How to install MySQL Server and Python connector in Mac OS X Snow Leopard

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-> MySQL Server and Python connector(Mac OS X Snow Leopard):
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Here goes some tricky stuff. You may want to consider getting yourself a cup of
linden infusion :-P

--> If you have a previous MySQL version:

If you have a previous MySQL version, perhaps a 32 bit one, you may encounter several
problems to perform the upgrade to a newer, 64-bit version. But don't worry, the
following steps should get you going in no time.

Hands on!
To uninstall the previous version, do this *in order*:

- First you need to go to: /Library/Receipts and look for a file named
  'InstallHistory.plist' (It's just a regular property list)
- Open it and look for the entries regarding MySQL, and delete them.

    MacBookPro:~ matias$ cd /Library/Receipts/
    MacBookPro:Receipts matias$ sudo nano InstallHistory.plist
    ctrl+shift+w, look for the entries regarding MySQL and delete them.
    ctrl+o (save) ctrl+x (exit)

- As the installer receipts are actually located in a different place on Snow Leopard:

    MacBookPro:Receipts matias$ cd /private/var/db/receipts/
    MacBookPro:receipts matias$ ls *mysql*
    com.mysql.mysql.bom          com.mysql.mysqlstartup.bom
    com.mysql.mysql.plist        com.mysql.mysqlstartup.plist
    MacBookPro:receipts matias$ sudo rm  *mysql*


- Now we are ready to do the uninstall work per se, by doing these *in order*:

    * Use mysqldump or MySQL Admin to backup your databases to text files!
    * Stop the database server
    * sudo rm /usr/local/mysql
    * sudo rm -rf /usr/local/mysql*
    * sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
    * sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/My*
    * edit /etc/hostconfig and remove the line MYSQLCOM=-YES-
    * rm -rf ~/Library/PreferencePanes/My*
    * sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/mysql*
    * sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/MySQL*
    * sudo rm /etc/my.cnf


--> Install MySQL (server, startup item, pref pane):

- Install mysql's x86_64  version from the .dmg file. Download the .dmg from
  here: http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.1.html#downloads
  (I also put the installers under '3rdparty/MacOSX_Installers' folder).

--> Install MySQLdb in the virtualenv

- Turn the virtualenv on. This command does the trick:

    MacBookPro:~ matias$ laexpo_start
    (Env)MacBookPro:~ matias$

- Fetch MySQL-python-1.2.3 from here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python/.
  I'll assume you downloaded the .tar.gz file to the Desktop.

- Unpack the tarball, enter the folder:

    (Env)MacBookPro:~ matias$ tar xzf MySQL-python-1.2.3.tar.gz
    (Env)MacBookPro:~ matias$ cd MySQL-python-1.2.3

- Open the 'site.cfg' file and edit the 'mysql_config' to poin to the path where
  you mysql_config resides. For me it is '/usr/local/mysql-5.1.50-osx10.6-x86_64/bin/mysql_config'

- Open the 'setup_posix.py' file and set the 'mysql_config.path' to the same path
  you did in the previous step(line 26). Should end up looking like this:

  mysql_config.path = "/usr/local/mysql-5.1.50-osx10.6-x86_64/bin/mysql_config"

- Compile the thing:

    (Env)MacBookPro:~ matias$ cd ~/Desktop/MySQL-python-1.2.3
    (Env)MacBookPro:MySQL-python-1.2.3 matias$ python setup.py clean
    (Env)MacBookPro:~ matias$ ARCHFLAGS='-arch x86_64' /usr/bin/python setup.py build
    (Env)MacBookPro:~ matias$ ARCHFLAGS='-arch x86_64' python setup.py install

* NOTE 1: It is critical to have the virtualenv activated before running the above
          listed command. If it is not, the installation of MySQLdb will be done in
          the system and no in the virtualenv and therefore MySQLdb will not be
          available when you turn the virtualenv on.

* NOTE 2: It is also critical to set the compilation flags correctly. If not set
          correctly, the compilation will default to 32-bit architecture and will
          not work afterwards with MySQL.

* NOTE 3: DON'T USE 'sudo' FOR THE COMPILLATION/INSTALL COMMANDS. If you do so, you'll
          be installing MySQLdb to the system and not to the virtualenv.


- Confirm the process worked ok:

    (Env)MacBookPro:MySQL-python-1.2.3 matias$ python
    Python 2.6.1 (r261:67515, Dec 17 2009, 00:59:15)
    [GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5646)] on darwin
    Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
    >>> import MySQLdb
    >>> MySQLdb.version_info
    (1, 2, 3, 'final', 0)