it didn't work per those instructions nor did it say "mysql-r2" it just said "mysql" What do you expect to happen? since it didn't work I attempted: "npm uninstall mysql", didn't work; then, npm ...

Node-RED node to read and write to a MySQL or a MariaDB database. It uses TLS (SSL) encryption and is compatible with "Caching SHA2 password" authentication method (MySQL >= 8).