ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension

Question

installed PostgreSQL on my ubuntu system and when i try to run bundle install i am getting the following error.

Is there any way to run the command and install all the necessary gems

-- gem install pg -v '0.18.4'
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing pg:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    current directory: /home/mink7/.gem/ruby/2.3.0/gems/pg-0.18.4/ext
/home/mink7/usr/local/2.3.0/bin/ruby -r ./siteconf20160408-15866-1siay0w.rb extconf.rb
checking for pg_config... yes
Using config values from /usr/bin/pg_config
You need to install postgresql-server-dev-X.Y for building a server-side extension or libpq-dev for building a client-side application.
You need to install postgresql-server-dev-X.Y for building a server-side extension or libpq-dev for building a client-side application.
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.

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=/home/mink7/usr/local/2.3.0/bin/$(RUBY_BASE_NAME)
    --with-pg
    --without-pg
    --enable-windows-cross
    --disable-windows-cross
    --with-pg-config
    --without-pg-config
    --with-pg_config
    --without-pg_config
    --with-pg-dir
    --without-pg-dir
    --with-pg-include
    --without-pg-include=${pg-dir}/include
    --with-pg-lib
    --without-pg-lib=${pg-dir}/lib

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

  /home/mink7/.gem/ruby/2.3.0/extensions/x86_64-linux/2.3.0-static/pg-0.18.4/mkmf.log

extconf failed, exit code 1

Gem files will remain installed in /home/mink7/.gem/ruby/2.3.0/gems/pg-0.18.4 for inspection.
Results logged to /home/mink7/.gem/ruby/2.3.0/extensions/x86_64-linux/2.3.0-static/pg-0.18.4/gem_make.out

I have also run

sudo apt-get install gcc

and made sure the compiler is of the latest version.

Solution

Look at the message checking for libpq-fe.h... no.

Try installing libpq-dev. For Ubuntu systems:

sudo apt-get install libpq-dev

Then you should be able to run bundle install.

Comments

[cowgill]

If you use Alpine linux (Docker image in my case), you should install postgresql-dev instead. apk add postgresql-dev