Holy jumping crap am I ever sick of installing the MySQL gem. If I never have to do it again, it will be too soon. That being said, here’s what you get (as usual) if you

sudo gem install mysql

on Snow Leopard:

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

/usr/local/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for mysql_ssl_set()... no
checking for rb_str_set_len()... no
checking for rb_thread_start_timer()... no
checking for mysql.h... no
checking for mysql/mysql.h... 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=/usr/local/bin/ruby
	--with-mysql-config

Gem files will remain installed in /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1 for inspection.

This time it’s pretty simple. First of all, get rid of any old versions you have kicking around

sudo gem uninstall mysql

Next, install the newest MySQL package. Make sure you get the 64-bit version. For me it was 5.1.38. After that, and here’s the important, install Xcode from your Snow Leopard disc. Don’t skip this step! You may also need to update your RubyGems install:

sudo gem update --system

Finally, you just need to install the gem telling it where your config file is:

sudo gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql-5.1.38-osx10.5-x86_64/bin/mysql_config

And that ought to do it!

sudo gem install mysql-server
sudo gem install libmysqlclient15-dev
sudo gem install mysql

Shazam!

ERROR:  Error installing mysql:
	ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

/usr/local/bin/ruby extconf.rb --with-mysql-conf=/usr/bin/mysql --with-mysql-lib=/usr/lib/mysql
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... yes
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=/usr/local/bin/ruby
	--with-mysql-config
	--without-mysql-config
	--with-mysql-dir
	--without-mysql-dir
	--with-mysql-include
	--without-mysql-include=${mysql-dir}/include
	--with-mysql-lib=${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

Gem files will remain installed in /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.7 for inspection.
Results logged to /usr/local/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.7/gem_make.out

Thankfully this can be fixed fairly easily with two steps:

yum install mysql-devel
gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/bin/mysql_config

Success!

- I heard about Twitter because Shaq/Barack Obama uses it
- I signed up and at first I didn’t really know what was going on
- Then I started liking it
- Then I made a joke about how I was limited to 140 characters
- Then I started thinking it was stupid
- But I’m still using it… until the next hot e-trend comes around!

I want this to stop. I understand that as a technology writer, it’s your job to keep abreast of current trends, but the sad fact is that you’re way late to the party and no one is interested in your bland Twitter experience. The existence of a hot new social networking website does not compel you to document your user experience. In fact, Twitter can serve to make this process much easier if you absolutely must talk about it. Just Tweet “using Twitter” and then go write an article about something that requires a little more research than just doing something that millions of people are doing every day.

Next Week: So what exactly is this “Face-book” anyway?