MariaDB and MySQL have identical install methods. In this document we
describe how to install MariaDB; However all documentation at www.mysql.com
also applies.


2.2. Installing MariaDB from Generic Binaries on Unix/Linux

   This section covers the installation of MariaDB binary distributions
   that are provided for various platforms in the form of compressed
   tar files (files with a .tar.gz extension).

   MariaDB tar file binary distributions have names of the form
   mariadb-VERSION-OS.tar.gz, where VERSION is a number (for example,
   5.1.39), and OS indicates the type of operating system for which
   the distribution is intended (for example, pc-linux-i686).

   You need the following tools to install a MariaDB tar file binary
   distribution:

     * GNU gunzip to uncompress the distribution.

     * A reasonable tar to unpack the distribution. GNU tar is known
       to work. Some operating systems come with a preinstalled
       version of tar that is known to have problems. For example,
       the tar provided with early versions of Mac OS X, SunOS 4.x,
       Solaris 8, Solaris 9, Solaris 10 and OpenSolaris, and HP-UX
       are known to have problems with long file names. On Mac OS X,
       you can use the preinstalled gnutar program. On Solaris 10 and
       OpenSolaris you can use the preinstalled gtar. On other
       systems with a deficient tar, you should install GNU tar
       first.

   If you run into problems and need to file a bug report,
   please report them to: http://bugs.launchpad.net/maria

   See the instructions in Section 1.6, "How to Report Bugs or Problems."

   The basic commands that you must execute to install and use a
   MariaDB binary distribution are:

shell> groupadd mysql
shell> useradd -g mysql mysql
shell> cd /usr/local
shell> gunzip < /path/to/mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz | tar xvf -
shell> ln -s full-path-to-mysql-VERSION-OS mysql
shell> cd mysql
shell> chown -R mysql .
shell> chgrp -R mysql .
shell> scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql
shell> chown -R root .
shell> chown -R mysql data
shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

Note

   This procedure does not set up any passwords for MariaDB accounts.
   After following the procedure, proceed to Section 2.13,
   "Post-Installation Setup and Testing."

   A more detailed version of the preceding description for
   installing a binary distribution follows:

    1. Add a login user and group for mysqld to run as:
shell> groupadd mysql
shell> useradd -g mysql mysql
       These commands add the mysql group and the mysql user. The
       syntax for useradd and groupadd may differ slightly on
       different versions of Unix, or they may have different names
       such as adduser and addgroup.
       You might want to call the user and group something else
       instead of mysql. If so, substitute the appropriate name in
       the following steps.

    2. Pick the directory under which you want to unpack the
       distribution and change location into it. In the following
       example, we unpack the distribution under /usr/local. (The
       instructions, therefore, assume that you have permission to
       create files and directories in /usr/local. If that directory
       is protected, you must perform the installation as root.)
shell> cd /usr/local

    3. Obtain a distribution file using the instructions in Section
       2.1.3, "How to Get MariaDB." For a given release, binary
       distributions for all platforms are built from the same MariaDB
       source distribution.

    4. Unpack the distribution, which creates the installation
       directory. Then create a symbolic link to that directory:
shell> gunzip < /path/to/mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz | tar xvf -
shell> ln -s full-path-to-mysql-VERSION-OS mysql
       The tar command creates a directory named mysql-VERSION-OS.
       The ln command makes a symbolic link to that directory. This
       lets you refer more easily to the installation directory as
       /usr/local/mysql.
       With GNU tar, no separate invocation of gunzip is necessary.
       You can replace the first line with the following alternative
       command to uncompress and extract the distribution:
shell> tar zxvf /path/to/mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz

    5. Change location into the installation directory:
shell> cd mysql
       You will find several files and subdirectories in the mysql
       directory. The most important for installation purposes are
       the bin and scripts subdirectories:

          + The bin directory contains client programs and the
            server. You should add the full path name of this
            directory to your PATH environment variable so that your
            shell finds the MariaDB programs properly. See Section
            2.14, "Environment Variables."

          + The scripts directory contains the mysql_install_db
            script used to initialize the mysql database containing
            the grant tables that store the server access
            permissions.

    6. Ensure that the distribution contents are accessible to mysql.
       If you unpacked the distribution as mysql, no further action
       is required. If you unpacked the distribution as root, its
       contents will be owned by root. Change its ownership to mysql
       by executing the following commands as root in the
       installation directory:
shell> chown -R mysql .
shell> chgrp -R mysql .
       The first command changes the owner attribute of the files to
       the mysql user. The second changes the group attribute to the
       mysql group.

    7. If you have not installed MariaDB before, you must create the
       MariaDB data directory and initialize the grant tables:
shell> scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql
       If you run the command as root, include the --user option as
       shown. If you run the command while logged in as that user,
       you can omit the --user option.
       The command should create the data directory and its contents
       with mysql as the owner.
       After creating or updating the grant tables, you need to
       restart the server manually.

    8. Most of the MariaDB installation can be owned by root if you
       like. The exception is that the data directory must be owned
       by mysql. To accomplish this, run the following commands as
       root in the installation directory:

shell> chown -R root .
shell> chown -R mysql data

    9. If you want MariaDB to start automatically when you boot your
       machine, you can copy support-files/mysql.server to the
       location where your system has its startup files. More
       information can be found in the support-files/mysql.server
       script itself and in Section 2.13.1.2, "Starting and Stopping
       MariaDB Automatically."
   10. You can set up new accounts using the bin/mysql_setpermission
       script if you install the DBI and DBD::mysql Perl modules. See
       Section 4.6.14, "mysql_setpermission --- Interactively Set
       Permissions in Grant Tables." For Perl module installation
       instructions, see Section 2.15, "Perl Installation Notes."
   11. If you would like to use mysqlaccess and have the MariaDB
       distribution in some nonstandard location, you must change the
       location where mysqlaccess expects to find the mysql client.
       Edit the bin/mysqlaccess script at approximately line 18.
       Search for a line that looks like this:
$MYSQL     = '/usr/local/bin/mysql';    # path to mysql executable
       Change the path to reflect the location where mysql actually
       is stored on your system. If you do not do this, a Broken pipe
       error will occur when you run mysqlaccess.

   After everything has been unpacked and installed, you should test
   your distribution. To start the MariaDB server, use the following
   command:
shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

   If you run the command as root, you must use the --user option as
   shown. The value of the option is the name of the login account
   that you created in the first step to use for running the server.
   If you run the command while logged in as mysql, you can omit the
   --user option.

   If the command fails immediately and prints mysqld ended, you can
   find some information in the host_name.err file in the data
   directory.

   More information about mysqld_safe is given in Section 4.3.2,
   "mysqld_safe --- MySQL Server Startup Script."

Note

   The accounts that are listed in the MariaDB grant tables initially
   have no passwords. After starting the server, you should set up
   passwords for them using the instructions in Section 2.13,
   "Post-Installation Setup and Testing."
