Rails 4 - Gem::LoadError: Specified 'mysql2' for database adapter, but the gem is not loaded

Question

Just do:

gem 'mysql2', '~> 0.3.18' this gem works with rails version 4.x.x

if install gem 'mysql2', '~> 0.4.0' it produces gem load error and causes compatibility issues

Just a further update - the solution in the question is correct.

The 4th comment is worth taking note of:

This isn't a bug with mysql2, it's a problem with the requirement in the ActiveRecord adapter: http://github.com/rails/rails/issues/21544. This is fixed in rails master: https://github.com/rails/rails/commit/5da5e3772c32593ecf2f27b8865e81dcbe3af692

I was able to tie Rails 4.2.4 to the 4-2-stable branch and get it working with the latest mysql2:

gem 'rails', '~> 4.2.4', git: "git://github.com/rails/rails.git", branch: '4-2-stable'
gem 'tzinfo-data', platforms: [:mingw, :mswin, :x64_mingw] #-> Rails 4.1+

#DB
gem 'mysql2'

This issue was addressed here: https://github.com/brianmario/mysql2/issues/950

For Rails 4.x please pin the gem to mysql2 '~> 0.4.0' to avoid the 0.5.x upgrade.

Gemfile:

gem 'rails', '4.2.8'
gem 'mysql2', '~> 0.4.0'

Then run bundle update rails mysql2

I am currently using mysql v 8.0.11

The answer to this particular question relative to when it was posted and the version of Rails being used is that the problem is caused from doing a bundle update and your mysql2 version updates to 0.4.x which has an incompatibility issue with latest Rails ActiveRecord.

Again, please note this is NOT the solution for people using older versions of Rails / ActiveRecord.

The quick solution is to simply specify the mysql2 version in your gemfile as follows:

gem 'mysql2', '0.3.20'

The long solution would be to wait for either an update to ActiveRecord or something in mysql2 to change.

If you are able to upgrade your rails version, then change your Gemfile to this and it will solve the problem without downgrading the mysql2 gem version:

gem 'rails', '4.2.6'

As a complete beginner i got confused on how to do this so I just did a trial check and finally got my server working , here is how i got it working .

get into the file of working directory("work") and from there get into the file of the app you created("sample_app")which has mysql 2 installed go to gem file ("Gemfile")edit gem 'mysql2' to gem 'mysql2', '~> 0.3.18'

now go back to cmd and run command "bundle install".

so the directory to edit file taking consideration of above files in brackets should be . "c\work\sample_app\Gemfile"

hope i was of some help .