>>>>> "M" == Mike Calder <ceo / phosco.com> writes:

M> I suspect the problem is where the library modules and files are expected to 
M> be - I just can't sort it out; I've copied everything several times over in 
M> every place I think they should be; I have multiple copies all the same 
M> in ../ruby/1.8, ../ruby/site-ruby/1.8, in my home directory ../ruby/1.8 
M> and ../ruby/site-ruby/1.8. 

 Well, the problem is that you must *not* manually copy the files.

 First before installing a module, verify if it's not distributed with your
 version of ruby. It's useless to have multiple versions of the same
 extensions 

 Then read the file README.en (or ...) which come with the extension.

 Generally there are 2 ways to install an extension

    $ ruby extconf.rb
    $ make 
   ($ su)
    # make install

   or

    $ ruby install.rb config
    $ ruby install.rb setup
   ($ su)
    # ruby install.rb install
    

Guy Decoux