Having installed MySQL for OSX from Apple’s UNIX & Open Source downloads section and Server Logistics, I found that the Perl module DBD::mysql wouldn’t compile and install. The solution it seems is to compile it by hand (oh, the horror!) Download and unpack DBD-mysql-2.9003.tar.gz and then type the following: cd DBD-mysql-2.9003 perl Makefile.PL –nocatchstderr make make test make install It fails a couple of parts of a test on my system, but still works ok. The –nocatchstderr option seems to be the only way to make it work.