MySQL Cookbook

A.2 Obtaining MySQL and Related Software

If you're going to access a MySQL server run by somebody else, you need only the MySQL client software on your own machine. If you're going to run your own server, a full MySQL distribution is required.

To write your own MySQL-based programs, you'll need to communicate with the server through a language-specific API. The Perl, PHP, and Python interfaces rely on the MySQL C API client library to handle the low-level client-server protocol. For Perl and Python, you must install the C client library and header files first. PHP includes the MySQL client support files. Java JDBC drivers for MySQL implement the client-server protocol themselves, so they do not require the MySQL C client library.

You may not need to install the client software yourself—it may already have been built and installed for you by others. This is a common situation if you have an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for computing services such as a web server that is already enabled to provide access to MySQL. Under such circumstances, the MySQL libraries and header files will already have been installed by the ISP staff.

A.2.1 MySQL

Visit the main MySQL site to obtain a distribution of MySQL:

http://www.mysql.com/

Distributions include installation instructions, and the MySQL Reference Manual also provides extensive installation information. The manual is available online at the MySQL site and in printed form from O'Reilly & Associates. If you plan to use ODBC connections, you'll also want to obtain MyODBC.

If you need to install the MySQL C client library and header files, they're available if you install MySQL from a source distribution, or if you install a non-RPM binary distribution under Unix. Under Linux, you have the option of installing MySQL using RPM files, but be aware that the client library and header files are not installed unless you install the development RPM. (There are separate RPM files for the server, the standard client programs, and the development libraries and header files.) If you don't install the development RPM, you'll join the many Linux users who've asked, "I installed MySQL, but I cannot find the libraries or header files; where are they?"

A.2.2 Perl Support

General Perl information is available at:

http://www.perl.org/

Perl software may be obtained from the Comprehensive Perl Archive Network (CPAN):

http://cpan.perl.org/

To write MySQL-based Perl programs, you'll need the DBI module and the MySQL-specific DBD module, DBD::mysql.

To install these modules under Unix, it may be easiest to let Perl itself help you. For example, to install DBI and DBD::mysql, run the following commands (you'll probably need to do this as root):

# perl -MCPAN -e shell
cpan> install DBI
cpan> install DBD::mysql

Under ActiveState Perl for Windows, you can use the ppm utility:

C:\> ppm
ppm> install DBI
ppm> install DBD::mysql

You can use the CPAN shell or ppm to install other Perl modules mentioned in this book as well.

A.2.3 PHP Support

PHP software distributions and installation instructions may be obtained at:

http://www.php.net/

PHP source distributions include the MySQL client library, so you need not obtain it separately. If you use a binary distribution, be sure it includes MySQL support.

A.2.4 Python Support

Python software distributions and installation instructions may be obtained at:

http://www.python.org/

MySQLdb, the DB-API driver module that provides MySQL support, is available at:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python/

A.2.5 Java Support

You'll need a Java compiler to build and run Java programs. The javac and jikes compilers are two possible choices. On many systems, you'll find these installed already. Otherwise, you can get a compiler as part of the Java Software Development Kit (SDK). If no SDK is installed on your system, versions are available for Solaris, Linux, and Windows at Sun's Java site:

http://java.sun.com/js2e/

Several Java drivers are available that provide MySQL connectivity for the JDBC (Java Database Connectivity) interface. The one used in this book is MySQL Connector/J (formerly known as MM.MySQL), which is available at:

http://www.mysql.com/downloads/

A.2.6 Web Servers

In the web programming chapters, this book uses Apache for Perl, PHP, and Python scripts, and Tomcat for JavaServer Pages scripts. Apache and Tomcat both are available from the Apache Software Group; visit the following sites:

http://httpd.apache.org/

http://jakarta.apache.org/

The latter site also provides access to the Jakarta implementation of the JSP Standard Tag Library that is used in this book for writing JSP pages:

http://jakarta.apache.org/taglibs/

A.2.7 Miscellaneous Software

Chapter 10 mentions a Windows-based application, DBTools, that is useful for performing data transfers to and from MySQL. This application is available at the following site:

http://dbtools.vila.bol.com.br/

The gnu.getopt.Getopt Java class library discussed in Recipe 2.11 is available at:

http://www.urbanophile.com/arenn/hacking/download.html

The Jakarta Project site that hosts Tomcat also provides access to the ORO regular expression class library used in this book to perform pattern-matching operations:

http://jakarta.apache.org/oro/