# A rather rudimentary & decidely dopey MySQL question **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [July 29, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-rather-rudimentary-decidely-dopey-mysql-question/110692 "2007-07-29T18:50:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 6:50pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-rather-rudimentary-decidely-dopey-mysql-question/110692/1 "2007-07-29T18:50:44Z")
Email : removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid If I can do it then it can’t be done ! … - Anonymous Hi Everyone ! : I’m a Ruby on Rails noobie and a Unix ignoramus (not proud of it but there it is). I’m starting my 1st Ruby on Rails (RoR) software project. I intend to use MySQL as the back end database. I used the HiveLogic article to install the various components of the RoR development environment. The earl for the HiveLogic article I just referred to is : [Dan Benjamin](http://hivelogic.com/narrative/articles/ruby-rails-mongrel-mysql-osx) The specific tools/software packages I’ve installed are the following : · readline-5.1 · ruby v. 1.8.6 · rubygems v. 0.9.2 · rails v. 1.2.3 · mongrel v. 1.0.1 · subversion v. 1.4.3 · Capistrano v. ? · MySQL v. 5.0.45 ? I’m pretty (but not completely) confident that I’ve installed all the aforementioned tools correctly. The reason why I say this is that when I : 1. Open up a Terminal window. 2. Enter the command “cd cyf” to change the directory to the RoR project I’ve created (which is called “cyf”). 3. Enter the command “script/server” to start up the Mongrel web server for this project. 4. Fire up the Safari application. 5. Enter the earl “[http://localhost:3000/](http://localhost:3000/)” in the earl display/input field at the top of the Safari application. 6. Click on the “About your application’s environment” earl in the “Welcome Aboard” page that typing in the previous step brings up. 7. Step 6 above brings up the following text displayed in a yellow box : Ruby version : 1.8.6 (powerpc-darwin8.10.0) RubyGems version : 0.9.2 Rails version : 1.2.3 Active Record version : 1.15.3 Action Pack version : 1.13.3 Active Web Service version : 1.2.3 Action Mailer version : 1.3.3 Active Support version : 1.4.2 Application root version : /Users/simonwhelan/cyf Environment version : development Database adapter version : mysql The specific problem that is confusing me at the moment is that I seem to have somehow installed 2 separate versions of MySQL. The questions that I need to resolve before I can move onto other, more interesting RoR problems are the following : 1. How do I determine which of the 2 versions of MySQL my ‘cyf’ RoR application is using ? 2. Once I’ve resolved question 1 listed immediately above then should I erase the directory containing the other version of MySQL ? The 2 copies of MySQL I seem to have installed are called 1. mysql 2. mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-powerpc If I do the following : 1. Open up a Terminal window. 2. Enter the command : “cd /usr/local”. 3. Enter the command : “ls”. I get the following listing for the contents of the directory “/usr/ local”. bin man build mysql include mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-powerpc info share lib src As you can see I seem to have 2 copies of the MySQL database; i.e. : “mysql” & “mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-powerpc”. If I input the following 2 commands : 1. Enter the command : “cd /usr/local/mysql”. 2. Enter the command : “ls”. I get the following listing for the contents of the directory “/usr/ local/mysql”. COPYING data scripts EXCEPTIONS-CLIENT docs share INSTALL-BINARY include sql-bench README lib support-files bin man tests configure mysql-test If I input the following 2 commands : 1. Enter the command : “cd /usr/local/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-powerpc”. 2. Enter the command : “ls”. I get the following listing for the contents of the directory “/usr/ local/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-powerpc”. COPYING configure man support-files EXCEPTIONS-CLIENT data mysql- test tests INSTALL-BINARY docs scripts README include share bin lib sql-bench As you can see from the above 2 directory listings, the files/ directories contained in both “”/usr/local/mysql" & “/mysql-5.0.45- osx10.4-powerpc” seem to be the same. I should also mention here that although contentsof the 2 directories are the same, I’m not sure if the 2 directories have the same version of MySQL. I’m reasonably but not completely sure the directory called “”/usr/local/mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-powerpc" contains version of 5.0.45 MySQL. I’m not sute what version of MySQL is in the other directory named “”/usr/local/mysql". So, I guess my basic questions are : 1. How do I determine which version of MySQl is in each directory ? 2. How do I determine which version of MySQL I’m running ? 3. Which of the 2 copies of MySQL should I be using ? 4. Is it OK to delete the other copy ?. By the way, I’m assuming that if I can determine the answer to questions 1 & 2 above I’ll be able to determine which of the 2 directories I can safely delete (i.e. : the directory that doesn’t contain the version of MySQL that I happen to be running when I bring up my RoR application). I realize to many of you that these questions may seem to be both rudimentary and, well, rather dopey, but the fact is that I’m just learning RoR and I’m basically a Unix ignoramus. I figure it’s best to ask for the advice and counsel of the people who are on this list as they are presumably far more knowledgeable about Ruby, Rails & UNIX than I am. I also figure it’s better to check and make sure what I’m proposing to do makes sense rather than go off 1st, do what I think I should doing and risk shooting myself in the head because I don’t really know what I’m doing. Anyhow folks (& folkettes (no chauvinist, me !) any help, advice and suggestions you could send my way would be immensely appreciated ! Thank you ! All the best & talk to you soon … Simon. P.S. : I’m working on a 1.8 GHz Mac running under Mac OSX 10.4.10 . According to “About This Mac” , “More Info …” the specific microprocessor my machine has is a : "CPU Type: PowerPC 970 (2.2) " ---
**Author:** ![casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@casper\_the\_ghost](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/casper_the_ghost)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/a-rather-rudimentary-decidely-dopey-mysql-question/110692/2 "2007-07-29T19:19:47Z")
simonwhel wrote: > The reason why I say this is that when I : > 1. Open up a Terminal window. > 2. Enter the command “cd cyf” to change the directory to the RoR > project I’ve created (which is called “cyf”). > 3. Enter the command “script/server” to start up the Mongrel web > server for this project. For future reference, you didn’t need Mongrel; Ruby comes with Webrick, and script/server will use this if it can’t find Mongrel. No biggie. > 1. Fire up the Safari application. > 2. Enter the earl “[http://localhost:3000/](http://localhost:3000/)” in the earl display/input > field at the top of the Safari application. Are you or your spell checker replacing URL for earl? > 1. Click on the “About your application’s environment” earl in the > “Welcome Aboard” page that typing in the previous step brings up. > 2. Step 6 above brings up the following text displayed in a yellow > box : > Database adapter version : mysql > 1. Open up a Terminal window. > 2. Enter the command : “cd /usr/local”. > 3. Enter the command : “ls”. > mysql > mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-powerpc Cute! Now run this: ls -l It should show that mysql is only a symlink, pointing to mysql-5.0.45-osx10.4-powerpc This will show the link in distinct color! ls -l --color=tty > As you can see from the above 2 directory listings, the files/ > directories contained in both “”/usr/local/mysql" & “/mysql-5.0.45- > osx10.4-powerpc” seem to be the same. That’s what a symlink does. If you ``` sudo touch yo.txt ``` in one folder, and go to the other folder, yo.txt will be there too! That’s why Unix doesn’t need a Registry with seven billion entries in it, like Windows. It just symlinks the working names to the installed versions. > Anyhow folks (& folkettes (no chauvinist, me !) any help, advice and > suggestions you could send my way would be immensely appreciated ! Uh, “folks” is neutral. (-; – Phlip [http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510657/](http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/9780596510657/) “Test Driven Ajax (on Rails)” assert\_xpath, assert\_javascript, & assert\_ajax