Environment Variables

For ease of use, you can set environment variables for DBD::MariaDB installation. You can set any or all of the options, and export them by putting them in your .bashrc or the like:

export DBD_MARIADB_CFLAGS=-I/usr/local/mysql/include/mysql
export DBD_MARIADB_LIBS="-L/usr/local/mysql/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient"
export DBD_MARIADB_CONFIG=mysql_config
export DBD_MARIADB_TESTDB=test
export DBD_MARIADB_TESTHOST=127.0.0.1
export DBD_MARIADB_TESTPORT=3306
export DBD_MARIADB_TESTSOCKET=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
export DBD_MARIADB_TESTAUTHPLUGIN=mysql_native_password
export DBD_MARIADB_TESTUSER=me
export DBD_MARIADB_TESTPASSWORD=s3kr1+

The most useful may be the host, database, port, socket, user, and password.

Installation will first look to your "mariadb_config", your "mysql_config", and then your environment variables, and then it will guess with intelligent defaults.

CPAN installation

Installation of DBD::MariaDB can be incredibly easy:

cpan DBD::MariaDB

Please note that this will only work if the prerequisites are fulfilled, which means you have a C-compiler installed, and you have the development headers and mariadb or mysql client libraries available on your system.

If you are using the CPAN module for the first time, just answer the questions by accepting the defaults which are fine in most cases.

If you cannot get the CPAN module working, you might try manual installation. If installation with CPAN fails because your local settings have been guessed wrong, you need to ensure MariaDB's "mariadb_config" or MySQL's "mysql_config" is on your path (see "SOURCE INSTALLATION") or alternatively create a script called "mysql_config". This is described in more details later. "Configuration".

Manual installation

For a manual installation you need to fetch the DBD::MariaDB source distribution. The latest version is always available from https://metacpan.org/release/DBD-MariaDB.

The name is typically something like

DBD-MariaDB-<version>.tar.gz

The archive needs to be extracted. On Windows you may use a tool like 7-zip, on *nix you type

tar xf DBD-MariaDB-<version>.tar.gz

This will create a subdirectory DBD-MariaDB-<version>. Enter this subdirectory and type

perl Makefile.PL
make
make test

On Windows you may need to replace "make" with "dmake", "gmake" or "nmake". If the tests seem to look fine, you may continue with

make install

If the compilation (make) or tests fail, you might need to configure some settings.

For example you might choose a different database, the C compiler or the linker might need some flags. "Configuration". "Compiler flags". "Linker flags".

For Cygwin there is a special section below. "Cygwin".

Configuration

The install script "Makefile.PL" can be configured via a lot of switches. All switches can be used on the command line. For example, the test database:

perl Makefile.PL --testdb=<db>

If you do not like configuring these switches on the command line, you may alternatively create a script called "mariadb_config" or "mysql_config". This is described later on.

Available switches are:

testdb

Name of the test database, defaults to test.

testuser

Name of the test user, defaults to empty. If the name is empty, then the currently logged in users name will be used.

testpassword

Password of the test user, defaults to empty.

testhost

Host name or IP number of the test database; defaults to localhost.

testport

Port number of the test database; ignored when testhost is set to "localhost".

testsocket

Unix socket of the test database; takes effect only when testhost is set to "localhost".

cflags

This is a list of flags that you want to give to the C compiler. The most important flag is the location of the MariaDB or MySQL header files. For example, on Red Hat Linux the header files are in /usr/include/mysql and you might try

-I/usr/include/mysql

On Windows the header files may be in C:\mysql\include and you might try

-IC:\mysql\include

The default flags are determined by running

mysql_config --cflags

More details on the C compiler flags can be found in the following section. "Compiler flags".

libs

This is a list of flags that you want to give to the linker or loader. The most important flags are the locations and names of additional libraries. For example, on Red Hat Linux your MySQL client libraries are in /usr/lib/mysql and you might try

-L/usr/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient -lz

On Windows the libraries may be in C:\mysql\lib and

-LC:\mysql\lib -lmysqlclient

might be a good choice. The default flags are determined by running

mysql_config --libs

More details on the linker flags can be found in a separate section. "Linker flags".

If a switch is not present on the command line, then the script "mariadb_config" or "mysql_config" will be executed. This script comes as part of the MariaDB or MySQL distribution. For example, to determine the C compiler flags, we are executing

mysql_config --cflags
mysql_config --libs

If you want to configure your own settings for cflags or libs, then you have to create a script with same name that provides needed details.

Compiler flags

Note: the following info about compiler and linker flags, you shouldn't have to use these options because "Makefile.PL" is pretty good at utilizing "mariadb_config" and "mysql_config" to get the flags that you need for a successful compile.

It is typically not so difficult to determine the appropriate flags for the C compiler. The linker flags, which you find in the next section, are another story.

The determination of the C compiler flags is usually left to a configuration script called "mysql_config", which can be invoked with

mysql_config --cflags

When doing so, it will emit a line with suggested C compiler flags, for example like this:

-L/usr/include/mysql

The C compiler must find some header files. Header files have the extension .h. MySQL header files are, for example, mysql.h and mysql_version.h. In most cases the header files are not installed by default. For example, on Windows it is an installation option of the MySQL setup program (Custom installation), whether the header files are installed or not. On Red Hat Linux, you need to install an RPM archive "mariadb-devel", "mariadb-embedded-devel", "mysql-devel" or "mysql-embedded-devel".

If you know the location of the header files, then you will need to add an option

-L<header directory>

to the C compiler flags, for example "-L/usr/include/mysql".

Linker flags

Appropriate linker flags are the most common source of problems while installing DBD::MariaDB. I will only give a rough overview, you'll find more details in the troubleshooting section. "KNOWN PROBLEMS"

The determination of the C compiler flags is usually left to a configuration script called "mysql_config", which can be invoked with

mysql_config --libs

When doing so, it will emit a line with suggested C compiler flags, for example like this:

-L'/usr/lib/mysql' -lmysqlclient -lnsl -lm -lz -lcrypt

The following items typically need to be configured for the linker:

The mariadb/mysqlclient library

The MariaDB or MySQL client library comes as part of the MariaDB or MySQL distribution. Depending on your system it may be a file called

libmariadb.a       statically linked library, Unix
libmariadb.so      dynamically linked library, Unix
libmysqlclient.a   statically linked library, Unix
libmysqlclient.so  dynamically linked library, Unix
libmysqld.a        statically linked library with embedded server, Unix
libmysqld.so       dynamically linked library with embedded server, Unix
libmariadbd.a      statically linked library with embedded server, Unix
libmariadbd.so     dynamically linked library with embedded server, Unix
mariadb.lib        statically linked library, Windows
libmariadb.lib     statically linked library, Windows
mariadbclient.lib  statically linked library, Windows
libmariadb.dll     dynamically linked library, Windows
mysqlclient.lib    statically linked library, Windows
mysqlclient.dll    dynamically linked library, Windows

or something similar.

As in the case of the header files, the client library is typically not installed by default. On Windows you will need to select them while running the MySQL setup program (Custom installation). On Red Hat Linux an RPM archive "mysql-devel" or "MySQL-devel" must be installed.

The linker needs to know the location and name of the mariadb/mysqlclient library. This can be done by adding the flags

-L<lib directory> -lmysqlclient

or by adding the complete path name. Examples:

-L/usr/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient
-LC:\mysql\lib -lmysqlclient

If you would like to use the static libraries, you need to create a separate directory, copy the static libraries to that place and use the "-L" switch above to point to your new directory. For example:

mkdir /tmp/mysql-static
cp /usr/lib/mysql/*.a /tmp/mysql-static
perl Makefile.PL --libs="-L/tmp/mysql-static -lmysqlclient"
make
make test
make install
rm -rf /tmp/mysql-static

The gzip library

The MariaDB or MySQL client can use compression when talking to the MariaDB or MySQL server, a nice feature when sending or receiving large texts over a slow network.

On Unix you typically find the appropriate file name by running

ldconfig -p | grep libz
ldconfig -p | grep libgz

Once you know the name (libz.a or libgz.a is best), just add it to the list of linker flags. If this seems to be causing problem you may also try to link without gzip libraries.

macOS

For installing DBD::MariaDB you need to have the libssl header files and the mysql client libs. The easiest way to install these is using Homebrew (https://brew.sh/).

Once you have Homebrew set up, you can simply install the dependencies using

brew install openssl mysql-connector-c

Then you can install DBD::MariaDB using your cpan client.

Cygwin

If you are a user of Cygwin you already know, it contains a nicely running perl 5.6.1, installation of additional modules usually works like a charm via the standard procedure of

perl makefile.PL
make
make test
make install

The Windows binary distribution of MySQL runs smoothly under Cygwin. You can start/stop the server and use all Windows clients without problem. But to install DBD::MariaDB you have to take a little special action.

Don't attempt to build DBD::MariaDB against either the MySQL Windows or Linux/Unix distributions: neither will work!

You MUST compile the MySQL clients yourself under Cygwin, to get a libmysqlclient.a compiled under Cygwin. Really! You'll only need that library and the header files, you don't need any other client parts. Continue to use the Windows binaries. And don't attempt (currently) to build the MySQL Server part, it is unnecessary, as MySQL AB does an excellent job to deliver optimized binaries for the mainstream operating systems, and it is told, that the server compiled under Cygwin is unstable.

Install a MySQL server for testing against. You can install the regular Windows MySQL server package on your Windows machine, or you can also test against a MySQL server on a remote host.

Build MySQL clients under Cygwin:

Download the MySQL LINUX source from https://www.mysql.com/downloads, unpack mysql-<version>.tar.gz into some tmp location and from this directory run configure:

./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --without-server

This prepares the Makefile with the installed Cygwin features. It takes some time, but should finish without error. The "--prefix", as given, installs the whole Cygwin/MySQL thingy into a location not normally in your PATH, so that you continue to use already installed Windows binaries. The "--without-server" parameter tells configure to only build the clients.

make

This builds all MySQL client parts ... be patient. It should finish finally without any error.

make install

This installs the compiled client files under /usr/local/mysql/. Remember, you don't need anything except the library under /usr/local/mysql/lib and the headers under /usr/local/mysql/include!

Essentially you are now done with this part. If you want, you may try your compiled binaries shortly; for that, do:

cd /usr/local/mysql/bin
./mysql -h 127.0.0.1

The host ("-h") parameter 127.0.0.1 targets the local host, but forces the mysql client to use a TCP/IP connection. The default would be a pipe/socket connection (even if you say "-h localhost") and this doesn't work between Cygwin and Windows (as far as I know).

If you have your MySQL server running on some other box, then please substitute 127.0.0.1 with the name or IP-number of that box.

Please note, in my environment the "mysql" client did not accept a simple RETURN, I had to use CTRL-RETURN to send commands ... strange, but I didn't attempt to fix that, as we are only interested in the built lib and headers.

At the "mysql>" prompt do a quick check:

mysql> use mysql
mysql> show tables;
mysql> select * from db;
mysql> exit

You are now ready to build DBD::MariaDB!

compile DBD::MariaDB

Download and extract DBD-MariaDB-<version>.tar.gz from CPAN, "cd" into unpacked dir DBD-MariaDB-<version> you probably did that already, if you are reading this!

cp /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config .

This copies the executable script mentioned in the DBD::MariaDB docs from your just built Cywin/MySQL client directory; it knows about your Cygwin installation, especially about the right libraries to link with.

perl Makefile.PL --testhost=127.0.0.1

The "--testhost=127.0.0.1" parameter again forces a TCP/IP connection to the MySQL server on the local host instead of a pipe/socket connection for the "make test" phase.

make

This should run without error

make test
make install

This installs DBD::MariaDB into the Perl hierarchy.

no gzip on your system

Some Linux distributions don't come with a gzip library by default. Running "make" terminates with an error message like

LD_RUN_PATH="/usr/lib/mysql:/lib:/usr/lib" gcc
  -o blib/arch/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so  -shared
  -L/usr/local/lib dbdimp.o mysql.o -L/usr/lib/mysql
  -lmysqlclient -lm -L/usr/lib/gcc-lib/i386-redhat-linux/2.96
  -lgcc -lz
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lz
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
make: *** [blib/arch/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so] Error 1

If this is the case for you, install an RPM archive like "libz-devel", "libgz-devel", "zlib-devel" or "gzlib-devel" or something similar.

different compiler for mysql and perl

If Perl was compiled with gcc or egcs, but MySQL was compiled with another compiler or on another system, an error message like this is very likely when running "make test":

t/00base............install_driver(mysql) failed: Can't load
'../blib/arch/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so' for module DBD::MariaDB:
../blib/arch/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so: undefined symbol: _umoddi3
at /usr/local/perl-5.005/lib/5.005/i586-linux-thread/DynaLoader.pm
line 168.

This means, that your linker doesn't include libgcc.a. You have the following options:

The solution is telling the linker to use "libgcc". Run

gcc --print-libgcc-file

to determine the exact location of libgcc.a or for older versions of gcc

gcc -v

to determine the directory. If you know the directory, add a

-L<directory> -lgcc

to the list of C compiler flags. "Configuration". "Linker flags".