Just in case you would be in this situation (and given the fact I couldn't find online information about it), if you are ever installing the mysql2 gem on a Debian Wheezy system with MariaDB 10 (I would guess a rather rare situation), you might get this error:
# gem install mysql2 -v=0.3.11 Building native extensions. This could take a while... ERROR: Error installing mysql2: ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension. /usr/bin/ruby1.9.1 extconf.rb checking for rb_thread_blocking_region()... yes checking for rb_wait_for_single_fd()... yes checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no checking for main() in -lm... yes checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no checking for main() in -lz... yes checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no checking for main() in -lsocket... no checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no checking for main() in -lnsl... yes checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no checking for main() in -lmygcc... no checking for mysql_query() in -lmysqlclient... no *** extconf.rb failed *** Could not create Makefile due to some reason, probably lack of necessary libraries and/or headers. Check the mkmf.log file for more details. You may need configuration options. Provided configuration options: --with-opt-dir --without-opt-dir --with-opt-include --without-opt-include=${opt-dir}/include --with-opt-lib --without-opt-lib=${opt-dir}/lib --with-make-prog --without-make-prog --srcdir=. --curdir --ruby=/usr/bin/ruby1.9.1 --with-mysql-config --without-mysql-config --with-mysql-dir --without-mysql-dir --with-mysql-include --without-mysql-include=${mysql-dir}/include --with-mysql-lib --without-mysql-lib=${mysql-dir}/lib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-mlib --without-mlib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-zlib --without-zlib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-socketlib --without-socketlib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-nsllib --without-nsllib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib --with-mygcclib --without-mygcclib --with-mysqlclientlib --without-mysqlclientlib Gem files will remain installed in /var/lib/gems/1.9.1/gems/mysql2-0.3.11 for inspection. Results logged to /var/lib/gems/1.9.1/gems/mysql2-0.3.11/ext/mysql2/gem_make.outIf you find yourself in that situation, the solution is apparently to first issue an
apt-get install libmariadbd-devAnd then repeat the gem install mysql2 command. Done.