MySQL 5.1 and PHP 5.3 install
 

Hi. I'm new to Linux but not to IT. I have installed Ubuntu 14.04 Desktop 32bit with the aim of using as a development web server. Thing is I need MySQL 5.1 and PHP 5.3 due requirement of a particular piece of software (SuiteCRM). Can I install these specific versions rather than the default versions? And how? Cheers

You should use the server edition of Ubuntu instead of the Desktop edition.

You can install the specific releases by building them from source.

Thank you for the reply. Happy to do that. Do you have a good link that explains how to "install the specific releases by building them from source" please?

It is on their respective websites in the installation instructions.

mysql also available as tar file
 

Hey,

you may want to install several different mysql versions, so you should download the compressed tar archives instead of rpm packages from

http://downloads.mysql.com/archives/community/

Choose appropriate version and platform there and have a look at the bottom of that page, only the last two links below all the rpm packages are tar's for 32 and 64bit platforms. Bring the file to your server and unpack it there, you will need up to 2Gb space. Now it is already installed! :cool: You will get one single directory, and there you got everything you need for driving this special version of mysql: binaries, libraries, data, logs, scripts, server and client programs.

You can use several different of these directories, all running at the same time, even together with a package installed version, though that is not recommended. I would recommend, you create and mount a own volume for each tar installation.

Let me know if you need more assistance in starting a mysql server from a tar installation.

regards from H

M.

Actually, contrary to other posters, I would strongly suggest that you try it with the versions that come with the distro, and only install a specific version if testing reveals any problems.

With both MySQL 5.1 and PHP 5.3, you should have zero issues running on top of MySQL 5.1 or greater or any version of PHP >=5.3.

I would NOT recommend trying to run multiple instances of MySQL at the same time - you WILL have problems including broken servers and corrupted data unless carefully planned and managed.

Additionally, although it is actually pretty easy to build MySQL from source (I do it frequently), it is also necessary at times to rebuild other packages that depend on it. This is even more true with PHP. If you build an older version of PHP then you will very likely encounter multiple other packages that depend on it and will need to be recompiled with the different version.

So I stringly recommend to stick with what comes in through your distro's package manager unless you actually encounter a specific issue with your CRM package. I bet it will run fine with newer MySQL and PHP.

different versions of mysql running at the same time on one host
 

Hi,

of course you should be aware of some standard configurations, that are different when running multiple mysql servers. I only wanted to show this possibility, that is provided by Mysql and well described in the manual. Especially for development purposes, and that is the background of this thread, you might need some more versions for evaluating your stuff. This way it is easy to do, even without root access (except for mounting volumes), and that is what I do frequently.

greetings from H

M.

Thanks guys for your advice. I have installed default Apache2, MySQL and PHP with no issues. My main concern is with PHP and retired functions that may cause issues in software that specifically states use a specific version. I need to find a tutorial on how to install a tar.bz2 or tar.gz. Any tutorial links would be gratefully received.

Glad that you were able to install the defaults - I think that is the only safe way forward for you, and I really don't think that you will encounter any incompatibilities as a result. If you see any PHP errors or messages please post them back here and someone will be able to help you tweak the php.ini (a normal thing, does not normally indicate versioning errors).

Usually you do not install tar.bz2 and tar.gz files. Depending on your distro and the origin of those files they may or may not be installable programs.

"tar" files are "tape archive" format archive files. bz2 and gz indicate a compression method used to reduce their size.

Literally anything can be inside such an archive file, but usually they contain program source code which must be compiled or further processed before it can be run or installed. The methods for doing that will be specific to the file. Simply opening a tar file as if it were an installable application can be harmful to your system! This is one reason that I originally suggested that you install from your distro's package repository, the straight forward and safe method!

The fact that you are not familiar with how to use them only reinforces that perspective.

Your system's package manager is designed to keep all dependencies and versions in sync, it is always best to let it do it's job. Installing non-packaged applications always requires a degree of awareness and care in order to not break your system, and to not end up with unresolved dependencies.

Cool. Good explanation. Thank you guys. One to look at when more experience gained. I'm comfortable with MS/IIS (is that a sudden intake of breath I hear? lol). I'm just looking to get more into Linux, but keen to get a development web server up and running, which I have. As a software developer I'm not keen to be a master of Linux, just know enough to get by for now.