How to install MySQLdb in a virtualenv on Ubuntu Karmic

Date: Feb. 15, 2010 | Tags: install_setup, notestoself, python, ubuntu | 13 Comments

Install dependencies
```
sudo apt-get build-dep python-mysqldb
```

Install MySQLdb with pip/virtualenv

cd ~/lib/python-environments
virtualenv --distribute --no-site-packages default
pip install -E default/ MySQL-python

EnvironmentError: mysql_config not found

The first time, I did not install the dependencies and got the following error:

$ pip install -E default/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python/files/mysql-python-test/1.2.3c1/MySQL-python-1.2.3c1.tar.gz/download
Downloading/unpacking http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python/files/mysql-python-test/1.2.3c1/MySQL-python-1.2.3c1.tar.gz/download
  Downloading download (89Kb): 89Kb downloaded
  Running setup.py egg_info for package from http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python/files/mysql-python-test/1.2.3c1/MySQL-python-1.2.3c1.tar.gz/download
    sh: mysql_config: not found
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "", line 14, in 
      File "/tmp/pip-ZR_ZwM-build/setup.py", line 15, in 
        metadata, options = get_config()
      File "setup_posix.py", line 43, in get_config
        libs = mysql_config("libs_r")
      File "setup_posix.py", line 24, in mysql_config
        raise EnvironmentError("%s not found" % (mysql_config.path,))
    EnvironmentError: mysql_config not found
    Complete output from command python setup.py egg_info:
    sh: mysql_config: not found

Traceback (most recent call last):
  
  File "", line 14, in 
  
  File "/tmp/pip-ZR_ZwM-build/setup.py", line 15, in 

    metadata, options = get_config()
  
  File "setup_posix.py", line 43, in get_config

    libs = mysql_config("libs_r")
  
  File "setup_posix.py", line 24, in mysql_config
    
    raise EnvironmentError("%s not found" % (mysql_config.path,))

EnvironmentError: mysql_config not found

----------------------------------------
Command python setup.py egg_info failed with error code 1
Storing complete log in ./pip-log.txt

How to install PIL on Ubuntu — posted 2010-10-27
How to install pip on Ubuntu — posted 2010-02-15
Using psycopg2 with virtualenv on Ubuntu ~~Jaunty~~Maverick — posted 2009-07-31
Notes on using pip and virtualenv with Django — posted 2009-05-06
Installing Python 2.6 from source on Ubuntu Hardy — posted 2008-10-02

13 Comments — Comments feed for this post

#1 Alvin Mites commented on 2010-04-22:

Thank you - was running into that same error using easy_install

pip install -E worked like a charm

#2 Israel commented on 2010-06-10:

What is the cause of this happening?

i recently upgraded mysql with ubuntus upgrade manager, and it seems to have broken python-mysqldb

i tried your steps above but it did not work for me.

#3 Jason Peddle commented on 2010-09-29:

How many times does this blog save my day. Answer: all of them. All of the times.

#4 semperos commented on 2010-11-10:

Thank you. Just starting out, and I've depended on two of your posts in one day to get going. Great work.

#5 Oskar Sjödin commented on 2010-11-13:

Thanks this post and the other covering virtualenv helped me out a lot.

#6 Thibault commented on 2011-04-01:

I ran into the same problem, and lost a few minutes, because the python-dev package was not installed. For the record.

#7 Gene commented on 2011-07-09:

Thanks for the sharing!!!! I suspect it was the build-dep part I was missing. My dog thanks you too, because I had to fix this before I could throw the ball for him.

#8 John Chase commented on 2011-07-26:

Thank you; I had the same error without build-dep.

#9 robertjd commented on 2011-08-30:

I believe it would be better to add the path to mysql_config to your PATH environment variable. This way you don't have to modify any files in the downloaded MySQL-python package.

I was using pip on OSX 10.7 and it could not find mysql_config, which is in /usr/local/mysql/bin/ (if you installed MySQL using the DMG installer) so I added this to PATH in my bin/activate script:

_OLD_VIRTUAL_PATH="$PATH"
PATH="$VIRTUAL_ENV/bin:$PATH"
PATH="$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin/"
export PATH

You could also add some code to bin/activate that would search the system for common places that mysql_config can be found.

#10 Ori Peleg commented on 2011-11-27:

Thanks, I was stuck on this exactly.

#11 Sultan commented on 2011-12-30:

I've installed python-dev package and it worked for me

#12 uberj commented on 2012-01-05:

Thanks.

#13 method commented on 2012-02-05:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client libmysqlclient15-dev python-dev

pip install -E mysql-python


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