Installing MySQL - Learning MySQL - page 10

source code for MySQL from the MySQL AB web site and prepare, or compile , the
executable programs yourself. By doing the compiling yourself, you ensure that you
have the most up-to-date version of the software, and you can optimize the compiler
output for your particular needs. The MySQL manual says that you can get a perform-
ance increase of up to 30 percent if you compile the code with the ideal settings for
your environment. However, rolling your own installation from source code can also
be a tedious and error-prone process, so we suggest that you stick with the ready-made
binaries unless you're experienced and really need to squeeze every ounce of perform-
ance from your server. Compiling from source under Windows and Mac OS X is even
more involved, so it's uncommon, and we don't discuss it in this topic.
You can also install MySQL as part of an integrated package that includes the Apache,
PHP, and Perl software that you'll need later in this topic. Using an integrated package
allows you to follow a step-by-step installation wizard. It's easier than integrating
standalone packages, and many of the integrated packages include other tools that help
you adjust configuration files, work with MySQL, or conveniently start and stop serv-
ices. Unfortunately, many of the integrated packages are a couple of minor releases
behind the current version and may not include all the PHP libraries that you require.
Another disadvantage is that an integrated package doesn't always fit in with your
current setup; for example, even if you already have a MySQL installation, you'll get
another one as part of the integrated package, and you'll have to take care to avoid
clashes. Despite the disadvantages, we recommend you follow this approach. There
are several integrated packages available; we feel that XAMPP is probably the best
produced of these, and we'll describe how to install and use this. XAMPP includes
MySQL, the Apache web server with PHP and Perl support, and other useful software
such as phpMyAdmin. We recommend that you start out by using XAMPP, and we
won't spend time describing how to separately install and configure Apache, PHP, and
Perl to work together on your system.
The software packages you need—MySQL, Apache, PHP, and Perl—are available
ready to install on many operating systems and can be compiled to run on a large
number of others. However, chances are that you're running one of three major oper-
ating systems: Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X, so we'll provide detailed instructions
for only these three. Let's see how they compare as MySQL development and produc-
tion platforms.
Linux
Linux is an open source operating system that is closely modeled on Unix, which is
why it's often called a Unix clone. Even though it's free, Linux is very powerful and
very secure, with versions available for a wide range of hardware.
You typically get Linux in the form of a distribution , such as Red Hat or Mandriva. A
distribution packages the operating system together with a large range of useful soft-
ware for things such as word processing, networking, web and database development,