LiveCode Forums.

What version of MySQL can the community version connect to?
The free MySQL hosts are using v8 and I can't connect. Using SSL on just "rage quits" the IDE.

I’m running v8 and am not aware there is a version issue for the driver, although may be wrong - I haven’t tried with community version so can’t say for sure…
Are you trying to connect on localhost/127.0.0.1 or a remote IP?
SSL shouldn’t come into it if running in local, and connecting remotely should only really be through middleware (typically PHP, but I recently posted an LC Server example). MySQL usually blocks all external connections for security reasons - although you can whitelist IP addresses, it’s not recommended.

When work with MySQL I have a server on my local machine for quick testing but connecting to remote hosts needs more work.

Post some code?


PS:
I’d prefer to use Valentina studio for managing MySQL/SQLite/PostreSQL databases. There is a free licence with fewer features but for me it makes working with databases much easier. And it can use SSH to connect directly to remote DBs as well.

When I connect to my local MySQL v5 server it works like a charm. Using freedb.tech it won't connect and I get an error saying "Client does not support authentication protocol requested by server; consider upgrading MySQL client" and if I turn on SSL the IDE just goes *poof*

0 revsecurity.dylib 0x15a59117c get_error_values + 568
1 dbmysql 0x11d845604 report_errors + 92
2 dbmysql 0x11d845bc4 ssl_do + 612
3 dbmysql 0x11d845cf8 sslconnect + 96
4 dbmysql 0x11d81d38c mysql_real_connect + 3672
5 dbmysql 0x11d814b94 DBConnection_MYSQL::connect(char**, int) + 584
6 revdb 0x11ac3cee4 REVDB_Connect(char**, int, char**, int*, int*) + 396

My code is as follows:

I had a look at the FreeDB.tech. There is nothing to see though, no details about the service (other than pricing) seem to included on the website without creating an account. After creating a test account out of curiosity I could see its MyPHP driven interface. You don't get root access which implies the site's owner has root access to all your data. Precious little else is revealed but the site.
If I'm honest the site looks shady AF, it is drowning in ads.

Re SSL: There is a bug report on SSL with MySQL failing on mobile, that was patched many years ago - couldn't see a bug report with problems similar to yours. What I could find: https://quality.livecode.com/show_bug.cgi
I had a scan through a number of release notes from LC v6 onwards, I couldn't see any mention of either MySQL driver version or any compatibility fixes are than an issue roundabout v6, which probably corresponds to the bug report. But this also suggests the driver does not get updated all that often or if it is, it's never advertised.

The only other thing I'll note is that MySQL 5 was released in ...2005. Not sure that should be the benchmark of what works unless your tech is not much older than 10 years after that.

Are you using the bona fide last community version (9.6.3)?
if not and you're on opensource where an older driver may have been included, it may be of value to download 9.6.3 community installer for testing and it if works it may be as simple as using the it's MySQL driver.

Another test would be to install MySQL on your local machine (you could use MAMP (Mac/Win) or LAMP (linux) to avoid installation completely and just run it) and test using localhost as really that's what is recommended in general. Direct access to MySQL over the net is discouraged and usually middleware would be the bridge between http commands and localhost access.

Other options:
Roll your own: Rather than the limited and iffy service provided by freedb.tech, you could go full hog, and use something like a DigitalOcean droplet with linux installed, install the latest version of MySQL on it, install LC server and use the API I posted in another thread. That way any app, no matter how old, could use full CRUD via http and very securely. And it's not as hard or costly as it sounds, with the right tools.

If you do go down this route, I can't recommend Lifeboat enough.
While it's a shareware app (slightly pricey 1-off purchase, but can be used for free) that was ostensibly designed for uploading/running Xojo web apps, it's incredibly valuable for any linux server maintenance.

With literally 1 click you can keep your Linux server up to date, assign any number of domains to it (I guess you'd need to get at least one) and SSL (free via LetsEncrypt and even get SSL for subdomains free), Nginx webserver, MySQL (well, MariaDB which is the same but better - Oracle is slowly killing community MySQL as opensource, MariaDB is a fork by the original inventor) and/or PostgeSQL and can even set up hosting static webpages - above and beyond running a xojo web app. It's an amazing app and although the 1-off cost may feel a bit steep, it's well worth the money - by the time it saves you, it pays for itself.
Domains are cheap and you can get one for as little as $1/month. So for the 1-off cost of LifeBoat (I'd recommend but you could do without, if you know how to manually) and around $7-8/month recurring costs for server and domain name, you're can literally be the queen of your server and do whatever you want.

Access over HTTP
Another http option is to use something like BaseRow, which is opensource and if you're hosting the service yourself it's completely free; there is also a free tier for using their hosted service. The REST API is straightforward and easy to use.

Of course if sticking with LiveCode and you don't have a lot of data you could also use the free tier on LiveCloud, which is specifically designed for LC. You would just manage data as arrays and LiveCloud can function both as local and cloud database that sync. If you have a lot of data it can become pricier - the free tier includes 10 Mb RAM cloud data (the local data is free I think) and 1 Gb BLOB data.


If I'm honest, having seen FreeDB.tech, I personally would not recommend that... at the very least you'd probably want a database with which you have root access and no one else, certainly not a shady website. But recommendation in general are that you'd use something with some kind of middleware rather than access MySQL directly. If you do provide direct access to SQL you'd need to take great pains to limit user's access to prevent SQLinjections etc. And even then it's dicey...

if you managed to read all that well done

Sorry that freedb.tech was infested, which is why I surf with an ad blocker. I'm not really interested in using them for any project, other than testing the MySQL portion of my program. I decided to just use my old MAMP installation as it worked for Database Designer.

I am using a fork of the community version, that has an ARM build, and the dbmysql.bundle file is four years after the community version.

I can't use middleware as the program allows people to access their own MySQL server and stored encrypted data to it (hence the reason I don't care too much about freedb.tech and their root access).

Why so coy?

That fork is the ARM Mac version of OpenXtalk Lite.

Emily-Elizabeth wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 23, 2026 11:45 pm

I am using a fork of the community version, that has an ARM build, and the dbmysql.bundle file is four years after the community version.

My point still stands - you may want yo check if you can replicate with 9.6.3 if it will run in Rosetta and assuming you can launch it in your current OS.

The fact that this is is a recompiled driver does not mean it is bug-free, and since SSL is triggering the problem, maybe it’s your recompiled driver that is buggy, I’ve certainly never seen anything like what you describe.

My other point stands too - if anyone is accessing MySQL on anything but localhost it’s asking for trouble in general.

Perhaps, more importantly, you are asking this question on the wrong forum. As you are using a forked version of LC with a newly recompiled driver, this probably needs to be redirected to those who forked/recompiled.

But my initial question still stands - what version of MySQL can the community edition connect to?

Doing a recent web search I came across something about MySQL version 5.1.

Asking questions about the Community version (which was abandoned 4 years ago) is a bit pointless here.

richmond62 wrote: ↑

Sat Jan 24, 2026 7:26 pm

Doing a recent web search I came across something about MySQL version 5.1.

Thank you. It turns out that the security in MySQL 8 has changed. There is a command you can run to change the password to the old style so you can use older clients (the LiveCode external)

Taken from https://www.codestudy.net/blog/mysql-8- ... ql-client/

Run the following SQL command to update the user’s authentication plugin and password:
Replace 'your_username' with your MySQL username.
Replace 'localhost' with the host your app uses (e.g., '%' for remote access).
Replace 'your_password' with the user’s current password (or a new one).