mysql-server

This repository contains the source code for MySQL Server, a database management system maintained by Oracle. A database is a piece of software that stores, organizes, and retrieves data. Applications use MySQL to save things like user accounts, product listings, order histories, blog posts, or any other structured information that needs to persist beyond a single session.

MySQL is relational, meaning it stores data in tables with rows and columns, and lets you connect information across tables using a query language called SQL. A developer writing a web application might ask MySQL to find all orders placed in the last 30 days, or update the email address for a specific user, and MySQL handles the actual storage and lookup efficiently.

The repository also includes MySQL Cluster, a variant designed for applications that require very fast transactional reads and writes without interruption. MySQL Cluster distributes data across multiple machines at once, so if one machine fails the data remains available from the others.

Because this is the source code repository, most people do not use it directly to obtain MySQL. End users and developers who want to run MySQL typically download a pre-built installer from the official website at dev.mysql.com. The README in this repository is intentionally brief: it notes the license, mentions that some materials were developed by third parties, and points to the official documentation and download pages. Oracle is the current maintainer of the project.