Using MySQL Community Repository with OL 8/RHEL 8/CentOS 8

MySQL 8.0 is now part of RedHat Enterprise 8 and other distros based on it like CentOS and Oracle Linux.. This is a very good thing !

However if for any reason you want to use the latest version of MySQL from the Community Repository, you may encounter some frustration if you are not familiar with the new way the package manager works.

Let’s start by verifying our system:

LSB Version:    :core-4.1-amd64:core-4.1-noarch
Distributor ID:    OracleServer
Description:    Oracle Linux Server release 8.0
Release:    8.0
Codename:    n/a

We can see that we are on Oracle Linux 8.0. So now let’s try to install MySQL Server:

[root@localhost ~]# dnf install mysql-server
Last metadata expiration check: 0:08:15 ago on Sat 02 Nov 2019 09:54:07 AM UTC.
Dependencies resolved.
============================================================================================
  Package                 Arch   Version                                Repository      Size
============================================================================================
Installing:
  mysql-server            x86_64 8.0.17-3.module+el8.0.0+5253+1dce7bb2  ol8_appstream  22 M
Installing dependencies:
  mysql-errmsg            x86_64 8.0.17-3.module+el8.0.0+5253+1dce7bb2  ol8_appstream  557 k
  mysql-common            x86_64 8.0.17-3.module+el8.0.0+5253+1dce7bb2  ol8_appstream  143 k
  protobuf-lite           x86_64 3.5.0-7.el8                            ol8_appstream  150 k
  mysql                   x86_64 8.0.17-3.module+el8.0.0+5253+1dce7bb2  ol8_appstream  11 M
  mariadb-connector-c-config
 …
Enabling module streams:
  mysql                          8.0                                                           
Transaction Summary
============================================================================================
Install  44 Packages
Total download size: 48 M
Installed size: 257 M

Note that in RedHat and CentOS, the repository is called AppStream

We can see that the package manager wants to install by default MySQL 8.0.17 ! Pretty recent, good !

We can also see that there is a module stream called mysql that is used. Let’s take a look at it:

[root@localhost ~]# dnf module list mysql
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:53 ago on Sat 02 Nov 2019 10:17:51 AM UTC.
 Oracle Linux 8 Application Stream (x86_64)
 Name              Stream              Profiles                      Summary                
 mysql             8.0 [d]             client, server [d]            MySQL Module           
 Hint: [d]efault, [e]nabled, [x]disabled, [i]nstalled

The module is indeed enabled at set to default.

Now we will install our Community Repository from https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/repo/yum/:

[root@localhost ~]# rpm -ivh https://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql80-community-release-el8-3.noarch.rpm
Retrieving https://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql80-community-release-el8-3.noarch.rpm
warning: /var/tmp/rpm-tmp.hxFUWs: Header V3 DSA/SHA1 Signature, key ID 5072e1f5: NOKEY
Verifying…                          ################# [100%]
Preparing…                          ################# [100%]
Updating / installing…
    1:mysql80-community-release-el8-3  ################# [100%]

But if we try to install MySQL Community Server, the system one from AppStream is always selected. Whatever the package name used: mysql-server or mysql-community-server.

We need to disable the mysql module from the package manager:

[root@localhost ~]# dnf module disable mysql
Last metadata expiration check: 0:01:24 ago on Sat 02 Nov 2019 10:17:51 AM UTC.
Dependencies resolved.
===========================================================================================
 Package              Arch                Version               Repository            Size
===========================================================================================
Disabling module streams:
 mysql                                                                                    
Transaction Summary
===========================================================================================
Is this ok [y/N]: y
Complete!

And now it’s possible to install the lastest MySQL (8.0.18 at this moment):

[root@localhost ~]# dnf install mysql-server
Last metadata expiration check: 0:01:42 ago on Sat 02 Nov 2019 10:17:51 AM UTC.
Dependencies resolved.
===========================================================================================
 Package                    Arch       Version                 Repository             Size
===========================================================================================
Installing:
  mysql-community-server     x86_64     8.0.18-1.el8            mysql80-community      52 M
 Installing dependencies:
  mysql-community-client     x86_64     8.0.18-1.el8            mysql80-community      12 M
  mysql-community-common     x86_64     8.0.18-1.el8            mysql80-community     601 k
  mysql-community-libs       x86_64     8.0.18-1.el8            mysql80-community     1.4 M
  perl-constant              noarch     1.33-396.el8            ol8_baseos_latest      25 k
  …
  perl-parent                noarch     1:0.237-1.el8           ol8_baseos_latest      20 k
Transaction Summary
===========================================================================================
Install  36 Packages
Total download size: 77 M
Installed size: 394 M
Is this ok [y/N]: 

Note that you can now also use mysql-community-server as package name.

We are very happy to see that MySQL 8.0 is now available with a very updated version by default in these major distribution. And now you also know how to enable the MySQL repository if you want to use it too.