From: dondoman <marcin.doman@...>
Date: 2009-11-27T07:35:10+09:00
Subject: Re: invalid date error when installing syntax gem

On Nov 4, 6:14 am, Joel VanderWerf <vj...@path.berkeley.edu> wrote:
> Joel VanderWerf wrote:
>
> > Anyone else getting this error? I didn't find any recent mention of it.
>
> > gem install syntax --backtrace
> > ERROR:  While executing gem ... (ArgumentError)
> >     invalid date
>
> Forgot to say: this is the only gem with this problem. I set up a new
> system today with about 40 other gems that installed fine, except the
> ones dependent on syntax.
>
> There's no improvement when downloading the gem file and installing it.
> The same version of syntax (1.0.0) has worked for me before, with the
> same versions of ruby and gem.
>
> $ ruby -v
> ruby 1.8.6 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 287) [i686-linux]
> $ gem --version
> 1.3.5
>
> However, I'm using gcc 4.4.1 for the first time (ubuntu 9.10).
>
> --
>        vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

Hi,

I was getting the same error when installing cucumber (it depends on
diff-lcs, which depends on syntax). And after a few long hours of
fighting with this bug I have found a solution!

It turns out there is a bug in ruby 1.8.6 for 64 bit architecture. And
guess what, the problem is with date. You can read more about the bug,
and the solution, here: http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/1735.
So, to solve the problem I had to compile ruby myself. Here are the
steps I did:

1) wget ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.8/ruby-1.8.6-p286.tar.gz
2) tar zxf ruby-1.8.6-p286.tar.gz
3) cd ruby-1.8.6-p286

Now I changed some ext settings, as described here: http://blog.ghandal.net/2009/01/

4) vim ext/Setup, and uncomment some extensions:

 #Win32API
 #bigdecimal
 curses
 #dbm
 digest
 digest/md5
 #digest/rmd160
 digest/sha1
 digest/sha2
 dl
 enumerator
 #etc
 #fcntl
 #gdbm
 iconv
 #io/wait
 #nkf
 #pty
 openssl
 #racc/cparse
 readline
 #sdbm
 socket
 stringio
 strscan
 syck
 syslog
 #tcltklib
 thread
 #tk
 #win32ole
 zlib

5) ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-openssl-dir=/usr  --with-
readline-dir=/usr --with-zlib-dir=/usr

This assumes ruby will be install under /usr/local

Now before you run make, you MUST apply the fix from here:
http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/1735

6) vim Makefile

and apply the fix:

  - CFLAGS = -g -O2 -DRUBY_EXPORT -D_GNU_SOURCE=1
  + CFLAGS = -g -DRUBY_EXPORT -D_GNU_SOURCE=1

save the file and then

7) make
8) sudo make install

Then I would suggest installing rubygems manually:

9) wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/60718/rubygems-1.3.5.tgz
10) tar zxf rubygems-1.3.5.tgz
11) cd rubygems-1.3.5/
12) sudo ruby setup.rb

Now you should be all set and ready to install the syntax gem, and any
others than depend on it, like cucumber in my case.

Wow, I must admit that was my longest ruby installation ever ...

Good luck!

Kind regards,
Marcin Domanski