The generic tar archive allows you to install MySQL GUI Tools on most Linux distributions. The tarball file is called mysql-gui-tools-version.tar.gz, where version indicates the MySQL GUI Tools version (for example, 5.0r3).

To see all files in the tarball, run this command:

shell> tar -tzf  mysql-gui-tools-version.tar.gz

To install MySQL GUI Tools, run this command:

shell> tar --directory=/opt -xzvf mysql-gui-tools-version.tar.gz

This installs the various application binaries in the directory, /opt/mysql-gui-tools-version.

If you install MySQL GUI Tools to the opt directory, icons for use with desktop shortcuts or for creating menu items are found under the opt/mysql-gui-tools-version/share/mysql-gui directory.

If you install MySQL GUI Tools to a directory other than the /opt directory, you will need to update the installation directory. This done by using the --update-paths option the first time that you run any one of the MySQL GUI Tools. For example, when running Query Browser for the first time, navigate to the installation directory and enter the following command:

shell> ./mysql-query-browser --update-paths

You need only run one MySQL GUI Tools application with the --update-path option. This updates the path for all MySQL GUI Tools.

If you do not use the default installation directory and create a Desktop shortcut using the .desktop files found under the mysql-gui-tools-5.0 directory you must edit the properties of any shortcut you create. Enter the correct path for the application on your system.