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

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?

Answer*

You need to correct your paths.

To determine if this fix will work, run the following:

```sh
which gem
```

This should output a directory you do not have permissions to:

```none
/usr/bin/gem
```

To fix this perform the following steps:

 1. Determine the path you need to copy to your profile:

    ```sh
    rbenv init -
    ```

    The first line of the output is the line you need to copy over to your profile:

    ```bash
	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>/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
    }
    ```

 2. Copy the path to your profile and save it.

 3. Reload your profile (`source ~/.zshenv` for me).

 4. Run `rbenv rehash`.

Now when you run `which gem` you should get a local path that you have permissions to:

```none
/Users/justin/.rbenv/shims/gem
```

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Edit Summary*

Cancel

That was the problem in my situation. You should be able to include eval "$(rbenv init -)" in your ~/.bash_profile to make all the necessary changes.

nyi
– nyi

2016-02-07 11:38:51 +00:00
Commented Feb 7, 2016 at 11:38
best answer. my profile was named .bash_profile and you can open the file like this: touch ~/.bash_profile; open ~/.bash_profile and add the line you mentioned at point 1.

CarmenA
– CarmenA

2017-02-11 22:09:01 +00:00
Commented Feb 11, 2017 at 22:09

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

Answer*