DBD::mysql fails to install on Mac OS X

Monday, 1 August 2016

Some versions of DBD::mysql fail to install on Mac OS X with this error:

DBI Connection failed: install_driver(mysql) failed: Can't load '.../lib/perl5/darwin-2level/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.bundle' for module DBD::mysql: dlopen(.../lib/perl5/darwin-2level/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.bundle, 1): Library not loaded: libmysqlclient.18.dylib
#   Referenced from: .../lib/perl5/darwin-2level/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.bundle
#   Reason: image not found at .../lib/5.16.3/darwin-2level/DynaLoader.pm line 194.

The issue is that for some reason the DBD::mysql mysql.bundle references a relative path to libmysqlclient.18.dylib.

To check you can do:

otool -L .../lib/perl5/darwin-2level/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.bundle

Check that libmysqlclient.18.dylib file that the bundle references is a relative path or does not exist.

To work around the issue, I use this:

chmod 755 mysql.bundle
install_name_tool -change libmysqlclient.18.dylib \
    /usr/local/mysql/lib/libmysqlclient.18.dylib  \
    mysql.bundle
chmod 555 mysql.bundle

Replace /usr/local/mysql/lib/libmysqlclient.18.dylib with the full path of libmysqlclient.18.dylib on your system.