unable to install pg gem

Question

I tried using gem install pg but it doesn't seem to work.

gem install pg gives this error

Temporarily enhancing PATH to include DevKit...
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing pg:
        ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

C:/Ruby/bin/ruby.exe extconf.rb
checking for pg_config... no
No pg_config... trying anyway. If building fails, please try again with
 --with-pg-config=/path/to/pg_config
checking for libpq-fe.h... no
Can't find the 'libpq-fe.h header
*** extconf.rb failed ***
Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of
necessary libraries and/or headers.  Check the mkmf.log file for more
details.  You may need configuration options.

Provided configuration options:
        --with-opt-dir
        --without-opt-dir
        --with-opt-include
        --without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include
        --with-opt-lib
        --without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib
        --with-make-prog
        --without-make-prog
        --srcdir=.
        --curdir
        --ruby=C:/Ruby/bin/ruby
        --with-pg
        --without-pg
        --with-pg-dir
        --without-pg-dir
        --with-pg-include
        --without-pg-include=${pg-dir}/include
        --with-pg-lib
        --without-pg-lib=${pg-dir}/lib
        --with-pg-config
        --without-pg-config
        --with-pg_config
        --without-pg_config


Gem files will remain installed in C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/pg-0.10.1 for
inspection.
Results logged to C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/pg-0.10.1/ext/gem_make.out

Answer 1

Use with ARCH flag.

sudo env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install pg

This resolved the same issue you are having.

Answer 2

On Mac OS (El Capitano). You can simply use: brew install postgresql

Answer 3

I'd this issue on Linux Mint (Maya) 13, And I fixed it by Installing postgresql and postgresql-server :

apt-get install postgresql-9.1 

sudo apt-get install postgresql-server-dev-9.1

Answer 4

gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/usr/pgsql-9.1/bin/pg_config

Answer 5

I had this problem, this worked for me:

Install the postgresql-devel package, this will solve the issue of pg_config missing.

sudo apt-get install libpq-dev

Answer 6

I've been experiencing this annoying problem with PG for years. I created this gist to help.

The following command always work for me.

# Substitute Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/9.5 with appropriate version number
sudo ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install pg -- --with-pg-config=/Applications/Postgres.app/Contents/Versions/9.5/bin/pg_config

gist: https://gist.github.com/sharnie/5588340cf023fb177c8d