invalid date error when installing syntax gem

[Joel VanderWerf]

Anyone else getting this error? I didn't find any recent mention of it.

gem install syntax --backtrace
ERROR:  While executing gem ... (ArgumentError)
     invalid date
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/date.rb:727:in `new'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/yaml.rb:133:in `node_import'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/yaml.rb:133:in `load'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/1.8/yaml.rb:133:in `load'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/specification.rb:476:in
`from_yaml'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_input.rb:182:in
`load_gemspec'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_input.rb:50:in
`initialize'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_reader.rb:63:in
`each'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_reader.rb:54:in
`loop'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_reader.rb:54:in
`each'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_input.rb:31:in
`initialize'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_input.rb:16:in `new'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package/tar_input.rb:16:in
`open'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/package.rb:56:in `open'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/format.rb:67:in `from_io'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/format.rb:51:in
`from_file_by_path'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/format.rb:50:in `open'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/format.rb:50:in
`from_file_by_path'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/installer.rb:119:in `initialize'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/dependency_installer.rb:239:in
`new'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/dependency_installer.rb:239:in
`install'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/dependency_installer.rb:222:in
`each'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/dependency_installer.rb:222:in
`install'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/commands/install_command.rb:118:in
`execute'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/commands/install_command.rb:115:in
`each'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/commands/install_command.rb:115:in
`execute'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/command.rb:257:in `invoke'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/command_manager.rb:132:in
`process_args'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/command_manager.rb:102:in `run'
        /usr/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/gem_runner.rb:58:in `run'
        /usr/local/bin/gem:21

--
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

[Joel VanderWerf]

Joel VanderWerf wrote:
>
> Anyone else getting this error? I didn't find any recent mention of it.
>
> gem install syntax --backtrace
> ERROR:  While executing gem ... (ArgumentError)
>     invalid date

Forgot to say: this is the only gem with this problem. I set up a new
system today with about 40 other gems that installed fine, except the
ones dependent on syntax.

There's no improvement when downloading the gem file and installing it.
The same version of syntax (1.0.0) has worked for me before, with the
same versions of ruby and gem.

$ ruby -v
ruby 1.8.6 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 287) [i686-linux]
$ gem --version
1.3.5

However, I'm using gcc 4.4.1 for the first time (ubuntu 9.10).

--
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

[dondoman]

On Nov 4, 6:14 am, Joel VanderWerf <vj...@...> wrote:

> Joel VanderWerf wrote:
>
> > Anyone else getting this error? I didn't find any recent mention of it.
>
> > gem install syntax --backtrace
> > ERROR:  While executing gem ... (ArgumentError)
> >     invalid date
>
> Forgot to say: this is the only gem with this problem. I set up a new
> system today with about 40 other gems that installed fine, except the
> ones dependent on syntax.
>
> There's no improvement when downloading the gem file and installing it.
> The same version of syntax (1.0.0) has worked for me before, with the
> same versions of ruby and gem.
>
> $ ruby -v
> ruby 1.8.6 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 287) [i686-linux]
> $ gem --version
> 1.3.5
>
> However, I'm using gcc 4.4.1 for the first time (ubuntu 9.10).
>
> --
>        vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

Hi,

I was getting the same error when installing cucumber (it depends on
diff-lcs, which depends on syntax). And after a few long hours of
fighting with this bug I have found a solution!

It turns out there is a bug in ruby 1.8.6 for 64 bit architecture. And
guess what, the problem is with date. You can read more about the bug,
and the solution, here: http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/1735.
So, to solve the problem I had to compile ruby myself. Here are the
steps I did:

1) wget ftp://ftp.ruby-lang.org/pub/ruby/1.8/ruby-1.8.6-p286.tar.gz
2) tar zxf ruby-1.8.6-p286.tar.gz
3) cd ruby-1.8.6-p286

Now I changed some ext settings, as described here: http://blog.ghandal.net/2009/01/

4) vim ext/Setup, and uncomment some extensions:

 #Win32API
 #bigdecimal
 curses
 #dbm
 digest
 digest/md5
 #digest/rmd160
 digest/sha1
 digest/sha2
 dl
 enumerator
 #etc
 #fcntl
 #gdbm
 iconv
 #io/wait
 #nkf
 #pty
 openssl
 #racc/cparse
 readline
 #sdbm
 socket
 stringio
 strscan
 syck
 syslog
 #tcltklib
 thread
 #tk
 #win32ole
 zlib

5) ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-openssl-dir=/usr  --with-
readline-dir=/usr --with-zlib-dir=/usr

This assumes ruby will be install under /usr/local

Now before you run make, you MUST apply the fix from here:
http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/show/1735

6) vim Makefile

and apply the fix:

  - CFLAGS = -g -O2 -DRUBY_EXPORT -D_GNU_SOURCE=1
  + CFLAGS = -g -DRUBY_EXPORT -D_GNU_SOURCE=1

save the file and then

7) make
8) sudo make install

Then I would suggest installing rubygems manually:

9) wget http://rubyforge.org/frs/download.php/60718/rubygems-1.3.5.tgz
10) tar zxf rubygems-1.3.5.tgz
11) cd rubygems-1.3.5/
12) sudo ruby setup.rb

Now you should be all set and ready to install the syntax gem, and any
others than depend on it, like cucumber in my case.

Wow, I must admit that was my longest ruby installation ever ...

Good luck!

Kind regards,
Marcin Domanski

[Luis Lavena]

On Nov 4, 2:14 am, Joel VanderWerf <vj...@...> wrote:

> Joel VanderWerf wrote:
>
> > Anyone else getting this error? I didn't find any recent mention of it.
>
> > gem install syntax --backtrace
> > ERROR:  While executing gem ... (ArgumentError)
> >     invalid date
>
> Forgot to say: this is the only gem with this problem. I set up a new
> system today with about 40 other gems that installed fine, except the
> ones dependent on syntax.
>
> There's no improvement when downloading the gem file and installing it.
> The same version of syntax (1.0.0) has worked for me before, with the
> same versions of ruby and gem.
>
> $ ruby -v
> ruby 1.8.6 (2008-08-11 patchlevel 287) [i686-linux]
> $ gem --version
> 1.3.5
>
> However, I'm using gcc 4.4.1 for the first time (ubuntu 9.10).
>

The problem is related to gcc 4.4 and some issue with date parsing.

Try getting gcc (Ubuntu 4.4.2-1ubuntu4) 4.4.2

--
Luis Lavena

[Joel VanderWerf]

Luis Lavena wrote:
> The problem is related to gcc 4.4 and some issue with date parsing.
>
> Try getting gcc (Ubuntu 4.4.2-1ubuntu4) 4.4.2

Thanks!

I tried to find 4.4.2 in karmic-proposed or karmic-backports, but no
luck. Do you install 4.4.2 from lucid? From source?

I added a comment on launchpad about this... I would hope that, since
4.4.2 is a bugfix release, it gets pushed into the updates for karmic.

--
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

[Victor-39]

Any news on this? I'm having the same issue and I guess I'll have to
go through the manual install if there has been no patch submitted
yet...

Thanks
Victor

On Nov 27, 3:03 pm, Joel VanderWerf <vj...@...> wrote:

> Luis Lavena wrote:
> > The problem is related to gcc 4.4 and some issue with date parsing.
>
> > Try getting gcc (Ubuntu 4.4.2-1ubuntu4) 4.4.2
>
> Thanks!
>
> I tried to find 4.4.2 in karmic-proposed or karmic-backports, but no
> luck. Do you install 4.4.2 from lucid? From source?
>
> I added a comment on launchpad about this... I would hope that, since
> 4.4.2 is a bugfix release, it gets pushed into the updates for karmic.
>
> --
>        vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407

[Joel VanderWerf]

Victor wrote:

> Any news on this? I'm having the same issue and I guess I'll have to
> go through the manual install if there has been no patch submitted
> yet...
>
> Thanks
> Victor
>
> On Nov 27, 3:03 pm, Joel VanderWerf <vj...@...> wrote:
>> Luis Lavena wrote:
>>> The problem is related to gcc 4.4 and some issue with date parsing.
>>> Try getting gcc (Ubuntu 4.4.2-1ubuntu4) 4.4.2
>> Thanks!
>>
>> I tried to find 4.4.2 in karmic-proposed or karmic-backports, but no
>> luck. Do you install 4.4.2 from lucid? From source?
>>
>> I added a comment on launchpad about this... I would hope that, since
>> 4.4.2 is a bugfix release, it gets pushed into the updates for karmic.

Victor,

if you're on ubuntu, you can install gcc-4.3, export CC='gcc-4.3', and
rebuild ruby. Anyway, that fixed it for me.

--
       vjoel : Joel VanderWerf : path berkeley edu : 510 665 3407