Installing MySQL from a Source Distribution (Linux/Unix) - MySQL

If you’re planning to install MySQL from a source distribution, you’ll need to untar the source tree and go through the traditional configure-make-make install cycle to get MySQL up and running. This is a fairly time-consuming and complex process, and it’s one that shouldn’t really be attempted by novice users; however, if you’re determined to do it, here’s how:

1. Ensure that you’re logged in as root:

[user@host]# su - root

2. Switch to the directory containing the source tarball, and extract the files within it. (Note that you will need approximately 80 MB of free space for the source tree.)

[root@host]# cd /tmp
[root@host]# tar -xzvf mysql-4.0.9-gamma.tar.gz

Remember to replace the file name in italics with the file name of your source tarball.

3. Move into the directory containing the source code,

[root@host]# cd mysql-4.0.9-gamma

and take a look at the contents with ls:

[root@host]# ls -l

You should see something like Figure 5.

FIGURE 5  The directory structure obtained on unpackaging
of a MySQL source tarball on Linux

Take a look at the sidebar entitled “Up a Tree” for more information on what each directory contains.

4. Now, set variables for the compile process via the included configure script. (Note the use of the --prefix argument to configure, which sets the default installation path for the compiled binaries.)

[root@host]# ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

You should see a few screens of output (Figure 6 has a sample) as configure configures and sets up the variables needed for the compilation process.

FIGURE 6  Configuring the MySQL source tree on Linux

5. Now compile the program using make:

[root@host]# make

Watch as your screen fills up with all manner of strange symbols and characters (see Figure 7).

FIGURE 7  Building MySQL on Linux

The compilation process takes a fair amount of time (refer to the sidebar titled “Watching the Clock” for my empirical observations on how long you’ll be waiting), so this is a good time to get yourself a cup of coffee or check your mail.

Now that you’re all done, you can test to ensure that everything is working properly.

6. Run the following command:

[root@host]# make tests

7. Install the MySQL binaries to their new home in /usr/local/mysql:

[root@host]# make install

Figure 8 demonstrates what your screen should look like during the installation process.

FIGURE 8  Installing compiled MySQL binaries on Linux

8. Create the special mysql user and group with the groupadd and useradd commands:

[root@host]# groupadd mysql
[root@host]# useradd -g mysql mysql

9. Run the initialization script, mysql_install_db, which ships with the program, to prepare MySQL for operation:

[root@host]# /usr/local/mysql/scripts/mysql_install_db

10. Alter the ownership of the MySQL binaries so that they are owned by root:

[root@host]# chown -R root /usr/local/mysql

Now ensure that the newly minted mysql user has read/write access to the MySQL data directories:

[root@host]# chown -R mysql /usr/local/mysql/var
[root@host]# chgrp -R mysql /usr/local/mysql

11. Start the MySQL server by manually running the mysqld daemon:

[root@host]# /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe –-user=mysql &

MySQL should start up normally, reading the base tables created in /usr/local/mysql/var.

At this point, you can proceed to the section titled “Testing MySQL” to verify that everything is working as it should.

Remember: this is chapter three of MySQL: The Complete Reference, by Vikram Vaswani (McGraw-Hill/Osborne, ISBN 0-07-222477-0, 2004). Vikram is the founder of Melonfire, and has had numerous articles featured on Dev Shed.  Buy this book now.