ruby on rails - Difficulties installing mysql gem on Ubuntu

Question

I am trying to install the mysql 2.8.1 gem. I would be using it to build a Rails 2.0.2 application on Ubuntu 10.04. I would be using Ruby 1.8.7. I have installed the development dependencies(other gems). For some reasons I am unable to install it. I am not able to exactly figure out how to fix it. Please help!!

I get the following in the terminal when I try to install it:

mohnish@pc146724-desktop:~/Downloads$ sudo gem install mysql-2.8.1.gem 
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing mysql-2.8.1.gem:
    ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

/usr/bin/ruby1.8 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... yes
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=/usr/bin/ruby1.8
    --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 /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1 for inspection.
Results logged to /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/mysql-2.8.1/ext/mysql_api/gem_make.out
mohnish@pc146724-desktop:~/Downloads$ 

Thanks for your help!!

Answer 1

Try this and then install the mysql gem:

sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev 

If that's not sufficient try it like this

 sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev libmysqlclient16 ruby-dev