Error installing mysql2 Gem on Linux

Error:

I have faced following issues during installation of MySQL gem on Linux systems.

# gem install mysql2 -v '0.3.18'

Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing mysql2:
        ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

    /usr/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/bin/ruby extconf.rb
checking for ruby/thread.h... yes
checking for rb_thread_call_without_gvl() in ruby/thread.h... yes
checking for rb_thread_blocking_region()... yes
checking for rb_wait_for_single_fd()... yes
checking for rb_hash_dup()... yes
checking for rb_intern3()... 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/local/rvm/rubies/ruby-2.1.2/bin/ruby
        --with-mysql-dir
        --without-mysql-dir
        --with-mysql-include
        --without-mysql-include={mysql-dir}/include
        --with-mysql-lib
        --without-mysql-lib=${mysql-dir}/lib
        --with-mysql-config
        --without-mysql-config
        --with-mysql-dir
        --without-mysql-dir
        --with-mysql-include
        --without-mysql-include=${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

extconf failed, exit code 1

Gem files will remain installed in /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/gems/mysql2-0.3.18 for inspection.
Results logged to /usr/local/rvm/gems/ruby-2.1.2/extensions/x86_64-linux/2.1.0/mysql2-0.3.18/gem_make.out

Solution:

To fix this issue we need to install MySQL development and client packages on our Linux system.

On Ubuntu & Debian:

$ sudo apt-get install libmysqlclient-dev

On Redhat & CentOS:

# yum install mysql-devel

On Mac OS X:

$ brew install mysql