title: Getting frequent Gem RemoteFetcher::FetchError. Any workarounds?
body: <p>I've been getting this error frequently every day for the last few days...</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ gem install rails -v 3.2.1
  ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Gem::RemoteFetcher::FetchError)
      bad response Forbidden 403 (http://production.cf.rubygems.org/gems/rdoc-3.12.gem)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>My understanding based on a <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8580753/gem-install-rails-failing-any-workaround">previous question</a> is that this is due to a problem with the remote repository and the solution is to just wait a little while and try again. Indeed, sometimes when I wait a few hours or overnight the install command works.</p>
  
  <p>However, I'm hoping for a more reliable experience.</p>
  
  <p>I thought of downloading files such as <code>rails-3.2.1.gem</code> and then running...</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ gem install --local ~/Desktop/rails-3.2.1.gem
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>But that gives me...</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ gem install --local ~/Desktop/rails-3.2.1.gem 
  ERROR:  While executing gem ... (Gem::DependencyError)
      Unable to resolve dependencies: rails requires railties (= 3.2.1)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I could try downloading railties. Maybe I will. But I sense a plunge down a rabbit hole there of searching out dependency after dependency all day long.</p>
  
  <p>Any alternate efficient ways to install gems? Is there something I could do through my repository specification that would allow gem installation to be more reliable?</p>
  
  <hr>
  
  <pre><code>$ gem environment
  RubyGems Environment:
    - RUBYGEMS VERSION: 1.8.15
    - RUBY VERSION: 1.9.2 (2011-07-09 patchlevel 290) [x86_64-darwin11.2.0]
    - INSTALLATION DIRECTORY: /Users/ethan/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290@rails_3_for_mtc
    - RUBY EXECUTABLE: /Users/ethan/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.2-p290/bin/ruby
    - EXECUTABLE DIRECTORY: /Users/ethan/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290@rails_3_for_mtc/bin
    - RUBYGEMS PLATFORMS:
      - ruby
      - x86_64-darwin-11
    - GEM PATHS:
       - /Users/ethan/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290@rails_3_for_mtc
       - /Users/ethan/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.2-p290@global
    - GEM CONFIGURATION:
       - :update_sources =&gt; true
       - :verbose =&gt; true
       - :benchmark =&gt; false
       - :backtrace =&gt; false
       - :bulk_threshold =&gt; 1000
       - :sources =&gt; ["http://rubygems.org"]
       - "gem" =&gt; "--no-rdoc --no-ri"
       - "install" =&gt; "--no-rdoc --no-ri"
       - "update" =&gt; "--no-rdoc --no-ri"
    - REMOTE SOURCES:
       - http://rubygems.org
  </code></pre>