OS X Lion with xampp + rails + mysql2 gem - mysql

Question

I'm stuck trying to figure out how to get OS X Lion with a XAMPP installation's MySQL to work with the mysql2 gem in rails.
Here's what I've tried:
Installed the XAMPP Dev Kit
Installed mysql5-server with both port and brew. Both of which I've now uninstalled. As it didn't fix the problem.
Installed mysql5 community edition from DMG file. Now uninstalled as it didn't fix the problem.
Downloaded 32-bit version of mysql5 community edition as a tar. Extracted folder to '/var/mysql'
Here's the command I'm running to try and get it installed:
gem install mysql2 -- --with-mysql-dir=/var/mysql --with-mysql-include=
/var/mysql/include --with-mysql-lib=/var/mysql/lib --with-mysql-config=
/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin/mysql_config
I'm at a loss how to get this to work. The only thing I can think of is that I'm somehow not pointing to the directories correctly. I've tried removing /include/, /mysql/ and /lib/ from the with-mysql-include, with-mysql-dir and with-mysql-lib configuration options. No luck with that. I've tried pointing those to the XAMPP installation. No luck still.
The error returned is:
ERROR: Error installing mysql2:
ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.
/Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.3-p194/bin/ruby extconf.rb --with-mysql-dir=/var/mysql --with-mysql-include=/var/mysql/include --with-mysql-lib=/var/mysql --with-mysql-config=/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin/mysql_config
checking for rb_thread_blocking_region()... yes
checking for rb_wait_for_single_fd()... yes
checking for mysql.h... no
checking for mysql/mysql.h... no
-----
mysql.h is missing. please check your installation of mysql and try again.
-----
*** 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
--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=/Users/user/.rvm/rubies/ruby-1.9.3-p194/bin/ruby
--with-mysql-config
Gem files will remain installed in /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194/gems/mysql2-0.3.11 for inspection.
Results logged to /Users/user/.rvm/gems/ruby-1.9.3-p194/gems/mysql2-0.3.11/ext/mysql2/gem_make.out

Answer 1

It'd be better not to bother with the stuff XAMPP provides, and to just install a fresh copy of MySQL, and simplify your Gem command for installing mysql2:
brew install mysql
gem install mysql2
You were getting errors with installing the gem after installing MySQL through Homebrew because of all this:
--with-mysql-dir=/var/mysql --with-mysql-include= \
/var/mysql/include --with-mysql-lib=/var/mysql/lib --with-mysql-config= \
/Applications/XAMPP/xamppfiles/bin/mysql_config
So removing it solves the problem.