I am having an absurdly difficult time getting MySQL-Ruby to install on RedHat 4 using Ruby 1.9.2. I am behind a company proxy that prevents pretty much any package tool from connecting to external repositories so "gem install mysql" isn't going to cut it. I have tried installing the mysql-ruby gem locally but it fails with a mysterious:

$gem install mysql-2.8.1.gem
Building native extensions.  This could take a while...
ERROR:  Error installing mysql-2.8.1.gem:
        ERROR: Failed to build gem native extension.

/ns/local/apps/internal/SWS/MetricsPublisher/ruby/bin/ruby extconf.rb
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. 

I have also tried building the module myself by following the included readme. The results:

$ruby extconf.rb --with-mysql-include=/path_to_my_sql_headers/mysql/include/ --with-mysql-lib=/path_to_my_sql_lib/mysql/lib/
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.

Does anybody have any ideas? Quite frankly, I don't even care if MySQL-Ruby specifically works, I just want ANY means of connecting to a MySQL DB through a ruby call in ruby 1.9. Thanks.