Let's pretend you have installed mysql with yum on your fedora box, and you want to install the mysql gem so you can take advantage of it's c binding goodness.
With giddy excitement you bash away at the keyboard and run the following command:
gem install mysql
But wait, what's this? An error the likes of which would consume small children given the chance:
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.
Fear not! For it probably doesn't know how to find you mysql_config file. Try something along the following lines:
sudo gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/lib/mysql/mysql_config
The location of mysql_config may vary depending on your system installation.
