Chapter 4 MySQL Programs

List the options on the command line following the program name. This is common for options that apply to a specific invocation of the program.

List the options in an option file that the program reads when it starts. This is common for options that you want the program to use each time it runs.

List the options in environment variables (see Section 4.2.6, “Setting Environment Variables”). This method is useful for options that you want to apply each time the program runs. In practice, option files are used more commonly for this purpose, but Section 5.7.3, “Running Multiple MySQL Instances on Unix”, discusses one situation in which environment variables can be very helpful. It describes a handy technique that uses such variables to specify the TCP/IP port number and Unix socket file for the server and for client programs.

Command Options for Connection Establishment

Command Options for Encrypted Connections

The default host name is localhost. On Unix, this has a special meaning, as described later.

The default user name is ODBC on Windows or your Unix login name on Unix.

No password is sent because neither --password nor -p is given.

For mysql, the first nonoption argument is taken as the name of the default database. Because there is no such argument, mysql selects no default database.

If you use a --password or -p option and specify a password value, there must be no space between --password= or -p and the password following it.

If you use --password or -p but do not specify a password value, the client program prompts you to enter the password. The password is not displayed as you enter it. This is more secure than giving the password on the command line, which might enable other users on your system to see the password line by executing a command such as ps. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

To explicitly specify that there is no password and that the client program should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password option.

If the host is not specified or is localhost, a connection to the local host occurs:

On Windows, if host is . (period), or TCP/IP is not enabled and --socket is not specified or the host is empty, the client connects using a named pipe, if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. If named-pipe connections are not supported or if the user making the connection is not a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable, an error occurs.

Otherwise, the connection uses TCP/IP.

Specify the connection parameters in the [client] section of an option file. The relevant section of the file might look like this:

[client]
host=host_name
user=user_name
password=password

For more information, see Section 4.2.2.2, “Using Option Files”.

Some connection parameters can be specified using environment variables. Examples:

For a list of supported environment variables, see Section 4.9, “Environment Variables”.

Client programs support a --compress command-line option to specify use of compression for the connection to the server.

For programs that use the MySQL C API, enabling the MYSQL_OPT_COMPRESS option for the mysql_options() function specifies use of compression for the connection to the server.

For master/server replication, enabling the slave_compressed_protocol system variable specifies use of compression for slave connections to the master.

--help

Display a help message and exit.

--basedir=dir_name

The path to the MySQL installation directory.

--core-file-size=size

The size of the core file that mysqld should be able to create. The option value is passed to ulimit -c.

--datadir=dir_name

The path to the data directory.

--defaults-extra-file=file_name

Read this option file in addition to the usual option files. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, the server will exit with an error. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name. This must be the first option on the command line if it is used.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--defaults-file=file_name

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, the server will exit with an error. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name. This must be the first option on the command line if it is used.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--ledir=dir_name

If mysqld_safe cannot find the server, use this option to indicate the path name to the directory where the server is located.

As of MySQL 5.7.17, this option is accepted only on the command line, not in option files. On platforms that use systemd, the value can be specified in the value of MYSQLD_OPTS. See Section 2.5.10, “Managing MySQL Server with systemd”.

--log-error=file_name

Write the error log to the given file. See Section 5.4.2, “The Error Log”.

--mysqld-safe-log-timestamps

This option controls the format for timestamps in log output produced by mysqld_safe. The following list describes the permitted values. For any other value, mysqld_safe logs a warning and uses UTC format.

This option was added in MySQL 5.7.11.

--malloc-lib=[lib_name]

The name of the library to use for memory allocation instead of the system malloc() library. As of MySQL 5.7.15, the option value must be one of the directories /usr/lib, /usr/lib64, /usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu, or /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu. Prior to MySQL 5.7.15, any library can be used by specifying its path name, but there is a shortcut form to enable use of the tcmalloc library that is shipped with binary MySQL distributions for Linux in MySQL 5.7. It is possible that the shortcut form will not work under certain configurations, in which case you should specify a path name instead.

The --malloc-lib option works by modifying the LD_PRELOAD environment value to affect dynamic linking to enable the loader to find the memory-allocation library when mysqld runs:

Linux users can use the libtcmalloc_minimal.so included in binary packages by adding these lines to the my.cnf file:

[mysqld_safe]
malloc-lib=tcmalloc

Those lines also suffice for users on any platform who have installed a tcmalloc package in /usr/lib. To use a specific tcmalloc library, specify its full path name. Example:

[mysqld_safe]
malloc-lib=/opt/lib/libtcmalloc_minimal.so

--mysqld=prog_name

The name of the server program (in the ledir directory) that you want to start. This option is needed if you use the MySQL binary distribution but have the data directory outside of the binary distribution. If mysqld_safe cannot find the server, use the --ledir option to indicate the path name to the directory where the server is located.

As of MySQL 5.7.15, this option is accepted only on the command line, not in option files. On platforms that use systemd, the value can be specified in the value of MYSQLD_OPTS. See Section 2.5.10, “Managing MySQL Server with systemd”.

--mysqld-version=suffix

This option is similar to the --mysqld option, but you specify only the suffix for the server program name. The base name is assumed to be mysqld. For example, if you use --mysqld-version=debug, mysqld_safe starts the mysqld-debug program in the ledir directory. If the argument to --mysqld-version is empty, mysqld_safe uses mysqld in the ledir directory.

As of MySQL 5.7.15, this option is accepted only on the command line, not in option files. On platforms that use systemd, the value can be specified in the value of MYSQLD_OPTS. See Section 2.5.10, “Managing MySQL Server with systemd”.

--nice=priority

Use the nice program to set the server's scheduling priority to the given value.

--no-defaults

Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read. This must be the first option on the command line if it is used.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--open-files-limit=count

The number of files that mysqld should be able to open. The option value is passed to ulimit -n.

--pid-file=file_name

The path name that mysqld should use for its process ID file.

From MySQL 5.7.2 to 5.7.17, mysqld_safe has its own process ID file, which is always named mysqld_safe.pid and located in the MySQL data directory.

--plugin-dir=dir_name

The path name of the plugin directory.

--port=port_num

The port number that the server should use when listening for TCP/IP connections. The port number must be 1024 or higher unless the server is started by the root operating system user.

--skip-kill-mysqld

Do not try to kill stray mysqld processes at startup. This option works only on Linux.

--socket=path

The Unix socket file that the server should use when listening for local connections.

--syslog, --skip-syslog

--syslog causes error messages to be sent to syslog on systems that support the logger program. --skip-syslog suppresses the use of syslog; messages are written to an error log file.

When syslog is used for error logging, the daemon.err facility/severity is used for all log messages.

Using these options to control mysqld logging is deprecated as of MySQL 5.7.5. Use the server log_syslog system variable instead. To control the facility, use the server log_syslog_facility system variable. See Section 5.4.2.3, “Error Logging to the System Log”.

--syslog-tag=tag

For logging to syslog, messages from mysqld_safe and mysqld are written with identifiers of mysqld_safe and mysqld, respectively. To specify a suffix for the identifiers, use --syslog-tag=tag, which modifies the identifiers to be mysqld_safe-tag and mysqld-tag.

Using this option to control mysqld logging is deprecated as of MySQL 5.7.5. Use the server log_syslog_tag system variable instead. See Section 5.4.2.3, “Error Logging to the System Log”.

--timezone=timezone

Set the TZ time zone environment variable to the given option value. Consult your operating system documentation for legal time zone specification formats.

--user={user_name|user_id}

Run the mysqld server as the user having the name user_name or the numeric user ID user_id. (“User” in this context refers to a system login account, not a MySQL user listed in the grant tables.)

The server and databases can be found relative to the working directory (the directory from which mysqld_safe is invoked). For binary distributions, mysqld_safe looks under its working directory for bin and data directories. For source distributions, it looks for libexec and var directories. This condition should be met if you execute mysqld_safe from your MySQL installation directory (for example, /usr/local/mysql for a binary distribution).

If the server and databases cannot be found relative to the working directory, mysqld_safe attempts to locate them by absolute path names. Typical locations are /usr/local/libexec and /usr/local/var. The actual locations are determined from the values configured into the distribution at the time it was built. They should be correct if MySQL is installed in the location specified at configuration time.

--log-error=file_name: Write error messages to the named error file.

--syslog: Write error messages to syslog on systems that support the logger program.

--skip-syslog: Do not write error messages to syslog. Messages are written to the default error log file (host_name.err in the data directory), or to a named file if the --log-error option is given.

If you use the Linux server RPM package (MySQL-server-VERSION.rpm), or a native Linux package installation, the mysql.server script may be installed in the /etc/init.d directory with the name mysqld or mysql. See Section 2.5.5, “Installing MySQL on Linux Using RPM Packages from Oracle”, for more information on the Linux RPM packages.

If you install MySQL from a source distribution or using a binary distribution format that does not install mysql.server automatically, you can install the script manually. It can be found in the support-files directory under the MySQL installation directory or in a MySQL source tree. Copy the script to the /etc/init.d directory with the name mysql and make it executable:

shell> cp mysql.server /etc/init.d/mysql
shell> chmod +x /etc/init.d/mysql

After installing the script, the commands needed to activate it to run at system startup depend on your operating system. On Linux, you can use chkconfig:

shell> chkconfig --add mysql

On some Linux systems, the following command also seems to be necessary to fully enable the mysql script:

shell> chkconfig --level 345 mysql on

On FreeBSD, startup scripts generally should go in /usr/local/etc/rc.d/. Install the mysql.server script as /usr/local/etc/rc.d/mysql.server.sh to enable automatic startup. The rc(8) manual page states that scripts in this directory are executed only if their base name matches the *.sh shell file name pattern. Any other files or directories present within the directory are silently ignored.

As an alternative to the preceding setup, some operating systems also use /etc/rc.local or /etc/init.d/boot.local to start additional services on startup. To start up MySQL using this method, append a command like the one following to the appropriate startup file:

/bin/sh -c 'cd /usr/local/mysql; ./bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &'

For other systems, consult your operating system documentation to see how to install startup scripts.

basedir=dir_name

The path to the MySQL installation directory.

datadir=dir_name

The path to the MySQL data directory.

pid-file=file_name

The path name of the file in which the server should write its process ID. The server creates the file in the data directory unless an absolute path name is given to specify a different directory.

If this option is not given, mysql.server uses a default value of host_name.pid. The PID file value passed to mysqld_safe overrides any value specified in the [mysqld_safe] option file group. Because mysql.server reads the [mysqld] option file group but not the [mysqld_safe] group, you can ensure that mysqld_safe gets the same value when invoked from mysql.server as when invoked manually by putting the same pid-file setting in both the [mysqld_safe] and [mysqld] groups.

service-startup-timeout=seconds

How long in seconds to wait for confirmation of server startup. If the server does not start within this time, mysql.server exits with an error. The default value is 900. A value of 0 means not to wait at all for startup. Negative values mean to wait forever (no timeout).

With --no-defaults, no option files are read.

With --defaults-file=file_name, only the named file is read.

Otherwise, option files in the standard list of locations are read, including any file named by the --defaults-extra-file=file_name option, if one is given. (If the option is given multiple times, the last value is used.)

--help

Display a help message and exit.

--example

Display a sample option file.

--log=file_name

Specify the name of the log file. If the file exists, log output is appended to it.

--mysqladmin=prog_name

The mysqladmin binary to be used to stop servers.

--mysqld=prog_name

The mysqld binary to be used. Note that you can specify mysqld_safe as the value for this option also. If you use mysqld_safe to start the server, you can include the mysqld or ledir options in the corresponding [mysqldN] option group. These options indicate the name of the server that mysqld_safe should start and the path name of the directory where the server is located. (See the descriptions for these options in Section 4.3.2, “mysqld_safe — MySQL Server Startup Script”.) Example:

[mysqld38]
mysqld = mysqld-debug
ledir  = /opt/local/mysql/libexec

--no-log

Print log information to stdout rather than to the log file. By default, output goes to the log file.

--password=password

The password of the MySQL account to use when invoking mysqladmin. Note that the password value is not optional for this option, unlike for other MySQL programs.

--silent

Silent mode; disable warnings.

--tcp-ip

Connect to each MySQL server through the TCP/IP port instead of the Unix socket file. (If a socket file is missing, the server might still be running, but accessible only through the TCP/IP port.) By default, connections are made using the Unix socket file. This option affects stop and report operations.

--user=user_name

The user name of the MySQL account to use when invoking mysqladmin.

--verbose

Be more verbose.

--version

Display version information and exit.

Most important: Before using mysqld_multi be sure that you understand the meanings of the options that are passed to the mysqld servers and why you would want to have separate mysqld processes. Beware of the dangers of using multiple mysqld servers with the same data directory. Use separate data directories, unless you know what you are doing. Starting multiple servers with the same data directory does not give you extra performance in a threaded system. See Section 5.7, “Running Multiple MySQL Instances on One Machine”.

Make sure that the MySQL account used for stopping the mysqld servers (with the mysqladmin program) has the same user name and password for each server. Also, make sure that the account has the SHUTDOWN privilege. If the servers that you want to manage have different user names or passwords for the administrative accounts, you might want to create an account on each server that has the same user name and password. For example, you might set up a common multi_admin account by executing the following commands for each server:

shell> mysql -u root -S /tmp/mysql.sock -p
Enter password:
mysql> CREATE USER 'multi_admin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'multipass';
mysql> GRANT SHUTDOWN ON *.* TO 'multi_admin'@'localhost';

See Section 6.2, “Access Control and Account Management”. You have to do this for each mysqld server. Change the connection parameters appropriately when connecting to each one. Note that the host name part of the account name must permit you to connect as multi_admin from the host where you want to run mysqld_multi.

The Unix socket file and the TCP/IP port number must be different for every mysqld. (Alternatively, if the host has multiple network addresses, you can set the bind_address system variable to cause different servers to listen to different interfaces.)

The --pid-file option is very important if you are using mysqld_safe to start mysqld (for example, --mysqld=mysqld_safe) Every mysqld should have its own process ID file. The advantage of using mysqld_safe instead of mysqld is that mysqld_safe monitors its mysqld process and restarts it if the process terminates due to a signal sent using kill -9 or for other reasons, such as a segmentation fault.

You might want to use the --user option for mysqld, but to do this you need to run the mysqld_multi script as the Unix superuser (root). Having the option in the option file doesn't matter; you just get a warning if you are not the superuser and the mysqld processes are started under your own Unix account.

--help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

--charset=dir_name, -C dir_name

The character set directory. The default is ../sql/share/charsets.

--debug=debug_options, -# debug_options

Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:O,file_name. The default is d:t:O,/tmp/comp_err.trace.

--debug-info, -T

Print some debugging information when the program exits.

--header-file=file_name, -H file_name

The name of the error header file. The default is mysqld_error.h.

--in-file=file_name, -F file_name

The name of the input file that defines error messages. The default is ../sql/share/errmsg-utf8.txt.

--name-file=file_name, -N file_name

The name of the error name file. The default is mysqld_ername.h.

--out-dir=dir_name, -D dir_name

The name of the output base directory. The default is ../sql/share/.

--out-file=file_name, -O file_name

The name of the output file. The default is errmsg.sys.

--state-file=file_name, -S file_name

The name for the SQLSTATE header file. The default is sql_state.h.

--version, -V

Display version information and exit.

It initializes the MySQL data directory and creates the system tables that it contains.

It initializes the system tablespace and related data structures needed to manage InnoDB tables.

It loads the server-side help tables.

It installs the sys schema.

It creates an administrative account. Older versions of mysql_install_db may create anonymous-user accounts.

A single administrative account named 'root'@'localhost' is created with a randomly generated password, which is marked expired.

No anonymous-user accounts are created.

No test database accessible by all users is created.

--admin-xxx options are available to control characteristics of the administrative account.

The --random-password-file option is available to control where the random password is written.

The --insecure option is available to suppress random password generation.

If the data directory does already exist, you are performing an upgrade operation (not an install operation) and should run mysql_upgrade, not mysql_install_db. See Section 4.4.7, “mysql_upgrade — Check and Upgrade MySQL Tables”.

If the data directory does not exist but mysql_install_db fails, you must remove any partially created data directory before running mysql_install_db again.

To change the user or host parts of the account name, use --login-path, or --admin-user and --admin-host.

--insecure suppresses generation of a random password.

--admin-auth-plugin specifies the authentication plugin.

--admin-require-ssl specifies whether the account must use SSL connections.

--help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

--admin-auth-plugin=plugin_name

The authentication plugin to use for the administrative account. The default is mysql_native_password.

--admin-host=host_name

The host part to use for the adminstrative account name. The default is localhost. This option is ignored if --login-path is also specified.

--admin-require-ssl

Whether to require SSL for the administrative account. The default is not to require it. With this option enabled, the statement that mysql_install_db uses to create the account includes a REQUIRE SSL clause. As a result, the administrative account must use secure connections when connecting to the server.

--admin-user=user_name

The user part to use for the adminstrative account name. The default is root. This option is ignored if --login-path is also specified.

--basedir=dir_name

The path to the MySQL installation directory.

--builddir=dir_name

For use with --srcdir and out-of-source builds. Set this to the location of the directory where the built files reside.

--datadir=dir_name

The path to the MySQL data directory. Only the last component of the path name is created if it does not exist; the parent directory must already exist or an error occurs.

--defaults

This option causes mysql_install_db to invoke mysqld in such a way that it reads option files from the default locations. If given as --no-defaults, and --defaults-file or --defaults-extra-file is not also specified, mysql_install_db passes --no-defaults to mysqld, to prevent option files from being read. This may help if program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file.

--defaults-extra-file=file_name

Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

This option is passed by mysql_install_db to mysqld.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--defaults-file=file_name

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

This option is passed by mysql_install_db to mysqld.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--extra-sql-file=file_name, -f file_name

This option names a file containing additional SQL statements to be executed after the standard bootstrapping statements. Accepted statement syntax in the file is like that of the mysql command-line client, including support for multiple-line C-style comments and delimiter handling to enable definition of stored programs.

--insecure

Do not generate a random password for the adminstrative account.

If --insecure is not given, it is necessary after mysql_install_db has been run to start the server, connect using the administrative account with the password written to the .mysql_secret file, and specify a new administrative password. Until this is done, the administrative account cannot be used for anything else. To change the password, you can use the SET PASSWORD statement (for example, with the mysql or mysqladmin client). After resetting the password, remove the .mysql_secret file; otherwise, if you run mysql_secure_installation, that command may see the file and expire the root password again as part of ensuring secure deployment.

--lc-messages=name

The locale to use for error messages. The default is en_US. The argument is converted to a language name and combined with the value of --lc-messages-dir to produce the location for the error message file. See Section 10.12, “Setting the Error Message Language”.

--lc-messages-dir=dir_name

The directory where error messages are located. The value is used together with the value of --lc-messages to produce the location for the error message file. See Section 10.12, “Setting the Error Message Language”.

--login-file=file_name

The file from which to read the login path if the --login-path=file_name option is specified. The default file is .mylogin.cnf.

--login-path=name

Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. The default login path is client. (To read a different file, use the --login-file=name option.) A “login path” is an option group containing options that specify which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

If the --login-path option is specified, the user, host, and password values are taken from the login path and used to create the administrative account. The password must be defined in the login path or an error occurs, unless the --insecure option is also specified. In addition, with --login-path, any --admin-host and --admin-user options are ignored.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--mysqld-file=file_name

The path name of the mysqld binary to execute. The option value must be an absolute path name or an error occurs.

If this option is not given, mysql_install_db searches for mysqld in these locations:

--no-defaults

For behavior of this option, see the description of --defaults.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--random-password-file=file_name

The path name of the file in which to write the randomly generated password for the administrative account. The option value must be an absolute path name or an error occurs. The default is $HOME/.mysql_secret.

--skip-sys-schema

mysql_install_db installs the sys schema. The --skip-sys-schema option suppresses this behavior.

--srcdir=dir_name

For internal use. This option specifies the directory under which mysql_install_db looks for support files such as the error message file and the file for populating the help tables.

--user=user_name, -u user_name

The system (login) user name to use for running mysqld. Files and directories created by mysqld will be owned by this user. You must be the system root user to use this option. By default, mysqld runs using your current login name and files and directories that it creates will be owned by you.

--verbose, -v

Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does. You can use this option to see the mysqld command that mysql_install_db invokes to start the server in bootstrap mode.

--version, -V

Display version information and exit.

--help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

--basedir=dir_name, -b dir_name

The server base directory.

--datadir=dir_name, -d dir_name

The server data directory.

--my-print-defaults=file_name, -b file_name

The path to the my_print_defaults program.

--mysqld=file_name, -b file_name

The path to the mysqld server.

--no-defaults, -p

Do not read values from the configuration file. This option enables an administrator to skip reading defaults from the configuration file.

With mysql_plugin, this option need not be given first on the command line, unlike most other MySQL programs that support --no-defaults.

--plugin-dir=dir_name, -p dir_name

The server plugin directory.

--plugin-ini=file_name, -i file_name

The mysql_plugin configuration file. Relative path names are interpreted relative to the current directory. If this option is not given, the default is plugin.ini in the plugin directory, where plugin is the plugin argument on the command line.

--print-defaults, -P

Display the default values from the configuration file. This option causes mysql_plugin to print the defaults for --basedir, --datadir, and --plugin-dir if they are found in the configuration file. If no value for a variable is found, nothing is shown.

With mysql_plugin, this option need not be given first on the command line, unlike most other MySQL programs that support --print-defaults.

--verbose, -v

Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does. This option can be used multiple times to increase the amount of information.

--version, -V

Display version information and exit.

You can set a password for root accounts.

You can remove root accounts that are accessible from outside the local host.

You can remove anonymous-user accounts.

You can remove the test database (which by default can be accessed by all users, even anonymous users), and privileges that permit anyone to access databases with names that start with test_.

--help, -?

Display a help message and exit.

--defaults-extra-file=file_name

Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--defaults-file=file_name

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--defaults-group-suffix=str

Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, mysql_secure_installation normally reads the [client] and [mysql_secure_installation] groups. If the --defaults-group-suffix=_other option is given, mysql_secure_installation also reads the [client_other] and [mysql_secure_installation_other] groups.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--host=host_name, -h host_name

Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

--no-defaults

Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read.

The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file, if it exists, is read in all cases. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. (.mylogin.cnf is created by the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.)

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--password=password, -p password

This option is accepted but ignored. Whether or not this option is used, mysql_secure_installation always prompts the user for a password.

--port=port_num, -P port_num

For TCP/IP connections, the port number to use.

--print-defaults

Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

The connection protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally result in use of a protocol other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 4.2.4, “Connecting to the MySQL Server Using Command Options”.

--socket=path, -S path

For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

On Windows, this option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

--ssl*

Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server using SSL and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Command Options for Encrypted Connections.

--tls-version=protocol_list

The permissible TLS protocols for encrypted connections. The value is a list of one or more comma-separated protocol names. The protocols that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

This option was added in MySQL 5.7.10.

--use-default

Execute noninteractively. This option can be used for unattended installation operations.

--user=user_name, -u user_name

The user name of the MySQL account to use for connecting to the server.

For local clients, the MySQL installation directory can be used. For example, if the data directory is a subdirectory of the installation directory and your current location is the data directory, you can copy the files like this:

cp ca.pem client-cert.pem client-key.pem ..

For remote clients, distribute the files using a secure channel to ensure they are not tampered with during transit.

--help, ?

Display a help message and exit.

--datadir=dir_name

The path to the directory that mysql_ssl_rsa_setup should check for default SSL and RSA files and in which it should create files if they are missing. The default is the compiled-in data directory.

--suffix=str

The suffix for the Common Name attribute in X.509 certificates. The suffix value is limited to 17 characters. The default is based on the MySQL version number.

--uid=name, -v

The name of the user who should be the owner of any created files. The value is a user name, not a numeric user ID. In the absence of this option, files created by mysql_ssl_rsa_setup are owned by the user who executes it. This option is valid only if you execute the program as root on a system that supports the chown() system call.

--verbose, -v

Verbose mode. Produce more output about what the program does. For example, the program shows the openssl commands it runs, and produces output to indicate whether it skips SSL or RSA file creation because some default file already exists.

--version, -V

Display version information and exit.

It upgrades the system tables in the mysql schema so that you can take advantage of new privileges or capabilities that might have been added.

It upgrades the Performance Schema and sys schema.

It examines user schemas.

--help

Display a short help message and exit.

--bind-address=ip_address

On a computer having multiple network interfaces, use this option to select which interface to use for connecting to the MySQL server.

--character-sets-dir=dir_name

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

--compress, -C

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if possible. See Section 4.2.5, “Connection Compression Control”.

--debug[=debug_options], -# [debug_options]

Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:o,file_name. The default is d:t:O,/tmp/mysql_upgrade.trace.

--debug-check

Print some debugging information when the program exits.

--debug-info, -T

Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits.

--default-auth=plugin

A hint about which client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

--default-character-set=charset_name

Use charset_name as the default character set. See Section 10.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

--defaults-extra-file=file_name

Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--defaults-file=file_name

Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. file_name is interpreted relative to the current directory if given as a relative path name rather than a full path name.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--defaults-group-suffix=str

Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, mysql_upgrade normally reads the [client] and [mysql_upgrade] groups. If the --defaults-group-suffix=_other option is given, mysql_upgrade also reads the [client_other] and [mysql_upgrade_other] groups.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--force

Ignore the mysql_upgrade_info file and force execution even if mysql_upgrade has already been executed for the current version of MySQL.

--host=host_name, -h host_name

Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

--login-path=name

Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. A “login path” is an option group containing options that specify which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--max-allowed-packet=value

The maximum size of the buffer for client/server communication. The default value is 24MB. The minimum and maximum values are 4KB and 2GB.

--net-buffer-length=value

The initial size of the buffer for client/server communication. The default value is 1MB − 1KB. The minimum and maximum values are 4KB and 16MB.

--no-defaults

Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read.

The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file, if it exists, is read in all cases. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. (.mylogin.cnf is created by the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.)

For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

--password[=password], -p[password]

The password of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The password value is optional. If not given, mysql_upgrade prompts for one. If given, there must be no space between --password= or -p and the password following it. If no password option is specified, the default is to send no password.

Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysql_upgrade should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password option.

--pipe, -W

On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

--plugin-dir=dir_name

The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the --default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but mysql_upgrade does not find it. See Section 6.2.13, “Pluggable Authentication”.

--port=port_num, -P port_num

For TCP/IP connections, the port number to use.

--print-defaults

Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.

--protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

The connection protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally result in use of a protocol other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 4.2.4, “Connecting to the MySQL Server Using Command Options”.

--shared-memory-base-name=name

On Windows, the shared-memory name to use for connections made using shared memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name is case-sensitive.

This option applies only if the server was started with the shared_memory system variable enabled to support shared-memory connections.

--skip-sys-schema

By default, mysql_upgrade installs the sys schema if it is not installed, and upgrades it to the current version otherwise. The --skip-sys-schema option suppresses this behavior.

--socket=path, -S path

For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

On Windows, this option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

--ssl*

Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server using SSL and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Command Options for Encrypted Connections.

--tls-version=protocol_list

The permissible TLS protocols for encrypted connections. The value is a list of one or more comma-separated protocol names. The protocols that can be named for this option depend on the SSL library used to compile MySQL. For details, see Section 6.3.2, “Encrypted Connection TLS Protocols and Ciphers”.

This option was added in MySQL 5.7.10.

--upgrade-system-tables, -s

Upgrade only the system tables in the mysql schema, do not upgrade user schemas.

--user=user_name, -u user_name

The user name of the MySQL account to use for connecting to the server. The default user name is root.

--verbose

Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does.

--version-check, -k

Check the version of the server to which mysql_upgrade is connecting to verify that it is the same as the version for which mysql_upgrade was built. If not, mysql_upgrade exits. This option is enabled by default; to disable the check, use --skip-version-check.

--write-binlog

By default, binary logging by mysql_upgrade is disabled. Invoke the program with --write-binlog if you want its actions to be written to the binary log.

When the server is running with global transaction identifiers (GTIDs) enabled (gtid_mode=ON), do not enable binary logging by mysql_upgrade.