Invalid gem format, for every gem in rails

[Brian]

I've been trying to upgrade InstantRails2.0 to a more recent version
of rails. I've updated gem to version 1.3.5. When I do a simple 'gem
update rails', I got the 'Invalid gem format' error for
activesupport-2.3.5.gem. After researching it and finding a couple
threads here, I tried to delete this gem from the cache. Still didn't
work, it just got re-loaded when installing rails. I tried going to
version 2.3.3 of rails, since I don't need the latest and greatest,
and a thread here suggested a problem in the latest repository.

I tried manually downloading the activesupport-2.3.3.gem and
installing from that local downloaded gem. This appeared to work, so
I downloaded rails-2.3.3.gem and tried to install this local copy. I
continue to get the 'invalid gem format' for a different gem each
time. Each time I manually download and 'gem install local' the
version that last reported the error, and each time I get the 'invalid
gem format' for another gem.

What's the root problem? I've just finally got rails 2.3.3 to install,
but I need to do this on another machine as well, and am really not
looking forward to doing this process again.

[linoj]

I'm having a similar problem, on osx updating rails

$ sudo gem update --system
$ sudo gem update rails
ERROR: Error installing rails:
invalid gem format for /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/cache/
activerecord-2.3.5.gem

I've tried deleting the file, doing gem install vs update, etc and
still get this error.

[linoj]

more info:

$ sudo rm /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/cache/activerecord-2.3.5.gem
$ sudo gem update rails --debug -V
Exception `NameError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/
command_manager.rb:161 - uninitialized constant
Gem::Commands::UpdateCommand
Exception `Gem::LoadError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/
rubygems.rb:827 - Could not find RubyGem test-unit (>= 0)

Updating installed gems
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/latest_specs.4.8.gz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.github.com/latest_specs.4.8.gz
Updating rails
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/rails-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/rake-0.8.7.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/specs.4.8.gz
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:135 -
end of file reached
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:120 -
end of file reached
connection reset after 2 requests, retrying
GET 200 OK: http://gems.github.com/specs.4.8.gz
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:135 -
end of file reached
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:120 -
end of file reached
connection reset after 5 requests, retrying
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/activesupport-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/activerecord-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/actionpack-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/actionmailer-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/activeresource-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/activesupport-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/activesupport-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/rack-1.0.0.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/rack-1.0.1.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/actionpack-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/activesupport-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
Installing gem activerecord-2.3.5
Exception `Gem::Package::FormatError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/
1.8/rubygems/package/tar_input.rb:110 - No metadata found!
Exception `Gem::InstallError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/
rubygems/installer.rb:121 - invalid gem format for /opt/local/lib/ruby/
gems/1.8/cache/activerecord-2.3.5.gem

ERROR: Error installing rails:
invalid gem format for /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/cache/
activerecord-2.3.5.gem

Nothing to update


$ sudo rm /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/cache/activerecord-2.3.5.gem
$ sudo gem install activerecord
ERROR: Error installing activerecord:

invalid gem format for /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/cache/
activerecord-2.3.5.gem

[22:09][jonathan@jsl:~/rails/jqui]$ sudo rm /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/
1.8/cache/activerecord-2.3.5.gem
[22:09][jonathan@jsl:~/rails/jqui]$ sudo gem install activerecord
ERROR: Error installing activerecord:

invalid gem format for /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/cache/
activerecord-2.3.5.gem

[22:11][jonathan@jsl:~/rails/jqui]$ sudo rm /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/
1.8/cache/activerecord-2.3.5.gem
Password:
[22:21][jonathan@jsl:~/rails/jqui]$ sudo gem install activerecord --
debug -V
Exception `NameError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/
command_manager.rb:161 - uninitialized constant
Gem::Commands::InstallCommand
Exception `Gem::LoadError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/
rubygems.rb:827 - Could not find RubyGem test-unit (>= 0)

GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/latest_specs.4.8.gz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.github.com/latest_specs.4.8.gz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/activerecord-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/specs.4.8.gz
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:135 -
end of file reached
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:120 -
end of file reached
connection reset after 2 requests, retrying
GET 200 OK: http://gems.github.com/specs.4.8.gz
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:135 -
end of file reached
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:120 -
end of file reached
connection reset after 4 requests, retrying
GET 200 OK: http://gems.rubyforge.org/quick/Marshal.4.8/activesupport-2.3.5.gemspec.rz
Installing gem activerecord-2.3.5
Downloading gem activerecord-2.3.5.gem
GET 302 Found: http://gems.rubyforge.org/gems/activerecord-2.3.5.gem
Exception `EOFError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/1.8/net/protocol.rb:135 -
end of file reached
GET 200 OK: http://s3.amazonaws.com/gemcutter_production/gems/activerecord-2.3.5.gem
Exception `Gem::Package::FormatError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/
1.8/rubygems/package/tar_input.rb:110 - No metadata found!
Exception `Gem::InstallError' at /opt/local/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/
rubygems/installer.rb:121 - invalid gem format for /opt/local/lib/ruby/
gems/1.8/cache/activerecord-2.3.5.gem
ERROR: Error installing activerecord:

invalid gem format for /opt/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/cache/
activerecord-2.3.5.gem

[Brian]

I've been googling this for awhile. The most relevant post seems to be
this:

http://www.ruby-forum.com/topic/200151

I've updated gem to 1.3.5 and installed (from local) the rubygems-
update-1.3.5.gem and then ran gem update --system. The update gem said
it installed successfully and the gem update --system command returns
with 'Nothing to update'. The above link mentioned that not
connecting to the gemcutter and s3.amazon sites could be a problem.
I've tested this, and I can't connect to them, I'm behind a firewall
at work. Is this still a problem, even if the gem update --system
command returns with 'Nothing to update'?

At this point, I'm tempted to blow everything away and start from
scratch, if I knew that would resolve my gem errors somehow. I've
recently got upgraded to rails 2.3.3, and now have run into this 'a
copy of ApplicationController has been removed from the module
tree'... error, and now because of this gem error it's difficult to
change versions of rails, which I need to in order to keep working.
Right now, I'm pretty unhappy with rails.