If you have server that run on cPanel, you’ll probably know how big of a Nazi it is in regards to the MySQL versions it can run. We just got this new line of servers at work and one of them I was pretty heartset on installing MySQL 5.1, mainly because of its loadable plugin features where you can install a plugin or module without having to recompile the whole damn thing. Upgrading to 5.1 is easy, you just have to follow the right steps.

First, I would recommend upgrading to cPanel 11 or EDGE, which should have support for compiling Apache with non-supported versions of MySQL. On this server, I’m currently running 11 on the bleeding edge build. Also, it’s a splendid idea to dump all your databases before upgrading.
Note that these instructions mention MySQL 5.1.20-beta because that’s the latest release available at the time of my writing….but you can essentially follow this guide for any version of MySQL!

1. Copy the MySQL libraries from the server into a temporary location:

mkdir /root/sqllibs
cp /usr/lib/libmysqlclient.* /root/sqllibs

2. Find any installed MySQL packages:

rpm -qa | grep -i mysql-

This should present a list of installed rpm’s…remove them with rpm -e ,but note that some may need to be removed before others. Some people also would remove the /var/lib/mysql directory, but you can leave that there.

3. Download and install the MySQL 5.1.x packages:

Hop on over to http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.1.html#linux-x86-32bit-rpms and download the 5.1 RPM’s and install them:

rpm -i MySQL-client-5.1.20-0.glibc23.i386.rpm
rpm -i MySQL-devel-5.1.20-0.glibc23.i386.rpm
rpm -i MySQL-embedded-5.1.20-0.glibc23.i386.rpm
rpm -i MySQL-test-5.1.20-0.glibc23.i386.rpm
rpm -i MySQL-server-5.1.20-0.glibc23.i386.rpm

4. Prepare cPanel

You’ll want to make sure that cPanel’s updates don’t reset the MySQL version, so you need to run the following commands to force cPanel to skip MySQL updates:

touch /etc/mysqldisable
touch /etc/mysqlupdisable

Now edit /var/cpanel/cpanel.config and change the MySQL version to 5.1

Create the symlink:

ln -s /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock /tmp

Also, verify that the MySQL version is correct by running mysql -V

root@vps [~]# mysql -V
mysql Ver 14.13 Distrib 5.1.20-beta, for pc-linux-gnu (i686) using readline 5.0

5. Set up MySQL

MySQL should have already been started at this point, so you can attempt to log in as root using mysql -u root . If you are able to log in on the first try, great. If not, you’ll need to reset the MySQL password:

pico /etc/my.cnf

Add this line, and restart MySQL

skip-grant-tables

service mysql restart

Now log into MySQL root and set the password:


mysql -u root
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO root@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'yourpassword' WITH GRANT OPTION;
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
mysql> exit;

service mysql restart

When you’re done, remove the skip-grant-tables line from /etc/my.cnf and restart MySQL. Then log into Webhost Manager and reset the password *again*… this is necessary to build a bridge between the linux root user and the MySQL root user, so you can log into MySQL both through WHM’s phpMyAdmin, and SSH without a password when logged into the server as root.

All you need to do now is recompile Apache, but move the MySQL libraries back so easyapache can find them:

mv /root/sqllibs/libmysqlclient.* /usr/lib/mysql/

I haven’t tested too many configurations yet, but what works for me is Apache 2.2.4 with php 5.2.3, compiled with MySQL and mysqli, but NOT system MySQL.