ffi Ruby Gem fails to compile

Question

Trying to install a jekyll theme the bundle install command failed with the following error:

Fetching ffi 1.12.2 (was 1.11.3)
Installing ffi 1.12.2 (was 1.11.3) with native extensions
Gem::Ext::BuildError: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    current directory: /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/gems/ffi-1.12.2/ext/ffi_c
/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/bin/ruby -I /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/site_ruby/2.6.0 -r ./siteconf20200226-30145-3rdfp2.rb extconf.rb
/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:1565: warning: Insecure world writable dir /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/bin in PATH, mode 040777
*** 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/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/bin/$(RUBY_BASE_NAME)
    --with-ffi_c-dir
    --without-ffi_c-dir
    --with-ffi_c-include
    --without-ffi_c-include=${ffi_c-dir}/include
    --with-ffi_c-lib
    --without-ffi_c-lib=${ffi_c-dir}/lib
    --enable-system-libffi
    --disable-system-libffi
    --with-libffi-config
    --without-libffi-config
    --with-pkg-config
    --without-pkg-config
/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:467:in `try_do': The compiler failed to generate an executable file. (RuntimeError)
You have to install development tools first.
    from /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:552:in `try_link0'
    from /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:570:in `try_link'
    from /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:672:in `try_ldflags'
    from /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:1832:in `pkg_config'
    from extconf.rb:9:in `system_libffi_usable?'
    from extconf.rb:34:in `<main>'

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

  /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/extensions/x86-linux/2.6.0/ffi-1.12.2/mkmf.log

extconf failed, exit code 1

Gem files will remain installed in /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/gems/ffi-1.12.2 for inspection.
Results logged to /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/extensions/x86-linux/2.6.0/ffi-1.12.2/gem_make.out

An error occurred while installing ffi (1.12.2), and Bundler cannot continue.
Make sure that `gem install ffi -v '1.12.2' --source 'https://rubygems.org/'` succeeds before bundling.

In Gemfile:
  minimal-mistakes-jekyll was resolved to 4.18.1, which depends on
    jekyll-feed was resolved to 0.13.0, which depends on
      jekyll was resolved to 4.0.0, which depends on
        jekyll-sass-converter was resolved to 2.1.0, which depends on
          sassc was resolved to 2.2.1, which depends on
            ffi

So I tried to do as it suggested:

$ gem install ffi -v '1.12.2' --source 'https://rubygems.org/'
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/site_ruby/2.6.0/rubygems/ext/builder.rb:76: warning: Insecure world writable dir /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/bin in PATH, mode 040777
ERROR:  Error installing ffi:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    current directory: /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/gems/ffi-1.12.2/ext/ffi_c
/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/bin/ruby -I /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/site_ruby/2.6.0 -r ./siteconf20200226-30498-uxx1at.rb extconf.rb
/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:1565: warning: Insecure world writable dir /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/bin in PATH, mode 040777
*** 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/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/bin/$(RUBY_BASE_NAME)
    --with-ffi_c-dir
    --without-ffi_c-dir
    --with-ffi_c-include
    --without-ffi_c-include=${ffi_c-dir}/include
    --with-ffi_c-lib
    --without-ffi_c-lib=${ffi_c-dir}/lib
    --enable-system-libffi
    --disable-system-libffi
    --with-libffi-config
    --without-libffi-config
    --with-pkg-config
    --without-pkg-config
/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:467:in `try_do': The compiler failed to generate an executable file. (RuntimeError)
You have to install development tools first.
    from /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:552:in `try_link0'
    from /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:570:in `try_link'
    from /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:672:in `try_ldflags'
    from /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/lib/ruby/2.6.0/mkmf.rb:1832:in `pkg_config'
    from extconf.rb:9:in `system_libffi_usable?'
    from extconf.rb:34:in `<main>'

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

  /srv/dev-disk-by-label-data/home/mark/gems/extensions/x86-linux/2.6.0/ffi-1.12.2/mkmf.log

extconf failed, exit code 1

The sentence "To see why this extension failed to compile" sounded interesting but the log file just contains:

pkg-config --exists libffi"
| pkg-config --libs libffi
=> "-lffi\n"
"gcc -o conftest -I/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/include/ruby-2.6.0/i686-linux -I/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/include/ruby-2.6.0/ruby/backward -I/usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.6.0/include/ruby-2.6.0 -I.  -$
checked program was:
/* begin */
1: #include "ruby.h"
2:
3: int main(int argc, char **argv)
4: {
5:   return 0;
6: }
/* end */

I have ruby-dev package installed. It's not clear to me why it fails.

Answer 1

For anyone having this problem, the following command works for me.

gem install ffi -- --enable-bundled-libffi

I also got similar error when trying to install fiddle, and this option will use the installed ffi.

gem install fiddle -- --enable-bundled-libffi

Answer 2

I was having this issue and tried messing with the ffi install again. But all I had to do was update.

Fixed for me by running:

bundle update

and then

bundle install

Answer 3

I had this issue today. install GCC prior to executing bundle install

Answer 4

For anyone else who is looking for a solution this helped me.

gem install ffi -- --disable-system-libffi

or for a specific version

gem install ffi -v '1.13.1' -- --disable-system-libffi

https://medium.com/@leoliang.climber/missing-ffi-prep-closure-error-for-ffi-1-13-1-gem-70f800a48090