mysql_install_db - initialize MySQL data directory
mysql_install_db [options]
MYSQL_INSTALL_DB(1) MySQL Database System MYSQL_INSTALL_DB(1)
NAME
mysql_install_db - initialize MySQL data directory
SYNOPSIS
mysql_install_db [options]
DESCRIPTION
Note
mysql_install_db is deprecated as of MySQL 5.7.6 because its
functionality has been integrated into mysqld, the MySQL server. 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". You should
expect mysql_install_db to be removed in a future MySQL release.
mysql_install_db handles initialization tasks that must be performed
before the MySQL server, mysqld, is ready to use:
o It initializes the MySQL data directory and creates the system
tables that it contains.
o It initializes the system tablespace and related data structures
needed to manage InnoDB tables.
o It loads the server-side help tables.
o It installs the sys schema.
o It creates an administrative account. Older versions of
mysql_install_db may create anonymous-user accounts.
Secure-by-Default Deployment
Current versions of mysql_install_db produce a MySQL deployment that is
secure by default, with these characteristics:
o A single administrative account named 'root'@'localhost' is created
with a randomly generated password, which is marked expired.
o No anonymous-user accounts are created.
o No test database accessible by all users is created.
o --admin-xxx options are available to control characteristics of the
administrative account.
o The --random-password-file option is available to control where the
random password is written.
o The --insecure option is available to suppress random password
generation.
If mysql_install_db generates a random administative password, it
writes the password to a file and displays the file name. The password
entry includes a timestamp to indicate when it was written. By default,
the file is .mysql_secret in the home directory of the effective user
running the script. .mysql_secret is created with mode 600 to be
accessible only to the operating system user for whom it is created.
Important
When mysql_install_db generates a random password for the
administrative account, 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.
Invocation Syntax
Change location to the MySQL installation directory and use this
invocation syntax:
bin/mysql_install_db --datadir=path/to/datadir [other_options]
The --datadir option is mandatory. mysql_install_db creates the data
directory, which must not already exist:
o 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 mysql_upgrade(1).
o 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.
Because the MySQL server, mysqld, must access the data directory when
it runs later, you should either run mysql_install_db from the same
system account used for running mysqld, or run it as root and specify
the --user option to indicate the user name that mysqld runs under. It
might be necessary to specify other options such as --basedir if
mysql_install_db does not use the correct location for the installation
directory. For example:
bin/mysql_install_db --user=mysql \
--basedir=/opt/mysql/mysql \
--datadir=/opt/mysql/mysql/data
Note
After mysql_install_db sets up the InnoDB system tablespace,
changes to some tablespace characteristics require setting up a
whole new instance. This includes the file name of the first file
in the system tablespace and the number of undo logs. If you do not
want to use the default values, make sure that the settings for the
innodb_data_file_path and innodb_log_file_size configuration
parameters are in place in the MySQL configuration file before
running mysql_install_db. Also make sure to specify as necessary
other parameters that affect the creation and location of InnoDB
files, such as innodb_data_home_dir and innodb_log_group_home_dir.
If those options are in your configuration file but that file is
not in a location that MySQL reads by default, specify the file
location using the --defaults-extra-file option when you run
mysql_install_db.
Note
If you have set a custom TMPDIR environment variable when
performing the installation, and the specified directory is not
accessible, mysql_install_db may fail. If so, unset TMPDIR or set
TMPDIR to point to the system temporary directory (usually /tmp).
Administrative Account Creation
mysql_install_db creates an administrative account named
'root'@'localhost' by default.
mysql_install_db provides options that enable you to control several
aspects of the administrative account:
o To change the user or host parts of the account name, use
--login-path, or --admin-user and --admin-host.
o --insecure suppresses generation of a random password.
o --admin-auth-plugin specifies the authentication plugin.
o --admin-require-ssl specifies whether the account must use SSL
connections.
For more information, see the descriptions of those options.
mysql_install_db assigns mysql.user system table rows a nonempty plugin
column value to set the authentication plugin. The default value is
mysql_native_password. The value can be changed using the
--admin-auth-plugin option. Default my.cnf File
mysql_install_db creates no default my.cnf file.
Note
As of MySQL 5.7.18, my-default.cnf is no longer included in or
installed by distribution packages.
With one exception, the settings in the default option file are
commented and have no effect. The exception is that the file sets the
sql_mode system variable to NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION,STRICT_TRANS_TABLES.
This setting produces a server configuration that results in errors
rather than warnings for bad data in operations that modify
transactional tables. See Section 5.1.10, "Server SQL Modes". Command
Options
mysql_install_db supports the following options, which can be specified
on the command line or in the [mysql_install_db] group of an option
file. For information about option files used by MySQL programs, see
Section 4.2.2.2, "Using Option Files".
o --help, -? Display a help message and exit.
o --admin-auth-plugin=plugin_name The authentication plugin to use
for the administrative account. The default is
mysql_native_password.
o --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.
o --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.
o --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.
o --basedir=dir_name The path to the MySQL installation directory.
o --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.
o --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.
Note
The --datadir option is mandatory and the data directory must
not already exist.
o --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.
o --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 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".
o --defaults-file=file_name Use 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 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".
o --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.
o --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.
o --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".
o --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".
o --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.
o --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 mysql_config_editor(1).
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".
o --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:
o In the bin directory under the --basedir option value, if that
option was given.
o In the bin directory under the --srcdir option value, if that
option was given.
o In the bin directory under the --builddir option value, if that
option was given.
o In the local directory and in the bin and sbin directories
under the local directory.
o In /usr/bin, /usr/sbin, /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/sbin,
/opt/local/bin, /opt/local/sbin.
o --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".
o --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.
o --skip-sys-schema mysql_install_db installs the sys schema. The
--skip-sys-schema option suppresses this behavior.
o --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.
o --user=user_name, -u user_name The system (login) user name to use
for running mysqld. Files and directories created by mysqld are
owned by this user. You must be the system root user to use this
option. By default, mysqld runs using your current login name;
files and directories that it creates are owned by you.
o --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.
o --version, -V Display version information and exit.
COPYRIGHT
Copyright (C) 1997, 2022, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.
This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with the program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA or see
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+---------------+-------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+-------------------+
|Availability | database/mysql-57 |
+---------------+-------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+-------------------+
SEE ALSO
For more information, please refer to the MySQL Reference Manual, which
may already be installed locally and which is also available online at
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/.
AUTHOR
Oracle Corporation (http://dev.mysql.com/).
NOTES
Source code for open source software components in Oracle Solaris can
be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
code-downloads.html.
This software was built from source available at
https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland. The original community
source was downloaded from
https://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQL-5.7/mysql-
boost-5.7.38.tar.gz.
Further information about this software can be found on the open source
community website at https://dev.mysql.com/.
MySQL 5.7 03/21/2022 MYSQL_INSTALL_DB(1)