Setting up a programmer's development environment on an offline Linux box
 

I have set up a Java application development environment using Netbeans 6.9.1EE IDE, MySQL Data Base Server 5.5.8, and MySQL Workbench on an offline Linux Box loaded with the Ubuntu 10.10 OS. I found that it is a little trickier than I had at first supposed. I am starting with a fresh installation.

Naturally, to install the Netbeans sh package, the latest JDK/JRE release must be first installed on the box. Diego Benna's blog “Install JDK 6 update 23 in Ubuntu 10.10” provides the best guide to a proper installation of Java on a Linux box.

The Problem (there are no problems, only issues?)

The MySQL Data Base Server installation from the tar.gz package conflicts with the MySQL Workbench installation, which is only available as a Debian package. The MySQL Data Base Server 5.5.8 requires that only one other package be installed in order to run successfully on a Linux box:

libaio1_0.3.107-7ubuntu1_i386.deb

It is a simple matter to follow the installation instructions for MySQL Data Base Server 5.5.8 as provided by Oracle. Properly configured, it will run fine, and connect easily through Netbeans. I found that I needed to start the server in terminal mode as a superuser, run mysqld_safe, then leave the terminal open and run Netbeans. MySQL Database Server connects readily through the IDE. Since the server was started through the terminal, it should be stopped through it as well, so simply Disconnect from MySQL Data Base Server, without stopping it, from the IDE.

I had to chown -hR username /full-path-to/glassfish-3.0.1 to get Glassfish operational. Apache Tomcat started readily without any preparation. Both of those servers' administration consoles started up nicely. I used the default password from the properties dialog in Netbeans to get into the Tomcat server management console. Don't rush to change it before you test it! Everything was fine up to that point. Then came the time to install MySQL Workbench.

MySQL Workbench requires that the following Debian packages be installed and configured before a successful installation can be done on a Linux box:

python-pysqlite2_2.6.0-1_i386.deb
python-paramiko_1.7.6-2_all.deb
mysql-client_5.5.8-2_i386.deb
mysql-common_5.1.49-1ubuntu8.1_all.deb
libmysqlclient16_5.1.49-1ubuntu8_i386.deb
libzip1_0.9.3-1_i386.deb

And here we run into issues. It doesn't matter in which order the Workbench or the Server are installed. It is evident that the MySQL Workbench dependencies conflict with the MySQL Data Base Server installation bundle and I have found no way to have the two co-operate. They cannot be run from the same partition – end of story. At best, MySQL Data Base Server simply starts, then ends. The server cannot be enabled with MySQL Workbench installed on the same partition, and that's that. It can't be started through the management console of the Workbench, either.

The Solution

The solution is to set up two bootable partitions on the hard drive. MySQL Workbench sits on one partition, and the MySQL Data Base Server and Netbeans IDE are installed on the other. Problem solved. Creation of the partitions was done during the initial installation of my Ubuntu 10.10. Just do one partition at a time, and mind your settings from the drop-down lists. On my 120 Gigabyte drive, I created two 50 Gigabyte bootable partitions and a 20 Gigabyte swap area. The swap area is overkill, but it doesn't matter. Application developers don't need a lot of HD space. Everything works. MySQL Workbench doesn't actually need MySQL Data Base Server to work, if all I want is to generate the SQL scripts to copy and paste into Netbeans. That works. It's a pretty elegant solution, if I say so myself. Anybody have a better fix?