dealt with. I think given the ubiquity of Nokogiri, you should either be very clear in the documentation about how to fix the issue, or if possible, use the same version of lib-xml. My thought is just to provide more clear documentation, because I'd rather not use an older version if I don't have to, and it was a pretty easy fix.

[justjoehere]

I have the same problems installing this gem on windows, but I don't know what the "simple fix" is. Any ideas?

[teeparham]

How much trouble would it be to remove the libxml-ruby dependency?

[anhari]

For anyone on macOS that runs into this, I was able to fix it with:

brew install libxml2
brew link --force libxml2
bundle install

[philnash]

For anyone who has suffered with this, I apologise. There is a fix on the horizon though, XML generation is moving to Nokogiri with this PR. Keep an eye on it, upgrade when the time comes and never worry about libxml-ruby again!

[teeparham]

Fun fact: nokogiri includes a modified version of libxml2 and libxslt, but also allows you to use a system libxml if you choose to fight that battle yourself. In any case, nokogiri does a good job of dealing with the dependency so it works on just about any platform. So the libxml dependency isn't really going away, but #375 is a better solution. 👍

https://github.com/sparklemotion/nokogiri/#requirements