--- title: macOS --- # Installing Forem on macOS ## Installing prerequisites ### Ruby 1. **Note:** MacOS ships with a version of Ruby, needed for various operating systems. To avoid causing an issue with your operating system you should use a version manager for Ruby. If you don't already have a Ruby version manager, we highly recommend [rbenv](https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv). This will allow you to have different versions running on a per project basis. The MacOS system version of Ruby will stay intact while giving you the ability to use the version needed for this Forem project. Please follow their [installation guide](https://github.com/rbenv/rbenv#installation). 2. With the Ruby version manager, install the Ruby version listed on our badge. (i.e. with rbenv: `rbenv install $(cat .ruby-version)`) **Note:** The repository must be forked and cloned before running the `rbenv install $(cat .ruby-version)` command. ### Yarn Please refer to their [installation guide](https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/install). ### PostgreSQL Forem requires PostgreSQL version 11 or higher to run. The easiest way to get started is to use [Postgres.app](https://postgresapp.com/). Alternatively, check out the official [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) site for more installation options. For additional configuration options, check our [PostgreSQL setup guide](/installation/postgresql). ### ImageMagick Forem uses [ImageMagick](https://imagemagick.org/) to manipulate images on upload. You can install ImageMagick with `brew install imagemagick`. ### Redis Forem requires Redis version 6.0 or higher to run. We recommend using [Homebrew](https://brew.sh): ```shell brew install redis ``` you can follow the post installation instructions, we recommend using `brew services` to start Redis in the background: ```shell brew services start redis ``` You can test if it's up and running by issuing the following command: ```shell redis-cli ping ``` ## Installing Forem 1. Fork Forem's repository, e.g. 2. Clone your forked repository in one of two ways: - e.g. with HTTPS: `git clone https://github.com//forem.git` - e.g. with SSH: `git clone git@github.com:/forem.git` 3. Install bundler with `gem install bundler` 4. Set up your environment variables/secrets - Take a look at `.env_sample` to see all the `ENV` variables we use and the fake default provided for any missing keys. - If you use a remote computer as dev env, you need to set `APP_DOMAIN` variable to the remote computer's domain name. - The [backend guide](/backend) will show you how to get free API keys for additional services that may be required to run certain parts of the app. - For any key that you wish to enter/replace, follow the steps below. 1. Create `.env` by copying from the provided template (i.e. with bash: `cp .env_sample .env`). This is a personal file that is ignored in git. 2. Obtain the development variable and apply the key you wish to enter/replace. i.e.: ```shell export CLOUDINARY_API_KEY="SOME_REAL_SECURE_KEY_HERE" export CLOUDINARY_API_SECRET="ANOTHER_REAL_SECURE_KEY_HERE" export CLOUDINARY_CLOUD_NAME="A_CLOUDINARY_NAME" ``` - You do not need "real" keys for basic development. Some features require certain keys, so you may be able to add them as you go. 5. Run `bin/setup` ### Possible error messages **Error:** `rbenv install hangs at ruby-build: using readline from homebrew` **_Solution:_** [Stackoverflow answer](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/63599818/rbenv-install-hangs-at-ruby-build-using-readline-from-homebrew) `RUBY_CONFIGURE_OPTS=--with-readline-dir="$(brew --prefix readline)" rbenv install 2.0.0` **Error:** `__NSPlaceholderDate initialize] may have been in progress in another thread when fork() was called` **_Solution:_** Run the command `export OBJC_DISABLE_INITIALIZE_FORK_SAFETY=YES` (or `set -x OBJC_DISABLE_INITIALIZE_FORK_SAFETY YES` in fish shell) --- **Error:** `User does not have CONNECT privilege.` **_Solution:_** Complete the steps outlined in the [PostgreSQL setup guide](/installation/postgresql). --- **Error:** `rbenv: version '' is not installed (set by /Path/To/Local/Repository/.ruby-version)` **_Solution:_** Run the command `rbenv install ` --- **Error:** `ruby-build: definition not found: ` when `rbenv` was installed via `brew`. ```shell ruby-build: definition not found: See all available versions with `rbenv install --list`. If the version you need is missing, try upgrading ruby-build: ``` **_Solution:_** Run the following to update `ruby-build`, `brew update && brew upgrade ruby-build`. After that, rerun `rbenv install ` and that version will get installed. --- **Error:** ```shell == Preparing database == Sorry, you can't use byebug without Readline. To solve this, you need to rebuild Ruby with Readline support. If using Ubuntu, try `sudo apt-get install libreadline-dev` and then reinstall your Ruby. rails aborted! LoadError: dlopen(/Users//.rbenv/versions/2.6.5/lib/ruby/2.6.0/x86_64-darwin18/readline.bundle, 9): Library not loaded: /usr/local/opt/readline/lib/libreadline..dylib ``` **_Solution:_** Run `ln -s /usr/local/opt/readline/lib/libreadline.dylib /usr/local/opt/readline/lib/libreadline..dylib` from the command line then run `bin/setup` again. You may have a different version of libreadline, so replace `` with the version that errored. --- **Error:** ```shell PG::Error: ERROR: invalid value for parameter "TimeZone": "UTC" : SET time zone 'UTC' ``` **_Solution:_** Restart your Postgres.app, or, if you installed PostgreSQL with Homebrew, restart with: ```shell brew services restart postgresql ``` If that doesn't work, reboot your Mac. --- **Error:** ```shell ERROR: Error installing pg: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension. [...] Can't find the 'libpq-fe.h header *** extconf.rb failed *** ``` **_Solution:_** You may encounter this when installing PostgreSQL with the Postgres.app. Try restarting the app and reinitializing the database. If that doesn't work, install PostgreSQL with Homebrew instead: `brew install postgresql` --- > If you encountered any errors that you subsequently resolved, **please > consider updating this section** with your errors and their solutions.