HTTP request error: name or service not known - ruby

Question

I am trying to make HTTP requests via Ruby. When running the following code:
require "net/http"
require "uri"
uri = URI.parse("http://google.com/")
# Will print response.body
Net::HTTP.get_print(uri)
I get the following error:
SocketError: initialize: name or service not known
from org/jruby/ext/socket/RubyTCPSocket.java:129:in `initialize'
from org/jruby/RubyIO.java:1179:in `open'
from c:/jruby-1.7.3/lib/ruby/1.9/net/http.rb:762:in `connect'
from org/jruby/ext/timeout/Timeout.java:105:in `timeout'
from c:/jruby-1.7.3/lib/ruby/1.9/net/http.rb:762:in `connect'
from c:/jruby-1.7.3/lib/ruby/1.9/net/http.rb:755:in `do_start'
from c:/jruby-1.7.3/lib/ruby/1.9/net/http.rb:744:in `start'
from c:/jruby-1.7.3/lib/ruby/1.9/net/http.rb:454:in `get_response'
from c:/jruby-1.7.3/lib/ruby/1.9/net/http.rb:412:in `get_print'
from (irb):29:in `evaluate'
from org/jruby/RubyKernel.java:1066:in `eval'
from org/jruby/RubyKernel.java:1409:in `loop'
from org/jruby/RubyKernel.java:1174:in `catch'
from org/jruby/RubyKernel.java:1174:in `catch'
from c:/jruby-1.7.3/bin/irb:13:in `(root)'
This is probably proxy related, but I am not sure. How can I fix this problem?

Answer 1

Ruby will automatically use the HTTP proxy as specified in your environment variables.
EXPORT http_proxy=http://foo.bar:8080/
ruby your_http_script.rb

Answer 2

Same thing happened to me. No proxy was in use.
The reason was that I was not running as root and /etc/resolv.conf didn't have read permissions to anyone other than root. Adding read permissions solved the host resolving problem.