MySQL Install: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension

Question

I'm trying to get MySQL installed to the latest version due to some installation going wrong somewhere along the line. I run the command gem install mysql and I receive the following:

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 extconf.rb:4: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 extconf.rb:4: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 extconf.rb:7: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 mkmf.rb can't find header files for ruby at /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/ruby.h

Gem files will remain installed in /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1 for inspection. Results logged to /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1/ext/mysql_api/gem_make.out

I've searched, and tried a whole host of things, from installing specific versions to trying to reinstall ruby without any luck.

Any ideas where I may be going wrong?

I'm trying to get MySQL installed to the latest version due to some installation going wrong somewhere along the line. I run the command gem install mysql and I receive the following:

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 extconf.rb:4: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 extconf.rb:4: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 extconf.rb:7: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 mkmf.rb can't find header files for ruby at /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/ruby.h

Gem files will remain installed in /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1 for inspection. Results logged to /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1/ext/mysql_api/gem_make.out

I've searched, and tried a whole host of things, from installing specific versions to trying to reinstall ruby without any luck.

Any ideas where I may be going wrong?

EDIT: I installed XCode off my Snow Leopard DVD and the error just changed slightly to the following:

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 extconf.rb:4: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 extconf.rb:4: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 extconf.rb:7: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 extconf.rb:17: warning: Insecure world writable dir /usr/bin in PATH, mode 040777 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.

Provided configuration options: --with-opt-dir --without-opt-dir --with-opt-include --without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include --with-opt-lib --without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib --with-make-prog --without-make-prog --srcdir=. --curdir --ruby=/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby --with-mysql-config --without-mysql-config --with-mysql-dir --without-mysql-dir --with-mysql-include --without-mysql-include=${mysql-dir}/include --with-mysql-lib --without-mysql-lib=${mysql-dir}/lib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-mlib --without-mlib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-zlib --without-zlib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-socketlib --without-socketlib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-nsllib --without-nsllib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-mygcclib --without-mygcclib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib

Gem files will remain installed in /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1 for inspection. Results logged to /Library/Ruby/Gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1/ext/mysql_api/gem_make.out

doing "which mysql" on the command line returns nothing, which means it's not recognizing it. I also installed the MySQL system preferences option, and I can't stop MySQL from running. Now I'm completely stuck as what to do!

EDIT EDIT

I've just completely reinstalled MySQL using this guide http://hivelogic.com/articles/installing-mysql-on-mac-os-x

Unfortunately this didn't work either, I still receive the same errors. I can't even do mysql -uroot at the command line, I get the error of:

ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

So I think I've tried everything.

**SOLVED*

Sorry guys, the reason for this not working was because of the MySQL paths. I've blogged on it here: http://www.kieransenior.co.uk/2010/02/mysql-cant-connect-using-ruby-on-rails-mac-os-x-snow-leopard/

Answer 1

On Debian (or Ubuntu) systems, just install libmysqlclient-dev package using:

sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev

and then:

gem install mysql

It will be installed without any error.

Answer 2

Installing the mysql gem on OSX

in a terminal.. First do a ‘locate mysql_config’ and then replace the path in the following command with where that file is.

$ sudo gem install mysql -- —–with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config
Building native extensions. This could take a while…
Successfully installed mysql-2.7
1 gem installed

Answer 3

First of all you need to differentiate between the MySQL as Server, MySQL as Client and the Ruby bindings to MySQL.

I'm not familiar with Mac, but for *nix OS you need to install MySQL through your package manager. To get the Ruby bindings installed with

gem install mysql

you need the development headers of ruby (in Ubuntu it is the package ruby-dev) and the development headers of the MySQL-Client (currently libmysqlclient16-dev in Ubuntu). I don't know if they are named different on Mac, but after you got those installed the Ruby bindings should install without any error.