ruby/rubygems · error · Gem::Package::PathError

installing into parent path %s of %s is not allowed

Error message

installing into parent path %s of %s is not allowed

What it means

Error "installing into parent path %s of %s is not allowed" thrown in ruby/rubygems.

Source

Thrown at lib/rubygems/package.rb:651

    @spec = nil
    @files = []
    raise
  rescue Errno::ENOENT => e
    raise Gem::Package::FormatError.new e.message
  rescue Zlib::GzipFile::Error, EOFError, Gem::Package::TarInvalidError => e
    raise Gem::Package::FormatError.new e.message, @gem
  end

  private

  ##
  # Returns the full path for installing +filename+ into +destination_dir+,
  # which must already be resolved with File.realpath by the caller.
  #
  # If +filename+ is not inside +destination_dir+ an exception is raised.

  def install_location(filename, destination_dir) # :nodoc:
    raise Gem::Package::PathError.new(filename, destination_dir) if
      filename.start_with? "/"

    destination = File.expand_path(filename, destination_dir)

    raise Gem::Package::PathError.new(destination, destination_dir) unless
      normalize_path(destination).start_with? normalize_path(destination_dir + "/")

    destination
  end

  ##
  # Raises an exception unless +dir+, with symlinks resolved, is
  # +destination_dir+ or a directory inside it.  +destination_dir+ must
  # already be resolved with File.realpath by the caller.

  def verify_extraction_dir(dir, destination_dir) # :nodoc:
    real_dir = File.realpath(dir)

View on GitHub (pinned to 86cbb817a3)

Solutions

1. Do not install this package: it contains an entry that would write outside the install directory
2. If you built the gem, fix the file list to remove parent-path entries and rebuild

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at lib/rubygems/package.rb:651 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of ruby/rubygems@86cbb817a3 (2026-08-23). Data as JSON: /api/errors/be6ca3b951511e79. Report an issue: GitHub.