An error occurred while installing pg (0.17.1), and Bundler cannot continue

Question

I just installed Rails 4.0.2 and when creating a new app, in the bundle stage I get:

Installing pg (0.17.1) 
Gem::Installer::ExtensionBuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.
/Users/Dee/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p247/bin/ruby extconf.rb 
checking for pg_config... no
No pg_config... trying anyway. If building fails, please try again with
--with-pg-config=/path/to/pg_config
checking for libpq-fe.h... no
Can't find the 'libpq-fe.h header
*** 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.

How do I fix this?

Solution 1

I'm on a Mac running Mavericks. My solution was to install Postgres.

And then in terminal install using homebrew with the configuration:

gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/latest/bin/pg_config

Note: This answer has been edited to use the latest symlink that is currently included in shipping versions of the Postgres app.

Previous versions suggested:

gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/9.4/bin/pg_config

Solution 2

Some kind of error resported here Installing PG gem on OS X - failure to build native extension

To install dependencies on Ubuntu try this:

sudo apt-get install libpq-dev

and this

gem install pg

Solution 3

app root:

1. brew update
2. brew install postgres
3. gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/usr/local/Cellar/postgresql/9.3.4/bin/pg_config
4. bundle install
5. ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/postgresql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
6. launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.postgresql.plist
7. createuser -s -r postgres
8. rake db:create:all
9. rake db:migrate
10. rails s

NOTE: replace the version number in step 3 if needed.

Solution 4

Previously working answer with older version

I installed under mac OSX Mavericks, having the postgres app (Version 9.2.2.0 ) from www.postgresapp.com installed. The underlying problem was simpy that the since postgres was installed via the app, the configuration file resides on a location which is not the default one when installing it without postgressapp. so we need to tell gem where to find this file by:

gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/pg_config

Hope it helps

Solution 5

If gem install pg fails, try the following command:

env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/MacOS/bin/pg_config

... from the PostgreSQL.app Documentation

View more solutions

Comments

[Deekor]

Im on a mac, what should I do?

[tungd]

How about your Ruby/Bundler setup? You're using Mac OS X or Linux? and if you're using Mac OS X, you installed PostgreSQL via homebrew or PostgreSQL.app?

[Deekor]

Im on a mac. I installed via the app

[Deekor]

I have 0.17.0 installed. Any harm in using that with rails 4?

[tungd]

Then try running bundle config build.pg --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/MacOS/b‌​in/pg_config and run bundle again. Adjust the config path if you install the app to ~/Application rather than /Application

[Blackcoat]

Since the official app recently changed names to "Postgres93.app", the command should be: env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres93.app/Contents/MacOS‌​/bin/pg_config

[raulriera]

This was my solution (OSX)

[Deekor]

Yup mine was in a different location as well. Thanks for the answer.

[Deekor]

If this isnt working for anyone, for 9.3 the config file has moved - see the accepted answer.

[Robertibiris]

Correct Bob, the version of postgresapp in which this worked for me, was Version 9.2.2.0, so they must have changed this location on the 9.3 release.

[dnlcrl]

for me it worked with: env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install pg

[corprew]

And now, as of 1/22/15 we're looking at the 9.4 release, it's good to see they're keeping it updated -- "gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Version‌​s/9.4/bin/pg_config"

[Christopher Schneider]

Following the tutorial on railstutorial.org. This is what you need to do for Mint. Thanks.

[Dennis]

I was in a rush and missed the part of this answer that says "install using home-brew". This answer worked for me after I did brew update; brew install postgres

[user1322092]

In your solution, please add the version, other the latest PG gem will install: gem install pg -v '0.17.1' -- --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Version‌​s/9.3/bin/pg_config

[saiyancoder]

In my case (Linux Mint 17.1), install libpq-dev via apt-get made it.

[Terra Ashley]

railstutorial.org -- paid tutorial; any other ideas?

[ctlockey]

This worked for me while trying to bundle install gems included in the Ruby Getting Started Heroku walkthrough: devcenter.heroku.com/articles/…

[zykadelic]

You're not installing the pg gem here

[theblang]

@Deekor If you're using Homebrew you can run brew install postgresql, then the pg gem should properly install. See these docs.