What It Is

MySQL++ is a C++ wrapper for the MySQL and MariaDB C APIs. It is built on the same principles as the Standard C++ Library to make dealing with the database as easy as dealing with std containers. MySQL++ also provides facilities that let you avoid the most repetitive sorts of SQL within your own code, providing native C++ interfaces for these common tasks.

MySQL++’s development home is its Fossil repository. You may be reading this via its read-only GitHub mirror, intended for use by automation tooling based on Git. Checkins to the Fossil repository get pushed into the GitHub mirror within an hour.

Prerequisites

To build MySQL++, you must have the MySQL/MariaDB C API development files installed.

On Unixy systems — Linux, macOS, Cygwin, *BSD, Solaris... — you are most likely using a binary MySQL/MariaDB package where the server, client, and development pieces are packaged separately. The package containing the development files is typically called something like MySQL-devel, libmysqlclient-dev, etc.

If you're building on Windows with Visual C++ or MinGW, you need to install the native Windows port of MySQL or MariaDB. That includes the development files in the installer, but depending on how it was built, those files might not be installed by default. You might have to select a “complete” or “custom” install to get what you need to build MySQL++ against that version of MySQL/MariaDB.

Another common pitfall is that the Windows installers install MySQL/MariaDB to a path with the version number embedded, which means we cannot ship a single set of build system files that works with all versions. We simply point at the General Availability version of MySQL/MariaDB at the time of release, which may well be different from the version installed on your computer. You will have to adjust the link and include file paths in the build system files accordingly.

Documentation

Each major platform we support has a dedicated README-*.txt file for it containing information specific to that platform. Please read it.

For authorship information, see the CREDITS.txt file.

For license information, see the COPYING.txt file.

If you want to change MySQL++ itself, see the contribution guide.

If you want to change the MySQL++ user manual, also read the user manual’s README.

If you want to change the MySQL++ reference manual, see the Doxygen manual.

You should have received a user manual and a reference manual with MySQL++. If not, you can read a recent version online.

Visit the MySQL++ forum if you have more questions.

Building the Library

MySQL++ uses Bakefile to generate platform-specific project files and makefiles from a single set of input files. We currently support these build systems:

• autoconf: Use this method for most Unix type platforms along with the generic instructions. We have supplemental information for Linux, macOS, Cygwin, and Solaris.

• MinGW: We ship Makefile.mingw for MinGW. See its README for details.

• Visual C++: We ship Visual Studio 2003, 2005, and 2008 project files. Newer versions of Visual C++ can upgrade these automatically, though the result sometimes requires manual adjustment. No older version of Visual C++ will build MySQL++, due to compiler limitations. See its README for more details.

• Xcode: We ship an Xcode project file, but it hasn't been well tested, since the autoconf method works just fine on macOS.

Unsupported C++ Compilers and Operating Systems

If you get MySQL++ to build under an operating system or with a C++ compiler not listed above, we’re likely to accept a patch for it. See the HACKERS file for guidance.

Example Programs

You may want to try out the programs in the examples subdirectory to ensure that the MySQL++ API and your MySQL database are both working properly. Also, these examples give many examples of the proper use of MySQL++.