`gem install <gem>` now fails if gem host doesn't support specs API

[elondres-mim]

Describe the problem as clearly as you can

I am trying to use a private rubygems host in AWS CodeArtifact. This host does not support specs.4.8.gz. A couple months ago, I could gem install activesupport without issue. Today, I ran gem update --system, and now gem install activesupport fails with the following error message:

ERROR:  Could not find a valid gem 'activesupport' (= 8.0.0), here is why:
          Unable to download data from https://path/to/rubygems/host - bad response Not Found 404 (https://path/to/rubygems/host/specs.4.8.gz)

Did you try upgrading RubyGems?

Yes, that is what caused the problem for me.

Post steps to reproduce the problem

• Install new ruby and update rubygems
• Attempt to install from a gem host that does not support specs.4.8.gz

Which command did you run?

• gem install activesupport

What were you expecting to happen?

activesupport gem installed

What actually happened?

error message

Run gem env and paste the output below

RubyGems Environment:

• RUBYGEMS VERSION: 3.5.23
• RUBY VERSION: 3.3.5 (2024-09-03 patchlevel 100) [x86_64-linux]
• INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /home/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.3.5
• USER INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /home/user/.gem/ruby/3.3.0
• RUBY EXECUTABLE: /home/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-3.3.5/bin/ruby
• GIT EXECUTABLE: /bin/git
• EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /home/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.3.5/bin
• SPEC CACHE DIRECTORY: /home/user/.gem/specs
• SYSTEM CONFIGURATION DIRECTORY: /home/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-3.3.5/etc
• RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
  • ruby
  • x86_64-linux
• GEM PATHS:
  • /home/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.3.5
  • /home/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-3.3.5/lib/ruby/gems/3.3.0
• GEM CONFIGURATION:
  • :update_sources => true
  • :verbose => true
  • :backtrace => true
  • :bulk_threshold => 1000
  • :sources => [""]
• REMOTE SOURCES:
• SHELL PATH:
  • /home/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.3.5/bin
  • /home/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-3.3.5@global/bin
  • /home/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-3.3.5/bin
  • /home/user/.rvm/bin
  • /bin
  • /home/user/bin
  • /usr/local/mysql/bin
  • /home/user/pkg/arcanist/bin
  • /usr/local/sbin
  • /usr/local/bin
  • /usr/sbin
  • /usr/bin
  • /sbin
  • /bin
  • /usr/games
  • /usr/local/games
  • /snap/bin
  • /snap/bin

[deivid-rodriguez]

Do you recall the previous working version that you were using? If not, can you go back a few versions to verify this is a regression? If it fails with every RubyGems version, could this be some change in AWS CodeArtifact?

[elondres-mim]

I can try to bisect rubygems version in a second, but as a top-level heuristic, it consistently fails using the ruby:3.3.6 docker image and consistently succeeds using the ruby:3.3.4 docker image

[deivid-rodriguez]

Cool. That means it's a regression between RubyGems 3.5.11 (version shipped with 3.3.4) and RubyGems 3.5.22 (version shipped with 3.3.6).

[elondres-mim]

I believe 3.5.19 introduced the regression.

[deivid-rodriguez]

Thanks! I'd say the culprit is #8006. We fixed one regression with that and released it with RubyGems 3.5.21, but it seems that there's still another regression. I'll look into setting up some AWS code artifact sources and see if I can figure it out.

[deivid-rodriguez]

Hi! I'm setting up a codeartifact repository to see if I can get this to reproduce. Do I need to connect the repository to rubygems.org following this? Or this also reproduces with purely private gems, no rubygems.org involved?

[elondres-mim]

I believe you should be able to reproduce the issue even with purely private gems.

[deivid-rodriguez]

Ok, cool, I'll start with that then.

[SagareGanesh]

@deivid-rodriguez Any updates on this issue? It’s still failing with the latest version (3.6.8).
Also, do we have any workaround available if we want to continue using the latest version?