“Errno::EACCESS…permission denied” running compass

Question

I just migrated my project files onto a new PC on the D: drive whilst my programs (Git, Node Js, Ruby, etc) are on the C: drive.

I have tried to run compass watch after editing a SASS file, but encounter this error:

Errno::EACCES on line ["897"] of C: Permission denied - <D:/project_dir/stylesheets/app.css20140323-10532-gziux, D:/project_dir/stylesheets/app.css>
Run with --trace to see the full backtrace

I'm a novice with Ruby at the command line (as I only use it for web development purposes). What do I need to do to allow the permissions?

Please let me know if I can provide more information.

EDIT: Here's what was returned after running compass watch --trace:

D:\project_dir>compass watch --trace
>>> Change detected at 21:53:53 to: app.scss
overwrite stylesheets/app.css
Errno::EACCES on line ["897"] of C: Permission denied - (D:/project_dir/stylesheets/app.css20140323-14712-11v62k7, D:/project_dir/stylesheets/app.css)
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/sass-3.2.18/lib/sass/util.rb:897:in `atomic_create_and_write_file'
C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/actions.rb:58:in `write_file'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/compiler.rb:143:in `compile'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/compiler.rb:118:in `compile_if_required'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/compiler.rb:103:in `block (2 levels) in run'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/compiler.rb:101:in `each'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/compiler.rb:101:in `block in run'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/compiler.rb:126:in `timed'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/compiler.rb:100:in `run'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/commands/watch_project.rb:147:in `recompile'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/commands/watch_project.rb:68:in `perform'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/commands/base.rb:18:in `execute'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/commands/project_base.rb:19:in `execute'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/exec/sub_command_ui.rb:43:in `perform!'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/lib/compass/exec/sub_command_ui.rb:15:in `run!'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/bin/compass:30:in `block in <top (required)>'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/bin/compass:44:in `call'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.0.0/gems/compass-0.12.4/bin/compass:44:in `<top (required)>'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/bin/compass:23:in `load'
    C:/Ruby200-x64/bin/compass:23:in `<main>'
>>> Compass is polling for changes. Press Ctrl-C to Stop.

I don't know what to make from that though.

From doing some reading (https://github.com/chriseppstein/compass/issues/1406) I believe it's something to do with the permissions or PATH for 'Ruby' & 'Ruby Gems' but I don't know what to do to resolve this.

Answer 1

Uninstall SASS: gem uninstall sass

Uninstall COMPASS: gem uninstall compass

Install --pre COMPASS version: gem install compass --pre

Install --pre SASS version: gem install sass --pre

Answer 2

I had the same problem. I did the suggested - uninstall & install with the --pre, however that didn't solve my problem. I've run into another problems after that. Well, what I did then is: I've uninstalled the compass and sass gem again. I deleted all compass related gems in the ruby/gems/ruby1.9.1/gems folder (which is probably not necessary, not sure) and than I installed: gem install compass --version "0.12.2" and gem install sass --version "3.2.10". I don't think that the versions here are too important as long as it is not the newest versions of these two. Now the important bit here is to: gem uninstall sass . It will ask you which version to wipe out or if all of them. Delete the newer one. The trick here is that compass installs automatically a newest version of sass. So if you install an older one it doesn't matter as there is already newer one with compass which will get used. Try it.

Answer 3

Looks like issue is solved in SASS 3.2.19

so all you need is gem update compass

Answer 4

I was having this same issue for a while and eventually fixed it manually. After some digging, the issue appears to be that in util.rb, the temp file is being renamed before the file is closed. In Windows, this apparently isn't permitted (although not sure why I suddenly started getting the problem after it had been working on the past).

The fix for me was to edit util.rb (PATH_TO_RUBY\lib\ruby\gems\1.9.1\gems\sass-3.2.18\lib\sass\util.rb). I copied the line closing the temp file to before the permission change + rename on line 897. Here is the updated function as I now have it:

def atomic_create_and_write_file(filename, perms = 0666)
      require 'tempfile'
      tmpfile = Tempfile.new(File.basename(filename), File.dirname(filename))
      tmpfile.binmode if tmpfile.respond_to?(:binmode)
      result = yield tmpfile
      tmpfile.flush # ensure all writes are flushed to the OS
      begin
        tmpfile.fsync # ensure all buffered data in the OS is sync'd to disk.
      rescue NotImplementedError
        # Not all OSes support fsync
      end
      tmpfile.close if tmpfile
      # Make file readable and writeable to all but respect umask (usually 022).
      File.chmod(perms & ~File.umask, tmpfile.path)
      File.rename tmpfile.path, filename
      result
    ensure
      # close and remove the tempfile if it still exists,
      # presumably due to an error during write
      tmpfile.close if tmpfile
      tmpfile.unlink if tmpfile
    end

One big caveat here is that I'm not a Ruby person and I'm sure there is probably a better way. But I just tried this mod quickly, and it worked, so I didn't put more into it.

Answer 5

I was having a similar issue and I was able to resolve it by un-installing both compass and sass:

gem uninstall compass 
gem uninstall sass

Then, all you need to do is install compass:

gem install compass

sass is required as part of the compass install so there shouldn't be any need to install it separately. It appears that the issue I was facing was that there was a conflict between the version installed as part of the compass install and the one I installed manually.

Answer 6

Issue got resolved for me when I ran the cygwin command prompt window as administrator.