## 2.1 General Installation Guidance

[2.1.1 Supported Platforms](platform-support.html)
[2.1.2 Which MySQL Version and Distribution to Install](which-version.html)
[2.1.3 How to Get MySQL](getting-mysql.html)
[2.1.4 Verifying Package Integrity Using MD5 Checksums or GnuPG](verifying-package-integrity.html)
[2.1.5 Installation Layouts](installation-layouts.html)
[2.1.6 Compiler-Specific Build Characteristics](compiler-characteristics.html)

 The immediately following sections contain the information necessary to choose, download, and verify your distribution. The instructions in later sections of the chapter describe how to install the distribution that you choose. For binary distributions, see the instructions at [Section 2.2, “Installing MySQL on Unix/Linux Using Generic Binaries”](binary-installation.html) or the corresponding section for your platform if available. To build MySQL from source, use the instructions in [Section 2.9, “Installing MySQL from Source”](source-installation.html).

