Why is it important to install MySQL devel-packages before configuring PHP with MySQL support?

It is important to install MySQL devel-packages before configuring PHP with MySQL support because the devel-packages contain necessary header files and libraries required for PHP to communicate with MySQL databases. Without these packages, PHP will not be able to properly compile and link against the MySQL libraries, resulting in errors when trying to connect to a MySQL database.

// Code snippet to configure PHP with MySQL support after installing MySQL devel-packages
./configure --with-mysql=/path/to/mysql
make
make install