Gem::Ext::BuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension for rails version 4.2.6

Question

I have created new rails app and try to run bundle install it shows this error,

Gem::Ext::BuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.
current directory: /var/lib/gems/2.3.0/gems/json-1.8.6/ext/json/ext/generator/usr/bin/ruby2.3 -r ./siteconf20170704-11395-12tpg5u.rb extconf.rb
mkmf.rb can't find header files for ruby at /usr/lib/ruby/include/ruby.h
extconf failed, exit code 1

Gem files will remain installed in /var/lib/gems/2.3.0/gems/json-1.8.6 for inspection.
Results logged to /var/lib/gems/2.3.0/extensions/x86_64-linux/2.3.0/json-1.8.6/gem_make.out

An error occurred while installing json (1.8.6), and Bundler cannot continue.
Make sure that `gem install json -v '1.8.6'` succeeds before bundling

Kindly send me some suggestions,Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

If you have a Mac or Linux machine try the following command:

sudo apt-get install ruby-dev

If that fails, what is your output for:

gem install json -v '1.8.6'

(please copy and paste all the output).

Similar issue

I'm not sure what will fix it for Mac, but people had positive experiences with brew install ruby.

Answer 2

If anyone facing this error with Mac OS Big Sur, please update the ruby version to atleast 2.7. I am using rvm to resolve this issue.