MYSQLD_SAFE(1)						       MySQL Database System						    MYSQLD_SAFE(1)

NAME

       mysqld_safe - MySQL server startup script

SYNOPSIS

       mysqld_safe options

DESCRIPTION

       mysqld_safe is the recommended way to start a mysqld server on Unix and NetWare.  mysqld_safe adds some safety features such as restarting
       the server when an error occurs and logging runtime information to an error log file. Descriptions of error logging and NetWare-specific
       behaviors are given later in this section.

	   Note
	   In MySQL 5.1.20 (only), the default error logging behavior with mysqld_safe is to write errors to syslog on systems that support the
	   logger program. This differs from the default behavior of writing an error log file for other versions.

	   In 5.1.20, logging to syslog may fail to operate correctly in some cases; if so, use --skip-syslog to use the default log file or
	   --log-error=file_name to specify a log file name explicitly.

       mysqld_safe tries to start an executable named mysqld. To override the default behavior and specify explicitly the name of the server you
       want to run, specify a --mysqld or --mysqld-version option to mysqld_safe. You can also use --ledir to indicate the directory where
       mysqld_safe should look for the server.

       Many of the options to mysqld_safe are the same as the options to mysqld. See Section 5.1.2, "Server Command Options".

       Options unknown to mysqld_safe are passed to mysqld if they are specified on the command line, but ignored if they are specified in the
       [mysqld_safe] or [mariadb_safe] groups of an option file. See Section 4.2.3.3, "Using Option Files".

       mysqld_safe reads all options from the [mysqld], [server], [mysqld_safe], and [mariadb_safe] sections in option files. For example, if you
       specify a [mysqld] section like this, mysqld_safe will find and use the --log-error option:

	   [mysqld]
	   log-error=error.log

       For backward compatibility, mysqld_safe also reads [safe_mysqld] sections, although you should rename such sections to [mysqld_safe] in
       MySQL 5.1 installations.

       mysqld_safe supports the options in the following list. It also reads option files and supports the options for processing them described
       at Section 4.2.3.3.1, "Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling".

       o   --help

	   Display a help message and exit.

       o   --basedir=path

	   The path to the MySQL installation directory.

       o   --core-file-size=size

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

       o   --datadir=path

	   The path to the data directory.

       o   --defaults-extra-file=path

	   The name of an option file to be read in addition to the usual option files. This must be the first option on the command line if it is
	   used. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, the server will exit with an error.

       o   --defaults-file=file_name

	   The name of an option file to be read instead of the usual option files. This must be the first option on the command line if it is
	   used.

       o   --ledir=path

	   If mysqld_safe cannot find the server, use this option to indicate the path name to the directory where the server is located.

       o   --log-error=file_name

	   Write the error log to the given file. See Section 5.2.2, "The Error Log".

       o   --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. If mysqld_safe cannot find the server, use the --ledir
	   option to indicate the path name to the directory where the server is located.

       o   --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=debug, mysqld_safe starts the mysqld-debug program in the ledir directory. If the
	   argument to --mysqld-version is empty, mysqld_safe uses mysqld in the ledir directory.

       o   --nice=priority

	   Use the nice program to set the server's scheduling priority to the given value.

       o   --no-defaults

	   Do not read any option files. This must be the first option on the command line if it is used.

       o   --open-files-limit=count

	   The number of files that 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!

       o   --pid-file=file_name

	   The path name of the process ID file.

       o   --port=port_num

	   The port number that the server should use when listening for TCP/IP connections. The port number must be 1024 or higher unless the
	   server is started by the root system user.

       o   --skip-kill-mysqld

	   Do not try to kill stray mysqld processes at startup. This option works only on Linux.

       o   --socket=path

	   The Unix socket file that the server should use when listening for local connections.

       o   --syslog, --skip-syslog

	   --syslog causes error messages to be sent to syslog on systems that support the logger program.  --skip-syslog suppresses the use of
	   syslog; messages are written to an error log file. These options were added in MySQL 5.1.20.

       o   --syslog-tag=tag

	   For logging to syslog, messages from mysqld_safe and mysqld are written with a tag of mysqld_safe and mysqld, respectively. To specify
	   a suffix for the tag, use --syslog-tag=tag, which modifies the tags to be mysqld_safe-tag and mysqld-tag. This option was added in
	   MySQL 5.1.21.

       o   --timezone=timezone

	   Set the TZ time zone environment variable to the given option value. Consult your operating system documentation for legal time zone
	   specification formats.

       o   --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.)

       If you execute mysqld_safe with the --defaults-file or --defaults-extra-file option to name an option file, the option must be the first
       one given on the command line or the option file will not be used. For example, this command will not use the named option file:

	   mysql> mysqld_safe --port=port_num --defaults-file=file_name

       Instead, use the following command:

	   mysql> mysqld_safe --defaults-file=file_name --port=port_num

       The mysqld_safe script is written so that it normally can start a server that was installed from either a source or a binary distribution
       of MySQL, even though these types of distributions typically install the server in slightly different locations. (See Section 2.1.5,
       "Installation Layouts".)  mysqld_safe expects one of the following conditions to be true:

       o   The server and databases can be found relative to the working directory (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).

       o   If the server and databases cannot be found relative to the working directory, mysqld_safe attempts to locate them by absolute path
	   names. 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.

       Because mysqld_safe tries to find the server and databases relative to its own working directory, you can install a binary distribution of
       MySQL anywhere, as long as you run mysqld_safe from the MySQL installation directory:

	   shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
	   shell> bin/mysqld_safe &

       If mysqld_safe fails, even when invoked from the MySQL installation directory, you can specify the --ledir and --datadir options to
       indicate the directories in which the server and databases are located on your system.

       When you use mysqld_safe to start mysqld, mysqld_safe arranges for error (and notice) messages from itself and from mysqld to go to the
       same destination.

       As of MySQL 5.1.20, there are several mysqld_safe options for controlling the destination of these messages:

       o   --syslog: Write error messages to syslog on systems that support the logger program.

       o   --skip-syslog: Do not write error messages to syslog. Messages are written to the default error log file (host_name.err in the data
	   directory), or to a named file if the --log-error option is given.

       o   --log-error=file_name: Write error messages to the named error file.

       If none of these options is given, the default is --skip-syslog.

	   Note
	   In MySQL 5.1.20 only, the default is --syslog. This differs from logging behavior for other versions of MySQL, for which the default is
	   to write messages to the default error log file.

       If --syslog and --log-error are both given, a warning is issued and --log-error takes precedence.

       When mysqld_safe writes a message, notices go to the logging destination (syslog or the error log file) and stdout. Errors go to the
       logging destination and stderr.

       Before MySQL 5.1.20, error logging is controlled only with the --log-error option. If it is given, messages go to the named error file.
       Otherwise, messages go to the default error file.

       Normally, you should not edit the mysqld_safe script. Instead, configure mysqld_safe by using command-line options or options in the
       [mysqld_safe] section of a my.cnf option file. In rare cases, it might be necessary to edit mysqld_safe to get it to start the server
       properly. However, if you do this, your modified version of mysqld_safe might be overwritten if you upgrade MySQL in the future, so you
       should make a copy of your edited version that you can reinstall.

       On NetWare, mysqld_safe is a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) that is ported from the original Unix shell script. It starts the server as
       follows:

	1. Runs a number of system and option checks.

	2. Runs a check on MyISAM tables.

	3. Provides a screen presence for the MySQL server.

	4. Starts mysqld, monitors it, and restarts it if it terminates in error.

	5. Sends error messages from mysqld to the host_name.err file in the data directory.

	6. Sends mysqld_safe screen output to the host_name.safe file in the data directory.

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright 2007-2008 MySQL AB, 2008-2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

       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/.

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

       Sun Microsystems, Inc. (http://www.mysql.com/).

MySQL 5.1							    04/06/2010							    MYSQLD_SAFE(1)