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MySQL and Mac OS X :: 1 Installing MySQL Using the Installation Package
2 Installing the MySQL Startup Item »
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Chapter 1. Installing MySQL Using the Installation Package

You can install MySQL on Mac OS X 10.3.x (“Panther”) or newer using a Mac OS X binary package in PKG format instead of the binary tarball distribution. Please note that older versions of Mac OS X (for example, 10.1.x or 10.2.x) are not supported by this package.

The package is located inside a disk image (.dmg) file that you first need to mount by double-clicking its icon in the Finder. It should then mount the image and display its contents.

Note

Before proceeding with the installation, be sure to shut down all running MySQL server instances by either using the MySQL Manager Application (on Mac OS X Server) or via mysqladmin shutdown on the command line.

When installing from the package version, you should also install the MySQL Preference Pane, which will allow you to control the startup and execution of your MySQL server from System Preferences. For more information, see Chapter 3, Installing and Using the MySQL Preference Pane.

When installing using the package installer, the files are installed into a directory within /usr/local matching the name of the installation version and platform. For example, the installer file mysql-5.1.39-osx10.5-x86_64.pkg installs MySQL into /usr/local/mysql-5.1.39-osx10.5-x86_64 . The installation layout of the directory is as shown in the following table:

Directory Contents of Directory
bin Client programs and the mysqld server
data Log files, databases
docs Manual in Info format
include Include (header) files
lib Libraries
man Unix manual pages
mysql-test MySQL test suite
scripts Contains the mysql_install_db script
share/mysql Error message files
sql-bench Benchmarks
support-files Scripts and sample configuration files
/tmp/mysql.sock The location of the MySQL Unix socket

During the package installer process, a symbolic link from /usr/local/mysql to the version/platform specific directory created during installation will be created automatically.

  1. Download and open the MySQL package installer, which is provided on a disk image (.dmg). Double-click to open the disk image, which includes the main MySQL installation package, the MySQLStartupItem.pkg installation package, and the MySQL.prefPane.

  2. Double-click on the MySQL installer package. It will be named according to the version of MySQL you have downloaded. For example, if you have downloaded MySQL 5.1.39, double-click mysql-5.1.39-osx10.5-x86.pkg.

  3. You will be presented with the openin installer dialog. Click Continue to begihn installation.

    MySQL Package Installer: Step 1

  4. A copy of the installation instructions and other important information relevant to this installation are display. Click Continue .

  5. If you have downloaded the community version of MySQL, you will be shown a copy of the relevent GNU General Public License. Click Continue .

  6. Select the drive you want to use to install the MySQL Startup Item. The drive must have a valid, bootable, Mac OS X operating system installed. Click Continue.

    MySQL Package Installer: Step 4

  7. You will be asked to confirm the details of the installation, including the space required for the installation. To change the drive on which the startup item is installed you can click either Go Back or Change Install Location.... To install the startup item, click Install.

  8. Once the installation has been completed successfully, you will be given an Install Succeeded message.

Once you have completed the basic installation, you must complete the post-installation steps as specifed in Post-Installation Setup and Testing.

For convenience, you may also want to install the Chapter 2, Installing the MySQL Startup Item and Chapter 3, Installing and Using the MySQL Preference Pane.