2Chapter 1: General Information about MySQL
The main goals of MySQL are speed, robustness and ease of use. MySQL was originally
developed because we needed a SQL server that could handle very large databases an
order of magnitude faster than what any database vendor could offer to us on inexpensive
hardware. We have now been using MySQL since 1996 in an environment with more than
40 databases containing 10,000 tables, of which more than 500 have more than 7 million
rows. This is about 100 gigabytes of mission-critical data.
The base upon which MySQL is built is a set of routines that have been used in a highly
demanding production environment for many years. Although MySQL is still under devel-
opment, it already offers a rich and highly useful function set.
The official way to pronounce MySQL is “My Ess Que Ell” (Not MY-SEQUEL).
1.2 About this manual
This manual is currently available in Texinfo, plain text, Info, HTML, PostScript and PDF
versions. Because of their size, PostScript and PDF versions are not included with the main
MySQL distribution, but are available for separate download at http://www.mysql.com.
The primary document is the Texinfo file. The HTML version is produced automatically
with a modified version of texi2html. The plain text and Info versions are produced with
makeinfo. The Postscript version is produced using texi2dvi and dvips. The PDF version
is produced with pdftex.
This manual is written and maintained by David Axmark, Michael (Monty) Widenius and
Paul DuBois. For other contributors, see
Appendix C [Credits], page 445.
1.2.1 Conventions used in this manual
This manual uses certain typographical conventions:
constant Constant-width font is used for command names and options; SQL statements;
database, table and column names; C and Perl code; and environment variables.
Example: “To see how mysqladmin works, invoke it with the --help option.”
‘filename’
Constant-width font with surrounding quotes is used for filenames and path-
names. Example: “The distribution is installed under the ‘/usr/local/’ direc-
tory.”
‘c’ Constant-width font with surrounding quotes is also used to indicate character
sequences. Example: “To specify a wildcard, use the ‘%’ character.”
italic Italic font is used for emphasis, like this.
boldface Boldface font is used for access privilege names (e.g., “do not grant the process
privilege lightly”) and to convey especially strong emphasis.
When commands are shown that are meant to be executed by a particular program, the
program is indicated by the prompt shown with the command. For example, shell> indi-
cates a command that you execute from your login shell, and mysql> indicates a command
that you execute from the mysql client:
Version: 3.23.11-alpha Printed: 16 February 2000
