How can I create and initialize a schema for a embedded MySQL DB?
Here are the functions from the C/C++ API


mysql_library_init() : Should be called before any other MySQL function is called, preferably early in the main() function.
mysql_library_end() : Should be called before your program exits.
mysql_thread_init() : Should be called in each thread you create that accesses MySQL.
mysql_thread_end() : Should be called before calling pthread_exit() 


Personally, I have searched high and low for the Perl equivalent of these C/C++ API calls that would open an embedded MySQL Server. Apparently, none exists for the Perl API.

Here is an excerpt from dev.mysql.com that verifies this:


  The embedded MySQL server library
  makes it possible to run a
  full-featured MySQL server inside a
  client application. The main benefits
  are increased speed and more simple
  management for embedded applications. 
  
  The embedded server library is based
  on the client/server version of MySQL,
  which is written in C/C++.
  Consequently, the embedded server also
  is written in C/C++. There is no
  embedded server available in other
  languages.


You may have to manually trigger the start of mysql yourself with something like this:

@args = {"/sbin/service","mysql","status"};
$rc = 0xFFFF &amp; system(@args);
if ( $rc != 0 ) {
    @args = {"/sbin/service","mysql","start"};
    system(@args) == 0 or die "mysql start failed : $?";
}