libxml2-dev

[aixuser01]

I have 5.9 Standard GOLD built on Dec-16-07
I am trying to install some ruby  gems. One of which has a pre req for

libxml2-dev    which I can't seem to find anywhere. Do I need to build the whole libxml2 from source?

[caitlyn]

We don't have dev packages.  That is something other distros do but we don't.  Did you try the libxml2 package in the VL repo?

[aixuser01]

Hi,
thanks for the response. yes I do have the libxml2 package installed.
perhaps my issue is not what I thought.
I was told I'd need both libxml2 and libxml2-dev.. but from what you have said they are packaged together.

If my understanding is correct then the error I have is something else like a path or something..

I am attempting to install a ruby gem. it is trying to compile
I get this output.  it looks like its trying to find xmlParseDoc in xml2 but cant.

find_library: checking for xmlParseDoc() in -lxml2... -------------------- no

"gcc -o conftest -I. -I/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/i486-linux -I. -I/opt/local/include/ -I/opt/local/include/libxml2  -O2 -march=i486 -mtune=i686  -fPIC -march=i586 -mtune=i686 -g -DXP_UNIX -O3 -Wall -Wcast-qual -Wwrite-strings -Wconversion -Wmissing-noreturn -Winline conftest.c  -L'/usr/lib' -Wl,-R'/usr/lib' -L'/opt/local/lib'
-Wl,-R'/opt/local/lib'  -rdynamic -Wl,-export-dynamic     -lruby-static -lxml2
-ldl -lcrypt -lm   -lc"
conftest.c: In function 't':
conftest.c:3: error: 'xmlParseDoc' undeclared (first use in this function)
conftest.c:3: error: (Each undeclared identifier is reported only once
conftest.c:3: error: for each function it appears in.)
checked program was:

[aixuser01]

ok, after some research it appears the mkmf.rb requires the libruby-static.a library which is not on my system. I believe this should be included with the ruby package.

I also tried updating to the latest ruby

1.8.6_p287-i486-l_slack12.0 but this fails because it has a dep on
openssh 5.1p1-i486-l_slack12.0  which does not seem to be in the
software repository.

any thoughts on this?

[rbistolfi]

Is that a standard ruby library? If you have some suggestions for the ruby package just post them, we could do something for the next update.
Openssh is in patched repo, I posted in your other thread also

[aixuser01]

rbistolfi,
yes it is a standard ruby library and is required for the extconf.rb files to build any of the ruby packages. ruby uses "find_library" in its version of make (ext_conf.rb) which fails if it can't link to ruby-static

[aixuser01]

I found the source code for ruby 1.8.6 and compiled it. found the libruby-static.a and copied it to /usr/lib gem install worked perfectly.

I think you should include this in the next release of your ruby package, as being able to compile and install ruby   add ons ( like gems) is a huge part of the package.