Native Package Installer format, which uses the native Mac OS X installer to walk you through the installation of MySQL. For more information, see Section 2.4.2, “Installing MySQL on Mac OS X Using Native Packages”. You can use the package installer with Mac OS X 10.3 and later, and the package is available for both PowerPC and Intel architectures, and 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. There is no Universal Binary available using the package installation method. The user you use to perform the installation must have administrator privileges.

Tar package format, which uses a file packaged using the Unix tar and gzip commands. To use this method, you will need to open a Terminal window. You do not need administrator privileges using this method, as you can install the MySQL server anywhere using this method. For more information on using this method, you can use the generic instructions for using a tarball, Section 2.2, “Installing MySQL from Generic Binaries on Unix/Linux”.You can use the package installer with Mac OS X 10.3 and later, and available for both PowerPC and Intel architectures, and both 32-bit and 64-bit architectures. A Universal Binary, incorporating both Power PC and Intel architectures and 32-bit and 64-bit binaries is available.

In addition to the core installation, the Package Installer also includes Section 2.4.3, “Installing the MySQL Startup Item” and Section 2.4.4, “Installing and Using the MySQL Preference Pane”, both of which simplify the management of your installation.

Mac OS X server includes a version of MySQL as standard. If you want to use a more recent version than that supplied with the Mac OS X server release, you can make use of the package or tar formats. For more information on using the MySQL bundled with Mac OS X, see Section 2.4.5, “Using the Bundled MySQL on Mac OS X Server”.