>>>>> "Alex" == alex land <doug.ybarbo / gmail.com> writes:

    Alex> Hi: I have tried everything i can think of to install RubyGems, but no
    Alex> success.  I would be grateful for any assistance.  In sum, my problem
    Alex> is that i can't install the Gems' System (so obviously my problem is
    Alex> not with a particular library/Gem-i haven't got that far yet).

    Alex> 1.  My rig: a MacBook Core 2 Duo; It's my personal Mac and i have the
    Alex> admin password.

That is good. You will need the admin password for 'sudo' to install the
rubygems install.

    Alex> 2.  version of Ruby i'm running (v. 1.82)

This version of Ruby *should* work. Later upto date versions are available at
Darwinports though (see the link below):

         http://darwinports.com/

    Alex> 3.  What i've done: went to rubyforge, downloaded and upacked 0.9.4
    Alex> RubyGems (tried one prior release just in case, same result)

Use the latest version.

    Alex> 4.  tried to do an install from my Terminal (% ruby setup.rb <--that's
    Alex> hat the readme file says to do, and indeed, that file is in the
    Alex> distribution.

That is correct. However, you need to install as root (via sudo).


[...]


    Alex> 6.  Here's my Terminal window output i got when i tried to run the
    Alex> setup file (which i'll copy in tedious detail in case some small piece
    Alex> of this is the key):


[...]


    Alex> mkdir -p /usr/bin/ install gem 
    Alex> /usr/bin/ setup.rb:633:in `initialize':
    Alex> Permission denied - /usr/bin/gem (Errno::EACCES) from setup.rb:633:in
          ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

This says it all. You were trying to install using your normal user ID; you will
need a root ID (i.e., the 'Admin' user ID) to install the ruby gems system.

So, instead of typing the following in terminal:

    ruby setup.rb

Do this:

    sudo ruby setup.rb

and provide the admin password when the password prompt comes up.

[...]

    Alex> 7.  I used, i think, Macaroni or something similar to repair my
    Alex> permissions (did this several times), then tried to re-install, same
    Alex> result.

Your system permissions are fine. This was an access level issue.

HTH,
-- 
Anupam