MySQL in a Nutshell, 2nd Edition

Unix Binary Distributions

Installing MySQL with a binary distribution is easier than using a source distribution and is the recommended choice if a binary distribution is available for your platform. The files are packaged together into an archive file and then compressed before being put on the Internet for downloading. Therefore, you will need a copy of GNU tar and GNU gunzip to be able to unpack the installation files. These tools are usually included on all Linux systems and most Unix systems. If your system doesn’t have them, though, you can download them from the GNU Project’s site (http://www.gnu.org).

Once you’ve chosen and downloaded the installation package, enter something like the following from the command line as root to begin the MySQL installation process:

groupadd mysql
useradd -g mysql mysql
cd /usr/local
tar xvfz /tmp/mysql-version.tar.gz

The first command creates the user group mysql. The second creates the user mysql and adds it to the group mysql at the same time. The next command changes to the directory where the MySQL files are about to be extracted. In the last command, you use the tar utility (along with gunzip via the z option) to unzip and unpack the source distribution file that you downloaded. The word version in the name of the installation file is replaced with the version number—that is to say, use the actual path and name of the installation file that you downloaded as the second argument of the tar command. For Sun Solaris systems, you should use ...