MySQLdb, Python 2.5 and OS X 10.8

I've wasted too much time trying to make MySQLdb work with Python 2.5, several times now.

Python 2.5 on OS X 10.6+ is 32=bit. Everything else is probably (depending on your system) 64-bit.

If you see the error:

    Traceback (most recent call last):
        ...
        import MySQLdb
      File "/Users/cole/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/MySQLdb/__init__.py", line 19, in <module>
        import _mysql
    ImportError: dlopen(/Users/cole/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/_mysql.so, 2): Library not loaded: /usr/local/lib/libmysqlclient.18.dylib
      Referenced from: /Users/cole/Library/Python/2.5/site-packages/_mysql.so
      Reason: no suitable image found.  Did find:
    	/usr/local/lib/libmysqlclient.18.dylib: mach-o, but wrong architecture
    	/usr/local/lib/libmysqlclient.18.dylib: mach-o, but wrong architecture

Many people have similar problems. To fix (use Homebrew):

pip uninstall MySQL-python
brew uninstall mysql
brew install mysql --universal
pip install MySQL-python

Note that Homebrew does NOT seem to preserve the --universal flag when you upgrade. If you start to see the problem again, that might be why.