link to download the mysql source

The closest I can fin开发者_开发百科d on mysql.com is something called

Generic Linux (Architecture Independent), Compressed TAR Archive

But thats probably a binary installation too, because it has no 'configure' script. Its rather frustrating. I'm sure I'm just missing something obvious (just like what happens with code sometimes).

1. Navigate your browser to http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/ and click on "MySQL Community Server"
2. Next go half way down the page and look in the section titled "Generally Available (GA) Releases" and click the drop-down box under "Select Platform". Choose "Source Code" at the bottom of the list.
3. A list of source code packages will appear for various platforms. Click "Download" to the right of your platform target. This takes you to a "Begin Your Download" page.
4. At the bottom you will find a link titled "No thanks, just start my download" which will start your download or may be copied as a link as in the wget example above.

The overall procedure for building MySQL from source is at MySQL Docs - Install Source Distribution and it includes using CMake instead of ./configure (you can yum install cmake if needed (CentOS)).

The Generic Linux (Architecture Independent), Compressed TAR Archive is the title of the source package I used to build from source, so I think you were on the right path.

Install Bazaar and get a latest copy of the tree.

http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/windows-sourcetree-build.html

You'll need a MySQL.com account. More about contributing code to MySQL.

It turns out my impatience got the better of me.

A further perusal of the latest documentation indicates that this is the genuine source. And that mysql 5.5 and later no longer uses "configure" (autoconf) but instead uses CMake.

I'm now building mysql from those very sources.