rvm can't compile ruby: fails openssl check

Question

I'm trying to install ruby 2.7.6 on MacOS 11.6.1 using rvm . I am specifying the location of a brew-installed openssl but the logs say that it isn't the right version. Everything looks OK to me. I am not sure how to troubleshoot further. Verbose details below.

I execute this command:

rvm install 2.7.6 --with-openssl-dir=`brew --prefix openssl@1.1`

The relevant part of the RVM log is

openssl:
    Could not be configured. It will not be installed.
    Check ext/openssl/mkmf.log for more details.

The relevant part of ext/openssl/mkmf.log is:

checking for OpenSSL version >= 1.0.1 and < 3.0.0... -------------------- no

"gcc -I../../.ext/include/x86_64-darwin20 -I../.././include -I../.././ext/openssl -I/usr/local/include  -I/usr/local/opt/libyaml/include -I/usr/local/opt/libksba/include -I/usr/local/opt/readline/include -I/usr/local/opt/zlib/include -I/usr/local/opt/openssl@1.1/include -D_XOPEN_SOURCE -D_DARWIN_C_SOURCE -D_DARWIN_UNLIMITED_SELECT -D_REENTRANT   -g -O2 -fno-common -pipe    -c conftest.c"
checked program was:
/* begin */
1: #include "ruby.h"
2: 
3: #include <openssl/opensslv.h>
4: 
5: /*top*/
6: int conftest_const[(OPENSSL_VERSION_NUMBER >= 0x10001000L) ? 1 : -1];
/* end */

"gcc -I../../.ext/include/x86_64-darwin20 -I../.././include -I../.././ext/openssl -I/usr/local/include  -I/usr/local/opt/libyaml/include -I/usr/local/opt/libksba/include -I/usr/local/opt/readline/include -I/usr/local/opt/zlib/include -I/usr/local/opt/openssl@1.1/include -D_XOPEN_SOURCE -D_DARWIN_C_SOURCE -D_DARWIN_UNLIMITED_SELECT -D_REENTRANT   -g -O2 -fno-common -pipe    -c conftest.c"
checked program was:
/* begin */
1: #include "ruby.h"
2: 
3: #include <openssl/opensslv.h>
4: 
5: /*top*/
6: int conftest_const[(OPENSSL_VERSION_MAJOR >= 3) ? 1 : -1];
/* end */

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

/Users/germuska/.rvm/src/ruby-2.7.6/ext/openssl/extconf.rb:111: OpenSSL >= 1.0.1, < 3.0.0 or LibreSSL >= 2.5.0 is required
    /Users/germuska/.rvm/src/ruby-2.7.6/ext/openssl/extconf.rb:111:in `<top (required)>'
    ./ext/extmk.rb:214:in `load'
    ./ext/extmk.rb:214:in `block in extmake'
    /Users/germuska/.rvm/src/ruby-2.7.6/lib/mkmf.rb:331:in `open'
    ./ext/extmk.rb:210:in `extmake'
    ./ext/extmk.rb:572:in `block in <main>'
    ./ext/extmk.rb:568:in `each'
    ./ext/extmk.rb:568:in `<main>'

Answer 1

Upon closer review, I realized I had an openssl directory (containing version 3) in /usr/local/include and that was on the include path ahead of the directory I specfied with the --with-openssl-dir option.

I fixed it by renaming /usr/local/include/openssl to /usr/local/include/openssl_hideme ; after that, the extension compiler found the version I wanted.

I would have guessed that includes on the command line would be put in front of the path, but lesson learned.