# Problems using the Mysql gem **URL:** \ **Category:** Ruby\ **Created:** [September 6, 2010, 11:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-using-the-mysql-gem/194437 "2010-09-06T11:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jimb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f4b2a3/32.png) [@jimb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jimb)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 11:27am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-using-the-mysql-gem/194437/1 "2010-09-06T11:27:05Z")
Hi, I’m using the mysql (2.8.1 x86-mingw32) gem and MySQL Server version 5.0.90 on Windows 7, 64 bit. I’m also using ruby 1.8.7. When I run the following script (replacing user name and password appropriately) require “rubygems” require “mysql” dbh = Mysql.real\_connect(“localhost”, “user”, “pass”, “test”) puts "Server version: " + dbh.get\_server\_info dbh.close I get the following error message: ./test.rb:3: uninitialized constant Mysql (NameError) from C:/Ruby187/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:32:in `gem_original_require' from C:/Ruby187/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:32:in`require’ from mysql.rb:2 > Exit code: 1 Can anyone give me a pointer as to what is going wrong? I have tried googling the error message, but with no luck. I have also read the documentation installed with the gem and as far as I can tell I am using the correct syntax. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![jimb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f4b2a3/32.png) [@jimb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jimb)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-using-the-mysql-gem/194437/2 "2010-09-06T16:39:50Z")
On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 11:27 AM, Jim B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi, > > I’m using the mysql (2.8.1 x86-mingw32) gem and MySQL Server version > 5.0.90 on Windows 7, 64 bit. I’m also using ruby 1.8.7. > > When I run the following script (replacing user name and password > appropriately) > > require “rubygems” > require “mysql” > dbh = Mysql.real\_connect(“localhost”, “user”, “pass”, “test”) > puts "Server version: " + dbh.get\_server\_info > dbh.close > > I get the following error message: > > ./test.rb:3: uninitialized constant Mysql (NameError) > from C:/Ruby187/lib/ruby/site\_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom\_require.rb:32:in > `gem_original_require' from C:/Ruby187/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:32:in `require’ > from mysql.rb:2 > > > Exit code: 1 > > Can anyone give me a pointer as to what is going wrong? > I have tried googling the error message, but with no luck. > I have also read the documentation installed with the gem and as far as > I can tell I am using the correct syntax. I can’t test it in Windows, but I’ve tested in Ubuntu with Ruby 1.8.7 and mysql gem 2.8.1 and it works. Line 2 of mysql.rb is doing a require of mysql\_api, which in Ubuntu loads a mysql\_api.so from the same folder. Did the gem install correctly in Windows? I guess you should have a mysql\_api dll somewhere in your gem structure. I’m just guessing, since I don’t know how the mysql gem installs under Windows, but maybe this gives you some clue. In fact, taking a look at the code: begin require ‘mysql\_api’ rescue LoadError if RUBY\_PLATFORM =~ /mingw|mswin/ then RUBY\_VERSION =~ /(\d+.\d+)/ require “#{$1}/mysql\_api” end end it seems that if requiring mysql\_api fails and the platform is Windows, it tries to load a specific version. Does that help? Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![jimb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f4b2a3/32.png) [@jimb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jimb)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2010, 10:45am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-using-the-mysql-gem/194437/3 "2010-09-07T10:45:38Z")
Hi, Thanks for the replies. After much hair pulling and messing around with environment variables I finally figured out what was going wrong. It is quite embarrassing, but I’ll post it here as it might help someone else. The problem was that I’d actually called the file I was working on ‘mysql.rb’. As the require ‘mysql’ line at the beginning of my code looks in the current directory first, my code was just including itself, and not the gem I wanted. Doh! Thanks again for your help. ---
**Author:** ![jimb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/f4b2a3/32.png) [@jimb](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/jimb)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/problems-using-the-mysql-gem/194437/4 "2010-09-06T20:03:52Z")
On Sep 6, 6:27 am, Jim B. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > Hi, > > I’m using the mysql (2.8.1 x86-mingw32) gem and MySQL Server version > 5.0.90 on Windows 7, 64 bit. I’m also using ruby 1.8.7. Is MySQL installed in 64bits? Or is 32bits MySQL? Please note that MySQL binary needs a 32bits version of MySQL 5.0 “libmysql.dll” You can find more details about copying libmysql.dll or about compiling MySQL gem for 5.1 in RubyInstaller tutorial page: > **[Tutorials](https://github.com/oneclick/rubyinstaller/wiki/Tutorials)** > > RubyInstaller for Windows - Build recipes. Contribute to oneclick/rubyinstaller development by creating an account on GitHub. > Can anyone give me a pointer as to what is going wrong? > I have tried googling the error message, but with no luck. > I have also read the documentation installed with the gem and as far as > I can tell I am using the correct syntax. It might be that you don’t have 32bits libmysql.dll somewhere in the PATH for Ruby to use. Placing a 32bits libmysql.dll in Ruby bin directory should help.