MySQL 5.7 Reference Manual Including MySQL NDB Cluster 7.5 and NDB Cluster 7.6
When you start the mysqld server, you can specify program options using any of the methods described in Section 4.2.2, “Specifying Program Options”. The most common methods are to provide options in an option file or on the command line. However, in most cases it is desirable to make sure that the server uses the same options each time it runs. The best way to ensure this is to list them in an option file. See Section 4.2.2.2, “Using Option Files”. That section also describes option file format and syntax.
mysqld reads options from the
[mysqld] and [server]
groups. mysqld_safe reads options from the
[mysqld], [server],
[mysqld_safe], and
[safe_mysqld] groups.
mysql.server reads options from the
[mysqld] and [mysql.server]
groups.
An embedded MySQL server usually reads options from the
[server], [embedded], and
[
groups, where xxxxx_SERVER]xxxxx is the name of the
application into which the server is embedded.
mysqld accepts many command options. For a brief summary, execute this command:
mysqld --help
To see the full list, use this command:
mysqld --verbose --help
Some of the items in the list are actually system variables that
can be set at server startup. These can be displayed at runtime
using the SHOW VARIABLES statement.
Some items displayed by the preceding mysqld
command do not appear in SHOW
VARIABLES output; this is because they are options only
and not system variables.
The following list shows some of the most common server options. Additional options are described in other sections:
Options that affect security: See Section 6.1.4, “Security-Related mysqld Options and Variables”.
SSL-related options: See Command Options for Encrypted Connections.
Binary log control options: See Section 5.4.4, “The Binary Log”.
Replication-related options: See Section 16.1.6, “Replication and Binary Logging Options and Variables”.
Options for loading plugins such as pluggable storage engines: See Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.
Options specific to particular storage engines: See Section 14.15, “InnoDB Startup Options and System Variables” and Section 15.2.1, “MyISAM Startup Options”.
Some options control the size of buffers or caches. For a given buffer, the server might need to allocate internal data structures. These structures typically are allocated from the total memory allocated to the buffer, and the amount of space required might be platform dependent. This means that when you assign a value to an option that controls a buffer size, the amount of space actually available might differ from the value assigned. In some cases, the amount might be less than the value assigned. It is also possible that the server adjusts a value upward. For example, if you assign a value of 0 to an option for which the minimal value is 1024, the server sets the value to 1024.
Values for buffer sizes, lengths, and stack sizes are given in bytes unless otherwise specified.
Some options take file name values. Unless otherwise specified,
the default file location is the data directory if the value is a
relative path name. To specify the location explicitly, use an
absolute path name. Suppose that the data directory is
/var/mysql/data. If a file-valued option is
given as a relative path name, it is located under
/var/mysql/data. If the value is an absolute
path name, its location is as given by the path name.
You can also set the values of server system variables at server
startup by using variable names as options. To assign a value to a
server system variable, use an option of the form
--.
For example,
var_name=value--sort_buffer_size=384M sets the
sort_buffer_size variable to a
value of 384MB.
When you assign a value to a variable, MySQL might automatically correct the value to stay within a given range, or adjust the value to the closest permissible value if only certain values are permitted.
To restrict the maximum value to which a system variable can be
set at runtime with the
SET
statement, specify this maximum by using an option of the form
--maximum-
at server startup.
var_name=value
You can change the values of most system variables at runtime with
the SET
statement. See Section 13.7.4.1, “SET Syntax for Variable Assignment”.
Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”, provides a full description for all variables, and additional information for setting them at server startup and runtime. For information on changing system variables, see Section 5.1.1, “Configuring the Server”.
--help, -?
| Command-Line Format | --help |
|---|
Display a short help message and exit. Use both the
--verbose and
--help options to see the full
message.
| Command-Line Format | --allow-suspicious-udfs[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
This option controls whether user-defined functions that have
only an xxx symbol for the main function
can be loaded. By default, the option is off and only UDFs
that have at least one auxiliary symbol can be loaded; this
prevents attempts at loading functions from shared object
files other than those containing legitimate UDFs. See
UDF Security Precautions.
| Command-Line Format | --ansi |
|---|
Use standard (ANSI) SQL syntax instead of MySQL syntax. For
more precise control over the server SQL mode, use the
--sql-mode option instead. See
Section 1.7, “MySQL Standards Compliance”, and
Section 5.1.10, “Server SQL Modes”.
--basedir=,
dir_name-b
dir_name
| Command-Line Format | --basedir=dir_name |
|---|---|
| System Variable | basedir |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | Directory name |
| Default Value | configuration-dependent default |
The path to the MySQL installation directory. This option sets
the basedir system variable.
| Command-Line Format | --bootstrap |
|---|---|
| Deprecated | Yes |
This option is used by the mysql_install_db program to create the MySQL privilege tables without having to start a full MySQL server.
mysql_install_db is deprecated because
its functionality has been integrated into
mysqld, the MySQL server. Consequently,
the --bootstrap server option
that mysql_install_db passes to
mysqld is also deprecated. To initialize
a MySQL installation, invoke mysqld with
the --initialize or
--initialize-insecure option.
For more information, see
Section 2.10.1, “Initializing the Data Directory”. Expect
mysql_install_db and the
--bootstrap server option to
be removed in a future release of MySQL.
--bootstrap is mutually
exclusive with --daemonize,
--initialize, and
--initialize-insecure.
Global transaction identifiers (GTIDs) are not disabled when
--bootstrap is used.
--bootstrap was used (Bug
#20980271). See Section 16.1.3, “Replication with Global Transaction Identifiers”.
When the server operates in bootstap mode, some functionality
is unavailable that limits the statements permitted in any
file named by the init_file
system variable. For more information, see the description of
that variable. In addition, the
disabled_storage_engines
system variable has no effect.
--character-set-client-handshake
| Command-Line Format | --character-set-client-handshake[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | ON |
Do not ignore character set information sent by the client. To
ignore client information and use the default server character
set, use
--skip-character-set-client-handshake;
this makes MySQL behave like MySQL 4.0.
--chroot=,
dir_name-r
dir_name
| Command-Line Format | --chroot=dir_name |
|---|---|
| Type | Directory name |
Put the mysqld server in a closed
environment during startup by using the
chroot() system call. This is a recommended
security measure. Use of this option somewhat limits
LOAD DATA and
SELECT ... INTO
OUTFILE.
| Command-Line Format | --console |
|---|---|
| Platform Specific | Windows |
(Windows only.) Write the error log to
stderr and stdout (the
console). mysqld does not close the console
window if this option is used.
--console takes precedence over
--log-error if both are given.
(In MySQL 5.5 and 5.6, this is reversed:
--log-error takes precedence
over --console if both are
given.)
| Command-Line Format | --core-file[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Write a core file if mysqld dies. The name
and location of the core file is system dependent. On Linux, a
core file named
core. is
written to the current working directory of the process, which
for mysqld is the data directory.
pidpid represents the process ID of
the server process. On macOS, a core file named
core. is
written to the pid/cores directory. On
Solaris, use the coreadm command to specify
where to write the core file and how to name it.
For some systems, to get a core file you must also specify the
--core-file-size option to
mysqld_safe. See
Section 4.3.2, “mysqld_safe — MySQL Server Startup Script”. On some systems, such as
Solaris, you do not get a core file if you are also using the
--user option. There might be
additional restrictions or limitations. For example, it might
be necessary to execute ulimit -c unlimited
before starting the server. Consult your system documentation.
| Command-Line Format | --daemonize[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
This option causes the server to run as a traditional, forking daemon, permitting it to work with operating systems that use systemd for process control. For more information, see Section 2.5.10, “Managing MySQL Server with systemd”.
--daemonize is mutually
exclusive with --bootstrap,
--initialize, and
--initialize-insecure.
--datadir=,
dir_name-h
dir_name
| Command-Line Format | --datadir=dir_name |
|---|---|
| System Variable | datadir |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | Directory name |
The path to the MySQL server data directory. This option sets
the datadir system variable.
See the description of that variable.
--debug[=,
debug_options]-# [
debug_options]
| Command-Line Format | --debug[=debug_options] |
|---|---|
| System Variable | debug |
| Scope | Global, Session |
| Dynamic | Yes |
| Type | String |
| Default Value (Windows) | d:t:i:O,\mysqld.trace |
| Default Value (Unix) | d:t:i:o,/tmp/mysqld.trace |
If MySQL is configured with the
-DWITH_DEBUG=1
CMake option, you can use this option to
get a trace file of what mysqld is doing. A
typical debug_options string is
d:t:o,.
The default is file_named:t:i:o,/tmp/mysqld.trace on
Unix and d:t:i:O,\mysqld.trace on Windows.
Using -DWITH_DEBUG=1 to
configure MySQL with debugging support enables you to use the
--debug="d,parser_debug" option
when you start the server. This causes the Bison parser that
is used to process SQL statements to dump a parser trace to
the server's standard error output. Typically, this output is
written to the error log.
This option may be given multiple times. Values that begin
with + or - are added to
or subtracted from the previous value. For example,
--debug=T
--debug=+P sets the value to
P:T.
For more information, see Section 5.8.3, “The DBUG Package”.
| Command-Line Format | --debug-sync-timeout[=#] |
|---|---|
| Type | Integer |
Controls whether the Debug Sync facility for testing and
debugging is enabled. Use of Debug Sync requires that MySQL be
configured with the
-DENABLE_DEBUG_SYNC=1
CMake option (see
Section 2.9.7, “MySQL Source-Configuration Options”). If Debug Sync
is not compiled in, this option is not available. The option
value is a timeout in seconds. The default value is 0, which
disables Debug Sync. To enable it, specify a value greater
than 0; this value also becomes the default timeout for
individual synchronization points. If the option is given
without a value, the timeout is set to 300 seconds.
For a description of the Debug Sync facility and how to use synchronization points, see MySQL Internals: Test Synchronization.
| Command-Line Format | --default-time-zone=name |
|---|---|
| Type | String |
Set the default server time zone. This option sets the global
time_zone system variable. If
this option is not given, the default time zone is the same as
the system time zone (given by the value of the
system_time_zone system
variable.
--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. If
file_name is not an absolute path
name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.
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”.
Read only the given option file. If the file does not exist or
is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If
file_name is not an absolute path
name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.
This must be the first option on the command line if it is
used, except that if the server is started with the
--defaults-file and
--install (or
--install-manual) options,
--install (or
--install-manual) must be
first.
For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.
Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with
the usual names and a suffix of
str. For example,
mysqld normally reads the
[mysqld] group. If this option is given as
--defaults-group-suffix=_other,
mysqld also reads the
[mysqld_other] group.
For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.
| Command-Line Format | --des-key-file=file_name |
|---|---|
| Deprecated | Yes |
Read the default DES keys from this file. These keys are used
by the DES_ENCRYPT() and
DES_DECRYPT() functions.
The DES_ENCRYPT() and
DES_DECRYPT() functions are
deprecated in MySQL 5.7, are removed in MySQL
8.0, and should no longer be used. Consequently,
--des-key-file also is
deprecated and is removed in MySQL 8.0.
--disable-partition-engine-check
| Command-Line Format | --disable-partition-engine-check[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 5.7.17 |
| Deprecated | 5.7.17 |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value (≥ 5.7.21) | ON |
| Default Value (≥ 5.7.17, ≤ 5.7.20) | OFF |
Whether to disable the startup check for tables with nonnative partitioning.
As of MySQL 5.7.17, the generic partitioning handler in the
MySQL server is deprecated, and is removed in MySQL
8.0, when the storage engine used for a given table
is expected to provide its own (“native”)
partitioning handler. Currently, only the
InnoDB and
NDB storage engines do this.
Use of tables with nonnative partitioning results in an
ER_WARN_DEPRECATED_SYNTAX
warning. In MySQL 5.7.17 through 5.7.20, the server
automatically performs a check at startup to identify tables
that use nonnative partitioning; for any that are found, the
server writes a message to its error log. To disable this
check, use the
--disable-partition-engine-check
option. In MySQL 5.7.21 and later, this check is
not performed; in these versions, you
must start the server with
--disable-partition-engine-check=false,
if you wish for the server to check for tables using the
generic partitioning handler (Bug #85830, Bug #25846957).
Use of tables with nonnative partitioning results in an
ER_WARN_DEPRECATED_SYNTAX
warning. Also, the server performs a check at startup to
identify tables that use nonnative partitioning; for any
found, the server writes a message to its error log. To
disable this check, use the
--disable-partition-engine-check
option.
To prepare for migration to MySQL 8.0, any table
with nonnative partitioning should be changed to use an engine
that provides native partitioning, or be made nonpartitioned.
For example, to change a table to InnoDB,
execute this statement:
ALTER TABLE table_name ENGINE = INNODB;
--early-plugin-load=
plugin_list
| Command-Line Format | --early-plugin-load=plugin_list |
|---|---|
| Introduced | 5.7.11 |
| Type | String |
| Default Value (≥ 5.7.12) | empty string |
| Default Value (5.7.11) | keyring_file plugin library file name |
This option tells the server which plugins to load before
loading mandatory built-in plugins and before storage engine
initialization. If multiple
--early-plugin-load options are
given, only the last one applies.
The option value is a semicolon-separated list of
plugin_library and
name=plugin_library
values. Each plugin_library is the
name of a library file that contains plugin code, and each
name is the name of a plugin to
load. If a plugin library is named without any preceding
plugin name, the server loads all plugins in the library. With
a preceding plugin name, the server loads only the named
plugin from the libary. The server looks for plugin library
files in the directory named by the
plugin_dir system variable.
For example, if plugins named myplug1 and
myplug2 are contained in the plugin library
files myplug1.so and
myplug2.so, use this option to perform an
early plugin load:
mysqld --early-plugin-load="myplug1=myplug1.so;myplug2=myplug2.so"
Quotes surround the argument value because otherwise some
command interpreters interpret semicolon
(;) as a special character. (For example,
Unix shells treat it as a command terminator.)
Each named plugin is loaded early for a single invocation of
mysqld only. After a restart, the plugin is
not loaded early unless
--early-plugin-load is used
again.
If the server is started using
--initialize or
--initialize-insecure, plugins
specified by
--early-plugin-load are not
loaded.
If the server is run with
--help, plugins specified by
--early-plugin-load are loaded
but not initialized. This behavior ensures that plugin options
are displayed in the help message.
InnoDB tablespace encryption relies on the
MySQL Keyring for encryption key management, and the keyring
plugin to be used must be loaded prior to storage engine
initialization to facilitate InnoDB
recovery for encrypted tables. For example, administrators who
want the keyring_file plugin loaded at
startup should use
--early-plugin-load with the
appropriate option value (such as
keyring_file.so on Unix and Unix-like
systems or keyring_file.dll on Windows).
In MySQL 5.7.11, the default
--early-plugin-load value is
the name of the keyring_file plugin
library file, causing that plugin to be loaded by default.
In MySQL 5.7.12 and higher, the default
--early-plugin-load value is
empty; to load the keyring_file plugin,
you must explicitly specify the option with a value naming
the keyring_file plugin library file.
This change of default
--early-plugin-load value
introduces an incompatibility for InnoDB
tablespace encryption for upgrades from 5.7.11 to 5.7.12 or
higher. Administrators who have encrypted
InnoDB tablespaces must take explicit
action to ensure continued loading of the keyring plugin:
Start the server with an
--early-plugin-load option
that names the plugin library file. For additional
information, see
Section 6.4.4.1, “Keyring Plugin Installation”.
For information about InnoDB tablespace
encryption, see Section 14.14, “InnoDB Data-at-Rest Encryption”. For
general information about plugin loading, see
Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.
--exit-info[=,
flags]-T [
flags]
| Command-Line Format | --exit-info[=flags] |
|---|---|
| Type | Integer |
This is a bitmask of different flags that you can use for debugging the mysqld server. Do not use this option unless you know exactly what it does!
| Command-Line Format | --external-locking[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Enable external locking (system locking), which is disabled by
default. If you use this option on a system on which
lockd does not fully work (such as Linux),
it is easy for mysqld to deadlock.
To disable external locking explicitly, use
--skip-external-locking.
External locking affects only
MyISAM table access. For more
information, including conditions under which it can and
cannot be used, see Section 8.11.5, “External Locking”.
| Command-Line Format | --flush[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| System Variable | flush |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | Yes |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Flush (synchronize) all changes to disk after each SQL statement. Normally, MySQL does a write of all changes to disk only after each SQL statement and lets the operating system handle the synchronizing to disk. See Section B.3.3.3, “What to Do If MySQL Keeps Crashing”.
If --flush is specified, the
value of flush_time does
not matter and changes to
flush_time have no effect
on flush behavior.
| Command-Line Format | --gdb[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Install an interrupt handler for SIGINT
(needed to stop mysqld with
^C to set breakpoints) and disable stack
tracing and core file handling. See
Section 5.8.1.4, “Debugging mysqld under gdb”.
| Command-Line Format | --ignore-db-dir=dir_name |
|---|---|
| Deprecated | 5.7.16 |
| Type | Directory name |
This option tells the server to ignore the given directory
name for purposes of the SHOW
DATABASES statement or
INFORMATION_SCHEMA tables. For example, if
a MySQL configuration locates the data directory at the root
of a file system on Unix, the system might create a
lost+found directory there that the
server should ignore. Starting the server with
--ignore-db-dir=lost+found
causes that name not to be listed as a database.
To specify more than one name, use this option multiple times,
once for each name. Specifying the option with an empty value
(that is, as --ignore-db-dir=)
resets the directory list to the empty list.
Instances of this option given at server startup are used to
set the ignore_db_dirs system
variable.
This option is deprecated in MySQL 5.7. With the introduction of the data dictionary in MySQL 8.0, it became superfluous and was removed in that version.
| Command-Line Format | --initialize[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
This option is used to initialize a MySQL installation by
creating the data directory and populating the tables in the
mysql system database. For more
information, see
Section 2.10.1, “Initializing the Data Directory”.
When the server is started with
--initialize, some
functionality is unavailable that limits the statements
permitted in any file named by the
init_file system variable.
For more information, see the description of that variable. In
addition, the
disabled_storage_engines
system variable has no effect.
In MySQL NDB Cluster 7.5.4 and later, the
--ndbcluster option is ignored
when used together with --initialize. (Bug
#81689, Bug #23518923)
--initialize is mutually
exclusive with --bootstrap and
--daemonize.
| Command-Line Format | --initialize-insecure[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
This option is used to initialize a MySQL installation by
creating the data directory and populating the tables in the
mysql system database. This option implies
--initialize. For more
information, see the description of that option, and
Section 2.10.1, “Initializing the Data Directory”.
--initialize-insecure is
mutually exclusive with
--bootstrap and
--daemonize.
--innodb-
xxx
Set an option for the InnoDB storage
engine. The InnoDB options are listed in
Section 14.15, “InnoDB Startup Options and System Variables”.
| Command-Line Format | --install [service_name] |
|---|---|
| Platform Specific | Windows |
(Windows only) Install the server as a Windows service that
starts automatically during Windows startup. The default
service name is MySQL if no
service_name value is given. For
more information, see Section 2.3.4.8, “Starting MySQL as a Windows Service”.
If the server is started with the
--defaults-file and
--install options,
--install must be first.
--install-manual
[
service_name]
| Command-Line Format | --install-manual [service_name] |
|---|---|
| Platform Specific | Windows |
(Windows only) Install the server as a Windows service that
must be started manually. It does not start automatically
during Windows startup. The default service name is
MySQL if no
service_name value is given. For
more information, see Section 2.3.4.8, “Starting MySQL as a Windows Service”.
If the server is started with the
--defaults-file and
--install-manual options,
--install-manual must be
first.
--language=
lang_name,
-L lang_name
| Command-Line Format | --language=name |
|---|---|
| Deprecated | Yes; use lc-messages-dir instead |
| System Variable | language |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | Directory name |
| Default Value | /usr/local/mysql/share/mysql/english/ |
The language to use for error messages.
lang_name can be given as the
language name or as the full path name to the directory where
the language files are installed. See
Section 10.12, “Setting the Error Message Language”.
--lc-messages-dir and
--lc-messages should be used
rather than --language, which
is deprecated (and handled as a synonym for
--lc-messages-dir). You should
expect the --language option to
be removed in a future release of MySQL.
| Command-Line Format | --large-pages[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| System Variable | large_pages |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Platform Specific | Linux |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Some hardware/operating system architectures support memory pages greater than the default (usually 4KB). The actual implementation of this support depends on the underlying hardware and operating system. Applications that perform a lot of memory accesses may obtain performance improvements by using large pages due to reduced Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) misses.
MySQL supports the Linux implementation of large page support
(which is called HugeTLB in Linux). See
Section 8.12.4.2, “Enabling Large Page Support”. For Solaris support of
large pages, see the description of the
--super-large-pages option.
--large-pages is disabled by
default.
| Command-Line Format | --lc-messages=name |
|---|---|
| System Variable | lc_messages |
| Scope | Global, Session |
| Dynamic | Yes |
| Type | String |
| Default Value | en_US |
The locale to use for error messages. The default is
en_US. The server converts the argument to
a language name and combines it 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”.
| Command-Line Format | --lc-messages-dir=dir_name |
|---|---|
| System Variable | lc_messages_dir |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | Directory name |
The directory where error messages are located. The server
uses the value 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”.
| Command-Line Format | --local-service |
|---|
(Windows only) A --local-service option
following the service name causes the server to run using the
LocalService Windows account that has
limited system privileges. If both
--defaults-file and
--local-service are given following the
service name, they can be in any order. See
Section 2.3.4.8, “Starting MySQL as a Windows Service”.
| Command-Line Format | --log-error[=file_name] |
|---|---|
| System Variable | log_error |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | File name |
Write the error log and startup messages to this file. See Section 5.4.2, “The Error Log”.
If the option names no file, the error log file name on Unix
and Unix-like systems is
host_name.err--pid-file option is
specified. In that case, the file name is the PID file base
name with a suffix of .err in the data
directory.
If the option names a file, the error log file has that name
(with an .err suffix added if the name
has no suffix), located under the data directory unless an
absolute path name is given to specify a different location.
On Windows, --console takes
precedence over --log-error if
both are given. In this case, the server writes the error log
to the console rather than to a file. (In MySQL 5.5 and 5.6,
this is reversed: --log-error
takes precedence over --console
if both are given.)
| Command-Line Format | --log-isam[=file_name] |
|---|---|
| Type | File name |
Log all MyISAM changes to this file (used
only when debugging MyISAM).
| Command-Line Format | --log-raw[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Passwords in certain statements written to the general query
log, slow query log, and binary log are rewritten by the
server not to occur literally in plain text. Password
rewriting can be suppressed for the general query log by
starting the server with the
--log-raw option. This option
may be useful for diagnostic purposes, to see the exact text
of statements as received by the server, but for security
reasons is not recommended for production use.
If a query rewrite plugin is installed, the
--log-raw option affects
statement logging as follows:
For more information, see Section 6.1.2.3, “Passwords and Logging”.
| Command-Line Format | --log-short-format[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Log less information to the slow query log, if it has been activated.
| Command-Line Format | --log-tc=file_name |
|---|---|
| Type | File name |
| Default Value | tc.log |
The name of the memory-mapped transaction coordinator log file
(for XA transactions that affect multiple storage engines when
the binary log is disabled). The default name is
tc.log. The file is created under the
data directory if not given as a full path name. This option
is unused.
| Command-Line Format | --log-tc-size=# |
|---|---|
| Type | Integer |
| Default Value (64-bit platforms, ≥ 5.7.21) | 6 * page size |
| Default Value (64-bit platforms, ≤ 5.7.20) | 24576 |
| Default Value (32-bit platforms, ≥ 5.7.21) | 6 * page size |
| Default Value (32-bit platforms, ≤ 5.7.20) | 24576 |
| Minimum Value | 6 * page size |
| Maximum Value (64-bit platforms) | 18446744073709551615 |
| Maximum Value (32-bit platforms) | 4294967295 |
The size in bytes of the memory-mapped transaction coordinator log. The default and minimum values are 6 times the page size, and the value must be a multiple of the page size. (Before MySQL 5.7.21, the default size is 24KB.)
--log-warnings[=,
level]-W [
level]
| Command-Line Format | --log-warnings[=#] |
|---|---|
| Deprecated | Yes |
| System Variable | log_warnings |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | Yes |
| Type | Integer |
| Default Value | 2 |
| Minimum Value | 0 |
| Maximum Value (64-bit platforms) | 18446744073709551615 |
| Maximum Value (32-bit platforms) | 4294967295 |
The log_error_verbosity
system variable is preferred over, and should be used
instead of, the
--log-warnings option or
log_warnings system
variable. For more information, see the descriptions of
log_error_verbosity and
log_warnings. The
--log-warnings command-line
option and log_warnings
system variable are deprecated; expect them to be removed in
a future release of MySQL.
Whether to produce additional warning messages to the error
log. This option is enabled by default. To disable it, use
--log-warnings=0. Specifying
the option without a level value
increments the current value by 1. The server logs messages
about statements that are unsafe for statement-based logging
if the value is greater than 0. Aborted connections and
access-denied errors for new connection attempts are logged if
the value is greater than 1. See
Section B.3.2.9, “Communication Errors and Aborted Connections”.
| Command-Line Format | --memlock[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Lock the mysqld process in memory. This option might help if you have a problem where the operating system is causing mysqld to swap to disk.
--memlock works on systems that
support the mlockall() system call; this
includes Solaris, most Linux distributions that use a 2.4 or
higher kernel, and perhaps other Unix systems. On Linux
systems, you can tell whether or not
mlockall() (and thus this option) is
supported by checking to see whether or not it is defined in
the system mman.h file, like this:
shell> grep mlockall /usr/include/sys/mman.h
If mlockall() is supported, you should see
in the output of the previous command something like the
following:
extern int mlockall (int __flags) __THROW;
Use of this option may require you to run the server as
root, which, for reasons of security, is
normally not a good idea. See
Section 6.1.5, “How to Run MySQL as a Normal User”.
On Linux and perhaps other systems, you can avoid the need
to run the server as root by changing the
limits.conf file. See the notes
regarding the memlock limit in
Section 8.12.4.2, “Enabling Large Page Support”.
You must not use this option on a system that does not
support the mlockall() system call; if
you do so, mysqld is very likely to exit
as soon as you try to start it.
| Command-Line Format | --myisam-block-size=# |
|---|---|
| Type | Integer |
| Default Value | 1024 |
| Minimum Value | 1024 |
| Maximum Value | 16384 |
The block size to be used for MyISAM index
pages.
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”.
| Command-Line Format | --old-style-user-limits[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Enable old-style user limits. (Before MySQL 5.0.3, account
resource limits were counted separately for each host from
which a user connected rather than per account row in the
user table.) See
Section 6.2.16, “Setting Account Resource Limits”.
| Command-Line Format | --partition[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Deprecated | 5.7.16 |
| Disabled by | skip-partition |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | ON |
Enables or disables user-defined partitioning support in the MySQL Server.
This option is deprecated in MySQL 5.7.16, and is removed from MySQL 8.0 because in MySQL 8.0, the partitioning engine is replaced by native partitioning, which cannot be disabled.
--performance-schema-xxx
Configure a Performance Schema option. For details, see Section 25.14, “Performance Schema Command Options”.
| Command-Line Format | --plugin-load=plugin_list |
|---|---|
| System Variable | plugin_load |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | String |
This option tells the server to load the named plugins at
startup. If multiple
--plugin-load options are
given, only the last one applies. Additional plugins to load
may be specified using
--plugin-load-add options.
The option value is a semicolon-separated list of
plugin_library and
name=plugin_library
values. Each plugin_library is the
name of a library file that contains plugin code, and each
name is the name of a plugin to
load. If a plugin library is named without any preceding
plugin name, the server loads all plugins in the library. With
a preceding plugin name, the server loads only the named
plugin from the libary. The server looks for plugin library
files in the directory named by the
plugin_dir system variable.
For example, if plugins named myplug1 and
myplug2 are contained in the plugin library
files myplug1.so and
myplug2.so, use this option to perform an
early plugin load:
mysqld --plugin-load="myplug1=myplug1.so;myplug2=myplug2.so"
Quotes surround the argument value because otherwise some
command interpreters interpret semicolon
(;) as a special character. (For example,
Unix shells treat it as a command terminator.)
Each named plugin is loaded for a single invocation of
mysqld only. After a restart, the plugin is
not loaded unless --plugin-load
is used again. This is in contrast to
INSTALL PLUGIN, which adds an
entry to the mysql.plugins table to cause
the plugin to be loaded for every normal server startup.
During the normal startup sequence, the server determines
which plugins to load by reading the
mysql.plugins system table. If the server
is started with the
--skip-grant-tables option,
plugins registered in the mysql.plugins
table are not loaded and are unavailable.
--plugin-load enables plugins
to be loaded even when
--skip-grant-tables is given.
--plugin-load also enables
plugins to be loaded at startup that cannot be loaded at
runtime.
For additional information about plugin loading, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.
| Command-Line Format | --plugin-load-add=plugin_list |
|---|---|
| System Variable | plugin_load_add |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | String |
This option complements the
--plugin-load option.
--plugin-load-add adds a plugin
or plugins to the set of plugins to be loaded at startup. The
argument format is the same as for
--plugin-load.
--plugin-load-add can be used
to avoid specifying a large set of plugins as a single long
unwieldy --plugin-load
argument.
--plugin-load-add can be given
in the absence of
--plugin-load, but any instance
of --plugin-load-add that
appears before --plugin-load.
has no effect because
--plugin-load resets the set of
plugins to load. In other words, these options:
--plugin-load=x --plugin-load-add=y
are equivalent to this option:
--plugin-load="x;y"
But these options:
--plugin-load-add=y --plugin-load=x
are equivalent to this option:
--plugin-load=x
For additional information about plugin loading, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.
Specifies an option that pertains to a server plugin. For
example, many storage engines can be built as plugins, and for
such engines, options for them can be specified with a
--plugin prefix. Thus, the
--innodb-file-per-table option
for InnoDB can be specified as
--plugin-innodb-file-per-table.
For boolean options that can be enabled or disabled, the
--skip prefix and other alternative formats
are supported as well (see
Section 4.2.2.4, “Program Option Modifiers”). For example,
--skip-plugin-innodb-file-per-table
disables innodb-file-per-table.
The rationale for the --plugin prefix is that
it enables plugin options to be specified unambiguously if
there is a name conflict with a built-in server option. For
example, were a plugin writer to name a plugin
“sql” and implement a “mode” option,
the option name might be
--sql-mode, which would
conflict with the built-in option of the same name. In such
cases, references to the conflicting name are resolved in
favor of the built-in option. To avoid the ambiguity, users
can specify the plugin option as
--plugin-sql-mode. Use of the
--plugin prefix for plugin options is
recommended to avoid any question of ambiguity.
--port=,
port_num-P
port_num
| Command-Line Format | --port=port_num |
|---|---|
| System Variable | port |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | Integer |
| Default Value | 3306 |
| Minimum Value | 0 |
| Maximum Value | 65535 |
The port number to use when listening for TCP/IP connections.
On Unix and Unix-like systems, the port number must be 1024 or
higher unless the server is started by the
root operating system user. Setting this
option to 0 causes the default value to be used.
| Command-Line Format | --port-open-timeout=# |
|---|---|
| Type | Integer |
| Default Value | 0 |
On some systems, when the server is stopped, the TCP/IP port might not become available immediately. If the server is restarted quickly afterward, its attempt to reopen the port can fail. This option indicates how many seconds the server should wait for the TCP/IP port to become free if it cannot be opened. The default is not to wait.
Print the program name and all options that it gets from
option files. Password values are masked. This must be the
first option on the command line if it is used, except that it
may be used immediately after
--defaults-file or
--defaults-extra-file.
For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.
| Command-Line Format | --remove [service_name] |
|---|---|
| Platform Specific | Windows |
(Windows only) Remove a MySQL Windows service. The default
service name is MySQL if no
service_name value is given. For
more information, see Section 2.3.4.8, “Starting MySQL as a Windows Service”.
| Command-Line Format | --safe-user-create[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
If this option is enabled, a user cannot create new MySQL
users by using the GRANT
statement unless the user has the
INSERT privilege for the
mysql.user system table or any column in
the table. If you want a user to have the ability to create
new users that have those privileges that the user has the
right to grant, you should grant the user the following
privilege:
GRANT INSERT(user) ON mysql.user TO 'user_name'@'host_name';
This ensures that the user cannot change any privilege columns
directly, but has to use the
GRANT statement to give
privileges to other users.
| Command-Line Format | --skip-grant-tables[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
This option affects the server startup sequence:
--skip-grant-tables causes
the server not to read the grant tables in the
mysql system database, and thus to
start without using the privilege system at all. This
gives anyone with access to the server
unrestricted access to all databases.
To cause a server started with
--skip-grant-tables to load
the grant tables at runtime, perform a privilege-flushing
operation, which can be done in these ways:
Issue a MySQL FLUSH
PRIVILEGES statement after connecting to the
server.
Execute a mysqladmin flush-privileges or mysqladmin reload command from the command line.
Privilege flushing might also occur implicitly as a result of other actions performed after startup, thus causing the server to start using the grant tables. For example, mysql_upgrade flushes the privileges during the upgrade procedure.
--skip-grant-tables causes
the server not to load certain other objects registered in
the mysql system database:
Plugins installed using INSTALL
PLUGIN and registered in the
mysql.plugin system table.
To cause plugins to be loaded even when using
--skip-grant-tables,
use the --plugin-load
or --plugin-load-add
option.
Scheduled events installed using
CREATE EVENT and
registered in the mysql.event
system table.
User-defined functions (UDFs) installed using
CREATE
FUNCTION and registered in the
mysql.func system table.
--skip-grant-tables causes
the
disabled_storage_engines
system variable to have no effect.
| Command-Line Format | --skip-host-cache |
|---|
Disable use of the internal host cache for faster name-to-IP resolution. With the cache disabled, the server performs a DNS lookup every time a client connects.
Use of --skip-host-cache is
similar to setting the
host_cache_size system
variable to 0, but
host_cache_size is more
flexible because it can also be used to resize, enable, or
disable the host cache at runtime, not just at server startup.
Starting the server with
--skip-host-cache does not
prevent runtime changes to the value of
host_cache_size, but such
changes have no effect and the cache is not re-enabled even if
host_cache_size is set larger
than 0.
For more information about how the host cache works, see Section 5.1.11.2, “DNS Lookups and the Host Cache”.
Disable the InnoDB storage engine. In this
case, because the default storage engine is
InnoDB, the server cannot start
unless you also use
--default-storage-engine and
--default-tmp-storage-engine to
set the default to some other engine for both permanent and
TEMPORARY tables.
The InnoDB storage engine cannot be
disabled, and the
--skip-innodb
option is deprecated and has no effect. Its use results in a
warning. Expect this option to be removed in a future release
of MySQL.
| Command-Line Format | --skip-new |
|---|
This option disables (what used to be considered) new,
possibly unsafe behaviors. It results in these settings:
delay_key_write=OFF,
concurrent_insert=NEVER,
automatic_sp_privileges=OFF.
It also causes OPTIMIZE TABLE
to be mapped to ALTER TABLE for
storage engines for which OPTIMIZE
TABLE is not supported.
| Command-Line Format |
|
|---|---|
| Deprecated | 5.7.16 |
Disables user-defined partitioning. Partitioned tables can be
seen using SHOW TABLES or by
querying the
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.TABLES table,
but cannot be created or modified, nor can data in such tables
be accessed. All partition-specific columns in the
INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PARTITIONS
table display NULL.
Since DROP TABLE removes table
definition (.frm) files, this statement
works on partitioned tables even when partitioning is disabled
using the option. The statement, however, does not remove
partition definitions associated with partitioned tables in
such cases. For this reason, you should avoid dropping
partitioned tables with partitioning disabled, or take action
to remove orphaned .par files manually
(if present).
In MySQL 5.7, partition definition
(.par) files are no longer created for
partitioned InnoDB tables. Instead,
partition definitions are stored in the
InnoDB internal data dictionary.
Partition definition (.par) files
continue to be used for partitioned
MyISAM tables.
This option is deprecated in MySQL 5.7.16, and is removed from MySQL 8.0 because in MySQL 8.0, the partitioning engine is replaced by native partitioning, which cannot be disabled.
| Command-Line Format | --skip-show-database |
|---|---|
| System Variable | skip_show_database |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
This option sets the
skip_show_database system
variable that controls who is permitted to use the
SHOW DATABASES statement. See
Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”.
| Command-Line Format | --skip-stack-trace |
|---|
Do not write stack traces. This option is useful when you are running mysqld under a debugger. On some systems, you also must use this option to get a core file. See Section 5.8, “Debugging MySQL”.
| Command-Line Format | --slow-start-timeout=# |
|---|---|
| Type | Integer |
| Default Value | 15000 |
This option controls the Windows service control manager's service start timeout. The value is the maximum number of milliseconds that the service control manager waits before trying to kill the windows service during startup. The default value is 15000 (15 seconds). If the MySQL service takes too long to start, you may need to increase this value. A value of 0 means there is no timeout.
| Command-Line Format | --socket={file_name|pipe_name} |
|---|---|
| System Variable | socket |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | String |
| Default Value (Other) | /tmp/mysql.sock |
| Default Value (Windows) | MySQL |
On Unix, this option specifies the Unix socket file to use
when listening for local connections. The default value is
/tmp/mysql.sock. If this option is given,
the server creates the file in the data directory unless an
absolute path name is given to specify a different directory.
On Windows, the option specifies the pipe name to use when
listening for local connections that use a named pipe. The
default value is MySQL (not
case-sensitive).
--sql-mode=
value[,value[,value...]]
| Command-Line Format | --sql-mode=name |
|---|---|
| System Variable | sql_mode |
| Scope | Global, Session |
| Dynamic | Yes |
| Type | Set |
| Default Value | ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY STRICT_TRANS_TABLES NO_ZERO_IN_DATE NO_ZERO_DATE ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION |
| Valid Values |
|
Set the SQL mode. See Section 5.1.10, “Server SQL Modes”.
MySQL installation programs may configure the SQL mode during the installation process. If the SQL mode differs from the default or from what you expect, check for a setting in an option file that the server reads at startup.
| Command-Line Format | --ssl[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Disabled by | skip-ssl |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | ON |
The --ssl option specifies that
the server permits but does not require encrypted connections.
This option is enabled by default.
--ssl can be specified in
negated form as
--skip-ssl or a
synonym (--ssl=OFF,
--disable-ssl).
In this case, the option specifies that the server does
not permit encrypted connections,
regardless of the settings of the
tls_ and
xxxssl_ system
variables.
xxx
For more information about configuring whether the server
permits clients to connect using SSL and indicating where to
find SSL keys and certificates, see
Section 6.3.1, “Configuring MySQL to Use Encrypted Connections”, which also
describes server capabilities for certificate and key file
autogeneration and autodiscovery. Consider setting at least
the ssl_cert and
ssl_key system variables on
the server side and the
--ssl-ca (or
--ssl-capath) option on the
client side.
| Command-Line Format | --standalone |
|---|---|
| Platform Specific | Windows |
Available on Windows only; instructs the MySQL server not to run as a service.
| Command-Line Format | --super-large-pages[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Platform Specific | Solaris |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Standard use of large pages in MySQL attempts to use the
largest size supported, up to 4MB. Under Solaris, a
“super large pages” feature enables uses of pages
up to 256MB. This feature is available for recent SPARC
platforms. It can be enabled or disabled by using the
--super-large-pages or
--skip-super-large-pages
option.
--symbolic-links,
--skip-symbolic-links
| Command-Line Format | --symbolic-links[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | ON |
Enable or disable symbolic link support. On Unix, enabling
symbolic links means that you can link a
MyISAM index file or data file to another
directory with the INDEX DIRECTORY or
DATA DIRECTORY option of the
CREATE TABLE statement. If you
delete or rename the table, the files that its symbolic links
point to also are deleted or renamed. See
Section 8.12.3.2, “Using Symbolic Links for MyISAM Tables on Unix”.
This option has no meaning on Windows.
| Command-Line Format | --sysdate-is-now[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
SYSDATE() by default returns
the time at which it executes, not the time at which the
statement in which it occurs begins executing. This differs
from the behavior of NOW().
This option causes SYSDATE() to
be a synonym for NOW(). For
information about the implications for binary logging and
replication, see the description for
SYSDATE() in
Section 12.7, “Date and Time Functions” and for SET
TIMESTAMP in
Section 5.1.7, “Server System Variables”.
--tc-heuristic-recover={COMMIT|ROLLBACK}
| Command-Line Format | --tc-heuristic-recover=name |
|---|---|
| Type | Enumeration |
| Default Value | OFF |
| Valid Values |
|
The decision to use in a manual heuristic recovery.
If a --tc-heuristic-recover option is
specified, the server exits regardless of whether manual
heuristic recovery is successful.
On systems with more than one storage engine capable of
two-phase commit, the ROLLBACK option is
not safe and causes recovery to halt with the following error:
[ERROR] --tc-heuristic-recover rollback strategy is not safe on systems with more than one 2-phase-commit-capable storage engine. Aborting crash recovery.
| Command-Line Format | --temp-pool[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| Deprecated | 5.7.18 |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value (Other) | OFF |
| Default Value (Linux) | ON |
This option is ignored except on Linux. On Linux, it causes most temporary files created by the server to use a small set of names, rather than a unique name for each new file. This works around a problem in the Linux kernel dealing with creating many new files with different names. With the old behavior, Linux seems to “leak” memory, because it is being allocated to the directory entry cache rather than to the disk cache.
As of MySQL 5.7.18, this option is deprecated and is removed in MySQL 8.0.
| Command-Line Format | --transaction-isolation=name |
|---|---|
| System Variable (≥ 5.7.20) | transaction_isolation |
| Scope (≥ 5.7.20) | Global, Session |
| Dynamic (≥ 5.7.20) | Yes |
| Type | Enumeration |
| Default Value | REPEATABLE-READ |
| Valid Values |
|
Sets the default transaction isolation level. The
level value can be
READ-UNCOMMITTED,
READ-COMMITTED,
REPEATABLE-READ, or
SERIALIZABLE. See
Section 13.3.6, “SET TRANSACTION Statement”.
The default transaction isolation level can also be set at
runtime using the SET
TRANSACTION statement or by setting the
tx_isolation (or, as of MySQL
5.7.20,
transaction_isolation) system
variable.
| Command-Line Format | --transaction-read-only[={OFF|ON}] |
|---|---|
| System Variable (≥ 5.7.20) | transaction_read_only |
| Scope (≥ 5.7.20) | Global, Session |
| Dynamic (≥ 5.7.20) | Yes |
| Type | Boolean |
| Default Value | OFF |
Sets the default transaction access mode. By default, read-only mode is disabled, so the mode is read/write.
To set the default transaction access mode at runtime, use the
SET TRANSACTION statement or
set the tx_read_only (or, as
of MySQL 5.7.20,
transaction_read_only) system
variable. See Section 13.3.6, “SET TRANSACTION Statement”.
--tmpdir=,
dir_name-t
dir_name
| Command-Line Format | --tmpdir=dir_name |
|---|---|
| System Variable | tmpdir |
| Scope | Global |
| Dynamic | No |
| Type | Directory name |
The path of the directory to use for creating temporary files.
It might be useful if your default /tmp
directory resides on a partition that is too small to hold
temporary tables. This option accepts several paths that are
used in round-robin fashion. Paths should be separated by
colon characters (:) on Unix and semicolon
characters (;) on Windows.
--tmpdir can be a non-permanent
location, such as a directory on a memory-based file system or
a directory that is cleared when the server host restarts. If
the MySQL server is acting as a replica, and you are using a
non-permanent location for
--tmpdir, consider setting a
different temporary directory for the replica using the
slave_load_tmpdir system
variable. For a replication replica, the temporary files used
to replicate LOAD DATA
statements are stored in this directory, so with a permanent
location they can survive machine restarts, although
replication can now continue after a restart if the temporary
files have been removed.
For more information about the storage location of temporary files, see Section B.3.3.5, “Where MySQL Stores Temporary Files”.
--user={,
user_name|user_id}-u
{
user_name|user_id}
| Command-Line Format | --user=name |
|---|---|
| Type | String |
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.)
This option is mandatory when starting
mysqld as root. The
server changes its user ID during its startup sequence,
causing it to run as that particular user rather than as
root. See
Section 6.1.1, “Security Guidelines”.
To avoid a possible security hole where a user adds a
--user=root option to a
my.cnf file (thus causing the server to
run as root), mysqld
uses only the first --user
option specified and produces a warning if there are multiple
--user options. Options in
/etc/my.cnf and
$MYSQL_HOME/my.cnf are processed before
command-line options, so it is recommended that you put a
--user option in
/etc/my.cnf and specify a value other
than root. The option in
/etc/my.cnf is found before any other
--user options, which ensures
that the server runs as a user other than
root, and that a warning results if any
other --user option is found.
Use this option with the --help
option for detailed help.
--version, -V
Display version information and exit.