heroku run rake db:migrate works correctly when typed into console, but not when run via a rake task

Question

I have the following task:

task :migrate_test => :environment do
   puts 'Running database migrations ...'
   puts `heroku run rake db:migrate --app my-app`
end

When I run heroku run rake db:migrate --app my-app in the console, the migration proceeds successfully. However, when I run rake migrate_test, I receive the following error:

---

Running database migrations ...
/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/1.8/rubygems/dependency.rb:52:in `initialize': Valid types are [:development, :runtime], not nil (ArgumentError)
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:371:in `new'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:371:in `search'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:361:in `gems_size'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:159:in `start'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:159:in `map'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:159:in `start'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:128:in `resolve'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:127:in `catch'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/resolver.rb:127:in `resolve'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/definition.rb:182:in `resolve'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/definition.rb:113:in `specs'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/definition.rb:162:in `specs_for'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/definition.rb:151:in `requested_specs'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/environment.rb:23:in `requested_specs'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/runtime.rb:11:in `setup'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler.rb:116:in `setup'
    from /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/gems/bundler-1.2.0/lib/bundler/setup.rb:17

---

I believe it has something to do with rake running task in a different process that can't find the path, but haven't been able to find out how to tackle.

Answer 1

The solution was to upgrade the Heroku toolbelt. I still received an error /Users/Will/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194@global/bin/rake: No such file or directory but I guess the toolbelt is smart enough to compensate. The most recent toolbelt can be found here: https://toolbelt.heroku.com/

I would also suggest using exec ... as opposed to puts ... in the rake task since you'll be able to see the progress in realtime.

Answer 2

Nothing's wrong with your code. See this issue on GitHub.

Just update rubygems and RVM. Or even better: use rbenv!