---
title: "Configuring bundler using bundle config"
description: "Set bundler configuration options via bundle config."
canonical_url: "https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/configuring-bundler-using-bundle-config"
markdown_url: "https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/configuring-bundler-using-bundle-config.md"
---

# Configuring bundler using bundle config

Set bundler configuration options via bundle config.

- Author: Prajakta Tambe
- Published: February 9, 2016
- Categories: Rails

[Bundler](http://bundler.io/) helps in managing gem dependencies of ruby
projects. You can specify which gems and versions you need, bundler will install
them and load them at runtime. Bundler ensures that gems you need are present in
the environment you need.

## Bundle configurations

Bundler gets its configurations from local application `(app/.bundle/config)`,
`environment variables` and user’s home directory `(~/.bundle/config)` in the
order of priority.

To list all bundler configurations for the current bundle, run bundle config
without any parameters. You will also get the location where the value is set.

```plaintext

$ bundle config
Settings are listed in order of priority. The top value will be used.

```

You might see different result based on configuration of bundler on your
machine.

To get value for the specific configuration setting, run bundle config with
name.

```plaintext

$ bundle config disable_multisource
Settings for `disable_multisource` in order of priority. The top value will be used
You have not configured a value for `disable_multistore`

```

## Setting Configuration

To set the value of the configuration setting, use bundle config with name and
value. Configuration will be stored in `~/.bundle/config`.

```plaintext

$ bundle config build.pg --with-pg-config=/opt/local/lib/postgresql91/bin/pg_config

$ bundle config
Settings are listed in order of priority. The top value will be used.
build.pg
Set for the current user (/Users/username/.bundle/config): "--with-pg-config=/opt/local/lib/postgresql91/bin/pg_config"

```

If any config already has a value, it will be overwritten directly and user will
be warned.

```plaintext

$ bundle config build.pg --with-pg-config=/usr/pgsql-9.1/bin/pg_config
You are replacing the current global value of build.pg, which is currently "--with-pg-config=/opt/local/lib/postgresql91/bin/pg_config"

```

## Application level configuration

By default setting configuration value will set it for all projects on the
machine. You can set configurations specific to local application with `--local`
option. This will store value in `app/.bundle/config`.

```plaintext

$ bundle config --local auto_install false
You are replacing the current local value of auto_install, which is currently nil

$ bundle config auto_install
Settings for `auto_install` in order of priority. The top value will be used
Set for your local app (/Users/username/Documents/Workspace/app-name/.bundle/config): "false"
Set for the current user (/Users/username/.bundle/config): "true"

```

You can run bundle config with `--global`. This will set values at global level
i.e. across all applications on the machine. It will be similar to running
bundle config without any options.

## Deleting configuration

You can delete configuration with `--delete` option.

```plaintext

$ bundle config --delete auto_install
$ bundle config
Settings are listed in order of priority. The top value will be used.
disable_multisource
Set for the current user (/Users/username/.bundle/config): "true"

build.pg
Set for the current user (/Users/username/.bundle/config): "--with-pg-config=/usr/pgsql-9.1/bin/pg_config"

```

This is not compatible with `--local` and `--global`. This will delete
configuration from local and global resources.

## Build Options

You can pass the flags required for installing particular gem to bundler with
bundle config.

Many El Capitan users face an
[issue](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30818391/gem-eventmachine-fatal-error-openssl-ssl-h-file-not-found)
while installing `eventmachine` gem. The issue can be resolved by providing path
to OpenSSL include directory while installing `eventmachine`.

```plaintext

$ gem install eventmachine -v '1.0.8' -- --with-cppflags=-I/usr/local/opt/openssl/include

```

As location of configuration will vary from machine to machine, we can set this
with bundle config.

```plaintext

$ bundle config build.eventmachine --with-cppflags=-I/usr/local/opt/openssl/include

```

Now bundler will pick this configuration while installing `eventmachine` gem.

## Configuration keys

Various configuration keys are available with bundler. These keys are available
in two forms. You can specify them in canonical form with `bundle config` or set
them in environment variable form. Following are canonical forms and their
usage. Corresponding environment variables are specified in bracket.

#### auto_install

Setting auto_install config will enable automatic installing of gems instead of
raising an error. This applies to `show`, `binstubs`, `outdated`, `exec`,
`open`, `console`, `license`, `clean` commands.

Example, When you try to run `bundle show` for the gem which is not yet
installed you will get an error.

```plaintext

$ bundle show pg
Could not find gem 'pg'.

```

You can set `auto_install` to remove this error and install gem.

```plaintext

$ bundle config auto_install true

$ bundle show pg
# Gem will get installed
/Users/username/.rvm/gems/ruby-2.2.2@gemset-auto/gems/pg-0.17.1

```

#### path (BUNDLE_PATH)

You can specify location to install your gems. Default path is \$GEM_HOME for
development and vendor/bundle when --deployment is used.

```plaintext

$ bundle config path NEW_PATH
$ bundle install
# Gems will get installed
#
#
Bundle complete! 4 Gemfile dependencies, 35 gems now installed.
Bundled gems are installed into NEW_PATH.

```

#### frozen (BUNDLE_FROZEN)

You can freeze changes to your Gemfile.

```plaintext

$ bundle config frozen true

```

If frozen is set and you try to run `bundle install` with changed Gemfile, you
will get following warning.

```plaintext

You are trying to install in deployment mode after changing
your Gemfile. Run `bundle install` elsewhere and add the
updated Gemfile.lock to version control.

If this is a development machine, remove the /Users/username/Documents/Workspace/app-name/Gemfile freeze
by running `bundle install --no-deployment`.

You have added to the Gemfile:
* minitest-reporters

```

#### without (BUNDLE_WITHOUT)

You can skip installing groups of gems with bundle install. Specify `:`
separated group names whose gems bundler should not install.

```plaintext

$ bundle config --local without development:test

$ bundle install
# This will install gems skipping development and test group gems.

```

#### bin (BUNDLE_BIN)

You can set the directory to install executables from gems in the bundle.

```plaintext

$ bundle config bin NEW_PATH

$ bundle install
# This will install executables in NEW_PATH

```

#### gemfile (BUNDLE_GEMFILE)

You can set the file which bundler should use as theGemfile. By default, bundler
will use `Gemfile`. The location of this file also sets the root of the project,
which is used to resolve relative paths in the Gemfile.

```plaintext

$ bundle config gemfile Gemfile-rails4

$ bundle install
# This will install gems from Gemfile-rails4 file.

```

#### ssl_ca_cert (BUNDLE_SSL_CA_CERT)

This specifies path to a designated CA certificate file or folder containing
multiple certificates for trusted CAs in PEM format. You can specify your own
`https` sources in Gemfile with corresponding certificates specified via
`bundle config`.

```plaintext

$ bundle config ssl_ca_cert NEW_CERTIFICATE_PATH

```

#### ssl_client_cert (BUNDLE_SSL_CLIENT_CERT)

This specifies path to a designated file containing a X.509 client certificate
and key in PEM format.

```plaintext

$ bundle config ssl_client_cert NEW_CERTIFICATE_PATH

```

#### cache_path (BUNDLE_CACHE_PATH)

You can set the path to place cached gems while running bundle package.

```plaintext

$ bundle config cache_path vendor/new-cache-path

$ bundle package
Using colorize 0.7.7
Using pg 0.17.1
Using bundler 1.11.2
Updating files in vendor/new-cache-path
  * colorize-0.7.7.gem
  * pg-0.17.1.gem
Bundle complete! 2 Gemfile dependencies, 3 gems now installed.
Use `bundle show [gemname]` to see where a bundled gem is installed.
Updating files in vendor/new-cache-path

```

#### disable_multisource (BUNDLE_DISABLE_MULTISOURCE)

When set, Gemfiles containing multiple sources will produce an error instead of
a warning.

With Gemfile,

```plaintext

source 'https://rubygems.org'
source 'http://gems.github.com'

ruby '2.2.2'

```

When you try to run `bundle install`, you will get warning.

```plaintext

$ bundle install
Warning: this Gemfile contains multiple primary sources. Using `source` more than once without a block is a security risk, and may result in installing unexpected gems. To resolve this warning, use a block to indicate which gems should come from the secondary source. To upgrade this warning to an error, run `bundle config disable_multisource true`.

```

```plaintext

$ bundle config --local disable_multisource true

$ bundle install
[!] There was an error parsing `Gemfile`: Warning: this Gemfile contains multiple primary sources. Each source after the first must include a block to indicate which gems should come from that source. To downgrade this error to a warning, run `bundle config --delete disable_multisource`. Bundler cannot continue.

 #  from /Users/username/Documents/Workspace//Gemfile:2
 #  -------------------------------------------
 #  source 'https://rubygems.org'
 >  source 'http://gems.github.com'
 #
 #  -------------------------------------------

```

To ignore all bundle config on the machine and run bundle install, set
`BUNDLE_IGNORE_CONFIG` environment variable.

## Links

- [Human page](https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/configuring-bundler-using-bundle-config)