1. Download and install the latest version of MacPorts if not already installed
2. Run the following commands to install mysql5 and the associated ruby gem

# sudo port install mysql5-server
# sudo env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install mysql


To make it work I had to create my own sparse bundle with a plist file in it to associate my MacBook’s unique id with the time machine image. Leopard and earlier releases of OS X would create a sparse disk image with the name from the network cards mac address, but in Snow Leopard it uses the computer Hardware UUID. I imagine this is because notebooks can have more than one mac address, one for wired and one for wireless.

How to create a sparse bundle in Snow Leopard

Step 1: Create the disk image with your computer’s name:

hdiutil create -size 500G -fs HFS+J -volname 'Time Machine Backup' -type SPARSEBUNDLE computer_name.sparsebundle

Step 2: Create a file called com.apple.TimeMachine.MachineID.plist inside the sparsebundle folder and fill it with the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>com.apple.backupd.HostUUID</key>
    <string>UUID_STRING</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Make sure you replace UUID_STRING with your unique machine identifier. This can be found by loading System Profiler (Hardware UUID).

Step 3: Transfer the sparse bundle disk image to your Ubuntu computer:

rsync -avP computer_name.sparsebundle username@ubuntumachine:~/

NOTE: See my latest post for a solution for OS X 10.6.4 and later

A fresh Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) install does not have the mysql gem installed, and installing it fails because of missing header files:

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

/System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/bin/ruby extconf.rb install mysql
mkmf.rb can't find header files for ruby at /System/Library/Frameworks/Ruby.framework/Versions/1.8/usr/lib/ruby/ruby.h

To correctly install the mysql gem:

1. Download and install the MySQL package.
2. Install XCode that’s bundled with Snow Leopard
3. Install the gem for your architecture (use -arch i386 if you have an Intel Core Solo or Intel Core Duo processor):

# sudo env ARCHFLAGS="-arch x86_64" gem install mysql -- --with-mysql-config=/usr/local/mysql-5.1.38-osx10.5-x86_64/bin/mysql_config


I like how OS X comes with a large number of open source packages such as PHP, Apache, Vim, Subversion and Ruby on Rails; however, I’d really like to see Apple add Git to the list.