Chapter 3. Installation
Like most services, the MySQL and mSQL databases run as background processes (also called daemons on Unix systems). This chapter gives an overview on how to unpack and build them.
3.1. MySQL
Before you begin installing MySQL, you must answer a couple of questions.
Are you going to install MySQL as root or as another user?
MySQL does not require root access to run, but installing it as root will enable you to make one copy available to everyone on your system. If you do not have root access, you will have to install it in your home directory. However, even if you install MySQL as root, it is a very good idea to run it as a different user. In this way, all data in the database can be protected from all other users by setting the permissions on the data files to only be readable by the special MySQL user. In addition, if the security of the database becomes compromised, the attacker only has access to the special MySQL user account which has no privileges beyond the database.
Are you going to install MySQL from source or from binary?
There are many precompiled binary packages of MySQL available. Using this method can save time, but limits the amount of customization you can do on your installation. To install from source you need a C compiler and other development tools. If you have these, the benefits gained from installing from source usually outweigh the minor hassles.
WARNING
These two questions are not mutually exclusive. If you install from a binary package you have to install as root. Binary installations will have certain path information hard coded into the binary, forcing you to install as the person who created your pre-built binary. MySQL does supply command line options to override these paths, but usually installing from source is less of a hassle.
The first step in installing MySQL, either from source or binary, is to obtain the distribution. Table 3-1 lists sites that contain copies of the MySQL source code and binaries.
Table 3-1. Sites that Contain Copies of MySQL Source Code and Binaries
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Asia |
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Korea |
KREONet |
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Japan |
Soft Agency |
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Nagoya Syouka University |
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Nagoya Syouka University |
ftp://mirror.nucba.ac.jp/mirror/mysql/ |
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HappySize |
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HappySize |
ftp://ftp.happysize.co.jp/pub/mysql/ |
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Singapore |
HJC |
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HJC |
ftp://ftp.hjc.edu.sg/mysql/ |
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Taiwan |
NCTU |
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TTN |
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Australia |
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Australia |
AARNet/Queensland |
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AARNet/Queensland |
ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/mysql/ |
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Blue Planet/Melbourne |
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Blue Planet/Melbourne |
ftp://mysql.bluep.com/pub/mirror1/mysql/ |
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Tas |
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Tas |
ftp://ftp.tas.gov.au/pub/mysql/ |
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Africa |
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South Africa |
The Internet Solution/Johannesburg |
ftp://ftp.is.co.za/linux/mysql/ |
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Europe |
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Austria |
University of Technology/Vienna |
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University of Technology/Vienna |
ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/db/mysql/ |
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Bulgaria |
Naturella |
ftp://ftp.ntrl.net/pub/mirror/mysql/ |
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Denmark |
Ake |
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SunSITE |
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SunSITE |
ftp://sunsite.auc.dk/pub/databases/mysql/ |
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Estonia |
Tradenet |
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Finland |
EUnet |
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France |
Minet |
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Germany |
Bonn University, Bonn |
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Bonn University, Bonn |
ftp://ftp.wipol.uni-bonn.de/pub/mirror/MySQL/ |
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Wolfenbuettel |
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Wolfenbuettel |
ftp://ftp.fh-wolfenbuettel.de/pub/database/mysql/ |
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Staufen |
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Greece |
NTUA, Athens |
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NTUA, Athens |
ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/databases/mysql/ |
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Hungary |
Xenia |
www.mysql.com |
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Xenia |
www.mysql.com |
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Israel |
Netvision |
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Italy |
Teta Srl |
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Poland |
Sunsite |
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Sunsite |
ftp://sunsite.icm.edu.pl/pub/unix/mysql/ |
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Portugal |
lerianet |
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lerianet |
ftp://ftp.leirianet.pt/pub/mysql/ |
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Russia |
DirectNet |
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IZHCOM |
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IZHCOM |
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Romania |
Bucharest |
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Bucharest |
ftp://ftp.lbi.ro/mirrors/ftp.tcx.se |
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Timisoara |
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Timisoara |
ftp://ftp.dnttm.ro/pub/mysql/ |
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Sweden |
Sunet |
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Sunet |
ftp://ftp.sunet.se/pub/unix/databases/relational/mysql/ |
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TCX |
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TCX |
ftp://www.tcx.se |
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TCX |
http://www.mysql.com(Primary Site) |
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TCX |
ftp://ftp.mysql.com(Primary Site) |
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UK |
Omnipotent/UK |
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Omnipotent/UK |
ftp://mysql.omnipotent.net |
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PliG/UK |
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PliG/UK |
ftp://ftp.plig.org/pub/mysql/ |
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Ukraine |
PACO |
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PACO |
ftp://mysql.paco.net.ua |
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North America |
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Canada |
Tryc |
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USA |
Circle Net/North Carolina |
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DIGEX |
ftp://ftp.digex.net/pub/database/mysql/index.html/ |
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Gina net/Florida |
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Hurricane Electric/San Jose |
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Netcasting/West Coast |
ftp://ftp.netcasting.net/pub/mysql/ |
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Phoenix |
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pingzero/Los Angeles |
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South America |
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Chile |
Amerikanclaris |
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vision |
Once you have connected to the FTP site, change to the Downloads directory. This directory will list several versions of MySQL like this:
MySQL-3.21 MySQL-3.22 MySQL-3.23
The highest version number is an unstable release where new features are being added and tested. Individual subversions of this stage will always be labeled `alpha', `beta', or `gamma'. The previous version is the current stable version. This version has been thoroughly tested and is believed to be bug free. Earlier versions are also available for archive purposes.
If the development version is still in `alpha' stage, you should definitely stick with the stable version unless you like living on the edge. Likewise, if the development version is in `beta' stage, it's probably a good idea to use the stable version unless the new version has features that you really need, or if the system you are running it on is not absolutely critical. On the other hand, if the development version is at `gamma', you should feel confident in using it, unless there is a known problem affecting your system.
You can see exactly what stage a particular version of MySQL is at by changing to the directory for that version. For example, the directory MySQL-3.22 may look something like this:
mysql-3.22.19-beta-sgi-irix6,4-mip.tgz mysql-3.22.21a-beta-ibm-aix4.2.1.0-rs6000.tgz mysql-3.22.31-pc-linux-gnu-i586.tgz mysql-3.22.33-sun-solaris2.6-sparc.tgz mysql-3.22.33.tar.gz
The files with specific machine and operating system names are binary versions for that system. Files without a specific machine, such as the last file listed are the source code. If there is no stage label (`alpha', `beta', `gamma') attached to a file, it is a stable version. This is a case for the last two files in the list: One is a binary version for Sun Solaris 2.6 on Sparc hardware and the other is the source code. The other, older, versions exist because the development team does not always have the time and resources to compile every subversion of MySQL on every operating system and hardware configuration in existence. In fact, most of the pre-compiled versions are submitted by regular users who have had success compiling the latest version on their system.
With this information in mind, you should now choose the version of MySQL you wish to use and download the source distribution if you are going to compile MySQL, or the correct binary distribution for you machine, if it exists. If a binary distribution does not exist for your exact configuration, first check to see if one exists for a slightly different version of your system. For instance, mysql-3.22.32a-ibm-aix4.2.1.0-powerpc.tgz may also run for Version 4.1.4 of AIX on the same type of hardware. If you cannot find a working version this way, see if versions for your configuration exist for older versions of MySQL. If not, you will have to compile from source. If this is the case for you and you successfully compile and run MySQL, you should consider submitting a copy of your compiled binaries to the MySQL team for inclusion in the archive.
3.1.1. Installing from Source
Once you have downloaded the MySQL source distribution, unpack the archive using the following:
gunzip -c mysql-x.xx.xx.tar.gz | tar xvf -
Where mysql-x.xx.xx.tar.gz is the name of the file you downloaded. This will create a directory named mysql-x.xx.xx within the current directory. Change to this directory.
Run the configure script in the current directory. Invoke the script as ./configure so that you do not accidentally run a program with the same name elsewhere on your system. Many installations will configure fine without any options, but for those that do not, configure provides a wide array. Running with the --help switch will list them all, but the following are the most common:
- --without-server
This will compile all of the included MySQL clients, but not the server.
- --prefix
This is used to set the installation directory to something other than the default (/usr/local/).
- --with-low-memory
This option tells the compiler to not use certain optimizations that use a great deal of memory during the compilation process. Using this option will fix most lack of memory errors encountered during installation.
- --localstatedir
This is used to set the directory containing the database data files to something other than the default (/usr/local/var).
- --with-charset
This will choose a different character set (default is `latin1'). At the time of this writing, available character sets are big5, danish, cp1251, cp1257, croat, czech, dec8, dos, euc_kr, german1, hebrew, hp8, hungarian, koi8_ru, koi8_ukr, latin1, latin2, swe7, usa7, win1251, win1251u, kr, ujis, sjis, tis620.
After the configure script has completed, run make in the current directory. This will compile everything.
Once everything is finished compiling, make install will install everything into its proper place.
If this is the first time you are installing MySQL on this machine, or if all of the MySQL database files have been deleted since the last install, run the following to create the database structure and the administrative tables:
./scripts/mysql_install_db
This will also start the server daemon. To make sure it is running, change to the installation directory (/usr/local/ by default) and run the following:
./bin/mysqladmin version
The output should look something like this:
mysqladmin Ver 7.11 Distrib 3.22.23b, for linux on i586 TCX Datakonsult AB, by Monty Server version 3.22.23b-debug Protocol version 10 Connection Localhost via UNIX socket UNIX socket /tmp/mysql.sock Uptime: 6 sec Threads: 1 Questions: 1 Slow queries: 0 Opens: 6 Flush tables: 1 Open tables: 2 Memory in use: 1093K Max memory used: 1093K
To summarize, a sequence of installation steps looks like this:
gzip -c mysql-x.xx.xx.tar.gz | tar xvf - cd mysql-x.xx.xx ./configure make make install ./scripts/mysql_install_db ./bin/mysqladmin version
3.1.2. Installing a Binary Distribution
Once you have downloaded the binary distribution you must pick a directory to contain the MySQL files. The most common location is /usr/local/mysql, but where you put your distribution largely depends on the needs of your users and the access rights you have to the machine.
Change to the directory just above the one you wish to house the MySQL distribution. For example, if you wish to use /usr/local/mysql, change to /usr/local now. Run the following to unpack the distribution:
gunzip -c /tmp/mysql-x.xx.xx-mymachine.tgz | tar xvf -
Here /tmp is the directory where you downloaded MySQL and mysql-x.xx.xx-mymachine.tgz is the name of the file you downloaded.
This should create a directory called mysql-x.xx.xx within the current directory. If you want the files to be in a directory called just mysql, create a link:
ln -s mysql-x.xx.xx mysql
Next, check to see if the binary package contains the access grant tables. Change to the directory mysql/mysql from the current directory. If this directory does not exist or is empty, you must create the tables yourself. Change back one directory to the main mysql installation directory and run the following:
scripts/mysql_install_db
The previous command has to be run only once. To actually start the MySQL daemon, enter:
bin/safe_mysqld --log &
To see if the daemon is running properly, run the following:
bin/mysqladmin version
The output should look something like this:
Mysqladmin Ver 6.3 Distrib 3.21.33, for sun-solaris2.6 on sparc TCX Datakonsult AB, by Monty Server version 3.21.17-alpha Protocol version 10 Connection Localhost via UNIX socket TCP Port 3333 UNIX socket /tmp/mysql.sock Uptime: 13 sec Running threads: 1 Questions: 20 Reloads: 2 Open Tables: 3
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| 2.4. Physical Database Design |  | 3.2. mSQL |
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