rake undefined method `[]' for nil:NilClass

I just installed a Rails 3.1 app to my deployment server.

When I tried to run

sudo rake db:setup RAILS_ENV=“production”

I got an error message saying

rake aborted!
undefined method `[]' for nil:NilClass

With --trace it says:

** Invoke db:setup (first_time)  
** Invoke db:create (first_time)  
** Invoke db:load_config (first_time)  
** Invoke rails_env (first_time)  
** Execute rails_env  
** Execute db:load_config  
** Execute db:create  
rake aborted!  
undefined method '[]' for nil:NilClass  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.1.0/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:74:in 'rescue in create_database'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.1.0/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:54:in 'create_database'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/activerecord-3.1.0/lib/active_record/railties/databases.rake:44:in 'block (2 levels) in <top (required)>'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:205:in 'call'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:205:in 'block in execute'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:200:in 'each'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:200:in 'execute'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:158:in 'block in invoke_with_call_chain'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.9.1/monitor.rb:201:in 'mon_synchronize'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:151:in 'invoke_with_call_chain'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:176:in 'block in invoke_prerequisites'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:174:in 'each'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:174:in 'invoke_prerequisites'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:157:in 'block in invoke_with_call_chain'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/1.9.1/monitor.rb:201:in 'mon_synchronize'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:151:in 'invoke_with_call_chain'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/task.rb:144:in 'invoke'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:112:in 'invoke_task'    
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:90:in 'block (2 levels) in top_level'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:90:in 'each'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:90:in 'block in top_level'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:129:in 'standard_exception_handling'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:84:in 'top_level'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:62:in 'block in run'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:129:in 'standard_exception_handling'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/lib/rake/application.rb:59:in 'run'  
/usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/rake-0.9.2/bin/rake:32:in '<top (required)>'  
/usr/local/bin/rake:19:in 'load'  
/usr/local/bin/rake:19:in '<main>'  
Tasks: TOP => db:setup => db:create  

My database.yml says

production:
adapter: mysql2  
    encoding: utf8  
    reconnect: false  
    database: t_production  
    pool: 5  
    username: deploy  
    password: V  
    host: localhost  

There is only 1 migration and it says this:

    class CreateDeals < ActiveRecord::Migration  
  def change  
    create_table :deals do |t|  
      t.string :title  
      t.text :description  
     开发者_开发知识库 t.string :image_url  
      t.decimal :price, :precision => 8, :scale => 2  
t.timestamps  
    end  
  end  
end  

What should I try to fix this? I'm not even sure where to begin.

You should fix your statement, the double quotes are wrong. They need to be regular " quotes. It probably tries to load a setting for the “production” environment, which obviously doesn't exist.

If you are using the correct quotes, make sure your identation is correct, the definition should look something like the following:

production:
    adapter: mysql2  
    encoding: utf8  
    reconnect: false  
    database: t_production  
    pool: 5  
    username: deploy  
    password: V  
    host: localhost