2.4.6. Installation Layouts

This section describes the default layout of the directories created by installing binary or source distributions provided by MySQL AB. A distribution provided by another vendor might use a layout different from those shown here.

For MySQL 5.0 on Windows, the default installation directory is C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0. (Some Windows users prefer to install in C:\mysql, the directory that formerly was used as the default. However, the layout of the subdirectories remains the same.) The installation directory has the following subdirectories:

Directory	Contents of Directory
bin	Client programs and the mysqld server
data	Log files, databases
Docs	Manual in CHM format
examples	Example programs and scripts
include	Include (header) files
lib	Libraries
scripts	Utility scripts
share	Error message files

Installations created from MySQL AB's Linux RPM distributions result in files under the following system directories:

Directory	Contents of Directory
/usr/bin	Client programs and scripts
/usr/sbin	The mysqld server
/var/lib/mysql	Log files, databases
/usr/share/info	Manual in Info format
/usr/share/man	Unix manual pages
/usr/include/mysql	Include (header) files
/usr/lib/mysql	Libraries
/usr/share/mysql	Error message and character set files
/usr/share/sql-bench	Benchmarks

On Unix, a tar file binary distribution is installed by unpacking it at the installation location you choose (typically /usr/local/mysql) and creates the following directories in that location:

Directory	Contents of Directory
bin	Client programs and the mysqld server
data	Log files, databases
docs	Manual in Info format
man	Unix manual pages
include	Include (header) files
lib	Libraries
scripts	mysql_install_db
share/mysql	Error message files
sql-bench	Benchmarks

A source distribution is installed after you configure and compile it. By default, the installation step installs files under /usr/local, in the following subdirectories:

Directory	Contents of Directory
bin	Client programs and scripts
include/mysql	Include (header) files
Docs	Manual in Info, CHM formats
man	Unix manual pages
lib/mysql	Libraries
libexec	The mysqld server
share/mysql	Error message files
sql-bench	Benchmarks and crash-me test
var	Databases and log files

Within its installation directory, the layout of a source installation differs from that of a binary installation in the following ways:

• The mysqld server is installed in the libexec directory rather than in the bin directory.

• The data directory is var rather than data.

• mysql_install_db is installed in the bin directory rather than in the scripts directory.

• The header file and library directories are include/mysql and lib/mysql rather than include and lib.

You can create your own binary installation from a compiled source distribution by executing the scripts/make_binary_distribution script from the top directory of the source distribution.