This section describes how to install the validate_password password-validation plugin. For general information about installing plugins, see Section 5.5.1, “Installing and Uninstalling Plugins”.

To be usable by the server, the plugin library file must be located in the MySQL plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable). If necessary, configure the plugin directory location by setting the value of plugin_dir at server startup.

The plugin library file base name is validate_password. The file name suffix differs per platform (for example, .so for Unix and Unix-like systems, .dll for Windows).

To load the plugin at server startup, use the --plugin-load-add option to name the library file that contains it. With this plugin-loading method, the option must be given each time the server starts. For example, put these lines in the server my.cnf file, adjusting the .so suffix for your platform as necessary:

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=validate_password.so

After modifying my.cnf, restart the server to cause the new settings to take effect.

Alternatively, to load the plugin at runtime, use this statement, adjusting the .so suffix for your platform as necessary:

INSTALL PLUGIN validate_password SONAME 'validate_password.so';

INSTALL PLUGIN loads the plugin, and also registers it in the mysql.plugins system table to cause the plugin to be loaded for each subsequent normal server startup without the need for --plugin-load-add.

To verify plugin installation, examine the Information Schema PLUGINS table or use the SHOW PLUGINS statement (see Section 5.5.2, “Obtaining Server Plugin Information”). For example:

mysql> SELECT PLUGIN_NAME, PLUGIN_STATUS
       FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PLUGINS
       WHERE PLUGIN_NAME LIKE 'validate%';
+-------------------+---------------+
| PLUGIN_NAME       | PLUGIN_STATUS |
+-------------------+---------------+
| validate_password | ACTIVE        |
+-------------------+---------------+

If the plugin fails to initialize, check the server error log for diagnostic messages.

If the plugin has been previously registered with INSTALL PLUGIN or is loaded with --plugin-load-add, you can use the --validate-password option at server startup to control plugin activation. For example, to load the plugin at startup and prevent it from being removed at runtime, use these options:

[mysqld]
plugin-load-add=validate_password.so
validate-password=FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT

If it is desired to prevent the server from running without the password-validation plugin, use --validate-password with a value of FORCE or FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT to force server startup to fail if the plugin does not initialize successfully.