Installing json gem for Rails on Windows

I have been using Windows (XP) for developing rails (version 3.2) via an upgraded version of Instant Rails.



When I changed my machine (Windows 7), I was forced to used bundle install again and found out an issue on installing one of the gems, specifically json.

Entering install gem json, still creates an error.

'make' is not recognized as internal or external command

Reading the logs, I was informed that make is an unavailable command. Actually, windows does not support the make command at all.

In this case, we would need to install a devkit for the said command. You may need to download the devkit files and install it.

The devkit files

1. Extract the zip files inside a directory
   
   
2. Add the [devkit-directory]/bin in your %PATH% in the environment variables
   
   
3. Add also your ruby directory (in my case is within the Instant Rails directory) in the said %PATH%
   
   This is required to configure your devkit, else the system would look for other missing commands such as gcc.exe
   
   
   
   
4. Now re-run all your consoles (cli)
   
   
5. Re-run your bundle install command
   
   

That should do the trick.

Troubleshoot -- make: gcc: Command not found

During the installation of the devkit, I encoutered the error regarding gcc. I was able to fixed it by configuring the devkit properly.

1. Go to the [devkit-directory]/bin
   
   
2. Run the following:
   

   ruby dk.rb init
   

   This will generate config.yml
   
   
3. Open config.yml and add your ruby directory.
   
   
4. Run the following command:
   

   ruby dk.rb install
   

   
   
5. Restart all CLI