pip install mysql-python fails with EnvironmentErr

Question

This is the error I get

(mysite)zjm1126@zjm1126-G41MT-S2:~/zjm_test/mysite$ pip install mysql-python
Downloading/unpacking mysql-python
  Downloading MySQL-python-1.2.3.tar.gz (70Kb): 70Kb downloaded
  Running setup.py egg_info for package mysql-python
    sh: mysql_config: not found
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<string>", line 14, in <module>
      File "/home/zjm1126/zjm_test/mysite/build/mysql-python/setup.py", line 15, in <module>
        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 "<string>", line 14, in <module>

  File "/home/zjm1126/zjm_test/mysite/build/mysql-python/setup.py", line 15, in <module>

    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 /home/zjm1126/.pip/pip.log
(mysite)zjm1126@zjm1126-G41MT-S2:~/zjm_test/mysite$ pip install mysql-python
Downloading/unpacking mysql-python
  Running setup.py egg_info for package mysql-python
    sh: mysql_config: not found
    Traceback (most recent call last):
      File "<string>", line 14, in <module>
      File "/home/zjm1126/zjm_test/mysite/build/mysql-python/setup.py", line 15, in <module>
        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 "<string>", line 14, in <module>

  File "/home/zjm1126/zjm_test/mysite/build/mysql-python/setup.py", line 15, in <module>

    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 /home/zjm1126/.pip/pip.log

What can I do to resolve this?

Answer 1

for mariadb install libmariadbclient-dev instead of libmysqlclient-dev

sudo apt-get install libmariadbclient-dev

Answer 2

Had a similar issue trying to install on OS X Server 10.6.8. Here's what I had to do. Using:

MySQL-python 1.2.4b4 (source) MySQL-5.6.19 (binary installer) Python 2.7 (binary installer) NOTE: Installing in virtualenv...

Unzip source, open 'distribute_setup.py' and edit DEFAULT_VERSION to use the latest version of distribute tools, like so:

DEFAULT_VERSION = "0.6.49"

Save. Open 'site.cfg' file and uncomment the path to mysql_config so it looks something like (reference your own path to mysql_config):

# The path to mysql_config.
# Only use this if mysql_config is not on your PATH, or you have some weird
# setup that requires it.
mysql_config = /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config

Now clean, build and make will not fail with the 'mysql_config' not found error. Hope this helps someone else trying to make use of their old xserves :-)

Answer 3

It seems mysql_config is missing on your system or the installer could not find it. Be sure mysql_config is really installed.

For example on Debian/Ubuntu you must install the package:

sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev

Maybe the mysql_config is not in your path, it will be the case when you compile by yourself the mysql suite.

Update: For recent versions of debian/ubuntu (as of 2018) it is

sudo apt install default-libmysqlclient-dev

Answer 4

I had the same problem in the Terraform:light container. It is based on Alpine.

There you have to install mariadb-dev with:

apk add mariadb-dev

But that one is not enough because also all the other dependencies are missed:

apk add python2 py2-pip gcc python2-dev musl-dev

Answer 5

Running Mac OSX Mountain Lion, I simply ran this in terminal to fix:

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin

This is the quickest fix I found - it adds it to the path, but I think you're better off adding it permanently (ie add it to /etc/paths) if you plan to install MySQL-python in another environment.

Answer 6

if you install MySQL-python in your virtual env, you should check the pip version, if the version is older than 9.0.1, please update it

pip install --upgrade pip