Howto install RMagick 2 on CentOS/RHEL 5

Installing RMagick 2 on CentOS/RHEL 5 it’s not that hard, you just need to install ImageMagick newer than 6.3.5 (CentOS/RHEL 5 is shipping ImageMagick 6.2.8) and that’s the hardest part of the job.

[root@silver ~]# gem install rmagick
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing rmagick:
        ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.
 
/usr/local/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for Ruby version >= 1.8.5... yes
checking for gcc... yes
checking for Magick-config... yes
checking for ImageMagick version >= 6.3.5... no
Can't install RMagick 2.12.2. You must have ImageMagick 6.3.5 or later.

I’ve tried to avoid ImageMagick upgrade and to install RMagick 1, but RMagick 1 failed to install with a strange compile error, probably because the gcc compliler shipped with CentOS/RHEL 5 is too new for version 1.

I didn’t wanted to patch RMagick 1, neither to install from sources (I do prefer RPM packages). So, I’ve decided to upgrade ImageMagick library to satisfy RMagick 2 requirements.

Subscribe your system to the following repositories:

Install the following packages:

[root@silver ~]# yum --enablerepo=epel --enablerepo=rpmforge --enablerepo=centosplus install djvulibre-devel libwmf-devel jasper-devel libtool-ltdl-devel librsvg2-devel openexr-devel graphviz-devel gcc gcc-c++ ghostscript freetype-devel libjpeg-devel libpng-devel giflib-devel libwmf-devel libexif-devel libtiff-devel

Add “–noplugins” if you are using “yum-priorities”, or it will fail to install packages.

Download ImageMagick.spec to your SPECS directory and ImageMagick-6.5.7-0.tar.bz2 to SOURCES directory and then rebuild the rpm using rpmbuild:

[root@silver SPECS]# rpmbuild -ba ImageMagick.spec
 
[...]

Or just grab the source RPM from here:
http://red.penguin.ro/SRPMS/ImageMagick-6.5.7-0.src.rpm

and build it:

[root@silver ~]# rpmbuild --rebuild ImageMagick-6.5.7-0.src.rpm 
Installing ImageMagick-6.5.7-0.src.rpm
warning: user vitalie does not exist - using root
warning: group vitalie does not exist - using root
warning: user vitalie does not exist - using root
warning: group vitalie does not exist - using root
Executing(%prep): /bin/sh -e /home/worf/rpmbuild/tmp/rpm-tmp.11936
+ umask 022
+ cd /home/worf/rpmbuild/BUILD
+ LANG=C
+ export LANG
+ unset DISPLAY
+ cd /home/worf/rpmbuild/BUILD
+ rm -rf ImageMagick-6.5.7-0
+ /usr/bin/bzip2 -dc /home/worf/rpmbuild/SOURCES/ImageMagick-6.5.7-0.tar.bz2
+ tar -xf -
 
[...]
 
Requires(rpmlib): rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) <= 3.0.4-1 rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) <= 4.0-1
Requires: /bin/sh ImageMagick-c++ = 6.5.7-0 ImageMagick-devel = 6.5.7-0 libMagick++.so.2()(64bit)
Processing files: ImageMagick-debuginfo-6.5.7-0
Provides: Magick.so.debug()(64bit) analyze.so.debug()(64bit) art.so.debug()(64bit) avi.so.debug()(64bit) avs.so.debug()(64bit) bmp.so.debug()(64bit) braille.so.debug()(64bit) cals.so.debug()(64bit) caption.so.debug()(64bit) cin.so.debug()(64bit) cip.so.debug()(64bit) clip.so.debug()(64bit) cmyk.so.debug()(64bit) cut.so.debug()(64bit) dcm.so.debug()(64bit) dds.so.debug()(64bit) dib.so.debug()(64bit) djvu.so.debug()(64bit) dng.so.debug()(64bit) dot.so.debug()(64bit) dpx.so.debug()(64bit) ept.so.debug()(64bit) fax.so.debug()(64bit) fits.so.debug()(64bit) gif.so.debug()(64bit) gradient.so.debug()(64bit) gray.so.debug()(64bit) hald.so.debug()(64bit) histogram.so.debug()(64bit) hrz.so.debug()(64bit) html.so.debug()(64bit) icon.so.debug()(64bit) info.so.debug()(64bit) inline.so.debug()(64bit) ipl.so.debug()(64bit) jp2.so.debug()(64bit) jpeg.so.debug()(64bit) label.so.debug()(64bit) libMagick++.so.2.0.0.debug()(64bit) libMagickCore.so.2.0.0.debug()(64bit) libMagickWand.so.2.0.0.debug()(64bit) magick.so.debug()(64bit) map.so.debug()(64bit) mat.so.debug()(64bit) matte.so.debug()(64bit) meta.so.debug()(64bit) miff.so.debug()(64bit) mono.so.debug()(64bit) mpc.so.debug()(64bit) mpeg.so.debug()(64bit) mpr.so.debug()(64bit) msl.so.debug()(64bit) mtv.so.debug()(64bit) mvg.so.debug()(64bit) null.so.debug()(64bit) otb.so.debug()(64bit) palm.so.debug()(64bit) pattern.so.debug()(64bit) pcd.so.debug()(64bit) pcl.so.debug()(64bit) pcx.so.debug()(64bit) pdb.so.debug()(64bit) pdf.so.debug()(64bit) pict.so.debug()(64bit) pix.so.debug()(64bit) plasma.so.debug()(64bit) png.so.debug()(64bit) pnm.so.debug()(64bit) preview.so.debug()(64bit) ps.so.debug()(64bit) ps2.so.debug()(64bit) ps3.so.debug()(64bit) psd.so.debug()(64bit) pwp.so.debug()(64bit) raw.so.debug()(64bit) rgb.so.debug()(64bit) rla.so.debug()(64bit) rle.so.debug()(64bit) scr.so.debug()(64bit) sct.so.debug()(64bit) sfw.so.debug()(64bit) sgi.so.debug()(64bit) stegano.so.debug()(64bit) sun.so.debug()(64bit) svg.so.debug()(64bit) tga.so.debug()(64bit) thumbnail.so.debug()(64bit) tiff.so.debug()(64bit) tile.so.debug()(64bit) tim.so.debug()(64bit) ttf.so.debug()(64bit) txt.so.debug()(64bit) uil.so.debug()(64bit) url.so.debug()(64bit) uyvy.so.debug()(64bit) vicar.so.debug()(64bit) vid.so.debug()(64bit) viff.so.debug()(64bit) wbmp.so.debug()(64bit) wmf.so.debug()(64bit) wpg.so.debug()(64bit) x.so.debug()(64bit) xbm.so.debug()(64bit) xc.so.debug()(64bit) xcf.so.debug()(64bit) xpm.so.debug()(64bit) xps.so.debug()(64bit) xwd.so.debug()(64bit) ycbcr.so.debug()(64bit) yuv.so.debug()(64bit)
Requires(rpmlib): rpmlib(CompressedFileNames) <= 3.0.4-1 rpmlib(PayloadFilesHavePrefix) <= 4.0-1
Checking for unpackaged file(s): /usr/lib/rpm/check-files /home/worf/rpmbuild/tmp/ImageMagick-6.5.7-0-root-root
Wrote: /home/worf/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ImageMagick-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm
Wrote: /home/worf/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ImageMagick-devel-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm
Wrote: /home/worf/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ImageMagick-doc-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm
Wrote: /home/worf/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ImageMagick-perl-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm
Wrote: /home/worf/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ImageMagick-c++-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm
Wrote: /home/worf/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ImageMagick-c++-devel-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm
Wrote: /home/worf/rpmbuild/RPMS/x86_64/ImageMagick-debuginfo-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm
Executing(%clean): /bin/sh -e /home/worf/rpmbuild/tmp/rpm-tmp.25482
+ umask 022
+ cd /home/worf/rpmbuild/BUILD
+ cd ImageMagick-6.5.7-0
+ rm -rf /home/worf/rpmbuild/tmp/ImageMagick-6.5.7-0-root-root
+ exit 0
Executing(--clean): /bin/sh -e /home/worf/rpmbuild/tmp/rpm-tmp.25482
+ umask 022
+ cd /home/worf/rpmbuild/BUILD
+ rm -rf ImageMagick-6.5.7-0
+ exit 0

Uninstall i386 ImageMagick libraries if you are on x86_64 system:

[root@silver ~]# rpm -qa | grep ImageMagick | grep -i i386 | xargs rpm -e

Install the new RPMs compiled in the previous steps:

[root@silver x86_64]# rpm -Uvh ImageMagick-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm ImageMagick-c++-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm ImageMagick-c++-devel-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm ImageMagick-devel-6.5.7-0.x86_64.rpm

Finally, install the RMagick 2 plugin:

[root@silver ~]# gem install rmagick --no-rdoc --no-ri
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
Successfully installed rmagick-2.12.2
1 gem installed

10 comments ↓

#1 Josh on 11.13.09 at 2:04 am

Thanks so much for posting this – you’re a lifesaver, I wouldn’t have been able to get past this showstopper without this post!

#2 Sho on 11.13.09 at 7:43 am

Thank you very much, that was a great help and saved me a lot of time.

#3 Upgrading ImageMagick on RHEL5 « Sho Fukamachi Online on 11.13.09 at 9:21 am

[...] of ImageMagick, a custom build from source, lacked proper PNG support. A bit of searching uncovered this excellent guide to installing it from a source RPM – but I had a few modifications to those instructions so [...]

#4 eljay on 12.11.09 at 4:13 pm

By any chance, is it possible to download the binary rpm you have generated ?

#5 Vitalie Cherpec on 12.11.09 at 6:56 pm

Sure, you can download them here:

http://red.penguin.ro/RPMS/

#6 Avin on 01.13.10 at 10:19 am

Thank you very much, I found this is best Artical for ImageMagick on RHEL5/CentOS5.

Thanks Again

#7 Wahid on 01.27.10 at 4:35 pm

Incredible! It worked on Centos 5.4.

Just a note :
I stumbled upon a conflict for graphviz-devel between EPEL and RPMFORGE versions (the RPMFORGE one is what I needed) . I had to remove it from the line:

yum –enablerepo=epel –enablerepo=rpmforge –enablerepo=centosplus install djvulibre-devel libwmf-devel jasper-devel libtool-ltdl-devel librsvg2-devel openexr-devel gcc gcc-c++ ghostscript freetype-devel libjpeg-devel libpng-devel giflib-devel libwmf-devel libexif-devel libtiff-devel

Then adding it alone disabling epel repository:

yum –disablerepo=epel install graphviz-devel

Thanks a lot!

#8 Dimitris on 03.22.10 at 4:23 am

Although I followed successfully all the steps of your tutorial, gem install rmagick still returns error about lMagick and lMagickCore. I’m on a CentOS 5 machine and I’ve spend many many hours with this error.

Please any ideas?

/usr/local/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for Ruby version >= 1.8.5… yes
checking for gcc… yes
checking for Magick-config… yes
checking for ImageMagick version >= 6.3.5… yes
checking for HDRI disabled version of ImageMagick… yes
checking for stdint.h… yes
checking for sys/types.h… yes
checking for wand/MagickWand.h… yes
checking for InitializeMagick() in -lMagickCore… no
checking for InitializeMagick() in -lMagick… no
Can’t install RMagick 2.12.2. Can’t find the ImageMagick library or one of the dependent libraries. Check the mkmf.log file for more detailed information.

#9 Vitalie Cherpec on 03.22.10 at 11:32 pm

Check that you have installed devel packages on your machine:

rpm -qa | grep -i ‘^ImageMagick’ | grep devel

ImageMagick-devel
ImageMagick-c++-devel

#10 Ramon Tayag on 10.31.10 at 6:26 pm

This was a great help, thanks. It’s probably my newbie-ness, but things didn’t work out for me as easy as copy and paste, so I put how I did it on CentOS 5.5, i386 machine here: http://goo.gl/0BQc

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