rails error, couldn't parse YAML

Question

After updating the gems I've got this:

/home/megas/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p136/lib/ruby/1.9.1/psych.rb:148:in `parse': couldn't parse YAML at line 182 column 9 (Psych::SyntaxError)
    from /home/megas/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p136/lib/ruby/1.9.1/psych.rb:148:in `parse_stream'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p136/lib/ruby/1.9.1/psych.rb:119:in `parse'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p136/lib/ruby/1.9.1/psych.rb:106:in `load'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/RedCloth-4.2.3/lib/redcloth/formatters/latex.rb:6:in `<module:LATEX>'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/RedCloth-4.2.3/lib/redcloth/formatters/latex.rb:3:in `<top (required)>'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/RedCloth-4.2.3/lib/redcloth.rb:21:in `require'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/RedCloth-4.2.3/lib/redcloth.rb:21:in `<top (required)>'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/RedCloth-4.2.3/lib/case_sensitive_require/RedCloth.rb:6:in `require'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/RedCloth-4.2.3/lib/case_sensitive_require/RedCloth.rb:6:in `<top (required)>'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/bundler-1.0.10/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:68:in `require'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/bundler-1.0.10/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:68:in `block (2 levels) in require'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/bundler-1.0.10/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:66:in `each'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/bundler-1.0.10/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:66:in `block in require'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/bundler-1.0.10/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:55:in `each'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/bundler-1.0.10/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:55:in `require'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/bundler-1.0.10/lib/bundler.rb:120:in `require'
    from /home/megas/Work/railscasts/config/application.rb:10:in `<top (required)>'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/railties-3.0.3/lib/rails/commands.rb:28:in `require'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/railties-3.0.3/lib/rails/commands.rb:28:in `block in <top (required)>'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/railties-3.0.3/lib/rails/commands.rb:27:in `tap'
    from /home/megas/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p136/gems/railties-3.0.3/lib/rails/commands.rb:27:in `<top (required)>'
    from script/rails:6:in `require'
    from script/rails:6:in `<main>'

ruby-1.9.2-p136 rails 3.0.3

Tried to reinstall gem RedCloth, didn't help, system wants to use only 4.2.3 version

Any idea how to fix it? Thanks

Answer 1

I had this problem. My problem was I had an extra tab in my database.yml file.

Answer 2

Need to check .yml files for error, I have found problem in my database.yml

Answer 3

For those pursuing this issue I have just found that my database.yml was triggering this error because it had no space between the password: keyword and the password. An almost invisible error, and with a database.yml that had worked without errors on an earlier version of rails.

Answer 4

I had this problem because i had used a tab instead of spaces

Answer 5

My regular Rails 3 App also had this problem, because I was using a localized yaml File for Date/Times.

As you can see in this commit https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/dc94d81 this can be easy "fixed" by placing the array in seperate lines.

         -    order: [ :year, :month, :day ]
    18  +    order:
    19  +      - :year
    20  +      - :month
    21  +      - :day

Answer 6

I had a similar issue with a malformed YAML translation file. It used a variable before defining it. The following was wrong:

...
messages:
  ...
  <<: *errors_messages
...
messages: &errors_messages
...

It had to be changed to:

...
messages: &errors_messages
...
messages:
  ...
  <<: *errors_messages
...

Then it started working again.