Another Newbie

While not new to programming, I am new to PHP and to Linux, hence these 'getting started' questions. I recently installed Red Hat Linux 6.2 and have discovered that it came with PHP (3.0.15) already installed and configured. I've written a couple of [simple] forms handling routines and am getting more comfortable with using PHP. Looking around many of the PHP resource sites, I've seen a couple of functions and applications that I think would be useful, both to add to my web site and as a learning experience. But, many of them require MySQL. No problem -- I think. 1. I'm presuming that GDBM isn't an alternative to MySQL. Is this correct? 2. I need to install MySQL. The MySQL web site offers 3.23.46, but there is mention of Linux kernel 2.2.14 having problems and recommending upgrading to 2.2.19. Shoot! I think my system is 2.2.5. So my next question is -- will MySQL 3.23.46 run with the Linux level I have installed or do I have to upgrade Linux first? 3. After installing MySQL, I then have to get it working with PHP. In at least one PHP documentation, I noticed that it said MySQL had to be installed before PHP. Third question - do I have to reinstall PHP? 4. If the answer to #3 is 'no' and I can use the existing PHP installation, I now have question #4. phpinfo() returns the configuration information and I only see '--with-gdbm' and not '--with-mysql' so I see that I need to update the PHP configuration. I scanned through the PHP Manual located at http://www.php.net/manual/en/ and I can't find how this is done. (Please don't tell me that I have to recompile PHP!) Also, looking at php3.ini, I don't see anything that looks like the '--with' stuff, though there are some MySQL parameters in the file. So my final question (for now) is how do I change/update the PHP configuration. Many thanks for any help offered. Regards, Elsi