What the different between MySQL Native Driver and MySQL Client Library

Question

I want to know the different between MySQL Native Driver and MySQL Client Library and when to use both of them

@robert: MySQLnd (and the MySQL client library) are PHP extensions (drivers) that *provide* the `mysqli` functions. That code will work with either one. — gen_Eric, Feb 04 '14 at 15:33

score 17 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 06 '18 at 22:57

There is no big difference in the PHP language level.

libmysqlclient distributed by MySQL, mysqlnd distributed by PHP.
libmysqlclient is part of MySQL, you need install MySQL library.
Their license are different.
mysqlnd supports a lot of plugins (mysqlnd_ms & mysqlnd_qc & ...).
Because mysqlnd is part of PHP, its memory could be limited by PHP configuration.
mysqlnd is the default after 5.4

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 23 '19 at 13:58

mysql:

dual licence
optional automatic reconnect
all memory allocation and deallocation is done using operating system memory management

mysqlnd:

PHP licence
Non-blocking, asynchronous queries
Performance statistics (mysqli_get_client_stats, mysqli_get_connection_stats)
LOAD LOCAL INFILE respects the open_basedir directive
All memory allocation and deallocation is done using the PHP memory management functions (you can track memory usage with PHP functions and debug features, and also PHP memory limits apply which has its pros and cons)

mysqlnd via plugins:

incompatibilities between mysql and mysqlnd:

values of bit data type are returned as binary strings with mysql.so and as decimal strings with mysqlnd.so (source).

2 Answers2