Assert that mysql is installed locally

David542 :

I would like to make sure that the user has mysql installed in order to run a script. Normally I would type in $ mysql in the shell and if it goes to the mysql> prompt I know I'm good. However, how would I do this from within a python script? Something like:

try:
    assert (0 == subprocess.call("mysql -u root -e 'show databases'", shell=True, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL))
except AssertionError:
    print ("You need to install mysql to run this script")\

What would be the proper way to do this?

Kyle Laker :

You can use shutil.which. This is available in Python 3.3+ and will use the same PATH lookup as the operating system you are runnig on.

from shutil import which

def mysql_exists():
    """
    Verifies that the MySQL client is available. Returns true if it exists,
    and false if it does not.
    """
    return which('mysql') is not None