Passenger installation with nginx fails

apparently, the gem is installed in a place that's off the path, according to

http://groups.google.com/group/phusion-passenger/browse_thread/thread/78ca12c4838034a6/b5a3c7a00a871283?lnk=gst&q=ubuntu+9.10#b5a3c7a00a871283

Frustrating error, which is why I leave this question rather than delete it (and, with the upvote, I think I'm not the only one with the problem).

I know you already answered the question, but figured I'd chime in with a cent or two.

I recently did a similar nginx install, but chose to go with RVM for managing Ruby versions, which requires us to NOT use sudo.

I recommend this route because all versions of Ruby and all your gems are organized neatly in your home directory. Doing so will also require you to compile nginx manually, which certainly helps understand the pipes a little.

You can compile nginx manually using the "--add-module=/home/user/path_to_passenger_gem/ext," but you'll want to read up RVM's instructions very carefully...really, don't skip a line as they are very concise.

Here's a link to RVM's instructions:

http://rvm.beginrescueend.com/passenger/

and to the Nginx manual instructions (which you probably already skimmed).

http://www.modrails.com/documentation/Users%20guide%20Nginx.html#_installing_phusion_passenger_for_nginx_manually

I have got a bit of information on my blog regarding setting up nginx with passenger (and ssl in this case). Perhaps it is of use since it goes through the whole process of recompiling nginx with options.