[Tutor] databases

[Alejandro Companioni]

On Sep 10, 2011, at 9:29 PM, tutor-request at python.org wrote:

> I've never used MySql on a Mac but I'm curious why it should be so 
> difficult.
> 
> MacOS is just BSD Unix under the GUI so why would be any different
> to any other Unix type system? What were the problems that you encountered?

Hey Alan,

I had the same thoughts at first: OS X is just BSD! This can't be too different from a Linux installation, right?

There are a number of problems with mysql-python--chiefly its poor maintenance. I'll link to a nine (!) step guide on installing mysql-python on Mac as an example:

http://friendlybit.com/tutorial/install-mysql-python-on-mac-os-x-leopard/

At Step 9 the author suggests using setuptools even though it will fail, and you'd actually have to patch a (old, well-documented) bug yourself. 

I wish I had found that website sooner, as installing mysql-python on my Mac took about 5-6 hours of constant frustration. Not a good start for a new Python coder, but if at least one novice skips my experience after reading this email then I'll be happy.

-Alejandro
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