Can't install vagrant plugins in Ubuntu

Question

I was trying to install vagrant plugin vbguest, but got following errors in terminal:

$ vagrant plugin install vbguest
Installing the 'vbguest' plugin. This can take a few minutes...
/usr/lib/ruby/2.3.0/rubygems/specification.rb:946:in `all=': undefined method `group_by' for nil:NilClass (NoMethodError)
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/bundler.rb:275:in `with_isolated_gem'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/bundler.rb:231:in `internal_install'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/bundler.rb:102:in `install'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/plugin/manager.rb:62:in `block in install_plugin'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/plugin/manager.rb:72:in `install_plugin'
    from /usr/share/vagrant/plugins/commands/plugin/action/install_gem.rb:37:in `call'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/action/warden.rb:34:in `call'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/action/builder.rb:116:in `call'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/action/runner.rb:66:in `block in run'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/util/busy.rb:19:in `busy'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/action/runner.rb:66:in `run'
    from /usr/share/vagrant/plugins/commands/plugin/command/base.rb:14:in `action'
    from /usr/share/vagrant/plugins/commands/plugin/command/install.rb:32:in `block in execute'
    from /usr/share/vagrant/plugins/commands/plugin/command/install.rb:31:in `each'
    from /usr/share/vagrant/plugins/commands/plugin/command/install.rb:31:in `execute'
    from /usr/share/vagrant/plugins/commands/plugin/command/root.rb:56:in `execute'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/cli.rb:42:in `execute'
    from /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/environment.rb:268:in `cli'
    from /usr/bin/vagrant:173:in `<main>'

I am using Virtual Box 5.0.18_Ubuntu r106667 and ruby 2.3.0p0. I also faced the same problem trying to install sahara plugin. How can I fix it?

Answer 1

Yes, there is an issue: https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/issues/7073 in Vagrant 1.8.1

PR with fix: https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/pull/7198

The fix should be released in Vagrant 1.8.2.

---

But until that you can patch it manually.

Here are the steps to fix Vagrant 1.8.1 under Ubuntu 16.04 which has ruby 2.3.0.

1.) Create file vagrant-plugin.patch with the following contents:

---
 lib/vagrant/bundler.rb | 3 ++-
 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/lib/vagrant/bundler.rb b/lib/vagrant/bundler.rb
index 5a5c185..c4a3837 100644
--- a/lib/vagrant/bundler.rb
+++ b/lib/vagrant/bundler.rb
@@ -272,7 +272,6 @@ module Vagrant

       # Reset the all specs override that Bundler does
       old_all = Gem::Specification._all
-      Gem::Specification.all = nil

       # /etc/gemrc and so on.
       old_config = nil
@@ -286,6 +285,8 @@ module Vagrant
       end
       Gem.configuration = NilGemConfig.new

+      Gem::Specification.reset
+
       # Use a silent UI so that we have no output
       Gem::DefaultUserInteraction.use_ui(Gem::SilentUI.new) do
     return yield

2.) Apply patch:

sudo patch --directory /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant < vagrant-plugin.patch

which fixes /usr/lib/ruby/vendor_ruby/vagrant/bundler.rb.