Primary MySQL Resources

Because MySQL is a free application, most of your questions will need to be answered by members of the MySQL mailing lists rather than by MySQL AB itself. The company is, however, available for contractual support, consulting, and training, which you might want to consider if you are using MySQL on a larger scale or in a corporate environment.

MySQL has a solid online manual (Figure i.4), which includes the occasional user-submitted comment. It's searchable, thorough, and able to answer most of the questions you'll come across. Also note that the MySQL manual is available in several different versions, each matching a significant MySQL release. As you look there for help, make sure that you're using the correct corresponding manual.

Figure i.4. The online version of the MySQL manual is highly detailed and well organized. You can also download other versions for immediate access from your computer.

The MySQL mailing lists (http://lists.mysql.com) are populated by users and the MySQL people themselves, who are very informative and responsive. You'll also find specific mailing lists dedicated to the database on Windows and interacting with MySQL from Java, among other topics. Because of the popularity of the mailing lists, there are currently no strong MySQL newsgroups such as you might encounter with other technologies.

Finally, there are also the MySQL forums (http://forums.mysql.com, Figure i.5). The forums cover MySQL usage, third-party applications, SQL, specific programming languages, and so on.

Figure i.5. MySQL's forums are available for troubleshooting or for extending your knowledge.

For links to these and other MySQL references, see Appendix C, "Resources."