segmentation fault when trying to start rails

Question

I was running "rails server" on the console when my internet connection was interrupted.

When I tried to run rails, I got a segmentation fault.

When I executed

rails server

or

rails dbconsole

I got /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-2.0.0-p247/gems/sqlite3-1.3.3/lib/sqlite3/sqlite3_native.so: [BUG] Segmentation fault

I commented out sqlite from my Gemfile, then started up rails server successfully and then stopped it. I then uncommented sqlite and started rails server. Everything seems to be OK now.

Can anyone explain what happened? Should I be concerned about this. What should I do if this happens again?

I'm running ruby 1.8.7 and rails 3.0.5

Answer 1

The problem seems to happen because your environment is not configured properly, you write that you use ruby 1.8.7 but he error comes from ruby-2.0.0-p247 , such things happen when your shell initialization files reset/reconfigure PATH after RVM was loaded. To fix it one time run:

rvm use 1.8.7 --install

To fix it long term run:

rvm get stable --auto-dotfiles

and make sure to read all the outputs, RVM will give you warnings if things can be fixed automatically.

After the problem is fixed install gems for application:

bundle install

and try running application again:

rails s

Additionally to the misconfiguration I would advice you update your ruby because it is very old ruby that is no more supported and will not get security updates, so instead of the first command use:

rvm get stable
rvm use ruby --install --default --ruby-version

RVM resolves the name ruby to latest known version of ruby, --install will tell it to install the ruby if missing, --default will set this ruby as default and --ruby-version will generate .ruby-version file which loads the selected ruby when changing directories to the application folder (with cd ).

Answer 2

Ruby 1.8.7 is no more supported and will not get any security updates, you should update ASAP:

rvm use --install 2.0.0

Install application gems:

bundle install

And start rails again:

rails s