Table of Contents
The MySQL® software delivers a very fast, multi-threaded, multi-user, and robust SQL (Structured Query Language) database server. MySQL Server is intended for mission-critical, heavy-load production systems as well as for embedding into mass-deployed software. MySQL is a registered trademark of MySQL AB.
The MySQL software is Dual Licensed. Users can choose to use the MySQL software as an Open Source product under the terms of the GNU General Public License (http://www.fsf.org/licenses/) or can purchase a standard commercial license from MySQL AB. See http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/licensing/ for more information on our licensing policies.
The following list describes some sections of particular interest in this manual:
For a discussion about the capabilities of the MySQL Database Server, see Section 1.4.2, “The Main Features of MySQL”.
For installation instructions, see Chapter 2, Installing and Upgrading MySQL. For information about upgrading MySQL, see Section 2.11, “Upgrading MySQL”.
For information about configuring and administering MySQL Server, see Chapter 5, Database Administration.
For information about setting up replication servers, see Chapter 6, Replication.
For tips on porting the MySQL Database Software to new architectures or operating systems, see Appendix E, Porting to Other Systems.
For a tutorial introduction to the MySQL Database Server, see Chapter 3, Tutorial.
For benchmarking information, see the
sql-bench benchmarking directory in your
MySQL distribution.
For a history of new features and bugfixes, see Appendix D, MySQL Change History.
For a list of currently known bugs and misfeatures, see Section A.8, “Known Issues in MySQL”.
For future plans, see Section 1.6, “MySQL Development Roadmap”.
For a list of all the contributors to this project, see Appendix C, Credits.
Important:
To report errors (often called “bugs”), please use the instructions at Section 1.8, “How to Report Bugs or Problems”.
If you have found a sensitive security bug in MySQL Server, please
let us know immediately by sending an email message to
<security@mysql.com>.
This is the Reference Manual for the MySQL Database System,
version 5.0, through release 5.0.23. It is
not intended for use with older versions of the MySQL software due
to the many functional and other differences between MySQL
5.0 and previous versions.
If you are using a version 4.1 release of the MySQL
software, please refer to the
MySQL 3.23, 4.0, 4.1 Reference Manual, which covers the
3.23, 4.0, and 4.1 series of MySQL software releases. Differences
between minor versions of MySQL 5.0 are noted in the
present text with reference to release numbers
(5.0.x).
Because this manual serves as a reference, it does not provide general instruction on SQL or relational database concepts. It also does not teach you how to use your operating system or command-line interpreter.
The MySQL Database Software is under constant development, and the Reference Manual is updated frequently as well. The most recent version of the manual is available online in searchable form at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/. Other formats also are available there, including HTML, PDF, and Windows CHM versions.
The Reference Manual source files are written in DocBook XML format. The HTML version and other formats are produced automatically, primarily using the DocBook XSL stylesheets. For information about DocBook, see http://docbook.org/
The DocBook XML sources of this manual are available from http://dev.mysql.com/tech-resources/sources.html. You can check out a copy of the documentation repository with this command:
svn checkout http://svn.mysql.com/svnpublic/mysqldoc/
If you have any suggestions concerning additions or corrections to
this manual, please send them to the documentation team at
<docs@mysql.com>.
This manual was originally written by David Axmark and Michael “Monty” Widenius. It is maintained by the MySQL Documentation Team, consisting of Paul DuBois, Stefan Hinz, Mike Hillyer, and Jon Stephens. For the many other contributors, see Appendix C, Credits.
The copyright to this manual is owned by the Swedish company MySQL AB. MySQL® and the MySQL logo are registered trademarks of MySQL AB. Other trademarks and registered trademarks referred to in this manual are the property of their respective owners, and are used for identification purposes only.