(mysql.info.gz) Choosing distribution format

 
 2.1.2.2 Choosing a Distribution Format
 ......................................
 
 After choosing which version of MySQL to install, you should decide
 whether to use a binary distribution or a source distribution.  In most
 cases, you should probably use a binary distribution, if one exists for
 your platform. Binary distributions are available in native format for
 many platforms, such as RPM files for Linux or DMG package installers
 for Mac OS X. Distributions also are available as Zip archives or
 compressed `tar' files.
 
 Reasons to choose a binary distribution include the following:
 
    * Binary distributions generally are easier to install than source
      distributions.
 
    * To satisfy different user requirements, we provide two different
      binary versions: one compiled with the non-transactional storage
      engines (a small, fast binary), and one configured with the most
      important extended options like transaction-safe tables.  Both
      versions are compiled from the same source distribution.  All
      native MySQL clients can connect to servers from either MySQL
      version.
 
      The extended MySQL binary distribution is marked with the `-max'
      suffix and is configured with the same options as `mysqld-max'.
       `mysqld-max' mysqld-max.
 
      If you want to use the `MySQL-Max' RPM, you must first install the
      standard `MySQL-server' RPM.
 
 
 Under some circumstances, you probably will be better off installing
 MySQL from a source distribution:
 
    * You want to install MySQL at some explicit location.  The standard
      binary distributions are "ready to run" at any place, but you may
      want to have even more flexibility to place MySQL components where
      you want.
 
    * You want to configure `mysqld' with some extra features that are
      not included in the standard binary distributions.  Here is a list
      of the most common extra options that you may want to use:
 
         * `--with-innodb' (default for MySQL 4.0 and up)
 
         * `--with-berkeley-db' (not available on all platforms)
 
         * `--with-raid'
 
         * `--with-libwrap'
 
         * `--with-named-z-libs' (this is done for some of the binaries)
 
         * `--with-debug[=FULL]'
 
    * You want to configure `mysqld' without some features that are
      included in the standard binary distributions. For example,
      distributions normally are compiled with support for all character
      sets. If you want a smaller MySQL server, you can recompile it
      with support for only the character sets you need.
 
    * You have a special compiler (such as `pgcc') or want to use
      compiler options that are better optimized for your processor.
      Binary distributions are compiled with options that should work on
      a variety of processors from the same processor family.
 
    * You want to use the latest sources from one of the BitKeeper
      repositories to have access to all current bugfixes. For example,
      if you have found a bug and reported it to the MySQL development
      team, the bugfix will be committed to the source repository and you
      can access it there.  The bugfix will not appear in a release until
      a release actually is issued.
 
    * You want to read (or modify) the C and C++ code that makes up
      MySQL. For this purpose, you should get a source distribution,
      because the source code is always the ultimate manual.
 
    * Source distributions contain more tests and examples than binary
      distributions.
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