6.5.1.3 mysql Client Logging

The mysql client can do these types of logging for statements executed interactively:

On Unix, mysql writes the statements to a history file. By default, this file is named .mysql_history in your home directory. To specify a different file, set the value of the MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable.
On all platforms, if the --syslog option is given, mysql writes the statements to the system logging facility. On Unix, this is syslog; on Windows, it is the Windows Event Log. The destination where logged messages appear is system dependent. On Linux, the destination is often the /var/log/messages file.

The following discussion describes characteristics that apply to all logging types and provides information specific to each logging type.

How Logging Occurs

For each enabled logging destination, statement logging occurs as follows:

Statements are logged only when executed interactively. Statements are noninteractive, for example, when read from a file or a pipe. It is also possible to suppress statement logging by using the --batch or --execute option.
Statements are ignored and not logged if they match any pattern in the “ignore” list. This list is described later.
mysql logs each nonignored, nonempty statement line individually.
If a nonignored statement spans multiple lines (not including the terminating delimiter), mysql concatenates the lines to form the complete statement, maps newlines to spaces, and logs the result, plus a delimiter.

Consequently, an input statement that spans multiple lines can be logged twice. Consider this input:

mysql> SELECT
    -> 'Today is'
    -> ,
    -> CURDATE()
    -> ;

In this case, mysql logs the “SELECT”, “'Today is'”, “,”, “CURDATE()”, and “;” lines as it reads them. It also logs the complete statement, after mapping SELECT\n'Today is'\n,\nCURDATE() to SELECT 'Today is' , CURDATE(), plus a delimiter. Thus, these lines appear in logged output:

SELECT
'Today is'
,
CURDATE()
;
SELECT 'Today is' , CURDATE();

mysql ignores for logging purposes statements that match any pattern in the “ignore” list. By default, the pattern list is "*IDENTIFIED*:*PASSWORD*", to ignore statements that refer to passwords. Pattern matching is not case-sensitive. Within patterns, two characters are special:

? matches any single character.
* matches any sequence of zero or more characters.

To specify additional patterns, use the --histignore option or set the MYSQL_HISTIGNORE environment variable. (If both are specified, the option value takes precedence.) The value should be a list of one or more colon-separated patterns, which are appended to the default pattern list.

Patterns specified on the command line might need to be quoted or escaped to prevent your command interpreter from treating them specially. For example, to suppress logging for UPDATE and DELETE statements in addition to statements that refer to passwords, invoke mysql like this:

mysql --histignore="*UPDATE*:*DELETE*"

Controlling the History File

The .mysql_history file should be protected with a restrictive access mode because sensitive information might be written to it, such as the text of SQL statements that contain passwords. See Section 8.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”. Statements in the file are accessible from the mysql client when the up-arrow key is used to recall the history. See Disabling Interactive History.

If you do not want to maintain a history file, first remove .mysql_history if it exists. Then use either of the following techniques to prevent it from being created again:

Set the MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable to /dev/null. To cause this setting to take effect each time you log in, put it in one of your shell's startup files.
Create .mysql_history as a symbolic link to /dev/null; this need be done only once:
```
ln -s /dev/null $HOME/.mysql_history
```

syslog Logging Characteristics

If the --syslog option is given, mysql writes interactive statements to the system logging facility. Message logging has the following characteristics.

Logging occurs at the “information” level. This corresponds to the LOG_INFO priority for syslog on Unix/Linux syslog capability and to EVENTLOG_INFORMATION_TYPE for the Windows Event Log. Consult your system documentation for configuration of your logging capability.

Message size is limited to 1024 bytes.

Messages consist of the identifier MysqlClient followed by these values:

SYSTEM_USER
The operating system user name (login name) or -- if the user is unknown.
MYSQL_USER
The MySQL user name (specified with the --user option) or -- if the user is unknown.
CONNECTION_ID:
The client connection identifier. This is the same as the CONNECTION_ID() function value within the session.
DB_SERVER
The server host or -- if the host is unknown.
DB
The default database or -- if no database has been selected.
QUERY
The text of the logged statement.

Here is a sample of output generated on Linux by using --syslog. This output is formatted for readability; each logged message actually takes a single line.

Mar  7 12:39:25 myhost MysqlClient[20824]:
  SYSTEM_USER:'oscar', MYSQL_USER:'my_oscar', CONNECTION_ID:23,
  DB_SERVER:'127.0.0.1', DB:'--', QUERY:'USE test;'
Mar  7 12:39:28 myhost MysqlClient[20824]:
  SYSTEM_USER:'oscar', MYSQL_USER:'my_oscar', CONNECTION_ID:23,
  DB_SERVER:'127.0.0.1', DB:'test', QUERY:'SHOW TABLES;'