Gem update fails on Ubuntu 18.04

[fasmat]

When I try to update the dbm gem on ubuntu 18.04 I receive the following error:

Updating dbm
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing dbm:
        ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    current directory: /var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/dbm-1.1.0/ext/dbm
/usr/bin/ruby2.5 -I /usr/local/lib/site_ruby/2.5.0 -r ./siteconf20200115-24133-6eh10c.rb extconf.rb
checking for -lgdbm... yes
checking for DBM in gdbm-ndbm.h... no
checking for -lgdbm... yes
checking for DBM in gdbm/ndbm.h... no
checking for -lgdbm... yes
checking for DBM in ndbm.h... no
*** 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=/usr/bin/$(RUBY_BASE_NAME)2.5
        --with-dbm-dir
        --without-dbm-dir
        --with-dbm-include
        --without-dbm-include=${dbm-dir}/include
        --with-dbm-lib
        --without-dbm-lib=${dbm-dir}/lib
        --with-dbm-type
        --with-gdbmlib
        --without-gdbmlib
        --with-gdbmlib
        --without-gdbmlib
        --with-gdbmlib
        --without-gdbmlib

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

  /var/lib/gems/2.5.0/extensions/x86_64-linux/2.5.0/dbm-1.1.0/mkmf.log

extconf failed, exit code 1

mkmf.log:

have_library: checking for -lgdbm... -------------------- yes

"gcc -o conftest -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby-2.5.0 -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0/ruby/backward -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0 -I. -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2   -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/ruby2.5-B0MvC_/ruby2.5-2.5.1=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC conftest.c  -L. -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -L. -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -fstack-protector -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic     -lruby-2.5  -lpthread -lgmp -ldl -lcrypt -lm   -lc"
checked program was:
/* begin */
1: #include "ruby.h"
2: 
3: int main(int argc, char **argv)
4: {
5:   return 0;
6: }
/* end */

"gcc -o conftest -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby-2.5.0 -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0/ruby/backward -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0 -I. -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2   -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/ruby2.5-B0MvC_/ruby2.5-2.5.1=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC conftest.c  -L. -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -L. -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -fstack-protector -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic     -lruby-2.5 -lgdbm  -lpthread -lgmp -ldl -lcrypt -lm   -lc"
checked program was:
/* begin */
 1: #include "ruby.h"
 2: 
 3: /*top*/
 4: extern int t(void);
 5: int main(int argc, char **argv)
 6: {
 7:   if (argc > 1000000) {
 8:     printf("%p", &t);
 9:   }
10: 
11:   return 0;
12: }
13: 
14: int t(void) { ; return 0; }
/* end */

--------------------

have_type: checking for DBM in gdbm-ndbm.h... -------------------- no

"gcc -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby-2.5.0 -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0/ruby/backward -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0 -I. -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2   -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/ruby2.5-B0MvC_/ruby2.5-2.5.1=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC   -c conftest.c"
conftest.c:3:10: fatal error: gdbm-ndbm.h: No such file or directory
 #include <gdbm-ndbm.h>
          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
checked program was:
/* begin */
1: #include "ruby.h"
2: 
3: #include <gdbm-ndbm.h>
4: 
5: /*top*/
6: typedef DBM conftest_type;
7: int conftestval[sizeof(conftest_type)?1:-1];
/* end */

--------------------

have_library: checking for -lgdbm... -------------------- yes

"gcc -o conftest -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby-2.5.0 -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0/ruby/backward -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0 -I. -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2   -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/ruby2.5-B0MvC_/ruby2.5-2.5.1=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC conftest.c  -L. -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -L. -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -fstack-protector -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic     -lruby-2.5 -lgdbm  -lpthread -lgmp -ldl -lcrypt -lm   -lc"
checked program was:
/* begin */
 1: #include "ruby.h"
 2: 
 3: /*top*/
 4: extern int t(void);
 5: int main(int argc, char **argv)
 6: {
 7:   if (argc > 1000000) {
 8:     printf("%p", &t);
 9:   }
10: 
11:   return 0;
12: }
13: 
14: int t(void) { ; return 0; }
/* end */

--------------------

have_type: checking for DBM in gdbm/ndbm.h... -------------------- no

"gcc -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby-2.5.0 -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0/ruby/backward -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0 -I. -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2   -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/ruby2.5-B0MvC_/ruby2.5-2.5.1=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC   -c conftest.c"
conftest.c:3:10: fatal error: gdbm/ndbm.h: No such file or directory
 #include <gdbm/ndbm.h>
          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
checked program was:
/* begin */
1: #include "ruby.h"
2: 
3: #include <gdbm/ndbm.h>
4: 
5: /*top*/
6: typedef DBM conftest_type;
7: int conftestval[sizeof(conftest_type)?1:-1];
/* end */

--------------------

have_library: checking for -lgdbm... -------------------- yes

"gcc -o conftest -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby-2.5.0 -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0/ruby/backward -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0 -I. -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2   -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/ruby2.5-B0MvC_/ruby2.5-2.5.1=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC conftest.c  -L. -L/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu -L. -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -fstack-protector -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic     -lruby-2.5 -lgdbm  -lpthread -lgmp -ldl -lcrypt -lm   -lc"
checked program was:
/* begin */
 1: #include "ruby.h"
 2: 
 3: /*top*/
 4: extern int t(void);
 5: int main(int argc, char **argv)
 6: {
 7:   if (argc > 1000000) {
 8:     printf("%p", &t);
 9:   }
10: 
11:   return 0;
12: }
13: 
14: int t(void) { ; return 0; }
/* end */

--------------------

have_type: checking for DBM in ndbm.h... -------------------- no

"gcc -I/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/ruby-2.5.0 -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0/ruby/backward -I/usr/include/ruby-2.5.0 -I. -Wdate-time -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2   -g -O2 -fdebug-prefix-map=/build/ruby2.5-B0MvC_/ruby2.5-2.5.1=. -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -fPIC   -c conftest.c"
conftest.c:3:10: fatal error: ndbm.h: No such file or directory
 #include <ndbm.h>
          ^~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
checked program was:
/* begin */
1: #include "ruby.h"
2: 
3: #include <ndbm.h>
4: 
5: /*top*/
6: typedef DBM conftest_type;
7: int conftestval[sizeof(conftest_type)?1:-1];
/* end */

--------------------

libgdbm-dev is installed, so all dependencies should be fulfilled to build the gem?

[nulty]

Try libgdbm-compat-dev

[Still34]

Can confirm, the library above fixed my problem.

[olleolleolle]

@fasmat 👋 Does the above workaround make it possible to close this issue?

---

The GitHub Actions CI configuration uses another library libdb-dev.

Hope things work out for you.

[fasmat]

Yes this solved my issue.