This was a stupid problem that being somewhere between noob and mid level *nix geek really hurt me. Either way, painful as it was:

If you are using Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon), and you follow any of the tutorials or info for building Rails software stacks, and also happen to be trying to do all this with a PostgreSQL (postgres) database, you are going to need to install the postgres gem. If you are using Ubuntu’s package management (which you should be!) you may hit a problem. In some mythical land there was a package named postgresql-dev or something along those lines, and it had all the required headers, but it has apparently been renamed (drum roll)

libpq-dev

So apt-get or synaptic your way to db bliss.

(oh, just in case, here’s the command:

apt-get install libpq-dev

)

In case you’re curious, here was the magical googcantation that found the grail:

“which ubuntu packages does the postgres gem need?”

Seriously…

Hey, if you tried it first, you wouldn’t be here. LOL