Error installing DBD::mysql on Debian

Geert86 has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

When installing DBD::mysql I received two errors:

install DBD::mysql =>

An error occurred while linking the DBD::mysql driver. The error
message seems to indicate that you don't have a libz.a,
or a libz.so. There are a few ways to resolve this:

1) You may try to remove the -lz or -lgz flag from the libs list
   by using the --libs switch for "perl Makefile.PL".
2) On Red Hat Linux and SUSE Linux, install the zlib-devel package
   (sometimes called libz-devel)
3) On Debian and Ubuntu, install the zlib1g-dev package
4) On other systems, please contact the mailing list

     perl@lists.mysql.com

For further hints, see INSTALL.html, section Linker flags.
make: *** blib/arch/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so Error 1
  /usr/bin/make  -- NOT OK
Running make test
  Can't test without successful make
Running make install
  make had returned bad status, install seems impossible

So I installed zlib1g-dev
Then I tried to install it again, and I got this error:

install DBD::mysql =>

Running install for module DBD::mysql
Running make for C/CA/CAPTTOFU/DBD-mysql-4.007.tar.gz
  Is already unwrapped into directory /root/.cpan/build/DBD-mysql-4.007
  Has already been processed within this session
Running make test
  Can't test without successful make
Running make install
  make had returned bad status, install seems impossible

I removed the directory /root/.cpan/build/DBD-mysql-4.007 but after a retry I had the same error.

I must say I am a total noob on PERL and CPAN, so I hope it is an easy fix.

Best regards,

Geert

Comment on Error installing DBD::mysql on Debian

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Error installing DBD::mysql on Debian by moritz (Cardinal) on Jul 23, 2008 at 08:56 UTC
Normally it's best to install DBD::mysql via apt on Debian: `sudo aptitude install libdbd-mysql-perl` [download] Debian provides native packages for the most commonly used CPAN modules, all of which have the form `libfoo-bar-perl` for a package `Foo::Bar` That being said, if you still want to install it via cpan, you can at least satisfy all build dependencies with apt: `sudo apt-get build-dep libdbd-mysql-perl` [download] And then try again.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Error installing DBD::mysql on Debian by Arunbear (Prior) on Jul 23, 2008 at 11:23 UTC
I had the same problem yesterday on Centos, (and tried the same things you did and got the same results). Then I tried: `$ ls -l /usr/lib/libz* lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Feb 14 20:24 /usr/lib/libz.so.1 -> libz. +so.1.2.1.2 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 63624 Jul 21 2005 /usr/lib/libz.so.1.2.1.2` [download] i.e. there was no libz.so, so I made a symlink to it: `$ ln -s /usr/lib/libz.so.1.2.1.2 /usr/lib/libz.so $ ls -l /usr/lib/libz* lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 24 Jul 22 12:10 /usr/lib/libz.so -> /usr/li +b/libz.so.1.2.1.2 lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 Feb 14 20:24 /usr/lib/libz.so.1 -> libz. +so.1.2.1.2 -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 63624 Jul 21 2005 /usr/lib/libz.so.1.2.1.2` [download] and this allowed the install to succeed.	[reply] [d/l] [select]
Re: Error installing DBD::mysql on Debian by Anonymous Monk on Jul 23, 2008 at 08:58 UTC
`look DBD::mysql make realclean perl Makefile.PL make make test` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Error installing DBD::mysql on Debian by duckyd (Hermit) on Jul 23, 2008 at 18:54 UTC
Alternatively, at the cpan prompt: `cpan> clean DBD::mysql` [download] You should then be able to try your install again	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Error installing DBD::mysql on Debian by LesleyB (Friar) on Jul 23, 2008 at 18:35 UTC
I run Debian stable and have ventured into using CPAN to install more up to date modules. You should certianly be able to get a working system out of the Debian repository. You can configure the command `cpan` to chase down dependencies but be aware this may lead to trouble. At some point after I'd used cpan to update some modules, an `apt-get upgrade` failed because it picked up the Errno.pm in my /usr/local/share/perl/5.8.8 instead of the Errno in /usr/share/perl/5.8.8. I think the preferred method within Debian is to download the Debian packages and not to use cpan. These have a naming convention of lib<modulename>-perl e.g. libcgi-perl and libcgi-formbuilder-perl. You could use `apt-cache search` to hunt for a specific package name.	[reply] [d/l] [select]