MySQL (pronounced /maɪˌɛskjuːˈɛl/ My S-Q-L, or “My sequel” /maɪˈsiːkwəl/) is a relational database management system (RDBMS) which has more than 6 million installations. MySQL stands for “My Structured Query Language”. The program runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases.
The project’s source code is available under terms of the GNU General Public License, as well as under a variety of proprietary agreements. MySQL is owned and sponsored by a single for-profit firm, the Swedish company MySQL AB, now a subsidiary of Sun Microsystems,[4] which holds the copyright to most of the codebase.
MySQL is commonly used by free software projects which require a full-featured database management system, such as WordPress, phpBB and other software built on the LAMP software stack. It is also used in very high-scale World Wide Web products including Google and Facebook.
MySQL is used in web applications and acts as the database component of the LAMP software stack. Its popularity for use with web applications is closely tied to the popularity of PHP, which is often combined with MySQL. Several high-traffic web sites (including Flickr, Facebook, Wikipedia, Google (though not for searches), Nokia, Auctionmarts and YouTube) use MySQL for data storage and logging of user data.
Tags: Database