Wordpress not running on GAE PHP, error PHP installation appears missing the MySQL extension, verified connection to local wordpress_db

Thank you in advance for answering... Have read other Stakeoverflow post but still not able to resolve the issue

Objective: deploy wordpress 3.5.1 following GAE PHP tutorial. Have successfully completed PHP helloworld tutorial.

Error Encountered: loading localhost:8080 display message "Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress"

Requesting Support On: 1.Was wondering how to resolve this issue? Any recommendations on possible debug path? 2.How does the php.ini file in the APPLICATION_DIRECTORY different from the php.ini file created in the PHP.exe root folder? (BTW from experimentation if not create php.ini in php.exe root folder, then phpinfo() will not show loaded configuration file)

Debug Results: Followed GAE tutorial carefully and created the php.ini ( w/ the one line "google_app_engine.enable_functions = "php_sapi_name, gc_enabled")

3 test have confirmed PHP mysql extension enabled and installed via php.ini residing in php.exe root folder 1)phpinfo() 2)php.exe -m 3) Running the attach script "test connection to mysql local" confirms able to write to the wordpress_db with GAE

Identified the error message "Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension which is required by WordPress" is coming from Wordpress wp-load.php file funtion "wp_check_php_mysql_versions();" which originates from wordpress\wp-includes\load.php

function wp_check_php_mysql_versions() {
global $required_php_version, $wp_version;
$php_version = phpversion();
if ( version_compare( $required_php_version, $php_version, '>' ) ) {
    wp_load_translations_early();
    die( sprintf( __( 'Your server is running PHP version %1$s but WordPress     %2$s requires at least %3$s.' ), $php_version, $wp_version, $required_php_version ) );
}

if ( ! extension_loaded( 'mysql' ) && ! file_exists( WP_CONTENT_DIR . '/db.php' ) )     {
    wp_load_translations_early();
    die( __( 'Your PHP installation appears to be missing the MySQL extension     which is required by WordPress.' ) );
    }
}