mysqld

The SQL daemon (that is, the MySQL server). To use client programs, this program must be running, because clients gain access to databases by connecting to the server. See Section 5.2, “mysqld — The MySQL Server”.

mysqld-max

A version of the server that includes additional features. See Section 5.1.2, “The mysqld-max Extended MySQL Server”.

mysqld_safe

A server startup script. mysqld_safe attempts to start mysqld-max if it exists, and mysqld otherwise. See Section 5.1.3, “mysqld_safe — MySQL Server Startup Script”.

mysql.server

A server startup script. This script is used on systems that use run directories containing scripts that start system services for particular run levels. It invokes mysqld_safe to start the MySQL server. See Section 5.1.4, “mysql.server — MySQL Server Startup Script”.

mysqld_multi

A server startup script that can start or stop multiple servers installed on the system. See Section 5.1.5, “mysqld_multi — Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers”.

mysql_install_db

This script creates the MySQL grant tables with default privileges. It is usually executed only once, when first installing MySQL on a system. See Section 2.9.2, “Unix Post-Installation Procedures”.

mysql_fix_privilege_tables

This script is used after an upgrade install operation, to update the grant tables with any changes that have been made in newer versions of MySQL. See Section 2.10.3, “Upgrading the Grant Tables”.

myisamchk

A utility to describe, check, optimize, and repair MyISAM tables. myisamchk is described in Section 5.8.5, “myisamchk — MyISAM Table-Maintenance Utility”.

make_binary_distribution

This program makes a binary release of a compiled MySQL. This could be sent by FTP to /pub/mysql/upload/ on ftp.mysql.com for the convenience of other MySQL users.

mysqlbug

The MySQL bug reporting script. It can be used to send a bug report to the MySQL mailing list. (You can also visit http://bugs.mysql.com/ to file a bug report online. See Section 1.7.1.3, “How to Report Bugs or Problems”.)

For Windows, MySQL binary distributions include both the standard server (mysqld.exe) and the MySQL-Max server (mysqld-max.exe), so you need not get a special distribution. Just use a regular Windows distribution, available at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/. See Section 2.3, “Installing MySQL on Windows”.

For Linux, if you install MySQL using RPM distributions, use the regular MySQL-server RPM first to install a standard server named mysqld. Then use the MySQL-Max RPM to install a server named mysqld-max. The MySQL-Max RPM presupposes that you have installed the regular server RPM. See Section 2.4, “Installing MySQL on Linux” for more information on the Linux RPM packages.

All other MySQL-Max distributions contain a single server that is named mysqld but that has the additional features included.

--with-server-suffix=-max

This option adds a -max suffix to the mysqld version string.

--with-innodb

This option enables support for the InnoDB storage engine. MySQL-Max servers always include InnoDB support, but this option actually is needed only for MySQL 3.23. From MySQL 4.0 onwards, InnoDB is included by default in all binary distributions, so you do not need a MySQL-Max server merely to obtain InnoDB support.

--with-bdb

This option enables support for the Berkeley DB (BDB) storage engine.

--with-blackhole-storage-engine

This option enables support for the BLACKHOLE storage engine in MySQL 4.1.11 and newer.

USE_SYMDIR

This define is enabled to turn on database symbolic link support for Windows. (This applies only before MySQL 4.0. As of MySQL 4.0, symbolic link support is available for all Windows servers, so a Max server is not needed to take advantage of this feature.)

--with-ndbcluster

This option enables support for the NDB Cluster storage engine in MySQL 4.1.2 and newer. Currently, MySQL Cluster is supported on Linux, Solaris, and Mac OS X only.

On Linux, the MySQL-Max RPM relies on this mysqld_safe behavior. The RPM installs an executable named mysqld-max, which causes mysqld_safe to automatically use that executable from that point on.

If you install a MySQL-Max distribution that includes a server named mysqld-max, then upgrade later to a non-Max version of MySQL, mysqld_safe still attempts to run the old mysqld-max server. If you perform such an upgrade, you should manually remove the old mysqld-max server to ensure that mysqld_safe runs the new mysqld server.

--autoclose

(NetWare only) On NetWare, mysqld_safe provides a screen presence. When you unload (shut down) the mysqld_safe NLM, the screen does not by default go away. Instead, it prompts for user input:

*<NLM has terminated; Press any key to close the screen>*

If you want NetWare to close the screen automatically instead, use the --autoclose option to mysqld_safe.

--basedir=path

The path to the MySQL installation directory.

--character-set-client-handshake

Don't 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 4.1 and higher behave like MySQL 4.0.

--core-file-size=size

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

--datadir=path

The path to the data directory.

--defaults-extra-file=path

The name of an option file to be read in addition to the usual option files. If given, this option must be first.

--defaults-file=path

The name of an option file to be read instead of the usual option files. If given, this option must be first.

--err-log=path

The old form of the --log-error option, to be used before MySQL 4.0.

--ledir=path

The path to the directory containing the mysqld program. Use this option to explicitly indicate the location of the server.

--log-error=path

Write the error log to the given file. See Section 5.10.1, “The Error Log”.

--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.

--mysqld-version=suffix

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

--nice=priority

Use the nice program to set the server's scheduling priority to the given value. This option was added in MySQL 4.0.14.

--no-defaults

Do not read any option files. If given, this option must be first.

--open-files-limit=count

The number of files mysqld should be able to open. The option value is passed to ulimit -n. Note that you need to start mysqld_safe as root for this to work properly.

--pid-file=path

The path to the process ID file.

--port=port_num

The port number to use when listening for TCP/IP connections. The port number must be 1024 or higher unless MySQL is run as the root system user.

--socket=path

The Unix socket file to use for local connections.

--timezone=zone

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 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 pathnames. 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.

--config-file=name

Specify the name of an alternative option file. This affects where mysqld_multi looks for [mysqldN] option groups. Without this option, all options are read from the usual my.cnf file. The option does not affect where mysqld_multi reads its own options, which are always taken from the [mysqld_multi] group in the usual my.cnf file.

--example

Display a sample option file.

--help

Display a help message and exit.

--log=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. The options are passed to mysqld. Just make sure that you have the directory where mysqld is located in your PATH environment variable setting or fix mysqld_safe.

--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

Disable warnings. This option was added in MySQL 4.1.6.

--tcp-ip

Connect to each MySQL server via 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 via 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 username of the MySQL account to use when invoking mysqladmin.

--verbose

Be more verbose. This option was added in MySQL 4.1.6.

--version

Display version information and exit.

Make sure that the MySQL account used for stopping the mysqld servers (with the mysqladmin program) has the same username and password for each server. Also, make sure that the account has the SHUTDOWN privilege. If the servers that you want to manage have many different usernames or passwords for the administrative accounts, you might want to create an account on each server that has the same username 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 -proot_password
mysql> GRANT SHUTDOWN ON *.*
    -> TO 'multi_admin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'multipass';

See Section 5.6.2, “How the Privilege System Works”. You have to do this for each mysqld server. Change the connection parameters appropriately when connecting to each one. Note that the host part of the account name must allow you to connect as multi_admin from the host where you want to run mysqld_multi.

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 “guards” 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. Please note that the mysqld_safe script might require that you start it from a certain place. This means that you might have to change location to a certain directory before running mysqld_multi. If you have problems starting, please see the mysqld_safe script. Check especially the lines:

----------------------------------------------------------------
MY_PWD=`pwd`
# Check if we are starting this relative (for the binary release)
if test -d $MY_PWD/data/mysql -a -f ./share/mysql/english/errmsg.sys -a \
 -x ./bin/mysqld
----------------------------------------------------------------

See Section 5.1.3, “mysqld_safe — MySQL Server Startup Script”. The test performed by these lines should be successful, or you might encounter problems.

The Unix socket file and the TCP/IP port number must be different for every mysqld.

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

Important: Make sure that the data directory is fully accessible to the Unix account that the specific mysqld process is started as. Do not use the Unix root account for this, unless you know exactly what you are doing.

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 exactly what you are doing. Starting multiple servers with the same data directory does not give you extra performance in a threaded system. See Section 5.11, “Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine”.

Options that affect security: See Section 5.5.3, “Startup Options for mysqld Concerning Security”.

SSL-related options: See Section 5.7.7.5, “SSL Command-Line Options”.

Binary log control options: See Section 5.10.4, “The Binary Log”.

Replication-related options: See Section 6.8, “Replication Startup Options”.

Options specific to particular storage engines: See Section 14.1.1, “MyISAM Startup Options”, Section 14.4.3, “BDB Startup Options”, Section 15.5, “InnoDB Startup Options”.

--help, -?

Display a short help message and exit. Before MySQL 4.1.1, --help displays the full help message. As of 4.1.1, it displays an abbreviated message only. Use both the --verbose and --help options to see the full message.

--allow-suspicious-udfs

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. This option was added in MySQL 4.0.24, and 4.1.10a. See Section 20.2.4.6, “User-Defined Function Security Precautions”.

--ansi

Use standard SQL syntax instead of MySQL syntax. See Section 1.8.3, “Running MySQL in ANSI Mode”. For more precise control over the server SQL mode, use the --sql-mode option instead.

--basedir=path, -b path

The path to the MySQL installation directory. All paths are usually resolved relative to this.

--big-tables

Allow large result sets by saving all temporary sets in files. This option prevents most “table full” errors, but also slows down queries for which in-memory tables would suffice. Since MySQL 3.23.2, the server is able to handle large result sets automatically by using memory for small temporary tables and switching to disk tables where necessary.

--bind-address=IP

The IP address to bind to.

--bootstrap

This option is used by the mysql_install_db script to create the MySQL privilege tables without having to start a full MySQL server.

--console

Write the error log messages to stderr/stdout even if --log-error is specified. On Windows, mysqld does not close the console screen if this option is used.

--character-sets-dir=path

The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 5.9.1, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”.

--chroot=path

Put the mysqld server in a closed environment during startup by using the chroot() system call. This is a recommended security measure as of MySQL 4.0. (MySQL 3.23 is not able to provide a chroot() jail that is 100% closed.) Note that use of this option somewhat limits LOAD DATA INFILE and SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE.

--character-set-server=charset

Use charset as the default server character set. This option is available as of MySQL 4.1.3. See Section 5.9.1, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”.

--core-file

Write a core file if mysqld dies. For some systems, you must also specify the --core-file-size option to mysqld_safe. See Section 5.1.3, “mysqld_safe — MySQL Server Startup Script”. Note that on some systems, such as Solaris, you do not get a core file if you are also using the --user option.

--collation-server=collation

Use collation as the default server collation. This option is available as of MySQL 4.1.3. See Section 5.9.1, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”.

--datadir=path, -h path

The path to the data directory.

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

If MySQL is configured with --with-debug, you can use this option to get a trace file of what mysqld is doing. The debug_options string often is 'd:t:o,file_name'. See Section E.1.2, “Creating Trace Files”.

--default-character-set=charset

Use charset as the default character set. This option is deprecated in favor of --character-set-server as of MySQL 4.1.3. See Section 5.9.1, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”.

--default-collation=collation

Use collation as the default collation. This option is deprecated in favor of --collation-server as of MySQL 4.1.3. See Section 5.9.1, “The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting”.

--default-storage-engine=type

This option is a synonym for --default-table-type. It is available as of MySQL 4.1.2.

--default-table-type=type

Set the default table type for tables. See Chapter 14, Storage Engines and Table Types.

--default-time-zone=type

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. This option is available as of MySQL 4.1.3.

--delay-key-write[= OFF | ON | ALL]

How the DELAYED KEYS option should be used. Delayed key writing causes key buffers not to be flushed between writes for MyISAM tables. OFF disables delayed key writes. ON enables delayed key writes for those tables that were created with the DELAYED KEYS option. ALL delays key writes for all MyISAM tables. Available as of MySQL 4.0.3. See Section 7.5.2, “Tuning Server Parameters”. See Section 14.1.1, “MyISAM Startup Options”.

Note: If you set this variable to ALL, you should not use MyISAM tables from within another program (such as from another MySQL server or with myisamchk) when the table is in use. Doing so leads to index corruption.

--delay-key-write-for-all-tables

Old form of --delay-key-write=ALL for use prior to MySQL 4.0.3. As of 4.0.3, use --delay-key-write instead.

--des-key-file=file_name

Read the default keys used by DES_ENCRYPT() and DES_DECRYPT() from this file.

--enable-named-pipe

Enable support for named pipes. This option applies only on Windows NT, 2000, XP, and 2003 systems, and can be used only with the mysqld-nt and mysqld-max-nt servers that support named pipe connections.

--exit-info[=flags], -T [flags]

This is a bit mask of different flags you can use for debugging the mysqld server. Do not use this option unless you know exactly what it does.

--external-locking

Enable system locking. Note that if you use this option on a system on which lockd does not fully work (as on Linux), it is easy for mysqld to deadlock. This option previously was named --enable-locking.

Note: If you use this option to enable updates to MyISAM tables from many MySQL processes, you have to ensure that these conditions are satisfied:

The easiest way to ensure this is to always use --external-locking together with --delay-key-write=OFF --query-cache-size=0.

(This is not done by default because in many setups it is useful to have a mixture of the above options.)

--flush

Flush 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 synching to disk. See Section A.4.2, “What to Do If MySQL Keeps Crashing”.

--init-file=file

Read SQL statements from this file at startup. Each statement must be on a single line and should not include comments.

--innodb-safe-binlog

Adds consistency guarantees between the content of InnoDB tables and the binary log. See Section 5.10.4, “The Binary Log”.

--language=lang_name, -L lang_name

Client error messages in given language. lang_name can be given as the language name or as the full pathname to the directory where the language files are installed. See Section 5.9.2, “Setting the Error Message Language”.

--log[=file], -l [file]

Log connections and queries to this file. See Section 5.10.2, “The General Query Log”. If you do not specify a filename, MySQL uses host_name.log as the filename.

--log-bin=[file]

The binary log file. Log all queries that change data to this file. Used for backup and replication. See Section 5.10.4, “The Binary Log”. It is recommended to specify a filename (see Section A.8.4, “Open Issues in MySQL” for the reason) otherwise MySQL uses host_name-bin as the log file basename.

--log-bin-index[=file]

The index file for binary log filenames. See Section 5.10.4, “The Binary Log”. If you do not specify a filename, and if you didn't specify one in --log-bin, MySQL uses host_name-bin.index as the filename.

--log-error[=file]

Log errors and startup messages to this file. See Section 5.10.1, “The Error Log”. If you do not specify a filename, MySQL uses host_name.err as the filename. If the filename has no extension, an extension of .err is added to the name.

--log-isam[=file]

Log all ISAM/MyISAM changes to this file (used only when debugging ISAM/MyISAM).

--log-long-format

Log some extra information to the log files (update log, binary update log, and slow queries log, whatever log has been activated). For example, username and timestamp are logged for queries. Before MySQL 4.1, if you are using --log-slow-queries and --log-long-format, queries that are not using indexes also are logged to the slow query log. --log-long-format is deprecated as of MySQL version 4.1, when --log-short-format was introduced. (Long log format is the default setting since version 4.1.) Also note that starting with MySQL 4.1, the --log-queries-not-using-indexes option is available for the purpose of logging queries that do not use indexes to the slow query log.

--log-queries-not-using-indexes

If you are using this option with --log-slow-queries, then queries that are not using indexes also are logged to the slow query log. This option is available as of MySQL 4.1. See Section 5.10.5, “The Slow Query Log”.

--log-short-format

Log less information to the log files (update log, binary update log, and slow queries log, whatever log has been activated). For example, username and timestamp are not logged for queries. This option was introduced in MySQL 4.1.

--log-slow-admin-statements

Log slow administrative statements such as OPTIMIZE TABLE, ANALYZE TABLE, and ALTER TABLE to the slow query log.

This option was added in MySQL 4.1.13. (It is unnecessary in MySQL 4.0 because slow administrative statements are logged by default.)

--log-slow-queries[=file]

Log all queries that have taken more than long_query_time seconds to execute to this file. See Section 5.10.5, “The Slow Query Log”. Note that the default for the amount of information logged has changed in MySQL 4.1. See the --log-long-format and --log-short-format options for details.

--log-update[=file]

Log updates to fileN where N is a unique number if not given. See Section 5.10.3, “The Update Log”. The update log is now deprecated; you should use the binary log instead (--log-bin). See Section 5.10.4, “The Binary Log”.

--log-warnings, -W

Print out warnings such as Aborted connection... to the error log. Enabling this option is recommended, for example, if you use replication (you get more information about what is happening, such as messages about network failures and reconnections). This option is enabled by default as of MySQL 4.0.19 and 4.1.2; to disable it, use --skip-log-warnings. As of MySQL 4.0.21 and 4.1.3, aborted connections are not logged to the error log unless the value is greater than 1. See Section A.2.10, “Communication Errors and Aborted Connections”.

This option was named --warnings before MySQL 4.0.

--low-priority-updates

Table-modifying operations (INSERT, REPLACE, DELETE, UPDATE) have lower priority than selects. This can also be done via {INSERT | REPLACE | DELETE | UPDATE} LOW_PRIORITY ... to lower the priority of only one query, or by SET LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES=1 to change the priority in one thread. See Section 7.3.2, “Table Locking Issues”.

--memlock

Lock the mysqld process in memory. This works on systems such as Solaris that support the mlockall() system call. This might help if you have a problem where the operating system is causing mysqld to swap on disk. Note that use of this option requires that you run the server as root, which is normally not a good idea for security reasons.

--myisam-recover [=option[,option...]]]

Set the MyISAM storage engine recovery mode. The option value is any combination of the values of DEFAULT, BACKUP, FORCE, or QUICK. If you specify multiple values, separate them by commas. You can also use a value of "" to disable this option. If this option is used, mysqld, when it opens a MyISAM table, checks whether the table is marked as crashed or wasn't closed properly. (The last option works only if you are running with --skip-external-locking.) If this is the case, mysqld runs a check on the table. If the table was corrupted, mysqld attempts to repair it.

The following options affect how the repair works:

Before a table is automatically repaired, MySQL adds a note about this in the error log. If you want to be able to recover from most problems without user intervention, you should use the options BACKUP,FORCE. This forces a repair of a table even if some rows would be deleted, but it keeps the old data file as a backup so that you can later examine what happened.

This option is available as of MySQL 3.23.25.

--ndb-connectstring=connect_string

When using the NDB storage engine, it is possible to point out the management server that distributes the cluster configuration by setting the connect string option. See Section 16.4.4.2, “The MySQL Cluster connectstring” for syntax.

--ndbcluster

If the binary includes support for the NDB Cluster storage engine (from version 4.1.3, the MySQL-Max binaries are built with NDB Cluster enabled) the default disabling of support for the NDB Cluster storage engine can be overruled by using this option. Using the NDB Cluster storage engine is necessary for using MySQL Cluster. See Chapter 16, MySQL Cluster.

--new

The --new option can be used to make the server behave as 4.1 in certain respects, easing a 4.0 to 4.1 upgrade:

This option can be used to help you see how your applications behave in MySQL 4.1, without actually upgrading to 4.1.

--old-passwords

Force the server to generate short (pre-4.1) password hashes for new passwords. This is useful for compatibility when the server must support older client programs. See Section 5.6.9, “Password Hashing in MySQL 4.1”.

--old-protocol, -o

Use the 3.20 protocol for compatibility with some very old clients.

--one-thread

Only use one thread (for debugging under Linux). This option is available only if the server is built with debugging enabled. See Section E.1, “Debugging a MySQL Server”.

--open-files-limit=count

To change the number of file descriptors available to mysqld. If this is not set or set to 0, then mysqld uses this value to reserve file descriptors to use with setrlimit(). If this value is 0 then mysqld reserves max_connections*5 or max_connections + table_cache*2 (whichever is larger) number of files. You should try increasing this if mysqld gives you the error "Too many open files."

--pid-file=path

The path to the process ID file used by mysqld_safe.

--port=port_num, -P port_num

The port number to use when listening for TCP/IP connections.

--safe-mode

Skip some optimization stages.

--safe-show-database

With this option, the SHOW DATABASES statement displays only the names of those databases for which the user has some kind of privilege. As of MySQL 4.0.2, this option is deprecated and does not do anything (it is enabled by default), because there is a SHOW DATABASES privilege that can be used to control access to database names on a per-account basis. See Section 5.6.3, “Privileges Provided by MySQL”.

--safe-user-create

If this is enabled, a user cannot create new users with the GRANT statement, if the user does not have the INSERT privilege for the mysql.user table or any column in the table.

--secure-auth

Disallow authentication for accounts that have old (pre-4.1) passwords. This option is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

--shared-memory

Enable shared-memory connections by local clients. This option is available only on Windows. It was added in MySQL 4.1.0.

--shared-memory-base-name=name

The name to use for shared-memory connections. This option is available only on Windows. It was added in MySQL 4.1.0.

--skip-bdb

Disable the BDB storage engine. This saves memory and might speed up some operations. Do not use this option if you require BDB tables.

--skip-concurrent-insert

Turn off the ability to select and insert at the same time on MyISAM tables. (This is to be used only if you think you have found a bug in this feature.)

--skip-delay-key-write

Ignore the DELAY_KEY_WRITE option for all tables. As of MySQL 4.0.3, you should use --delay-key-write=OFF instead. See Section 7.5.2, “Tuning Server Parameters”.

--skip-external-locking

do not use system locking. To use isamchk or myisamchk, you must shut down the server. See Section 1.4.3, “MySQL Stability”. In MySQL 3.23, you can use CHECK TABLE and REPAIR TABLE to check and repair MyISAM tables. This option previously was named --skip-locking.

--skip-grant-tables

This option causes the server not to use the privilege system at all. This gives anyone with access to the server unrestricted access to all databases. You can cause a running server to start using the grant tables again by executing mysqladmin flush-privileges or mysqladmin reload command from a system shell, or by issuing a MySQL FLUSH PRIVILEGES statement. This option also suppresses loading of user-defined functions (UDFs).

--skip-host-cache

Do not use the internal hostname cache for faster name-to-IP resolution. Instead, query the DNS server every time a client connects. See Section 7.5.5, “How MySQL Uses DNS”.

--skip-innodb

Disable the InnoDB storage engine. This saves memory and disk space and might speed up some operations. Do not use this option if you require InnoDB tables.

--skip-isam

Disable the ISAM storage engine. As of MySQL 4.1, ISAM is disabled by default, so this option applies only if the server was configured with support for ISAM. This option was added in MySQL 4.1.1.

--skip-name-resolve

Do not resolve hostnames when checking client connections. Use only IP numbers. If you use this option, all Host column values in the grant tables must be IP numbers or localhost. See Section 7.5.5, “How MySQL Uses DNS”.

--skip-ndbcluster

Disable the NDB Cluster storage engine. This is the default for binaries that were built with NDB Cluster storage engine support, this means that the system allocates memory and other resources for this storage engine only if it is explicitly enabled.

--skip-networking

Do not listen for TCP/IP connections at all. All interaction with mysqld must be made via named pipes or shared memory (on Windows) or Unix socket files (on Unix). This option is highly recommended for systems where only local clients are allowed. See Section 7.5.5, “How MySQL Uses DNS”.

--skip-new

do not use new, possibly wrong routines.

--skip-symlink

This is the old form of --skip-symbolic-links, for use before MySQL 4.0.13.

--standalone

Windows-NT based systems only, instructs MySQL server to not run as a service.

--symbolic-links, --skip-symbolic-links

Enable or disable symbolic link support. This option has different effects on Windows and Unix:

This option was added in MySQL 4.0.13.

--skip-safemalloc

If MySQL is configured with --with-debug=full, all MySQL programs check for memory overruns during each memory allocation and memory freeing operation. This checking is very slow, so for the server you can avoid it when you do not need it by using the --skip-safemalloc option.

--skip-show-database

With this option, the SHOW DATABASES statement is allowed only to users who have the SHOW DATABASES privilege, and the statement displays all database names. Without this option, SHOW DATABASES is allowed to all users, but displays each database name only if the user has the