Why do I not have permissions to run this method?

Question

I'm using a Ruby gem called IMGKit and when I use the gem's to_img method in the console I get this error:

IMGKit::CommandFailedError: Command failed: /rubyprograms/search --format jpg http://google.com -: /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/open3.rb:67:in `exec': Permission denied - /rubyprograms/search (Errno::EACCES)
from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/open3.rb:67:in `popen3'
from /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/open3.rb:53:in `fork'

I have no clue what's going on.

This is the to_img method:

def to_img(format = nil)
  append_stylesheets
  set_format(format)

  result = nil
  stderr_output = nil
  Open3.popen3(*command) do |stdin,stdout,stderr|
    stdin << (@source.to_s) if @source.html?
    stdin.close
    result = stdout.gets(nil)
    result.force_encoding("ASCII-8BIT") if result.respond_to? :force_encoding
    stderr_output = stderr.readlines.join
    stdout.close
    stderr.close
  end
  raise CommandFailedError.new(command.join(' '), stderr_output)  unless result
  return result
end

For some reason it seems I do not have access to this method on Mac OSX. What are some things I should do to find out what the problem is and fix it?

Answer 1

Re-read the error message:

Command failed: /rubyprograms/search --format jpg http://google.com -: /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/open3.rb:67:in `exec': Permission denied - /rubyprograms/search (Errno::EACCES)

The "Permission denied" error is returned from kernel.exec() ← Open3.popen3() when trying to execute command /rubyprograms/search. Make sure that file has execute permission (chmod +x), try running it from Terminal.