Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 2-4. Using winMd5Sum to verify the MD5 checksum of a downloaded file
Open source projects such as MySQL, Apache, PHP, and Perl produce
constantly evolving software, with new versions appearing regularly.
The installation files typically include the version number in the file-
name—for example,
MySQL-server-<version>.i686.rpm
. The versions
of the software that you will use are almost certainly newer than the
ones used in our examples, so you should substitute the appropriate
version number when handling them. Of course, installation details
change over time—things generally become easier—so expect some
variation from the steps we discuss here. You'll also probably find that
the output we show for various programs will be slightly different from
what you see on your own system.
Whenever you install software that can accept connections from other
computers, you should take care to configure your computer firewall
software to block connections from unauthorized systems. This is par-
ticularly important if your computer is easily accessible from the Inter-
net, for example through your connection to your Internet Service Pro-
vider (ISP).
Installing Under Linux
There are five main ways to get MySQL up and running on a Linux system. You can:
• Install a system-wide server from packages downloaded from the MySQL AB web
site. Using packages supplied by MySQL AB means that the MySQL-related files
are located together in a consistent way.
MySQL AB provides these packages in the RPM format: a collection of files that
can be processed and installed by the
rpm
program. The name is a vestige of the
program's origins as the Red Hat Package Manager. However, many Linux distri-
butions other than Red Hat use RPMs for managing software installation; these
include Fedora, Mandriva/Mandrake, and SUSE. The MySQL AB company also
provides files for download in the format used by Debian-based distributions but
