I swore I wouldn't

I encountered the following error when installing the mysql gem on a shiny new Macbook Pro running OS X Leopard.

Note: I have ~/.gem set as my GEM_HOME and GEM_PATH to avoid needing to sudo


> gem install mysql
Building native extensions. This could take a while...
ERROR: Error installing mysql:
ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lm... yes
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lz... yes
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lsocket... no
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lnsl... no
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
checking for main() in -lmygcc... no
checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no
*** extconf.rb failed ***
Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of
necessary libraries and/or headers. Check the mkmf.log file for more
details. You may need configuration options.


The workaround was fairly simple. Since I had installed MySQL from source the situation was resolved with a few command line options:


> export ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64"
> gem install mysql -- \
--with-mysql-dir=/usr/local/mysql \
--with-mysql-lib=/usr/local/mysql/lib \
--with-mysql-include=/usr/local/mysql/include \
--with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config

Building native extensions. This could take a while...
Successfully installed mysql-2.8.1
1 gem installed