Installing MySQLdb on Snow Leopard

This is completely useless if you don't want to install a connector between Python and MySQL on a Mac.

If you did need to and didn't want to spend hours searching for how to do it - this is the solution (after a stupid amount of time looking on and off over the last couple of months).

Spent ages trying to install this component on Snow Leopard.

Firstly - Snow Leopard removed one of the old gcc compilers (needed to build the package). This needs to come off the installation DVD.

Secondly - MySQLdb has the wrong config path in site.cfg. You need to change it. It's in /usr/local. You need to tell it the path to the mysql config file (in bin inside the mysql install directory).

Thirdly - there's something necessary called an Arch flag. Don't know what that is.

Fourthly - MySQLdb is calling the wrong version of gcc so you need to correct that.

Therefore instructions are:

Download latest version from sourceforge.

Next modify the config path (fuller instructions here:http://www.mangoorange.com/2008/08/01/installing-python-mysqldb-122-on-mac-os-x/?cp=all).

Now go into the relevant directory through terminal and:

sudo python setup.py clean
sudo ARCHFLAGS=’-arch x86′ CC=/usr/bin/gcc-4.0 python setup.py build
sudo ARCHFLAGS=’-arch x86′ CC=/usr/bin/gcc-4.0 python setup.py install

Overly complicated but worked in the end.

Found the instructions in the comments halfway down the article linked.

Fairy Dust

“The e-book is a beautiful, beautiful dream, that newspapers will be saved because people who weren’t prepared to pay for content on one screen will magically decide they will on another screen. Maybe the tooth fairy will drop nuggets of gold on the newspaper industry as well!”

Really liking Paid Content - nice blog about internet publishing in the UK.

Photo from dreamglow