MySQL

Create a UTF8 database:
> CREATE DATABASE db_name DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

Create a user for the database:
> CREATE USER 'user_name'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'user_pass';

Grant all privileges to the user:
> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'user_name'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
You should probably not give him all privileges on all databases, but you can change that as needed.

This is how I got Django and Satchmo set up on my Debian Etch box with Apache2, MySQL, mod_python and Memcached.

The machine I started with had Debian Etch installed as well as Apache2 and MySQL.

If you are reading this it is because you already know that you want a Rails setup on a Debian server with NginX in front of a Mongrel Cluster.

These are the steps I used to completely set up my server...

I have spent a stupid amount of time trying to get MySQL installed/configured/working on my Mac. Since I am coming from Ubuntu, I am used to being able to install an entire LAMPs stack with this one command:

$ sudo apt-get install apache2 mysql-server php5 libapache2-mod-php5 php5-xsl php5-gd php-pear libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql

Apparently on a Mac this is a complete PITA.