RMySQL install failure

I wonder if anybody has successfully got the RMySQL installation  
working?

Yes (see several posts on this list such as
http://www.mail-archive.com/r-sig-mac at stat.math.ethz.ch/msg01006.html
for example).

I have followed the instructions (both approaches) given on the  
build failure CRAN site but still get a configuration error.

Ooops, the CRAN build should have been ok, but the mysql on the build  
machine was broken - sorry about that, it's fixed now and the package  
is available from the r.research.att.com site (and soon on all mirrors).

Cheers,
Simon