Installing MySQL - Learning MySQL - page 26

recommends that the apt-get method be used instead; we describe the recom-
mended approach in this chapter.
• Install a system-wide or local server using using a compressed directory (known as
a gzipped tar archive) from the MySQL AB web site. This directory has all the
necessary MySQL files ready to run in place; you don't need to run an installer
program or place the files in a particular location on disk.
• Install a system-wide or local server by downloading the MySQL source code from
the MySQL AB web site and compiling the executable programs yourself. This is
the most time-consuming way of setting up Linux, but is the most flexible for power
users.
• Install a system-wide server using packages created by your Linux distribution; you
can download these from the Web or install them from your Linux CDs.
• Install a system-wide server by downloading the XAMPP integrated package. Note
that XAMPP is not designed for use as a local server, and significant effort is re-
quired to get around this limitation.
We'll describe each of these approaches in detail. If you're not sure which approach is
most suitable for you, we recommend you first try to use the packages provided by your
Linux distribution.
Installing MySQL on Linux Using RPM Packages from MySQL AB
First, go to the MySQL AB downloads page following the instructions in the “Down-
loading MySQL from the MySQL AB Web Site” section, and scroll down the list to the
part of the page with the label “Linux x86 RPM downloads.” The x86 indicates the
processor type; almost all PCs today use x86 processors. If you have a more advanced
type, such as an AMD 64-bit processor, you should find the appropriate part of the
downloads page.
Pick RPM packages for both the MySQL server and the client, taking care that you
select the correct version for your Linux distribution and your processor. These will
be called something like MySQL-server-5.0.22-0.i386.rpm and MySQL-cli
ent-5.0.22-0.i386.rpm . Packages with higher CPU numbers, such as i586 or i686, are
better tuned for newer machines, but won't work on older machines.
If you intend to do server benchmarking and testing, you may need to download the
benchmark and test suites package (with a name like MySQL-
bench-5.0.22-0.i386.rpm ); however, you won't need them for this topic.
To install the RPM files, you'll need to log in as the system root user. Open a terminal
program and use the su - command to log in as the root user:
$ su -
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