How to install an older version not in the repos?

[czamora]

Hi,

I have a web server with CentOS 5 in which MySQL 5 was already installed. I need it to have MySQL 4, but that package doesn't seem to be in the repositories, only the version 5 is listed.
Can anyone tell me how to install MySql 4 in a safely way, and why older versions are not provided in the standard packages?

Thanks a lot for any help.

[Thrillhouse]

Most distros' repositories contain the most up to date packages. If you wish to use an older version of a package, you can find the older rpm and install it manually. Then, in your yum.conf you can exclude that package for updates and installs so when you do update your system, it will leave that one alone. You can run:

man yum.conf

to find out how to do exclude packages.

Just searching the internet, I found an RHEL rpm package of mysql version 4 here.

[Thrillhouse]

I just noticed you have to create an account with the mysql website if you want to download it straight from there. If you don't want to do that, you can find and download the package from here. Scroll down to get to the older versions.

[czamora]

Oh, my God!... There are over one hundred packages (I counted them) for MySql 4! How do I know which one should I use?

[czamora]

BTW, what is RHEL? and what is its relationship with CentOS?

[czamora]

Any ideas on how to choose the correct package?

[anomie]

Why do you require MySQL 4? If that exact version is a deal maker/breaker, can you move to CentOS 4.6? You can get the MySQL version you want from its repositories. RHEL/CentOS are somewhat special in that they have a long life cycle (and will continue to see updates for ~7 years after release).

BTW, what is RHEL? and what is its relationship with CentOS?

Use: google, wikipedia, et al.

[czamora]

Why do you require MySQL 4? If that exact version is a deal maker/breaker, can you move to CentOS 4.6? You can get the MySQL version you want from its repositories.

I have never installed linux, and have only remote access to the server, so I would prefer not to go there. I need MySql 4 because that is what I have in all my slave servers so the master can not have a newer version. I have tried upgrading the slaves, but then I was forced to upgrade php to version 5 and then everything started to break apart, I had to desist and restore everything to the way it was.

I think I should be able to use a version and not be forced to upgrade when things are working perfectly for me with the versions I have (I thought that only Microsoft did such thing). Why can't I install MySql 4 using yum in CentOS 5?!

[anomie]

I need MySql 4 because that is what I have in all my slave servers so the master can not have a newer version.

That surprises me, but I'm not a mysql expert, so I can't speak to it.

Why can't I install MySql 4 using yum in CentOS 5?!

Perhaps you can, if you're able to find a repository that provides it.

Good luck.

[anomie]

Not to stray too far off-topic on this thread, but this is one of the things I really like about FreeBSD's ports system.

There is a single ports (i.e. third-party application) tree, and look what mysql-server versions are currently available:

> cd /usr/ports && make search display=path name=mysql-server
Path:   /usr/ports/databases/mysql323-server

Path:   /usr/ports/databases/mysql40-server

Path:   /usr/ports/databases/mysql41-server

Path:   /usr/ports/databases/mysql50-server

Path:   /usr/ports/databases/mysql51-server

That's great flexibility. For this thread's particular problem, it could be easily solved by building and installing the precise version required.