Can't find OpenSSL headers/libs when installing Ruby1.9 from source

Question

I'm trying to install Ruby 1.9 from source, and I can't seem to get it to figure out where the OpenSSL headers and libraries are located. ruby-1.9.2/ext/openssl/extconf.rb says it can't find openssl/ssl.h -- which I've very definitely installed in ~/.local/include (the corresponding OpenSSL library is in ~/.local/lib).

How can I tell Ruby where to look for C libraries and headers when compiling?

EDIT: fixed it, --with-openssl-dir=/home/<user>/.local/ was what I needed.

Answer 1

Did you try -I ?

Answer 2

Export CFLAGS with -I:

export CFLAGS="-I~/.local/include"

I'm not sure if ~ expansion will be done. If not, try using absolute paths:

export CFLAGS="-I/home/user/.local/include"