


Tree [r673] / branches / MySQLdb-1.2 / MySQLdb /

File Date Author Commit
MySQLdb 2012-09-08 adustman [r672] More Python 3 fixes. Py 3 blows up when testing...
doc 2006-08-27 adustman [r450] Version 1.2.2b1.
.cvsignore 2001-12-24 adustman [r202] Version 0.9.2a1. Unicode + DB-API extensions.
HISTORY 2010-06-17 kylev [r645] Add some 1.2.3 notes 2012-09-07 adustman [r662] You'll use distribute, and like it, dagnabbit, ...
README 2010-02-25 kylev [r641] Clean up some whitespace, test python version t...
_mysql.c 2012-09-08 adustman [r671] Some (many) tests actually pass now on Python 3... 2012-09-08 adustman [r670] _mysql imports now, but still crashes 2012-09-07 adustman [r661] You'll use distribute, and like it, dagnabbit 2010-06-17 kylev [r643] Bump to setuptools bootstrap for 0.6c11
metadata.cfg 2010-06-17 kylev [r644] 1.2.3 final
pymemcompat.h 2002-08-01 adustman [r262] Memory API updates
setup.cfg 2012-09-07 adustman [r661] You'll use distribute, and like it, dagnabbit 2012-09-07 adustman [r661] You'll use distribute, and like it, dagnabbit 2012-09-07 adustman [r663] Some Python 3 fixes for the build process. _mys... 2012-09-07 adustman [r661] You'll use distribute, and like it, dagnabbit 2012-09-07 adustman [r661] You'll use distribute, and like it, dagnabbit
site.cfg 2012-09-05 adustman [r651] Windows build fixes.

Read Me

MySQLdb Installation

.. contents::


+ Python 2.3.4 or higher


  * Versions lower than 2.3 WON'T WORK.

  * 2.4 is the primary test environment.

  * Red Hat Linux:

    - Make sure you have the Python development headers and libraries

+ setuptools


+ MySQL 3.23.32 or higher


  * Versions lower than 3.22 definitely WON'T WORK.

  * Versions lower than 3.22.19 might not work.

  * MySQL-3.22 might work but isn't supported anymore. It's very old.

  * MySQL-3.23 ought to work, but it's pretty elderly.

  * MySQL-4.0 is supported, but not tested and slightly discouraged.

  * MySQL-4.1 is supported. The prepared statements API is not
    supported, and won't be until MySQLdb-1.3 or 2.0, if ever.

  * MySQL-5.0 is supported and tested, including stored procedures.

  * MySQL-5.1 is supported (currently a release candidate) but untested.
    It should work.

  * MySQL-6.0 is sorta-kinda-supported (currently alpha) but untested.
    It should work.

  * Drizzle <> is a fork of MySQL. So far
    the C API looks really similar except everything is renamed.
    Drizzle support probably won't happen in 1.2. There may be have to
    be an entirely different module, but still using DB-API.

  * MaxDB, formerly known as SAP DB (and maybe Adabas D?), is a
    completely different animal. Use the sapdb.sql module that comes
    with MaxDB.

  * Red Hat Linux packages:

    - mysql-devel to compile

    - mysql and/or mysql-devel to run

  * RPM packages:

    - MySQL-devel to compile

    - MySQL-shared if you want to use their shared
      library. Otherwise you'll get a statically-linked module,
      which may or may not be what you want.

    - MySQL-shared to run if you compiled with MySQL-shared installed

  * Transactions (particularly InnoDB tables) are supported for
    MySQL-3.23 and up. You may need a special package from your vendor
    with this support turned on.

+  zlib

   * Required for MySQL-3.23 and newer.

   * Red Hat Linux

     - zlib-devel to compile

     - zlib to run

+ openssl

  * May be needed for MySQL-4.0 or newer, depending on compilation
    options. If you need it, you probably already have it.

    - you may need openssl-devel on some platforms

+ C compiler

  * Most free software-based systems already have this, usually gcc.

  * Most commercial UNIX platforms also come with a C compiler, or
    you can also use gcc.

  * If you have some Windows flavor, you usually have to pay extra
    for this, or you can use Cygwin_.

.. _Cygwin:

Building and installing

The script uses mysql_config to find all compiler and linker
options, and should work as is on any POSIX-like platform, so long as
mysql_config is in your path.

Depending on which version of MySQL you have, you may have the option
of using three different client libraries. To select the client library,
edit the [options] section of site.cfg:

        use embedded server library (libmysqld) if True; otherwise use
	one of the client libraries (default).

        thread-safe client library (libmysqlclient_r) if True (default);
	otherwise use non-thread-safe (libmysqlclient). You should
	always use the thread-safe library if you have the option;
	otherwise you *may* have problems.

        if True, try to link against a static library; otherwise link
	against dynamic libraries (default). You may need static linking
	to use the embedded server.

Finally, putting it together::

  $ tar xfz MySQL-python-1.2.1.tar.gz
  $ cd MySQL-python-1.2.1
  $ # edit site.cfg if necessary
  $ python build
  $ sudo python install # or su first


I don't do Windows. However if someone provides me with a package for
Windows, I'll make it available. Don't ask me for help with Windows
because I can't help you.

Generally, though, running is similar to above::

  C:\...> python install
  C:\...> python bdist_wininst

The latter example should build a Windows installer package, if you
have the correct tools. In any event, you *must* have a C compiler.
Additionally, you have to set an environment variable (mysqlroot)
which is the path to your MySQL installation. In theory, it would be
possible to get this information out of the registry, but like I said,
I don't do Windows, but I'll accept a patch that does this.

On Windows, you will definitely have to edit site.cfg since there is
no mysql_config in the MySQL package.


If you are using a binary package of Zope, you need run with
the python executable that came with Zope. Otherwise, you'll install
into the wrong Python tree and Zope (ZMySQLDA) will not be able to
find _mysql.

Binary Packages

I don't plan to make binary packages any more. However, if someone
contributes one, I will make it available. Several OS vendors have
their own packages available.


If you prefer to install RPMs, you can use the bdist_rpm command with This only builds the RPM; it does not install it. You may
want to use the --python=XXX option, where XXX is the name of the
Python executable, i.e. python, python2, python2.4; the default is
python. Using this will incorporate the Python executable name into
the package name for the RPM so you have install the package multiple
times if you need to support more than one version of Python. You can
also set this in setup.cfg.

Red Hat Linux

MySQL-python is pre-packaged in Red Hat Linux 7.x and newer. This
includes Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. You can also
build your own RPM packages as described above.

Debian GNU/Linux

Packaged as `python-mysqldb`_::

	# apt-get install python-mysqldb

Or use Synaptic.

.. _`python-mysqldb`:


Same as with Debian.

Gentoo Linux

Packaged as `mysql-python`_. ::

      # emerge sync
      # emerge mysql-python
      # emerge zmysqlda # if you use Zope

.. _`mysql-python`:


MySQL-python is a ported package in FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD,
although the name may vary to match OS conventions.


GPL or the original license based on Python 1.5.2's license.

:Author: Andy Dustman <>
:Revision: $Id: README 641 2010-02-25 21:28:13Z kylev $