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* mysql: (mysql).               MySQL documentation.
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Table of Contents
*****************


General Information
  About This Manual
    Conventions Used in This Manual
  Overview of the MySQL Database Management System
    History of MySQL
    The Main Features of MySQL
    MySQL Stability
    How Big MySQL Tables Can Be
    Year 2000 Compliance
  Overview of MySQL AB
    The Business Model and Services of MySQL AB
      Support
      Training and Certification
      Consulting
      Commercial Licenses
      Partnering
    Contact Information
  MySQL Support and Licensing
    Support Offered by MySQL AB
    Copyrights and Licenses Used by MySQL
    MySQL Licenses
      Using the MySQL Software Under a Commercial License
      Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL
    MySQL AB Logos and Trademarks
      The Original MySQL Logo
      MySQL Logos that may be Used Without Written Permission
      When You Need Written Permission to Use MySQL Logos
      MySQL AB Partnership Logos
      Using the Word `MySQL' in Printed Text or Presentations
      Using the Word `MySQL' in Company and Product Names
  MySQL Development Roadmap
    MySQL 4.0 in a Nutshell
      Features Available in MySQL 4.0
      The Embedded MySQL Server
    MySQL 4.1 in a Nutshell
      Features Available in MySQL 4.1
      Stepwise Rollout
      Ready for Immediate Development Use
    MySQL 5.0, The Next Development Release
  MySQL and the Future (The TODO)
    New Features Planned for 4.1
    New Features Planned for 5.0
    New Features Planned for 5.1
    New Features Planned for the Near Future
    New Features Planned for the Mid-Term Future
    New Features We Don't Plan to Implement
  MySQL Information Sources
    MySQL Mailing Lists
      The MySQL Mailing Lists
      Asking Questions or Reporting Bugs
      How to Report Bugs or Problems
      Guidelines for Answering Questions on the Mailing List
    MySQL Community Support on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
  MySQL Standards Compliance
    What Standards MySQL Follows
    Selecting SQL Modes
    Running MySQL in ANSI Mode
    MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard
    MySQL Differences Compared to SQL-92
      Subqueries
      `SELECT INTO TABLE'
      Transactions and Atomic Operations
      Stored Procedures and Triggers
      Foreign Keys
      Views
      `--' as the Start of a Comment
    How MySQL Deals with Constraints
      Constraint PRIMARY KEY / UNIQUE
      Constraint `NOT NULL' and `DEFAULT' values
      Constraint `ENUM' and `SET'
    Known Errors and Design Deficiencies in MySQL
      Errors in 3.23 Fixed in a Later MySQL Version
      Errors in 4.0 Fixed in a Later MySQL Version
      Open Bugs / Design Deficiencies in MySQL

Installing MySQL
  General Installation Issues
    Operating Systems Supported by MySQL
    Choosing Which MySQL Distribution to Install
      Choosing Which Version of MySQL to Install
      Choosing a Distribution Format
      How and When Updates Are Released
      Release Philosophy--No Known Bugs in Releases
      MySQL Binaries Compiled by MySQL AB
    How to Get MySQL
    Verifying Package Integrity Using MD5 Checksums or `GnuPG'
    Installation Layouts
  Standard MySQL Installation Using a Binary Distribution
    Installing MySQL on Windows
      Windows System Requirements
      Installing a Windows Binary Distribution
      Preparing the Windows MySQL Environment
      Selecting a Windows Server
      Starting the Server for the First Time
      Starting MySQL from the Windows Command Line
      Starting MySQL as a Windows Service
      Running MySQL Client Programs on Windows
      MySQL on Windows Compared to MySQL on Unix
    Installing MySQL on Linux
    Installing MySQL on Mac OS X
    Installing MySQL on NetWare
    Installing MySQL on HP-UX
    Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems
  MySQL Installation Using a Source Distribution
    Quick Source Installation Overview
    Typical `configure' Options
    Installing from the Development Source Tree
    Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL
    MIT-pthreads Notes
    Installing MySQL from Source on Windows
      Building MySQL Using VC++
      Creating a Windows Source Package from the Latest Development Source
    Compiling MySQL Clients on Windows
  Post-installation Setup and Testing
    Windows Post-installation Procedures
    Unix Post-installation Procedures
      Problems Running `mysql_install_db'
      Starting and Stopping MySQL Automatically
      Starting and Troubleshooting the MySQL Server
  Upgrading/Downgrading MySQL
    Upgrading from Version 4.1 to 5.0
    Upgrading from Version 4.0 to 4.1
    Upgrading from Version 3.23 to 4.0
    Upgrading from Version 3.22 to 3.23
    Upgrading from Version 3.21 to 3.22
    Upgrading from Version 3.20 to 3.21
    Upgrading MySQL under Windows
    Upgrading the Grant Tables
    Copying MySQL Databases to Another Machine
  Operating System Specific Notes
    Linux Notes
      Linux Operating System Notes
      Linux Binary Distribution Notes
      Linux Source Distribution Notes
      Linux Post-installation Notes
      Linux x86 Notes
      Linux SPARC Notes
      Linux Alpha Notes
      Linux PowerPC Notes
      Linux MIPS Notes
      Linux IA-64 Notes
    Mac OS X Notes
      Mac OS X 10.x (Darwin)
      Mac OS X Server 1.2 (Rhapsody)
    Solaris Notes
      Solaris 2.7/2.8 Notes
      Solaris x86 Notes
    BSD Notes
      FreeBSD Notes
      NetBSD Notes
      OpenBSD 2.5 Notes
      OpenBSD 2.8 Notes
      BSD/OS Version 2.x Notes
      BSD/OS Version 3.x Notes
      BSD/OS Version 4.x Notes
    Other Unix Notes
      HP-UX Version 10.20 Notes
      HP-UX Version 11.x Notes
      IBM-AIX notes
      SunOS 4 Notes
      Alpha-DEC-UNIX Notes (Tru64)
      Alpha-DEC-OSF/1 Notes
      SGI Irix Notes
      SCO Notes
      SCO UnixWare Version 7.1.x Notes
    OS/2 Notes
    BeOS Notes
  Perl Installation Notes
    Installing Perl on Unix
    Installing ActiveState Perl on Windows
    Problems Using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' Interface

MySQL Tutorial
  Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Server
  Entering Queries
  Creating and Using a Database
    Creating and Selecting a Database
    Creating a Table
    Loading Data into a Table
    Retrieving Information from a Table
      Selecting All Data
      Selecting Particular Rows
      Selecting Particular Columns
      Sorting Rows
      Date Calculations
      Working with `NULL' Values
      Pattern Matching
      Counting Rows
      Using More Than one Table
  Getting Information About Databases and Tables
  Using `mysql' in Batch Mode
  Examples of Common Queries
    The Maximum Value for a Column
    The Row Holding the Maximum of a Certain Column
    Maximum of Column per Group
    The Rows Holding the Group-wise Maximum of a Certain Field
    Using User Variables
    Using Foreign Keys
    Searching on Two Keys
    Calculating Visits Per Day
    Using `AUTO_INCREMENT'
  Queries from the Twin Project
    Find All Non-distributed Twins
    Show a Table of Twin Pair Status
  Using MySQL with Apache

Using MySQL Programs
  Overview of MySQL Programs
  Invoking MySQL Programs
  Specifying Program Options
    Using Options on the Command Line
    Using Option Files
    Using Environment Variables to Specify Options
    Using Options to Set Program Variables

Database Administration
  The MySQL Server and Server Startup Scripts
    Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities
    `mysqld-max', An Extended `mysqld' Server
    `mysqld_safe', The Wrapper Around `mysqld'
    `mysql.server', A Server Startup Script for Run Directories
    `mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers
  Configuring MySQL
    `mysqld' Command-line Options
    The Server SQL Mode
  General Security Issues
    General Security Guidelines
    Making MySQL Secure Against Attackers
    Startup Options for `mysqld' Concerning Security
    Security Issues with `LOAD DATA LOCAL'
  The MySQL Access Privilege System
    What the Privilege System Does
    How the Privilege System Works
    Privileges Provided by MySQL
    Connecting to the MySQL Server
    Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification
    Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification
    Password Hashing in MySQL 4.1
    Causes of `Access denied' Errors
  MySQL User Account Management
    MySQL Usernames and Passwords
    When Privilege Changes Take Effect
    Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges
    Adding New Users to MySQL
    Deleting Users from MySQL
    Limiting user resources
    Setting Up Passwords
    Keeping Your Password Secure
    Using Secure Connections
      Basics
      Requirements
      Setting Up SSL Certificates for MySQL
      SSL `GRANT' Options
      SSL Command-line Options
      Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH
  Disaster Prevention and Recovery
    Database Backups
    Using `myisamchk' for Table Maintenance and Crash Recovery
      `myisamchk' Invocation Syntax
      General Options for `myisamchk'
      Check Options for `myisamchk'
      Repair Options for myisamchk
      Other Options for `myisamchk'
      `myisamchk' Memory Usage
      Using `myisamchk' for Crash Recovery
      How to Check Tables for Errors
      How to Repair Tables
      Table Optimization
    Setting Up a Table Maintenance Regimen
    Getting Information About a Table
  MySQL Localization and International Usage
    The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting
      German character set
    Non-English Error Messages
    Adding a New Character Set
    The Character Definition Arrays
    String Collating Support
    Multi-byte Character Support
    Problems With Character Sets
  The MySQL Log Files
    The Error Log
    The General Query Log
    The Update Log
    The Binary Log
    The Slow Query Log
    Log File Maintenance
  Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine
    Running Multiple Servers on Windows
      Starting Multiple Windows Servers at the Command Line
      Starting Multiple Windows Servers as Services
    Running Multiple Servers on Unix
    Using Client Programs in a Multiple-Server Environment

Replication in MySQL
  Introduction to Replication
  Replication Implementation Overview
  Replication Implementation Details
  How to Set Up Replication
  Upgrading a Replication Setup - Mixing Different MySQL Versions
  Replication Features and Known Problems
  Replication Startup Options
  Replication FAQ
  Troubleshooting Replication
  Reporting Replication Bugs

MySQL Optimization
  Optimization Overview
    MySQL Design Limitations/Tradeoffs
    Portability
    What We Have Used MySQL For
    The MySQL Benchmark Suite
    Using Your Own Benchmarks
  Optimizing `SELECT' Statements and Other Queries
    `EXPLAIN' Syntax (Get Information About a `SELECT')
    Estimating Query Performance
    Speed of `SELECT' Queries
    How MySQL Optimizes `WHERE' Clauses
    How MySQL Optimizes `OR' Clauses
    How MySQL Optimizes `IS NULL'
    How MySQL Optimizes `DISTINCT'
    How MySQL Optimizes `LEFT JOIN' and `RIGHT JOIN'
    How MySQL Optimizes `ORDER BY'
    How MySQL Optimizes `LIMIT'
    Speed of `INSERT' Queries
    Speed of `UPDATE' Queries
    Speed of `DELETE' Queries
    Other Optimization Tips
  Locking Issues
    How MySQL Locks Tables
    Table Locking Issues
  Optimizing Database Structure
    Design Choices
    Get Your Data as Small as Possible
    How MySQL Uses Indexes
    Column Indexes
    Multiple-Column Indexes
    The MyISAM Key Cache
      Shared Key Cache Access
      Multiple Key Caches
      Midpoint Insertion Strategy
      Index Preloading
      Key Cache Block Size
      Restructuring a Key Cache
    How MySQL Counts Open Tables
    How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables
    Drawbacks to Creating Large Numbers of Tables in the Same Database
  Optimizing the MySQL Server
    System/Compile Time and Startup Parameter Tuning
    Tuning Server Parameters
    How Compiling and Linking Affects the Speed of MySQL
    How MySQL Uses Memory
    How MySQL uses DNS
    `SET' Syntax
  Disk Issues
    Using Symbolic Links
      Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Unix
      Using Symbolic Links for Tables on Unix
      Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Windows

MySQL Client and Utility Programs
  Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities
  `mysql', The Command-line Tool
    How to Run SQL Commands from a Text File
  `mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center
  `mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server
  `mysqlbinlog', Executing the queries from a binary log
  Using `mysqlcheck' for Table Maintenance and Crash Recovery
  `mysqldump', Dumping Table Structure and Data
  `mysqlhotcopy', Copying MySQL Databases and Tables
  `mysqlimport', Importing Data from Text Files
  `mysqlshow', Showing Databases, Tables, and Columns
  `myisampack', The MySQL Compressed Read-only Table Generator
  `mysql_config', Get compile options for compiling clients
  `perror', Explaining Error Codes

MySQL Language Reference

Language Structure
  Literal Values
    Strings
    Numbers
    Hexadecimal Values
    Boolean Values
    `NULL' Values
  Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names
    Identifier Qualifiers
    Identifier Case Sensitivity
  User Variables
  System Variables
    Dynamic System Variables
    Structured System Variables
  Comment Syntax
  Treatment of Reserved Words in MySQL

Column Types
  Numeric Types
  Date and Time Types
    Y2K Issues and Date Types
    The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types
    The `TIME' Type
    The `YEAR' Type
  String Types
    The `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' Types
    The `BLOB' and `TEXT' Types
    The `ENUM' Type
    The `SET' Type
  Choosing the Right Type for a Column
  Using Column Types from Other Database Engines
  Column Type Storage Requirements

Functions and Operators
  Non-Type-Specific Operators and Functions
    Parentheses
    Comparison Operators
    Logical Operators
    Control Flow Functions
  String Functions
    String Comparison Functions
    Case-Sensitivity
  Numeric Functions
    Arithmetic Operations
    Mathematical Functions
  Date and Time Functions
  Cast Functions
  Other Functions
    Bit Functions
    Encryption Functions
    Information Functions
    Miscellaneous Functions
  Functions and Modifiers for Use with `GROUP BY' Clauses
    `GROUP BY' Functions
    `GROUP BY' Modifiers
    `GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields

SQL Statement Syntax
  Data Manipulation Statements
    `DELETE' Syntax
    `DO' Syntax
    `HANDLER' Syntax
    `INSERT' Syntax
      `INSERT ... SELECT' Syntax
      `INSERT DELAYED' Syntax
    `LOAD DATA INFILE' Syntax
    `REPLACE' Syntax
    `SELECT' Syntax
      `JOIN' Syntax
      `UNION' Syntax
    Subquery Syntax
      The Subquery as Scalar Operand
      Comparisons Using Subqueries
      Subqueries with `ANY', `IN', and `SOME'
      Subqueries with `ALL'
      Correlated Subqueries
      `EXISTS' and `NOT EXISTS'
      Row Subqueries
      Subqueries in the `FROM' clause
      Subquery Errors
      Optimizing Subqueries
      Rewriting Subqueries for Earlier MySQL Versions
    `TRUNCATE' Syntax
    `UPDATE' Syntax
  Data Definition Statements
    `ALTER DATABASE' Syntax
    `ALTER TABLE' Syntax
    `CREATE DATABASE' Syntax
    `CREATE INDEX' Syntax
    `CREATE TABLE' Syntax
      Silent Column Specification Changes
    `DROP DATABASE' Syntax
    `DROP INDEX' Syntax
    `DROP TABLE' Syntax
    `RENAME TABLE' Syntax
  Basic MySQL User Utility Statements
    `DESCRIBE' Syntax (Get Information About Columns)
    `USE' Syntax
  MySQL Transactional and Locking Statements
    `START TRANSACTION', `COMMIT', and `ROLLBACK' Syntax
    Statements That Cannot Be Rolled Back
    Statements That Cause an Implicit Commit
    `SAVEPOINT' and `ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT' Syntax
    `LOCK TABLES' and `UNLOCK TABLES' Syntax
    `SET TRANSACTION' Syntax
  Database Administration Statements
    Account Management Statements
      `GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax
    Table Maintenance Statements
      `ANALYZE TABLE' Syntax
      `BACKUP TABLE' Syntax
      `CHECK TABLE' Syntax
      `CHECKSUM TABLE' Syntax
      `OPTIMIZE TABLE' Syntax
      `REPAIR TABLE' Syntax
      `RESTORE TABLE' Syntax
    `SHOW' Syntax
      Retrieving Information about Database, Tables, Columns, and Indexes
      `SHOW TABLE STATUS'
      `SHOW STATUS'
      `SHOW VARIABLES'
      `SHOW [BDB] LOGS'
      `SHOW PROCESSLIST'
      `SHOW GRANTS'
      `SHOW CREATE TABLE'
      `SHOW WARNINGS | ERRORS'
      `SHOW TABLE TYPES'
      `SHOW PRIVILEGES'
    Other Administrative Statements
      `CACHE INDEX' Syntax
      `FLUSH' Syntax
      `KILL' Syntax
      `LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE' Syntax
      `PURGE MASTER LOGS' Syntax
      `RESET' Syntax
  Replication Statements
    SQL Statements for Controlling Master Servers
      `PURGE MASTER LOGS'
      `RESET MASTER'
      `SET SQL_LOG_BIN'
      `SHOW BINLOG EVENTS'
      `SHOW MASTER STATUS'
      `SHOW MASTER LOGS'
      `SHOW SLAVE HOSTS'
    SQL Statements for Controlling Slave Servers
      `CHANGE MASTER TO'
      `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'
      `LOAD TABLE tbl_name FROM MASTER'
      `MASTER_POS_WAIT()'
      `RESET SLAVE'
      `SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER'
      `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'
      `START SLAVE'
      `STOP SLAVE'
  MySQL Full-text Search
    Full-text Restrictions
    Fine-tuning MySQL Full-text Search
    Full-text Search TODO
  MySQL Query Cache
    How the Query Cache Operates
    Query Cache Configuration
    Query Cache Options in `SELECT'
    Query Cache Status and Maintenance

MySQL Table Types
  `MyISAM' Tables
    Space Needed for Keys
    `MyISAM' Table Formats
      Static (Fixed-length) Table Characteristics
      Dynamic Table Characteristics
      Compressed Table Characteristics
    `MyISAM' Table Problems
      Corrupted `MyISAM' Tables
      Clients is using or hasn't closed the table properly
  `MERGE' Tables
    `MERGE' Table Problems
  `HEAP' Tables
  `InnoDB' Tables
    InnoDB Tables Overview
    InnoDB in MySQL Version 3.23
    InnoDB Startup Options
    Creating InnoDB Tablespace
      If Something Goes Wrong in Database Creation
    Creating InnoDB Tables
      Converting MyISAM Tables to InnoDB
      `FOREIGN KEY' Constraints
      Multiple tablespaces - putting each table into its own .ibd file
    Adding and Removing InnoDB Data and Log Files
    Backing up and Recovering an InnoDB Database
      Forcing recovery
      Checkpoints
    Moving an InnoDB Database to Another Machine
    InnoDB Transaction Model and Locking
      InnoDB and `SET ... TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL ...'
      Consistent Non-Locking Read
      Locking Reads `SELECT ... FOR UPDATE' and `SELECT ... LOCK IN SHARE MODE'
      Next-key Locking: Avoiding the Phantom Problem
      Locks Set by Different SQL Statements in `InnoDB'
      Deadlock Detection and Rollback
      An Example of How the Consistent Read Works in `InnoDB'
      How to Cope With Deadlocks
    Performance Tuning Tips
      `SHOW INNODB STATUS' and the `InnoDB' Monitors
    Implementation of Multi-versioning
    Table and Index Structures
      Physical Structure of an Index
      Insert Buffering
      Adaptive Hash Indexes
      Physical Record Structure
      How an `AUTO_INCREMENT' Column Works in InnoDB
    File Space Management and Disk I/O
      Disk I/O
      File Space Management
      Defragmenting a Table
    Error Handling
    Restrictions on InnoDB Tables
    InnoDB Change History
      MySQL/InnoDB-5.0.0, December 24, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.17, December 17, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.1.1, December 4, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.16, October 22, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.58, September 15, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.15, September 10, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.14, July 22, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.57, June 20, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.13, May 20, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.1.0, April 3, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.56, March 17, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.12, March 18, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.11, February 25, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.10, February 4, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.55, January 24, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.9, January 14, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.8, January 7, 2003
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.7, December 26, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.6, December 19, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.54, December 12, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.5, November 18, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.53, October 9, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.4, October 2, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.3, August 28, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.52, August 16, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.2, July 10, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.51, June 12, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.50, April 23, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.49, February 17, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.48, February 9, 2002
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.47, December 28, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.1, December 23, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.46, November 30, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.45, November 23, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.44, November 2, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.43, October 4, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.42, September 9, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.41, August 13, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.40, July 16, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.39, June 13, 2001
      MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.38, May 12, 2001
    `InnoDB' Contact Information
  `BDB' or `BerkeleyDB' Tables
    Overview of `BDB' Tables
    Installing `BDB'
    `BDB' Startup Options
    Characteristics of `BDB' Tables
    Things We Need to Fix for `BDB' in the Near Future
    Operating Systems Supported by `BDB'
    Restrictions on `BDB' Tables
    Errors That May Occur When Using `BDB' Tables
  `ISAM' Tables

Introduction to MaxDB
  History of MaxDB
  Licensing and Support
  Basic Concepts of MaxDB
  Feature Differences between MaxDB and MySQL
  Interoperability Features between MaxDB and MySQL
  MaxDB-related Links
  Reserved Words in MaxDB
  Functions
  Column Types

National Character Sets and Unicode
  Character Sets and Collations in General
  Character Sets and Collations in MySQL
  Determining the Default Character Set and Collation
    Server Character Set and Collation
    Database Character Set and Collation
    Table Character Set and Collation
    Column Character Set and Collation
    Examples of Character Set and Collation Assignment
    Connection Character Sets and Collations
    Character String Literal Character Set and Collation
    `COLLATE' Clause in Various Parts of an SQL Query
    `COLLATE' Clause Precedence
    `BINARY' Operator
    Some Special Cases Where the Collation Determination is Tricky
    Collations Must Be for the Right Character Set
    An example of the Effect of Collation
  Operations Affected by Character Set Support
    Result Strings
    `CONVERT()'
    `CAST()'
    `SHOW CHARACTER SET'
    `SHOW COLLATION'
    `SHOW CREATE DATABASE'
    `SHOW FULL COLUMNS'
  Unicode Support
  UTF8 for Metadata
  Compatibility with Other DBMSs
  New Character Set Configuration File format
  National Character Set
  Upgrading from MySQL 4.0
    4.0 Character Sets and Corresponding 4.1 Character Set/Collation Pairs
  The Character Sets and Collations that MySQL Supports
    The Unicode Character Sets
    Platform Specific Character Sets
    Character Sets for South Europe and Middle East
    The Asian Character Sets
    The Baltic Character Sets
    The Cyrillic Character Sets
    The Central European Character Sets
    The West European Character Sets

Spatial Extensions in MySQL
  Introduction
  The OpenGIS Geometry Model
    The Geometry Class Hierarchy
    Class `Geometry'
    Class `Point'
    Class `Curve'
    Class `LineString'
    Class `Surface'
    Class `Polygon'
    Class `GeometryCollection'
    Class `MultiPoint'
    Class `MultiCurve'
    Class `MultiLineString'
    Class `MultiSurface'
    Class `MultiPolygon'
  Supported Spatial Data Formats
    Well-Known Text (WKT) Format
    Well-Known Binary (WKB) Format
  Creating a Spatially Enabled MySQL Database
    MySQL Spatial Datatypes
    Creating Spatial Values
      Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions
      Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions
      Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions
    Creating Spatial Columns
    Populating Spatial Columns
    Fetching Spatial Data
      Fetching Spatial Data in Internal Format
      Fetching Spatial Data in WKT Format
      Fetching Spatial Data in WKB Format
  Analyzing Spatial Information
    Geometry Format Conversion Functions
    `Geometry' Functions
      General Geometry Functions
      `Point' Functions
      `LineString' Functions
      `MultiLineString' Functions
      `Polygon' Functions
      `MultiPolygon' Functions
      `GeometryCollection' Functions
    Functions That Create New Geometries from Existing Ones
      Geometry Functions That Produce New Geometries
      Spatial Operators
    Functions for Testing Spatial Relations Between Geometric Objects
    Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)
    Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries
  Optimizing Spatial Analysis
    Creating Spatial Indexes
    Using a Spatial Index
  MySQL Conformance and Compatibility
    GIS Features That Are Not Yet Implemented

Stored Procedures and Functions
  Stored Procedure Syntax
    Maintaining Stored Procedures
      `CREATE PROCEDURE' and `CREATE FUNCTION'
      `ALTER PROCEDURE' and `ALTER FUNCTION'
      `DROP PROCEDURE' and `DROP FUNCTION'
      `SHOW CREATE PROCEDURE' and `SHOW CREATE FUNCTION'
    `SHOW PROCEDURE STATUS' and `SHOW FUNCTION STATUS'
    `CALL'
    `BEGIN ... END' Compound Statement
    `DECLARE' Statement
    Variables in Stored Procedures
      `DECLARE' Local Variables
      Variable `SET' Statement
      `SELECT ... INTO' Statement
    Conditions and Handlers
      `DECLARE' Conditions
      `DECLARE' Handlers
    Cursors
      Declaring Cursors
      Cursor `OPEN' Statement
      Cursor `FETCH' Statement
      Cursor `CLOSE' Statement
    Flow Control Constructs
      `IF' Statement
      `CASE' Statement
      `LOOP' Statement
      `LEAVE' Statement
      `ITERATE' Statement
      `REPEAT' Statement
      `WHILE' Statement

MySQL APIs
  MySQL C API
    C API Datatypes
    C API Function Overview
    C API Function Descriptions
      `mysql_affected_rows()'
      `mysql_change_user()'
      `mysql_character_set_name()'
      `mysql_close()'
      `mysql_connect()'
      `mysql_create_db()'
      `mysql_data_seek()'
      `mysql_debug()'
      `mysql_drop_db()'
      `mysql_dump_debug_info()'
      `mysql_eof()'
      `mysql_errno()'
      `mysql_error()'
      `mysql_escape_string()'
      `mysql_fetch_field()'
      `mysql_fetch_fields()'
      `mysql_fetch_field_direct()'
      `mysql_fetch_lengths()'
      `mysql_fetch_row()'
      `mysql_field_count()'
      `mysql_field_seek()'
      `mysql_field_tell()'
      `mysql_free_result()'
      `mysql_get_client_info()'
      `mysql_get_client_version()'
      `mysql_get_host_info()'
      `mysql_get_proto_info()'
      `mysql_get_server_info()'
      `mysql_get_server_version()'
      `mysql_info()'
      `mysql_init()'
      `mysql_insert_id()'
      `mysql_kill()'
      `mysql_list_dbs()'
      `mysql_list_fields()'
      `mysql_list_processes()'
      `mysql_list_tables()'
      `mysql_num_fields()'
      `mysql_num_rows()'
      `mysql_options()'
      `mysql_ping()'
      `mysql_query()'
      `mysql_real_connect()'
      `mysql_real_escape_string()'
      `mysql_real_query()'
      `mysql_reload()'
      `mysql_row_seek()'
      `mysql_row_tell()'
      `mysql_select_db()'
      `mysql_set_server_option()'
      `mysql_shutdown()'
      `mysql_sqlstate()'
      `mysql_ssl_set()'
      `mysql_stat()'
      `mysql_store_result()'
      `mysql_thread_id()'
      `mysql_use_result()'
      `mysql_warning_count()'
      `mysql_commit()'
      `mysql_rollback()'
      `mysql_autocommit()'
      `mysql_more_results()'
      `mysql_next_result()'
    C API Prepared Statements
    C API Prepared Statement Datatypes
    C API Prepared Statement Function Overview
    C API Prepared Statement Function Descriptions
      `mysql_bind_param()'
      `mysql_bind_result()'
      `mysql_execute()'
      `mysql_fetch()'
      `mysql_fetch_column()'
      `mysql_get_metadata()'
      `mysql_param_count()'
      `mysql_param_result()'
      `mysql_prepare()'
      `mysql_send_long_data()'
      `mysql_stmt_affected_rows()'
      `mysql_stmt_close()'
      `mysql_stmt_data_seek()'
      `mysql_stmt_errno()'
      `mysql_stmt_error()'
      `mysql_stmt_free_result()'
      `mysql_stmt_num_rows()'
      `mysql_stmt_reset()'
      `mysql_stmt_row_seek()'
      `mysql_stmt_row_tell()'
      `mysql_stmt_sqlstate()'
      `mysql_stmt_store_result()'
    C API Handling of Multiple Query Execution
    C API Handling of Date and Time Values
    C API Threaded Function Descriptions
      `my_init()'
      `mysql_thread_init()'
      `mysql_thread_end()'
      `mysql_thread_safe()'
    C API Embedded Server Function Descriptions
      `mysql_server_init()'
      `mysql_server_end()'
    Common questions and problems when using the C API
      Why `mysql_store_result()' Sometimes Returns `NULL' After `mysql_query()' Returns Success
      What Results You Can Get from a Query
      How to Get the Unique ID for the Last Inserted Row
      Problems Linking with the C API
    Building Client Programs
    How to Make a Threaded Client
    libmysqld, the Embedded MySQL Server Library
      Overview of the Embedded MySQL Server Library
      Compiling Programs with `libmysqld'
      Restrictions when using the Embedded MySQL Server
      Using Option Files with the Embedded Server
      Things left to do in Embedded Server (TODO)
      A Simple Embedded Server Example
      Licensing the Embedded Server
  MySQL ODBC Support
    How to Install MyODBC
    How to Fill in the Various Fields in the ODBC Administrator Program
    Connect parameters for MyODBC
    How to Report Problems with MyODBC
    Programs Known to Work with MyODBC
    How to Get the Value of an `AUTO_INCREMENT' Column in ODBC
    Reporting Problems with MyODBC
  MySQL Java Connectivity (JDBC)
  MySQL PHP API
    Common Problems with MySQL and PHP
  MySQL Perl API
  MySQL C++ API
    Borland C++
  MySQL Python API
  MySQL Tcl API
  MySQL Eiffel Wrapper

Error Handling in MySQL
  Error Returns

Extending MySQL
  MySQL Internals
    MySQL Threads
    MySQL Test Suite
      Running the MySQL Test Suite
      Extending the MySQL Test Suite
      Reporting Bugs in the MySQL Test Suite
  Adding New Functions to MySQL
    `CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax
    Adding a New User-defined Function
      UDF Calling Sequences for simple functions
      UDF Calling Sequences for aggregate functions
      Argument Processing
      Return Values and Error Handling
      Compiling and Installing User-defined Functions
    Adding a New Native Function
  Adding New Procedures to MySQL
    Procedure Analyse
    Writing a Procedure

Problems and Common Errors
  How to Determine What Is Causing Problems
  Common Errors When Using MySQL
    `Access denied' Error
    `MySQL server has gone away' Error
    `Can't connect to [local] MySQL server' Error
    `Client does not support authentication protocol' error
    `Host '...' is blocked' Error
    `Too many connections' Error
    `Some non-transactional changed tables couldn't be rolled back' Error
    `Out of memory' Error
    `Packet too large' Error
    Communication Errors / Aborted Connection
    `The table is full' Error
    `Can't create/write to file' Error
    `Commands out of sync' Error in Client
    `Ignoring user' Error
    `Table 'xxx' doesn't exist' Error
    `Can't initialize character set xxx' error
    File Not Found
  Installation Related Issues
    Problems When Linking with the MySQL Client Library
    How to Run MySQL As a Normal User
    Problems with File Permissions
  Administration Related Issues
    What To Do If MySQL Keeps Crashing
    How to Reset a Forgotten Root Password
    How MySQL Handles a Full Disk
    Where MySQL Stores Temporary Files
    How to Protect or Change the MySQL Socket File `/tmp/mysql.sock'
    Time Zone Problems
  Query Related Issues
    Case-Sensitivity in Searches
    Problems Using `DATE' Columns
    Problems with `NULL' Values
    Problems with `alias'
    Deleting Rows from Related Tables
    Solving Problems with No Matching Rows
    Problems with Floating-Point Comparison
  Optimizer Related Issues
    How to avoid table scan,,,
  Table Definition Related Issues
    Problems with `ALTER TABLE'.
    How To Change the Order of Columns in a Table
    TEMPORARY TABLE problems

Credits
  Developers at MySQL AB
  Contributors to MySQL
  Documenters and translators
  Libraries used by and included with MySQL
  Packages that support MySQL
  Tools that were used to create MySQL
  Supporters of MySQL

MySQL Change History
  Changes in release 5.0.x (Development)
    Changes in release 5.0.1 (not released yet)
    Changes in release 5.0.0 (22 Dec 2003: Alpha)
  Changes in release 4.1.x (Alpha)
    Changes in release 4.1.2 (not released yet)
    Changes in release 4.1.1 (01 Dec 2003)
    Changes in release 4.1.0 (03 Apr 2003: Alpha)
  Changes in release 4.0.x (Production)
    Changes in release 4.0.19 (not released yet)
    Changes in release 4.0.18 (to be released soon)
    Changes in release 4.0.17 (14 Dec 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.16 (17 Oct 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.15 (03 Sep 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.14 (18 Jul 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.13 (16 May 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.12 (15 Mar 2003: Production)
    Changes in release 4.0.11 (20 Feb 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.10 (29 Jan 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.9 (09 Jan 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.8 (07 Jan 2003)
    Changes in release 4.0.7 (20 Dec 2002)
    Changes in release 4.0.6 (14 Dec 2002: Gamma)
    Changes in release 4.0.5 (13 Nov 2002)
    Changes in release 4.0.4 (29 Sep 2002)
    Changes in release 4.0.3 (26 Aug 2002: Beta)
    Changes in release 4.0.2 (01 Jul 2002)
    Changes in release 4.0.1 (23 Dec 2001)
    Changes in release 4.0.0 (Oct 2001: Alpha)
  Changes in release 3.23.x (Recent; still supported)
    Changes in release 3.23.59 (not released yet)
    Changes in release 3.23.58 (11 Sep 2003)
    Changes in release 3.23.57 (06 Jun 2003)
    Changes in release 3.23.56 (13 Mar 2003)
    Changes in release 3.23.55 (23 Jan 2003)
    Changes in release 3.23.54 (05 Dec 2002)
    Changes in release 3.23.53 (09 Oct 2002)
    Changes in release 3.23.52 (14 Aug 2002)
    Changes in release 3.23.51 (31 May 2002)
    Changes in release 3.23.50 (21 Apr 2002)
    Changes in release 3.23.49
    Changes in release 3.23.48 (07 Feb 2002)
    Changes in release 3.23.47 (27 Dec 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.46 (29 Nov 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.45 (22 Nov 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.44 (31 Oct 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.43 (04 Oct 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.42 (08 Sep 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.41 (11 Aug 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.40
    Changes in release 3.23.39 (12 Jun 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.38 (09 May 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.37 (17 Apr 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.36 (27 Mar 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.35 (15 Mar 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.34a
    Changes in release 3.23.34 (10 Mar 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.33 (09 Feb 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.32 (22 Jan 2001: Production)
    Changes in release 3.23.31 (17 Jan 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.30 (04 Jan 2001)
    Changes in release 3.23.29 (16 Dec 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.28 (22 Nov 2000: Gamma)
    Changes in release 3.23.27 (24 Oct 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.26 (18 Oct 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.25 (29 Sep 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.24 (08 Sep 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.23 (01 Sep 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.22 (31 Jul 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.21
    Changes in release 3.23.20
    Changes in release 3.23.19
    Changes in release 3.23.18
    Changes in release 3.23.17
    Changes in release 3.23.16
    Changes in release 3.23.15 (May 2000: Beta)
    Changes in release 3.23.14
    Changes in release 3.23.13
    Changes in release 3.23.12 (07 Mar 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.11
    Changes in release 3.23.10
    Changes in release 3.23.9
    Changes in release 3.23.8 (02 Jan 2000)
    Changes in release 3.23.7 (10 Dec 1999)
    Changes in release 3.23.6
    Changes in release 3.23.5 (20 Oct 1999)
    Changes in release 3.23.4 (28 Sep 1999)
    Changes in release 3.23.3
    Changes in release 3.23.2 (09 Aug 1999)
    Changes in release 3.23.1
    Changes in release 3.23.0 (05 Aug 1999: Alpha)
  Changes in release 3.22.x (Old; discontinued)
    Changes in release 3.22.35
    Changes in release 3.22.34
    Changes in release 3.22.33
    Changes in release 3.22.32 (14 Feb 2000)
    Changes in release 3.22.31
    Changes in release 3.22.30
    Changes in release 3.22.29 (02 Jan 2000)
    Changes in release 3.22.28 (20 Oct 1999)
    Changes in release 3.22.27
    Changes in release 3.22.26 (16 Sep 1999)
    Changes in release 3.22.25
    Changes in release 3.22.24 (05 Jul 1999)
    Changes in release 3.22.23 (08 Jun 1999)
    Changes in release 3.22.22 (30 Apr 1999)
    Changes in release 3.22.21
    Changes in release 3.22.20 (18 Mar 1999)
    Changes in release 3.22.19 (Mar 1999: Production)
    Changes in release 3.22.18
    Changes in release 3.22.17
    Changes in release 3.22.16 (Feb 1999: Gamma)
    Changes in release 3.22.15
    Changes in release 3.22.14
    Changes in release 3.22.13
    Changes in release 3.22.12
    Changes in release 3.22.11
    Changes in release 3.22.10
    Changes in release 3.22.9
    Changes in release 3.22.8
    Changes in release 3.22.7 (Sep 1998: Beta)
    Changes in release 3.22.6
    Changes in release 3.22.5
    Changes in release 3.22.4
    Changes in release 3.22.3
    Changes in release 3.22.2
    Changes in release 3.22.1 (Jun 1998: Alpha)
    Changes in release 3.22.0
  Changes in release 3.21.x
    Changes in release 3.21.33
    Changes in release 3.21.32
    Changes in release 3.21.31
    Changes in release 3.21.30
    Changes in release 3.21.29
    Changes in release 3.21.28
    Changes in release 3.21.27
    Changes in release 3.21.26
    Changes in release 3.21.25
    Changes in release 3.21.24
    Changes in release 3.21.23
    Changes in release 3.21.22
    Changes in release 3.21.21a
    Changes in release 3.21.21
    Changes in release 3.21.20
    Changes in release 3.21.19
    Changes in release 3.21.18
    Changes in release 3.21.17
    Changes in release 3.21.16
    Changes in release 3.21.15
    Changes in release 3.21.14b
    Changes in release 3.21.14a
    Changes in release 3.21.13
    Changes in release 3.21.12
    Changes in release 3.21.11
    Changes in release 3.21.10
    Changes in release 3.21.9
    Changes in release 3.21.8
    Changes in release 3.21.7
    Changes in release 3.21.6
    Changes in release 3.21.5
    Changes in release 3.21.4
    Changes in release 3.21.3
    Changes in release 3.21.2
    Changes in release 3.21.0
  Changes in release 3.20.x
    Changes in release 3.20.18
    Changes in release 3.20.17
    Changes in release 3.20.16
    Changes in release 3.20.15
    Changes in release 3.20.14
    Changes in release 3.20.13
    Changes in release 3.20.11
    Changes in release 3.20.10
    Changes in release 3.20.9
    Changes in release 3.20.8
    Changes in release 3.20.7
    Changes in release 3.20.6
    Changes in release 3.20.3
    Changes in release 3.20.0
  Changes in release 3.19.x
    Changes in release 3.19.5
    Changes in release 3.19.4
    Changes in release 3.19.3

Porting to Other Systems
  Debugging a MySQL server
    Compiling MYSQL for Debugging
    Creating Trace Files
    Debugging mysqld under gdb
    Using a Stack Trace
    Using Log Files to Find Cause of Errors in mysqld
    Making a Test Case If You Experience Table Corruption
  Debugging a MySQL client
  The DBUG Package
  Locking methods
  Comments about RTS threads
  Differences between different thread packages

Environment Variables

MySQL Regular Expressions

GNU General Public License

SQL command, type and function index

Concept Index


This is the Reference Manual for the `MySQL Database System'.  This
version refers to the 4.0.18 version of `MySQL Server' but it is also
applicable for any older version (such as 3.23 and 4.0-production) as
changes are always indicated. There are also references for version 5.0
(development).

General Information
*******************

The `MySQL' (R) software delivers a very fast, multi-threaded,
multi-user, and robust `SQL' (`Structured Query Language') database
server.  `MySQL Server' is intended for mission-critical, heavy-load
production systems as well as for embedding into mass-deployed software.
`MySQL' is a trademark of `MySQL AB'.

The `MySQL' software is `Dual Licensed'. Users can choose to use the
`MySQL' software as an `Open Source'/`Free Software' product under the
terms of the `GNU General Public License'
(`http://www.fsf.org/licenses/') or can purchase a standard commercial
license from `MySQL AB'.  *Note Licensing and Support::.

The `MySQL' web site (`http://www.mysql.com/') provides the latest
information about the `MySQL' software.

The following list describes some sections of particular interest in
this manual:

   * For information about the company behind the `MySQL Database
     Server', see *Note What is MySQL AB::.

   * For a discussion about the capabilities of the `MySQL Database
     Server', see *Note Features::.

   * For installation instructions, see *Note Installing::.

   * For tips on porting the `MySQL Database Software' to new
     architectures or operating systems, see *Note Porting::.

   * For information about upgrading from a Version 4.0 release, see
     *Note Upgrading-from-4.0::.

   * For information about upgrading from a Version 3.23 release, see
     *Note Upgrading-from-3.23::.

   * For information about upgrading from a Version 3.22 release, see
     *Note Upgrading-from-3.22::.

   * For a tutorial introduction to the `MySQL Database Server', see
     *Note Tutorial::.

   * For examples of `SQL' and benchmarking information, see the
     benchmarking directory (`sql-bench' in the distribution).

   * For a history of new features and bug fixes, see *Note News::.

   * For a list of currently known bugs and misfeatures, see *Note
     Bugs::.

   * For future plans, see *Note TODO::.

   * For a list of all the contributors to this project, see *Note
     Credits::.

*Important*:

Reports of errors (often called bugs), as well as questions and
comments, should be sent to the general MySQL mailing list.  *Note
Mailing-list::.  *Note Bug reports::.

The `mysqlbug' script should be used to generate bug reports on Unix.
(Windows distributions contain a file `mysqlbug.txt' in the base
directory that can be used as a template for a bug report.)

For source distributions, the `mysqlbug' script can be found in the
`scripts' directory. For binary distributions, `mysqlbug' can be found
in the `bin' directory (`/usr/bin' for the `MySQL-server' RPM package).

If you have found a sensitive security bug in `MySQL Server', please let
us know immediately by sending an email message to <security@mysql.com>.

About This Manual
=================

This is the `MySQL' reference manual; it documents `MySQL' up to
Version 4.0.18. Functional changes are always indicated with reference
to the version, so this manual is also suitable if you are using an
older version of the `MySQL' software (such as 3.23 or 4.0-production).
There are also references for version 5.0 (development).

Being a reference manual, it does not provide general instruction on
`SQL' or relational database concepts. It also will not teach you how to
use your operating system or command line interpreter.

As the `MySQL Database Software' is under constant development, the
manual is also updated frequently.  The most recent version of this
manual is available at `http://www.mysql.com/documentation/' in many
different formats, including HTML, PDF, and Windows HLP versions.

The primary document is the Texinfo file.  The HTML version is produced
automatically using a modified version of `texi2html'.  The plain text
and Info versions are produced with `makeinfo'.  The PostScript version
is produced using `texi2dvi' and `dvips'.  The PDF version is produced
with `pdftex'.

The index can assist you in finding information in the manual. For
online use, you can try the searchable version of the manual available
at `http://www.mysql.com/doc/'.

If you have any suggestions concerning additions or corrections to this
manual, please send them to the documentation team at <docs@mysql.com>.

This manual was initially written by David Axmark and Michael (Monty)
Widenius. It is now maintained by the MySQL Documentation Team,
consisting of Arjen Lentz, Paul DuBois and Stefan Hinz.  For the many
other contributors, see *Note Credits::.

The copyright (2004) to this manual is owned by the Swedish company
`MySQL AB'. *Note Copyright::.

Conventions Used in This Manual
-------------------------------

This manual uses certain typographical conventions:

`constant'
     Constant-width font is used for command names and options; SQL
     statements; database, table, and column names; C and Perl code;
     and environment variables.  Example: "To see how `mysqladmin'
     works, invoke it with the `--help' option."

`filename'
     Constant-width font with surrounding quotes is used for filenames
     and pathnames.  Example: "The distribution is installed under the
     `/usr/local/' directory."

`c'
     Constant-width font with surrounding quotes is also used to
     indicate character sequences.  Example: "To specify a wildcard,
     use the `%' character."

_italic_
     Italic font is used for emphasis, _like this_.

*boldface*
     Boldface font is used in table headings and to convey *especially
     strong emphasis*.

When commands are shown that are meant to be executed by a particular
program, the program is indicated by a prompt shown before the command.
For example, `shell>' indicates a command that you execute from your
login shell, and `mysql>' indicates a statement that you execute from
the `mysql' client program:

     shell> type a shell command here
     mysql> type a mysql statement here

The "shell" is your command interpreter. On Unix, this is typically a
program such as `sh' or `csh'. On Windows, the equivalent is
`command.com' or `cmd.exe', typically run in a Windows console.

Note that to enter a command or statement from an example, you do not
type the prompt shown in the example.

Commands to set shell variables are shown using Bourne shell syntax.
If you are using `csh' or `tcsh', you will need to issue commands
somewhat differently.  For example, the sequence to set an environment
variable and run a command looks like this in Bourne shell syntax:

     shell> VARNAME=value some_command

For `csh' or `tcsh', you would execute the sequence like this:

     shell> setenv VARNAME value
     shell> some_command

Database, table, and column names must often be substituted into
commands.  To indicate that such substitution is necessary, this manual
uses `db_name', `tbl_name', and `col_name'.  For example, you might see
a statement like this:

     mysql> SELECT col_name FROM db_name.tbl_name;

This means that if you were to enter a similar statement, you would
supply your own database, table, and column names, perhaps like this:

     mysql> SELECT author_name FROM biblio_db.author_list;

SQL keywords are not case sensitive and may be written in uppercase or
lowercase.  This manual uses uppercase.

In syntax descriptions, square brackets (`[' and `]') are used to
indicate optional words or clauses.  For example, in the following
statement, `IF EXISTS' is optional:

     DROP TABLE [IF EXISTS] tbl_name

When a syntax element consists of a number of alternatives, the
alternatives are separated by vertical bars (`|').  When one member
from a set of choices *may* be chosen, the alternatives are listed
within square brackets (`[' and `]'):

     TRIM([[BOTH | LEADING | TRAILING] [remstr] FROM] str)

When one member from a set of choices *must* be chosen, the
alternatives are listed within braces (`{' and `}'):

     {DESCRIBE | DESC} tbl_name {col_name | wild}

An ellipsis (`...') indicates the omission of a section of a statement,
typically to provide a shorter version of more complex syntax. For
example, `INSERT ... SELECT' is shorthand for the form of `INSERT'
statement that is followed by a `SELECT' statement.

An ellipsis can also indicate that the preceding syntax element of a
statement may be repeated. In the following example, multiple
`reset_option' values may be given, with each of those after the first
preceded by commas:

     RESET reset_option [,reset_option] ...

Overview of the MySQL Database Management System
================================================

`MySQL', the most popular `Open Source' SQL database management system,
is developed, distributed, and supported by `MySQL AB'.  `MySQL AB' is a
commercial company, founded by the MySQL developers, that builds its
business by providing services around the `MySQL' database management
system.  *Note What is MySQL AB::.

The `MySQL' web site (`http://www.mysql.com/') provides the latest
information about `MySQL' software and `MySQL AB'.

`MySQL' is a database management system.
     A database is a structured collection of data.  It may be anything
     from a simple shopping list to a picture gallery or the vast
     amounts of information in a corporate network.  To add, access,
     and process data stored in a computer database, you need a
     database management system such as `MySQL' Server.  Since
     computers are very good at handling large amounts of data,
     database management systems play a central role in computing, as
     stand-alone utilities or as parts of other applications.

MySQL is a relational database management system.
     A relational database stores data in separate tables rather than
     putting all the data in one big storeroom.  This adds speed and
     flexibility.  The `SQL' part of "`MySQL'" stands for "`Structured
     Query Language'". SQL is the most common standardized language
     used to access databases and is defined by the ANSI/ISO SQL
     Standard.(The SQL standard has been evolving since 1986 and
     several versions exist. In this manual, "`SQL-92'" refers to the
     standard released in 1992, "`SQL-99'" refers to the standard
     released in 1999, and "`SQL:2003'" refers to the next version of
     the standard.  We use the term "`the SQL standard'" to mean the
     current version of the SQL Standard at any time.)

MySQL software is `Open Source'.
     `Open Source' means that it is possible for anyone to use and
     modify the software.  Anybody can download the `MySQL' software
     from the Internet and use it without paying anything.  If you
     wish, you may study the source code and change it to suit your
     needs.  The `MySQL' software uses the `GPL' (`GNU General Public
     License'), `http://www.fsf.org/licenses/', to define what you may
     and may not do with the software in different situations.  If you
     feel uncomfortable with the `GPL' or need to embed `MySQL' code
     into a commercial application, you can buy a commercially licensed
     version from us.  *Note MySQL licenses::.

Why use the MySQL Database Server?
     The `MySQL Database Server' is very fast, reliable, and easy to
     use.  If that is what you are looking for, you should give it a
     try.  `MySQL Server' also has a practical set of features
     developed in close cooperation with our users.  You can find a
     performance comparison of `MySQL Server' with other database
     managers on our benchmark page.  *Note MySQL Benchmarks::.

     `MySQL Server' was originally developed to handle large databases
     much faster than existing solutions and has been successfully used
     in highly demanding production environments for several years.
     Though under constant development, `MySQL Server' today offers a
     rich and useful set of functions.  Its connectivity, speed, and
     security make `MySQL Server' highly suited for accessing databases
     on the Internet.

The technical features of MySQL Server
     The `MySQL Database Software' is a client/server system that
     consists of a multi-threaded `SQL' server that supports different
     backends, several different client programs and libraries,
     administrative tools, and a wide range of application programming
     interfaces (APIs).

     We also provide `MySQL Server' as a multi-threaded library which
     you can link into your application to get a smaller, faster,
     easier-to-manage product.

There is a large amount of contributed MySQL software available.
     It is very likely that you will find that your favorite
     application or language already supports the `MySQL Database
     Server'.

The official way to pronounce `MySQL' is "My Ess Que Ell" (not "my
sequel"), but we don't mind if you pronounce it as "my sequel" or in
some other localized way.

History of MySQL
----------------

We started out with the intention of using `mSQL' to connect to our
tables using our own fast low-level (ISAM) routines. However, after some
testing, we came to the conclusion that `mSQL' was not fast enough or
flexible enough for our needs.  This resulted in a new SQL interface to
our database but with almost the same API interface as `mSQL'.  This
API was designed to allow third-party code that was written for use
with `mSQL' to be ported easily for use with `MySQL'.

The derivation of the name `MySQL' is not clear.  Our base directory
and a large number of our libraries and tools have had the prefix "my"
for well over 10 years.  However, co-founder Monty Widenius's daughter
is also named My.  Which of the two gave its name to `MySQL' is still a
mystery, even for us.

The name of the MySQL Dolphin (our logo) is `Sakila'. `Sakila' was
chosen by the founders of MySQL AB from a huge list of names suggested
by users in our "Name the Dolphin" contest. The winning name was
submitted by Ambrose Twebaze, an open source software developer from
Swaziland, Africa.  According to Ambrose, the name Sakila has its roots
in SiSwati, the local language of Swaziland. Sakila is also the name of
a town in Arusha, Tanzania, near Ambrose's country of origin, Uganda.

The Main Features of MySQL
--------------------------

The following list describes some of the important characteristics of
the `MySQL Database Software'. *Note MySQL 4.0 Nutshell::.

Internals and Portability
        * Written in C and C++.

        * Tested with a broad range of different compilers.

        * Works on many different platforms.  *Note Which OS::.

        * Uses GNU Automake, Autoconf, and Libtool for portability.

        * APIs for C, C++, Eiffel, Java, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, and
          Tcl are available.  *Note Clients::.

        * Fully multi-threaded using kernel threads.  This means it can
          easily use multiple CPUs if they are available.

        * Provides transactional and non-transactional storage engines.

        * Uses very fast B-tree disk tables (`MyISAM') with index
          compression.

        * Relatively easy to add another storage engine. This is useful
          if you want to add an SQL interface to an in-house database.

        * A very fast thread-based memory allocation system.

        * Very fast joins using an optimized one-sweep multi-join.

        * In-memory hash tables which are used as temporary tables.

        * SQL functions are implemented using a highly optimized class
          library and should be as fast as possible.  Usually there is
          no memory allocation at all after query initialization.

        * The `MySQL' code is tested with Purify (a commercial memory
          leakage detector) as well as with Valgrind, a `GPL' tool
          (`http://developer.kde.org/~sewardj/').

        * The server is available as a separate program for use in a
          client/server networked environment.  It is also available as
          a library that can be embedded (linked) into standalone
          applications. Such applications can be used in isolation or
          in environments where no network is available.

Column Types
        * Many column types: signed/unsigned integers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 8
          bytes long, `FLOAT', `DOUBLE', `CHAR', `VARCHAR', `TEXT',
          `BLOB', `DATE', `TIME', `DATETIME', `TIMESTAMP', `YEAR',
          `SET', `ENUM', and OpenGIS geometry types.  *Note Column
          types::.

        * Fixed-length and variable-length records.

Commands and Functions
        * Full operator and function support in the `SELECT' and `WHERE'
          clauses of queries.  For example:

               mysql> SELECT CONCAT(first_name, ' ', last_name)
                   -> FROM tbl_name
                   -> WHERE income/dependents > 10000 AND age > 30;

        * Full support for SQL `GROUP BY' and `ORDER BY' clauses.
          Support for group functions (`COUNT()', `COUNT(DISTINCT ...)',
          `AVG()', `STD()', `SUM()', `MAX()', `MIN()', and
          `GROUP_CONCAT()').

        * Support for `LEFT OUTER JOIN' and `RIGHT OUTER JOIN' with
          both standard SQL and ODBC syntax.

        * Support for aliases on tables and columns as required by
          SQL-92.

        * `DELETE', `INSERT', `REPLACE', and `UPDATE' return the number
          of rows that were changed (affected).  It is possible to
          return the number of rows matched instead by setting a flag
          when connecting to the server.

        * The `MySQL'-specific `SHOW' command can be used to retrieve
          information about databases, tables, and indexes.  The
          `EXPLAIN' command can be used to determine how the optimizer
          resolves a query.

        * Function names do not clash with table or column names.  For
          example, `ABS' is a valid column name.  The only restriction
          is that for a function call, no spaces are allowed between
          the function name and the `(' that follows it.  *Note
          Reserved words::.

        * You can mix tables from different databases in the same query
          (as of Version 3.22).

Security
        * A privilege and password system that is very flexible and
          secure, and allows host-based verification.  Passwords are
          secure because all password traffic is encrypted when you
          connect to a server.

Scalability and Limits
        * Handles large databases.  We use `MySQL Server' with
          databases that contain 50 million records. We also know of
          users that use `MySQL Server' with 60,000 tables and about
          5,000,000,000 rows.

        * Up to 32 indexes per table are allowed.  Each index may
          consist of 1 to 16 columns or parts of columns.  The maximum
          index width is 500 bytes (this may be changed when compiling
          `MySQL Server').  An index may use a prefix of a `CHAR' or
          `VARCHAR' column.

Connectivity
        * Clients may connect to the `MySQL' server using TCP/IP sockets
          on any platform.  On Windows systems in the NT family (NT,
          2000, or XP), clients may connect using named pipes. On Unix
          systems, clients may connect using Unix domain socket files.

        * The Connector/ODBC interface provides `MySQL' support for
          client programs that use ODBC (Open-DataBase-Connectivity)
          connections.  For example, you can use MS Access to connect
          to your `MySQL' server.  Clients may be run on Windows or
          Unix.  Connector/ODBC source is available.  All ODBC 2.5
          functions are supported, as are many others.  *Note ODBC::.

        * The Connector/JDBC interface provides `MySQL' support for
          Java client programs that use JDBC connections.  Clients may
          be run on Windows or Unix.  Connector/JDBC source is
          available.  *Note Java::.

Localization
        * The server can provide error messages to clients in many
          languages.  *Note Languages::.

        * Full support for several different character sets, including
          ISO-8859-1 (Latin1), german, big5, ujis, and more.  For
          example, the Scandinavian characters `a^', `a"' and `o"' are
          allowed in table and column names.  Unicode support is
          available as of `MySQL' 4.1.

        * All data is saved in the chosen character set.  All
          comparisons for normal string columns are case-insensitive.

        * Sorting is done according to the chosen character set (the
          Swedish way by default).  It is possible to change this when
          the `MySQL' server is started.  To see an example of very
          advanced sorting, look at the Czech sorting code.  `MySQL
          Server' supports many different character sets that can be
          specified at compile and runtime.

Clients and Tools
        * The MySQL server has built-in support for SQL statements to
          check, optimize, and repair tables.  These statements are
          available from the command line through the `mysqlcheck'
          client. MySQL also includes `myisamchk', a very fast
          command-line utility for performing these operations on
          `MyISAM' tables.  *Note MySQL Database Administration::.

        * All `MySQL' programs can be invoked with the `--help' or `-?'
          options to obtain online assistance.

MySQL Stability
---------------

This section addresses the questions "_How stable is MySQL Server?_"
and "_Can I depend on MySQL Server in this project?_" We will try to
clarify these issues and answer some important questions that concern
many potential users. The information in this section is based on data
gathered from the mailing list, which is very active in identifying
problems as well as reporting types of use.

The original code stems back to the early 1980s. It provides a stable
code base, and the ISAM table format used by the original storage engine
remains backward-compatible.  At TcX, the predecessor of `MySQL AB',
`MySQL' code has worked in projects since mid-1996, without any
problems.  When the `MySQL Database Software' initially was released to
a wider public, our new users quickly found some pieces of "untested
code". Each new release since then has had fewer portability problems
(even though each new release has also had many new features).

Each release of the `MySQL Server' has been usable. Problems have
occurred only when users try code from the "gray zones."  Naturally,
new users don't know what the gray zones are; this section therefore
attempts to document those areas that are currently known.  The
descriptions mostly deal with Version 3.23 and 4.0 of `MySQL Server'.
All known and reported bugs are fixed in the latest version, with the
exception of those listed in the bugs section, which are
design-related.  *Note Bugs::.

The `MySQL Server' design is multi-layered with independent modules.
Some of the newer modules are listed here with an indication of how
well-tested each of them is:

*Replication -- Gamma*
     Large groups of servers using replication are in production use,
     with good results. Work on enhanced replication features is
     continuing in `MySQL' 5.x.

*`InnoDB' tables -- Stable (in 3.23 from 3.23.49)*
     The `InnoDB' transactional storage engine has been declared stable
     in the `MySQL' 3.23 tree, starting from version 3.23.49.  `InnoDB'
     is being used in large, heavy-load production systems.

*`BDB' tables -- Gamma*
     The `Berkeley DB' code is very stable, but we are still improving
     the `BDB' transactional storage engine interface in `MySQL
     Server', so it will take some time before this is as well tested
     as the other table types.

*Full-text searches -- Beta*
     Full-text searching works but is not yet widely used.  Important
     enhancements have been implemented in `MySQL' 4.0.

*`Connector/ODBC 3.51' (uses ODBC SDK 3.51) -- Stable*
     In wide production use. Some issues brought up appear to be
     application-related and independent of the ODBC driver or
     underlying database server.

*Automatic recovery of `MyISAM' tables -- Gamma*
     This status applies only to the new code in the `MyISAM' storage
     engine that checks if the table was closed properly on open and
     executes an automatic check/repair of the table if it wasn't.

*Bulk-insert -- Alpha*
     New feature in `MyISAM' tables in `MySQL' 4.0 for faster insert of
     many rows.

*Locking -- Gamma*
     This is very system-dependent.  On some systems there are big
     problems using standard operating system locking (`fcntl()').  In
     these cases, you should run `mysqld' with the
     `--skip-external-locking' flag.  Problems are known to occur on
     some Linux systems, and on SunOS when using NFS-mounted
     filesystems.

Paying customers receive high-quality support directly from MySQL AB.
MySQL AB also provides the MySQL mailing list as a community resource
where anyone may ask questions.

Bugs are usually fixed right away with a patch. For serious bugs, there
is almost always a new release.

How Big MySQL Tables Can Be
---------------------------

`MySQL' Version 3.22 had a 4 GB (4 gigabyte) limit on table size. With
the `MyISAM' storage engine in `MySQL' Version 3.23, the maximum table
size was increased to 8 million terabytes (2 ^ 63 bytes). With this
larger allowed table size, the maximum effective table size for `MySQL'
databases now normally is determined by operating system constraints on
file sizes, not by MySQL internal limits.

The `InnoDB' storage engine maintains `InnoDB' tables within a
tablespace that can be created from several files. This allows a table
to exceed the maximum individual file size. The tablespace can include
raw disk partitions, which allows extremely large tables. The maximum
tablespace size is 64 TB.

The following table lists some examples of operating system file-size
limits:

*Operating System*     *File-Size Limit*
Linux-Intel 32-bit     2 GB, much more when using LFS
Linux-Alpha            8 TB (?)
Solaris 2.5.1          2 GB (4GB possible with patch)
Solaris 2.6            4 GB (can be changed with flag)
Solaris 2.7 Intel      4 GB
Solaris 2.7            512 GB
UltraSPARC             

On Linux 2.2, you can get `MyISAM' tables larger than 2 GB in size by
using the LFS patch for the ext2 filesystem. On Linux 2.4, patches also
exist for ReiserFS to get support for big files. Most current Linux
distributions are based on kernel 2.4 and already include all the
required Large File Support (LFS) patches. However, the maximum
available file size still depends on several factors, one of them being
the file system used to store MySQL tables.

For a very detailed overview about LFS in Linux, have a look at Andreas
Jaeger's "Large File Support in Linux" page at
<http://www.suse.de/~aj/linux_lfs.html>.

By default, `MySQL' creates `MyISAM' tables with an internal structure
that allows a maximum size of about 4 GB.  You can check the maximum
table size for a table with the `SHOW TABLE STATUS' command or with the
`myisamchk -dv table_name'.  *Note `SHOW': SHOW.

If you need a `MyISQM' table that will be larger than 4 GB in size (and
your operating system supports large files), the `CREATE TABLE'
statement allows `AVG_ROW_LENGTH' and `MAX_ROWS' options.  *Note
`CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.  You can also change these options with
`ALTER TABLE' after the table has been created, to increase the table's
maximum allowable size.  *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

Other ways to work around file-size limits for `MyISAM' tables are as
follows:

   * If your large table is read-only, you can use `myisampack' to
     compress it.  `myisampack' usually compresses a table by at least
     50%, so you can have, in effect, much bigger tables.  `myisampack'
     also can merge multiple tables into a single table.  *Note
     `myisampack': myisampack.

   * Another way to get around the operating system file limit for
     `MyISAM' datafiles is by using the `RAID' options.  *Note `CREATE
     TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

   * `MySQL' includes a `MERGE' library that allows you to handle a
     collection of `MyISAM' tables that have identical structure as a
     single `MERGE' table.  *Note `MERGE' tables: MERGE.


Year 2000 Compliance
--------------------

The `MySQL Server' itself has no problems with Year 2000 (Y2K)
compliance:

   * `MySQL Server' uses Unix time functions that handle dates into the
     year `2037' for `TIMESTAMP' values. For `DATE' and `DATETIME'
     values, dates through the year `9999' are accepted.

   * All `MySQL' date functions are implemented in one source file,
     `sql/time.cc', and are coded very carefully to be year 2000-safe.

   * In `MySQL' Version 3.22 and later, the `YEAR' column type can
     store years `0' and `1901' to `2155' in one byte and display them
     using two or four digits.  All 2-digit years are considered to be
     in the range `1970' to `2069', which means that if you store `01'
     in a `YEAR' column, `MySQL Server' treats it as `2001'.

The following simple demonstration illustrates that `MySQL Server'
doesn't have any problems with dates until after the year 2030:

     mysql> DROP TABLE IF EXISTS y2k;
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)
     
     mysql> CREATE TABLE y2k (date DATE,
         ->                   date_time DATETIME,
         ->                   time_stamp TIMESTAMP);
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> INSERT INTO y2k VALUES
         -> ('1998-12-31','1998-12-31 23:59:59',19981231235959),
         -> ('1999-01-01','1999-01-01 00:00:00',19990101000000),
         -> ('1999-09-09','1999-09-09 23:59:59',19990909235959),
         -> ('2000-01-01','2000-01-01 00:00:00',20000101000000),
         -> ('2000-02-28','2000-02-28 00:00:00',20000228000000),
         -> ('2000-02-29','2000-02-29 00:00:00',20000229000000),
         -> ('2000-03-01','2000-03-01 00:00:00',20000301000000),
         -> ('2000-12-31','2000-12-31 23:59:59',20001231235959),
         -> ('2001-01-01','2001-01-01 00:00:00',20010101000000),
         -> ('2004-12-31','2004-12-31 23:59:59',20041231235959),
         -> ('2005-01-01','2005-01-01 00:00:00',20050101000000),
         -> ('2030-01-01','2030-01-01 00:00:00',20300101000000),
         -> ('2050-01-01','2050-01-01 00:00:00',20500101000000);
     Query OK, 13 rows affected (0.01 sec)
     Records: 13  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM y2k;
     +------------+---------------------+----------------+
     | date       | date_time           | time_stamp     |
     +------------+---------------------+----------------+
     | 1998-12-31 | 1998-12-31 23:59:59 | 19981231235959 |
     | 1999-01-01 | 1999-01-01 00:00:00 | 19990101000000 |
     | 1999-09-09 | 1999-09-09 23:59:59 | 19990909235959 |
     | 2000-01-01 | 2000-01-01 00:00:00 | 20000101000000 |
     | 2000-02-28 | 2000-02-28 00:00:00 | 20000228000000 |
     | 2000-02-29 | 2000-02-29 00:00:00 | 20000229000000 |
     | 2000-03-01 | 2000-03-01 00:00:00 | 20000301000000 |
     | 2000-12-31 | 2000-12-31 23:59:59 | 20001231235959 |
     | 2001-01-01 | 2001-01-01 00:00:00 | 20010101000000 |
     | 2004-12-31 | 2004-12-31 23:59:59 | 20041231235959 |
     | 2005-01-01 | 2005-01-01 00:00:00 | 20050101000000 |
     | 2030-01-01 | 2030-01-01 00:00:00 | 20300101000000 |
     | 2050-01-01 | 2050-01-01 00:00:00 | 00000000000000 |
     +------------+---------------------+----------------+
     13 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The final `TIMESTAMP' column value is zero because the final year
(`2050') exceeds the `TIMESTAMP' maximum.  The `TIMESTAMP' datatype,
which is used to store the current time, supports values that range
from `19700101000000' to `20300101000000' on 32-bit machines (signed
value).  On 64-bit machines, `TIMESTAMP' handles values up to `2106'
(unsigned value).

The example also shows that the `DATE' and `DATETIME' datatypes have no
problems with the dates used. They handle dates through the year `9999'.

Although `MySQL Server' itself is Y2K-safe, you may run into problems
if you use it with applications that are not Y2K-safe.  For example,
many old applications store or manipulate years using 2-digit values
(which are ambiguous) rather than 4-digit values.  This problem may be
compounded by applications that use values such as `00' or `99' as
"missing" value indicators.  Unfortunately, these problems may be
difficult to fix because different applications may be written by
different programmers, each of whom may use a different set of
conventions and date-handling functions.

Thus, even though `MySQL Server' has no Y2K problems, it is the
application's responsibility to provide unambiguous input.  See *Note
Y2K issues:: for `MySQL Server''s rules for dealing with ambiguous date
input data that contains 2-digit year values.

Overview of MySQL AB
====================

`MySQL AB' is the company of the `MySQL' founders and main developers.
`MySQL AB' was originally established in Sweden by David Axmark, Allan
Larsson, and Michael "Monty" Widenius.

The developers of the `MySQL' server are all employed by the company.
We are a virtual organization with people in a dozen countries around
the world. We communicate extensively over the Internet every day with
one another and with our users, supporters, and partners.

We are dedicated to developing the `MySQL' database software and
promoting it to new users. `MySQL AB' owns the copyright to the `MySQL'
source code, the `MySQL' logo and trademark, and this manual. *Note
What-is::.

The `MySQL' core values show our dedication to `MySQL' and `Open
Source'.

We want the `MySQL Database Software' to be:
   * The best and the most widely used database in the world

   * Available to, and affordable by all

   * Easy to use

   * Continuously improving while remaining fast and safe

   * Fun to use and improve

   * Free from bugs

`MySQL AB' and the people at `MySQL AB':
   * Promote `Open Source' philosophy and support the `Open Source'
     community

   * Aim to be good citizens

   * Prefer partners that share our values and mind-set

   * Answer email and provide support

   * Are a virtual company, networking with others

   * Work against software patents

The `MySQL' web site (`http://www.mysql.com/') provides the latest
information about `MySQL' and `MySQL AB'.

By the way, the "AB" part of the company name is the acronym for the
Swedish "aktiebolag", or "stock company."  It translates to "MySQL,
Inc." In fact, MySQL Inc. and MySQL GmbH are examples of MySQL AB
subsidiaries. They are located in the US and Germany, respectively.

The Business Model and Services of MySQL AB
-------------------------------------------

One of the most common questions we encounter is: "_How can you make a
living from something you give away for free?_" This is how:

   * `MySQL AB' makes money on support, services, commercial licenses,
     and royalties.

   * We use these revenues to fund product development and to expand
     the `MySQL' business.

The company has been profitable since its inception. In October 2001,
we accepted venture financing from leading Scandinavian investors and a
handful of business angels. This investment is used to solidify our
business model and build a basis for sustainable growth.

Support
.......

`MySQL AB' is run and owned by the founders and main developers of the
`MySQL' database. The developers are committed to providing support to
customers and other users in order to stay in touch with their needs
and problems. All our support is provided by qualified developers.
Really tricky questions are answered by Michael `Monty' Widenius,
principal author of the `MySQL Server'.  *Note Support::.

For more information and ordering support at various levels, see
`http://www.mysql.com/support/' or contact our sales staff at
<sales@mysql.com>.

Training and Certification
..........................

`MySQL AB' delivers `MySQL' and related training worldwide.  We offer
both open courses and in-house courses tailored to the specific needs
of your company. `MySQL Training' is also available through our
partners, the `Authorized MySQL Training Centers'.

Our training material uses the same example databases used in our
documentation and our sample applications, and is always updated to
reflect the latest `MySQL' version. Our trainers are backed by the
development team to guarantee the quality of the training and the
continuous development of the course material. This also ensures that
no questions raised during the courses remain unanswered.

Attending our training courses will enable you to achieve your `MySQL'
application goals. You will also:
   * Save time.

   * Improve the performance of your applications.

   * Reduce or eliminate the need for additional hardware, decreasing
     cost.

   * Enhance security.

   * Increase customers' and co-workers' satisfaction.

   * Prepare yourself for `MySQL Certification'.

If you are interested in our training as a potential participant or as
a training partner, please visit the training section at
`http://www.mysql.com/training/' or contact us at: <training@mysql.com>.

For details about the `MySQL Certification Program', please see
`http://www.mysql.com/certification/'.

Consulting
..........

`MySQL AB' and its `Authorized Partners' offer consulting services to
users of `MySQL Server' and to those who embed `MySQL Server' in their
own software, all over the world.

Our consultants can help you design and tune your databases, construct
efficient queries, tune your platform for optimal performance, resolve
migration issues, set up replication, build robust transactional
applications, and more.  We also help customers embed `MySQL Server' in
their products and applications for large-scale deployment.

Our consultants work in close collaboration with our development team,
which ensures the technical quality of our professional services.
Consulting assignments range from 2-day power-start sessions to
projects that span weeks and months. Our expertise not only covers
`MySQL Server'--it also extends into programming and scripting
languages such as PHP, Perl, and more.

If you are interested in our consulting services or want to become a
consulting partner, please visit the consulting section of our web site
at `http://www.mysql.com/consulting/' or contact our consulting staff
at <consulting@mysql.com>.

Commercial Licenses
...................

The `MySQL' database is released under the `GNU General Public License'
(`GPL').  This means that the `MySQL' software can be used free of
charge under the `GPL'. If you do not want to be bound by the `GPL'
terms (such as the requirement that your application must also be
`GPL'), you may purchase a commercial license for the same product from
`MySQL AB'; see `http://www.mysql.com/products/pricing.html'.  Since
`MySQL AB' owns the copyright to the `MySQL' source code, we are able
to employ `Dual Licensing', which means that the same product is
available under `GPL' and under a commercial license. This does not in
any way affect the `Open Source' commitment of `MySQL AB'. For details
about when a commercial license is required, please see *Note MySQL
licenses::.

We also sell commercial licenses of third-party `Open Source GPL'
software that adds value to `MySQL Server'. A good example is the
`InnoDB' transactional storage engine that offers `ACID' support,
row-level locking, crash recovery, multi-versioning, foreign key
support, and more. *Note InnoDB::.

Partnering
..........

`MySQL AB' has a worldwide partner program that covers training
courses, consulting and support, publications, plus reselling and
distributing `MySQL' and related products. `MySQL AB Partners' get
visibility on the `http://www.mysql.com/' web site and the right to use
special versions of the `MySQL' trademarks to identify their products
and promote their business.

If you are interested in becoming a `MySQL AB Partner', please email
<partner@mysql.com>.

The word `MySQL' and the `MySQL' dolphin logo are trademarks of `MySQL
AB'. *Note MySQL AB Logos and Trademarks::.  These trademarks represent
a significant value that the `MySQL' founders have built over the years.

The `MySQL' web site (`http://www.mysql.com/') is popular among
developers and users. In December 2003, we served 16 million page views.
Our visitors represent a group that makes purchase decisions and
recommendations for both software and hardware. Twelve percent of our
visitors authorize purchase decisions, and only nine percent are not
involved in purchase decisions at all. More than 65% have made one or
more online business purchases within the last half-year, and 70% plan
to make one in the next few months.

Contact Information
-------------------

The `MySQL' web site (`http://www.mysql.com/') provides the latest
information about `MySQL' and `MySQL AB'.

For press services and inquiries not covered in our News releases
(`http://www.mysql.com/news/'), please send email to <press@mysql.com>.

If you have a valid support contract with `MySQL AB', you will get
timely, precise answers to your technical questions about the `MySQL'
software. For more information, see *Note Support::.  On our web site,
see `http://www.mysql.com/support/', or send an email message to
<sales@mysql.com>.

For information about `MySQL' training, please visit the training
section at `http://www.mysql.com/training/'. If you have restricted
access to the Internet, please contact the `MySQL AB' training staff
via email at <training@mysql.com>.  *Note Business Services Training::.

For information on the `MySQL Certification Program', please see
`http://www.mysql.com/certification/'.  *Note Business Services
Training::.

If you're interested in consulting, please visit the consulting section
of our web site at `http://www.mysql.com/consulting/'. If you have
restricted access to the Internet, please contact the `MySQL AB'
consulting staff via email at <consulting@mysql.com>.  *Note Business
Services Consulting::.

Commercial licenses may be purchased online at
`https://order.mysql.com/'. There you will also find information on how
to fax your purchase order to `MySQL AB'. More information about
licensing can be found at `http://www.mysql.com/products/pricing.html'.
If you have questions regarding licensing or you want a quote for a
high-volume license deal, please fill in the contact form on our web
site (`http://www.mysql.com/') or send email to <licensing@mysql.com>
(for licensing questions) or to <sales@mysql.com> (for sales inquiries).
*Note MySQL licenses::.

If you represent a business that is interested in partnering with
`MySQL AB', please send email to <partner@mysql.com>.  *Note Business
Services Partnering::.

For more information on the `MySQL' trademark policy, refer to
`http://www.mysql.com/company/trademark.html' or send email to
<trademark@mysql.com>.  *Note MySQL AB Logos and Trademarks::.

If you are interested in any of the `MySQL AB' jobs listed in our jobs
section (`http://www.mysql.com/company/jobs/'), please send email to
<jobs@mysql.com>.  Please do not send your CV as an attachment, but
rather as plain text at the end of your email message.

For general discussion among our many users, please direct your
attention to the appropriate mailing list.  *Note Questions::.

Reports of errors (often called bugs), as well as questions and
comments, should be sent to the general MySQL mailing list.  *Note
Mailing-list::.  If you have found a sensitive security bug in `MySQL
Server', please let us know immediately by sending an email message to
<security@mysql.com>.  *Note Bug reports::.

If you have benchmark results that we can publish, please contact us
via email at <benchmarks@mysql.com>.

If you have suggestions concerning additions or corrections to this
manual, please send them to the manual team via email at
<docs@mysql.com>.

For questions or comments about the workings or content of the `MySQL'
web site (`http://www.mysql.com/'), please send email to
<webmaster@mysql.com>.

`MySQL AB' has a privacy policy, which can be read at
`http://www.mysql.com/company/privacy.html'.  For any queries regarding
this policy, please send email to <privacy@mysql.com>.

For all other inquires, please send an email to <info@mysql.com>.

MySQL Support and Licensing
===========================

This section describes `MySQL' support and licensing arrangements.

Support Offered by MySQL AB
---------------------------

Technical support from `MySQL AB' means individualized answers to your
unique problems direct from the software engineers who code the `MySQL'
database engine.

We try to take a broad and inclusive view of technical support. Almost
any problem involving `MySQL' software is important to us if it's
important to you.  Typically customers seek help on how to get
different commands and utilities to work, remove performance
bottlenecks, restore crashed systems, understand the impact of
operating system or networking issues on `MySQL', set up best practices
for backup and recovery, utilize APIs, and so on.  Our support covers
only the `MySQL' server and our own utilities, not third-party products
that access the `MySQL' server, though we try to help with these where
we can.

Detailed information about our various support options is given at
`http://www.mysql.com/support/', where support contracts can also be
ordered online. If you have restricted access to the Internet, please
contact our sales staff via email at <sales@mysql.com>.

Technical support is like life insurance. You can live happily without
it for years. However, when your hour arrives, it becomes critically
important, but it's too late to buy it.  If you use `MySQL Server' for
important applications and encounter sudden difficulties, it may be too
time consuming to figure out all the answers yourself. You may need
immediate access to the most experienced `MySQL' troubleshooters
available, those employed by `MySQL AB'.

Copyrights and Licenses Used by MySQL
-------------------------------------

`MySQL AB' owns the copyright to the `MySQL' source code, the `MySQL'
logos and trademarks and this manual.  *Note What is MySQL AB::.
Several different licenses are relevant to the `MySQL' distribution:

  1. All the `MySQL'-specific source in the server, the `mysqlclient'
     library and the client, as well as the `GNU' `readline' library is
     covered by the `GNU General Public License'.  *Note GPL license::.
     The text of this license can be found as the file `COPYING' in the
     distribution.

  2. The `GNU' `getopt' library is covered by the `GNU Lesser General
     Public License'.  See <http://www.fsf.org/licenses/>.

  3. Some parts of the source (the `regexp' library) are covered by a
     Berkeley-style copyright.

  4. Older versions of `MySQL' (3.22 and earlier) are subject to a
     stricter license (`http://www.mysql.com/products/mypl.html').  See
     the documentation of the specific version for information.

  5. The `MySQL' reference manual is currently *not* distributed under
     a `GPL'-style license. Use of the manual is subject to the
     following terms:
        * Conversion to other formats is allowed, but the actual content
          may not be altered or edited in any way.

        * You may create a printed copy for your own personal use.

        * For all other uses, such as selling printed copies or using
          (parts of) the manual in another publication, prior written
          agreement from `MySQL AB' is required.
     Please send an email message to <docs@mysql.com> for more
     information or if you are interested in doing a translation.

For information about how the `MySQL' licenses work in practice, please
refer to *Note MySQL licenses::.  Also see *Note MySQL AB Logos and
Trademarks::.

MySQL Licenses
--------------

The `MySQL' software is released under the `GNU General Public License'
(`GPL'), which is probably the best known `Open Source' license.  The
formal terms of the `GPL' license can be found at
`http://www.fsf.org/licenses/'.  See also
`http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html' and
`http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/enforcing-gpl.html'.

Since the `MySQL' software is released under the `GPL', it may often be
used for free, but for certain uses you may want or need to buy
commercial licenses from `MySQL AB' at `https://order.mysql.com/'.  See
`http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing.html' for more information.

Older versions of `MySQL' (3.22 and earlier) are subject to a stricter
license (`http://www.mysql.com/products/mypl.html').  See the
documentation of the specific version for information.

Please note that the use of the `MySQL' software under commercial
license, `GPL', or the old `MySQL' license does not automatically give
you the right to use `MySQL AB' trademarks.  *Note MySQL AB Logos and
Trademarks::.

Using the MySQL Software Under a Commercial License
...................................................

The `GPL' license is contagious in the sense that when a program is
linked to a `GPL' program all the source code for all the parts of the
resulting product must also be released under the `GPL'.  If you do not
follow this `GPL' requirement, you break the license terms and forfeit
your right to use the `GPL' program altogether.  You also risk damages.

You need a commercial license:

   * When you link a program with any `GPL' code from the `MySQL'
     software and don't want the resulting product to be licensed under
     `GPL', perhaps because you want to build a commercial product or
     keep the added non-`GPL' code closed source for other reasons.
     When purchasing commercial licenses, you are not using the `MySQL'
     software under `GPL' even though it's the same code.

   * When you distribute a non-`GPL' application that *only* works with
     the `MySQL' software and ship it with the `MySQL' software. This
     type of solution is considered to be linking even if it's done
     over a network.

   * When you distribute copies of the `MySQL' software without
     providing the source code as required under the `GPL' license.

   * When you want to support the further development of the `MySQL'
     database even if you don't formally need a commercial license.
     Purchasing support directly from `MySQL AB' is another good way of
     contributing to the development of the `MySQL' software, with
     immediate advantages for you.  *Note Support::.

If you require a license, you will need one for each installation of the
`MySQL' software. This covers any number of CPUs on a machine, and there
is no artificial limit on the number of clients that connect to the
server in any way.

For commercial licenses, please visit our website at
`http://www.mysql.com/products/licensing.html'.  For support contracts,
see `http://www.mysql.com/support/'.  If you have special needs or you
have restricted access to the Internet, please contact our sales staff
via email at <sales@mysql.com>.

Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL
...........................................

You can use the `MySQL' software for free under the `GPL' if you adhere
to the conditions of the `GPL'.  For additional details, including
answers to common questions about the `GPL', see the generic FAQ from
the Free Software Foundation at
`http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html'.  Common uses of the `GPL'
include:

   * When you distribute both your own application and the `MySQL'
     source code under the `GPL' with your product.

   * When you distribute the `MySQL' source code bundled with other
     programs that are not linked to or dependent on the `MySQL' system
     for their functionality even if you sell the distribution
     commercially.  This is called mere aggregation in the `GPL'
     license.

   * When you are not distributing *any* part of the `MySQL' system,
     you can use it for free.

   * When you are an Internet Service Provider (ISP), offering web
     hosting with `MySQL' servers for your customers.  We encourage
     people to use ISPs that have MySQL support, as this will give them
     the confidence that their ISP will, in fact, have the resources to
     solve any problems they may experience with the `MySQL'
     installation. Even if an ISP does not have a commercial license
     for `MySQL Server', their customers should at least be given read
     access to the source of the `MySQL' installation so that the
     customers can verify that it is correctly patched.

   * When you use the `MySQL' database software in conjunction with a
     web server, you do not need a commercial license (so long as it is
     not a product you distribute). This is true even if you run a
     commercial web server that uses `MySQL Server', because you are not
     distributing any part of the `MySQL' system. However, in this case
     we would like you to purchase `MySQL' support because the `MySQL'
     software is helping your enterprise.

If your use of `MySQL' database software does not require a commercial
license, we encourage you to purchase support from `MySQL AB' anyway.
This way you contribute toward `MySQL' development and also gain
immediate advantages for yourself. *Note Support::.

If you use the `MySQL' database software in a commercial context such
that you profit by its use, we ask that you further the development of
the `MySQL' software by purchasing some level of support.  We feel that
if the `MySQL' database helps your business, it is reasonable to ask
that you help `MySQL AB'.  (Otherwise, if you ask us support questions,
you are not only using for free something into which we've put a lot a
work, you're asking us to provide free support, too.)

MySQL AB Logos and Trademarks
-----------------------------

Many users of the `MySQL' database want to display the `MySQL AB'
dolphin logo on their web sites, books, or boxed products. We welcome
and encourage this, although it should be noted that the word `MySQL'
and the `MySQL' dolphin logo are trademarks of `MySQL AB' and may only
be used as stated in our trademark policy at
`http://www.mysql.com/company/trademark.html'.

The Original MySQL Logo
.......................

The `MySQL' dolphin logo was designed by the Finnish advertising agency
Priority in 2001.  The dolphin was chosen as a suitable symbol for the
`MySQL' database management system, which is like a smart, fast, and
lean animal, effortlessly navigating oceans of data. We also happen to
like dolphins.

The original `MySQL' logo may only be used by representatives of `MySQL
AB' and by those having a written agreement allowing them to do so.

MySQL Logos that may be Used Without Written Permission
.......................................................

We have designed a set of special _Conditional Use_ logos that may be
downloaded from our web site at `http://www.mysql.com/press/logos.html'
and used on third-party web sites without written permission from
`MySQL AB'.  The use of these logos is not entirely unrestricted but,
as the name implies, subject to our trademark policy that is also
available on our web site. You should read through the trademark policy
if you plan to use them. The requirements are basically as follows:

   * Use the logo you need as displayed on the `http://www.mysql.com/'
     site. You may scale it to fit your needs, but may not change
     colors or design, or alter the graphics in any way.

   * Make it evident that you, and not `MySQL AB', are the creator and
     owner of the site that displays the `MySQL' trademark.

   * Don't use the trademark in a way that is detrimental to `MySQL AB'
     or to the value of `MySQL AB' trademarks. We reserve the right to
     revoke the right to use the `MySQL AB' trademark.

   * If you use the trademark on a web site, make it clickable, leading
     directly to `http://www.mysql.com/'.

   * If you use the `MySQL' database under `GPL' in an application,
     your application must be `Open Source' and must be able to connect
     to a `MySQL' server.

Contact us via email at <trademark@mysql.com> to inquire about special
arrangements to fit your needs.

When You Need Written Permission to Use MySQL Logos
...................................................

You need written permission from `MySQL AB' before using `MySQL' logos
in the following cases:

   * When displaying any `MySQL AB' logo anywhere except on your web
     site.

   * When displaying any `MySQL AB' logo except the _Conditional Use_
     logos mentioned previously on web sites or elsewhere.

Due to legal and commercial reasons we monitor the use of MySQL
trademarks on products, books, and other items. We usually require a
fee for displaying `MySQL AB' logos on commercial products, since we
think it is reasonable that some of the revenue is returned to fund
further development of the `MySQL' database.

MySQL AB Partnership Logos
..........................

`MySQL' partnership logos may be used only by companies and persons
having a written partnership agreement with `MySQL AB'. Partnerships
include certification as a `MySQL' trainer or consultant.  For more
information, please see *Note Partnering: Business Services Partnering.

Using the Word `MySQL' in Printed Text or Presentations
.......................................................

`MySQL AB' welcomes references to the `MySQL' database, but it should
be noted that the word `MySQL' is a trademark of `MySQL AB'.  Because
of this, you must append the trademark symbol (`TM') to the first or
most prominent use of the word `MySQL' in a text and, where
appropriate, state that `MySQL' is a trademark of `MySQL AB'. For more
information, please refer to our trademark policy at
`http://www.mysql.com/company/trademark.html'.

Using the Word `MySQL' in Company and Product Names
...................................................

Use of the word `MySQL' in product or company names or in Internet
domain names is not allowed without written permission from `MySQL AB'.

MySQL Development Roadmap
=========================

This section provides a snapshot of the MySQL development roadmap,
including major features implemented or planned for MySQL 4.0, 4.1,
5.0, and 5.1.  The following sections provide information for each
release series.

The production release series is MySQL 4.0, which was declared stable
for production use as of Version 4.0.12, released in March 2003. This
means that future 4.0 development will be limited only to making bug
fixes. For the older MySQL 3.23 series, only critical bug fixes will be
made.

Active MySQL development currently is taking place in the MySQL 4.1 and
5.0 release series. This means that new features are being added to
MySQL 4.1 and MySQL 5.0. Both 4.1 and 5.0 are available now in alpha
status.

Before upgrading from one release series to the next, please see the
notes at *Note Upgrade::.

Plans for some of the most requested features are summarized in the
following table.

*Feature*              *MySQL version*
Unions                 4.0
Subqueries             4.1
R-trees                4.1 (for `MyISAM' tables)
Stored procedures      5.0
Views                  5.0 or 5.1
Cursors                5.0
Foreign keys           5.1 (already implemented in 3.23 for
                       `InnoDB')
Triggers               5.1
Full outer join        5.1
Constraints            5.1

MySQL 4.0 in a Nutshell
-----------------------

Long awaited by our users, MySQL Server 4.0 is now available in
production status.

MySQL 4.0 is available for download from `http://www.mysql.com/' and
from our mirrors. MySQL 4.0 has been tested by a large number of users
and is in production use at many large sites.

The major new features of MySQL Server 4.0 are geared toward our
existing business and community users, enhancing the MySQL database
software as the solution for mission-critical, heavy-load database
systems.  Other new features target the users of embedded databases.

Features Available in MySQL 4.0
...............................

Speed enhancements
        * MySQL 4.0 has a query cache that can give a huge speed boost
          to applications with repetitive queries. *Note Query Cache::.

        * Version 4.0 further increases the speed of MySQL Server in a
          number of areas, such as bulk `INSERT' statements, searching
          on packed indexes, full-text searching (using `FULLTEXT'
          indexes), and `COUNT(DISTINCT)'.

Embedded MySQL Server introduced
        * The new Embedded Server library can easily be used to create
          standalone and embedded applications.  The embedded server
          provides an alternative to using MySQL in a client/server
          environment.  *Note Nutshell Embedded MySQL::.

InnoDB storage engine as standard
        * The `InnoDB' storage engine is now offered as a standard
          feature of the `MySQL' server. This means full support for
          ACID transactions, foreign keys with cascading `UPDATE' and
          `DELETE', and row-level locking are now standard features.
          *Note `InnoDB': InnoDB.

New functionality
        * The enhanced `FULLTEXT' search properties of MySQL Server 4.0
          enables `FULLTEXT' indexing of large text masses with both
          binary and natural-language searching logic. You can
          customize minimal word length and define your own stop word
          lists in any human language, enabling a new set of
          applications to be built with MySQL Server.  *Note Fulltext
          Search::.

Standards compliance, portability, and migration
        * Many users will also be happy to learn that MySQL Server now
          supports the `UNION' statement, a long-awaited standard SQL
          feature.

        * MySQL now runs natively on the Novell NetWare 6.0 platform.
          *Note NetWare installation::.

        * Features to simplify migration from other database systems to
          MySQL Server include `TRUNCATE TABLE' (as in Oracle).

Internationalization
        * Our German, Austrian, and Swiss users will note that `MySQL'
          now supports a new character set, `latin1_de', which ensures
          that the _German sorting order_ sorts words with umlauts in
          the same order as do German telephone books.

Usability enhancements
     In the process of implementing features for new users, we have not
     forgotten requests from our loyal community of existing users.

        * Most `mysqld' parameters (startup options) can now be set
          without taking down the server. This is a convenient feature
          for database administrators (DBAs).  *Note `SET OPTION': SET
          OPTION.

        * Multiple-table `DELETE' and `UPDATE' statements have been
          added..

        * On Windows, symbolic link handling at the database level is
          enabled by default.  On Unix, the `MyISAM' storage engine now
          supports symbolic linking at the table level (and not just
          the database level as before).

        * `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' and `FOUND_ROWS()' are new functions
          that make it possible to find out the number of rows a
          `SELECT' query that includes a `LIMIT' clause would have
          returned without that clause.

The news section of this manual includes a more in-depth list of
features.  *Note News-4.0.x::.

The Embedded MySQL Server
.........................

The `libmysqld' embedded server library makes MySQL Server suitable for
a vastly expanded realm of applications. By using this library,
developers can embed MySQL Server into various applications and
electronics devices, where the end user has no knowledge of there
actually being an underlying database. Embedded MySQL Server is ideal
for use behind the scenes in Internet appliances, public kiosks, turnkey
hardware/software combination units, high performance Internet servers,
self-contained databases distributed on CD-ROM, and so on.

Many users of `libmysqld' will benefit from the MySQL _Dual Licensing_.
For those not wishing to be bound by the `GPL', the software is also
made available under a commercial license.  The embedded MySQL library
uses the same interface as the normal client library, so it is
convenient and easy to use.  *Note `libmysqld': libmysqld.

MySQL 4.1 in a Nutshell
-----------------------

MySQL Server 4.0 laid the foundation for new features implemented in
MySQL 4.1, such as subqueries and Unicode support, and for the work on
stored procedures being done in version 5.0.  These features come at
the top of the wish list of many of our customers.

With these additions, critics of the MySQL Database Server have to be
more imaginative than ever in pointing out deficiencies in the MySQL
database management system. Already well-known for its stability,
speed, and ease of use, MySQL Server will be able to fulfill the
requirement checklists of very demanding buyers.

Features Available in MySQL 4.1
...............................

The features listed in this section are implemented in MySQL 4.1. A few
other features are still planned for MySQL 4.1. *Note TODO MySQL 4.1::.

Most new features being coded are or will be available in MySQL 5.0.
*Note TODO MySQL 5.0::.

Support for subqueries and derived tables
        * A subquery is a `SELECT' statement nested within another
          statement.  A derived table (an unnamed view) is a subquery
          in the `FROM' clause of another statement.  *Note
          Subqueries::.

Speed enhancements
        * Faster binary client/server protocol with support for
          prepared statements and parameter binding.  *Note C API
          Prepared statements::.

        * `BTREE' indexing is now supported for `HEAP' tables,
          significantly improving response time for non-exact searches.

New functionality
        * `CREATE TABLE table_name2 LIKE table_name1' allows you to
          create, with a single statement, a new table with a structure
          exactly like that of an existing table.

        * The MyISAM storage engine now supports OpenGIS spatial types
          for storing geographical data.  *Note Spatial extensions in
          MySQL::.

        * Replication can be done over SSL connections.

Standards compliance, portability, and migration
        * The new client/server protocol adds the ability to pass
          multiple warnings to the client, rather than only a single
          result. This makes operations such as bulk data loading much
          easier to track.

        * `SHOW WARNINGS' shows warnings for the last command.  *Note
          `SHOW WARNINGS': SHOW WARNINGS.

Internationalization
        * To support applications that require the use of local
          languages, the MySQL software now offers extensive Unicode
          support through the `utf8' and `ucs2' character sets.

        * Character sets can now be defined per column, table, and
          database.  This allows for a high degree of flexibility in
          application design, particularly for multi-language web sites.

        * For documentation for this improved character set support,
          see *Note Charset::.

Usability enhancements
        * In response to popular demand, we have added a server-based
          `HELP' command that can be used to get help information for
          SQL statements.  The advantage of having this information on
          the server side is that the information is always applicable
          to the particular server version that you actually are using.
          Because this information is available by issuing a SQL
          statement, any client can be written to access it.  For
          example, the `help' command of the `mysql' command-line client
          has been modified to have this capability.

        * In the new client/server protocol, multiple statements can be
          issued with a single call.  *Note C API multiple queries::.

        * The new client/server protocol also supports returning
          multiple result sets.  This might occur as a result of
          sending multiple statements, for example.

        * A new `INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE ...' syntax has been
          implemented. This allows you to `UPDATE' an existing row if
          the `INSERT' would have caused a duplicate in a `PRIMARY' or
          `UNIQUE' key (index).  *Note `INSERT': INSERT.

        * A new aggregate function, `GROUP_CONCAT()' adds the extremely
          useful capability of concatenating column values from grouped
          rows into a single result string.  *Note Group by functions
          and modifiers::.

The news section of this manual includes a more in-depth list of
features.  *Note News-4.1.x::.

Stepwise Rollout
................

New features are being added to MySQL 4.1. The alpha version is already
available for download. *Note Nutshell Ready for Immediate Use::.

The set of features that are being added to version 4.1 is mostly
fixed. Additional development is already ongoing for version 5.0.
MySQL 4.1 will go through the steps of _Alpha_ (during which time new
features might still be added/changed), _Beta_ (when we have feature
freeze and only bug corrections will be done), and _Gamma_ (indicating
that a production release is just weeks ahead).  At the end of this
process, MySQL 4.1 will become the new production release.

Ready for Immediate Development Use
...................................

MySQL 4.1 is currently in the alpha stage, and binaries are available
for download at `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-4.1.html'.  All
binary releases pass our extensive test suite without any errors on the
platforms on which we test.  *Note News-4.1.x::.

For those wishing to use the most recent development source for MySQL
4.1, we make our 4.1 BitKeeper repository publicly available.  *Note
Installing source tree::.

MySQL 5.0, The Next Development Release
---------------------------------------

New development for MySQL is focused on the 5.0 release, featuring
Stored Procedures and other new features.  *Note TODO MySQL 5.0::.

For those wishing to take a look at the bleeding edge of MySQL
development, we make our BitKeeper repository for MySQL version 5.0
publicly available.  *Note Installing source tree::.  As of December
2003, binary builds of version 5.0 are also available.

MySQL and the Future (The TODO)
===============================

This section summarizes the features that we plan to implement in
`MySQL Server'. The items are ordered by release series. Within a list,
items are shown in approximately the order they will be done.

*Note:* If you are an enterprise level user with an urgent need for a
particular feature, please contact <sales@mysql.com> to discuss
sponsoring options. Targeted financing by sponsor companies allows us
to allocate additional resources for specific purposes.  One example of
a feature sponsored in the past is replication.

New Features Planned for 4.1
----------------------------

The features below are not yet implemented in MySQL 4.1, but are planned
for implementation before MySQL 4.1 moves into its beta phase.  For a
list what is already done in MySQL 4.1, see *Note Nutshell 4.1
features::.

   * Stable OpenSSL support (MySQL 4.0 supports rudimentary, not 100%
     tested, support for OpenSSL).

   * More testing of prepared statements.

   * More testing of multiple character sets for one table.

New Features Planned for 5.0
----------------------------

The following features are planned for inclusion into MySQL 5.0.  Some
of the features such as stored procedures are complete and are included
in MySQL 5.0 alpha, which is available now.  Others such as cursors are
only partially available. Expect these and other features to mature and
be fully supported in upcoming releases.

Note that because we have many developers that are working on different
projects, there will also be many additional features. There is also a
small chance that some of these features will be added to MySQL 4.1.
For a list what is already done in MySQL 4.1, see *Note Nutshell 4.1
features::.

For those wishing to take a look at the bleeding edge of MySQL
development, we make our BitKeeper repository for MySQL version 5.0
publicly available.  *Note Installing source tree::.  As of December
2003, binary builds of version 5.0 are also available.

Stored Procedures
        * Stored procedures are currently implemented, based on the
          SQL:2003 standard.  *Note Stored Procedures::.

          We will also implement a framework to hook in external
          languages, and (where possible) compatibility with, for
          example, PL/SQL and T-SQL.

New functionality
        * Elementary cursor support.  *Note Cursors::.

        * The ability to specify explicitly for `MyISAM' tables that an
          index should be created as an `RTREE' index.  (In MySQL 4.1,
          `RTREE' indexes are used internally for geometrical data that
          use GIS datatypes, but cannot be created on request.)

        * Dynamic length rows for `HEAP' tables.

Standards compliance, portability and migration
        * Add true `VARCHAR' support (column lengths longer than 255,
          and no stripping of trailing whitespace).  (There is already
          support for this in the `MyISAM' storage engine, but it is
          not yet available at the user level.)

Speed enhancements
        * `SHOW COLUMNS FROM table_name' (used by `mysql' client to
          allow expansions of column names) should not open the table,
          only the definition file. This will require less memory and
          be much faster.

        * Allow `DELETE' on `MyISAM' tables to use the record cache.
          To do this, we need to update the threads record cache when
          we update the `.MYD' file.

        * Better support for `MEMORY' (`HEAP') tables:
             * Dynamic length rows.

             * Faster row handling (less copying).

Usability enhancements
        * Resolving the issue of `RENAME TABLE' on a table used in an
          active `MERGE' table possibly corrupting the table.

The news section of this manual includes a more in-depth list of
features.  *Note News-5.0.x::.

New Features Planned for 5.1
----------------------------

New functionality
        * `FOREIGN KEY' support for all table types, not just `InnoDB'.

        * Column-level constraints.

        * Fail-safe replication.

        * Online backup with very low performance penalty.  The online
          backup will make it easy to add a new replication slave
          without taking down the master.

Speed enhancements
        * New text based table definition file format (`.frm' files)
          and a table cache for table definitions.  This will enable us
          to do faster queries of table structures and do more
          efficient foreign key support.

        * Optimize the `BIT' type to take 1 bit. (`BIT' now takes 1
          byte; it is treated as a synonym for `TINYINT'.)

Usability enhancements
        * Add options to the client/server protocol to get progress
          notes for long running commands.

        * Implement `RENAME DATABASE'. To make this safe for all
          storage engines, it should work as follows:
             * Create the new database.

             * For every table do a rename of the table to another
               database, as we do with the `RENAME' command.

             * Drop the old database.

        * New internal file interface change.  This will make all file
          handling much more general and make it easier to add
          extensions like RAID.

New Features Planned for the Near Future
----------------------------------------

New functionality
        * Oracle-like `CONNECT BY PRIOR ...' to search tree-like
          (hierarchical) structures.

        * Add all missing SQL-92 and ODBC 3.0 types.

        * Add `SUM(DISTINCT)'.

        * `INSERT SQL_CONCURRENT' and `mysqld --concurrent-insert' to do
          a concurrent insert at the end of a table if the table is
          read-locked.

        * Allow variables to be updated in `UPDATE' statements. For
          example: `UPDATE TABLE foo SET @a=a+b,a=@a, b=@a+c'.

        * Change when user variables are updated so that one can use
          them with `GROUP BY', as in the following example: `SELECT
          id, @a:=COUNT(*), SUM(sum_col)/@a FROM table_name GROUP BY
          id'.

        * Add an `IMAGE' option to `LOAD DATA INFILE' to not update
          `TIMESTAMP' and `AUTO_INCREMENT' fields.

        * Add `LOAD DATA INFILE ... UPDATE' syntax that works like this:
             * For tables with primary keys, if an input record
               contains a primary key value, existing rows matching
               that primary key value are updated from the remainder of
               the input columns. However, columns corresponding to
               columns that are *missing* from the input record are not
               touched.

             * For tables with primary keys, if an input record does
               not contain the primary key value or is missing some
               part of the key, the record is treated as `LOAD DATA
               INFILE ... REPLACE INTO'.

        * Make `LOAD DATA INFILE' understand syntax like:
               LOAD DATA INFILE 'file_name.txt' INTO TABLE tbl_name
                    TEXT_FIELDS (text_field1, text_field2, text_field3)
                    SET table_field1=CONCAT(text_field1, text_field2),
                        table_field3=23
                    IGNORE text_field3
          This can be used to skip over extra columns in the text file,
          or update columns based on expressions of the read data.

        * New functions for working with `SET' type columns:
             * `ADD_TO_SET(value,set)'

             * `REMOVE_FROM_SET(value,set)'

        * If you abort `mysql' in the middle of a query, you should open
          another connection and kill the old running query.
          Alternatively, an attempt should be made to detect this in
          the server.

        * Add a storage engine interface for table information so that
          you can use it as a system table. This would be a bit slow if
          you requested information about all tables, but very
          flexible.  `SHOW INFO FROM tbl_name' for basic table
          information should be implemented.

        * Allow `SELECT a FROM table_name1 LEFT JOIN table_name2 USING
          (a)'; in this case `a' is assumed to come from the
          `table_name1' table.

        * `DELETE' and `REPLACE' options to the `UPDATE' statement
          (this will delete rows when one gets a duplicate key error
          while updating).

        * Change the format of `DATETIME' to store fractions of seconds.

        * Make it possible to use the new GNU `regexp' library instead
          of the current one (the new library should be much faster
          than the current one).

Standards compliance, portability and migration
        * Don't add automatic `DEFAULT' values to columns.  Produce an
          error for any `INSERT' statement that is missing a value for
          a column that has no `DEFAULT'.

        * Add `ANY()', `EVERY()', and `SOME()' group functions. In
          standard SQL, these work only on boolean columns, but we can
          extend these to work on any columns or expressions by
          treating 0 values as FALSE and non-zero values as TRUE.

        * Fix the type of `MAX(column)' to be the same as the column
          type:
               mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (a DATE);
               mysql> INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (NOW());
               mysql> CREATE TABLE t2 SELECT MAX(a) FROM t1;
               mysql> SHOW COLUMNS FROM t2;

Speed enhancements
        * Don't allow more than a defined number of threads to run
          `MyISAM' recovery at the same time.

        * Change `INSERT ... SELECT' to optionally use concurrent
          inserts.

        * Add an option to periodically flush key pages for tables with
          delayed keys if they haven't been used in a while.

        * Allow join on key parts (optimization issue).

        * Add a log file analyzer that can parse out information about
          which tables are hit most often, how often multiple-table
          joins are executed, etc.  This should help users identify
          areas of table design that could be optimized to execute much
          more efficient queries.

Internationalization

Usability enhancements
        * Return the original column types when doing `SELECT
          MIN(column) ... GROUP BY'.

        * Make it possible to specify `long_query_time' with a
          granularity in microseconds.

        * Link the `myisampack' code into the server so that it can
          perform `PACK' or `COMPRESS' operations.

        * Add a temporary key buffer cache during
          `INSERT/DELETE/UPDATE' so that we can gracefully recover if
          the index file gets full.

        * If you perform an `ALTER TABLE' on a table that is symlinked
          to another disk, create temporary tables on that disk.

        * Implement a `DATE/DATETIME' type that handles time zone
          information properly, to make dealing with dates in different
          time zones easier.

        * Fix `configure' so that one can compile all libraries (like
          `MyISAM') without threads.

        * Allow SQL variables as `LIMIT' arguments, for example, `LIMIT
          @a,@b'.

        * Automatic output from `mysql' to a web browser.

        * `LOCK DATABASES' (with various options).

        * Many more variables for `SHOW STATUS'.  Records reads and
          updates.  Selects on a single table and selects with joins.
          Mean number of tables in select. Number of `ORDER BY' and
          `GROUP BY' queries.

        * `mysqladmin copy database new-database'; this requires a
          `COPY' operation to be added to `mysqld'.

        * Processlist output should indicate the number of
          queries/threads.

        * `SHOW HOSTS' for printing information about the hostname
          cache.

        * Change table names from empty strings to `NULL' for
          calculated columns.

        * Don't use `Item_copy_string' on numerical values to avoid
          number->string->number conversion in case of: `SELECT
          COUNT(*)*(id+0) FROM table_name GROUP BY id'

        * Change so that `ALTER TABLE' doesn't abort clients that
          execute `INSERT DELAYED'.

        * Fix so that when columns are referenced in an `UPDATE' clause,
          they contain the old values from before the update started.

New operating systems
        * Port the MySQL clients to LynxOS.

New Features Planned for the Mid-Term Future
--------------------------------------------

   * Implement function:
     `get_changed_tables(timeout,table1,table2,...)'.

   * Change reading through tables to use memmap when possible. Now only
     compressed tables use memmap.

   * Make the automatic timestamp code nicer.  Add timestamps to the
     update log with `SET TIMESTAMP=#;'.

   * Use read/write mutex in some places to get more speed.

   * Simple views (implemented in stepwise fashion up to full
     functionality).  *Note ANSI diff Views::.

   * Automatically close some tables if a table, temporary table, or
     temporary file gets error 23 (too many open files).

   * Better constant propagation. When an occurrence of `col_name=n' is
     found in an expression, for some constant `n', replace other
     occurrences of `col_name' within the expression with `n'.
     Currently, this is done only for some simple cases.

   * Change all const expressions with calculated expressions if
     possible.

   * Optimize key = expression comparisons. At the moment only key =
     field or key = constant comparisons are optimized.

   * Join some of the copy functions for nicer code.

   * Change `sql_yacc.yy' to an inline parser to reduce its size and get
     better error messages.

   * Change the parser to use only one rule per different number of
     arguments in function.

   * Use of full calculation names in the order part (for ACCESS97).

   * `MINUS', `INTERSECT', and `FULL OUTER JOIN'.  (Currently `UNION'
     [in 4.0] and `LEFT|RIGHT OUTER JOIN' are supported.)

   * Allow `SQL_OPTION MAX_SELECT_TIME=#', for placing a time limit on
     a query.

   * Allow updates to be logged to a database.

   * Enhance `LIMIT' to allow retrieval of data from the end of a
     result set.

   * Alarm around client connect/read/write functions.

   * Please note the changes to `mysqld_safe': according to FSSTND
     (which Debian tries to follow) PID files should go into
     `/var/run/<progname>.pid' and log files into `/var/log'. It would
     be nice if you could put the "DATADIR" in the first declaration of
     "pidfile" and "log", so the placement of these files can be
     changed with a single statement.

   * Allow a client to request logging.

   * Allow the `LOAD DATA INFILE' statement to read files that have
     been compressed with `gzip'.

   * Fix sorting and grouping of `BLOB' columns (partly solved now).

   * Change to use semaphores when counting threads.  One should first
     implement a semaphore library for MIT-pthreads.

   * Add full support for `JOIN' with parentheses.

   * As an alternative to the one-thread-per-connection model, manage a
     pool of threads to handle queries.

   * Allow `GET_LOCK()' to obtain more than one lock.  When doing this,
     one must also handle the possible deadlocks this change will
     introduce.

New Features We Don't Plan to Implement
---------------------------------------

We aim toward full compliance with SQL-92/SQL-99, so there are no
features we plan not to implement.

MySQL Information Sources
=========================

MySQL Mailing Lists
-------------------

This section introduces you to the MySQL mailing lists and provides
some guidelines as to how the lists should be used. When you subscribe
to a mailing list, you will receive all postings to the list as email
messages. You can also to send your own questions and answers to the
list.

The MySQL Mailing Lists
.......................

To subscribe to or unsubscribe from any of the mailing lists described
in this section, visit `http://lists.mysql.com/'.  Please *do not* send
messages about subscribing or unsubscribing to any of the mailing
lists, because such messages are distributed automatically to thousands
of other users.

Your local site may have many subscribers to a MySQL mailing list.  If
so, the site may have a local mailing list, so that messages sent from
`lists.mysql.com' to your site are propagated to the local list.  In
such cases, please contact your system administrator to be added to or
dropped from the local MySQL list.

If you wish to have traffic for a mailing list go to a separate mailbox
in your mail program, set up a filter based on the message headers.
You can use either the `List-ID:' or `Delivered-To:' headers to identify
list messages.

The MySQL mailing lists are as follows:

``announce''
     This list is for announcements of new versions of MySQL and related
     programs.  This is a low-volume list to which all MySQL users
     should subscribe.

``mysql''
     This is the main list for general MySQL discussion.  Please note
     that some topics are better discussed on the more-specialized
     lists.  If you post to the wrong list, you may not get an answer.

``mysql-digest''
     This is the `mysql' list in digest form.  Subscribing to this list
     means you will get all list messages, sent as one large mail
     message once a day.

``bugs''
     This list will be of interest to you if you want to stay informed
     about issues reported since the last release of `MySQL' or if you
     want to be actively involved in the process of bug hunting and
     fixing.  *Note Bug reports::.

``bugs-digest''
     This is the `bugs' list in digest form.

``internals''
     This list is for people who work on the MySQL code.  This is also
     the forum for discussions on MySQL development and post patches.

``internals-digest''
     This is the `internals' list in digest form.

``mysqldoc''
     This list is for people who work on the MySQL documentation:
     people from MySQL AB, translators, and other community members.

``mysqldoc-digest''
     This is the `mysqldoc' list in digest form.

``benchmarks''
     This list is for anyone interested in performance issues.
     Discussions concentrate on database performance (not limited to
     MySQL) but also include broader categories such as performance of
     the kernel, file system, disk system, and so on.

``benchmarks-digest''
     This is the `benchmarks' list in digest form.

``packagers''
     This list is for discussions on packaging and distributing MySQL.
     This is the forum used by distribution maintainers to exchange
     ideas on packaging MySQL and on ensuring that MySQL looks and
     feels as similar as possible on all supported platforms and
     operating systems.

``packagers-digest''
     This is the `packagers' list in digest form.

``java''
     This list is for discussions about the MySQL server and Java.It is
     mostly used to discuss JDBC drivers, including MySQL Connector/J.

``java-digest''
     This is the `java' list in digest form.

``win32''
     This list is for all topics concerning the MySQL software on
     Microsoft operating systems, such as Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP.

``win32-digest''
     This is the `win32' list in digest form.

``myodbc''
     This list is for all topics concerning connecting to the MySQL
     server with ODBC.

``myodbc-digest''
     This is the `myodbc' list in digest form.

``mysqlcc''
     This list is for all topics concerning the `MySQL Control Center'
     graphical client.

``mysqlcc-digest''
     This is the `mysqlcc' list in digest form.

``plusplus''
     This list is for all topics concerning programming with the C++
     API to MySQL.

``plusplus-digest''
     This is the `plusplus' list in digest form.

``msql-mysql-modules''
     This list is for all topics concerning the Perl support for MySQL
     with `msql-mysql-modules', which is now named `DBD::mysql'.

``msql-mysql-modules-digest''
     This is the `msql-mysql-modules' list in digest form.

If you're unable to get an answer to your questions from a `MySQL'
mailing list, one option is to purchase support from MySQL AB. This
will put you in direct contact with MySQL developers. *Note Support::.

The following table shows some MySQL mailing lists in languages other
than English.  These lists are not operated by MySQL AB.

`<mysql-france-subscribe@yahoogroups.com>'
     A French mailing list.

`<list@tinc.net>'
     A Korean mailing list.  Email `subscribe mysql your@email.address'
     to this list.

`<mysql-de-request@lists.4t2.com>'
     A German mailing list.  Email `subscribe mysql-de
     your@email.address' to this list.  You can find information about
     this mailing list at `http://www.4t2.com/mysql/'.

`<mysql-br-request@listas.linkway.com.br>'
     A Portuguese mailing list.  Email `subscribe mysql-br
     your@email.address' to this list.

`<mysql-alta@elistas.net>'
     A Spanish mailing list.  Email `subscribe mysql
     your@email.address' to this list.

Asking Questions or Reporting Bugs
..................................

Before posting a bug report or question, please do the following:

   * Start by searching the MySQL online manual at
     `http://www.mysql.com/doc/'.  We try to keep the manual up to date
     by updating it frequently with solutions to newly found problems.
     The change history appendix
     (`http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/News.html') can be particularly
     useful since it is quite possible that a newer version already
     contains a solution to your problem.

   * Search in the bugs database at `http://bugs.mysql.com/' to see
     whether the bug has already been reported and fixed.

   * Search the MySQL mailing list archives at
     `http://lists.mysql.com/'.

   * You can also use `http://www.mysql.com/search/' to search all the
     web pages (including the manual) that are located at the MySQL AB
     web site.

If you can't find an answer in the manual or the archives, check with
your local MySQL expert.  If you still can't find an answer to your
question, please follow the guidelines on sending mail to a MySQL
mailing list, outlined in the next section, before contacting us.

How to Report Bugs or Problems
..............................

The normal place to report bugs is `http://bugs.mysql.com/', which is
the address for our bugs database.  This database is public, and can be
browsed and searched by anyone.  If you log into the system, you will
also be able to enter new reports.

Writing a good bug report takes patience, but doing it right the first
time saves time both for us and for yourself.  A good bug report,
containing a full test case for the bug, makes it very likely that we
will fix the bug in the next release.  This section will help you write
your report correctly so that you don't waste your time doing things
that may not help us much or at all.

We encourage everyone to use the `mysqlbug' script to generate a bug
report (or a report about any problem).  `mysqlbug' can be found in the
`scripts' directory (source distribution) and in the `bin' directory
under your MySQL installation directory (binary distribution).  If you
are unable to use `mysqlbug' (for instance, if you are running on
Windows), it is still vital that you include all the necessary
information noted in this section (most importantly a description of
the operating system and the MySQL version).

The `mysqlbug' script helps you generate a report by determining much
of the following information automatically, but if something important
is missing, please include it with your message.  Please read this
section carefully and make sure that all the information described here
is included in your report.

Preferably, you should test the problem using the latest production or
development version of MySQL Server before posting.  Anyone should be
able to repeat the bug by just using '`mysql test < script'' on the
included test case or by running the shell or Perl script that is
included in the bug report.

All bugs posted in the bugs database at `http://bugs.mysql.com/' will
be corrected or documented in the next MySQL release. If only minor
code changes are needed to correct a problem, we will also post a patch
that fixes the problem.

If you have found a sensitive security bug in MySQL, please send an
email to <security@mysql.com>.

If you have a repeatable bug report, please report it to the bugs
database at `http://bugs.mysql.com/'.  Note that even in this case it's
good to run the `mysqlbug' script first to find information about your
system.  Any bug that we are able to repeat has a high chance of being
fixed in the next MySQL release.

To report other problems, you can use one of the MySQL mailing lists.

Remember that it is possible for us to respond to a message containing
too much information, but not to one containing too little.  People
often omit facts because they think they know the cause of a problem
and assume that some details don't matter.  A good principle is: If you
are in doubt about stating something, state it.  It is faster and less
troublesome to write a couple more lines in your report than to wait
longer for the answer if we must ask you to provide information that
was missing from the initial report.

The most common errors made in bug reports are (a) not including the
version number of the MySQL distribution used and (b) not fully
describing the platform on which the MySQL server is installed
(including the platform type and version number).  This is highly
relevant information, and in 99 cases out of 100 the bug report is
useless without it.  Very often we get questions like, "Why doesn't
this work for me?" Then we find that the feature requested wasn't
implemented in that MySQL version, or that a bug described in a report
has already been fixed in newer MySQL versions.  Sometimes the error is
platform-dependent; in such cases, it is next to impossible for us to
fix anything without knowing the operating system and the version
number of the platform.

If you compiled MySQL from source, remember also to provide information
about your compiler, if it is related to the problem.  Often people
find bugs in compilers and think the problem is MySQL-related.  Most
compilers are under development all the time and become better version
by version.  To determine whether your problem depends on your
compiler, we need to know what compiler you use.  Note that every
compiling problem should be regarded as a bug and reported accordingly.

It is most helpful when a good description of the problem is included
in the bug report.  That is, give a good example of everything you did
that led to the problem and describe, in exact detail, the problem
itself.  The best reports are those that include a full example showing
how to reproduce the bug or problem.  *Note Reproduceable test case::.

If a program produces an error message, it is very important to include
the message in your report.  If we try to search for something from the
archives using programs, it is better that the error message reported
exactly matches the one that the program produces.  (Even the case
should be observed.)  You should never try to remember what the error
message was; instead, copy and paste the entire message into your
report.

If you have a problem with Connector/ODBC (MyODBC), please try to
generate a MyODBC trace file and send it with your report.  *Note
MyODBC bug report::.

Please remember that many of the people who will read your report will
do so using an 80-column display.  When generating reports or examples
using the `mysql' command-line tool, you should therefore use the
`--vertical' option (or the `\G' statement terminator) for output that
would exceed the available width for such a display (for example, with
the `EXPLAIN SELECT' statement; see the example later in this section).

Please include the following information in your report:

   * The version number of the MySQL distribution you are using (for
     example, MySQL Version 4.0.12). You can find out which version you
     are running by executing `mysqladmin version'.  `mysqladmin' can be
     found in the `bin' directory under your MySQL installation
     directory.

   * The manufacturer and model of the machine on which you experience
     the problem.

   * The operating system name and version.  If you work with Windows,
     you can usually get the name and version number by double-clicking
     your "My Computer" icon and pulling down the "Help/About Windows"
     menu.  For most Unix-like operating systems, you can get this
     information by executing the command `uname -a'.

   * Sometimes the amount of memory (real and virtual) is relevant. If
     in doubt, include these values.

   * If you are using a source distribution of the MySQL software, the
     name and version number of the compiler used is needed.  If you
     have a binary distribution, the distribution name is needed.

   * If the problem occurs during compilation, include the exact error
     messages and also a few lines of context around the offending code
     in the file where the error occurrs.

   * If `mysqld' died, you should also report the query that crashed
     `mysqld'.  You can usually find this out by running `mysqld' with
     logging enabled.  *Note Using log files::.

   * If a database table is related to the problem, include the output
     from `mysqldump --no-data db_name tbl_name1 tbl_name2 ...'.  This
     is very easy to do and is a powerful way to get information about
     any table in a database.  The information will help us create a
     situation matching the one you have.

   * For speed-related bugs or problems with `SELECT' statements, you
     should always include the output of `EXPLAIN SELECT ...', and at
     least the number of rows that the `SELECT' statement produces.  You
     should also include the output from `SHOW CREATE TABLE tbl_name'
     for each involved table. The more information you give about your
     situation, the more likely it is that someone can help you.

     The following is an example of a very good bug report. It should
     be posted with the `mysqlbug' script.  The example uses the `mysql'
     command-line tool. Note the use of the `\G' statement terminator
     for statements whose output width would otherwise exceed that of
     an 80-column display device.

          mysql> SHOW VARIABLES;
          mysql> SHOW COLUMNS FROM ...\G
                 <output from SHOW COLUMNS>
          mysql> EXPLAIN SELECT ...\G
                 <output from EXPLAIN>
          mysql> FLUSH STATUS;
          mysql> SELECT ...;
                 <A short version of the output from SELECT,
                 including the time taken to run the query>
          mysql> SHOW STATUS;
                 <output from SHOW STATUS>

   * If a bug or problem occurs while running `mysqld', try to provide
     an input script that will reproduce the anomaly.  This script
     should include any necessary source files.  The more closely the
     script can reproduce your situation, the better.  If you can make
     a reproducible test case, you should post it on
     `http://bugs.mysql.com/' for high-priority treatment.

     If you can't provide a script, you should at least include the
     output from `mysqladmin variables extended-status processlist' in
     your mail to provide some information on how your system is
     performing.

   * If you can't produce a test case with only a few rows, or if the
     test table is too big to be mailed to the mailing list (more than
     10 rows), you should dump your tables using `mysqldump' and create
     a `README' file that describes your problem.

     Create a compressed archive of your files using `tar' and `gzip'
     or `zip', and use `ftp' to transfer the archive to
     `ftp://support.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret/'.  Then enter the
     problem into our bugs database at `http://bugs.mysql.com/'.

   * If you think that the MySQL server produces a strange result from
     a query, include not only the result, but also your opinion of
     what the result should be, and an account describing the basis for
     your opinion.

   * When giving an example of the problem, it's better to use the
     variable names, table names, etc., that exist in your actual
     situation than to come up with new names.  The problem could be
     related to the name of a variable or table.  These cases are rare,
     perhaps, but it is better to be safe than sorry.  After all, it
     should be easier for you to provide an example that uses your
     actual situation, and it is by all means better for us.  In case
     you have data you don't want to show to others, you can use `ftp'
     to transfer it to `ftp://support.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret/'.  If
     the data is really top secret and you don't want to show it even
     to us, then go ahead and provide an example using other names, but
     please regard this as the last choice.

   * Include all the options given to the relevant programs, if
     possible.  For example, indicate the options that you use when you
     start the `mysqld' server as well as the options that you use to
     run any MySQL client programs.  The options to programs like
     `mysqld' and `mysql', and to the `configure' script, are often
     keys to answers and are very relevant.  It is never a bad idea to
     include them.  If you use any modules, such as Perl or PHP, please
     include the version numbers of those as well.

   * If your question is related to the privilege system, please
     include the output of `mysqlaccess', the output of `mysqladmin
     reload', and all the error messages you get when trying to
     connect.  When you test your privileges, you should first run
     `mysqlaccess'.  After this, execute `mysqladmin reload version'
     and try to connect with the program that gives you trouble.
     `mysqlaccess' can be found in the `bin' directory under your MySQL
     installation directory.

   * If you have a patch for a bug, do include it.  But don't assume
     the patch is all we need, or that we will use it, if you don't
     provide some necessary information such as test cases showing the
     bug that your patch fixes.  We might find problems with your patch
     or we might not understand it at all; if so, we can't use it.

     If we can't verify exactly what the purpose of the patch is, we
     won't use it.  Test cases will help us here.  Show that the patch
     will handle all the situations that may occur.  If we find a
     borderline case (even a rare one) where the patch won't work, it
     may be useless.

   * Guesses about what the bug is, why it occurs, or what it depends on
     are usually wrong.  Even the MySQL team can't guess such things
     without first using a debugger to determine the real cause of a
     bug.

   * Indicate in your bug report that you have checked the reference
     manual and mail archive so that others know you have tried to
     solve the problem yourself.

   * If you get a `parse error', please check your syntax closely.  If
     you can't find something wrong with it, it's extremely likely that
     your current version of MySQL Server doesn't support the syntax
     you are using.  If you are using the current version and the
     manual at `http://www.mysql.com/doc/' doesn't cover the syntax you
     are using, MySQL Server doesn't support your query.  In this case,
     your only options are to implement the syntax yourself or email
     <licensing@mysql.com> and ask for an offer to implement it.

     If the manual covers the syntax you are using, but you have an
     older version of MySQL Server, you should check the MySQL change
     history to see when the syntax was implemented.  In this case, you
     have the option of upgrading to a newer version of MySQL Server.
     *Note News::.

   * If your problem is that your data appears corrupt or you get errors
     when you access a particular table, you should first check and
     then try to repair your tables with `CHECK TABLE' and `REPAIR
     TABLE' or with `myisamchk'.  *Note MySQL Database Administration::.

     If you are running Windows, please check that
     `lower_case_table_names is 1 or 2' with `SHOW VARIABLES LIKE
     'lower_case_table_names''.

   * If you often get corrupted tables, you should try to find out when
     and why this happens.  In this case, the error log in the MySQL
     data directory may contain some information about what happened.
     (This is the file with the `.err' suffix in the name.)  *Note
     Error log::.  Please include any relevant information from this
     file in your bug report.  Normally `mysqld' should *never* crash a
     table if nothing killed it in the middle of an update.  If you can
     find the cause of `mysqld' dying, it's much easier for us to
     provide you with a fix for the problem.  *Note What is crashing::.

   * If possible, download and install the most recent version of MySQL
     Server and check whether it solves your problem.  All versions of
     the MySQL software are thoroughly tested and should work without
     problems.  We believe in making everything as backward-compatible
     as possible, and you should be able to switch MySQL versions
     without difficulty.  *Note Which version::.

If you are a support customer, please cross-post the bug report to
<mysql-support@mysql.com> for higher-priority treatment, as well as to
the appropriate mailing list to see whether someone else has
experienced (and perhaps solved) the problem.

For information on reporting bugs in `MyODBC', see *Note ODBC
Problems::.

For solutions to some common problems, see *Note Problems::.

When answers are sent to you individually and not to the mailing list,
it is considered good etiquette to summarize the answers and send the
summary to the mailing list so that others may have the benefit of
responses you received that helped you solve your problem.

Guidelines for Answering Questions on the Mailing List
......................................................

If you consider your answer to have broad interest, you may want to
post it to the mailing list instead of replying directly to the
individual who asked.  Try to make your answer general enough that
people other than the original poster may benefit from it.  When you
post to the list, please make sure that your answer is not a
duplication of a previous answer.

Try to summarize the essential part of the question in your reply;
don't feel obliged to quote the entire original message.

Please don't post mail messages from your browser with HTML mode turned
on.  Many users don't read mail with a browser.

MySQL Community Support on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
----------------------------------------------------

In addition to the various MySQL mailing lists, you can find experienced
community people on `IRC' (`Internet Relay Chat').  These are the best
networks/channels currently known to us:

   * *freenode* (see `http://www.freenode.net/' for servers)
        * `#mysql' Primarily MySQL questions but other database and SQL
          questions welcome.

        * `#mysqlphp' Questions about MySQL+PHP, a popular combination.

        * `#mysqlperl' Questions about MySQL+Perl, another popular
          combination.

   * *EFnet* (see `http://www.efnet.org/' for servers)
        * `#mysql' MySQL questions.

If you are looking for IRC client software to connect to an IRC network,
take a look at `X-Chat' (`http://www.xchat.org/').  X-Chat (GPL
licensed) is available for Unix as well as for Windows platforms.

MySQL Standards Compliance
==========================

This section describes how MySQL relates to the ANSI/ISO SQL standards.
MySQL Server has many extensions to the SQL standard, and here you will
find out what they are and how to use them.  You will also find
information about functionality missing from MySQL Server, and how to
work around some differences.

Our goal is to not restrict MySQL Server usability for any usage
without a very good reason for doing so.  Even if we don't have the
resources to perform  development for every possible use, we are always
willing to help and offer suggestions to people who are trying to use
MySQL Server in new territories.

One of our main goals with the product is to continue to work toward
compliance with the SQL-99 standard, but without sacrificing speed or
reliability.  We are not afraid to add extensions to SQL or support for
non-SQL features if this greatly increases the usability of MySQL
Server for a large segment of our user base.  (The new `HANDLER'
interface in MySQL Server 4.0 is an example of this strategy. *Note
`HANDLER': HANDLER.)

We will continue to support transactional and non-transactional
databases to satisfy both mission-critical 24/7 usage and heavy
web/logging usage.

MySQL Server was designed from the start to work with medium size
databases (10-100 million rows, or about 100 MB per table) on small
computer systems.  We will continue to extend MySQL Server to work even
better with terabyte-size databases, as well as to make it possible to
compile a reduced MySQL version that is more suitable for hand-held
devices and embedded usage.  The compact design of the MySQL server
makes development in both of these directions possible without any
conflicts in the source tree.

We are currently not targeting realtime support, though you can already
do a lot of things with our replication capabilities.

Database cluster support is planned to begin sometime in 2004 through
implementation of a new storage engine.

We are looking at providing XML support in the database server.

What Standards MySQL Follows
----------------------------

Entry-level SQL-92. ODBC levels 0-3.51.

We are aiming toward supporting the full SQL-99 standard, but without
making concessions to speed and quality of the code.

Selecting SQL Modes
-------------------

The MySQL server can operate in different SQL modes, and can apply these
modes differentially for different clients. This allows applications to
tailor server operation to their own requirements.

Modes define what SQL syntax MySQL should support and what kind of
validation checks it should perform on the data.  This makes it easier
to use MySQL in a lot of different environments and to use MySQL
together with other database servers.

You can set the default SQL mode by starting `mysqld' with the
`--sql-mode="modes"' option. Beginning with MySQL 4.1, you can also
change the mode after startup time by setting the `sql_mode' variable
with a `SET [SESSION|GLOBAL] sql_mode='modes'' statement.

For more information on setting the server mode, see *Note Server SQL
mode::.

Running MySQL in ANSI Mode
--------------------------

You can tell `mysqld' to use the ANSI mode with the `--ansi' startup
option. *Note Server options::.

Running the server in ANSI mode is the same as starting it with these
options:

     --sql-mode=REAL_AS_FLOAT,PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY
     --transaction-isolation=SERIALIZABLE

In MySQL 4.1, you can achieve the same effect with these two statements:

     SET GLOBAL TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL SERIALIZABLE;
     SET GLOBAL sql_mode =
       "REAL_AS_FLOAT,PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY";

*Note SQL mode::.

In MySQL 4.1.1, the `sql_mode' options shown can be also be set with:

     SET GLOBAL sql_mode="ansi";

In this case, the value of the `sql_mode' variable will be set to all
options that are relevant for ANSI mode. You can check the result by
doing:

     mysql> SET GLOBAL sql_mode="ansi";
     mysql> SELECT @@GLOBAL.sql_mode;
             -> "REAL_AS_FLOAT,PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY,ANSI"

MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard
---------------------------------------

MySQL Server includes some extensions that you probably will not find in
other SQL databases.  Be warned that if you use them, your code will
not be portable to other SQL servers.  In some cases, you can write
code that includes MySQL extensions, but is still portable, by using
comments of the form `/*! ... */'.  In this case, MySQL Server will
parse and execute the code within the comment as it would any other
MySQL statement, but other SQL servers will ignore the extensions.  For
example:

     SELECT /*! STRAIGHT_JOIN */ col_name FROM table1,table2 WHERE ...

If you add a version number after the `'!'' character, the syntax within
the comment will be executed only if the MySQL version is equal to or
newer than the specified version number:

     CREATE /*!32302 TEMPORARY */ TABLE t (a INT);

This means that if you have Version 3.23.02 or newer, MySQL Server will
use the `TEMPORARY' keyword.

The following descriptions list MySQL extensions, organized by category.

Organization of data on disk
     MySQL Server maps each database to a directory under the MySQL
     data directory, and tables within a database to filenames in the
     database directory.  This has a few implications:

        * Database names and table names are case sensitive in MySQL
          Server on operating systems that have case sensitive
          filenames (like most Unix systems). *Note Name case
          sensitivity::.

        * Database, table, index, column, or alias names may begin with
          a digit (but may not consist solely of digits).

        * You can use standard system commands to back up, rename,
          move, delete, and copy tables that are managed by the
          `MyISAM' or `ISAM' storage engines.  For example, to rename a
          `MyISQM' table, rename the `.MYD', `.MYI', and `.frm' files
          to which the table corresponds.

General language syntax
        * Strings may be enclosed by either `"' or `'', not just by `''.

        * Use of `\' as an escape character in strings.

        * In SQL statements, you can access tables from different
          databases with the `db_name.tbl_name' syntax.  Some SQL
          servers provide the same functionality but call this `User
          space'.  MySQL Server doesn't support tablespaces such as
          used in statements like this: `CREATE TABLE
          ralph.my_table...IN my_tablespace'.


SQL statement syntax
        * The `ANALYZE TABLE', `CHECK TABLE', `OPTIMIZE TABLE', and
          `REPAIR TABLE' statements.

        * The `CREATE DATABASE' and `DROP DATABASE' statements.  *Note
          `CREATE DATABASE': CREATE DATABASE.

        * The `DO' statement.

        * `EXPLAIN SELECT' to get a description of how tables are
          joined.

        * The `FLUSH' and `RESET' statements.

        * The `SET' statement. *Note `SET': SET OPTION.

        * The `SHOW' statement.  *Note `SHOW': SHOW.

        * Use of `LOAD DATA INFILE'. In many cases, this syntax is
          compatible with Oracle's `LOAD DATA INFILE'. *Note `LOAD
          DATA': LOAD DATA.

        * Use of `RENAME TABLE'. *Note `RENAME TABLE': RENAME TABLE.

        * Use of `REPLACE' instead of `DELETE' + `INSERT'.  *Note
          `REPLACE': REPLACE.

        * Use of `CHANGE col_name', `DROP col_name', or `DROP INDEX',
          `IGNORE' or `RENAME' in an `ALTER TABLE' statement.  Use of
          multiple `ADD', `ALTER', `DROP', or `CHANGE' clauses in an
          `ALTER TABLE' statement.  *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

        * Use of index names, indexes on a prefix of a field, and use of
          `INDEX' or `KEY' in a `CREATE TABLE' statement. *Note `CREATE
          TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

        * Use of `TEMPORARY' or `IF NOT EXISTS' with `CREATE TABLE'.

        * Use of `IF EXISTS' with `DROP TABLE'.

        * You can drop multiple tables with a single `DROP TABLE'
          statement.

        * The `ORDER BY' and `LIMIT' clauses of the `UPDATE' and
          `DELETE' statements.

        * `INSERT INTO ... SET col_name = ...' syntax.

        * The `DELAYED' clause of the `INSERT' and `REPLACE' statements.

        * The `LOW_PRIORITY' clause of the `INSERT', `REPLACE',
          `DELETE', and `UPDATE' statements.

        * Use of `INTO OUTFILE' and `STRAIGHT_JOIN' in a `SELECT'
          statement. *Note `SELECT': SELECT.

        * The `SQL_SMALL_RESULT' option in a `SELECT' statement.

        * You don't need to name all selected columns in the `GROUP BY'
          part.  This gives better performance for some very specific,
          but quite normal queries.  *Note Group by functions and
          modifiers::.

        * You can specify `ASC' and `DESC' with `GROUP BY'.

        * The ability to set variables in a statement with the `:='
          assignment operator:
               mysql> SELECT @a:=SUM(total),@b=COUNT(*),@a/@b AS avg
                   -> FROM test_table;
               mysql> SELECT @t1:=(@t2:=1)+@t3:=4,@t1,@t2,@t3;


Column types
        * The column types `MEDIUMINT', `SET', `ENUM', and the
          different `BLOB' and `TEXT' types.

        * The column attributes `AUTO_INCREMENT', `BINARY', `NULL',
          `UNSIGNED', and `ZEROFILL'.

Functions and operators
        * To make it easier for users who come from other SQL
          environments, MySQL Server supports aliases for many
          functions. For example, all string functions support both
          standard SQL syntax and ODBC syntax.

        * MySQL Server understands the `||' and `&&' operators to mean
          logical OR and AND, as in the C programming language.  In
          MySQL Server, `||' and `OR' are synonyms, as are `&&' and
          `AND'.  Because of this nice syntax, MySQL Server doesn't
          support the standard SQL-99 `||' operator for string
          concatenation; use `CONCAT()' instead. Because `CONCAT()'
          takes any number of arguments, it's easy to convert use of
          the `||' operator to MySQL Server.

        * Use of `COUNT(DISTINCT list)' where `list' has more than one
          element.

        * All string comparisons are case-insensitive by default, with
          sort ordering determined by the current character set
          (ISO-8859-1 Latin1 by default).  If you don't like this, you
          should declare your columns with the `BINARY' attribute or
          use the `BINARY' cast, which causes comparisons to be done
          according to the ASCII order used on the MySQL server host.

        * The `%' operator is a synonym for `MOD()'.  That is, `N % M'
          is equivalent to `MOD(N,M)'.  `%' is supported for C
          programmers and for compatibility with PostgreSQL.

        * The `=', `<>', `<=' ,`<', `>=',`>', `<<', `>>', `<=>', `AND',
          `OR', or `LIKE' operators may be used in column comparisons
          to the left of the `FROM' in `SELECT' statements.  For
          example:

               mysql> SELECT col1=1 AND col2=2 FROM tbl_name;

        * The `LAST_INSERT_ID()' function.  *Note Information
          functions::.

        * `LIKE' is allowed on numeric columns.

        * The `REGEXP' and `NOT REGEXP' extended regular expression
          operators.

        * `CONCAT()' or `CHAR()' with one argument or more than two
          arguments.  (In MySQL Server, these functions can take any
          number of arguments.)

        * The `BIT_COUNT()', `CASE', `ELT()', `FROM_DAYS()',
          `FORMAT()', `IF()', `PASSWORD()', `ENCRYPT()', `MD5()',
          `ENCODE()', `DECODE()', `PERIOD_ADD()', `PERIOD_DIFF()',
          `TO_DAYS()', or `WEEKDAY()' functions.

        * Use of `TRIM()' to trim substrings.  SQL-99 supports removal
          of single characters only.

        * The `GROUP BY' functions `STD()', `BIT_OR()', `BIT_AND()',
          `BIT_XOR()', and `GROUP_CONCAT()'.  *Note Group by functions
          and modifiers::.

For a prioritized list indicating when new extensions will be added to
MySQL Server, you should consult the online MySQL TODO list at
`http://www.mysql.com/doc/en/TODO.html'.  That is the latest version of
the TODO list in this manual. *Note TODO::.

MySQL Differences Compared to SQL-92
------------------------------------

We try to make MySQL Server follow the ANSI SQL standard
(SQL-92/SQL-99) and the ODBC SQL standard, but MySQL Server performs
operations differently in some cases:

   * For `VARCHAR' columns, trailing spaces are removed when the value
     is stored. *Note Bugs::.

   * In some cases, `CHAR' columns are silently converted to `VARCHAR'
     columns when you define a table or alter its structure.  *Note
     Silent column changes::.

   * Privileges for a table are not automatically revoked when you
     delete a table. You must explicitly issue a `REVOKE' statement to
     revoke privileges for a table. *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

Subqueries
..........

MySQL Version 4.1 supports subqueries and derived tables.  A subquery
is a `SELECT' statement nested within another statement.  A derived
table (an unnamed view) is a subquery in the `FROM' clause of another
statement.  *Note Subqueries::.

For MySQL versions older than 4.1, most subqueries can be rewritten
using joins or other methods.  See *Note Rewriting subqueries:: for
examples that show how to do this.

`SELECT INTO TABLE'
...................

MySQL Server doesn't support the Sybase SQL extension: `SELECT ... INTO
TABLE ...'.  Instead, MySQL Server supports the SQL-99 syntax `INSERT
INTO ... SELECT ...', which is basically the same thing. *Note `INSERT
SELECT': INSERT SELECT.

     INSERT INTO tblTemp2 (fldID)
            SELECT tblTemp1.fldOrder_ID
            FROM tblTemp1 WHERE tblTemp1.fldOrder_ID > 100;

Alternatively, you can use `SELECT INTO OUTFILE ...' or `CREATE TABLE
... SELECT'.

From version 5.0, MySQL supports `SELECT ... INTO' with user variables.
The same syntax may also be used inside stored procedures using cursors
and local variables.  *Note SELECT INTO Statement::.

Transactions and Atomic Operations
..................................

MySQL Server (version 3.23-max and all versions 4.0 and above) supports
transactions with the `InnoDB' and `BDB' transactional storage engines.
`InnoDB' provides _full_ `ACID' compliance.  *Note Table types::.

The other non-transactional storage engines in MySQL Server (such as
`MyISAM') follow a different paradigm for data integrity called
"`Atomic Operations'." In transactional terms, `MyISAM' tables
effectively always operate in `AUTOCOMMIT=1' mode.  Atomic operations
often offer comparable integrity with higher performance.

With MySQL Server supporting both paradigms, you can decide whether your
applications are best served by the speed of atomic operations or the
use of transactional features. This choice can be made on a per-table
basis.

As noted, the trade off for transactional vs. non-transactional table
types lies mostly in performance. Transactional tables have
significantly higher memory and diskspace requirements, and more CPU
overhead.  On the other hand, transactional table types such as
`InnoDB' also offer many significant features. MySQL Server's modular
design allows the concurrent use of different storage engines to suit
different requirements and deliver optimum performance in all
situations.

But how does one use the features of MySQL Server to maintain rigorous
integrity even with the non-transactional `MyISAM' tables, and how do
these features compare with the transactional table types?

  1. If your applications are written in a way that is dependent on
     being able to call `ROLLBACK' rather than `COMMIT' in critical
     situations, transactions are more convenient. Transactions also
     ensure that unfinished updates or corrupting activities are not
     committed to the database; the server is given the opportunity to
     do an automatic rollback and your database is saved.

     If you use non-transactional tables, MySQL Server in almost all
     cases allows you to resolve potential problems by including simple
     checks before updates and by running simple scripts that check the
     databases for inconsistencies and automatically repair or warn if
     such an inconsistency occurs. Note that just by using the MySQL
     log or even adding one extra log, one can normally fix tables
     perfectly with no data integrity loss.

  2. More often than not, critical transactional updates can be
     rewritten to be atomic. Generally speaking, all integrity problems
     that transactions solve can be done with `LOCK TABLES' or atomic
     updates, ensuring that you never will get an automatic abort from
     the server, which is a common problem with transactional database
     systems.

  3. Even a transactional system can lose data if the server goes down.
     The difference between different systems lies in just how small the
     time-lap is where they could lose data. No system is 100% secure,
     only "secure enough." Even Oracle, reputed to be the safest of
     transactional database systems, is reported to sometimes lose data
     in such situations.

     To be safe with MySQL Server, whether using transactional tables
     or not, you only need to have backups and have binary logging
     turned on. With this you can recover from any situation that you
     could with any other transactional database system.  It is always
     good to have backups, independent of which database system you use.

The transactional paradigm has its benefits and its drawbacks. Many
users and application developers depend on the ease with which they can
code around problems where an abort appears to be, or is necessary.
However, even if you are new to the atomic operations paradigm, or more
familiar with transactions, do consider the speed benefit that
non-transactional tables can offer on the order of three to five times
the speed of the fastest and most optimally tuned transactional tables.

In situations where integrity is of highest importance, MySQL Server
offers transaction-level reliability and integrity even for
non-transactional tables.  If you lock tables with `LOCK TABLES', all
updates will stall until any integrity checks are made. If you obtain a
`READ LOCAL' lock (as opposed to a write lock) for a table that allows
concurrent inserts at the end of the table, reads are allowed, as are
inserts by other clients.  The new inserted records will not be seen by
the client that has the read lock until it releases the lock.  With
`INSERT DELAYED' you can queue inserts into a local queue, until the
locks are released, without having the client wait for the insert to
complete. *Note INSERT DELAYED::.

"Atomic," in the sense that we mean it, is nothing magical. It only
means that you can be sure that while each specific update is running,
no other user can interfere with it, and there will never be an
automatic rollback (which can happen with transactional tables if you
are not very careful).  MySQL Server also guarantees that there will
not be any dirty reads.

Following are some techniques for working with non-transactional tables:

   * Loops that need transactions normally can be coded with the help of
     `LOCK TABLES', and you don't need cursors to update records on the
     fly.

   * To avoid using `ROLLBACK', you can use the following strategy:

       1. Use `LOCK TABLES ...' to lock all the tables you want to
          access.

       2. Test the conditions that must be true before performing the
          update.

       3. Update if everything is okay.

       4. Use `UNLOCK TABLES' to release your locks.

     This is usually a much faster method than using transactions with
     possible rollbacks, although not always. The only situation this
     solution doesn't handle is when someone kills the threads in the
     middle of an update. In this case, all locks will be released but
     some of the updates may not have been executed.

   * You can also use functions to update records in a single operation.
     You can get a very efficient application by using the following
     techniques:

        * Modify fields relative to their current value.

        * Update only those fields that actually have changed.

     For example, when we are doing updates to some customer
     information, we update only the customer data that has changed and
     test only that none of the changed data, or data that depends on
     the changed data, has changed compared to the original row. The
     test for changed data is done with the `WHERE' clause in the
     `UPDATE' statement. If the record wasn't updated, we give the
     client a message: "Some of the data you have changed has been
     changed by another user." Then we show the old row versus the new
     row in a window, so the user can decide which version of the
     customer record he should use.

     This gives us something that is similar to column locking but is
     actually even better because we only update some of the columns,
     using values that are relative to their current values.  This
     means that typical `UPDATE' statements look something like these:

          UPDATE tablename SET pay_back=pay_back+125;
          
          UPDATE customer
            SET
              customer_date='current_date',
              address='new address',
              phone='new phone',
              money_he_owes_us=money_he_owes_us-125
            WHERE
              customer_id=id AND address='old address' AND phone='old phone';

     As you can see, this is very efficient and works even if another
     client has changed the values in the `pay_back' or
     `money_he_owes_us' columns.

   * In many cases, users have wanted `LOCK TABLES' and/or `ROLLBACK'
     for the purpose of managing unique identifiers.  This can be
     handled much more efficiently without locking or rolling back by
     using an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column and either the SQL function
     `LAST_INSERT_ID()' or the C API function `mysql_insert_id()'.
     *Note Information functions::.  *Note `mysql_insert_id()':
     mysql_insert_id.

     You can generally code around the need for row-level locking. Some
     situations really do need it, and `InnoDB' tables support
     row-level locking. With `MyISAM' tables, you can use a flag column
     in the table and do something like the following:

          UPDATE tbl_name SET row_flag=1 WHERE id=ID;

     MySQL returns 1 for the number of affected rows if the row was
     found and `row_flag' wasn't already 1 in the original row.

     You can think of it as though MySQL Server changed the preceding
     query to:

          UPDATE tbl_name SET row_flag=1 WHERE id=ID AND row_flag <> 1;

Stored Procedures and Triggers
..............................

Stored procedures are implemented in MySQL version 5.0.  *Note Stored
Procedures::.

Triggers are scheduled for implementation in MySQL version 5.1. A
trigger is effectively a type of stored procedure, one that is invoked
when a particular event occurs.  For example, you could set up a stored
procedure that is triggered each time a record is deleted from a
transactional table and that stored procedure automatically deletes the
corresponding customer from a customer table when all their
transactions are deleted.

Foreign Keys
............

In MySQL Server 3.23.44 and up, the `InnoDB' storage engine supports
checking of foreign key constraints, including `CASCADE', `ON DELETE',
and `ON UPDATE'. *Note InnoDB foreign key constraints::.

For storage engines other than `InnoDB', MySQL Server parses the
`FOREIGN KEY' syntax in `CREATE TABLE' statements, but does not use or
store it. In the future, the implementation will be extended to store
this information in the table specification file so that it may be
retrieved by `mysqldump' and ODBC.  At a later stage, foreign key
constraints will be implemented for `MyISAM' tables as well.

Foreign key enforcement offers several benefits to database developers:

   * Assuming proper design of the relationships, foreign key
     constraints make it more difficult for a programmer to introduce
     an inconsistency into the database.

   * Centralized checking of constraints by the database server makes it
     unnecessary to perform these checks on the application side. This
     eliminates the possibility that different applications may not all
     check the constraints in the same way.

   * Using cascading updates and deletes can simplify the application
     code.

   * Properly designed foreign key rules aid in documenting
     relationships between tables.

Do keep in mind that these benefits come at the cost of additional
overhead for the database server to perform the necessary checks.
Additional checking by the server affects performance, which for some
applications may be sufficiently undesirable as to be avoided if
possible.  (Some major commercial applications have coded the
foreign-key logic at the application level for this reason.)

MySQL gives database developers the choice of which approach to use. If
you don't need foreign keys and want to avoid the overhead associated
with enforcing referential integrity, you can choose another table type
instead, such as `MyISAM'. (For example, the `MyISAM' storage engine
offers very fast performance for applications that perform only
`INSERT' and `SELECT' operations, because the inserts can be performed
concurrently with retrievals.  *Note Table locking::.)

If you choose not to take advantage of referential integrity checks,
keep the following considerations in mind:

   * In the absence of server-side foreign key relationship checking,
     the application itself must handle relationship issues.  For
     example, it must take care to insert rows into tables in the proper
     order, and to avoid creating orphaned child records. It must also
     be able to recover from errors that occur in the middle of
     multiple-record insert operations.

   * If `ON DELETE' is the only referential integrity capability an
     application needs, note that as of MySQL Server 4.0, you can use
     multiple-table `DELETE' statements to delete rows from many tables
     with a single statement. *Note `DELETE': DELETE.

   * A workaround for the lack of `ON DELETE' is to add the appropriate
     `DELETE' statement to your application when you delete records
     from a table that has a foreign key. In practice, this is often as
     quick as using foreign keys, and is more portable.


Be aware that the use of foreign keys can in some instances lead to
problems:

   * Foreign key support addresses many referential integrity issues,
     but it is still necessary to design key relationships carefully to
     avoid circular rules or incorrect combinations of cascading
     deletes.

   * It is not uncommon for a DBA to create a topology of relationships
     that makes it difficult to restore individual tables from a backup.
     (MySQL alleviates this difficulty by allowing you to temporarily
     disable foreign key checks when reloading a table that depends on
     other tables.  *Note InnoDB foreign key constraints::.  As of
     MySQL 4.1.1, `mysqldump' generates dump files that take advantage
     of this capability automatically when reloaded.)

Note that foreign keys in SQL are used to check and enforce referential
integrity, not to join tables.  If you want to get results from multiple
tables from a `SELECT' statement, you do this by performing a join
between them:

     SELECT * FROM table1,table2 WHERE table1.id = table2.id;

*Note `JOIN': JOIN. *Note example-Foreign keys::.

The `FOREIGN KEY' syntax without `ON DELETE ...' is often used by ODBC
applications to produce automatic `WHERE' clauses.

Views
.....

Views are currently being implemented, and will appear in the 5.0 or 5.1
version of MySQL Server.  Unnamed views (_derived tables_, a subquery
in the `FROM' clause of a `SELECT') are already implemented in version
4.1.

Historically, MySQL Server has been most used in applications and on web
systems where the application writer has full control over database
usage. Usage has shifted over time, and so we find that an increasing
number of users now regard views as an important feature.

Views are useful for allowing users to access a set of relations
(tables) as if it were a single table, and limiting their access to
just that.  Views can also be used to restrict access to rows (a subset
of a particular table).  One does not require views to restrict access
to columns, as MySQL Server has a sophisticated privilege system.
*Note Privilege system::.

Many DBMS don't allow updates to a view. Instead, you have to perform
the updates on the individual tables.  In designing an implementation
of views, our goal, as much as is possible within the confines of SQL,
is full compliance with "*Codd's Rule #6*" for relational database
systems: All views that are theoretically updatable, should in practice
also be updatable.

`--' as the Start of a Comment
..............................

Some other SQL databases use `--' to start comments.  MySQL Server uses
`#' as the start comment character. You can also use the C comment
style `/* this is a comment */' with MySQL Server.  *Note Comments::.

MySQL Server Version 3.23.3 and above support the `--' comment style,
provided the comment is followed by a space (or by a control character
such as a newline). The requirement for a space is to prevent problems
with automatically generated SQL queries that have used something like
the following code, where we automatically insert the value of the
payment for `!payment!':

     UPDATE tbl_name SET credit=credit-!payment!

Think about what happens if the value of `payment' is a negative value
such as `-1':

     UPDATE tbl_name SET credit=credit--1

`credit--1' is a legal expression in SQL, but if `--' is interpreted as
the start of a comment, part of the expression is discarded. The result
is a statement that has a completely different meaning than intended:

     UPDATE tbl_name SET credit=credit

The statement produces no change in value at all!  This illustrates that
allowing comments to start with `--' can have serious consequences.

Using our implementation of this method of commenting in MySQL Server
Version 3.23.3 and up, `credit--1' is actually safe.

Another safe feature is that the `mysql' command-line client removes
all lines that start with `--'.

The following information is relevant only if you are running a MySQL
version earlier than 3.23.3:

If you have an SQL program in a text file that contains `--' comments,
you should use the `replace' utility as follows to convert the comments
to use `#' characters:

     shell> replace " --" " #" < text-file-with-funny-comments.sql \
              | mysql database

instead of the usual:

     shell> mysql database < text-file-with-funny-comments.sql

You can also edit the command file "in place" to change the `--'
comments to `#' comments:

     shell> replace " --" " #" -- text-file-with-funny-comments.sql

Change them back with this command:

     shell> replace " #" " --" -- text-file-with-funny-comments.sql

How MySQL Deals with Constraints
--------------------------------

MySQL allows you to work with both transactional tables that allow
rollback and non-transactional tables that do not, so constraint
handling is a bit different in MySQL than in other databases.

We have to handle the case when you have updated a lot of rows in a
non-transactional table that cannot roll back when an error occurs.

The basic philosophy is to try to give an error for anything that we can
detect at compile time but try to recover from any errors we get at
runtime.  We do this in most cases, but not yet for all. *Note TODO
future::.

The options MySQL has when an error occurs are to stop the statement in
the middle or to recover as well as possible from the problem and
continue.

The following sections describe what happens for the different types of
constraints.

Constraint PRIMARY KEY / UNIQUE
...............................

Normally you will get an error when you try to `INSERT' or `UPDATE' a
row that causes a primary key, unique key or foreign key violation.  If
you are using a transactional storage engine such as `InnoDB', MySQL
will automatically roll back the transaction.  If you are using a
non-transactional storage engine, MySQL will stop at the incorrect row
and leave any remaining rows unprocessed.

To make life easier, MySQL supports an `IGNORE' keyword for most
commands that can cause a key violation (such as `INSERT IGNORE' and
`UPDATE IGNORE'). In this case, MySQL will ignore any key violation and
continue with processing the next row.  You can get information about
what MySQL did with the `mysql_info()' API function.  *Note
`mysql_info()': mysql_info.  In MySQL 4.1 and up, you also can use the
`SHOW WARNINGS' statement.  *Note SHOW WARNINGS::.

Note that for the moment only `InnoDB' tables support foreign keys.
*Note InnoDB foreign key constraints::.  Foreign key support in
`MyISAM' tables is scheduled for implementation in MySQL 5.1.

Constraint `NOT NULL' and `DEFAULT' values
..........................................

To be able to support easy handling of non-transactional tables all
columns in MySQL have default values.

If you insert an "incorrect" value in a column, such as a `NULL' in a
`NOT NULL' column or a too-large numerical value in a numerical column,
MySQL sets the column to the "best possible value" instead of producing
an error.  For numerical values, this is either 0, the smallest
possible value or the largest possible value. For strings, this is
either the empty string or the longest possible string that can be in
the column.

This means that if you try to store `NULL' into a column that doesn't
take `NULL' values, MySQL Server instead stores 0 or `''' (the empty
string). This last behavior can, for single row inserts, be changed
with the `-DDONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS' compile option.) *Note `configure'
options: configure options.  This causes `INSERT' statements to
generate an error unless you explicitly specify values for all columns
that require a non-`NULL' value.

The reason for the preceding rules is that we can't check these
conditions until the query has begun executing.  We can't just roll
back if we encounter a problem after updating a few rows, because the
table type may not support rollback.  The option of terminating the
statement is not that good; in this case, the update would be "half
done," which is probably the worst possible scenario.  In this case
it's better to "do the best you can" and then continue as if nothing
happened.

This means that you should generally not use MySQL to check column
content.  Instead, the application should ensure that is passes only
legal values to MySQL.

In MySQL 5.0, we plan to improve this by providing warnings when
automatic column conversions occur, plus an option to let you roll back
statements that attempt to perform a disallowed column value
assignment, as long as the statement uses only transactional tables.

Constraint `ENUM' and `SET'
...........................

In MySQL 4.x, `ENUM' is not a real constraint, but is a more efficient
way to define columns that can only contain a given set of values.
This is because of the same reasons `NOT NULL' is not honored.  *Note
constraint NOT NULL::.

If you insert an incorrect value into an `ENUM' column, it will be set
to the reserved enumeration value `0', which will be displayed as an
empty string in string context. *Note ENUM::.

If you insert an incorrect value into a `SET' column, the incorrect
value is ignored. For example, if the column can contain the values
`'a'', `'b'', and `'c'', an attempt to assign `'a,x,b,y'' results in a
value of `'a,b''.  *Note SET::.

Known Errors and Design Deficiencies in MySQL
---------------------------------------------

Errors in 3.23 Fixed in a Later MySQL Version
.............................................

The following known errors or bugs are not fixed in MySQL 3.23 because
fixing them would involve changing a lot of code that could introduce
other even worse bugs. The bugs are also classified as "not fatal" or
"bearable."

   * You can get a deadlock if you use `LOCK TABLE' to lock multiple
     tables and then in the same connection use `DROP TABLE' to drop
     one of them while another thread is trying to lock it.  (To break
     the deadlock, you can use `KILL' to terminate any of the threads
     involved.) This issue is resolved in MySQL 4.0.12.

   * `SELECT MAX(key_column) FROM t1,t2,t3...' where one of the tables
     are empty doesn't return `NULL' but instead returns the maximum
     value for the column.  This issue is resolved in MySQL 4.0.11.

   * `DELETE FROM heap_table' without a `WHERE' clause doesn't work on
     a locked `HEAP' table.

Errors in 4.0 Fixed in a Later MySQL Version
............................................

The following known errors or bugs are not fixed in MySQL 4.0 because
fixing them would involve changing a lot of code that could introduce
other even worse bugs. The bugs are also classified as "not fatal" or
"bearable."

   * In a `UNION', the first `SELECT' determines the type, `max_length'
     and `NULL' properties for the resulting columns.  This issue is
     resolved in MySQL 4.1.1; the property values are based on the rows
     from all `UNION' parts.

Open Bugs / Design Deficiencies in MySQL
........................................

The following problems are known and fixing them is a high priority:

   * Dropping a `FOREIGN KEY' constraint doesn't work in replication as
     the constraint may have another name.

   * You cannot mix `UNION ALL' and `UNION DISTINCT' in the same query.
     If you use `ALL' for one `UNION', it is used for all of them.

   * If one user has a long running transaction and another user drops a
     table that is updated in the transaction, there is small chance
     that the binary log may contain the `DROP TABLE' command before
     the table is used in the transaction itself.  We plan to fix this
     in 5.0 by having the `DROP TABLE' wait until the table is not used
     in any transaction.

   * When inserting a big integer value (between 2^63 and 2^64-1) into a
     decimal/string column, it is inserted as a negative value because
     the number is evaluated in a signed integer context. It is planned
     to be fixed in 4.1.

   * `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK' does not block `CREATE TABLE' or
     `COMMIT', which make cause a problem with the binary log position
     when doing a full backup of tables and the binary log.

   * `ANALYZE TABLE' on a `BDB' table may in some cases make the table
     unusable until one has restarted `mysqld'.  If this happens, you
     will see errors of the following form in the MySQL error file:

          001207 22:07:56  bdb:  log_flush: LSN past current end-of-log

   * MySQL accepts parentheses in the `FROM' part of a `SELECT'
     statement, but silently ignores them.  The reason for not giving
     an error is that many clients that automatically generate queries
     add parentheses in the `FROM' part even where they are not needed.

   * Concatenating many `RIGHT JOINS' or combining `LEFT' and `RIGHT'
     join in the same query may not give a correct answer as MySQL only
     generates `NULL' rows for the table preceding a `LEFT' or before a
     `RIGHT' join.  This will be fixed in 5.0 at the same time we add
     support for parentheses in the `FROM' part.

   * Don't execute `ALTER TABLE' on a `BDB' table on which you are
     running multiple-statement transactions until all those
     transactions complete.  (The transaction will probably be ignored.)

   * `ANALYZE TABLE', `OPTIMIZE TABLE', and `REPAIR TABLE' may cause
     problems on tables for which you are using `INSERT DELAYED'.

   * Doing a `LOCK TABLE ...' and `FLUSH TABLES ...' doesn't guarantee
     that there isn't a half-finished transaction in progress on the
     table.

   * `BDB' tables are a bit slow to open. If you have many `BDB' tables
     in a database, it will take a long time to use the `mysql' client
     on the database if you are not using the `-A' option or if you are
     using `rehash'. This is especially notable when you have a large
     table cache.

   * Replication uses query-level logging: The master writes the
     executed queries to the binary log. This is a very fast, compact,
     and efficient logging method that works perfectly in most cases.
     Though we have never heard of it actually occurring, it is
     theoretically possible for the data on the master and slave to
     become different if a query is designed in such a way that the
     data modification is non-deterministic, that is, left to the will
     of the query optimizer. (That generally is not a good practice
     anyway, even outside of replication!)  For example:

        - `CREATE ... SELECT' or `INSERT ... SELECT'  statements that
          insert zero or `NULL' values into an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column.

        - `DELETE' if you are deleting rows from a table which has
          foreign keys with `ON DELETE CASCADE' properties.

        - `REPLACE ... SELECT', `INSERT IGNORE ... SELECT' if you have
          duplicate key values in the inserted data.
     *IF and only if all these queries have NO `ORDER BY' clause
     guaranteeing a deterministic order*.

     Indeed, for example for `INSERT ... SELECT' with no `ORDER BY',
     the `SELECT' may return rows in a different order (which will
     result in a row having different ranks, hence getting a different
     number in the `auto_increment' column), depending on the choices
     made by the optimizers on the master and slave. A query will be
     optimized differently on the master and slave only if:

        - The files used by the two queries are not exactly the same;
          for example `OPTIMIZE TABLE' was run on the master tables and
          not on the slave tables (to fix this, since MySQL 4.1.1,
          `OPTIMIZE', `ANALYZE' and `REPAIR' are written to the binary
          log).

        - The table is stored in a different storage engine on the
          master than on the slave. (It is possible to use different
          storage engines on the master and slave. For example, you can
          use `InnoDB' on the master, but `MyISAM' on the slave if the
          slave has less available disk space.)

        - MySQL buffer sizes (`key_buffer_size', etc.) are different on
          the master and slave.

        - The master and slave run different MySQL versions, and the
          optimizer code is different between these versions.

     This problem may also affect database restoration using
     `mysqlbinlog|mysql'.

     The easiest way to avoid this problem in all cases is add an
     `ORDER BY' clause to such non-deterministic queries to ensure that
     the rows are always stored or modified in the same order.  In
     future MySQL versions, we will automatically add an `ORDER BY'
     clause when needed.


The following problems are known and will be fixed in due time:

   * Log files are based on hostnames (if you don't specify a file name
     with the startup option). For now you have to use options like
     `--log-bin=old_host_name-bin' if you change your host name to
     something else. Another option is to just rename the old files to
     reflect your hostname change. *Note Server options::.

   * `mysqlbinlog' will not delete temporary files left after a `LOAD
     DATA INFILE' command. *Note `mysqlbinlog': mysqlbinlog.

   * `RENAME' doesn't work with `TEMPORARY' tables or tables used in a
     `MERGE' table.

   * When using the `RPAD()' function in a query that has to be
     resolved by using a temporary table, all resulting strings will
     have rightmost spaces removed. This is an example of such a query:

          SELECT RPAD(t1.column1, 50, ' ') AS f2, RPAD(t2.column2, 50, ' ') AS f1
          FROM table1 as t1 LEFT JOIN table2 AS t2 ON t1.record=t2.joinID
          ORDER BY t2.record;

     The final result of this bug is that you will not be able to get
     spaces on the right side of the resulting values. The problem also
     occurs for any other string function that adds spaces to the right.

     The reason for this is due to the fact that `HEAP' tables, which
     are used first for temporary tables, are not capable of handling
     `VARCHAR' columns.

     This behavior exists in all versions of MySQL.  It will be fixed
     in one of the 4.1 series releases.

   * Due to the way table definition files are stored, you cannot use
     character 255 (`CHAR(255)') in table names, column names, or
     enumerations.  This is scheduled to be fixed in version 5.1 when
     we have new table definition format files.

   * When using `SET CHARACTER SET', you can't use translated
     characters in database, table, and column names.

   * You can't use `_' or `%' with `ESCAPE' in `LIKE ... ESCAPE'.

   * If you have a `DECIMAL' column with a  number stored in different
     formats (+01.00, 1.00, 01.00), `GROUP BY' may regard each value as
     a different value.

   * `DELETE FROM merge_table' used without a `WHERE' clause will clear
     only the mapping for the table, not delete everything in the
     mapped tables.

   * You cannot build the server in another directory when using
     MIT-pthreads. Because this requires changes to MIT-pthreads, we
     are not likely to fix this. *Note MIT-pthreads::.

   * `BLOB' values can't "reliably" be used in `GROUP BY' or `ORDER BY'
     or `DISTINCT'. Only the first `max_sort_length' bytes are used
     when comparing `BLOB' values in these cases.  The default value of
     `max_sort_length' value is 1024. It can be changed at server
     startup time.  A workaround for most cases is to use a substring.
     For example: `SELECT DISTINCT LEFT(blob,2048) FROM tbl_name'.

   * Numeric calculations are done with `BIGINT' or `DOUBLE' (both are
     normally 64 bits long). It depends on the function which precision
     one gets. The general rule is that bit functions are done with
     `BIGINT' precision, `IF', and `ELT()' with `BIGINT' or `DOUBLE'
     precision and the rest with `DOUBLE' precision.  You should try to
     avoid using unsigned long long values if they resolve to be bigger
     than 63 bits (9223372036854775807) for anything other than bit
     fields.  MySQL Server 4.0 has better `BIGINT' handling than 3.23.

   * All string columns, except `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns, automatically
     have all trailing spaces removed when retrieved. For `CHAR' types
     this is okay. The bug is that in MySQL Server, `VARCHAR' columns
     are treated the same way.

   * You can only have up to 255 `ENUM' and `SET' columns in one table.

   * In `MIN()', `MAX()', and other aggregate functions, MySQL
     currently compares `ENUM' and `SET' columns by their string value
     rather than by the string's relative position in the set.

   * `mysqld_safe' redirects all messages from `mysqld' to the `mysqld'
     log.  One problem with this is that if you execute `mysqladmin
     refresh' to close and reopen the log, `stdout' and `stderr' are
     still redirected to the old log.  If you use `--log' extensively,
     you should edit `mysqld_safe' to log to `'hostname'.err' instead
     of `'hostname'.log' so you can easily reclaim the space for the
     old log by deleting the old one and executing `mysqladmin refresh'.

   * In the `UPDATE' statement, columns are updated from left to right.
     If you refer to an updated column, you will get the updated value
     instead of the original value. For example:

          mysql> UPDATE tbl_name SET KEY=KEY+1,KEY=KEY+1;

     This will increment `KEY' by `2', not `1'.

   * You can refer to multiple temporary tables in the same query, but
     you cannot refer to any given temporary table more than once.  For
     example, the following doesn't work:

          mysql> SELECT * FROM temporary_table, temporary_table AS t2;

   * The optimizer may handle `DISTINCT' differently if you are using
     'hidden' columns in a join or not.  In a join, hidden columns are
     counted as part of the result (even if they are not shown) while in
     normal queries hidden columns don't participate in the `DISTINCT'
     comparison.  We will probably change this in the future to never
     compare the hidden columns when executing `DISTINCT'.

     An example of this is:

          SELECT DISTINCT mp3id FROM band_downloads
                 WHERE userid = 9 ORDER BY id DESC;

     and

          SELECT DISTINCT band_downloads.mp3id
                 FROM band_downloads,band_mp3
                 WHERE band_downloads.userid = 9
                 AND band_mp3.id = band_downloads.mp3id
                 ORDER BY band_downloads.id DESC;

     In the second case you may in MySQL Server 3.23.x get two
     identical rows in the result set (because the values in the hidden
     `id' column may differ).

     Note that this happens only for queries where you don't have the
     `ORDER BY' columns in the result, something that you are not
     allowed to do in SQL-92.

   * Because MySQL Server allows you to work with table types that don't
     support transactions, and thus can't roll back data, some things
     behave a little differently in MySQL Server than in other SQL
     servers.  This is just to ensure that MySQL Server never needs to
     do a rollback for an SQL statement.  This may be a little awkward
     at times as column values must be checked in the application, but
     this will actually give you a nice speed increase as it allows
     MySQL Server to do some optimizations that otherwise would be very
     hard to do.

     If you set a column to an incorrect value, MySQL Server will,
     instead of doing a rollback, store the `best possible value' in
     the column:

        - If you try to store a value outside the range in a numerical
          column, MySQL Server instead stores the smallest or largest
          possible value in the column.

        - If you try to store a string that doesn't start with a number
          into a numerical column, MySQL Server stores 0.

        - If you try to store `NULL' into a column that doesn't allow
          `NULL' values, MySQL Server stores 0 or `''' (the empty
          string) in it instead. (This behavior can, however, be
          changed with the `-DDONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS' compile option.)

        - MySQL allows you to store some wrong date values into `DATE'
          and `DATETIME' columns (like `'2000-02-31'' or
          `'2000-02-00'').  The idea is that it's not the job of the
          SQL server to validate dates. If MySQL can store a date value
          and retrieve exactly the same value, MySQL stores it as
          given.  If the date is totally wrong (outside the server's
          ability to store it), the special date value `'0000-00-00''
          is stored in the column instead.

        - If you set an `ENUM' column to an unsupported value, it is
          set to the error value `empty string', with numeric value 0.

        - If you set a `SET' column to an unsupported value, the value
          is ignored.


   * If you execute a `PROCEDURE' on a query that returns an empty set,
     in some cases the `PROCEDURE' will not transform the columns.

   * Creation of a table of type `MERGE' doesn't check if the underlying
     tables are of compatible types.

   * MySQL Server can't yet handle `NaN', `-Inf', and `Inf' values in
     `DOUBLE' columns. Using these will cause problems when trying to
     export and import data. We should as an intermediate solution
     change `NaN' to `NULL' (if possible) and `-Inf' and `Inf' to the
     minimum respective maximum possible `double' value.

   * If you use `ALTER TABLE' to first add a `UNIQUE' index to a table
     used in a `MERGE' table and then use `ALTER TABLE' to add a normal
     index on the `MERGE' table, the key order will be different for
     the tables if there was an old key that was not unique in the
     table. This is because `ALTER TABLE' puts `UNIQUE' indexes before
     normal indexes to be able to detect duplicate keys as early as
     possible.

The following are known bugs in earlier versions of MySQL:

   * You can get a hung thread if you do a `DROP TABLE' on a table that
     is one among many tables that is locked with `LOCK TABLES'.

   * In the following case you can get a core dump:

        - Delayed insert handler has pending inserts to a table.

        - `LOCK table' with `WRITE'.

        - `FLUSH TABLES'.

   * Before MySQL Server Version 3.23.2 an `UPDATE' that updated a key
     with a `WHERE' on the same key may have failed because the key was
     used to search for records and the same row may have been found
     multiple times:

          UPDATE tbl_name SET KEY=KEY+1 WHERE KEY > 100;

     A workaround is to use:

          mysql> UPDATE tbl_name SET KEY=KEY+1 WHERE KEY+0 > 100;

     This will work because MySQL Server will not use an index on
     expressions in the `WHERE' clause.

   * Before MySQL Server Version 3.23, all numeric types were treated as
     fixed-point fields. That means you had to specify how many decimals
     a floating-point field should have. All results were returned with
     the correct number of decimals.

For platform-specific bugs, see the sections about compiling and
porting.  *Note Installing source::.  *Note Porting::.

Installing MySQL
****************

This chapter describes how to obtain and install MySQL:

  1. *Determine whether your platform is supported.*  Please note that
     not all supported systems are equally good for running MySQL on
     them.  On some it is much more robust and efficient than others.
     See *Note Which OS:: for details.

  2. *Choose a distribution to install.*  Several versions of MySQL are
     available, and most are available in serveral distribution
     formats.  You can choose from pre-packaged distributions
     containing binary (precompiled) programs or source code.  When in
     doubt, use a binary distribution.  We also provide public access
     to our current source tree, for those who want to see our most
     recent developments and help us test new code.  To determine which
     version and type of distribution you should use, see *Note Which
     version::.

  3. *Download the distribution that you want to install.* For a list
     of sites from which you can obtain MySQL, see *Note Getting MySQL:
     Getting MySQL.  You can verify the integrity of the distribution
     using the instructions in *Note Verifying Package Integrity::.

  4. *Install the distribution.*  For binary distributions, use the
     instructions in in *Note Installing binary::.  For source
     distributions, use the instructions in *Note Installing source::.
     Additional installation procedures include the following:

        * For post-installation procedures, see *Note
          Post-installation::.  These procedures apply whether you
          install MySQL using a binary or source distribution.

        * If you plan to upgrade an existing version of MySQL to a
          newer version rather than installing MySQL for the first
          time, see *Note Upgrade:: for information about upgrade
          procedures and about issues that you should consider before
          upgrading.

        * If you want to run the MySQL benchmark scripts, Perl support
          for MySQL must be available.  *Note Perl support::.



The last part of the chapter provides information on system-specific
problems you may run into.

General Installation Issues
===========================

Before installing MySQL, you should do the following:

  1. Determine whether or not MySQL runs on your platform.

  2. Choose a distribution to install.

  3. Download the distribution and verify its integrity.


This section contains the information necessary to carry out these
steps.  After doing so, you can use the instructions in later sections
of the chapter to install the distribution that you choose.

Operating Systems Supported by MySQL
------------------------------------

This section lists the operating systems on which you can expect to be
able to run MySQL.

We use GNU Autoconf, so it is possible to port MySQL to all modern
systems that have a C++ compiler and a working implementation of POSIX
threads.  (Thread suport is needed for the server. To compile only the
client code, the only requirement is a C++ compiler.) We use and
develop the software ourselves primarily on Linux (SuSE and Red Hat),
FreeBSD, and Sun Solaris (Versions 8 and 9).

MySQL has been reported to compile successfully on the following
combinations of operating system and thread package.  Note that for many
operating systems, native thread support works only in the latest
versions.

   * AIX 4.x, 5.x with native threads.  *Note IBM-AIX::.

   * Amiga.

   * BSDI 2.x with the MIT-pthreads package.  *Note BSDI::.

   * BSDI 3.0, 3.1 and 4.x with native threads.  *Note BSDI::.

   * DEC Unix 4.x with native threads.  *Note Alpha-DEC-UNIX::.

   * FreeBSD 2.x with the MIT-pthreads package.  *Note FreeBSD::.

   * FreeBSD 3.x and 4.x with native threads.  *Note FreeBSD::.

   * FreeBSD 4.x with Linuxthreads.  *Note FreeBSD::.

   * HP-UX 10.20 with the DCE threads or the MIT-pthreads package.
     *Note HP-UX 10.20::.

   * HP-UX 11.x with the native threads.  *Note HP-UX 11.x::.

   * Linux 2.0+ with LinuxThreads 0.7.1+ or `glibc' 2.0.7+.  *Note
     Linux::.

   * Mac OS X.  *Note Mac OS X::.

   * NetBSD 1.3/1.4 Intel and NetBSD 1.3 Alpha (Requires GNU make).
     *Note NetBSD::.

   * Novell NetWare 6.0.  *Note NetWare installation::.

   * OpenBSD > 2.5 with native threads. OpenBSD < 2.5 with the
     MIT-pthreads package.  *Note OpenBSD::.

   * OS/2 Warp 3, FixPack 29 and OS/2 Warp 4, FixPack 4.  *Note OS/2::.

   * SCO OpenServer with a recent port of the FSU Pthreads package.
     *Note SCO::.

   * SCO UnixWare 7.1.x.  *Note SCO UnixWare::.

   * SGI Irix 6.x with native threads.  *Note SGI-Irix::.

   * Solaris 2.5 and above with native threads on SPARC and x86.  *Note
     Solaris::.

   * SunOS 4.x with the MIT-pthreads package.  *Note Solaris::.

   * Tru64 Unix

   * Windows 9x, Me, NT, 2000, and XP.  *Note Windows installation::.

Not all platforms are equally well-suited for running MySQL. How well a
certain platform is suited for a high-load mission-critical MySQL
server is determined by the following factors:

   * General stability of the thread library. A platform may have an
     excellent reputation otherwise, but MySQL will be only as stable
     as the thread library if that library is unstable in the code that
     is called by MySQL, even if everything else is perfect.

   * The ability of the kernel and/or thread library to take advantage
     of symmetric multi-processor (SMP) systems. In other words, when a
     process creates a thread, it should be possible for that thread to
     run on a different CPU than the original process.

   * The ability of the kernel and/or the thread library to run many
     threads which acquire and release a mutex over a short critical
     region frequently without excessive context switches. In other
     words, if the implementation of `pthread_mutex_lock()' is too
     anxious to yield CPU time, this will hurt MySQL tremendously. If
     this issue is not taken care of, adding extra CPUs will actually
     make MySQL slower.

   * General filesystem stability and performance.

   * If your tables are big, the ability of the filesystem to deal with
     large files at all and to deal with them efficiently.

   * Our level of expertise here at MySQL AB with the platform. If we
     know a platform well, we enable platform-specific optimizations
     and fixes at compile time. We can also provide advice on
     configuring your system optimally for MySQL.

   * The amount of testing we have done internally for similar
     configurations.

   * The number of users that have successfully run MySQL on that
     platform in similar configurations. If this number is high, the
     chances of encountering platform-specific surprises are much
     smaller.

Based on the preceding criteria, the best platforms for running MySQL
at this point are x86 with SuSE Linux 8.2, 2.4 kernel, and ReiserFS (or
any similar Linux distribution) and SPARC with Solaris (2.7-9). FreeBSD
comes third, but we really hope it will join the top club once the
thread library is improved. We also hope that at some point we will be
able to include into the top category all other platforms on which
MySQL currently compiles and runs okay, but not quite with the same
level of stability and performance.  This will require some effort on
our part in cooperation with the developers of the operating system and
library components that MySQL depends on. If you are interested in
improving one of those components, are in a position to influence its
development, and need more detailed instructions on what MySQL needs to
run better, send an email message to the MySQL internals mailing list.
*Note Mailing-list::.

Please note that the purpose of the preceding comparison is not to say
that one operating system is better or worse than another in general.
We are talking only about choosing an OS for the specific purpose of
running MySQL.  With this in mind, the result of this comparison would
be different if we considered more factors. And in some cases, the
reason one OS is better than the other could simply be that we have put
forth more effort into testing on and optimizing for that particular
platform.  We are just stating our observations to help you decide
which platform to use MySQL in your setup.

Choosing Which MySQL Distribution to Install
--------------------------------------------

When preparing to install MySQL, you should decide which version to
use.  MySQL development occurs in several release series, and you can
pick the one that best fits your needs.  After deciding which version
to install, you can choose a distribution format.  Releases are
available in binary or source format.

Choosing Which Version of MySQL to Install
..........................................

The first decision to make is whether you want to use a production
(stable) release or a development release.  In the MySQL development
process, multiple release series co-exist, each at a different stage of
maturity:

   * MySQL 5.0 is the newest development release series and is under
     very active development for new features. Until recently it was
     available only in preview form from the BitKeeper source
     repository. An early alpha release has now been issued to allow
     more widespread testing.

   * MySQL 4.1 is a development release series to which major new
     features have been added. It is still at alpha status. Sources and
     binaries are available for use and testing on development systems.

   * MySQL 4.0 is the current stable/production-quality release series.
     New releases are issued for bugfixes. No new features are added
     that could diminish the code stability.

   * MySQL 3.23 is the old stable/production-quality release series.
     This series is retired, so new releases are issued only to fix
     critical bugs.


We don't believe in a complete freeze, as this also leaves out bug
fixes and things that "must be done."  "Somewhat frozen" means that we
may add small things that "almost surely will not affect anything
that's already working." Naturally, relevant bugfixes from an earlier
series propagate to later series.

   * Normally, if you are beginning to use MySQL for the first time or
     trying to port it to some system for which there is no binary
     distribution, we recommend going with the production release
     series. Currently this is MySQL 4.0.  Note that all MySQL
     releases, even those from development series, are checked with the
     MySQL benchmarks and an extensive test suite before being issued.

   * If you are running an old system and want to upgrade, but don't
     want to take chances with a non-seamless upgrade, you should
     upgrade to the latest version in the same release series you are
     using (where only the last part of the version number is newer
     than yours).  We have tried to fix only fatal bugs and make small,
     relatively safe changes to that version.

   * If you want to use new features not present in the production
     release series, you can use a version from a development series.
     Note that development releases are not as stable as production
     releases.

   * If you want to use the very latest sources containing all current
     patches and bugfixes, you can use one of our BitKeeper
     repositories.  These are not "releases" as such, but are available
     as previews of the code on which future releases will be based.

The MySQL naming scheme uses release names that consist of three
numbers and a suffix, for example, `mysql-4.1.0-alpha'.  The numbers
within the release name are is interpreted like this:

   * The first number (`4') is the major version and also describes the
     file format.  All Version 4 releases have the same file format.

   * The second number (`1') is the release level.  Taken together, the
     major version and release level constitute the release series
     number.

   * The third number (`0') is the version number within the release
     series.  This is incremented for each new release.  Usually you
     want the latest version for the series you have chosen.


For each minor update, the last number in the version string is
incremented.  When there are major new features or minor
incompatibilities with previous versions, the second number in the
version string is incremented.  When the file format changes, the first
number is increased.

Release names also include a suffix to indicates the stability level of
the release.  Releases within a series progress through a set of
suffixes to indicate how the stability level improves.  The possible
suffixes are:

   * `alpha' indicates that the release contains some large section of
     new code that hasn't been 100% tested.  Known bugs (usually there
     are none) should be documented in the News section.  *Note News::.
     There are also new commands and extensions in most alpha
     releases.  Active development that may involve major code changes
     can occur in an alpha release, but everything will be tested
     before issuing a release.  For this reason, there should be no
     known bugs in any MySQL release.

   * `beta' means that all new code has been tested.  No major new
     features that could cause corruption in old code are added.  There
     should be no known bugs.  A version changes from alpha to beta
     when there haven't been any reported fatal bugs within an alpha
     version for at least a month and we have no plans to add any
     features that could make any old command unreliable.

   * `gamma' is a beta that has been around a while and seems to work
     fine.  Only minor fixes are added.  This is what many other
     companies call a release.

   * If there is no suffix, it means that the version has been run for a
     while at many different sites with no reports of bugs other than
     platform-specific bugs.  Only critical bug fixes are applied to the
     release. This is what we call a production (stable) release.

MySQL uses a naming scheme that is slightly different from most other
products.  In general, it's relatively safe to use any version that has
been out for a couple of weeks without being replaced with a new
version within the release series.

All releases of MySQL are run through our standard tests and benchmarks
to ensure that they are relatively safe to use.  Because the standard
tests are extended over time to check for all previously found bugs,
the test suite keeps getting better.

Note that all releases have been tested at least with:

An internal test suite
     The `mysql-test' directory contains an extensive set of test cases.
     We run these tests for virtually every server binary.  See *Note
     MySQL test suite:: for more information about this test suite.

The MySQL benchmark suite
     This suite runs a range of common queries.  It is also a test to
     see whether the latest batch of optimizations actually made the
     code faster.  *Note MySQL Benchmarks::.

The `crash-me' test
     This test tries to determine what features the database supports
     and what its capabilities and limitations are.  *Note MySQL
     Benchmarks::.

Another test is that we use the newest MySQL version in our internal
production environment, on at least one machine.  We have more than 100
gigabytes of data to work with.

Choosing a Distribution Format
..............................

After choosing which version of MySQL to install, you should decide
whether to use a binary distribution or a source distribution.  In most
cases you should probably use a binary distribution, if one exists for
your platform. Binary distributions are available in native format for
many platforms, such as RPM files for Linux or DMG package installers
for Mac OS X. Distributions also are available as Zip archives or
compressed `tar' files.

Reasons to choose a binary distribution include the following:

   * Binary distributions generally are easier to install than source
     distributions.

   * To satisfy different user requirements, we provide two different
     binary versions: one compiled with the non-transactional storage
     engines (a small, fast binary), and one configured with the most
     important extended options like transaction-safe tables.  Both
     versions are compiled from the same source distribution.  All
     native MySQL clients can connect to both MySQL versions.

     The extended MySQL binary distribution is marked with the `-max'
     suffix and is configured with the same options as `mysqld-max'.
     *Note `mysqld-max': mysqld-max.

     If you want to use the `MySQL-Max' RPM, you must first install the
     standard `MySQL-server' RPM.


Circumstances under which you probably will be better off with a source
installation include the following:

   * You want to install MySQL at some explicit location.  The standard
     binary distributions are "ready to run" at any place, but you may
     want to have even more flexibility to place MySQL components where
     you want.

   * You want to configure `mysqld' with some extra features that are
     not in the standard binary distributions.  Here is a list of the
     most common extra options that you may want to use:

        * `--with-innodb' (default for MySQL 4.0 and onwards)

        * `--with-berkeley-db' (not available on all platforms)

        * `--with-raid'

        * `--with-libwrap'

        * `--with-named-z-libs' (This is done for some of the binaries)

        * `--with-debug[=full]'

   * You want to configure `mysqld' without some features that are
     included in the standard binary distributions. For example,
     distributions normally are compiled with support for all character
     sets. If you want a smaller MySQL server, you can recompile it
     with support for only the character sets you need.

   * You have a special compiler (like `pgcc') or want to use compiler
     options that are better optimized for your processor.  Binary
     distributions are compiled with options that should work on a
     variety of processors from the same processor family.

   * You want to use the latest sources from one of the BitKeeper
     repositories to have access to all current bugfixes. For example,
     if you have found a bug and reported it to the MySQL development
     team, the bugfix will be committed to the source repository and you
     can access it there.  The bugfix will not appear in a release until
     a release actually is issued.

   * You want to read (or modify) the C and C++ code that makes up
     MySQL. For this purpose, you should get a source distribution,
     because the source code is always the ultimate manual.  Source
     distributions also contain more tests and examples than binary
     distributions.


How and When Updates Are Released
.................................

MySQL is evolving quite rapidly here at MySQL AB and we want to share
new developments with other MySQL users.  We try to make a release when
we have very useful features that others seem to have a need for.

We also try to help out users who request features that are easy to
implement.  We take note of what our licensed users want to have, and
we especially take note of what our extended email supported customers
want and try to help them out.

No one has to download a new release.  The News section will tell you if
the new release has something you really want.  *Note News::.

We use the following policy when updating MySQL:

   * Releases are issued within each release series. For each release,
     the last number in the version is one more than the previous
     release within the same series.

   * Production (stable) releases are meant to appear about 1-2 times a
     year, but if small bugs are found, a release with only bug fixes
     will be issued.

   * Working releases/bug fixes to old releases are meant to appear
     about every 4-8 weeks.

   * Binary distributions for some platforms are made by us for major
     releases.  Other people may make binary distributions for other
     systems, but probably less frequently.

   * We usually make fixes available as soon as we have identified and
     corrected small or non-critical but annoying bugs. The fixes are
     available immediately from our public BitKeeper repositories, and
     will be included in the next release.

   * If by any chance a fatal bug is found in a release, we will make a
     new release as soon as possible.  We would like other companies to
     do this, too.

Release Philosophy--No Known Bugs in Releases
.............................................

We put a lot of time and effort into making our releases bug free.  To
our knowledge, we have not released a single MySQL version with any
_known_ "fatal" repeatable bugs.  (A fatal bug is something that
crashes MySQL under normal usage, produces incorrect answers for normal
queries, or has a security problem.)

We have documented all open problems, bugs, and issues that are
dependent on design decisions.  *Note Bugs::.

Our aim is to fix everything that is fixable without risk of making a
stable MySQL version less stable. In certain cases, this means we can
fix an issue in the development versions, but not in the stable
(production) version. Naturally, we document such issues so that users
are aware.

Here is a description of how our build process works:
   * We monitor bugs from our customer support list, the bugs database
     at `http://bugs.mysql.com/', and the MySQL external mailing lists.

   * All reported bugs for live versions are entered into the bugs
     database.

   * When we fix a bug, we always try to make a test case for it and
     include it into our test system to ensure that the bug will never
     recur without being detected. (About 90% of all fixed bugs have a
     test case.)

   * We also create test cases for all new features we add to MySQL.

   * Before we start to build a new MySQL release, we ensure that all
     reported repeatable bugs for the MySQL version (3.23.x, 4.0.x, etc)
     are fixed.  If something is impossible to fix (due to some internal
     design decision in MySQL) we document this in the manual.  *Note
     Bugs::.

   * We do a build on all platforms for which we support binaries (15+
     platforms) and run our test suite and benchmark suite on all of
     them.

   * We will not publish a binary for a platform for which the test or
     benchmark suite fails.  If it's a general error in the source, we
     fix this and do the build plus tests on all systems again, from
     scratch.

   * The build and test process takes 2-3 days).  If we receive a
     report regarding a fatal bug during this process (for example, one
     that causes a core dump), we fix the problem and restart the build
     process.

   * After publishing the binaries on `http://www.mysql.com/', we send
     out an announcement message to the `mysql' and `announce' mailing
     lists.  *Note Mailing-list::.  The announcement message contains a
     list of all changes to the release and any known problems with the
     release.  (The "known problems" section in the release notes has
     only been needed in a handful of releases.)

   * To quickly give our users access to the latest MySQL features, we
     do a new MySQL release every 4-8 weeks.  Source code snapshots are
     built daily and are available at
     `http://downloads.mysql.com/snapshots.php'.

   * If we, after the release is done, get any bug reports that there
     was (after all) anything critically wrong with the build on a
     specific platform, we will fix this at once and build a new `'a''
     release for that platform. Thanks to our large user base, problems
     are found quickly.

   * Our track record for making good releases is quite good.  In the
     last 150 releases, we had to do a new build for less than 10
     releases (in 3 of these cases, the bug was a faulty `glibc'
     library on one of our build machines that took us a long time to
     track down).

MySQL Binaries Compiled by MySQL AB
...................................

As a service, we at MySQL AB provide a set of binary distributions of
MySQL that are compiled at our site or at sites where customers kindly
have given us access to their machines.

In addition to the binaries provided in platform-specific package
formats (see *Note Quick Standard Installation::), we do offer binary
distributions for a number of platforms in the form of of compressed
tar files (`.tar.gz').

These distributions are generated using the script
`Build-tools/Do-compile' which compiles the source code and creates the
binary `tar.gz' archive using `scripts/make_binary_distribution' These
binaries are configured and built with the following compilers and
options.

Binaries built on MySQL AB development systems:

Linux 2.4.xx x86 with `gcc' 2.95.3:
     `CFLAGS="-O2 -mcpu=pentiumpro" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O2
     -mcpu=pentiumpro -felide-constructors" ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile
     --enable-assembler --disable-shared
     --with-client-ldflags=-all-static
     --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static'

Linux 2.4.xx Intel Itanium 2 with `ecc' (Intel C++ Itanium Compiler 7.0):
     `CC=ecc CFLAGS="-O2 -tpp2 -ip -nolib_inline" CXX=ecc CXXFLAGS="-O2
     -tpp2 -ip -nolib_inline" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile'

Linux 2.4.xx Intel Itanium with `ecc' (Intel C++ Itanium Compiler 7.0):
     `CC=ecc CFLAGS=-tpp1 CXX=ecc CXXFLAGS=-tpp1 ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile'

Linux 2.4.xx alpha with `ccc' (Compaq C V6.2-505 / Compaq C++ V6.3-006):
     `CC=ccc CFLAGS="-fast -arch generic" CXX=cxx CXXFLAGS="-fast -arch
     generic -noexceptions -nortti" ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile
     --with-mysqld-ldflags=-non_shared
     --with-client-ldflags=-non_shared --disable-shared'

Linux 2.4.xx s390 with `gcc' 2.95.3:
     `CFLAGS="-O2" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O2 -felide-constructors"
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --disable-shared
     --with-client-ldflags=-all-static
     --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static'

Linux 2.4.xx x86_64 (AMD64) with `gcc' 3.2.1:
     `CXX=gcc ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile  --disable-shared'

Sun Solaris 8 x86 with `gcc' 3.2.3:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3
     -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --localstatedir=/usr/local/mysql/data
     --libexecdir=/usr/local/mysql/bin --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile
     --disable-shared --with-innodb'

Sun Solaris 8 SPARC with `gcc' 3.2:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3
     -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --enable-assembler --with-named-z-libs=no
     --with-named-curses-libs=-lcurses --disable-shared'

Sun Solaris 8 SPARC 64-bit with `gcc' 3.2:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -m64 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc
     CXXFLAGS="-O3 -m64 -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors
     -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --enable-assembler --with-named-z-libs=no
     --with-named-curses-libs=-lcurses --disable-shared'

Sun Solaris 9 SPARC with `gcc' 2.95.3:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3
     -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --enable-assembler
     --with-named-curses-libs=-lcurses --disable-shared'

Sun Solaris 9 SPARC with `cc-5.0' (Sun Forte 5.0):
     `CC=cc-5.0 CXX=CC ASFLAGS="-xarch=v9" CFLAGS="-Xa -xstrconst -mt
     -D_FORTEC_ -xarch=v9" CXXFLAGS="-noex -mt -D_FORTEC_ -xarch=v9"
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --enable-assembler --with-named-z-libs=no
     --enable-thread-safe-client --disable-shared'

IBM AIX 4.3.2 ppc with `gcc' 3.2.3:
     `CFLAGS="-O2 -mcpu=powerpc -Wa,-many " CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O2
     -mcpu=powerpc -Wa,-many  -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --with-named-z-libs=no --disable-shared'

IBM AIX 4.3.3 ppc with `xlC_r' (IBM Visual Age C/C++ 6.0):
     `CC=xlc_r CFLAGS="-ma -O2 -qstrict -qoptimize=2 -qmaxmem=8192"
     CXX=xlC_r CXXFLAGS ="-ma -O2 -qstrict -qoptimize=2 -qmaxmem=8192"
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --localstatedir=/usr/local/mysql/data
     --libexecdir=/usr/local/mysql/bin --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile
     --with-named-z-libs=no --disable-shared --with-innodb'

IBM AIX 5.1.0 ppc with `gcc' 3.3:
     `CFLAGS="-O2 -mcpu=powerpc -Wa,-many" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O2
     -mcpu=powerpc -Wa,-many  -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --with-server-suffix="-pro"
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile
     --with-named-z-libs=no --disable-shared'

HP-UX 10.20 pa-risc1.1 with `gcc' 3.1:
     `CFLAGS="-DHPUX -I/opt/dce/include -O3 -fPIC" CXX=gcc
     CXXFLAGS="-DHPUX -I/opt/dce /include -felide-constructors
     -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -O3 -fPIC" ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile  --with-pthread
     --with-named-thread-libs=-ldce --with-lib-ccflags=-fPIC
     --disable-shared'

HP-UX 11.11 pa-risc2.0 64bit with `aCC' (HP ANSI C++ B3910B A.03.33):
     `CC=cc CXX=aCC CFLAGS=+DD64 CXXFLAGS=+DD64 ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile --disable-shared'

HP-UX 11.11 pa-risc2.0 32bit with `aCC' (HP ANSI C++ B3910B A.03.33):
     `CC=cc CXX=aCC CFLAGS="+DAportable" CXXFLAGS="+DAportable"
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --localstatedir=/usr/local/mysql/data
     --libexecdir=/usr/local/mysql/bin --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile
     --disable-shared --with-innodb'

Apple Mac OS X 10.2 powerpc with `gcc' 3.1:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3
     -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile  --disable-shared'

FreeBSD 4.7 i386 with `gcc' 2.95.4:
     `CFLAGS=-DHAVE_BROKEN_REALPATH ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile
     --enable-assembler --with-named-z-libs=not-used --disable-shared'

QNX Neutrino 6.2.1 i386 with `gcc' 2.95.3qnx-nto 20010315:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3
     -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile  --disable-shared'

The following binaries are built on third-party systems kindly provided
to MySQL AB by other users. Please note that these are only provided as
a courtesy. Since MySQL AB does not have full control over these
systems, we can provide only limited support for the binaries built on
these systems.

SCO Unix 3.2v5.0.6 i386 with `gcc' 2.95.3:
     `CFLAGS="-O3 -mpentium" LDFLAGS=-static CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3
     -mpentium -felide-constructors" ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile
     --with-named-z-libs=no --enable-thread-safe-client
     --disable-shared'

SCO OpenUnix 8.0.0 i386 with `CC' 3.2:
     `CC=cc CFLAGS="-O" CXX=CC ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --with-named-z-libs=no
     --enable-thread-safe-client --disable-shared'

Compaq Tru64 OSF/1 V5.1 732 alpha with `cc/cxx' (Compaq C V6.3-029i / DIGITAL C++ V6.1-027):
     `CC="cc -pthread" CFLAGS="-O4 -ansi_alias -ansi_args -fast -inline
     speed -speculate all" CXX="cxx -pthread" CXXFLAGS="-O4 -ansi_alias
     -fast -inline speed -speculate all -noexceptions -nortti"
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --with-prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-named-thread-libs="-lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc"
     --disable-shared --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static'

SGI Irix 6.5 IP32 with `gcc' 3.0.1:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXXFLAGS="-O3
     -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile  --disable-shared'

FreeBSD/sparc64 5.0 with `gcc' 3.2.1:
     `CFLAGS=-DHAVE_BROKEN_REALPATH ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --localstatedir=/usr/local/mysql/data
     --libexecdir=/usr/local/mysql/bin --with-extra-charsets=complex
     --enable-thread-safe-client --enable-local-infile --disable-shared
     --with-innodb'

The following compile options have been used for binary packages MySQL
AB used to provide in the past. These binaries are no longer being
updated, but the compile options are listed here for reference purposes.

Linux 2.2.xx SPARC with `egcs' 1.1.2:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3
     -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions
     -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client
     --enable-local-infile --enable-assembler --disable-shared'

Linux 2.2.x with x686 with `gcc' 2.95.2:
     `CFLAGS="-O3 -mpentiumpro" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -mpentiumpro
     -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler
     --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static --disable-shared
     --with-extra-charsets=complex'

SunOS 4.1.4 2 sun4c with `gcc' 2.7.2.1:
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -felide-constructors" ./configure
     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --disable-shared
     --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-assembler'

SunOS 5.5.1 (and above) sun4u with `egcs' 1.0.3a or 2.90.27 or `gcc' 2.95.2 and newer:
     `CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -felide-constructors
     -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-low-memory --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-assembler'

SunOS 5.6 i86pc with `gcc' 2.8.1:
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-low-memory --with-extra-charsets=complex'

BSDI BSD/OS 3.1 i386 with `gcc' 2.7.2.1:
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex'

BSDI BSD/OS 2.1 i386 with `gcc' 2.7.2:
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex'

AIX 2 4 with `gcc' 2.7.2.2:
     `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     --with-extra-charsets=complex'

Anyone who has more optimal options for any of the preceding
configurations listed can always mail them to the MySQL internals
mailing list.  *Note Mailing-list::.

RPM distributions prior to MySQL Version 3.22 are user-contributed.
Beginning with Version 3.22, the RPM distributions are generated by us
at MySQL AB.

If you want to compile a debug version of MySQL, you should add
`--with-debug' or `--with-debug=full' to the preceding configure lines
and remove any `-fomit-frame-pointer' options.

For the Windows distribution, please see *Note Windows installation::.

How to Get MySQL
----------------

Check the MySQL homepage (`http://www.mysql.com/') for information
about the current version and for downloading instructions.

Our main mirror is located at `http://mirrors.sunsite.dk/mysql/'.

For a complete up-to-date list of MySQL web/download mirrors, see
`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mirrors.html'.  There you will also
find information about becoming a MySQL mirror site and how to report a
bad or out-of-date mirror.

Verifying Package Integrity Using MD5 Checksums or `GnuPG'
----------------------------------------------------------

After you have downloaded the MySQL package that suits your needs and
before you attempt to install it, you should make sure it is intact and
has not been tampered with.

MySQL AB offers three means of integrity checking:

   * MD5 checksums

   * Cryptographic signatures using `GnuPG', the GNU Privacy Guard

   * For RPM packages, the built-in RPM integrity verification mechanism


The following sections describe how to use these methods.

Verifying the `MD5 Checksum'
----------------------------

After you have downloaded the package, you should make sure that the MD5
checksum matches the one provided on the MySQL download pages. Each
package has an individual checksum that you can verify with the
following command, where `package_name' is the name of the package you
downloaded:

     shell> md5sum package_name

Note, that not all operating systems support the `md5sum' command--on
some it is simply called `md5', others do not ship it at all. On Linux,
it is part of the `GNU Text Utilities' package, which is available for
a wide range of platforms. You can download the source code from
`http://www.gnu.org/software/textutils/' as well. If you have `OpenSSL'
installed, you can also use the command `openssl md5 package_name'
instead. A DOS/Windows implementation of the `md5' command is available
from `http://www.fourmilab.ch/md5/'.

Example:
     shell> md5sum mysql-standard-4.0.17-pc-linux-i686.tar.gz
     60f5fe969d61c8f82e4f7f62657e1f06
                     mysql-standard-4.0.17-pc-linux-i686.tar.gz

You should verify that the resulting checksum (the string of hexadecimal
digits) matches the one displayed on the download page immediately
below the respective package.

Signature Checking Using `GnuPG'
--------------------------------

Another method of verifying the integrity and authenticity of a package
is to use cryptographic signatures. This is more reliable than using MD5
checksums, but requires more work.

Beginning with MySQL 4.0.10 (February 2003), MySQL AB started signing
downloadable packages with `GnuPG' (`GNU Privacy Guard').  `GnuPG' is
an Open Source alternative to the very well-known `Pretty Good Privacy'
(`PGP') by Phil Zimmermann.  See `http://www.gnupg.org/' for more
information about `GnuPG' and how to obtain and install it on your
system. Most Linux distributions already ship with `GnuPG' installed by
default.  For more information about `OpenPGP', see
`http://www.openpgp.org/'.

To verify the signature for a specific package, you first need to
obtain a copy of MySQL AB's public GPG build key <build@mysql.com>. You
can either cut and paste it directly from here, or obtain it from
`http://www.keyserver.net/'.

     Key ID:
     pub  1024D/5072E1F5 2003-02-03
          MySQL Package signing key (www.mysql.com) <build@mysql.com>
     Fingerprint: A4A9 4068 76FC BD3C 4567  70C8 8C71 8D3B 5072 E1F5
     
     Public Key (ASCII-armored):
     
     -----BEGIN PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----
     Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
     Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org
     
     mQGiBD4+owwRBAC14GIfUfCyEDSIePvEW3SAFUdJBtoQHH/nJKZyQT7h9bPlUWC3
     RODjQReyCITRrdwyrKUGku2FmeVGwn2u2WmDMNABLnpprWPkBdCk96+OmSLN9brZ
     fw2vOUgCmYv2hW0hyDHuvYlQA/BThQoADgj8AW6/0Lo7V1W9/8VuHP0gQwCgvzV3
     BqOxRznNCRCRxAuAuVztHRcEAJooQK1+iSiunZMYD1WufeXfshc57S/+yeJkegNW
     hxwR9pRWVArNYJdDRT+rf2RUe3vpquKNQU/hnEIUHJRQqYHo8gTxvxXNQc7fJYLV
     K2HtkrPbP72vwsEKMYhhr0eKCbtLGfls9krjJ6sBgACyP/Vb7hiPwxh6rDZ7ITnE
     kYpXBACmWpP8NJTkamEnPCia2ZoOHODANwpUkP43I7jsDmgtobZX9qnrAXw+uNDI
     QJEXM6FSbi0LLtZciNlYsafwAPEOMDKpMqAK6IyisNtPvaLd8lH0bPAnWqcyefep
     rv0sxxqUEMcM3o7wwgfN83POkDasDbs3pjwPhxvhz6//62zQJ7Q7TXlTUUwgUGFj
     a2FnZSBzaWduaW5nIGtleSAod3d3Lm15c3FsLmNvbSkgPGJ1aWxkQG15c3FsLmNv
     bT6IXQQTEQIAHQUCPj6jDAUJCWYBgAULBwoDBAMVAwIDFgIBAheAAAoJEIxxjTtQ
     cuH1cY4AnilUwTXn8MatQOiG0a/bPxrvK/gCAJ4oinSNZRYTnblChwFaazt7PF3q
     zIhMBBMRAgAMBQI+PqPRBYMJZgC7AAoJEElQ4SqycpHyJOEAn1mxHijft00bKXvu
     cSo/pECUmppiAJ41M9MRVj5VcdH/KN/KjRtW6tHFPYhMBBMRAgAMBQI+QoIDBYMJ
     YiKJAAoJELb1zU3GuiQ/lpEAoIhpp6BozKI8p6eaabzF5MlJH58pAKCu/ROofK8J
     Eg2aLos+5zEYrB/LsrkCDQQ+PqMdEAgA7+GJfxbMdY4wslPnjH9rF4N2qfWsEN/l
     xaZoJYc3a6M02WCnHl6ahT2/tBK2w1QI4YFteR47gCvtgb6O1JHffOo2HfLmRDRi
     Rjd1DTCHqeyX7CHhcghj/dNRlW2Z0l5QFEcmV9U0Vhp3aFfWC4Ujfs3LU+hkAWzE
     7zaD5cH9J7yv/6xuZVw411x0h4UqsTcWMu0iM1BzELqX1DY7LwoPEb/O9Rkbf4fm
     Le11EzIaCa4PqARXQZc4dhSinMt6K3X4BrRsKTfozBu74F47D8Ilbf5vSYHbuE5p
     /1oIDznkg/p8kW+3FxuWrycciqFTcNz215yyX39LXFnlLzKUb/F5GwADBQf+Lwqq
     a8CGrRfsOAJxim63CHfty5mUc5rUSnTslGYEIOCR1BeQauyPZbPDsDD9MZ1ZaSaf
     anFvwFG6Llx9xkU7tzq+vKLoWkm4u5xf3vn55VjnSd1aQ9eQnUcXiL4cnBGoTbOW
     I39EcyzgslzBdC++MPjcQTcA7p6JUVsP6oAB3FQWg54tuUo0Ec8bsM8b3Ev42Lmu
     QT5NdKHGwHsXTPtl0klk4bQk4OajHsiy1BMahpT27jWjJlMiJc+IWJ0mghkKHt92
     6s/ymfdf5HkdQ1cyvsz5tryVI3Fx78XeSYfQvuuwqp2H139pXGEkg0n6KdUOetdZ
     Whe70YGNPw1yjWJT1IhMBBgRAgAMBQI+PqMdBQkJZgGAAAoJEIxxjTtQcuH17p4A
     n3r1QpVC9yhnW2cSAjq+kr72GX0eAJ4295kl6NxYEuFApmr1+0uUq/SlsQ==
     =YJkx
     -----END PGP PUBLIC KEY BLOCK-----

You can import this key into your public GPG keyring by using `gpg
--import'. See the GPG documentation for more info on how to work with
public keys.

After you have downloaded and imported the public build key, download
your desired MySQL package and the corresponding signature, which also
is available from the download page.  The signature file has the same
name as the distribution file with an `.asc' extension. For example:

Distribution file      `mysql-standard-4.0.17-pc-linux-i686.tar.gz'
Signature file         `mysql-standard-4.0.17-pc-linux-i686.tar.gz.asc'

Make sure that both files are stored in the same directory and then run
the following command to verify the signature for the distribution file:

     shell> gpg --verify package_name.asc

Example:

     shell> gpg --verify mysql-standard-4.0.17-pc-linux-i686.tar.gz.asc
     gpg: Warning: using insecure memory!
     gpg: Signature made Mon 03 Feb 2003 08:50:39 PM MET using DSA key ID 5072E1F5
     gpg: Good signature from
          "MySQL Package signing key (www.mysql.com) <build@mysql.com>"

The "Good signature" message indicates that everything is all right.

Signature Checking Using `RPM'
------------------------------

For RPM packages, there is no separate signature. RPM packages actually
have a built-in GPG signature and MD5 checksum. You can verify a
package by running the following command:

     shell> rpm --checksig package_name.rpm

Example:

     shell> rpm --checksig MySQL-server-4.0.10-0.i386.rpm
     MySQL-server-4.0.10-0.i386.rpm: md5 gpg OK

*Note:* If you are using RPM 4.1 and it complains about `(GPG) NOT OK
(MISSING KEYS: GPG#5072e1f5)' (even though you have imported it into
your GPG public keyring), you need to import the key into the RPM
keyring first. RPM 4.1 no longer uses your GPG keyring (and GPG
itself), but rather maintains its own keyring (because it's a
system-wide application and the GPG public keyring is a user-specific
file). To import the MySQL public key into the RPM keyring, use `rpm
--import'. For example, if you have the public key stored in a file
named `mysql_pubkey.asc', import it using this command:

     shell> rpm --import mysql_pubkey.asc

If you notice that the MD5 checksum or GPG signatures do not match,
first try to download the respective package one more time, perhaps
from another mirror site. If you repeatedly cannot successfully verify
the integrity of the package, please notify us about such incidents
including the full package name and the download site you have been
using at <webmaster@mysql.com> or <build@mysql.com>.  Do not report
downloading problems using the bug-reporting system.

Installation Layouts
--------------------

This section describes the default layout of the directories created by
installing binary and source distributions.

On Windows, the default installation directory is `C:\mysql', which has
the following subdirectories:

*Directory*               *Contents of directory*
`bin'                     Client programs and the
                          `mysqld' server
`data'                    Log files, databases
`Docs'                    Documentation
`examples'                Example programs and scripts
`include'                 Include (header) files
`lib'                     Libraries
`scripts'                 Utility scripts
`share'                   Error message files

Installations created from Linux RPM distributions result in files under
the following system directories:

*Directory*               *Contents of directory*
`/usr/bin'                Client programs
`/usr/sbin'               `mysqld' server
`/var/lib/mysql'          Log files, databases
`/usr/share/doc/packages' Documentation
`include'                 Include (header) files
`lib'                     Libraries
`scripts'                 `mysql_install_db'
`/usr/share/mysql'        Error message and character set
                          files
`sql-bench'               Benchmarks

On Unix, a `tar' file binary distribution is installed by unpacking it
at the installation location you choose (typically `/usr/local/mysql')
and creates the following directories in that location:

*Directory*               *Contents of directory*
`bin'                     Client programs and the
                          `mysqld' server
`data'                    Log files, databases
`docs'                    Documentation, ChangeLog
`include'                 Include (header) files
`lib'                     Libraries
`scripts'                 `mysql_install_db'
`share/mysql'             Error message files
`sql-bench'               Benchmarks

A source distribution is installed after you configure and compile it.
By default, the installation step installs files under `/usr/local', in
the following subdirectories:

*Directory*               *Contents of directory*
`bin'                     Client programs and scripts
`include/mysql'           Include (header) files
`info'                    Documentation in Info format
`lib/mysql'               Libraries
`libexec'                 The `mysqld' server
`share/mysql'             Error message files
`sql-bench'               Benchmarks and `crash-me' test
`var'                     Databases and log files

Within an installation directory, the layout of a source installation
differs from that of a binary installation in the following ways:

   * The `mysqld' server is installed in the `libexec' directory rather
     than in the `bin' directory.

   * The data directory is `var' rather than `data'.

   * `mysql_install_db' is installed in the `bin' directory rather than
     in the `scripts' directory.

   * The header file and library directories are `include/mysql' and
     `lib/mysql' rather than `include' and `lib'.

You can create your own binary installation from a compiled source
distribution by executing the `scripts/make_binary_distribution' script
from the top directory of the source distribution.

Standard MySQL Installation Using a Binary Distribution
=======================================================

This section covers the installation of MySQL on platforms where we
offer packages using the native packaging format of the respective
platform. (This is also known as performing a "binary install.")
However, binary distributions of MySQL are available for many other
platforms as well. See *Note Installing binary:: for generic
installation instructions for these packages that apply to all
platforms.

See *Note General Installation Issues:: for more information on what
other binary distributions are available and how to obtain them.

Installing MySQL on Windows
---------------------------

The installation process for MySQL on Windows has the following steps:

  1. Install the distribution.

  2. Set up an option file if necessary.

  3. Select the server you want to use.

  4. Start the server.

  5. Assign passwords to the initial MySQL accounts.


MySQL for Windows is available in two distribution formats:

   * The binary distribution contains a setup program that installs
     everything you need so that you can start the server immediately.

   * The source distribution contains all the code and support files
     for building the executables using the VC++ 6.0 compiler.


Generally speaking, you should use the binary distribution. It's
simpler, and you need no additional tools to get MySQL up and running.

This section describes how to install MySQL on Windows using a binary
distribution.  To install using a source distribution, see *Note
Windows source build::.

Windows System Requirements
...........................

To run MySQL on Windows, you need the following:

   * A 32-bit Windows operating system such as 9x, Me, NT, 2000, or XP.
     The NT family (Windows NT, 2000, and XP) permits you to run the
     MySQL server as a service. *Note NT start::.

   * TCP/IP protocol support.

   * A copy of the MySQL binary distribution for Windows, which can be
     downloaded from `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/'.

     Note: The distribution files are supplied with a zipped format and
     we recommend the use of an adequate FTP client with resume feature
     to avoid corruption of files during the download process.

   * A `ZIP' program to unpack the distribution file.

   * Enough space on the hard drive to unpack, install, and create the
     databases in accordance with your requirements.

   * If you plan to connect to the MySQL server via ODBC, you also need
     the `MyODBC' driver. *Note ODBC::.

   * If you need tables with a size larger than 4 GB, install MySQL on
     an NTFS or newer filesystem. Don't forget to use `MAX_ROWS' and
     `AVG_ROW_LENGTH' when you create tables.  *Note `CREATE TABLE':
     CREATE TABLE.


Installing a Windows Binary Distribution
........................................

To install MySQL on Windows using a binary distribution, follow this
procedure:

  1. If you are working on a Windows NT, 2000, or XP machine, make sure
     you have logged in as a user with administrator privileges.

  2. If you are doing an upgrade of an earlier MySQL installation, it
     is necessary to stop the current server.  On Windows NT, 2000, or
     XP machines, if you are running the server as a Windows service,
     stop it as follows from the command prompt:

          C:\> NET STOP MySQL

     If you plan to use a different server after the upgrade (for
     example, if you want to run `mysqld-max' rather than `mysqld'),
     remove the existing service:

          C:\mysql\bin> mysqld --remove

     You can reinstall the service to use the proper server after
     upgrading.

     If you are not running the MySQL server as a service, stop it like
     this:

          C:\mysql\bin> mysqladmin -u root shutdown

  3. Exit the `WinMySQLAdmin' program if it is running.

  4. Unzip the distribution file to a temporary directory.

  5. Run the `setup.exe' program to begin the installation process.  If
     you want to install MySQL into a location other than the default
     directory (`C:\mysql'), use the `Browse' button to specify your
     preferred directory. If you do not install MySQL into the default
     location, you will need to specify the location whenever you start
     the server. The easiest way to do this is to use an option file,
     as described in *Note Windows prepare environment::.

  6. Finish the install process.


*Important note:* Early alpha Windows distributions for MySQL 4.1 do
not contain any installer program.  A 4.1 distribution is a ZIP file
that you just unzip in the location where you want to install MySQL.
For example, to install `mysql-4.1.1-alpha-win.zip' as `C:\mysql', unzip
the distribution file on the `C:' drive, then rename the resulting
`mysql-4.1.1-alpha' directory to `mysql'.

If you are upgrading to MySQL 4.1 from an earlier version, you will
want to preserve your existing `data' directory that contains the grant
tables in the `mysql' database and your own databases.  Before
installing 4.1, stop the server if it is running, and save your `data'
directory to another location. Then either rename the existing
`C:\mysql' directory or remove it.  Install 4.1 as described in the
preceding paragraph, and then replace its `data' directory with your
old `data' directory.  Start the new server and update the grant
tables.  This will avoid loss of your current databases.  *Note
Upgrading-grant-tables::.

Preparing the Windows MySQL Environment
.......................................

If you need to specify startup options when you run the server, you can
indicate them on the command line or place them in an option file. For
options that will be used every time the server starts, you will find
it most convenient to use an option file to specify your MySQL
configuration. This is true particularly under the following
circumstances:

   * The installation or data directory locations are different from
     the default locations (`C:\mysql' and `C:\mysql\data').

   * You need to tune the server settings.  For example, to use the
     `InnoDB' transactional tables in MySQL version 3.23, you must
     manually create two new directories to hold the `InnoDB' data and
     log files--such as, `C:\ibdata' and `C:\iblogs'.  You will also
     need to add some extra lines to the option file, as described in
     *Note `InnoDB' start: InnoDB start.  (As of MySQL 4.0, InnoDB
     creates its datafiles and log files in the data directory by
     default. This means you need not configure InnoDB explicitly.  You
     may still do so if you wish, and an option file will be useful in
     this case, too.)


On Windows, the MySQL installer places the data directory directly under
the directory where you install MySQL.  If you would like to use a data
directory in a different location, you should copy the entire contents
of the `data' directory to the new location. For example, by default,
the installer places MySQL in `C:\mysql' and the data directory in
`C:\mysql\data'. If you want to use a data directory of `E:\mydata',
you must do two things:

   * Move the data directory from `C:\mysql\data' to `E:\mydata'.

   * Use a `--datadir' option to specify the new data directory location
     each time you start the server.


When the MySQL server starts on Windows, it looks for options in two
files:  The `my.ini' file in the Windows directory, and the `C:\my.cnf'
file.  The Windows directory typically is named something like
`C:\WINDOWS' or `C:\WinNT'.  You can determine its exact location from
the value of the `WINDIR' environment variable using the following
command:

     C:\> echo %WINDIR%

MySQL looks for options first in the `my.ini' file, then in the
`my.cnf' file.  However, to avoid confusion, it's best if you use only
one file.  If your PC uses a boot loader where the `C:' drive isn't the
boot drive, your only option is to use the `my.ini' file.  Whichever
one you use, it must be a plain text file.

An option file can be created and modified with any text editor, such
as the `Notepad' program.  For example, if MySQL is installed at
`D:\mysql' and the data directory is located as `D:\mydata\data', you
can create the option file and set up a `[mysqld]' section to specify
values for the `basedir' and `datadir' parameters:

     [mysqld]
     # set basedir to your installation path
     basedir=D:/mysql
     # set datadir to the location of your data directory
     datadir=D:/mydata/data

Note that Windows pathnames are specified in option files using forward
slashes rather than backslashes.  If you do use backslashes, you must
double them.

Another way to manage an option file is to use the the `WinMySQLAdmin'
tool. You can find `WinMySQLAdmin' in the `bin' directory of your MySQL
installation, as well as a help file containing instructions for using
it. `WinMySQLAdmin' has the capability of editing your option file, but
note these points:

   * `WinMySQLAdmin' uses only the `my.ini' file.

   * If `WinMySQLAdmin' finds a `C:\my.cnf' file, it will in fact rename
     it to `C:\my_cnf.bak' to disable it.


Now you are ready to test starting the server.

Selecting a Windows Server
..........................

Starting with MySQL 3.23.38, the Windows distribution includes both the
normal and the MySQL-Max server binaries.  Here is a list of the
different MySQL servers from which you can choose:

*Binary*       *Description*
`mysqld'       Compiled with full debugging and automatic memory
               allocation checking, symbolic links, and `InnoDB' and
               `BDB' tables.
`mysqld-opt'   Optimized binary.  From version 4.0 on, `InnoDB' is
               enabled.  Before 4.0, this server includes no
               transactional table support.
`mysqld-nt'    Optimized binary for NT/2000/XP with support for named
               pipes.
`mysqld-max'   Optimized binary with support for symbolic links, and
               `InnoDB' and `BDB' tables.
`mysqld-max-nt'Like `mysqld-max', but compiled with support for named
               pipes.

All of the preceding binaries are optimized for modern Intel processors
but should work on any Intel i386-class or higher processor.

MySQL supports TCP/IP on all Windows platforms. The `mysqld-nt' and
`mysql-max-nt' servers support named pipes on NT, 2000, and XP.
However, the default is to use TCP/IP regardless of the platform.
(Named pipes are slower than TCP/IP in many Windows configurations.)

Named pipe use is subject to these conditions:

   * Starting from MySQL 3.23.50, named pipes are enabled only if you
     start the server with the `--enable-named-pipe' option.  It is now
     necessary to use this option explicitly because some users have
     experienced problems shutting down the MySQL server when named
     pipes are used.

   * Named pipe connections are allowed only by the `mysqld-nt' or
     `mysqld-max-nt' servers, and only if the server is run on a
     version of Windows that supports named pipes (NT, 2000, XP).

   * These servers can be run on Windows 98 or Me, but only if TCP/IP
     is installed; named pipe connections cannot be used.

   * On Windows 95, these servers cannot be used.


Starting the Server for the First Time
......................................

On Windows 95, 98, or Me, MySQL clients always connect to the server
using TCP/IP.  (This will allow any machine on your network to connect
to your MySQL server.)  Because of this, you must make sure that TCP/IP
support is installed on your machine before starting MySQL.  You can
find TCP/IP on your Windows CD-ROM.

Note that if you are using an old Windows 95 release (for example,
OSR2), it's likely that you have an old Winsock package; MySQL requires
Winsock 2! You can get the newest Winsock from
`http://www.microsoft.com/'.  Windows 98 has the new Winsock 2 library,
so it is unnecessary to update the library.

On NT-based systems such as Windows NT, 2000, or XP, clients have two
options. They can use TCP/IP, or they can use a named pipe if the server
supports named pipe connections.

For information about which server binary to run, see *Note Windows
prepare environment::.

This section gives a general overview of starting the MySQL server.
The following sections provide more specific information for particular
versions of Windows.

The examples in these sections assume that MySQL is installed under the
default location of `C:\mysql'. Adjust the pathnames shown in the
examples if you have MySQL installed in a different location.

Testing is best done from a command prompt in a console window (a "DOS
window"). This way you can have the server display status messages in
the window where they are easy to see.  If something is wrong with your
configuration, these messages will make it easier for you to identify
and fix any problems.

Make sure you are in the directory where the server is located, then
enter this command:

     C:\mysql\bin> mysqld --console

For servers that include `InnoDB' support, you should see the following
messages as the server starts:

     InnoDB: The first specified datafile c:\ibdata\ibdata1 did not exist:
     InnoDB: a new database to be created!
     InnoDB: Setting file c:\ibdata\ibdata1 size to 209715200
     InnoDB: Database physically writes the file full: wait...
     InnoDB: Log file c:\iblogs\ib_logfile0 did not exist: new to be created
     InnoDB: Setting log file c:\iblogs\ib_logfile0 size to 31457280
     InnoDB: Log file c:\iblogs\ib_logfile1 did not exist: new to be created
     InnoDB: Setting log file c:\iblogs\ib_logfile1 size to 31457280
     InnoDB: Log file c:\iblogs\ib_logfile2 did not exist: new to be created
     InnoDB: Setting log file c:\iblogs\ib_logfile2 size to 31457280
     InnoDB: Doublewrite buffer not found: creating new
     InnoDB: Doublewrite buffer created
     InnoDB: creating foreign key constraint system tables
     InnoDB: foreign key constraint system tables created
     011024 10:58:25  InnoDB: Started

When the server finishes its startup sequence, you should see something
like this, which indicates that the server is ready to service client
connections:

     mysqld: ready for connections
     Version: '4.0.14-log'  socket: ''  port: 3306

The server will continue to write to the console any further diagnostic
output it produces.  You can open a new console window in which to run
client programs.

If you omit the `--console' option, the server writes diagnostic output
to the error log in the data directory. The error log is the file with
the `.err' extension.

The accounts that are listed in the MySQL grant tables initially have no
passwords.  After starting the server, you should set up passwords for
them using the instructions in *Note Post-installation::.

Starting MySQL from the Windows Command Line
............................................

The MySQL server can be started manually from the command line.  This
can be done on any version of Windows.

To start the `mysqld' server from the command line, you should start a
console window (a "DOS" window) and enter this command:

     shell> C:\mysql\bin\mysqld

On non-NT versions of Windows, this will start `mysqld' in the
background. That is, after the server starts, you should see another
command prompt. If you start the server this way on Windows NT, 2000,
or XP, the server will run in the foreground and no command prompt will
appear until the server exits.  Because of this, you should open
another console window to run client programs while the server is
running.

You can stop the MySQL server by executing this command:

     shell> C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root shutdown

This invokes the MySQL administrative utility `mysqladmin' to connect
to the server and tell it to shut down. The command connects as `root',
which is the default administrative account in the MySQL grant system.
Please note that users in the MySQL grant system are wholly independent
from any login users under Windows.

If `mysqld' doesn't start, check the error log to see whether the
server wrote any messages there to indicate the cause of the problem.
The error log is located in the `C:\mysql\data' directory. It is the
file with a suffix of `.err'. You can also try to start the server as
`mysqld --console'; in this case, you may get some useful information
on the screen that may help solve the problem.

The last option is to start `mysqld' with `--standalone --debug'.  In
this case `mysqld' will write a log file `C:\mysqld.trace' that should
contain the reason why `mysqld' doesn't start. *Note Making trace
files::.

Use `mysqld --help' to display all the options that `mysqld'
understands!

Starting MySQL as a Windows Service
...................................

On the NT family (Windows NT, 2000, or XP), the recommended way to run
MySQL is to install it as a Windows service. Then Windows starts and
stops the MySQL server automatically when Windows starts and stops. A
server installed as a service can also be controlled from the command
line using `NET' commands, or with the graphical `Services' utility.

The `Services' utility (the Windows `Service Control Manager') can be
found in the Windows `Control Panel' (under `Administrative Tools' on
Windows 2000). It is advisable to close the `Services' utility while
performing server installation or removal operations from this command
line.  This prevents some odd errors.

To get MySQL to work with TCP/IP on Windows NT 4, you must install
service pack 3 (or newer)!

Before installing MySQL as a Windows service, you should first stop the
current server if it is running by using the following command:

     shell> C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root shutdown

This invokes the MySQL administrative utility `mysqladmin' to connect
to the server and tell it to shut down. The command connects as `root',
which is the default administrative account in the MySQL grant system.
Please note that users in the MySQL grant system are wholly independent
from any login users under Windows.

Now install the server as a service:

     shell> mysqld --install

If you have problems installing `mysqld' as a service using just the
server name, try installing it using its full pathname:

     shell> C:\mysql\bin\mysqld --install

As of MySQL 4.0.2, you can specify a specific service name after the
`--install' option.  As of MySQL 4.0.3, you can in addition specify a
`--defaults-file' option after the service name to indicate where the
server should obtain options when it starts. The rules that determine
the service name and option files the server uses are as follows:

   * If you specify no service name, the server uses the default
     service name of `MySQL' and the server reads options from the
     `[mysqld]' group in the standard option files.

   * If you specify a service name after the `--install' option, the
     server ignores the `[mysqld]' option group and instead reads
     options from the group that has the same name as the service. The
     server reads options from the standard option files.

   * If you specify a `--defaults-file' option after the service name,
     the server ignores the standard option files and reads options
     only from the `[mysqld]' group of the named file.


*Note:* Prior to MySQL 4.0.17, a server installed as a Windows service
has problems starting if its pathname or the service name contains
spaces. For this reason, avoid installing MySQL in a directory such as
`C:\Program Files' or using a service name containing spaces.

In the usual case that you install the server with `--install' but no
service name, the server is installed with a service name of `MySQL'.

As a more complex example, consider the following command (which should
be entered on a single line):

     shell> C:\mysql\bin\mysqld --install mysql
                --defaults-file=C:\my-opts.cnf

Here, a service name is given after the `--install' option. If no
`--defaults-file' option had been given, this command would have the
effect of causing the server to read the `[mysql]' group from the
standard option files. (This would be a bad idea, because that option
group is for use by the `mysql' client program.) However, because the
`--defaults-file' option is present, the server reads options only from
the named file, and only from the `[mysqld]' option group.

You can also specify options as "`Start parameters'" in the Windows
`Services' utility before you start the MySQL service.

Once a MySQL server is installed as a service, Windows will start the
service automatically whenever Windows starts.  The service also can be
started immediately from the `Services' utility, or by using the
command `NET START MySQL'.  The `NET' command is not case sensitive.

Please note that when run as a service, `mysqld' has no access to a
console window, so no messages can be seen there.  If `mysqld' doesn't
start, check the error log to see whether the server wrote any messages
there to indicate the cause of the problem.  The error log is located
in the `C:\mysql\data' directory. It is the file with a suffix of
`.err'.

When `mysqld' is running as a service, it can be stopped by using the
`Services' utility, the command `NET STOP MySQL', or the command
`mysqladmin shutdown'. If the service is running when Windows shuts
down, Windows will stop the server automatically.

From MySQL version 3.23.44, you have the choice of installing the
server as a `Manual' service if you don't wish the service to be
started automatically during the boot process. To do this, use the
`--install-manual' option rather than the `--install' option:

     shell> C:\mysql\bin\mysqld --install-manual

To remove a server that is installed as a service, first stop it if it
is running. Then use the `--remove' option to remove it:

     shell> mysqld --remove

For MySQL versions older than 3.23.49, one problem with automatic MySQL
service shutdown is that Windows waited only for a few seconds for the
shutdown to complete, then killed the database server process if the
time limit was exceeded. This had the potential to cause problems.
(For example, the `InnoDB' storage engine had to perform crash recovery
at the next startup.) Starting from MySQL version 3.23.49, Windows
waits longer for the MySQL server shutdown to complete. If you notice
this still is not enough for your installation, it is safest not to run
the MySQL server as a service. Instead, start it from the command-line
prompt, and stop it with `mysqladmin shutdown'.

This change to tell Windows to wait longer when stopping the MySQL
server works for Windows 2000 and XP. It does not work for Windows NT,
where Windows waits only 20 seconds for a service to shut down, and
after that kills the service process. You can increase this default by
opening the Registry Editor `\winnt\system32\regedt32.exe' and editing
the value of `WaitToKillServiceTimeout' at
`HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control' in the Registry
tree. Specify the new larger value in milliseconds.  For example, the
value 120000 tells Windows NT to wait up to 120 seconds.

If you don't want to start `mysqld' as a service, you can start it from
the command line the same way as for versions of Windows that are not
based on NT.  For instructions, see *Note Win95 start::.

Running MySQL Client Programs on Windows
........................................

You can test whether the MySQL server is working by executing any of the
following commands:

     C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqlshow
     C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqlshow -u root mysql
     C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin version status proc
     C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysql test

If `mysqld' is slow to respond to TCP/IP connections from client
programs on Windows 9x/Me, there is probably a problem with your DNS.
In this case, start `mysqld' with the `--skip-name-resolve' option and
use only `localhost' and IP numbers in the `Host' column of the MySQL
grant tables.

You can force a MySQL client to use a named pipe connection rather than
TCP/IP  by specifying the `--pipe' option or by specifying `.' (period)
as the host name.  Use the `--socket' option to specify the name of the
pipe.  In MySQL 4.1, you should use the `--protocol=PIPE' option.

There are two versions of the MySQL command-line tool:
*Binary*       *Description*
`mysql'        Compiled on native Windows, offering limited text editing
               capabilities.
`mysqlc'       Compiled with the Cygnus GNU compiler and libraries,
               which offers `readline' editing.

If you want to use `mysqlc', you must have a copy of the
`cygwinb19.dll' library installed somewhere that `mysqlc' can find it.
Current distributions of MySQL include this library in the same
directory as `mysqlc' (the `bin' directory under the base directory of
your MySQL installation). If your distribution does not have the
`cygwinb19.dll' library in the `bin' directory, look for it in the
`lib' directory and copy it to your Windows system directory
(`\Windows\system' or similar place).

MySQL on Windows Compared to MySQL on Unix
..........................................

MySQL for Windows has by now proven itself to be very stable. The
Windows version of MySQL has the same features as the corresponding
Unix version, with the following exceptions:

*Windows 95 and threads*
     Windows 95 leaks about 200 bytes of main memory for each thread
     creation.  Each connection in MySQL creates a new thread, so you
     shouldn't run `mysqld' for an extended time on Windows 95 if your
     server handles many connections!  Other versions of Windows don't
     suffer from this bug.

*Concurrent reads*
     MySQL depends on the `pread()' and `pwrite()' calls to be able to
     mix `INSERT' and `SELECT'.  Currently we use mutexes to emulate
     `pread()'/`pwrite()'.  We will, in the long run, replace the file
     level interface with a virtual interface so that we can use the
     `readfile()'/`writefile()' interface on NT/2000/XP to get more
     speed.  The current implementation limits the number of open files
     MySQL can use to 1024, which means that you will not be able to
     run as many concurrent threads on NT/2000/XP as on Unix.

*Blocking read*
     MySQL uses a blocking read for each connection, which has the
     following implications:

        * A connection will not be disconnected automatically after 8
          hours, as happens with the Unix version of MySQL.

        * If a connection hangs, it's impossible to break it without
          killing MySQL.

        * `mysqladmin kill' will not work on a sleeping connection.

        * `mysqladmin shutdown' can't abort as long as there are
          sleeping connections.

     We plan to fix this problem when our Windows developers have
     figured out a nice workaround.

*`DROP DATABASE'*
     You can't drop a database that is in use by some thread.

*Killing MySQL from the task manager*
     You can't kill MySQL from the task manager or with the shutdown
     utility in Windows 95.  You must take it down with `mysqladmin
     shutdown'.

*Case-insensitive names*
     Filenames are not case sensitive on Windows, so MySQL database and
     table names are also not case sensitive on Windows.  The only
     restriction is that database and table names must be specified
     using the same case throughout a given statement.  *Note Name case
     sensitivity::.

*The `\' pathname separator character*
     Pathname components in Windows 95 are separated by the `\'
     character, which is also the escape character in MySQL.  If you
     are using `LOAD DATA INFILE' or `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE', use
     Unix style filenames with `/' characters:

          mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE "C:/tmp/skr.txt" INTO TABLE skr;
          mysql> SELECT * INTO OUTFILE 'C:/tmp/skr.txt' FROM skr;

     Alternatively, you must double the `\' character:

          mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE "C:\\tmp\\skr.txt" INTO TABLE skr;
          mysql> SELECT * INTO OUTFILE 'C:\\tmp\\skr.txt' FROM skr;

*Problems with pipes.*
     Pipes doesn't work reliably in the Windows command-line prompt.
     If the pipe includes the character `^Z' / `CHAR(24)', Windows will
     think it has encountered end-of-file and abort the program.

     This is mainly a problem when you try to apply a binary log as
     follows:

          mysqlbinlog binary-log-name | mysql --user=root

     If you get a problem applying the log and suspect it's because of
     an `^Z' / `CHAR(24)' character you can use the following
     workaround:

          mysqlbinlog binary-log-file --result-file=/tmp/bin.sql
          mysql --user=root --execute "source /tmp/bin.sql"

     The latter command also can be used to reliably read in any SQL
     file that may contain binary data.

*`Can't open named pipe' error*
     If you use a MySQL Version 3.22 server on NT with the newest MySQL
     client programs, you will get the following error:

          error 2017: can't open named pipe to host: . pipe...

     This is because the release version of MySQL uses named pipes on NT
     by default.  You can avoid this error by using the
     `--host=localhost' option to the new MySQL clients or create an
     option file `C:\my.cnf' that contains the following information:

          [client]
          host = localhost

     Starting from 3.23.50, named pipes are enabled only if `mysqld-nt'
     or `mysqld-max-nt' is started with `--enable-named-pipe'.

*`Access denied for user' error*
     If you attempt to run a MySQL client program to connect to a server
     running on the same machine, but get the error `Access denied for
     user: 'some-user@unknown' to database 'mysql'', this means that
     MySQL can't resolve your hostname properly.

     To fix this, you should create a file `\windows\hosts' with the
     following information:

          127.0.0.1       localhost

*`ALTER TABLE'*
     While you are executing an `ALTER TABLE' statement, the table is
     locked from being used by other threads.  This has to do with the
     fact that on Windows, you can't delete a file that is in use by
     another threads.  In the future, we may find some way to work
     around this problem.

*`DROP TABLE'*
     `DROP TABLE' on a table that is in use by a `MERGE' table will not
     work on Windows because the `MERGE' handler does the table mapping
     hidden from the upper layer of MySQL.  Because Windows doesn't
     allow you to drop files that are open, you first must flush all
     `MERGE' tables (with `FLUSH TABLES') or drop the `MERGE' table
     before dropping the table.  We will fix this at the same time we
     introduce views.

*`DATA DIRECTORY' and `INDEX DIRECTORY'*
     The `DATA DIRECTORY' and `INDEX DIRECTORY' options for `CREATE
     TABLE' are ignored on Windows, because Windows doesn't support
     symbolic links.  These options also are ignored on systems that
     have a non-functional `realpath()' call.

Here are some open issues for anyone who might want to help us improve
MySQL on Windows:

   * Add some nice start and shutdown icons to the MySQL installation.

   * It would be really nice to be able to kill `mysqld' from the task
     manager.  For the moment, you must use `mysqladmin shutdown'.

   * Port `readline' to Windows for use in the `mysql' command-line
     tool.

   * GUI versions of the standard MySQL clients (`mysql', `mysqlshow',
     `mysqladmin', and `mysqldump') would be nice.

   * It would be nice if the socket read and write functions in `net.c'
     were interruptible. This would make it possible to kill open
     threads with `mysqladmin kill' on Windows.

   * Add macros to use the faster thread-safe increment/decrement
     methods provided by Windows.

Installing MySQL on Linux
-------------------------

The recommended way to install MySQL on Linux is by using the RPM
packages. The MySQL RPMs are currently built on a SuSE Linux 7.3 system
but should work on most versions of Linux that support `rpm' and use
`glibc'.

If you have problems with an RPM file (for example, if you receive the
error "`Sorry, the host 'xxxx' could not be looked up'"), see *Note
Binary notes-Linux::.

In most cases, you only need to install the `MySQL-server' and
`MySQL-client' packages to get a functional MySQL installation. The
other packages are not required for a standard installation.  If you
want to run a MySQL-Max server that has additional capabilities, you
should install the `MySQL-Max' RPM. However, you should do so only _
after_ installing the `MySQL-server' RPM.  *Note `mysqld-max':
mysqld-max.

If you get a dependency failure when trying to install the MySQL 4.0
packages (for example, "`error: removing these packages would break
dependencies: libmysqlclient.so.10 is needed by ...'"), you should also
install the package `MySQL-shared-compat', which includes both the
shared libraries for backward compatibility (`libmysqlclient.so.12' for
MySQL 4.0 and `libmysqlclient.so.10' for MySQL 3.23).

Many Linux distributions still ship with MySQL 3.23 and they usually
link applications dynamically to save disk space. If these shared
libraries are in a separate package (for example, `MySQL-shared'), it is
sufficient to simply leave this package installed and just upgrade the
MySQL server and client packages (which are statically linked and do
not depend on the shared libraries). For distributions that include the
shared libraries in the same package as the MySQL server (for example,
Red Hat Linux), you could either install our 3.23 `MySQL-shared' RPM,
or use the `MySQL-shared-compat' package instead.

The following RPM packages are available:

   * `MySQL-server-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     The MySQL server.  You will need this unless you only want to
     connect to a MySQL server running on another machine. Please note:
     Server RPM files were called `MySQL-VERSION.i386.rpm' before MySQL
     4.0.10. That is, they did not have `-server' in the name.

   * `MySQL-Max-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     The MySQL-Max server. This server has additional capabilities that
     the one provided in the `MySQL-server' RPM does not.  You must
     install the `MySQL-server' RPM first, because the `MySQL-Max' RPM
     depends on it.

   * `MySQL-client-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     The standard MySQL client programs. You probably always want to
     install this package.

   * `MySQL-bench-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     Tests and benchmarks. Requires Perl and the `DBD::mysql' module.

   * `MySQL-devel-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     The libraries and include files that are needed if you want to
     compile other MySQL clients, such as the Perl modules.

   * `MySQL-shared-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     This package contains the shared libraries (`libmysqlclient.so*')
     that certain languages and applications need to dynamically load
     and use MySQL.

   * `MySQL-shared-compat-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     This package includes the shared libraries for both MySQL 3.23 and
     MySQL 4.0. Install this package instead of `MySQL-shared', if you
     have applications installed that are dynamically linked against
     MySQL 3.23 but you want to upgrade to MySQL 4.0 without breaking
     the library dependencies. This package is available since MySQL
     4.0.13.

   * `MySQL-embedded-VERSION.i386.rpm'

     The embedded MySQL server library (from MySQL 4.0).

   * `MySQL-VERSION.src.rpm'

     This contains the source code for all of the previous packages. It
     can also be used to rebuild the RPMs on other architectures (for
     example, Alpha or SPARC).

To see all files in an RPM package (for example, a `MySQL-server' RPM),
run:

     shell> rpm -qpl MySQL-server-VERSION.i386.rpm

To perform a standard minimal installation, run:

     shell> rpm -i MySQL-server-VERSION.i386.rpm
     shell> rpm -i MySQL-client-VERSION.i386.rpm

To install just the client package, run:

     shell> rpm -i MySQL-client-VERSION.i386.rpm

RPM provides a feature to verify the integrity and authenticity of
packages before installing them. If you would like to learn more about
this feature please see *Note Verifying Package Integrity::.

The server RPM places data under the `/var/lib/mysql' directory. The
RPM also creates the appropriate entries in `/etc/init.d/' to start the
server automatically at boot time. (This means that if you have
performed a previous installation and have made changes to its startup
script, you may want to make a copy of the script so you don't lose it
when you install a newer RPM.) See *Note Automatic start:: for more
information on how MySQL can be started automatically on system startup.

If you want to install the MySQL RPM on older Linux distributions that
do not support initialization scripts in `/etc/init.d' (directly or via
a symlink), you should create a symbolic link that points to the
location where your initialization scripts actually are installed. For
example, if that location is `/etc/rc.d/init.d', use these commands
before installing the RPM to create `/etc/init.d' as a symbolic link
that points there:

     shell> cd /etc; ln -s rc.d/init.d .

However, all current major Linux distributions should already support
the new directory layout that uses `/etc/init.d', because it is
required for LSB (Linux Standard Base) compliance.

If the RPM files that you install include `MySQL-server', the `mysqld'
server should be up and running after installation.  You should now be
able to start using MySQL.  *Note Post-installation::.

If something goes wrong, you can find more information in the binary
installation chapter. *Note Installing binary::.

Installing MySQL on Mac OS X
----------------------------

Beginning with MySQL 4.0.11, you can install MySQL on Mac OS X 10.2
("Jaguar") using a Mac OS X binary package in `PKG' format instead of
the binary tarball distribution. Please note that older versions of Mac
OS X (for example, 10.1.x) are not supported by this package.

The package is located inside a disk image (`.dmg') file, that you
first need to mount by double-clicking its icon in the Finder. It should
then mount the image and display its contents.

*NOTE*: Before proceeding with the installation, be sure to shut down
all running MySQL server instances by either using the MySQL Manager
Application (on Mac OS X Server) or via `mysqladmin shutdown' on the
command line.

To actually install the MySQL PKG file, double click on the package
icon. This launches the Mac OS X Package Installer, which will guide
you through the installation of MySQL.

Due to a bug in the Mac OS X package installer, you may sometimes see
the error message `You cannot install this software on this disk.
(null)' in the destination disk selection dialogue. If this error
occurs, simply click the `Go Back' button once to return to the
previous screen. Then click `Continue' to advance to the destination
disk selection again, and you should be able to choose the destination
disk correctly. We have reported this bug to Apple and they are
investigating this problem.

The Mac OS X PKG of MySQL will install itself into
`/usr/local/mysql-<version>' and will also install a symbolic link
`/usr/local/mysql', pointing to the new location. If a directory named
`/usr/local/mysql' already exists, it will be renamed to
`/usr/local/mysql.bak' first. Additionally, it will install the grant
tables in the `mysql' database by executing `mysql_install_db' after
the installation.

The installation layout is similar to the one of the binary
distribution; all MySQL binaries are located in the directory
`/usr/local/mysql/bin'.  The MySQL socket file is created as
`/tmp/mysql.sock' by default.  *Note Installation layouts::.

MySQL installation requires a Mac OS X user account named `mysql' (a
user account with this name should exist by default on Mac OS X 10.2
and up).

If you are running Mac OS X Server, you already have a version of MySQL
installed.  The versions of MySQL that ship with Mac OS X Server
versions are shown in the following table:

*Mac OS X Server       *MySQL Version*
Version*               
10.2-10.2.2            3.23.51
10.2.3-10.2.6          3.23.53
10.3                   4.0.14
10.3.2                 4.0.16

This manual section covers the installation of the official MySQL Mac
OS X PKG only.  Make sure to read Apple's help about installing MySQL
(Run the "Help View" application, select "Mac OS X Server" help, and do
a search for "MySQL" and read the item entitled "Installing MySQL").

Especially note that for pre-installed versions of MySQL on Mac OS X
Server, you should start `mysqld' with `safe_mysqld' instead of
`mysqld_safe' if the MySQL is older than version 4.0.

If you previously used Marc Liyanage's MySQL packages for Mac OS X from
`http://www.entropy.ch', you can simply follow the update instructions
for packages using the binary installation layout as given on his pages.

If you are upgrading from Marc's 3.23.xx versions or from the Mac OS X
Server version of MySQL to the official MySQL PKG, you also need to
convert the existing MySQL privilege tables to the current format,
because some new security privileges have been added.  *Note
Upgrading-grant-tables::.

If you would like to automatically start up MySQL during system bootup,
you also need to install the MySQL Startup Item. Starting with MySQL
4.0.15, it is part of the Mac OS X installation disk images as a
separate installation package. Simply double-click the
`MySQLStartupItem.pkg' icon and follow the instructions to install it.

Note that the Startup Item need be installed only once! There is no
need to install it each time you upgrade the MySQL package later.

The Startup Item will be installed into `/Library/StartupItems/MySQL'.
It adds a variable `MYSQLCOM=-YES-' to the system configuration file
`/etc/hostconfig'. If you would like to disable the automatic startup
of MySQL, simply change this variable to `MYSQLCOM=-NO-'.

On Mac OS X Server, the default MySQL installation uses the variable
`MYSQL' in `/etc/hostconfig'.  The MySQL AB Startup Item installer
disables this variable by setting it to `MYSQL=-NO-'. This avoids boot
time conflicts with the `MYSQLCOM' variable used by the MySQL AB
Startup Item.  However, it does not shut down an already running MySQL
server.

After the installation, you can start up MySQL by running the following
commands in a terminal window. Please note that you must have
administrator privileges to perform this task.

If you have installed the Startup Item:

     shell> sudo /Library/StartupItems/MySQL/MySQL start
     (Enter your password, if necessary)
     (Press Control-D or enter "exit" to exit the shell)

If you don't use the Startup Item, enter the following command sequence:

     shell> cd /usr/local/mysql
     shell> sudo ./bin/mysqld_safe
     (Enter your password, if necessary)
     (Press Control-Z)
     shell> bg
     (Press Control-D or enter "exit" to exit the shell)

You should now be able to connect to the MySQL server, for example, by
running `/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql'.

If you are installing MySQL for the first time, *please remember to set
a password for the MySQL `root' user!*

This is done with the following two commands:

     /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root password <password>
     /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h `hostname` password <password>

Please make sure that the `hostname' command in the second line is
enclosed by *backtick* characters (``'), so the shell can replace it
with the output of the command (which is the hostname of your system)!

You might want to also add aliases to your shell's resource file to
access `mysql' and `mysqladmin' from the command line. The syntax for
`tcsh' is:

     alias mysql /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql
     alias mysqladmin /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin

For `bash', use:

     alias mysql=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql
     alias mysqladmin=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqladmin

Even better, add `/usr/local/mysql/bin' to your `PATH' environment
variable. For example, add the following line to your `$HOME/.tcshrc'
file if your shell is `tcsh':

     setenv PATH ${PATH}:/usr/local/mysql/bin

If no `.tcshrc' file exists in your home directory, create it with a
text editor.

If you are upgrading an existing installation, please note that
installing a new MySQL PKG does not remove the directory of an older
installation. Unfortunately, the Mac OS X Installer does not yet offer
the functionality required to properly upgrade previously installed
packages.

To use your existing databases with the new installation, you'll need
to copy the contents of the old data directory to the new data
directory. Make sure neither the old server nor the new one is running
when you do this.  After you have copied over the MySQL database files
from the previous installation and have successfully started the new
server, you should consider removing the old installation files to save
disk space.  Additionally, you should also remove older versions of the
Package Receipt directories located in
`/Library/Receipts/mysql-<version>.pkg'.

Installing MySQL on NetWare
---------------------------

Porting `MySQL' to `NetWare' was an effort spearheaded by `Novell'.
Novell customers will be pleased to note that NetWare 6.5 will ship
with bundled MySQL binaries, complete with an automatic commercial use
license for all servers running that version of NetWare.

As of version 4.0.11, the MySQL server is available for Novell NetWare
in binary package form.  MySQL for NetWare is compiled using a
combination of `Metrowerks CodeWarrior for NetWare' and special
cross-compilation versions of the GNU autotools.

In order to host MySQL, the NetWare server must meet these requirements:

   * NetWare version 6.5, or NetWare 6.0 with Support Pack 3 installed
     (You can obtain this at
     `http://support.novell.com/filefinder/13659/index.html').  The
     system must meet Novell's minimum requirements to run the
     respective version of NetWare.

   * MySQL data, as well as the binaries themselves, must be installed
     on an NSS volume; traditional volumes are not supported.

The binary package for NetWare can be obtained at
`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/'.

To install MySQL for NetWare, use the following procedure:

  1. If you are upgrading from a prior installation, stop the MySQL
     server.  This is done from the server console, using the following
     command:

          SERVER:  mysqladmin -u root shutdown

  2. Log on to the target server from a client machine with access to
     the location where you will install MySQL.

  3. Extract the binary package zip file onto the server. Be sure to
     allow the paths in the zip file to be used. It is safe to simply
     extract the file to `SYS:\'.

     If you are upgrading from a prior installation, you may need to
     copy the data directory (for example, `SYS:MYSQL\DATA') now, as
     well as `my.cnf' if you have customized it. You can then delete
     the old copy of MySQL.

  4. You may wish to rename the directory to something more consistent
     and easy to use. We recommend using `SYS:MYSQL'; examples in the
     manual will use this to refer to the installation directory in
     general.

  5. At the server console, add a search path for the directory
     containing the MySQL NLMs. For example:

          SERVER:  SEARCH ADD SYS:MYSQL\BIN

  6. Install the initial database, if needed, by executing
     `mysql_install_db' at the server console.

  7. Start the MySQL server using `mysqld_safe' at the server console.

  8. To finish the installation, you should also add the following
     commands to `autoexec.ncf'. For example, if your MySQL
     installation is in `SYS:MYSQL' and you want MySQL to start
     automatically, you could add these lines:

          #Starts the MySQL 4.0.x database server
          SEARCH ADD SYS:MYSQL\BIN
          MYSQLD_SAFE

     If you are running MySQL on NetWare 6.0, we strongly suggest that
     you use the `--skip-external-locking' option on the command line:

          #Starts the MySQL 4.0.x database server
          SEARCH ADD SYS:MYSQL\BIN
          MYSQLD_SAFE --skip-external-locking

     It will also be neccesary to use `CHECK TABLE' and `REPAIR TABLE'
     instead of `myisamchk', because `myisamchk' makes use of external
     locking.  External locking is known to have problems on NetWare
     6.0; the problem has been eliminated in NetWare 6.5.


If there was an existing installation of MySQL on the server, be sure
to check for existing MySQL startup commands in `autoexec.ncf', and
edit or delete them as necessary.

Installing MySQL on HP-UX
-------------------------

Binary distributions of MySQL for HP-UX are distributed as HP depot
files or as `tar' files.  To use the depot file you must be running at
least HP-UX 10.x to have access to HP's software depot tools.  To
install the HP-UX `tar.gz' distribution, you must have a copy of GNU
`tar'.

The HP version of MySQL was compiled on an HP 9000/8xx server under
HP-UX 10.20, and uses MIT-pthreads.  It is known to work well under
this configuration.  MySQL Version 3.22.26 and newer can also be built
with HP's native thread package.

Other configurations that may work:

   * HP 9000/7xx running HP-UX 10.20+

   * HP 9000/8xx running HP-UX 10.30

The following configurations almost definitely won't work:

   * HP 9000/7xx or 8xx running HP-UX 10.x where x < 2

   * HP 9000/7xx or 8xx running HP-UX 9.x

To install the distribution, use one of the commands here, where
`/path/to/depot' is the full pathname of the depot file:

   * To install everything, including the server, client and
     development tools:

          shell> /usr/sbin/swinstall -s /path/to/depot mysql.full

   * To install only the server:

          shell> /usr/sbin/swinstall -s /path/to/depot mysql.server

   * To install only the client package:

          shell> /usr/sbin/swinstall -s /path/to/depot mysql.client

   * To install only the development tools:

          shell> /usr/sbin/swinstall -s /path/to/depot mysql.developer

The depot places binaries and libraries in `/opt/mysql' and data in
`/var/opt/mysql'. The depot also creates the appropriate entries in
`/etc/init.d' and `/etc/rc2.d' to start the server automatically at
boot time.  Obviously, this entails being `root' to install.

Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems
-------------------------------------------

This section covers the installation of MySQL binary distributions that
are provided for various platforms in the form of `tar' files (files
with a `.tar.gz' extension).  See *Note MySQL binaries:: for a detailed
list.

In addition to these generic packages, we also offer binaries in
platform-specific package formats for selected platforms.  See *Note
Quick Standard Installation:: for more information on how to install
these.

You need the following tools to install a MySQL `tar' file binary
distribution:

   * GNU `gunzip' to uncompress the distribution.

   * A reasonable `tar' to unpack the distribution. GNU `tar' is known
     to work. Some operating systems come with a pre-installed version
     of `tar' that is known to have problems.  For example, Sun `tar'
     and Mac OS X `tar' are known to have problems with long filenames.
     In such cases, you should install GNU `tar' first.  On Mac OS X,
     you can use the pre-installed `gnutar' program.

If you run into problems, *please always use `mysqlbug'* when posting
questions to a MySQL mailing list.  Even if the problem isn't a bug,
`mysqlbug' gathers system information that will help others solve your
problem.  By not using `mysqlbug', you lessen the likelihood of getting
a solution to your problem.  You will find `mysqlbug' in the `bin'
directory after you unpack the distribution.  *Note Bug reports::.

The basic commands you must execute to install and use a MySQL binary
distribution are:

     shell> groupadd mysql
     shell> useradd -g mysql mysql
     shell> cd /usr/local
     shell> gunzip < /path/to/mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz | tar xvf -
     shell> ln -s full-path-to-mysql-VERSION-OS mysql
     shell> cd mysql
     shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
     shell> chown -R root  .
     shell> chown -R mysql data
     shell> chgrp -R mysql .
     shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

For versions of MySQL older than 4.0, substitute `bin/safe_mysqld' for
`bin/mysqld_safe' in the final command.

A more detailed description follows.

To install a binary distribution, follow these steps, then proceed to
*Note Post-installation::, for post-installation setup and testing:

  1. Add a user and group for `mysqld' to run as:

          shell> groupadd mysql
          shell> useradd -g mysql mysql

     These commands add the `mysql' group and the `mysql' user.  The
     syntax for `useradd' and `groupadd' may differ slightly on
     different versions of Unix.  They may also be called `adduser' and
     `addgroup'.  You may wish to call the user and group something
     else instead of `mysql'.

  2. Pick the directory under which you want to unpack the
     distribution, and move into it. In the following example, we
     unpack the distribution under `/usr/local' (The following
     instructions, therefore, assume you have permission to create
     files and directories in `/usr/local'.  If that directory is
     protected, you will need to perform the installation as `root'.)

  3. Obtain a distribution file from one of the sites listed in *Note
     Getting MySQL: Getting MySQL.

     MySQL `tar' file binary distributions have names like
     `mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz', where `VERSION' is a number (for
     example, `4.0.17'), and `OS' indicates the type of operating
     system for which the distribution is intended (for example,
     `pc-linux-gnu-i586').  For a given release, binary distributions
     for all platforms are built from the same MySQL source
     distribution.

  4. Change into the intended installation directory:

          shell> cd /usr/local

  5. Unpack the distribution, which will create the installation
     directory.  Then create a symbolic link to that directory:

          shell> gunzip < /path/to/mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz | tar xvf -
          shell> ln -s full-path-to-mysql-VERSION-OS mysql

     The `tar' command creates a directory named `mysql-VERSION-OS'.
     The `ln' command makes a symbolic link to that directory.  This
     lets you refer more easily to the installation directory as
     `/usr/local/mysql'.

     With GNU `tar', no separate invocation of `gunzip' is necessary.
     You can replace the first line with the following alternative
     command to uncompress and extract the distribution:

          shell> tar zxvf /path/to/mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz

  6. Change into the installation directory:

          shell> cd mysql

     You will find several files and subdirectories in the `mysql'
     directory.  The most important for installation purposes are the
     `bin' and `scripts' subdirectories.

    `bin'
          This directory contains client programs and the server.  You
          should add the full pathname of this directory to your `PATH'
          environment variable so that your shell finds the MySQL
          programs properly. *Note Environment variables::.

    `scripts'
          This directory contains the `mysql_install_db' script used to
          initialize the `mysql' database containing the grant tables
          that store the server access permissions.

  7. If you haven't installed MySQL before, you must create the MySQL
     grant tables:

          shell> scripts/mysql_install_db

     Note that for MySQL versions older than Version 3.22.10,
     `mysql_install_db' left the server running after creating the grant
     tables.  This is no longer true; you will need to restart the
     server after performing the remaining steps in this procedure.

  8. Change ownership of program binaries to `root' and ownership of
     the data directory to the user that you will run `mysqld' as.
     Assuming that you are located in the installation directory
     (`/usr/local/mysql'), the commands look like this:

          shell> chown -R root  .
          shell> chown -R mysql data
          shell> chgrp -R mysql .

     The first command changes the `owner' attribute of the files to the
     `root' user. The second changes the `owner' attribute of the data
     directory to the `mysql' user. The third changes the `group'
     attribute to the `mysql' group.

  9. If you would like MySQL to start automatically when you boot your
     machine, you can copy `support-files/mysql.server' to the location
     where your system has its startup files.  More information can be
     found in the `support-files/mysql.server' script itself and in
     *Note Automatic start::.

 10. You can set up new accounts using the `bin/mysql_setpermission'
     script if you install the `DBI' and `DBD::mysql' Perl modules.
     For instructions, see *Note Perl support::.

 11. If you would like to use `mysqlaccess' and have the MySQL
     distribution in some non-standard place, you must change the
     location where `mysqlaccess' expects to find the `mysql' client.
     Edit the `bin/mysqlaccess' script at approximately line 18.
     Search for a line that looks like this:

          $MYSQL     = '/usr/local/bin/mysql';    # path to mysql executable

     Change the path to reflect the location where `mysql' actually is
     stored on your system.  If you do not do this, you will get a
     `Broken pipe' error when you run `mysqlaccess'.


After everything has been unpacked and installed, you should test your
distribution.

You can start the MySQL server with the following command:

     shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

For versions of MySQL older than 4.0, substitute `bin/safe_mysqld' for
`bin/mysqld_safe' in the command.

Now proceed to *Note `mysqld_safe': mysqld_safe, and *Note
Post-installation::.

MySQL Installation Using a Source Distribution
==============================================

Before you proceed with the source installation, check first to see
whether our binary is available for your platform and whether it will
work for you. We put a lot of effort into making sure that our binaries
are built with the best possible options.

You need the following tools to build and install MySQL from source:

   * GNU `gunzip' to uncompress the distribution.

   * A reasonable `tar' to unpack the distribution. GNU `tar' is known
     to work. Some `tar' implementations that come pre-installed with
     the operating system (for example, Sun `tar') is known to have
     problems with long file names). In that case, you should install
     GNU `tar' first.

   * A working ANSI C++ compiler.  `gcc' 2.95.2 or later, `egcs' 1.0.2
     or later or `egcs 2.91.66', SGI C++, and SunPro C++ are some of the
     compilers that are known to work.  `libg++' is not needed when
     using `gcc'.  `gcc' 2.7.x has a bug that makes it impossible to
     compile some perfectly legal C++ files, such as `sql/sql_base.cc'.
     If you only have `gcc' 2.7.x, you must upgrade your `gcc' to be
     able to compile MySQL. `gcc' 2.8.1 is also known to have problems
     on some platforms, so it should be avoided if a new compiler
     exists for the platform.

     `gcc' 2.95.2 or later is recommended when compiling MySQL Version
     3.23.x.

   * A good `make' program.  GNU `make' is always recommended and is
     sometimes required.  If you have problems, we recommend trying GNU
     `make' 3.75 or newer.

If you are using a recent version of `gcc', recent enough to understand
the `-fno-exceptions' option, it is *very important* that you use it.
Otherwise, you may compile a binary that crashes randomly. We also
recommend that you use `-felide-constructors' and `-fno-rtti' along
with `-fno-exceptions'. When in doubt, do the following:


     CFLAGS="-O3" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -felide-constructors \
            -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure \
            --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler \
            --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static

On most systems this will give you a fast and stable binary.

If you run into problems, *please always use `mysqlbug'* when posting
questions to a MySQL mailing list.  Even if the problem isn't a bug,
`mysqlbug' gathers system information that will help others solve your
problem.  By not using `mysqlbug', you lessen the likelihood of getting
a solution to your problem.  You will find `mysqlbug' in the `scripts'
directory after you unpack the distribution.  *Note Bug reports::.

Quick Source Installation Overview
----------------------------------

The basic commands you must execute to install a MySQL source
distribution are:

     shell> groupadd mysql
     shell> useradd -g mysql mysql
     shell> gunzip < mysql-VERSION.tar.gz | tar -xvf -
     shell> cd mysql-VERSION
     shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
     shell> make
     shell> make install
     shell> cp support-files/my-medium.cnf /etc/my.cnf
     shell> cd /usr/local/mysql
     shell> bin/mysql_install_db
     shell> chown -R root  .
     shell> chown -R mysql var
     shell> chgrp -R mysql .
     shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

For versions of MySQL older than 4.0, substitute `bin/safe_mysqld' for
`bin/mysqld_safe' in the final command.

If you start from a source RPM, do the following:

     shell> rpm --rebuild --clean MySQL-VERSION.src.rpm

This will make a binary RPM that you can install.

A more detailed description follows.

To install a source distribution, follow these steps, then proceed to
*Note Post-installation::, for post-installation initialization and
testing:

  1. Add a user and group for `mysqld' to run as:

          shell> groupadd mysql
          shell> useradd -g mysql mysql

     These commands add the `mysql' group and the `mysql' user.  The
     syntax for `useradd' and `groupadd' may differ slightly on
     different versions of Unix.  They may also be called `adduser' and
     `addgroup'.  You may wish to call the user and group something
     else instead of `mysql'.

  2. Pick the directory under which you want to unpack the
     distribution, and move into it.

  3. Obtain a distribution file from one of the sites listed in *Note
     Getting MySQL: Getting MySQL.  MySQL source distributions are
     provided as compressed `tar' archives and have names like
     `mysql-VERSION.tar.gz', where `VERSION' is a number like
     `4.0.18'.

  4. Unpack the distribution into the current directory:
          shell> gunzip < /path/to/mysql-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xvf -

     This command creates a directory named `mysql-VERSION'.

     With GNU `tar', no separate invocation of `gunzip' is necessary.
     You can use the following alternative command to uncompress and
     extract the distribution:

          shell> tar zxvf /path/to/mysql-VERSION-OS.tar.gz

  5. Change into the top-level directory of the unpacked distribution:

          shell> cd mysql-VERSION

     Note that currently you must configure and build MySQL from this
     top-level directory.  You cannot build it in a different directory.

  6. Configure the release and compile everything:

          shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
          shell> make

     When you run `configure', you might want to specify some options.
     Run `./configure --help' for a list of options.  *Note `configure'
     options: configure options, discusses some of the more useful
     options.

     If `configure' fails and you are going to send mail to a MySQL
     mailing list to ask for assistance, please include any lines from
     `config.log' that you think can help solve the problem.  Also
     include the last couple of lines of output from `configure'.  Post
     the bug report using the `mysqlbug' script.  *Note Bug reports::.

     If the compile fails, see *Note Compilation problems::, for help
     with a number of common problems.

  7. Install the distribution:

          shell> make install

     If you want to set up an option file, use one of those present in
     the `support-files' directory as template. For example:

          shell> cp support-files/my-medium.cnf /etc/my.cnf

     You might need to run these commands as `root'.

     If you want to configure support for `InnoDB' tables, you should
     edit the `/etc/my.cnf' file, remove the `#' character before the
     option lines that start with `innodb_...', and modify the option
     values to be what you want.  *Note Option files::, and *Note
     InnoDB start::.

  8. Change location into the installation directory:

          shell> cd /usr/local/mysql

  9. If you haven't installed MySQL before, you must create the MySQL
     grant tables:

          shell> bin/mysql_install_db

     Note that for MySQL versions older than Version 3.22.10,
     `mysql_install_db' left the server running after creating the grant
     tables.  This is no longer true; you will need to restart the
     server after performing the remaining steps in this procedure.

 10. Change ownership of binaries to `root' and ownership of the data
     directory to the user that you will run `mysqld' as.  Assuming
     that you are located in the installation directory
     (`/usr/local/mysql'), the commands look like this:

          shell> chown -R root  .
          shell> chown -R mysql var
          shell> chgrp -R mysql .

     The first command changes the `owner' attribute of the files to the
     `root' user. The second changes the `owner' attribute of the data
     directory to the `mysql' user. The third changes the `group'
     attribute to the `mysql' group.

 11. If you would like MySQL to start automatically when you boot your
     machine, you can copy `support-files/mysql.server' to the location
     where your system has its startup files.  More information can be
     found in the `support-files/mysql.server' script itself and in
     *Note Automatic start::.

 12. You can set up new accounts using the `bin/mysql_setpermission'
     script if you install the `DBI' and `DBD::mysql' Perl modules.
     For instructions, see *Note Perl support::.


After everything has been installed, you should initialize and test your
distribution using this command:

     shell> /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

For versions of MySQL older than 4.0, substitute `bin/safe_mysqld' for
`bin/mysqld_safe' in the command.

If that command fails immediately and prints `mysqld ended', you can
find some information in the file `mysql-data-directory/'hostname'.err'.
The likely reason is that you already have another `mysqld' server
running.  *Note Multiple servers::.

Now proceed to *Note Post-installation::.

Typical `configure' Options
---------------------------

The `configure' script gives you a great deal of control over how you
configure a MySQL source distribution.  Typically you do this using
options on the `configure' command-line.  You can also affect
`configure' using certain environment variables.  *Note Environment
variables::.  For a list of options supported by `configure', run this
command:

     shell> ./configure --help

Some of the more commonly used `configure' options are described here:

   * To compile just the MySQL client libraries and client programs and
     not the server, use the `--without-server' option:

          shell> ./configure --without-server

     If you don't have a C++ compiler, `mysql' will not compile (it is
     the one client program that requires C++).  In this case, you can
     remove the code in `configure' that tests for the C++ compiler and
     then run `./configure' with the `--without-server' option. The
     compile step will still try to build `mysql', but you can ignore
     any warnings about `mysql.cc'.  (If `make' stops, try `make -k' to
     tell it to continue with the rest of the build even if errors
     occur.)

   * If you want to get an embedded MySQL library (`libmysqld.a') you
     should use the `--with-embedded-server' option.

   * If you don't want your log files and database directories located
     under `/usr/local/var', use a `configure' command, something like
     one of these:

          shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
          shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local \
                     --localstatedir=/usr/local/mysql/data

     The first command changes the installation prefix so that
     everything is installed under `/usr/local/mysql' rather than the
     default of `/usr/local'.  The second command preserves the default
     installation prefix, but overrides the default location for
     database directories (normally `/usr/local/var') and changes it to
     `/usr/local/mysql/data'.  After you have compiled MySQL, you can
     change these options with option files. *Note Option files::.

   * If you are using Unix and you want the MySQL socket located
     somewhere other than the default location (normally in the
     directory `/tmp' or `/var/run') use a `configure' command like
     this:

          shell> ./configure \
                     --with-unix-socket-path=/usr/local/mysql/tmp/mysql.sock

     Note that the given file must be an absolute pathname.  You can
     also later change the location of `mysql.sock' by using a MySQL
     option file. *Note Problems with `mysql.sock': Problems with
     mysql.sock.

   * If you want to compile statically linked programs (for example, to
     make a binary distribution, to get more speed, or to work around
     problems with some Red Hat Linux distributions), run `configure'
     like this:

          shell> ./configure --with-client-ldflags=-all-static \
                     --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static

   * If you are using `gcc' and don't have `libg++' or `libstdc++'
     installed, you can tell `configure' to use `gcc' as your C++
     compiler:

          shell> CC=gcc CXX=gcc ./configure

     When you use `gcc' as your C++ compiler, it will not attempt to
     link in `libg++' or `libstdc++'.  This may be a good idea to do
     even if you have the above libraries installed, as some versions
     of these libraries have caused strange problems for MySQL users in
     the past.

     The following list indicates some compilers and environment
     variable settings that are commonly used with each one.



    `gcc' 2.7.2:
          `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -felide-constructors"'

    `egcs' 1.0.3a:
          `CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -felide-constructors \
          -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti"'

    `gcc' 2.95.2:
          `CFLAGS="-O3 -mpentiumpro" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -mpentiumpro
          \ -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti"'

    `pgcc' 2.90.29 or newer:
          `CFLAGS="-O3 -mpentiumpro -mstack-align-double" CXX=gcc \
          CXXFLAGS="-O3 -mpentiumpro -mstack-align-double \
          -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti"'

     In most cases you can get a reasonably optimal MySQL binary by
     using the options from the preceding list and adding the following
     options to the `configure' line:

          --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler \
          --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static

     The full `configure' line would, in other words, be something like
     the following for all recent `gcc' versions:

          CFLAGS="-O3 -mpentiumpro" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -mpentiumpro \
          -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure \
          --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler \
          --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static

     The binaries we provide on the MySQL web site at
     `http://www.mysql.com/' are all compiled with full optimization and
     should be perfect for most users.  *Note MySQL binaries::.  There
     are some configuration setings you can tweak to make an even
     faster binary, but this is only for advanced users.  *Note Compile
     and link options::.

     If the build fails and produces errors about your compiler or
     linker not being able to create the shared library
     `libmysqlclient.so.#' (`#' is a version number), you can work
     around this problem by giving the `--disable-shared' option to
     `configure'.  In this case, `configure' will not build a shared
     `libmysqlclient.so.#' library.

   * You can configure MySQL not to use `DEFAULT' column values for
     non-`NULL' columns (that is, columns that are not allowed to be
     `NULL'). *Note constraint NOT NULL::.

          shell> CXXFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS ./configure

     The effect of this flag is to cause any `INSERT' statement to fail
     unless it provides explicit values for all columns that require a
     non-`NULL' value.

   * By default, MySQL uses the ISO-8859-1 (Latin1) character set. To
     change the default set, use the `--with-charset' option:
          shell> ./configure --with-charset=CHARSET
     `CHARSET' may be one of `big5', `cp1251', `cp1257', `czech',
     `danish', `dec8', `dos', `euc_kr', `gb2312', `gbk', `german1',
     `hebrew', `hp8', `hungarian', `koi8_ru', `koi8_ukr', `latin1',
     `latin2', `sjis', `swe7', `tis620', `ujis', `usa7', or
     `win1251ukr'.  *Note Character sets::.

     If you want to convert characters between the server and the
     client, you should take a look at the `SET CHARACTER SET' command.
     *Note `SET': SET OPTION.

     *Warning:* If you change character sets after having created any
     tables, you will have to run `myisamchk -r -q
     --set-character-set=charset' on every table. Your indexes may be
     sorted incorrectly otherwise.  (This can happen if you install
     MySQL, create some tables, then reconfigure MySQL to use a
     different character set and reinstall it.)

     With the `configure' option `--with-extra-charsets=LIST', you can
     define which additional character sets should be compiled into the
     server.  `LIST' is either a list of character sets separated with
     spaces, `complex' to include all characters that can't be
     dynamically loaded, or `all' to include all character sets into
     the binaries.

   * To configure MySQL with debugging code, use the `--with-debug'
     option:
          shell> ./configure --with-debug
     This causes a safe memory allocator to be included that can find
     some errors and that provides output about what is happening.
     *Note Debugging server::.

   * If your client programs are using threads, you also must compile a
     thread-safe version of the MySQL client library with the
     `--enable-thread-safe-client' configure options. This will create a
     `libmysqlclient_r' library with which you should link your threaded
     applications.  *Note Threaded clients::.

   * Options that pertain to particular systems can be found in the
     system-specific section of this manual.  *Note Operating System
     Specific Notes::.

Installing from the Development Source Tree
-------------------------------------------

*Caution*: You should read this section only if you are interested in
helping us test our new code. If you just want to get MySQL up and
running on your system, you should use a standard release distribution
(either a binary or source distribution will do).

To obtain our most recent development source tree, use these
instructions:

  1. Download `BitKeeper' from
     `http://www.bitmover.com/cgi-bin/download.cgi'.  You will need
     `Bitkeeper' 3.0 or newer to access our repository.

  2. Follow the instructions to install it.

  3. After `BitKeeper' is installed, first go to the directory you want
     to work from, and then use one of the following commands to clone
     the MySQL version branch of your choice:

     To clone the old 3.23 branch, use this command:

          shell> bk clone bk://mysql.bkbits.net/mysql-3.23 mysql-3.23

     To clone the 4.0 stable (production) branch, use this command:

          shell> bk clone bk://mysql.bkbits.net/mysql-4.0 mysql-4.0

     To clone the 4.1 alpha branch, use this command:

          shell> bk clone bk://mysql.bkbits.net/mysql-4.1 mysql-4.1

     To clone the 5.0 development branch, use this command:

          shell> bk clone bk://mysql.bkbits.net/mysql-5.0 mysql-5.0

     In the preceding examples the source tree will be set up in the
     `mysql-3.23/', `mysql-4.0/', `mysql-4.1/', or `mysql-5.0/'
     subdirectory of your current directory.

     If you are behind a firewall and can only initiate HTTP
     connections, you can also use `BitKeeper' via HTTP.

     If you are required to use a proxy server, set the environment
     variable `http_proxy' to point to your proxy:

          shell> export http_proxy="http://your.proxy.server:8080/"

     Now, simply replace the `bk://' with `http://' when doing a clone.
     Example:

          shell> bk clone http://mysql.bkbits.net/mysql-4.1 mysql-4.1

     The initial download of the source tree may take a while,
     depending on the speed of your connection--please be patient.

  4. You will need GNU `make', `autoconf' 2.53 (or newer), `automake'
     1.5, `libtool' 1.4, and `m4' to run the next set of commands. Even
     though many operating systems already come with their own
     implementation of `make', chances are high that the compilation
     will fail with strange error messages. Therefore, it is highly
     recommended that you use GNU `make' (sometimes named `gmake')
     instead.

     Fortunately, a large number of operating systems already ship with
     the GNU toolchain preinstalled or supply installable packages of
     these. In any case, they can also be downloaded from the following
     locations:

        * <http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/>

        * <http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/>

        * <http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/>

        * <http://www.gnu.org/software/make/>

     If you are trying to configure MySQL 4.1 or later, you will also
     need GNU `bison' 1.75 or later.  Older versions of `bison' may
     report this error:

          sql_yacc.yy:#####: fatal error: maximum table size (32767) exceeded

     Note: The maximum table size is not actually exceeded, the error
     is caused by bugs in older versions of `bison'.

     Versions of MySQL before version 4.1 may also compile with other
     `yacc' implementations (for example, BSD `yacc' 91.7.30). For later
     versions, GNU `bison' is required.

     The following example shows the typical commands required to
     configure a source tree. The first `cd' command changes location
     into the top-level directory of the tree; replace `mysql-4.0' with
     the appropriate directory name.

          shell> cd mysql-4.0
          shell> bk -r edit
          shell> aclocal; autoheader; autoconf; automake
          shell> (cd innobase; aclocal; autoheader; autoconf; automake)
          shell> (cd bdb/dist; sh s_all)
          shell> ./configure  # Add your favorite options here
          make

     The command lines that change directory into the `innobase' and
     `bdb/dist' directories are used to configure the `InnoDB' and
     Berkeley DB (`BDB') storage engines.  You can omit these command
     lines if you to not require `InnoDB' or `BDB' support.

     If you get some strange error during this stage, check that you
     really have `libtool' installed.

     A collection of our standard configuration scripts is located in
     the `BUILD/' subdirectory.  You may find it more convenient to use
     the `BUILD/compile-pentium-debug' script than the preceding set of
     shell commands.. To compile on a different architecture, modify
     the script by removing flags that are Pentium-specific.

  5. When the build is done, run `make install'.  Be careful with this
     on a production machine; the command may overwrite your live
     release installation.  If you have another installation of MySQL,
     we recommend that you run `./configure' with different values for
     the `--prefix', `--with-tcp-port', and `--unix-socket-path' options
     than those used for your production server.

  6. Play hard with your new installation and try to make the new
     features crash.  Start by running `make test'.  *Note MySQL test
     suite::.

  7. If you have gotten to the `make' stage and the distribution does
     not compile, please report it in our bugs database at
     `http://bugs.mysql.com/'.  If you have installed the latest
     versions of the required GNU tools, and they crash trying to
     process our configuration files, please report that also.
     However, if you execute `aclocal' and get a `command not found'
     error or a similar problem, do not report it.  Instead, make sure
     all the necessary tools are installed and that your `PATH'
     variable is set correctly so that your shell can find them.

  8. After the initial `bk clone' operation to obtain the source tree,
     you should run `bk pull' periodically to get updates.

  9. You can examine the change history for the tree with all the diffs
     by using `bk revtool'.  If you see some funny diffs or code that
     you have a question about, do not hesitate to send email to the
     MySQL internals mailing list.  *Note Mailing-list::.  Also, if you
     think you have a better idea on how to do something, send an email
     message to the same address with a patch.  `bk diffs' will produce
     a patch for you after you have made changes to the source. If you
     do not have the time to code your idea, just send a description.

 10. `BitKeeper' has a nice help utility that you can access via `bk
     helptool'.

 11. Please note that any commits (`bk ci' or `bk citool') will trigger
     the posting of a message with the changeset to our internals
     mailing list, as well as the usual openlogging.org submission with
     just the changeset comments.  Generally, you wouldn't need to use
     commit (since the public tree will not allow `bk push'), but
     rather use the `bk diffs' method described previously.


You can also browse changesets, comments, and source code online. For
example, to browse this information for MySQL 4.1, go to
`http://mysql.bkbits.net:8080/mysql-4.1'.

The manual is in a separate tree which can be cloned with:

     shell> bk clone bk://mysql.bkbits.net/mysqldoc mysqldoc

There are also public BitKeeper trees for MySQL Control Center and
Connector/ODBC. They can be cloned respectively as follows.

To clone MySQL Control center, use this command:

     shell> bk clone http://mysql.bkbits.net/mysqlcc mysqlcc

To clone Connector/ODBC, use this command:

     shell> bk clone http://mysql.bkbits.net/myodbc3 myodbc3

Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL
-------------------------------------

All MySQL programs compile cleanly for us with no warnings on Solaris
or Linux using `gcc'.  On other systems, warnings may occur due to
differences in system include files.  See *Note MIT-pthreads:: for
warnings that may occur when using MIT-pthreads.  For other problems,
check the following list.

The solution to many problems involves reconfiguring.  If you do need to
reconfigure, take note of the following:

   * If `configure' is run after it already has been run, it may use
     information that was gathered during its previous invocation.  This
     information is stored in `config.cache'.  When `configure' starts
     up, it looks for that file and reads its contents if it exists, on
     the assumption that the information is still correct.  That
     assumption is invalid when you reconfigure.

   * Each time you run `configure', you must run `make' again to
     recompile.  However, you may want to remove old object files from
     previous builds first because they were compiled using different
     configuration options.

To prevent old configuration information or object files from being
used, run these commands before re-running `configure':

     shell> rm config.cache
     shell> make clean

Alternatively, you can run `make distclean'.

The following list describes some of the problems when compiling MySQL
that have been found to occur most often:

   * If you get errors when compiling `sql_yacc.cc', such as the ones
     shown here, you have probably run out of memory or swap space:

          Internal compiler error: program cc1plus got fatal signal 11
     or:
          Out of virtual memory
     or:
          Virtual memory exhausted

     The problem is that `gcc' requires huge amounts of memory to
     compile `sql_yacc.cc' with inline functions.  Try running
     `configure' with the `--with-low-memory' option:

          shell> ./configure --with-low-memory

     This option causes `-fno-inline' to be added to the compile line
     if you are using `gcc' and `-O0' if you are using something else.
     You should try the `--with-low-memory' option even if you have so
     much memory and swap space that you think you can't possibly have
     run out.  This problem has been observed to occur even on systems
     with generous hardware configurations, and the `--with-low-memory'
     option usually fixes it.

   * By default, `configure' picks `c++' as the compiler name and GNU
     `c++' links with `-lg++'.  If you are using `gcc', that behavior
     can cause problems during configuration such as this:

          configure: error: installation or configuration problem:
          C++ compiler cannot create executables.

     You might also observe problems during compilation related to
     `g++', `libg++', or `libstdc++'.

     One cause of these problems is that you may not have `g++', or you
     may have `g++' but not `libg++', or `libstdc++'.  Take a look at
     the `config.log' file.  It should contain the exact reason why
     your C++ compiler didn't work.  To work around these problems, you
     can use `gcc' as your C++ compiler.  Try setting the environment
     variable `CXX' to `"gcc -O3"'.  For example:

          shell> CXX="gcc -O3" ./configure

     This works because `gcc' compiles C++ sources as well as `g++'
     does, but does not link in `libg++' or `libstdc++' by default.

     Another way to fix these problems is to install `g++', `libg++',
     and `libstdc++'.  We would however like to recommend you to not
     use `libg++' or `libstdc++' with MySQL as this will only increase
     the binary size of mysqld without giving you any benefits.  Some
     versions of these libraries have also caused strange problems for
     MySQL users in the past.

     Using `gcc' as the C++ compiler is also required, if you want to
     compile MySQL with RAID functionality (see *Note CREATE TABLE::
     for more info on RAID table type) and you are using GNU `gcc'
     version 3 and above. If you get errors like the ones below during
     the linking stage when you configure MySQL to compile with the
     option `--with-raid', try to use `gcc' as your C++ compiler by
     defining the above mentioned environment variable `CXX':

          gcc -O3 -DDBUG_OFF -rdynamic -o isamchk isamchk.o sort.o  libnisam.a
          ../mysys/libmysys.a ../dbug/libdbug.a ../strings/libmystrings.a
           -lpthread -lz -lcrypt -lnsl -lm -lpthread
          ../mysys/libmysys.a(raid.o)(.text+0x79): In function
          `my_raid_create':: undefined reference to `operator new(unsigned)'
          ../mysys/libmysys.a(raid.o)(.text+0xdd): In function
          `my_raid_create':: undefined reference to `operator delete(void*)'
          ../mysys/libmysys.a(raid.o)(.text+0x129): In function
          `my_raid_open':: undefined reference to `operator new(unsigned)'
          ../mysys/libmysys.a(raid.o)(.text+0x189): In function
          `my_raid_open':: undefined reference to `operator delete(void*)'
          ../mysys/libmysys.a(raid.o)(.text+0x64b): In function
          `my_raid_close':: undefined reference to `operator delete(void*)'
          collect2: ld returned 1 exit status

   * If your compile fails with errors, such as any of the following,
     you must upgrade your version of `make' to GNU `make':

          making all in mit-pthreads
          make: Fatal error in reader: Makefile, line 18:
          Badly formed macro assignment
     or:
          make: file `Makefile' line 18: Must be a separator (:
     or:
          pthread.h: No such file or directory

     Solaris and FreeBSD are known to have troublesome `make' programs.

     GNU `make' Version 3.75 is known to work.

   * If you want to define flags to be used by your C or C++ compilers,
     do so by adding the flags to the `CFLAGS' and `CXXFLAGS'
     environment variables.  You can also specify the compiler names
     this way using `CC' and `CXX'.  For example:

          shell> CC=gcc
          shell> CFLAGS=-O3
          shell> CXX=gcc
          shell> CXXFLAGS=-O3
          shell> export CC CFLAGS CXX CXXFLAGS

     See *Note MySQL binaries::, for a list of flag definitions that
     have been found to be useful on various systems.

   * If you get an error message like this, you need to upgrade your
     `gcc' compiler:

          client/libmysql.c:273: parse error before `__attribute__'

     `gcc' 2.8.1 is known to work, but we recommend using `gcc' 2.95.2
     or `egcs' 1.0.3a instead.

   * If you get errors such as those shown here when compiling `mysqld',
     `configure' didn't correctly detect the type of the last argument
     to `accept()', `getsockname()', or `getpeername()':

          cxx: Error: mysqld.cc, line 645: In this statement, the referenced
               type of the pointer value ''length'' is ''unsigned long'',
               which is not compatible with ''int''.
          new_sock = accept(sock, (struct sockaddr *)&cAddr, &length);

     To fix this, edit the `config.h' file (which is generated by
     `configure').  Look for these lines:

          /* Define as the base type of the last arg to accept */
          #define SOCKET_SIZE_TYPE XXX

     Change `XXX' to `size_t' or `int', depending on your operating
     system.  (Note that you will have to do this each time you run
     `configure' because `configure' regenerates `config.h'.)

   * The `sql_yacc.cc' file is generated from `sql_yacc.yy'.  Normally
     the build process doesn't need to create `sql_yacc.cc', because
     MySQL comes with an already generated copy.  However, if you do
     need to re-create it, you might encounter this error:

          "sql_yacc.yy", line xxx fatal: default action causes potential...

     This is a sign that your version of `yacc' is deficient.  You
     probably need to install `bison' (the GNU version of `yacc') and
     use that instead.

   * On Debian Linux 3.0, you need to install `gawk' instead of the
     default `mawk', if you want to compile MySQL 4.1 or higher with
     Berkeley DB support.

   * If you need to debug `mysqld' or a MySQL client, run `configure'
     with the `--with-debug' option, then recompile and link your
     clients with the new client library.  *Note Debugging client::.

   * If you get a compilation error on Linux (e.g. SuSE Linux 8.1 or
     Red Hat Linux 7.3) similar to the following one:

          libmysql.c:1329: warning: passing arg 5 of `gethostbyname_r' from
          incompatible pointer type
          libmysql.c:1329: too few arguments to function `gethostbyname_r'
          libmysql.c:1329: warning: assignment makes pointer from integer
          without a cast
          make[2]: *** [libmysql.lo] Error 1

     By default, the `configure' script attempts to determine the
     correct number of arguments by using `g++' the GNU C++ compiler.
     This test yields wrong results, if `g++' is not installed. There
     are two ways to work around this problem:

        * Make sure that the GNU C++ `g++' is installed. On some Linux
          distributions, the required package is called `gpp', on
          others it is named `gcc-c++'.

        * Use `gcc' as your C++ compiler by setting the `CXX'
          environment variable to `gcc':
               export CXX="gcc"

     Please note that you need to run `configure' again afterwards.


MIT-pthreads Notes
------------------

This section describes some of the issues involved in using
MIT-pthreads.

Note that on Linux you should *not* use MIT-pthreads but use the
installed LinuxThreads implementation instead.  *Note Linux::.

If your system does not provide native thread support, you will need to
build MySQL using the MIT-pthreads package.  This includes older
FreeBSD systems, SunOS 4.x, Solaris 2.4 and earlier, and some others.
*Note Which OS::.

Note that, beginning with MySQL 4.0.2, MIT-pthreads are no longer part
of the source distribution. If you require this package, you need to
download it separately from
<http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Contrib/pthreads-1_60_beta6-mysql.tar.gz>

After downloading, extract this source archive into the top level of the
MySQL source directory. It will create a new subdirectory
`mit-pthreads'.

   * On most systems, you can force MIT-pthreads to be used by running
     `configure' with the `--with-mit-threads' option:

          shell> ./configure --with-mit-threads

     Building in a non-source directory is not supported when using
     MIT-pthreads because we want to minimise our changes to this code.

   * The checks that determine whether to use MIT-pthreads occur only
     during the part of the configuration process that deals with the
     server code.  If you have configured the distribution using
     `--without-server' to build only the client code, clients will not
     know whether MIT-pthreads is being used and will use Unix socket
     connections by default.  Because Unix socket files do not work
     under MIT-pthreads on some platforms, this means you will need to
     use `-h' or `--host' when you run client programs.

   * When MySQL is compiled using MIT-pthreads, system locking is
     disabled by default for performance reasons.  You can tell the
     server to use system locking with the `--external-locking' option.
     This is only needed if you want to be able to run two MySQL
     servers against the same datafiles (not recommended).

   * Sometimes the pthread `bind()' command fails to bind to a socket
     without any error message (at least on Solaris).  The result is
     that all connections to the server fail.  For example:

          shell> mysqladmin version
          mysqladmin: connect to server at '' failed;
          error: 'Can't connect to mysql server on localhost (146)'

     The solution to this is to kill the `mysqld' server and restart it.
     This has only happened to us when we have forced down the server
     and done a restart immediately.

   * With MIT-pthreads, the `sleep()' system call isn't interruptible
     with `SIGINT' (break).  This is only noticeable when you run
     `mysqladmin --sleep'.  You must wait for the `sleep()' call to
     terminate before the interrupt is served and the process stops.

   * When linking, you may receive warning messages like these (at
     least on Solaris); they can be ignored:

          ld: warning: symbol `_iob' has differing sizes:
              (file /my/local/pthreads/lib/libpthread.a(findfp.o) value=0x4;
          file /usr/lib/libc.so value=0x140);
              /my/local/pthreads/lib/libpthread.a(findfp.o) definition taken
          ld: warning: symbol `__iob' has differing sizes:
              (file /my/local/pthreads/lib/libpthread.a(findfp.o) value=0x4;
          file /usr/lib/libc.so value=0x140);
              /my/local/pthreads/lib/libpthread.a(findfp.o) definition taken

   * Some other warnings also can be ignored:

          implicit declaration of function `int strtoll(...)'
          implicit declaration of function `int strtoul(...)'

   * We haven't gotten `readline' to work with MIT-pthreads.  (This
     isn't needed, but may be interesting for someone.)

Installing MySQL from Source on Windows
---------------------------------------

These instructions describe how to build MySQL binaries from source for
versions 4.1 and above on Windows. Instructions are provided for
building binaries from a standard source distribution or from the
BitKeeper tree that contains the latest development source.

*Note:* The instructions in this document are strictly for users who
want to test MySQL on Windows from the latest source distribution or
from the BitKeeper tree.  For production use, MySQL AB does not advise
using a MySQL server built by yourself from source.  Normally, it is
best to use precompiled binary distributions of MySQL that are built
specifically for optimal performance on Windows by MySQL AB.
Instructions for installing a binary distributions are available at
*Note Windows installation::.

To build MySQL on Windows from source, you need the following compiler
and resources available on your Windows system:

   * VC++ 6.0 compiler (updated with 4 or 5 SP and pre-processor
     package).  The pre-processor package is necessary for the macro
     assembler.  More details at:
     `http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/downloads/updates/sp/vs6/sp5/faq.aspx'.

   * Approximately 45 MB disk space.

   * 64 MB RAM.


You'll also need a MySQL source distribution for Windows.  There are
two ways you can get a source distribution for MySQL version 4.1 and
above:

  1. Obtain a source distribution packaged by MySQL AB for the
     particular version of MySQL in which you are interested.
     Prepackaged source distributions are available for released
     versions of MySQL and can be obtained from
     `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/'.

  2. You can package a source distribution yourself from the latest
     BitKeeper developer source tree. If you plan to do this, you must
     create the package on a Unix system and then transfer it to your
     Windows system.  (The reason for this is that some of the
     configuration and build steps require tools that work only on
     Unix.)  The BitKeeper approach thus requires:

        * A system running Unix, or a Unix-like system such as Linux.

        * BitKeeper 3.0 installed on that system. You can obtain
          BitKeeper from `http://www.bitkeeper.com/'.



If you are using a Windows source distribution, you can go directly to
*Note Windows VC++ Build::. To build from the BitKeeper tree, proceed to
*Note Windows BitKeeper Build::.

If you find something not working as expected, or you have suggestions
about ways to improve the current build process on Windows, please send
a message to the `win32' mailing list.  *Note Mailing-list::.

Building MySQL Using VC++
.........................

*Note:* MySQL 4.1 and above VC++ workspace files are compatible with
Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 and above(7.0/.NET) editions and tested by
MySQL AB staff before each release.

Follow this procedure to build MySQL:

  1. Create a work directory (for example, `workdir').

  2. Unpack the source distribution in the aforementioned directory
     using `WinZip' or other Windows tools that can read `.zip' files.

  3. Start the VC++ 6.0 compiler.

  4. In the `File' menu, select `Open Workspace'.

  5. Open the `mysql.dsw' workspace you find in the work directory.

  6. From the `Build' menu, select the `Set Active Configuration' menu.

  7. Click over the screen selecting `mysqld - Win32 Debug' and click
     OK.

  8. Press `F7' to begin the build of the debug server, libraries, and
     some client applications.

  9. Compile the release versions that you want, in the same way.

 10. Debug versions of the programs and libraries are placed in the
     `client_debug' and `lib_debug' directories.  Release versions of
     the programs and libraries are placed in the `client_release' and
     `lib_release' directories.  Note that if you want to build both
     debug and release versions, you can select the "build all" option
     from the `Build' menu.

 11. Test the server.  The server built using the preceding instructions
     will expect that the MySQL base directory and data directory are
     `C:\mysql' and `C:\mysql\data' by default. If you want to test
     your server using the source tree root directory and its data
     directory as the base directory and data directory, you will need
     to tell the server their pathnames. You can either do this on the
     command line with the `--basedir' and `--datadir' options, or
     place appropriate options in an option file (`C:\my.cnf' or the
     `my.ini' file in your Windows directory). If you have an existing
     data directory elsewhere that you want to use, you can specify its
     pathname instead.

 12. Start your server from the `client_release' or `client_debug'
     directory, depending on which server you want to use. The general
     server startup instructions are at *Note Windows installation::.
     You'll need to to adapt the instructions appropriately if you want
     to use a different base directory or data directory.

 13. When the server is running in standalone fashion or as a service
     based on your configuration, try to connect to it from the `mysql'
     interactive command line utility that exists in your
     `client_release' or `client_debug' directory.


When you are satisifed that the programs you have built are working
correctly, stop the server. Then install MySQL as follows:

  1. Create the directories where you want to install MySQL.  For
     example, to install into `C:\mysql', use these commands:

          C:
          mkdir \mysql
          mkdir \mysql\bin
          mkdir \mysql\data
          mkdir \mysql\share
          mkdir \mysql\scripts

     If you want to compile other clients and link them to MySQL, you
     should also create several additional directories:

          mkdir \mysql\include
          mkdir \mysql\lib
          mkdir \mysql\lib\debug
          mkdir \mysql\lib\opt

     If you want to benchmark MySQL, create this directory:

          mkdir \mysql\sql-bench

     Benchmarking requires Perl support.

  2. From the `workdir' directory, copy into the `C:\mysql' directory
     the following directories:

          copy client_release\*.exe C:\mysql\bin
          copy client_debug\mysqld.exe C:\mysql\bin\mysqld-debug.exe
          xcopy scripts\*.* C:\mysql\scripts /E
          xcopy share\*.* C:\mysql\share /E

     If you want to compile other clients and link them to MySQL, you
     should also copy several libraries and header files:

          copy lib_debug\mysqlclient.lib C:\mysql\lib\debug
          copy lib_debug\libmysql.* C:\mysql\lib\debug
          copy lib_debug\zlib.* C:\mysql\lib\debug
          copy lib_release\mysqlclient.lib C:\mysql\lib\opt
          copy lib_release\libmysql.* C:\mysql\lib\opt
          copy lib_release\zlib.* C:\mysql\lib\opt
          copy include\*.h C:\mysql\include
          copy libmysql\libmysql.def C:\mysql\include

     If you want to benchmark MySQL, you should also do this:

          xcopy sql-bench\*.* C:\mysql\bench /E


Set up and start the server in the same way as for the binary Windows
distribution.  *Note Windows installation::.

Creating a Windows Source Package from the Latest Development Source
....................................................................

To create a Windows source package from the current BitKeeper source
tree, use the following instructions. Please note that this procedure
must be performed on a system running a Unix or Unix-like operating
system.  (The procedure is known to work well on Linux, for example.)

  1. Clone the BitKeeper source tree for MySQL (version 4.1 or above,
     as desired).  For more information how to clone the source tree,
     see the instructions at *Note Installing source tree::.

  2. Configure and build the distribution so that you have a server
     binary to work with.  One way to do this is to run the following
     command in the top-level directory of your source tree:

          shell> ./BUILD/compile-pentium-max

  3. After making sure that the build process completed successfully,
     run the following utility script from top-level directory of your
     source tree:

          shell> ./scripts/make_win_src_distribution

     This script creates a Windows source package, to be used on your
     Windows system.  You can supply different options to the script
     based on your needs. It accepts the following options:

          --debug   Print information about script operations, do not create package
          --tmp     Specify the temporary location
          --suffix  Suffix name for the package
          --dirname Directory name to copy files (intermediate)
          --silent  Do not print verbose list of files processed
          --tar     Create tar.gz package instead of .zip package
          --help    Show this help message

     By default, `make_win_src_distribution' creates a zipped archive
     with the name `mysql-VERSION-win-src.zip', where `VERSION'
     represents the version of your MySQL source tree.

  4. Copy or upload to your Windows machine the Windows source package
     that you have just created. To compile it, use the instructions in
     *Note Windows VC++ Build::.


Compiling MySQL Clients on Windows
----------------------------------

In your source files, you should include `my_global.h' before `mysql.h':

     #include <my_global.h>
     #include <mysql.h>

`my_global.h' includes any other files needed for Windows compatibility
(such as `windows.h') if you compile your program on Windows.

You can either link your code with the dynamic `libmysql.lib' library,
which is just a wrapper to load in `libmysql.dll' on demand, or link
with the static `mysqlclient.lib' library.

Note that because the MySQL client libraries are compiled as threaded
libraries, you should also compile your code to be multi-threaded!

Post-installation Setup and Testing
===================================

There are some issues you should address after installing MySQL.  For
example, on Unix, you should create the MySQL grant tables.  On all
platforms, an important security concern is that the initial accounts
in the grant tables have no passwords.  You should assign passwords to
prevent unauthorized access to the MySQL server.

The following sections describe post-installation procedures for Windows
systems and for Unix systems.

Windows Post-installation Procedures
------------------------------------

On Windows, the grant tables do not have to be created. MySQL Windows
distributions include the grant tables already set up in the `mysql'
database under the `data' directory.  However, you should assign
passwords to the accounts.

The default privileges on Windows give all local users full privileges
to all databases without specifying a password.  To make MySQL more
secure, you should set a password for all users and remove the row in
the `mysql.user' table that has `Host='localhost'' and `User='''.

You should also add a password for the `root' user. The following
example starts by removing the anonymous user that has all privileges,
then sets a `root' user password:

     C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysql mysql
     mysql> DELETE FROM user WHERE Host='localhost' AND User='';
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
     mysql> QUIT
     C:\> C:\mysql\bin\mysqladmin -u root password your_password

After you've set the password, if you want to shut down the `mysqld'
server, you can do so using this command:

     C:\> mysqladmin --user=root --password=your_password shutdown

If you are using a server from a _very_ old version of MySQL, the
`mysqladmin' command to set the password will fail with an error:
`parse error near 'SET password''.  The solution to this problem is to
upgrade to a newer version of MySQL.

With the current MySQL versions you can easily add new users and change
privileges with `GRANT' and `REVOKE' commands.  *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

Unix Post-installation Procedures
---------------------------------

After you install MySQL on Unix, you need to initialize the grant
tables, start the server, and make sure that the server works okay.
You may also wish to arrange for the server to be started and stopped
automatically when your system starts and stops.

Normally you install the grant tables and start the server like this
for installation from a source distribution:

     shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
     shell> bin/mysql_install_db
     shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

For a binary distribution (not RPM or PKG packages), do this:

     shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
     shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
     shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

The `mysql_install_db' script creates the `mysql' database that holds
all database privileges, and the `test' database that you can use to
test MySQL. The script also creates privilege table entries for `root'
accounts and anonymous-user accounts.  The entries are created without
passwords.  The `mysqld_safe' script starts the `mysqld' server.  (For
versions of MySQL older than 4.0, use `safe_mysqld' rather than
`mysqld_safe'.)

`mysql_install_db' will not overwrite any old privilege tables, so it
should be safe to run in any circumstances.  If you don't want to have
the `test' database you can remove it with `mysqladmin -u root drop
test' after starting the server.

Testing is most easily done from the top-level directory of the MySQL
distribution.  For a binary distribution, this is your installation
directory (typically something like `/usr/local/mysql').  For a source
distribution, this is the main directory of your MySQL source tree.

In the commands shown in this section and in the following subsections,
`BINDIR' is the path to the location in which programs like
`mysqladmin' and `mysqld_safe' are installed.  For a binary
distribution, this is the `bin' directory within the distribution.  For
a source distribution, `BINDIR' is probably `/usr/local/bin', unless
you specified an installation directory other than `/usr/local' when
you ran `configure'.  `EXECDIR' is the location in which the `mysqld'
server is installed.  For a binary distribution, this is the same as
`BINDIR'.  For a source distribution, `EXECDIR' is probably
`/usr/local/libexec'.

Testing is described in detail:

  1. If necessary, start the `mysqld' server and set up the initial
     MySQL grant tables containing the privileges that determine how
     users are allowed to connect to the server.  This is normally done
     with the `mysql_install_db' script:

          shell> scripts/mysql_install_db

     Typically, `mysql_install_db' needs to be run only the first time
     you install MySQL.  Therefore, if you are upgrading an existing
     installation, you can skip this step.  (However,
     `mysql_install_db' is quite safe to use and will not update any
     tables that already exist, so if you are unsure of what to do, you
     can always run `mysql_install_db'.)

     `mysql_install_db' creates six tables (`user', `db', `host',
     `tables_priv', `columns_priv', and `func') in the `mysql'
     database.  A description of the initial privileges is given in
     *Note Default privileges::.  Briefly, these privileges allow the
     MySQL `root' user to do anything, and allow anybody to create or
     use databases with a name of `test' or starting with `test_'.

     If you don't set up the grant tables, the following error will
     appear in the log file when you start the server:

          mysqld: Can't find file: 'host.frm'

     This may also happen with a binary MySQL distribution if you don't
     start MySQL by executing exactly `./bin/mysqld_safe'.  *Note
     `mysqld_safe': mysqld_safe.

     You might need to run `mysql_install_db' as `root'.  However, if
     you prefer, you can run the MySQL server as an unprivileged
     (non-`root') user, provided that the user can read and write files
     in the database directory.  Instructions for running MySQL as an
     unprivileged user are given in *Note Changing MySQL user: Changing
     MySQL user.

     If you have problems with `mysql_install_db', see *Note
     `mysql_install_db': mysql_install_db.

     There are some alternatives to running the `mysql_install_db'
     script as it is provided in the MySQL distribution:

        * You may want to edit `mysql_install_db' before running it, to
          change the initial privileges that are installed into the
          grant tables.  This is useful if you want to install MySQL on
          a lot of machines with the same privileges.  In this case you
          probably should need only to add a few extra `INSERT'
          statements to the `mysql.user' and `mysql.db' tables.

        * If you want to change the contents of the grant tables after
          installing them, you can run `mysql_install_db', then use
          `mysql -u root mysql' to connect to the grant tables as the
          MySQL `root' user and issue SQL statements to modify the
          grant tables directly.

        * It is possible to re-create the grant tables completely after
          they have already been created.  You might want to do this if
          you've already installed the tables but then want to
          re-create them after editing `mysql_install_db'.

     For more information about these alternatives, see *Note Default
     privileges::.

  2. Start the MySQL server like this:

          shell> cd mysql_installation_directory
          shell> bin/mysqld_safe &

     For versions of MySQL older than 4.0, substitute `bin/safe_mysqld'
     for `bin/mysqld_safe' in the final command.

     If you have problems starting the server, see *Note Starting
     server::.

  3. Use `mysqladmin' to verify that the server is running.  The
     following commands provide a simple test to check that the server
     is up and responding to connections:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqladmin version
          shell> BINDIR/mysqladmin variables

     The output from `mysqladmin version' varies slightly depending on
     your platform and version of MySQL, but should be similar to that
     shown here:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqladmin version
          mysqladmin  Ver 8.40 Distrib 4.0.18, for linux on i586
          Copyright (C) 2000 MySQL AB & MySQL Finland AB & TCX DataKonsult AB
          This software comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is free software,
          and you are welcome to modify and redistribute it under the GPL license
          
          
          Server version          4.0.18-log
          Protocol version        10
          Connection              Localhost via Unix socket
          TCP port                3306
          UNIX socket             /tmp/mysql.sock
          Uptime:                 16 sec
          
          Threads: 1  Questions: 9  Slow queries: 0
          Opens: 7  Flush tables: 2  Open tables: 0
          Queries per second avg: 0.000
          Memory in use: 132K  Max memory used: 16773K

     To see what else you can do with `mysqladmin', invoke it with the
     `--help' option.

  4. Verify that you can shut down the server:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqladmin -u root shutdown

  5. Verify that you can restart the server.  Do this using
     `mysqld_safe' or by invoking `mysqld' directly.  For example:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqld_safe --log &

     If `mysqld_safe' fails, try running it from the MySQL installation
     directory (if you are not already there).  If that doesn't work,
     see *Note Starting server::.

  6. Run some simple tests to verify that the server is working.  The
     output should be similar to what is shown here:

          shell> BINDIR/mysqlshow
          +-----------+
          | Databases |
          +-----------+
          | mysql     |
          +-----------+
          
          shell> BINDIR/mysqlshow mysql
          Database: mysql
          +--------------+
          |    Tables    |
          +--------------+
          | columns_priv |
          | db           |
          | func         |
          | host         |
          | tables_priv  |
          | user         |
          +--------------+
          
          shell> BINDIR/mysql -e "SELECT host,db,user FROM db" mysql
          +------+--------+------+
          | host | db     | user |
          +------+--------+------+
          | %    | test   |      |
          | %    | test_% |      |
          +------+--------+------+

     There is also a benchmark suite in the `sql-bench' directory
     (under the MySQL installation directory) that you can use to
     compare how MySQL performs on different platforms. The benchmark
     suite is written in Perl. It uses the Perl DBI module to provide a
     database-independent interface to the various databases. The
     following additional Perl modules are required to run the
     benchmark suite:

          DBI
          DBD::mysql
          Data::Dumper
          Data::ShowTable

     These modules can be obtained from CPAN `http://www.cpan.org/'.
     *Note Perl installation::.

     The `sql-bench/Results' directory contains the results from many
     runs against different databases and platforms.  To run all tests,
     execute these commands:

          shell> cd sql-bench
          shell> run-all-tests

     If you don't have the `sql-bench' directory, you probably
     installed MySQL using RPM files other than the source RPM.  (The
     source RPM includes the `sql-bench' benchmark directory.)  In this
     case, you must first install the benchmark suite before you can
     use it.  Beginning with MySQL Version 3.22, there are separate
     benchmark RPM files named `mysql-bench-VERSION-i386.rpm' that
     contain benchmark code and data.

     If you have a source distribution, there are also tests in its
     `tests' subdirectory that you can run. For example, to run
     `auto_increment.tst', do this:

          shell> BINDIR/mysql -vvf test < ./tests/auto_increment.tst

     The expected result of the test can be found in the
     `./tests/auto_increment.res' file.

Problems Running `mysql_install_db'
...................................

The purpose of the `mysql_install_db' script is to generate new MySQL
privilege tables.  It will not overwrite existing MySQL privilege
tables, and it will not affect any other data.

If you want to re-create your privilege tables, you should take down
the `mysqld' server, if it's running, and then do something like:

     mv mysql-data-directory/mysql mysql-data-directory/mysql-old
     mysql_install_db

This section lists problems you might encounter when you run
`mysql_install_db':

*`mysql_install_db' doesn't install the grant tables*
     You may find that `mysql_install_db' fails to install the grant
     tables and terminates after displaying the following messages:

          Starting mysqld daemon with databases from XXXXXX
          mysqld ended

     In this case, you should examine the log file very carefully.  The
     log should be located in the directory `XXXXXX' named by the error
     message, and should indicate why `mysqld' didn't start.  If you
     don't understand what happened, include the log when you post a
     bug report.  *Note Bug reports::.

*There is already a `mysqld' process running*
     In this case, you probably don't have to run `mysql_install_db' at
     all.  You have to run `mysql_install_db' only once, when you
     install MySQL the first time.

*Installing a second `mysqld' server doesn't work when one server is running*
     This can happen when you already have an existing MySQL
     installation, but want to put a new installation in a different
     location (for example, for testing, or perhaps you simply want to
     run two installations at the same time).  Generally the problem
     that occurs when you try to run the second server is that it tries
     to use the same socket and port as the old one.  In this case you
     will get the error message: `Can't start server: Bind on TCP/IP
     port: Address already in use' or `Can't start server: Bind on unix
     socket...'. *Note Multiple servers::.

*You don't have write access to `/tmp'*
     If you don't have write access to create a socket file at the
     default place (in `/tmp') or permission to create temporary files
     in `/tmp,' you will get an error when running `mysql_install_db'
     or when starting or using `mysqld'.

     You can specify a different socket and temporary directory as
     follows:

          shell> TMPDIR=/some_tmp_dir/
          shell> MYSQL_UNIX_PORT=/some_tmp_dir/mysqld.sock
          shell> export TMPDIR MYSQL_UNIX_PORT

     See *Note Problems with `mysql.sock': Problems with mysql.sock.

     `some_tmp_dir' should be the path to some directory for which you
     have write permission. *Note Environment variables::.

     After this, you should be able to run `mysql_install_db' and start
     the server with these commands:

          shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
          shell> BINDIR/mysqld_safe &

*`mysqld' crashes immediately*
     If you are running Red Hat Version 5.0 with a version of `glibc'
     older than 2.0.7-5, you should make sure you have installed all
     `glibc' patches.  There is a lot of information about this in the
     MySQL mail archives.  Links to the mail archives are available
     online at `http://lists.mysql.com/'.  Also, see *Note Linux::.

     You can also start `mysqld' manually using the
     `--skip-grant-tables' option and add the privilege information
     yourself using `mysql':

          shell> BINDIR/mysqld_safe --skip-grant-tables &
          shell> BINDIR/mysql -u root mysql

     From `mysql', manually execute the SQL commands in
     `mysql_install_db'.  Make sure you run `mysqladmin
     flush-privileges' or `mysqladmin reload' afterward to tell the
     server to reload the grant tables.

Starting and Stopping MySQL Automatically
.........................................

Generally, you start the `mysqld' server in one of these ways:

   * By invoking `mysqld' directly. This works on any platform.

   * By running the MySQL server as a Windows service.  This can be
     done on Windows NT, 2000, and XP.  For instructions, see *Note NT
     start::.

   * By invoking `mysql.server'.  This script is used primarily at
     system startup and shutdown on systems that use System V-style run
     directories. It is described more fully later in this section.

   * By invoking `mysqld_safe', which tries to determine the proper
     options for `mysqld' and then runs it with those options.  This
     script is used on systems based on BSD Unix. It also is invoked by
     `mysql.server'.  *Note `mysqld_safe': mysqld_safe.

The `mysql.server' and `mysqld_safe' scripts can be used to start the
server automatically at system startup time. `mysql.server' can also be
used to stop the server.

The `mysql.server' script can be used to start or stop the server by
invoking it with `start' or `stop' arguments:

     shell> mysql.server start
     shell> mysql.server stop

`mysql.server' can be found in the `share/mysql' directory under the
MySQL installation directory or in the `support-files' directory of the
MySQL source tree.

Note that if you use the Linux RPM package
(`MySQL-server-VERSION.rpm'), the `mysql.server' script has already
been installed as `/etc/init.d/mysql'. You don't have to install it
manually. See *Note Linux-RPM:: for more information on the Linux RPM
packages.

On Mac OS X, you can install a separate MySQL Startup Item package to
enable the automatic startup of MySQL on system bootup.  See *Note Mac
OS X installation:: for details.

Before `mysql.server' starts the server, it changes the directory to
the MySQL installation directory, then invokes `mysqld_safe'.  You
might need to edit `mysql.server' if you have a binary distribution
that you've installed in a non-standard location.  Modify it to `cd'
into the proper directory before it runs `mysqld_safe'. If you want the
server to run as some specific user, add an appropriate `user' line to
the `/etc/my.cnf' file, as shown later in this section.

`mysql.server stop' brings down the server by sending a signal to it.
You can also stop the server manually by executing `mysqladmin
shutdown'.

You need to add these start and stop commands to the appropriate places
in your `/etc/rc*' files when you want to start up MySQL automatically
on your server.

On most current Linux distributions, it is sufficient to copy the file
`mysql.server' into the `/etc/init.d' directory (or `/etc/rc.d/init.d'
on older Red Hat systems). Afterwards, run the following command to
enable the startup of MySQL on system bootup:

     shell> chkconfig --add mysql.server

On FreeBSD startup scripts generally should go in
`/usr/local/etc/rc.d/'. The `rc(8)' manual page also states that
scripts in this directory are only executed, if their basename matches
the shell globbing pattern `*.sh'. Any other files or directories
present within the directory are silently ignored. In other words, on
FreeBSD you should install the file `mysql.server' as
`/usr/local/etc/rc.d/mysql.server.sh' to enable automatic startup.

As an alternative to the above, some operating systems also use
`/etc/rc.local' or `/etc/init.d/boot.local' to start additional
services on bootup. To start up MySQL using this method, you could
append something like the following to it:

     /bin/sh -c 'cd /usr/local/mysql; ./bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &'

You can also add options for `mysql.server' in a global `/etc/my.cnf'
file.  A typical `/etc/my.cnf' file might look like this:

     [mysqld]
     datadir=/usr/local/mysql/var
     socket=/var/tmp/mysql.sock
     port=3306
     user=mysql
     
     [mysql.server]
     basedir=/usr/local/mysql

The `mysql.server' script understands the following options: `datadir',
`basedir', and `pid-file'.

The following table shows which option groups each startup script reads
from option files:

*Script*    *Option groups*
`mysqld'    `[mysqld]', `[server]' and `[mysqld-major-version]'
`mysql.server'`[mysql.server]', `[mysqld]', and `[server]'
`mysqld_safe'`[mysqld]', `[server]', and `[mysqld_safe]'

For backward compatibility, `mysql.server' also reads the
`[mysql_server]' group and `mysqld_safe' also reads the `[safe_mysqld]'
group. However, you should update your option files to use the
`[mysql.server]' and `[mysqld_safe]' groups instead.

*Note Option files::.

Starting and Troubleshooting the MySQL Server
.............................................

If you are going to use storage engines that support transactional
tables (`InnoDB', `BDB'), you should first create a `my.cnf' file and
set startup options for the engines you plan to use. *Note Table
types::.

When the `mysqld' server starts, it changes location to the data
directory.  This is where it expects to write log files and the pid
(process ID) file, and where it expects to find databases.

The data directory location is hardwired in when the distribution is
compiled.  However, if `mysqld' expects to find the data directory
somewhere other than where it really is on your system, it will not work
properly.  If you have problems with incorrect paths, you can find out
what options `mysqld' allows and what the default path settings are by
invoking `mysqld' with the `--help' option.  You can override the
defaults by specifying the correct pathnames as command-line arguments
to `mysqld'.  (These options can be used with `mysqld_safe' as well.)

Normally you should need to tell `mysqld' only the base directory under
which MySQL is installed.  You can do this with the `--basedir' option.
You can also use `--help' to check the effect of changing path options
(note that `--help' *must* be the final option of the `mysqld'
command).  For example:

     shell> EXECDIR/mysqld --basedir=/usr/local --help

Once you determine the path settings you want, start the server without
the `--help' option.

Whichever method you use to start the server, if it fails to start up
correctly, check the log file to see if you can find out why.  Log files
are located in the data directory (typically `/usr/local/mysql/data'
for a binary distribution, `/usr/local/var' for a source distribution,
and `\mysql\data\mysql.err' on Windows).  Look in the data directory for
files with names of the form `host_name.err' and `host_name.log' where
`host_name' is the name of your server host.  Then check the last few
lines of these files:

     shell> tail host_name.err
     shell> tail host_name.log

Look for something like the following in the log file:
     000729 14:50:10  bdb:  Recovery function for LSN 1 27595 failed
     000729 14:50:10  bdb:  warning: ./test/t1.db: No such file or directory
     000729 14:50:10  Can't init databases

This means that you didn't start `mysqld' with `--bdb-no-recover' and
Berkeley DB found something wrong with its log files when it tried to
recover your databases.  To be able to continue, you should move away
the old Berkeley DB log file from the database directory to some other
place, where you can later examine it.  The log files are named
`log.0000000001', where the number will increase over time.

If you are running `mysqld' with `BDB' table support and `mysqld' core
dumps at start this could be because of some problems with the `BDB'
recovery log.  In this case you can try starting `mysqld' with
`--bdb-no-recover'.  If this helps, then you should remove all `log.*'
files from the data directory and try starting `mysqld' again.

If you get the following error, it means that some other program (or
another `mysqld' server) is already using the TCP/IP port or socket
`mysqld' is trying to use:

     Can't start server: Bind on TCP/IP port: Address already in use
or:
     Can't start server: Bind on unix socket...

Use `ps' to make sure that you don't have another `mysqld' server
running.  If you can't find another server running, you can try to
execute the command `telnet your-host-name tcp-ip-port-number' and press
Enter a couple of times.  If you don't get an error message like
`telnet: Unable to connect to remote host: Connection refused',
something is using the TCP/IP port `mysqld' is trying to use.  See
*Note mysql_install_db:: and *Note Multiple servers::.

If `mysqld' is currently running, you can find out what path settings
it is using by executing this command:

     shell> mysqladmin variables

or:

     shell> mysqladmin -h 'your-host-name' variables

If you get `Errcode 13', which means `Permission denied', when starting
`mysqld' this means that you didn't have the right to read/create files
in the MySQL database or log directory. In this case you should either
start `mysqld' as the `root' user or change the permissions for the
involved files and directories so that you have the right to use them.

If `mysqld_safe' starts the server but you can't connect to it, you
should make sure you have an entry in `/etc/hosts' that looks like this:

     127.0.0.1       localhost

This problem occurs only on systems that don't have a working thread
library and for which MySQL must be configured to use MIT-pthreads.

If you can't get `mysqld' to start you can try to make a trace file to
find the problem. *Note Making trace files::.

If you are using `InnoDB' tables, refer to the `InnoDB'-specific startup
options.  *Note InnoDB start::.

If you are using `BDB' (Berkeley DB) tables, you should familiarise
yourself with the different `BDB'-specific startup options.  *Note BDB
start::.

Upgrading/Downgrading MySQL
===========================

As a general rule, we recommend that when upgrading from one release
series to another, you should go to the next series rather than
skipping a series. For example, if you currently are running MySQL 3.23
and wish to upgrade to a newer series, upgrade to MySQL 4.0 rather than
to 4.1 or 5.0.

Before you do an upgrade, you should back up your old databases.

You can always move the MySQL format files and datafiles between
different versions on the same architecture as long as you have the
same base version of MySQL. The current base version is 4. If you
change the character set when running MySQL, you must run `myisamchk -r
-q --set-character-set=charset' on all tables.  Otherwise, your indexes
may not be ordered correctly, because changing the character set may
also change the sort order.

If you are cautious about using new versions, you can always rename
your old `mysqld' to something like `mysqld-old-version-number'.  If
your new `mysqld' then does something unexpected, you can simply shut
it down and restart with your old `mysqld'.

If, after an upgrade, you experience problems with recompiled client
programs, such as `Commands out of sync' or unexpected core dumps, you
probably have used an old header or library file when compiling your
programs.  In this case you should check the date for your `mysql.h'
file and `libmysqlclient.a' library to verify that they are from the new
MySQL distribution.  If not, please recompile your programs.

If problems occur, such as that the new `mysqld' server doesn't want to
start or that you can't connect without a password, check that you don't
have some old `my.cnf' file from your old installation.  You can check
this with: `program-name --print-defaults'.  If this outputs anything
other than the program name, you have an active `my.cnf' file that
affects server operation.

It is a good idea to rebuild and reinstall the Perl `DBD::mysql' module
whenever you install a new release of MySQL. The same applies to other
MySQL interfaces as well, such as the Python `MySQLdb' module.

Upgrading from Version 4.1 to 5.0
---------------------------------

In general, you should do the following when upgrading to MySQL 5.0
from an earlier version:

   * Read the 5.0 news items to see what significant new features you
     can use in 5.0.  *Note News-5.0.x::.

   * If you are running MySQL Server on Windows, please also see *Note
     Windows upgrading::.

   * If you are using replication, please also see *Note Replication
     Upgrade:: for information on upgrading your replication setup.

   * MySQL 5.0 adds support for stored procedures. This support
     requires the `proc' table in the `mysql' database.  To create this
     file you should run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script.  This
     is described in *Note Upgrading-grant-tables::.


Upgrading from Version 4.0 to 4.1
---------------------------------

Several visible behaviors have changed between MySQL 4.0 and MySQL 4.1
to fix some critical bugs and make MySQL more compatible with the ANSI
SQL standard. These changes may affect your applications.

Some of the 4.1 behaviors can be tested in 4.0 before performing a full
upgrade to 4.1. We have added to later MySQL 4.0 releases (from 4.0.12
on) a `--new' startup option for `mysqld'.

This option gives you the 4.1 behavior for the most critical changes.
You can also enable these behaviors for a given client connection with
the `SET @@new=1' command, or turn them off if they are on with `SET
@@new=0'.

If you believe that some of the 4.1 changes will affect you, we
recommend that before upgrading to 4.1, you download the latest MySQL
4.0 version and run it with the `--new' option by adding the following
to your config file:

     [mysqld-4.0]
     new

That way you can test the new behaviors in 4.0 to make sure that your
applications work with them. This will help you have a smooth painless
transition when you perform a full upgrade to 4.1 later.  Doing it the
above way will ensure that you don't accidently later run the 4.1
version with the `--new' option.

The following list describes changes that may affect applications and
that you should watch out for when upgrading to version 4.1:

   * `TIMESTAMP' is now returned as a string in `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS''
     format.  (The `--new' option can be used from 4.0.12 on to make a
     4.0 server behave as 4.1 in this respect.)  If you want to have
     the value returned as a number (like Version 4.0 does) you should
     add +0 to `TIMESTAMP' columns when you retrieve them:

          mysql> SELECT ts_col + 0 FROM tbl_name;

     Display widths for `TIMESTAMP' columns are no longer supported.
     For example, if you declare a column as `TIMESTAMP(10)', the `(10)'
     is ignored.

     These changes were necessary for SQL standards compliance. In a
     future version, a further change will be made (backward compatible
     with this change), allowing the timestamp length to indicate the
     desired number of digits for fractions of a second.

   * Binary values such as `0xFFDF' now are assumed to be strings
     instead of numbers.  This fixes some problems with character sets
     where it's convenient to input a string as a binary value.  With
     this change, you should use `CAST()' if you want to compare binary
     values numerically as integers:

          mysql> SELECT CAST(0xFEFF AS UNSIGNED INTEGER) < CAST(0xFF AS UNSIGNED INTEGER);
                  -> 0

     If you don't use `CAST()', a lexical string comparison will be
     done:

          mysql> SELECT 0xFEFF < 0xFF;
                  -> 1

     Using binary items in a numeric context or comparing them using the
     `=' operator should work as before.  (The `--new' option can be
     used from 4.0.13 on to make a 4.0 server behave as 4.1 in this
     respect.)

   * For functions that produce a `DATE', `DATETIME', or `TIME' value,
     the result returned to the client now is fixed up to have a
     temporal type. For example, in MySQL 4.1, you get this result:

          mysql> SELECT CAST("2001-1-1" as DATETIME);
              -> '2001-01-01 00:00:00'

     In MySQL 4.0, the result is different:

          mysql> SELECT CAST("2001-1-1" as DATETIME);
              -> '2001-01-01'

   * `DEFAULT' values no longer can be specified for `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     columns. (In 4.0, a `DEFAULT' value is silently ignored; in 4.1,
     an error occurs).

   * `LIMIT' no longer accept negative arguments.  Use
     18446744073709551615 instead of -1.

   * `SERIALIZE' is no longer a valid mode value for the `sql_mode'
     variable.  You should use `SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL
     SERIALIZABLE' instead. `SERIALIZE' is no longer valid for the
     `--sql-mode' option for `mysqld', either. Use
     `--transaction-isolation=SERIALIZABLE' instead.

   * All tables and string columns now have a character set.  *Note
     Charset::.  Character set information is displayed by `SHOW CREATE
     TABLE' and `mysqldump'.  (MySQL versions 4.0.6 and above can read
     the new dump files; older versions cannot.)

   * The table definition format used in `.frm' files has changed
     slightly in 4.1.  MySQL 4.0 versions from 4.0.11 on can read the
     new `.frm' format directly, but older versions cannot.  If you
     need to move tables from 4.1 to a version earlier than 4.0.11, you
     should use `mysqldump'.  *Note `mysqldump': mysqldump.

   * If you are running multiple servers on the same Windows machine,
     you should use a different `--shared_memory_base_name' option on
     all machines.

   * The interface to aggregated UDF functions has changed a bit. You
     must now declare a `xxx_clear()' function for each aggregate
     function `XXX()'.


In general, upgrading to 4.1 from an earlier MySQL version involves the
following steps:

   * Check the changes listed earlier in this section to see whether
     there are any that may affect your applications.

   * Read the 4.1 news items to see what significant new features you
     can use in 4.1.  *Note News-4.1.x::.

   * If you are running MySQL Server on Windows, please also see *Note
     Windows upgrading::.

     *Important note:* Early alpha Windows distributions for MySQL 4.1
     do not contain any installer program.  See *Note Windows binary
     installation:: for instructions on how to install such a
     distribution.

   * If you are using replication, please also see *Note Replication
     Upgrade:: for information on upgrading your replication setup.

   * After upgrading, update the grant tables to generate the new
     longer `Password' column that is needed for secure handling of
     passwords.  The procedure uses `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' and is
     described in *Note Upgrading-grant-tables::.


The password hashing mechanism has changed in 4.1 to provide better
security, but this may cause compatibility problems if you still have
clients that use the client library from 4.0 or earlier.  (It is very
likely that you will have 4.0 clients in situations where clients
connect from remote hosts that have not yet upgraded to 4.1).  The
following list indicates some possible upgrade strategies.  They
represent various tradeoffs between the goal of compatibility with old
clients and the goal of security.

   * Don't upgrade to 4.1. No behavior will change, but you cannot use
     any of the new features provided by the 4.1 client/server protocol,
     either.  (MySQL 4.1 has an extended client/server protocol that
     offers such features as prepared statements and multiple result
     sets.)  *Note C API Prepared statements::.

   * Upgrade to 4.1 and run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script to
     widen the `Password' column in the `user' table so that it can
     hold long password hashes.  But run the server with the
     `--old-passwords' option to provide backward compatibility that
     allows pre-4.1 clients to continue to connect to their short-hash
     accounts.  Eventually, when all your clients are upgraded to 4.1,
     you can stop using the `--old-passwords' server option. You can
     also change the passwords for your MySQL accounts to use the new
     more secure format.

   * Upgrade to 4.1 and run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script to
     widen the `Password' column in the `user' table.  If you know that
     all clients also have been upgraded to 4.1, don't run the server
     with the `--old-passwords' option.  Instead, change the passwords
     on all existing accounts so that they have the new format.  A
     pure-4.1 installation is the most secure.


Further background on password hashing with respect to client
authentication and password-changing operations may be found in *Note
Password hashing::.

Upgrading from Version 3.23 to 4.0
----------------------------------

In general, you should do the following when upgrading to MySQL 4.0
from an earlier version:

   * After upgrading, update the grant tables to add new privileges and
     features.  The procedure uses the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables'
     script and is described in *Note Upgrading-grant-tables::.

   * Edit any MySQL startup scripts or configure files to not use any
     of the deprecated options described later in this section.

   * Convert your old `ISAM' files to `MyISAM' files with the
     `mysql_convert_table_format database' script. (This is a Perl
     script; it requires that DBI be installed.) To convert the tables
     in a given database, use this command:

          shell> mysql_convert_table_format database db_name

     Note that this should only be used if all tables in the given
     database are `ISAM' or `MyISAM' tables. To avoid converting tables
     of other types to `MyISAM', you can explicitly list the names of
     your `ISAM' tables after the database name on the command line.
     You can also issue a `ALTER TABLE table_name TYPE=MyISAM'
     statement for each `ISAM' table to convert it to `MyISAM'.

     To find out the table type for a given table, use this statement:

          mysql> SHOW TABLE STATUS LIKE 'tbl_name';

   * Ensure that you don't have any MySQL clients that use shared
     libraries (like the Perl `DBD::mysql' module). If you do, you
     should recompile them, because the data structures used in
     `libmysqlclient.so' have changed.  The same applies to other MySQL
     interfaces as well, such as the Python `MySQLdb' module.

   * If you are running MySQL Server on Windows, please also see *Note
     Windows upgrading::.

   * If you are using replication, please also see *Note Replication
     Upgrade:: for information on upgrading your replication setup.


MySQL 4.0 will work even if you don't do the above, but you will not be
able to use the new security privileges that MySQL 4.0 and you may run
into problems when upgrading later to MySQL 4.1 or newer.  The `ISAM'
file format still works in MySQL 4.0 but it's deprecated and will be
disabled (not compiled in by default) in MySQL 4.1. `MyISAM' tables
should be used instead.

Old clients should work with a Version 4.0 server without any problems.

Even if you do the above, you can still downgrade to MySQL 3.23.52 or
newer if you run into problems with the MySQL 4.0 series.  In this
case, you must use `mysqldump' to dump any tables that use full-text
indexes and reload the dump file into the 3.23 server.  This is
necessary because 4.0 uses a new format for full-text indexing.

The following is a more complete list that tells what you must watch out
for when upgrading to version 4.0:

   * MySQL 4.0 has a lot of new privileges in the `mysql.user' table.
     *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

     To get these new privileges to work, you must update the grant
     tables.  The procedure is described in *Note
     Upgrading-grant-tables::.  Until you do this, all users have the
     `SHOW DATABASES', `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES', and `LOCK TABLES'
     privileges. `SUPER' and `EXECUTE' privileges take their value from
     `PROCESS'.  `REPLICATION SLAVE' and `REPLICATION CLIENT' take their
     values from `FILE'.

     If you have any scripts that create new users, you may want to
     change them to use the new privileges.  If you are not using
     `GRANT' commands in the scripts, this is a good time to change
     your scripts to use `GRANT' instead of modifying the grant tables
     directly..

     From version 4.0.2 on, the option `--safe-show-database' is
     deprecated (and no longer does anything). *Note Privileges
     options::.

     If you get `Access denied' errors for new users in version 4.0.2
     and up, you should check if you need some of the new grants that
     you didn't need before.  In particular, you will need `REPLICATION
     SLAVE' (instead of `FILE') for new slaves.

   * `safe_mysqld' is renamed to `mysqld_safe'.  For backward
     compatibility, binary distributions will for some time include
     `safe_mysqld' as a symlink to `mysqld_safe'.

   * InnoDB support is now included by default in binary distributions.
     If you build MySQL from source, InnoDB is configured in by default.
     If you do not use InnoDB and want to save memory when running a
     server that has InnoDB support enabled, use the `--skip-innodb'
     server startup option. To compile MySQL without InnoDB support,
     run `configure' with the `--without-innodb' option.

   * The startup parameters `myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size' and
     `myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size' are now given in bytes (they
     were given in megabytes before 4.0.3).

   * External system locking of `MyISAM'/`ISAM' files is now turned off
     by default.  Your can turn this on by doing `--external-locking'.
     (However, this is never needed for most users.)

   * The following startup variables/options have been renamed:

     *Old Name*                         *New Name*
     `myisam_bulk_insert_tree_size'     `bulk_insert_buffer_size'
     `query_cache_startup_type'         `query_cache_type'
     `record_buffer'                    `read_buffer_size'
     `record_rnd_buffer'                `read_rnd_buffer_size'
     `sort_buffer'                      `sort_buffer_size'
     `warnings'                         `log-warnings'
     `--err-log'                        `--log-error' (for `mysqld_safe')

     The startup options `record_buffer', `sort_buffer' and `warnings'
     will still work in MySQL 4.0 but are deprecated.

   * The following SQL variables have changed name.

     *Old Name*                         *New Name*
     `SQL_BIG_TABLES'                   `BIG_TABLES'
     `SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES'         `LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES'
     `SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE'                `MAX_JOIN_SIZE'
     `SQL_QUERY_CACHE_TYPE'             `QUERY_CACHE_TYPE'
     The old names still work in MySQL 4.0 but are deprecated.

   * You have to use `SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER=#' instead of
     `SET SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER=#'.

   * The `mysqld' startup options `--skip-locking' and
     `--enable-locking' were renamed to `--skip-external-locking' and
     `--external-locking'.

   * `SHOW MASTER STATUS' now returns an empty set if binary logging is
     not enabled.

   * `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' now returns an empty set if slave is not
     initialized.

   * `mysqld' now has the option `--temp-pool' enabled by default as
     this gives better performance with some operating systems (most
     notably Linux).

   * `DOUBLE' and `FLOAT' columns now honor the `UNSIGNED' flag on
     storage (before, `UNSIGNED' was ignored for these columns).

   * `ORDER BY col_name DESC' sorts `NULL' values last, as of MySQL
     4.0.11. In 3.23 and in earlier 4.0 versions, this was not always
     consistent.

   * `SHOW INDEX' has two more columns (`Null' and `Index_type') than
     it had in 3.23.

   * `CHECK', `LOCALTIME' and `LOCALTIMESTAMP' are now reserved words.

   * The result of all bitwise operators (`|', `&', `<<', `>>', and
     `~')) is now unsigned.  This may cause problems if you are using
     them in a context where you want a signed result.  *Note Cast
     Functions::.

   * *Note:* when you use subtraction between integer values where one
     is of type `UNSIGNED', the result will be unsigned.  In other
     words, before upgrading to MySQL 4.0, you should check your
     application for cases where you are subtracting a value from an
     unsigned entity and want a negative answer or subtracting an
     unsigned value from an integer column. You can disable this
     behavior by using the `--sql-mode=NO_UNSIGNED_SUBTRACTION' option
     when starting `mysqld'.  *Note Cast Functions::.

   * To use `MATCH ... AGAINST (... IN BOOLEAN MODE)' with your tables,
     you need to rebuild them with `REPAIR TABLE table_name USE_FRM'.

   * `LOCATE()' and `INSTR()' are case-sensitive if one of the
     arguments is a binary string. Otherwise they are case-insensitive.

   * `STRCMP()' now uses the current character set when performing
     comparisons.  This makes the default comparison behavior case
     insensitive unless one or both of the operands are binary strings.

   * `HEX(string)' now returns the characters in `string' converted to
     hexadecimal.  If you want to convert a number to hexadecimal, you
     should ensure that you call `HEX()' with a numeric argument.

   * In 3.23, `INSERT INTO ... SELECT' always had `IGNORE' enabled.  In
     4.0.1, MySQL will stop (and possibly roll back) by default in case
     of an error unless you specify `IGNORE'.

   * The old C API functions `mysql_drop_db()', `mysql_create_db()', and
     `mysql_connect()' are no longer supported unless you compile MySQL
     with `CFLAGS=-DUSE_OLD_FUNCTIONS'.  However, it is preferable to
     change client programs to use the new 4.0 API instead.

   * In the `MYSQL_FIELD' structure, `length' and `max_length' have
     changed from `unsigned int' to `unsigned long'. This should not
     cause any problems, except that they may generate warning messages
     when used as arguments in the `printf()' class of functions.

   * You should use `TRUNCATE TABLE' when you want to delete all rows
     from a table and you don't need to obtain a count of the number of
     rows that were deleted.  (`DELETE FROM table_name' returns a row
     count in 4.0, and `TRUNCATE TABLE' is faster.)

   * You will get an error if you have an active `LOCK TABLES' or
     transaction when trying to execute `TRUNCATE TABLE' or `DROP
     DATABASE'.

   * You should use integers to store values in `BIGINT' columns
     (instead of using strings, as you did in MySQL 3.23).  Using
     strings will still work, but using integers is more efficient.

   * The format of `SHOW OPEN TABLES' has changed.

   * Multi-threaded clients should use `mysql_thread_init()' and
     `mysql_thread_end()'. *Note Threaded clients::.

   * If you want to recompile the Perl `DBD::mysql' module, use a recent
     version.  Version 2.9003 is recommended. Versions older than
     1.2218 should not be used because they use the deprecated
     `mysql_drop_db()' call.

   * `RAND(seed)' returns a different random number series in 4.0 than
     in 3.23; this was done to further differentiate `RAND(seed)' and
     `RAND(seed+1)'.

   * The default type returned by `IFNULL(A,B)' is now set to be the
     more 'general' of the types of `A' and `B'. (The
     general-to-specific order is string, `REAL' or `INTEGER').


Upgrading from Version 3.22 to 3.23
-----------------------------------

MySQL Version 3.23 supports tables of the new `MyISAM' type and the old
`ISAM' type.  You don't have to convert your old tables to use these
with Version 3.23.  By default, all new tables will be created with
type `MyISAM' (unless you start `mysqld' with the
`--default-table-type=isam' option). You can convert an `ISAM' table to
`MyISAM' format with `ALTER TABLE table_name TYPE=MyISAM' or the Perl
script `mysql_convert_table_format'.

Version 3.22 and 3.21 clients will work without any problems with a
Version 3.23 server.

The following list tells what you have to watch out for when upgrading
to Version 3.23:

   * All tables that use the `tis620' character set must be fixed with
     `myisamchk -r' or `REPAIR TABLE'.

   * If you do a `DROP DATABASE' on a symbolically linked database,
     both the link and the original database are deleted.  (This didn't
     happen in 3.22 because `configure' didn't detect the availability
     of the `readlink()' system call.)

   * `OPTIMIZE TABLE' now works only for `MyISAM' tables.  For other
     table types, you can use `ALTER TABLE' to optimize the table.
     During `OPTIMIZE TABLE', the table is now locked to prevent it
     from being used by other threads.

   * The MySQL client `mysql' is now by default started with the option
     `--no-named-commands (-g)'. This option can be disabled with
     `--enable-named-commands (-G)'. This may cause incompatibility
     problems in some cases--for example, in SQL scripts that use named
     commands without a semicolon.  Long format commands still work
     from the first line.

   * Date functions that work on parts of dates (like `MONTH()') will
     now return 0 for `0000-00-00' dates. (In MySQL 3.22, these
     functions returned `NULL'.)

   * If you are using the `german' character sort order for `ISAM'
     tables, you must repair them with `isamchk -r', because we have
     made some changes in the sort order.

   * The default return type of `IF()' now depends on both arguments
     and not only the first argument.

   * `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns should not be used to store negative
     numbers. The reason for this is that negative numbers caused
     problems when wrapping from -1 to 0.  You should not store 0 in
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns, either; `CHECK TABLE' will complain
     about 0 values because they may change if you dump and restore the
     table.  `AUTO_INCREMENT' for `MyISAM' tables is now handled at a
     lower level and is much faster than before. In addition, for
     `MyISAM' tables, old numbers are no longer reused, even if you
     delete rows from the table.

   * `CASE', `DELAYED', `ELSE', `END', `FULLTEXT', `INNER', `RIGHT',
     `THEN', and `WHEN' are now reserved words.

   * `FLOAT(X)' is now a true floating-point type and not a value with a
     fixed number of decimals.

   * When declaring columns using a `DECIMAL(length,dec)' type, the
     `length' argument no longer includes a place for the sign or the
     decimal point.

   * A `TIME' string must now be of one of the following formats:
     `[[[DAYS] [H]H:]MM:]SS[.fraction]' or
     `[[[[[H]H]H]H]MM]SS[.fraction]'.

   * `LIKE' now compares strings using the same character comparison
     rules as for the `=' operator.  If you require the old behavior,
     you can compile MySQL with the `CXXFLAGS=-DLIKE_CMP_TOUPPER' flag.

   * `REGEXP' is now case-insensitive if neither of the strings are
     binary strings.

   * When you check or repair `MyISAM' (`.MYI') tables, you should use
     the `CHECK TABLE' statement or the `myisamchk' command. For `ISAM'
     (`.ISM') tables, use the `isamchk' command.

   * If you want your `mysqldump' files to be compatible between MySQL
     Version 3.22 and Version 3.23, you should not use the `--opt' or
     `--all' option to `mysqldump'.

   * Check all your calls to `DATE_FORMAT()' to make sure there is a
     `%' before each format character.  (MySQL Version 3.22 and later
     already allowed this syntax.)

   * `mysql_fetch_fields_direct()' is now a function (it used to be a
     macro) and it returns a pointer to a `MYSQL_FIELD' instead of a
     `MYSQL_FIELD'.

   * `mysql_num_fields()' can no longer be used on a `MYSQL*' object
     (it's now a function that takes a `MYSQL_RES*' value as an
     argument). With a `MYSQL*' object, you should now use
     `mysql_field_count()' instead.

   * In MySQL Version 3.22, the output of `SELECT DISTINCT ...' was
     almost always sorted.  In Version 3.23, you must use `GROUP BY' or
     `ORDER BY' to obtain sorted output.

   * `SUM()' now returns `NULL' instead of 0 if there are no matching
     rows. This is required by SQL-99.

   * An `AND' or `OR' with `NULL' values will now return `NULL' instead
     of 0. This mostly affects queries that use `NOT' on an `AND/OR'
     expression as `NOT NULL' = `NULL'.

   * `LPAD()' and `RPAD()' now shorten the result string if it's longer
     than the length argument.

Upgrading from Version 3.21 to 3.22
-----------------------------------

Nothing that affects compatibility has changed between versions 3.21
and 3.22.  The only pitfall is that new tables that are created with
`DATE' type columns will use the new way to store the date. You can't
access these new columns from an old version of `mysqld'.

After installing MySQL Version 3.22, you should start the new server
and then run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script. This will add the
new privileges that you need to use the `GRANT' command.  If you forget
this, you will get `Access denied' when you try to use `ALTER TABLE',
`CREATE INDEX', or `DROP INDEX'. The procedure for updating the grant
tables is described in *Note Upgrading-grant-tables::.

The C API interface to `mysql_real_connect()' has changed.  If you have
an old client program that calls this function, you must place a `0' for
the new `db' argument (or recode the client to send the `db' element
for faster connections).  You must also call `mysql_init()' before
calling `mysql_real_connect()'.  This change was done to allow the new
`mysql_options()' function to save options in the `MYSQL' handler
structure.

The `mysqld' variable `key_buffer' has been renamed to
`key_buffer_size', but you can still use the old name in your startup
files.

Upgrading from Version 3.20 to 3.21
-----------------------------------

If you are running a version older than Version 3.20.28 and want to
switch to Version 3.21, you need to do the following:

You can start the `mysqld' Version 3.21 server with the
`--old-protocol' option to use it with clients from a Version 3.20
distribution.  In this case, the new client function `mysql_errno()'
will not return any server error, only `CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR' (but it works
for client errors), and the server uses the old pre-3.21 `password()'
checking rather than the new method.

If you are *not* using the `--old-protocol' option to `mysqld', you
will need to make the following changes:

   * All client code must be recompiled. If you are using ODBC, you
     must get the new `MyODBC' 2.x driver.

   * The script `scripts/add_long_password' must be run to convert the
     `Password' field in the `mysql.user' table to `CHAR(16)'.

   * All passwords must be reassigned in the `mysql.user' table (to get
     62-bit rather than 31-bit passwords).

   * The table format hasn't changed, so you don't have to convert any
     tables.


MySQL Version 3.20.28 and above can handle the new `user' table format
without affecting clients. If you have a MySQL version earlier than
Version 3.20.28, passwords will no longer work with it if you convert
the `user' table. So to be safe, you should first upgrade to at least
Version 3.20.28 and then upgrade to Version 3.21.

The new client code works with a 3.20.x `mysqld' server, so if you
experience problems with 3.21.x, you can use the old 3.20.x server
without having to recompile the clients again.

If you are not using the `--old-protocol' option to `mysqld', old
clients will be unable to connect and will issue the following error
message:

     ERROR: Protocol mismatch. Server Version = 10 Client Version = 9

The Perl DBI interface also supports the old `mysqlperl' interface.
The only change you have to make if you use `mysqlperl' is to change
the arguments to the `connect()' function.  The new arguments are:
`host', `database', `user', and `password' (note that the `user' and
`password' arguments have changed places).

The following changes may affect queries in old applications:

   * `HAVING' must now be specified before any `ORDER BY' clause.

   * The parameters to `LOCATE()' have been swapped.

   * There are some new reserved words. The most notable are `DATE',
     `TIME', and `TIMESTAMP'.


Upgrading MySQL under Windows
-----------------------------

When upgrading MySQL under Windows, please follow these steps:

  1. Download the latest Windows distribution of MySQL.

  2. Choose a time of day with low usage, where a maintenance break is
     acceptable.

  3. Alert the users that still are active about the maintenance break.

  4. Stop the running MySQL Server (for example, with `NET STOP MySQL'
     or with the `Services' utility if you are running MySQL as a
     service, or with `mysqladmin shutdown' otherwise).

  5. Exit the `WinMySQLAdmin' program if it is running.

  6. Run the installation script of the Windows distribution, by
     clicking the "Install" button in WinZip and following the
     installation steps of the script.

     *Important note:* Early alpha Windows distributions for MySQL 4.1
     do not contain any installer program.  See *Note Windows binary
     installation:: for instructions on how to install such a
     distribution.

  7. You may either overwrite your old MySQL installation (usually
     located at `C:\mysql'), or install it into a different directory,
     such as `C:\mysql4'. Overwriting the old installation is
     recommended.

  8. Restart the server (for example, with `NET START MySQL' if you run
     MySQL as a service, or by invoking `mysqld' directly otherwise).

  9. Update the grant tables. The procedure is described in *Note
     Upgrading-grant-tables::.


Possible error situations:
     A system error has occurred.
     System error 1067 has occurred.
     The process terminated unexpectedly.

This error means that your `my.cnf' file (by default `C:\my.cnf')
contains an option that cannot be recognized by MySQL. You can verify
that this is the case by trying to restart MySQL with the `my.cnf' file
renamed, for example, to `my_cnf.old' to prevent the server from using
it.  Once you have verified it, you need to identify which option is
the culprit. Create a new `my.cnf' file and move parts of the old file
to it (restarting the server after you move each part) until you
determine which option causes server startup to fail.

Upgrading the Grant Tables
--------------------------

Some releases introduce changes to the structure of the grant tables
(the tables in the `mysql' database) to add new  privileges or
features. To make sure that your grant tables are current when you
update to a new version of MySQL, you should update your grant tables
as well.

On Unix or Unix-like systems, update the grant tables by running the
`mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script:

     shell> mysql_fix_privilege_tables

You must run this script while the server is running. It attempts to
connect to the server running on the local host as `root'.  If your
`root' account requires a password, indicate the password on the
command line.  For MySQL 4.1 and up, specify the password like this:

     shell> mysql_fix_privilege_tables --password=root_password

Prior to MySQL 4.1, specify the password like this:

     shell> mysql_fix_privilege_tables root_password

The `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script performs any actions necessary
to convert your grant tables to the current format. You may see some
`Duplicate column name' warnings as it runs; they can be ignored.

After running the script, stop the server and restart it.

On Windows systems, there isn't an easy way to update the grant tables
until MySQL 4.0.15.  From version 4.0.15 on, MySQL distributions
include a `mysql_fix_privilege_tables.sql' SQL script that you can run
using the `mysql' client.  If your MySQL installation is located at
`C:\mysql', the commands look like this:

     C:\mysql\bin> mysql -u root -p mysql
     
     mysql> SOURCE C:\mysql\scripts\mysql_fix_privilege_tables.sql

If your installation is located in some other directory, adjust the
pathnames appropriately.

The `mysql' command will prompt you for the `root' password; enter it
when prompted.

As with the Unix procedure, you may see some `Duplicate column name'
warnings as `mysql' processes the statements in the
`mysql_fix_privilege_tables.sql' script; they can be ignored.

After running the script, stop the server and restart it.

Copying MySQL Databases to Another Machine
------------------------------------------

If you are using MySQL Version 3.23 or later, you can copy the `.frm',
`.MYI', and `.MYD' files for `MyISAM' tables between different
architectures that support the same floating-point format.  (MySQL
takes care of any byte-swapping issues.)  *Note `MyISAM' Tables: MyISAM.

The MySQL `ISAM' data and index files (`.ISD' and `*.ISM',
respectively) are architecture-dependent and in some cases operating
system-dependent.  If you want to move your applications to another
machine that has a different architecture or operating system than your
current machine, you should not try to move a database by simply copying
the files to the other machine. Use `mysqldump' instead.

By default, `mysqldump' will create a file containing SQL statements.
You can then transfer the file to the other machine and feed it as input
to the `mysql' client.

Try `mysqldump --help' to see what options are available.  If you are
moving the data to a newer version of MySQL, you should use `mysqldump
--opt' to take advantage of any optimizations that result in a dump
file that is smaller and can be processed faster.

The easiest (although not the fastest) way to move a database between
two machines is to run the following commands on the machine on which
the database is located:

     shell> mysqladmin -h 'other hostname' create db_name
     shell> mysqldump --opt db_name \
             | mysql -h 'other hostname' db_name

If you want to copy a database from a remote machine over a slow
network, you can use:

     shell> mysqladmin create db_name
     shell> mysqldump -h 'other hostname' --opt --compress db_name \
             | mysql db_name

You can also store the result in a file, then transfer the file to the
target machine and load the file into the database there.  For example,
you can dump a database to a file on the source machine like this:

     shell> mysqldump --quick db_name | gzip > db_name.contents.gz

(The file created in this example is compressed.) Transfer the file
containing the database contents to the target machine and run these
commands there:

     shell> mysqladmin create db_name
     shell> gunzip < db_name.contents.gz | mysql db_name

You can also use `mysqldump' and `mysqlimport' to transfer the database.
For big tables, this is much faster than simply using `mysqldump'.  In
the following commands, `DUMPDIR' represents the full pathname of the
directory you use to store the output from `mysqldump'.

First, create the directory for the output files and dump the database:

     shell> mkdir DUMPDIR
     shell> mysqldump --tab=DUMPDIR db_name

Then transfer the files in the `DUMPDIR' directory to some corresponding
directory on the target machine and load the files into MySQL there:

     shell> mysqladmin create db_name           # create database
     shell> cat DUMPDIR/*.sql | mysql db_name   # create tables in database
     shell> mysqlimport db_name DUMPDIR/*.txt   # load data into tables

Also, don't forget to copy the `mysql' database because that's where the
grant tables (`user', `db', `host') are stored.  You may have to run
commands as the MySQL `root' user on the new machine until you have the
`mysql' database in place.

After you import the `mysql' database on the new machine, execute
`mysqladmin flush-privileges' so that the server reloads the grant table
information.

Operating System Specific Notes
===============================

Linux Notes
-----------

This section discusses issues that have been found to occur on Linux.
The first few subsections describe general operating sytem-related
issues, problems that can occur when using binary or source
distributions, and post-installation issues. The remaining subsections
discuss problems that occur with Linux on specific platforms.

Note that most of these problems occur on older versions of Linux. If
you are running a recent version, you likely will see none of them.

Linux Operating System Notes
............................

MySQL needs at least Linux Version 2.0.

*Warning:* We have seen some strange problems with Linux 2.2.14 and
MySQL on SMP systems.  We also have reports from some MySQL users that
they have encountered serious stability problems using MySQL with
kernel 2.2.14.  If you are using this kernel, you should upgrade to
2.2.19 (or newer) or to a 2.4 kernel.  If you have a multiple-CPU box,
then you should seriously consider using 2.4 as this will give you a
significant speed boost.  Your system also will be more stable.

When using LinuxThreads you will see a minimum of three `mysqld'
processes running.  These are in fact threads.  There will be one
thread for the LinuxThreads manager, one thread to handle connections,
and one thread to handle alarms and signals.

Linux Binary Distribution Notes
...............................

The Linux-Intel binary and RPM releases of MySQL are configured for the
highest possible speed.  We are always trying to use the fastest stable
compiler available.

The binary release is linked with `-static', which means you do not
normally need to worry about which version of the system libraries you
have. You need not install LinuxThreads, either.  A program linked with
`-static' is slightly larger than a dynamically linked program, but
also slightly faster (3-5%).  However, one problem with a statically
linked program is that you can't use user-defined functions (UDFs).  If
you are going to write or use UDFs (this is something for C or C++
programmers only), you must compile MySQL yourself using dynamic
linking.

A known issue with binary distributions is that on older Linux systems
that use `libc' (such as Red Hat 4.x or Slackware), you will get some
non-fatal problems with hostname resolution. If your system uses `libc'
rather than `glibc2', you probably will encounter some difficulties
with hostname resolution and `getpwnam()'. This happens because `glibc'
unfortunately depends on some external libraries to implement hostname
resolution and `getpwent()', even when compiled with `-static').  These
problems manifest themselves in two ways:

   * You probably will see  the following error message when you run
     `mysql_install_db':

          Sorry, the host 'xxxx' could not be looked up

     You can deal with this by executing `mysql_install_db --force',
     which will not execute the `resolveip' test in `mysql_install_db'.
     The downside is that you can't use hostnames in the grant tables:
     Except for `localhost', you must use IP numbers instead.  If you
     are using an old version of MySQL that doesn't support `--force',
     you must manually remove the `resolveip' test in `mysql_install'
     using an editor.

   * You also may see the following error when you try to run `mysqld'
     with the `--user' option:

          getpwnam: No such file or directory

     To work around this, start `mysqld' with `su' rather than by
     specifying the `--user' option. This causes the system itself to
     change the user ID of the `mysqld' process so that `mysqld' need
     not do so.


Another solution, which solves both problems, is to not use a binary
distribution.  Get a MySQL source distribution (an RPM or the `tar.gz'
distribution) and install that instead.

On some Linux 2.2 versions, you may get the error `Resource temporarily
unavailable' when clients make a lot of new connections to a `mysqld'
server over TCP/IP.  The problem is that Linux has a delay between the
time that you close a TCP/IP socket and the time that the system
actually frees it.  There is only room for a finite number of TCP/IP
slots, so you will encounter the resource-unavailable error if clients
attempt too many new TCP/IP connections during a short time. For
example, you may see the error when you run the MySQL `test-connect'
benchmark over TCP/IP.

We have inquired about this problem a few times on different Linux
mailing lists but have never been able to find a suitable resolution.
The only known "fix" is for the clients to use persistent connections,
or, if you are running the database server and clients on the same
machine, to use Unix socket file connections rather than TCP/IP
connections.

Linux Source Distribution Notes
...............................

The following notes regarding `glibc' apply only to the situation when
you build MySQL yourself. If you are running Linux on an x86 machine,
in most cases it is much better for you to just use our binary. We link
our binaries against the best patched version of `glibc' we can come up
with and with the best compiler options, in an attempt to make it
suitable for a high-load server.  For a typical user, even for setups
with a lot of concurrent connections or tables exceeding the 2G limit,
our binary is the best choice in most cases.  After reading the
following text, if you are in doubt about what to do, try our binary
first to see whether it meets your needs.  If you discover that our
binary is not good enough, then you may want to try your own build.  In
that case, we would appreciate a note about it, so we can build a
better binary next time.

MySQL uses LinuxThreads on Linux.  If you are using an old Linux
version that doesn't have `glibc2', you must install LinuxThreads
before trying to compile MySQL.   You can get LinuxThreads at
`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/os-linux.html'.

Note that `glibc' versions before and including Version 2.1.1 have a
fatal bug in `pthread_mutex_timedwait()' handling, which is used when
you issue `INSERT DELAYED' statements.  We recommend that you not use
`INSERT DELAYED' before upgrading `glibc'.

Note that Linux kernel and the LinuxThread library can by default only
have 1024 threads.  If you plan to have more than 1000 concurrent
connections, you will need to make some changes to LinuxThreads:

   * Increase `PTHREAD_THREADS_MAX' in
     `sysdeps/unix/sysv/linux/bits/local_lim.h' to 4096 and decrease
     `STACK_SIZE' in `linuxthreads/internals.h' to 256 KB. The paths
     are relative to the root of `glibc'. (Note that MySQL will not be
     stable with around 600-1000 connections if `STACK_SIZE' is the
     default of 2 MB.)

   * Recompile LinuxThreads to produce a new `libpthread.a' library,
     and relink MySQL against it.


The page `http://www.volano.com/linuxnotes.html' contains additional
information about circumventing thread limits in LinuxThreads.

There is another issue that greatly hurts MySQL performance, especially
on SMP systems.  The mutex implementation in LinuxThreads in `glibc'
2.1 is very bad for programs with many threads that hold the mutex only
for a short time.  This produces a paradoxical result: If you link
MySQL against an unmodified LinuxThreads, removing processors from an
SMP actually improves MySQL performance in many cases.  We have made a
patch available for `glibc' 2.1.3 to correct this behavior
(`http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Linux/linuxthreads-2.1-patch').

With `glibc' 2.2.2, MySQL version 3.23.36 will use the adaptive mutex,
which is much better than even the patched one in `glibc' 2.1.3. Be
warned, however, that under some conditions, the current mutex code in
`glibc' 2.2.2 overspins, which hurts MySQL performance. The likelihood
that this condition will occur can be reduced by renicing the `mysqld'
process to the highest priority. We have also been able to correct the
overspin behavior with a patch, available at
`http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Linux/linuxthreads-2.2.2.patch'.  It
combines the correction of overspin, maximum number of threads, and
stack spacing all in one. You will need to apply it in the
`linuxthreads' directory with `patch -p0
</tmp/linuxthreads-2.2.2.patch'.  We hope it will be included in some
form in future releases of `glibc' 2.2. In any case, if you link
against `glibc' 2.2.2, you still need to correct `STACK_SIZE' and
`PTHREAD_THREADS_MAX'. We hope that the defaults will be corrected to
some more acceptable values for high-load MySQL setup in the future, so
that the commands needed to produce your own build can be reduced to
`./configure; make; make install'.

We recommend that you use the above patches to build a special static
version of `libpthread.a' and use it only for statically linking
against MySQL. We know that the patches are safe for MySQL and
significantly improve its performance, but we cannot say anything about
other applications. If you link other applications that require
LinuxThreads against the patched static version of the library, or
build a patched shared version and install it on your system, you are
doing it at your own risk.

If you experience any strange problems during the installation of
MySQL, or with some common utilities hanging, it is very likely that
they are either library or compiler related. If this is the case, using
our binary will resolve them.

If you link your own MySQL client programs, you may see the following
error at runtime:

     ld.so.1: fatal: libmysqlclient.so.#:
     open failed: No such file or directory

This problem can be avoided by one of the following methods:

   * Link clients with the `-Wl,r/full-path-to-libmysqlclient.so' flag
     rather than with `-Lpath').

   * Copy `libmysqclient.so' to `/usr/lib'.

   * Add the pathname of the directory where `libmysqlclient.so' is
     located to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable before running
     your client.

If you are using the Fujitsu compiler (`fcc/FCC'), you will have some
problems compiling MySQL because the Linux header files are very `gcc'
oriented.  The following `configure' line should work with `fcc/FCC':

     CC=fcc CFLAGS="-O -K fast -K lib -K omitfp -Kpreex -D_GNU_SOURCE \
         -DCONST=const -DNO_STRTOLL_PROTO" \
     CXX=FCC CXXFLAGS="-O -K fast -K lib \
         -K omitfp -K preex --no_exceptions --no_rtti -D_GNU_SOURCE \
         -DCONST=const -Dalloca=__builtin_alloca -DNO_STRTOLL_PROTO \
         '-D_EXTERN_INLINE=static __inline'" \
     ./configure \
         --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler \
         --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static --disable-shared \
         --with-low-memory

Linux Post-installation Notes
.............................

`mysql.server' can be found in the `share/mysql' directory under the
MySQL installation directory or in the `support-files' directory of the
MySQL source tree.  You can install it as `/etc/init.d/mysql' for
automatic MySQL startup and shutdown.  *Note Automatic start::.

If MySQL can't open enough files or connections, it may be that you
haven't configured Linux to handle enough files.

In Linux 2.2 and onward, you can check the number of allocated file
handles as follows:

     shell> cat /proc/sys/fs/file-max
     shell> cat /proc/sys/fs/dquot-max
     shell> cat /proc/sys/fs/super-max

If you have more than 16 MB of memory, you should add something like the
following to your init scripts (for example, `/etc/init.d/boot.local'
on SuSE Linux):

     echo 65536 > /proc/sys/fs/file-max
     echo 8192 > /proc/sys/fs/dquot-max
     echo 1024 > /proc/sys/fs/super-max

You can also run the `echo' commands from the command line as `root',
but these settings will be lost the next time your computer reboots.

Alternatively, you can set these parameters on bootup by using the
`sysctl' tool, which is used by many Linux distributions (SuSE has
added it as well, beginning with SuSE Linux 8.0). Just put the following
values into a file named `/etc/sysctl.conf':

     # Increase some values for MySQL
     fs.file-max = 65536
     fs.dquot-max = 8192
     fs.super-max = 1024

You should also add the following to `/etc/my.cnf':

     [mysqld_safe]
     open-files-limit=8192

This should allow the server a limit of 8192 for the combined number of
connections and open files.

The `STACK_SIZE' constant in LinuxThreads controls the spacing of thread
stacks in the address space.  It needs to be large enough so that there
will be plenty of room for the stack of each individual thread, but
small enough to keep the stack of some threads from running into the
global `mysqld' data.  Unfortunately, as we have experimentally
discovered, the Linux implementation of `mmap()' will successfully
unmap an already mapped region if you ask it to map out an address
already in use, zeroing out the data on the entire page, instead of
returning an error.  So, the safety of `mysqld' or any other threaded
application depends on "gentlemanly" behavior of the code that creates
threads.  The user must take measures to make sure the number of
running threads at any time is sufficiently low for thread stacks to
stay away from the global heap.  With `mysqld', you should enforce this
behavior by setting a reasonable value for the `max_connections'
variable.

If you build MySQL yourself, you can patch LinuxThreads for better
stack use.  *Note Source notes-Linux::.  If you do not want to patch
LinuxThreads, you should set `max_connections' to a value no higher
than 500.  It should be even less if you have a large key buffer,  large
heap tables, or some other things that make `mysqld' allocate a lot of
memory, or if you are running a 2.2 kernel with a 2G patch. If you are
using our binary or RPM version 3.23.25 or later, you can safely set
`max_connections' at 1500, assuming no large key buffer or heap tables
with lots of data.  The more you reduce `STACK_SIZE' in LinuxThreads
the more threads you can safely create.  We recommend values between
128K and 256K.

If you use a lot of concurrent connections, you may suffer from a
"feature" in the 2.2 kernel that attempts to prevent fork bomb attacks
by penalizing a process for forking or cloning a child.  This causes
MySQL not to scale well as you increase the number of concurrent
clients.  On single-CPU systems, we have seen this manifested as very
slow thread creation: It may take a long time to connect to MySQL (as
long as 1 minute), and it may take just as long to shut it down.  On
multiple-CPU systems, we have observed a gradual drop in query speed as
the number of clients increases.  In the process of trying to find a
solution, we have received a kernel patch from one of our users who
claimed it made a lot of difference for his site.  The patch is
available at `http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Patches/linux-fork.patch'.
We have now done rather extensive testing of this patch on both
development and production systems.  It has significantly improved
MySQL performance without causing any problems and we now recommend it
to our users who still run high-load servers on 2.2 kernels.

This issue has been fixed in the 2.4 kernel, so if you are not satisfied
with the current performance of your system, rather than patching your
2.2 kernel, it might be easier to upgrade to 2.4. On SMP systems,
upgrading also will give you a nice SMP boost in addition to fixing the
fairness bug.

We have tested MySQL on the 2.4 kernel on a 2-CPU machine and found
MySQL scales *much* better. There was virtually no slowdown on query
throughput all the way up to 1000 clients, and the MySQL scaling factor
(computed as the ratio of maximum throughput to the throughput for one
client) was 180%.  We have observed similar results on a 4-CPU system:
Virtually no slowdown as the number of clients was increased up to 1000,
and a 300% scaling factor. Based on these results, for a high-load SMP
server using a 2.2 kernel, we definitely recommend upgrading to the 2.4
kernel at this point.

We have discovered that it is essential to run `mysqld' process with
the highest possible priority on the 2.4 kernel to achieve maximum
performance.  This can be done by adding a `renice -20 $$' command to
`mysqld_safe'. In our testing on a 4-CPU machine, increasing the
priority gave 60% throughput increase with 400 clients.

We are currently also trying to collect more information on how well
MySQL performs on 2.4 kernel on 4-way and 8-way systems. If you have
access such a system and have done some benchmarks, please send an email
message to <benchmarks@mysql.com> with the results. We will review them
for inclusion in the manual.

If you see a dead `mysqld' server process with `ps', this usually means
that you have found a bug in MySQL or you have a corrupted table. *Note
Crashing::.

To get a core dump on Linux if `mysqld' dies with a `SIGSEGV' signal,
you can start `mysqld' with the `--core-file' option.  Note that you
also probably need to raise the `core file size' by adding `ulimit -c
1000000' to `mysqld_safe' or starting `mysqld_safe' with
`--core-file-size=1000000'.  *Note `mysqld_safe': mysqld_safe.

Linux x86 Notes
...............

MySQL requires `libc' Version 5.4.12 or newer. It's known to work with
`libc' 5.4.46.  `glibc' Version 2.0.6 and later should also work. There
have been some problems with the `glibc' RPMs from Red Hat, so if you
have problems, check whether there are any updates.  The `glibc'
2.0.7-19 and 2.0.7-29 RPMs are known to work.

If you are using Red Hat 8.0 or a new `glibc' 2.2.x library, you may see
`mysqld' die in `gethostbyaddr()'. This happens because the new `glibc'
library requires a stack size greater than 128K for this call.  To fix
the problem, start `mysqld' with the `--thread-stack=192K' option.
(Use `-O thread_stack=192K' before MySQL 4.)  This stack size is now
the default on MySQL 4.0.10 and above, so you should not see the
problem.

If you are using `gcc' 3.0 and above to compile MySQL, you must install
the `libstdc++v3' library before compiling MySQL; if you don't do this,
you will get an error about a missing `__cxa_pure_virtual' symbol
during linking.

On some older Linux distributions, `configure' may produce an error
like this:

     Syntax error in sched.h. Change _P to __P in the
     /usr/include/sched.h file.
     See the Installation chapter in the Reference Manual.

Just do what the error message says. Add an extra underscore to the
`_P' macro name that has only one underscore, then try again.

You may get some warnings when compiling. Those shown here can be
ignored:

     mysqld.cc -o objs-thread/mysqld.o
     mysqld.cc: In function `void init_signals()':
     mysqld.cc:315: warning: assignment of negative value `-1' to
     `long unsigned int'
     mysqld.cc: In function `void * signal_hand(void *)':
     mysqld.cc:346: warning: assignment of negative value `-1' to
     `long unsigned int'

If `mysqld' always dumps core when it starts, the problem may be that
you have an old `/lib/libc.a'.  Try renaming it, then remove
`sql/mysqld' and do a new `make install' and try again.  This problem
has been reported on some Slackware installations.

If you get the following error when linking `mysqld', it means that
your `libg++.a' is not installed correctly:

     /usr/lib/libc.a(putc.o): In function `_IO_putc':
     putc.o(.text+0x0): multiple definition of `_IO_putc'

You can avoid using `libg++.a' by running `configure' like this:

     shell> CXX=gcc ./configure

Linux SPARC Notes
.................

In some implementations, `readdir_r()' is broken.  The symptom is that
the `SHOW DATABASES' statement always returns an empty set.  This can
be fixed by removing `HAVE_READDIR_R' from `config.h' after configuring
and before compiling.

Linux Alpha Notes
.................

MySQL Version 3.23.12 is the first MySQL version that is tested on
Linux-Alpha.  If you plan to use MySQL on Linux-Alpha, you should
ensure that you have this version or newer.

We have tested MySQL on Alpha with our benchmarks and test suite, and
it appears to work nicely.

We currently build the MySQL binary packages on SuSE Linux 7.0 for AXP,
kernel 2.4.4-SMP, Compaq C compiler (V6.2-505) and Compaq C++ compiler
(V6.3-006) on a Compaq DS20 machine with an Alpha EV6 processor.

You can find the above compilers at
`http://www.support.compaq.com/alpha-tools/'.  By using these compilers
rather than `gcc', we get about 9-14% better MySQL performance.

Note that until MySQL version 3.23.52 and 4.0.2, we optimized the
binary for the current CPU only (by using the `-fast' compile option).
This means that for older versions, you can use our Alpha binaries only
if you have an Alpha EV6 processor.

For all following releases, we added the `-arch generic' flag to our
compile options, which makes sure the binary runs on all Alpha
processors. We also compile statically to avoid library problems.  The
`configure' command looks like this:

     CC=ccc CFLAGS="-fast -arch generic" CXX=cxx \
     CXXFLAGS="-fast -arch generic -noexceptions -nortti" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --disable-shared \
         --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client \
         --with-mysqld-ldflags=-non_shared --with-client-ldflags=-non_shared

If you want to use `egcs', the following `configure' line worked for us:

     CFLAGS="-O3 -fomit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc \
     CXXFLAGS="-O3 -fomit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors \
         -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --disable-shared

Some known problems when running MySQL on Linux-Alpha:

   * Debugging threaded applications like MySQL will not work with `gdb
     4.18'.  You should use `gdb' 5.1 instead!

   * If you try linking `mysqld' statically when using `gcc', the
     resulting image will dump core at startup time.  In other words,
     *don't* use `--with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static' with `gcc'.

Linux PowerPC Notes
...................

MySQL should work on MkLinux with the newest `glibc' package (tested
with `glibc' 2.0.7).

Linux MIPS Notes
................

To get MySQL to work on Qube2 (Linux Mips), you need the newest `glibc'
libraries. `glibc-2.0.7-29C2' is known to work.  You must also use the
`egcs' C++ compiler (`egcs-1.0.2-9', `gcc 2.95.2' or newer).

Linux IA-64 Notes
.................

To get MySQL to compile on Linux IA-64, we use the following `configure'
command for building with `gcc' 2.96:

     CC=gcc \
     CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" \
     CXX=gcc \
     CXXFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors \
         -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
         "--with-comment=Official MySQL binary" \
         --with-extra-charsets=complex

On IA-64, the MySQL client binaries use shared libraries. This means
that if you install our binary distribution at a location other than
`/usr/local/mysql', you need to add the path of the directory where you
have `libmysqlclient.so' installed either to the `/etc/ld.so.conf' file
or to the value of your `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable.

*Note Link errors::.

Mac OS X Notes
--------------

On Mac OS X, `tar' cannot handle long filenames. If you need to unpack a
`.tar.gz' distribution, use `gnutar' instead.

Mac OS X 10.x (Darwin)
......................

MySQL should work without any problems on Mac OS X 10.x (Darwin).

Our binary for Mac OS X is compiled on Darwin 6.3 with the following
`configure' line:

     CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer" CXX=gcc \
     CXXFLAGS="-O3 -fno-omit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors \
         -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
         --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client \
         --enable-local-infile --disable-shared

*Note Mac OS X installation::.

Mac OS X Server 1.2 (Rhapsody)
..............................

For current versions of Mac OS X Server, no operating system changes are
necessary before compiling MySQL.  Compiling for the Server platform is
the same as for the client version of Mac OS X. (However, note that
MySQL comes preinstalled on Mac OS X Server, so you need not build it
yourself.)

For older versions (Mac OS X Server 1.2, a.k.a. Rhapsody), you must
first install a pthread package before trying to configure MySQL.

*Note Mac OS X installation::.

Solaris Notes
-------------

On Solaris, you may run into trouble even before you get the MySQL
distribution unpacked!  Solaris `tar' can't handle long file names, so
you may see an error like this when you unpack MySQL:

     x mysql-3.22.12-beta/bench/Results/ATIS-mysql_odbc-NT_4.0-cmp-db2,\
     informix,ms-sql,mysql,oracle,solid,sybase, 0 bytes, 0 tape blocks
     tar: directory checksum error

In this case, you must use GNU `tar' (`gtar') to unpack the
distribution.  You can find a precompiled copy for Solaris at
`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/os-solaris.html'.

Sun native threads only work on Solaris 2.5 and higher.  For Version
2.4 and earlier, MySQL will automatically use MIT-pthreads.  *Note
MIT-pthreads::.

If you get the following error from `configure', it means that you have
something wrong with your compiler installation:

     checking for restartable system calls... configure: error can not
     run test programs while cross compiling

In this case you should upgrade your compiler to a newer version.  You
may also be able to solve this problem by inserting the following row
into the `config.cache' file:

     ac_cv_sys_restartable_syscalls=${ac_cv_sys_restartable_syscalls='no'}

If you are using Solaris on a SPARC, the recommended compiler is `gcc'
2.95.2 or 3.2. You can find this at `http://gcc.gnu.org/'.  Note that
`egcs' 1.1.1 and `gcc' 2.8.1 don't work reliably on SPARC!

The recommended `configure' line when using `gcc' 2.95.2 is:

     CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3" \
     CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O3 -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-low-memory \
     --enable-assembler

If you have an UltraSPARC system, you can get 4% better performance by
adding `-mcpu=v8 -Wa,-xarch=v8plusa' to the `CFLAGS' and `CXXFLAGS'
environment variables.

If you have Sun's Forte 5.0 (or newer) compiler, you can run
`configure' like this:

     CC=cc CFLAGS="-Xa -fast -native -xstrconst -mt" \
     CXX=CC CXXFLAGS="-noex -mt" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler

To create a 64-bit binary with Sun's Forte compiler, use the following
configuration options:

     CC=cc CFLAGS="-Xa -fast -native -xstrconst -mt -xarch=v9" \
     CXX=CC CXXFLAGS="-noex -mt -xarch=v9" ASFLAGS="-xarch=v9" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler

To create a 64bit Solaris binary using `gcc', add `-m64' to `CFLAGS'
and `CXXFLAGS'. Note that this works only with MySQL 4.0 and up - MySQL
3.23 does not include the required modifications to support this.

In the MySQL benchmarks, we got a 4% speedup on an UltraSPARC when using
Forte 5.0 in 32-bit mode compared to using `gcc' 3.2 with `-mcpu' flags.

If you create a 64-bit `mysqld' binary, it is 4% slower than the 32-bit
binary, but can handle more threads and memory.

If you get a problem with `fdatasync' or `sched_yield', you can fix
this by adding `LIBS=-lrt' to the configure line

For older compilers than WorkShop 5.3, you may have to edit the
`configure' script to change this line:

     #if !defined(__STDC__) || __STDC__ != 1

To this:

     #if !defined(__STDC__)

If you turn on `__STDC__' with the `-Xc' option, the Sun compiler can't
compile with the Solaris `pthread.h' header file.  This is a Sun bug
(broken compiler or broken include file).

If `mysqld' issues the following error message when you run it, you have
tried to compile MySQL with the Sun compiler without enabling the
multi-thread option (`-mt'):

     libc internal error: _rmutex_unlock: rmutex not held

Add `-mt' to `CFLAGS' and `CXXFLAGS' and recompile.

If you are using the SFW version of `gcc' (which comes with Solaris 8),
you must add `/opt/sfw/lib' to the environment variable
`LD_LIBRARY_PATH' before running `configure'.

If you are using the `gcc' available from `sunfreeware.com', you may
have many problems.  To avoid this, you should recompile `gcc' and GNU
`binutils' on the machine where you will be running them.

If you get the following error when compiling MySQL with `gcc', it
means that your `gcc' is not configured for your version of Solaris:

     shell> gcc -O3 -g -O2 -DDBUG_OFF  -o thr_alarm ...
     ./thr_alarm.c: In function `signal_hand':
     ./thr_alarm.c:556: too many arguments to function `sigwait'

The proper thing to do in this case is to get the newest version of
`gcc' and compile it with your current `gcc' compiler!  At least for
Solaris 2.5, almost all binary versions of `gcc' have old, unusable
include files that will break all programs that use threads, and
possibly other programs!

Solaris doesn't provide static versions of all system libraries
(`libpthreads' and `libdl'), so you can't compile MySQL with
`--static'.  If you try to do so, you will get one of the following
errors:

     ld: fatal: library -ldl: not found
     undefined reference to `dlopen'
     cannot find -lrt

If you link your own MySQL client programs, you may see the following
error at runtime:

     ld.so.1: fatal: libmysqlclient.so.#:
     open failed: No such file or directory

This problem can be avoided by one of the following methods:

   * Link clients with the `-Wl,r/full-path-to-libmysqlclient.so' flag
     rather than with `-Lpath').

   * Copy `libmysqclient.so' to `/usr/lib'.

   * Add the pathname of the directory where `libmysqlclient.so' is
     located to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable before running
     your client.

If you have problems with `configure' trying to link with `-lz' when
you don't have `zlib' installed, you have two options:

   * If you want to be able to use the compressed communication
     protocol, you need to get and install `zlib' from `ftp.gnu.org'.

   * Run `configure' with the `--with-named-z-libs=no' option when
     building MySQL.

If you are using `gcc' and have problems with loading user-defined
functions (UDFs) into MySQL, try adding `-lgcc' to the link line for
the UDF.

If you would like MySQL to start automatically, you can copy
`support-files/mysql.server' to `/etc/init.d' and create a symbolic
link to it named `/etc/rc3.d/S99mysql.server'.

If too many processes try to connect very rapidly to `mysqld', you will
see this error in the MySQL log:

     Error in accept: Protocol error

You might try starting the server with the `--back_log=50' option as a
workaround for this.  (Use `-O back_log=50' before MySQL 4.)

Solaris doesn't support core files for `setuid()' applications, so you
can't get a core file from `mysqld' if you are using the `--user'
option.

Solaris 2.7/2.8 Notes
.....................

You can normally use a Solaris 2.6 binary on Solaris 2.7 and 2.8.  Most
of the Solaris 2.6 issues also apply for Solaris 2.7 and 2.8.

MySQL Version 3.23.4 and above should be able to detect new versions of
Solaris automatically and enable workarounds for the following problems!

Solaris 2.7 / 2.8 has some bugs in the include files.  You may see the
following error when you use `gcc':

     /usr/include/widec.h:42: warning: `getwc' redefined
     /usr/include/wchar.h:326: warning: this is the location of the previous
     definition

If this occurs, you can fix the problem by copying
`/usr/include/widec.h' to `.../lib/gcc-lib/os/gcc-version/include' and
changing line 41 from this:

     #if     !defined(lint) && !defined(__lint)

To this:

     #if     !defined(lint) && !defined(__lint) && !defined(getwc)

Alternatively, you can edit `/usr/include/widec.h' directly.  Either
way, after you make the fix, you should remove `config.cache' and run
`configure' again!

If you get the following errors when you run `make', it's because
`configure' didn't detect the `curses.h' file (probably because of the
error in `/usr/include/widec.h'):

     In file included from mysql.cc:50:
     /usr/include/term.h:1060: syntax error before `,'
     /usr/include/term.h:1081: syntax error before `;'

The solution to this is to do one of the following:

   * Configure with `CFLAGS=-DHAVE_CURSES_H CXXFLAGS=-DHAVE_CURSES_H
     ./configure'.

   * Edit `/usr/include/widec.h' as indicated above and re-run
     `configure'.

   * Remove the `#define HAVE_TERM' line from the `config.h' file and
     run `make' again.

If your linker can't find `-lz' when linking client programs, the
problem is probably that your `libz.so' file is installed in
`/usr/local/lib'.  You can fix this by one of the following methods:

   * Add `/usr/local/lib' to `LD_LIBRARY_PATH'.

   * Add a link to `libz.so' from `/lib'.

   * If you are using Solaris 8, you can install the optional `zlib'
     from your Solaris 8 CD distribution.

   * Run `configure' with the `--with-named-z-libs=no' option when
     building MySQL.

Solaris x86 Notes
.................

On Solaris 8 on x86, `mysqld' will dump core if you remove the debug
symbols using `strip'.

If you are using `gcc' or `egcs' on Solaris x86 and you experience
problems with core dumps under load, you should use the following
`configure' command:

     CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O3 -fomit-frame-pointer -DHAVE_CURSES_H" \
     CXX=gcc \
     CXXFLAGS="-O3 -fomit-frame-pointer -felide-constructors \
         -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -DHAVE_CURSES_H" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

This will avoid problems with the `libstdc++' library and with C++
exceptions.

If this doesn't help, you should compile a debug version and run it
with a trace file or under `gdb'.  *Note Using `gdb' on `mysqld': Using
gdb on mysqld.

BSD Notes
---------

This section provides information about using MySQL on BSD variants.

FreeBSD Notes
.............

FreeBSD 4.x or newer is recommended for running MySQL, because the
thread package is much more integrated.  To get a secure and stable
system, you should use only FreeBSD kernels that are marked `-RELEASE'.

The easiest (and preferred) way to install MySQL is to use the
`mysql-server' and `mysql-client' ports available at
`http://www.freebsd.org/'.  Using these ports gives you the following
benefits:

   * A working MySQL with all optimizations enabled that are known to
     work on your version of FreeBSD.

   * Automatic configuration and build.

   * Startup scripts installed in `/usr/local/etc/rc.d'.

   * The ability to use `pkg_info -L' to see which files are installed.

   * The ability to use `pkg_delete' to remove MySQL if you no longer
     want it on your machine.

It is recommended you use MIT-pthreads on FreeBSD 2.x, and native
threads on Versions 3 and up. It is possible to run with native threads
on some late 2.2.x versions but you may encounter problems shutting
down `mysqld'.

Unfortunately, certain function calls on FreeBSD are not yet fully
thread-safe.  Most notably, this includes the `gethostbyname()'
function, which is used by MySQL to convert hostnames into IP
addresses. Under certain circumstances, the `mysqld' process will
suddenly cause 100% CPU load and will be unresponsive. If you encounter
this problem, try to start up MySQL using the `--skip-name-resolve'
option.

Alternatively, you can link MySQL on FreeBSD 4.x against the
LinuxThreads library, which avoids a few of the problems that the
native FreeBSD thread implementation has. For a very good comparison of
LinuxThreads vs. native threads, see Jeremy Zawodny's article `FreeBSD
or Linux for your MySQL Server?' at
`http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/000697.html'.

A known problem when using LinuxThreads on FreeBSD is that
`wait_timeout' is not working (probably a signal handling problem in
FreeBSD/LinuxThreads).  This is supposed to be fixed in FreeBSD 5.0.
The symptom is that persistent connections can hang for a very long
time without getting closed down.

The MySQL build process require GNU make (`gmake') to work.  If GNU
`make' is not available, you must install it first before compiling
MySQL.

The recommended way to compile and install MySQL on FreeBSD with `gcc'
(2.95.2 and up) is:

     shell> CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O2 -fno-strength-reduce" \
                CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O2 -fno-rtti -fno-exceptions \
                -felide-constructors -fno-strength-reduce" \
                ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-assembler
     shell> gmake
     shell> gmake install
     shell> cd /usr/local/mysql
     shell> bin/mysql_install_db
     shell> bin/mysqld_safe &

If you notice that `configure' will use MIT-pthreads, you should read
the MIT-pthreads notes.  *Note MIT-pthreads::.

If you get an error from `make install' that it can't find
`/usr/include/pthreads', `configure' didn't detect that you need
MIT-pthreads. To fix this problem, remove `config.cache', then re-run
`configure' with the `--with-mit-threads' option.

Be sure your name resolver setup is correct.  Otherwise, you may
experience resolver delays or failures when connecting to `mysqld'.
Also make sure that the `localhost' entry in the `/etc/hosts' file is
correct.  The file should start with a line similar to this:

     127.0.0.1       localhost localhost.your.domain

FreeBSD is known to have a very low default file handle limit.  *Note
Not enough file handles::.  Start the server by using the
`--open-files-limit' option for `mysqld_safe', or raise the limits for
the `mysqld' user in `/etc/login.conf' and rebuild it with `cap_mkdb
/etc/login.conf'.  Also be sure you set the appropriate class for this
user in the password file if you are not using the default (use `chpass
mysqld-user-name').  *Note `mysqld_safe': mysqld_safe.

If you have a lot of memory, you should consider rebuilding the kernel
to allow MySQL to use more than 512M of RAM.  Take a look at `option
MAXDSIZ' in the LINT config file for more information.

If you get problems with the current date in MySQL, setting the `TZ'
variable will probably help.  *Note Environment variables::.

NetBSD Notes
............

To compile on NetBSD you need GNU `make'. Otherwise, the build process
will fail when `make' tries to run `lint' on C++ files.

OpenBSD 2.5 Notes
.................

On OpenBSD Version 2.5, you can compile MySQL with native threads with
the following options:

     CFLAGS=-pthread CXXFLAGS=-pthread ./configure --with-mit-threads=no

OpenBSD 2.8 Notes
.................

Our users have reported that OpenBSD 2.8 has a threading bug which
causes problems with MySQL.  The OpenBSD Developers have fixed the
problem, but as of January 25th, 2001, it's only available in the
"-current" branch.  The symptoms of this threading bug are: slow
response, high load, high CPU usage, and crashes.

If you get an error like `Error in accept:: Bad file descriptor' or
error 9 when trying to open tables or directories, the problem is
probably that you haven't allocated enough file descriptors for MySQL.

In this case, try starting `mysqld_safe' as `root' with the following
options:

     shell> mysqld_safe --user=mysql --open-files-limit=2048 &

BSD/OS Version 2.x Notes
........................

If you get the following error when compiling MySQL, your `ulimit'
value for virtual memory is too low:

     item_func.h: In method `Item_func_ge::Item_func_ge(const Item_func_ge &)':
     item_func.h:28: virtual memory exhausted
     make[2]: *** [item_func.o] Error 1

Try using `ulimit -v 80000' and run `make' again.  If this doesn't work
and you are using `bash', try switching to `csh' or `sh'; some BSDI
users have reported problems with `bash' and `ulimit'.

If you are using `gcc', you may also use have to use the
`--with-low-memory' flag for `configure' to be able to compile
`sql_yacc.cc'.

If you get problems with the current date in MySQL, setting the `TZ'
variable will probably help.  *Note Environment variables::.

BSD/OS Version 3.x Notes
........................

Upgrade to BSD/OS Version 3.1.  If that is not possible, install
BSDIpatch M300-038.

Use the following command when configuring MySQL:

     shell> env CXX=shlicc++ CC=shlicc2 \
            ./configure \
                --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
                --localstatedir=/var/mysql \
                --without-perl \
                --with-unix-socket-path=/var/mysql/mysql.sock

The following is also known to work:

     shell> env CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 \
            ./configure \
                --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
                --with-unix-socket-path=/var/mysql/mysql.sock

You can change the directory locations if you wish, or just use the
defaults by not specifying any locations.

If you have problems with performance under heavy load, try using the
`--skip-thread-priority' option to `mysqld'!  This will run all threads
with the same priority; on BSDI Version 3.1, this gives better
performance (at least until BSDI fixes their thread scheduler).

If you get the error `virtual memory exhausted' while compiling, you
should try using `ulimit -v 80000' and run `make' again.  If this
doesn't work and you are using `bash', try switching to `csh' or `sh';
some BSDI users have reported problems with `bash' and `ulimit'.

BSD/OS Version 4.x Notes
........................

BSDI Version 4.x has some thread-related bugs.  If you want to use
MySQL on this, you should install all thread-related patches.  At least
M400-023 should be installed.

On some BSDI Version 4.x systems, you may get problems with shared
libraries.  The symptom is that you can't execute any client programs,
for example, `mysqladmin'.  In this case you need to reconfigure not to
use shared libraries with the `--disable-shared' option to configure.

Some customers have had problems on BSDI 4.0.1 that the `mysqld' binary
after a while can't open tables.  This is because some library/system
related bug causes `mysqld' to change current directory without asking
for this!

The fix is to either upgrade MySQL to at least version 3.23.34 or, after
running `configure', remove the line `#define HAVE_REALPATH' from
`config.h' before running make.

Note that the above means that you can't symbolic link a database
directories to another database directory or symbolic link a table to
another database on BSDI!  (Making a symbolic link to another disk is
okay).

Other Unix Notes
----------------

HP-UX Version 10.20 Notes
.........................

There are a couple of small problems when compiling MySQL on HP-UX.  We
recommend that you use `gcc' instead of the HP-UX native compiler,
because `gcc' produces better code!

We recommend using `gcc' 2.95 on HP-UX.  Don't use high optimization
flags (like `-O6') as they may not be safe on HP-UX.

The following `configure' line should work with `gcc' 2.95:

     CFLAGS="-I/opt/dce/include -fpic" \
     CXXFLAGS="-I/opt/dce/include -felide-constructors -fno-exceptions \
     -fno-rtti" \
     CXX=gcc \
     ./configure --with-pthread \
         --with-named-thread-libs='-ldce' \
         --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --disable-shared

The following `configure' line should work with `gcc' 3.1:

     CFLAGS="-DHPUX -I/opt/dce/include -O3 -fPIC" CXX=gcc \
     CXXFLAGS="-DHPUX -I/opt/dce/include -felide-constructors \
         -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -O3 -fPIC" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
         --with-extra-charsets=complex --enable-thread-safe-client \
         --enable-local-infile  --with-pthread \
         --with-named-thread-libs=-ldce --with-lib-ccflags=-fPIC
         --disable-shared

HP-UX Version 11.x Notes
........................

For HP-UX Version 11.x, we recommend MySQL Version 3.23.15 or later.

Because of some critical bugs in the standard HP-UX libraries, you
should install the following patches before trying to run MySQL on
HP-UX 11.0:

     PHKL_22840 Streams cumulative
     PHNE_22397 ARPA cumulative

This will solve the problem of getting `EWOULDBLOCK' from `recv()' and
`EBADF' from `accept()' in threaded applications.

If you are using `gcc' 2.95.1 on an unpatched HP-UX 11.x system, you
will get the error:

     In file included from /usr/include/unistd.h:11,
                      from ../include/global.h:125,
                      from mysql_priv.h:15,
                      from item.cc:19:
     /usr/include/sys/unistd.h:184: declaration of C function ...
     /usr/include/sys/pthread.h:440: previous declaration ...
     In file included from item.h:306,
                      from mysql_priv.h:158,
                      from item.cc:19:

The problem is that HP-UX doesn't define `pthreads_atfork()'
consistently.  It has conflicting prototypes in
`/usr/include/sys/unistd.h':184 and `/usr/include/sys/pthread.h':440
(details below).

One solution is to copy `/usr/include/sys/unistd.h' into
`mysql/include' and edit `unistd.h' and change it to match the
definition in `pthread.h'.  Here's the diff:

     183,184c183,184
     <      extern int pthread_atfork(void (*prepare)(), void (*parent)(),
     <                                                void (*child)());
     ---
     >      extern int pthread_atfork(void (*prepare)(void), void (*parent)(void),
     >                                                void (*child)(void));

After this, the following `configure' line should work:

     CFLAGS="-fomit-frame-pointer -O3 -fpic" CXX=gcc \
     CXXFLAGS="-felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti -O3" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --disable-shared

If you are using MySQL 4.0.5 with the HP-UX compiler, you can use the
following command (which has been tested with `cc' B.11.11.04):

     CC=cc CXX=aCC CFLAGS=+DD64 CXXFLAGS=+DD64 ./configure \
         --with-extra-character-set=complex

You can ignore any errors of the following type:

     aCC: warning 901: unknown option: `-3': use +help for online
     documentation

If you get the following error from `configure', check that you don't
have the path to the K&R compiler before the path to the HP-UX C and
C++ compiler:

     checking for cc option to accept ANSI C... no
     configure: error: MySQL requires a ANSI C compiler (and a C++ compiler).
     Try gcc. See the Installation chapter in the Reference Manual.

Another reason for not being able to compile is that you didn't define
the `+DD64' flags above.

Another possibility for HP-UX 11 is to use MySQL binaries for HP-UX
10.20.  We have received reports from some users that these binaries
work fine on HP-UX 11.00. If you encounter problems, be sure to check
your HP-UX patch level.

IBM-AIX notes
.............

Automatic detection of `xlC' is missing from Autoconf, so a number of
variables need to be set before running `configure'. The following
example uses the IBM compiler:

     export CC="xlc_r -ma -O3 -qstrict -qoptimize=3 -qmaxmem=8192 "
     export CXX="xlC_r -ma -O3 -qstrict -qoptimize=3 -qmaxmem=8192"
     export CFLAGS="-I /usr/local/include"
     export LDFLAGS="-L /usr/local/lib"
     export CPPFLAGS=$CFLAGS
     export CXXFLAGS=$CFLAGS
     
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local \
                     --localstatedir=/var/mysql \
                     --sysconfdir=/etc/mysql \
                     --sbindir='/usr/local/bin' \
                     --libexecdir='/usr/local/bin' \
                     --enable-thread-safe-client \
                     --enable-large-files

Above are the options used to compile the MySQL distribution that can
be found at `http://www-frec.bull.com/'.

If you change the `-O3' to `-O2' in the preceding `configure' line, you
must also remove the `-qstrict' option (this is a limitation in the IBM
C compiler).

If you are using `gcc' or `egcs' to compile MySQL, you *must* use the
`-fno-exceptions' flag, because the exception handling in `gcc'/`egcs'
is not thread-safe!  (This is tested with `egcs' 1.1.)  There are also
some known problems with IBM's assembler that may cause it to generate
bad code when used with `gcc'.

We recommend the following `configure' line with `egcs' and `gcc 2.95'
on AIX:

     CC="gcc -pipe -mcpu=power -Wa,-many" \
     CXX="gcc -pipe -mcpu=power -Wa,-many" \
     CXXFLAGS="-felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-low-memory

The `-Wa,-many' is necessary for the compile to be successful.  IBM is
aware of this problem but is in to hurry to fix it because of the
workaround available.  We don't know if the `-fno-exceptions' is
required with `gcc 2.95', but as MySQL doesn't use exceptions and the
above option generates faster code, we recommend that you should always
use this option with `egcs / gcc'.

If you get a problem with assembler code, try changing the `-mcpu=xxx'
option to match your CPU. Typically `power2', `power', or `powerpc' may
need to be used.  Alternatively, you might need to use `604' or `604e'.
We are not positive but suspect that `power' would likely be safe most
of the time, even on a power2 machine.

If you don't know what your CPU is, execute a `uname -m' command.  It
will produce a string that looks like `000514676700', with a format of
`xxyyyyyymmss' where `xx' and `ss' are always `00', `yyyyyy' is a
unique system ID and `mm' is the ID of the CPU Planar.  A chart of
these values can be found at
`http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/doc_link/en_US/a_doc_lib/cmds/aixcmds5/uname.htm'.
This will give you a machine type and a machine model you can use to
determine what type of CPU you have.

If you have problems with signals (MySQL dies unexpectedly under high
load) you may have found an OS bug with threads and signals.  In this
case you can tell MySQL not to use signals by configuring with:

     shell> CFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM CXX=gcc \
            CXXFLAGS="-felide-constructors -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti \
            -DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM" \
            ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-debug \
                --with-low-memory

This doesn't affect the performance of MySQL, but has the side effect
that you can't kill clients that are "sleeping" on a connection with
`mysqladmin kill' or `mysqladmin shutdown'.  Instead, the client will
die when it issues its next command.

On some versions of AIX, linking with `libbind.a' makes `getservbyname'
core dump.  This is an AIX bug and should be reported to IBM.

For AIX 4.2.1 and `gcc', you have to make the following changes.

After configuring, edit `config.h' and `include/my_config.h' and change
the line that says this:

     #define HAVE_SNPRINTF 1

to this:

     #undef HAVE_SNPRINTF

And finally, in `mysqld.cc' you need to add a prototype for initgoups.

     #ifdef _AIX41
     extern "C" int initgroups(const char *,int);
     #endif

If you need to allocate a lot of memory to the `mysqld' process, it's
not enough to just use `ulimit -d unlimited'. You may also have to
modify `mysqld_safe' to add a line something like this:

     export LDR_CNTRL='MAXDATA=0x80000000'

You can find more about using a lot of memory at:
`http://publib16.boulder.ibm.com/pseries/en_US/aixprggd/genprogc/lrg_prg_support.htm'.

SunOS 4 Notes
.............

On SunOS 4, MIT-pthreads is needed to compile MySQL. This in turn means
you will need GNU `make'.

Some SunOS 4 systems have problems with dynamic libraries and `libtool'.
You can use the following `configure' line to avoid this problem:

     shell> ./configure --disable-shared --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static

When compiling `readline', you may get warnings about duplicate defines.
These may be ignored.

When compiling `mysqld', there will be some `implicit declaration of
function' warnings. These may be ignored.

Alpha-DEC-UNIX Notes (Tru64)
............................

If you are using `egcs' 1.1.2 on Digital Unix, you should upgrade to
`gcc' 2.95.2, because `egcs' on DEC has some serious bugs!

When compiling threaded programs under Digital Unix, the documentation
recommends using the `-pthread' option for `cc' and `cxx' and the
`-lmach -lexc' libraries (in addition to `-lpthread').  You should run
`configure' something like this:

     CC="cc -pthread" CXX="cxx -pthread -O" \
     ./configure --with-named-thread-libs="-lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc"

When compiling `mysqld', you may see a couple of warnings like this:

     mysqld.cc: In function void handle_connections()':
     mysqld.cc:626: passing long unsigned int *' as argument 3 of
     accept(int,sockadddr *, int *)'

You can safely ignore these warnings.  They occur because `configure'
can detect only errors, not warnings.

If you start the server directly from the command-line, you may have
problems with it dying when you log out.  (When you log out, your
outstanding processes receive a `SIGHUP' signal.)  If so, try starting
the server like this:

     shell> nohup mysqld [options] &

`nohup' causes the command following it to ignore any `SIGHUP' signal
sent from the terminal.  Alternatively, start the server by running
`mysqld_safe', which invokes `mysqld' using `nohup' for you.  *Note
`mysqld_safe': mysqld_safe.

If you get a problem when compiling `mysys/get_opt.c', just remove the
`#define _NO_PROTO' line from the start of that file!

If you are using Compaq's CC compiler, the following `configure' line
should work:

     CC="cc -pthread"
     CFLAGS="-O4 -ansi_alias -ansi_args -fast -inline speed all -arch host"
     CXX="cxx -pthread"
     CXXFLAGS="-O4 -ansi_alias -ansi_args -fast -inline speed all \
         -arch host -noexceptions -nortti"
     export CC CFLAGS CXX CXXFLAGS
     ./configure \
         --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
         --with-low-memory \
         --enable-large-files \
         --enable-shared=yes \
         --with-named-thread-libs="-lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc"
     gnumake

If you get a problem with `libtool', when compiling with shared
libraries as above, when linking `mysql', you should be able to get
around this by issuing:

     cd mysql
     /bin/sh ../libtool --mode=link cxx -pthread  -O3 -DDBUG_OFF \
         -O4 -ansi_alias -ansi_args -fast -inline speed \
         -speculate all \ -arch host  -DUNDEF_HAVE_GETHOSTBYNAME_R \
         -o mysql  mysql.o readline.o sql_string.o completion_hash.o \
         ../readline/libreadline.a -lcurses \
         ../libmysql/.libs/libmysqlclient.so  -lm
     cd ..
     gnumake
     gnumake install
     scripts/mysql_install_db

Alpha-DEC-OSF/1 Notes
.....................

If you have problems compiling and have DEC `CC' and `gcc' installed,
try running `configure' like this:

     CC=cc CFLAGS=-O CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

If you get problems with the `c_asm.h' file, you can create and use a
'dummy' `c_asm.h' file with:

     touch include/c_asm.h
     CC=gcc CFLAGS=-I./include \
     CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

Note that the following problems with the `ld' program can be fixed by
downloading the latest DEC (Compaq) patch kit from:
`http://ftp.support.compaq.com/public/unix/'.

On OSF/1 V4.0D and compiler "DEC C V5.6-071 on Digital Unix V4.0 (Rev.
878)" the compiler had some strange behavior (undefined `asm' symbols).
`/bin/ld' also appears to be broken (problems with `_exit undefined'
errors occurring while linking `mysqld').  On this system, we have
managed to compile MySQL with the following `configure' line, after
replacing `/bin/ld' with the version from OSF 4.0C:

     CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

With the Digital compiler "C++ V6.1-029", the following should work:

     CC=cc -pthread
     CFLAGS=-O4 -ansi_alias -ansi_args -fast -inline speed -speculate all \
            -arch host
     CXX=cxx -pthread
     CXXFLAGS=-O4 -ansi_alias -ansi_args -fast -inline speed -speculate all \
               -arch host -noexceptions -nortti
     export CC CFLAGS CXX CXXFLAGS
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/mysql/mysql --with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static \
                 --disable-shared --with-named-thread-libs="-lmach -lexc -lc"

In some versions of OSF/1, the `alloca()' function is broken. Fix this
by removing the line in `config.h' that defines `'HAVE_ALLOCA''.

The `alloca()' function also may have an incorrect prototype in
`/usr/include/alloca.h'.  This warning resulting from this can be
ignored.

`configure' will use the following thread libraries automatically:
`--with-named-thread-libs="-lpthread -lmach -lexc -lc"'.

When using `gcc', you can also try running `configure' like this:

     shell> CFLAGS=-D_PTHREAD_USE_D4 CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 ./configure ...

If you have problems with signals (MySQL dies unexpectedly under high
load), you may have found an OS bug with threads and signals. In this
case you can tell MySQL not to use signals by configuring with:

     shell> CFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM \
            CXXFLAGS=-DDONT_USE_THR_ALARM \
            ./configure ...

This doesn't affect the performance of MySQL, but has the side effect
that you can't kill clients that are "sleeping" on a connection with
`mysqladmin kill' or `mysqladmin shutdown'.  Instead, the client will
die when it issues its next command.

With `gcc' 2.95.2, you will probably run into the following compile
error:

     sql_acl.cc:1456: Internal compiler error in `scan_region', at except.c:2566
     Please submit a full bug report.

To fix this you should change to the `sql' directory and do a "cut and
paste" of the last `gcc' line, but change `-O3' to `-O0' (or add `-O0'
immediately after `gcc' if you don't have any `-O' option on your
compile line).  After this is done you can just change back to the
top-level directly and run `make' again.

SGI Irix Notes
..............

If you are using Irix Version 6.5.3 or newer `mysqld' will be able to
create threads only if you run it as a user with `CAP_SCHED_MGT'
privileges (like `root') or give the `mysqld' server this privilege
with the following shell command:

     shell> chcap "CAP_SCHED_MGT+epi" /opt/mysql/libexec/mysqld

You may have to undefine some symbols in `config.h' after running
`configure' and before compiling.

In some Irix implementations, the `alloca()' function is broken.  If the
`mysqld' server dies on some `SELECT' statements, remove the lines from
`config.h' that define `HAVE_ALLOC' and `HAVE_ALLOCA_H'.  If
`mysqladmin create' doesn't work, remove the line from `config.h' that
defines `HAVE_READDIR_R'.  You may have to remove the `HAVE_TERM_H'
line as well.

SGI recommends that you install all of the patches on this page as a
set:
`http://support.sgi.com/surfzone/patches/patchset/6.2_indigo.rps.html'

At the very minimum, you should install the latest kernel rollup, the
latest `rld' rollup, and the latest `libc' rollup.

You definitely need all the POSIX patches on this page, for pthreads
support:

`http://support.sgi.com/surfzone/patches/patchset/6.2_posix.rps.html'

If you get the something like the following error when compiling
`mysql.cc':

     "/usr/include/curses.h", line 82: error(1084): invalid combination of type

Type the following in the top-level directory of your MySQL source tree:

     shell> extra/replace bool curses_bool < /usr/include/curses.h \
                > include/curses.h
     shell> make

There have also been reports of scheduling problems.  If only one
thread is running, performance is slow.  Avoid this by starting another
client.  This may lead to a 2-to-10-fold increase in execution speed
thereafter for the other thread.  This is a poorly understood problem
with Irix threads; you may have to improvise to find solutions until
this can be fixed.

If you are compiling with `gcc', you can use the following `configure'
command:

     CC=gcc CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS=-O3 \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --enable-thread-safe-client \
         --with-named-thread-libs=-lpthread

On Irix 6.5.11 with native Irix C and C++ compilers ver. 7.3.1.2, the
following is reported to work

     CC=cc CXX=CC CFLAGS='-O3 -n32 -TARG:platform=IP22 -I/usr/local/include \
     -L/usr/local/lib' CXXFLAGS='-O3 -n32 -TARG:platform=IP22 \
     -I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib' \
     ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --with-innodb --with-berkeley-db \
         --with-libwrap=/usr/local \
         --with-named-curses-libs=/usr/local/lib/libncurses.a

SCO Notes
.........

The current port is tested only on "sco3.2v5.0.5", "sco3.2v5.0.6" and
"sco3.2v5.0.7" systems.  There has also been a lot of progress on a
port to "sco 3.2v4.2".

For the moment the recommended compiler on OpenServer is `gcc' 2.95.2.
With this you should be able to compile MySQL with just:

     CC=gcc CXX=gcc ./configure ... (options)

  1. For OpenServer 5.0.x you need to use gcc-2.95.2p1 or newer from the
     Skunkware.  `http://www.sco.com/skunkware/' and choose browser
     OpenServer packages or by ftp to ftp2.caldera.com in the
     `pub/skunkware/osr5/devtools/gcc' directory.

  2. You need the port of GCC 2.5.x for this product and the Development
     system.  They are required on this version of SCO Unix.  You cannot
     just use the GCC Dev system.

  3. You should get the FSU Pthreads package and install it first.
     This can be found at
     `http://moss.csc.ncsu.edu/~mueller/ftp/pub/PART/pthreads.tar.gz'.
     You can also get a precompiled package from
     `http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/SCO/FSU-threads-3.5c.tar.gz'.

  4. FSU Pthreads can be compiled with SCO Unix 4.2 with tcpip.  Or
     OpenServer 3.0 or Open Desktop 3.0 (OS 3.0 ODT 3.0), with the SCO
     Development System installed using a good port of GCC 2.5.x ODT or
     OS 3.0 you will need a good port of GCC 2.5.x There are a lot of
     problems without a good port.  The port for this product requires
     the SCO Unix Development system.  Without it, you are missing the
     libraries and the linker that is needed.

  5. To build FSU Pthreads on your system, do the following:

       1. Run `./configure' in the `threads/src' directory and select
          the SCO OpenServer option. This command copies
          `Makefile.SCO5' to `Makefile'.

       2. Run `make'.

       3. To install in the default `/usr/include' directory, login as
          root, then `cd' to the `thread/src' directory, and run `make
          install'.

  6. Remember to use GNU `make' when making MySQL.

  7. If you don't start `mysqld_safe' as `root', you probably will get
     only the default 110 open files per process.  `mysqld' will write
     a note about this in the log file.

  8. With SCO 3.2V5.0.5, you should use FSU Pthreads version 3.5c or
     newer.  You should also use `gcc' 2.95.2 or newer!

     The following `configure' command should work:

          shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql --disable-shared

  9. With SCO 3.2V4.2, you should use FSU Pthreads version 3.5c or
     newer.  The following `configure' command should work:

          shell> CFLAGS="-D_XOPEN_XPG4" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-D_XOPEN_XPG4" \
                 ./configure \
                     --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
                     --with-named-thread-libs="-lgthreads -lsocket -lgen -lgthreads" \
                     --with-named-curses-libs="-lcurses"

     You may get some problems with some include files. In this case,
     you can find new SCO-specific include files at
     `http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/SCO/SCO-3.2v4.2-includes.tar.gz'.
     You should unpack this file in the `include' directory of your
     MySQL source tree.

SCO development notes:

   * MySQL should automatically detect FSU Pthreads and link `mysqld'
     with `-lgthreads -lsocket -lgthreads'.

   * The SCO development libraries are re-entrant in FSU Pthreads.  SCO
     claims that its libraries' functions are re-entrant, so they must
     be re-entrant with FSU Pthreads.  FSU Pthreads on OpenServer tries
     to use the SCO scheme to make re-entrant libraries.

   * FSU Pthreads (at least the version at `http://www.mysql.com/')
     comes linked with GNU `malloc'.  If you encounter problems with
     memory usage, make sure that `gmalloc.o' is included in
     `libgthreads.a' and `libgthreads.so'.

   * In FSU Pthreads, the following system calls are pthreads-aware:
     `read()', `write()', `getmsg()', `connect()', `accept()',
     `select()', and `wait()'.

   * The CSSA-2001-SCO.35.2 (the patch is listed in custom as
     erg711905-dscr_remap security patch (version 2.0.0) breaks FSU
     threads and makes `mysqld' unstable.  You have to remove this one
     if you want to run `mysqld' on an OpenServer 5.0.6 machine.

   * SCO provides Operating Systems Patches at
     `ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/openserver5' for OpenServer 5.0.x

   * SCO provides security fixes and `libsocket.so.2' at
     `ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/security/OpenServer' and
     `ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/security/sse' for OpenServer 5.0.x

   * pre-OSR506 security fixes. Also, the `telnetd' fix at
     `ftp://stage.caldera.com/pub/security/openserver/' or
     `ftp://stage.caldera.com/pub/security/openserver/CSSA-2001-SCO.10/'
     as both `libsocket.so.2' and `libresolv.so.1' with instructions for
     installing on pre-OSR506 systems.

     It's probably a good idea to install the above patches before
     trying to compile/use MySQL.

SCO UnixWare Version 7.1.x Notes
................................

On UnixWare 7.1.0, you must use a version of MySQL at least as recent as
3.22.13 to get fixes for some portability and OS problems.

We have been able to compile MySQL with the following `configure'
command on UnixWare Version 7.1.x:

     CC=cc CXX=CC ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

If you want to use `gcc', you must use `gcc' 2.95.2 or newer.

     CC=gcc CXX=g++ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql

  1. SCO provides Operating Systems Patches at
     `ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/unixware7' for UnixWare 7.1.1 and 7.1.3 and
     at `ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/openunix8' for OpenUNIX 8.0.0.

  2. SCO provides information about Security Fixes at
     `ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/security/OpenUNIX' for OpenUNIX and at
     `ftp://ftp.sco.com/pub/security/UnixWare' for UnixWare.

OS/2 Notes
----------

MySQL uses quite a few open files. Because of this, you should add
something like the following to your `CONFIG.SYS' file:

     SET EMXOPT=-c -n -h1024

If you don't do this, you will probably run into the following error:

     File 'xxxx' not found (Errcode: 24)

When using MySQL with OS/2 Warp 3, FixPack 29 or above is required.
With OS/2 Warp 4, FixPack 4 or above is required. This is a requirement
of the Pthreads library.  MySQL must be installed on a partition with a
type that supports long filenames, such as HPFS, FAT32, etc.

The `INSTALL.CMD' script must be run from OS/2's own `CMD.EXE' and may
not work with replacement shells such as `4OS2.EXE'.

The `scripts/mysql-install-db' script has been renamed.  It is now
called `install.cmd' and is a REXX script, which will set up the default
MySQL security settings and create the WorkPlace Shell icons for MySQL.

Dynamic module support is compiled in but not fully tested. Dynamic
modules should be compiled using the Pthreads run-time library.

     gcc -Zdll -Zmt -Zcrtdll=pthrdrtl -I../include -I../regex -I.. \
         -o example udf_example.cc -L../lib -lmysqlclient udf_example.def
     mv example.dll example.udf

*Note:* Due to limitations in OS/2, UDF module name stems must not
exceed 8 characters. Modules are stored in the `/mysql2/udf' directory;
the `safe-mysqld.cmd' script will put this directory in the
`BEGINLIBPATH' environment variable. When using UDF modules, specified
extensions are ignored--it is assumed to be `.udf'.  For example, in
Unix, the shared module might be named `example.so' and you would load
a function from it like this:

     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION metaphon RETURNS STRING SONAME "example.so";

In OS/2, the module would be named `example.udf', but you would not
specify the module extension:

     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION metaphon RETURNS STRING SONAME "example";

BeOS Notes
----------

We have in the past talked with some BeOS developers that have said that
MySQL is 80% ported to BeOS, but we haven't heard from them in a while.

Perl Installation Notes
=======================

Perl support for MySQL is provided by means of the `DBI'/`DBD' client
interface. The interface requires Perl Version 5.6.0 or later.  It
*will not work* if you have an older version of Perl.

If you want to use transactions with Perl DBI, you need to have
`DBD::mysql' version 1.2216 or newer. Version 2.9003 or newer is
recommended.

As of Version 3.22.8, Perl support is no longer included with MySQL
distributions. You can obtain the necessary modules from
`http://search.cpan.org' for Unix, or using the ActiveState `ppm'
program on Windows. The following sections describe how to do this.

Perl support for MySQL must be installed if you want to run the MySQL
benchmark scripts.  *Note MySQL Benchmarks::.

Installing Perl on Unix
-----------------------

MySQL Perl support requires that you've installed MySQL client
programming support (libraries and header files).  Most installation
methods install the necesssary files. However, if you installed MySQL
from RPM files on Linux, be sure that you've installed the developer
RPM.  The client programs are in the client RPM, but client programming
support is in the developer RPM.

If you want to install Perl support, the files you will need can be
obtained from the CPAN (Comprehensive Perl Archive Network) at
`http://search.cpan.org'.

The easiest way to install Perl modules on Unix is to use the `CPAN'
module. For example:

     shell> perl -MCPAN -e shell
     cpan> install DBI
     cpan> install DBD::mysql

The `DBD::mysql' installation runs a number of tests.  These tests
require being able to connect to the local MySQL server as the
anonymous user with no password. If you have removed anonymous accounts
or assigned them passwords, the tests fail. You can use `force install
DBD::mysql' to ignore the failed tests.

`DBI' requires the `Data::Dumper' module. It may already be installed;
if not, you should install it before installing `DBI'.

It is also possible to download the module distributions in the form of
compressed `tar' archives and build the modules manually. For example,
to unpack and build a DBI distribution, use a procedure such as this:

  1. Unpack the distribution into the current directory:
          shell> gunzip < DBI-VERSION.tar.gz | tar xvf -
     This command creates a directory named `DBI-VERSION'.

  2. Change into the top-level directory of the unpacked distribution:
          shell> cd DBI-VERSION

  3. Build the distribution and compile everything:
          shell> perl Makefile.PL
          shell> make
          shell> make test
          shell> make install

The `make test' command is important because it verifies that the
module is working.  Note that when you run that command during the
`DBD::mysql' installation to exercise the interface code, the MySQL
server must be running or the test will fail.

It is a good idea to rebuild and reinstall the `DBD::mysql'
distribution whenever you install a new release of MySQL, particularly
if you notice symptoms such as that all your `DBI' scripts fail after
you upgrade MySQL.

If you don't have access rights to install Perl modules in the system
directory or if you want to install local Perl modules, the following
reference may be useful:

     `http://servers.digitaldaze.com/extensions/perl/modules.html#modules'

Look under the heading `Installing New Modules that Require Locally
Installed Modules'.

Installing ActiveState Perl on Windows
--------------------------------------

On Windows, you should do the following to install the MySQL `DBD'
module with ActiveState Perl:

   * Get ActiveState Perl from
     `http://www.activestate.com/Products/ActivePerl/' and install it.

   * Open a console window (a "DOS window").

   * If required, set the `HTTP_proxy' variable. For example, you might
     try:

          set HTTP_proxy=my.proxy.com:3128

   * Start the PPM program:

          C:\> c:\perl\bin\ppm.pl

   * If you have not already done so, install `DBI':

          ppm> install DBI

   * If this succeeds, run the following command:

          install \
          ftp://ftp.de.uu.net/pub/CPAN/authors/id/JWIED/DBD-mysql-1.2212.x86.ppd

The above should work at least with ActiveState Perl Version 5.6.

If you can't get the above to work, you should instead install the
`MyODBC' driver and connect to the MySQL server through ODBC:

     use DBI;
     $dbh= DBI->connect("DBI:ODBC:$dsn",$user,$password) ||
       die "Got error $DBI::errstr when connecting to $dsn\n";

Problems Using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' Interface
---------------------------------------------

If Perl reports that it can't find the `../mysql/mysql.so' module, then
the problem is probably that Perl can't locate the shared library
`libmysqlclient.so'.

You should be able to fix this by one of the following methods:

   * Compile the `DBD::mysql' distribution with `perl Makefile.PL
     -static -config' rather than `perl Makefile.PL'.

   * Copy `libmysqlclient.so' to the directory where your other shared
     libraries are located (probably `/usr/lib' or `/lib').

   * Modify the `-L' options used to compile `DBD::mysql' to reflect
     the actual location of `libmysqlclient.so'.

   * On Linux you can add the pathname of the directory where
     `libmysqlclient.so' is located to the `/etc/ld.so.conf' file.

   * Add the pathname of the directory where `libmysqlclient.so' is
     located to the `LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable. Some systems use
     `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' instead.

Note that you may also need to modify the `-L' options if there are
other libraries that the linker fails to find. For example, if the
linker cannot find `libc' because it is in `/lib' and the link command
specifies `-L/usr/lib', change the `-L' option to `-L/lib' or add
`-L/lib' to the existing link command.

If you get the following errors from `DBD::mysql', you are probably
using `gcc' (or using an old binary compiled with `gcc'):

     /usr/bin/perl: can't resolve symbol '__moddi3'
     /usr/bin/perl: can't resolve symbol '__divdi3'

Add `-L/usr/lib/gcc-lib/... -lgcc' to the link command when the
`mysql.so' library gets built (check the output from `make' for
`mysql.so' when you compile the Perl client).  The `-L' option should
specify the pathname of the directory where `libgcc.a' is located on
your system.

Another cause of this problem may be that Perl and MySQL aren't both
compiled with `gcc'.  In this case, you can solve the mismatch by
compiling both with `gcc'.

You may see the following error from `DBD::mysql' when you run the
tests:

     t/00base............install_driver(mysql) failed:
     Can't load '../blib/arch/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so' for module DBD::mysql:
     ../blib/arch/auto/DBD/mysql/mysql.so: undefined symbol:
     uncompress at /usr/lib/perl5/5.00503/i586-linux/DynaLoader.pm line 169.

This means that you need to include the `-lz' compression library on the
link line. That can be done by changing the following line in the file
`lib/DBD/mysql/Install.pm':

     $sysliblist .= " -lm";

Change that line to:

     $sysliblist .= " -lm -lz";

After this, you *must* run `make realclean' and then proceed with the
installation from the beginning.

If you want to install DBI on SCO, you have to edit the `Makefile' in
DBI-xxx and each subdirectory.

Note that the following assumes `gcc' 2.95.2 or newer:

     OLD:                                  NEW:
     CC = cc                               CC = gcc
     CCCDLFLAGS = -KPIC -W1,-Bexport       CCCDLFLAGS = -fpic
     CCDLFLAGS = -wl,-Bexport              CCDLFLAGS =
     
     LD = ld                               LD = gcc -G -fpic
     LDDLFLAGS = -G -L/usr/local/lib       LDDLFLAGS = -L/usr/local/lib
     LDFLAGS = -belf -L/usr/local/lib      LDFLAGS = -L/usr/local/lib
     
     LD = ld                               LD = gcc -G -fpic
     OPTIMISE = -Od                        OPTIMISE = -O1
     
     OLD:
     CCCFLAGS = -belf -dy -w0 -U M_XENIX -DPERL_SCO5 -I/usr/local/include
     
     NEW:
     CCFLAGS = -U M_XENIX -DPERL_SCO5 -I/usr/local/include

This is because the Perl dynaloader will not load the `DBI' modules if
they were compiled with `icc' or `cc'.

If you want to use the Perl module on a system that doesn't support
dynamic linking (like SCO) you can generate a static version of Perl
that includes `DBI' and `DBD::mysql'.  The way this works is that you
generate a version of Perl with the `DBI' code linked in and install it
on top of your current Perl.  Then you use that to build a version of
Perl that additionally has the `DBD' code linked in, and install that.

On SCO, you must have the following environment variables set:

     shell> LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/local/lib:/usr/progressive/lib
     or:
     shell> LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/usr/lib:/lib:/usr/local/lib:/usr/ccs/lib:\
     /usr/progressive/lib:/usr/skunk/lib
     shell> LIBPATH=/usr/lib:/lib:/usr/local/lib:/usr/ccs/lib:\
     /usr/progressive/lib:/usr/skunk/lib
     shell> MANPATH=scohelp:/usr/man:/usr/local1/man:/usr/local/man:\
     /usr/skunk/man:

First, create a Perl that includes a statically linked `DBI' module by
running these commands in the directory where your `DBI' distribution is
located:

     shell> perl Makefile.PL -static -config
     shell> make
     shell> make install
     shell> make perl

Then you must install the new Perl. The output of `make perl' will
indicate the exact `make' command you will need to execute to perform
the installation.  On SCO, this is `make -f Makefile.aperl inst_perl
MAP_TARGET=perl'.

Next, use the just-created Perl to create another Perl that also
includes a statically linked `DBD::mysql' by running these commands in
the directory where your `DBD::mysql' distribution is located:

     shell> perl Makefile.PL -static -config
     shell> make
     shell> make install
     shell> make perl

Finally, you should install this new Perl.  Again, the output of `make
perl' indicates the command to use.

MySQL Tutorial
**************

This chapter provides a tutorial introduction to MySQL by showing how
to use the `mysql' client program to create and use a simple database.
`mysql' (sometimes referred to as the "terminal monitor" or just
"monitor") is an interactive program that allows you to connect to a
MySQL server, run queries, and view the results.  `mysql' may also be
used in batch mode: you place your queries in a file beforehand, then
tell `mysql' to execute the contents of the file.  Both ways of using
`mysql' are covered here.

To see a list of options provided by `mysql', invoke it with the
`--help' option:

     shell> mysql --help

This chapter assumes that `mysql' is installed on your machine and that
a MySQL server is available to which you can connect.  If this is not
true, contact your MySQL administrator.  (If *you* are the
administrator, you will need to consult other sections of this manual.)

This chapter describes the entire process of setting up and using a
database.  If you are interested only in accessing an already-existing
database, you may want to skip over the sections that describe how to
create the database and the tables it contains.

Because this chapter is tutorial in nature, many details are necessarily
omitted.  Consult the relevant sections of the manual for more
information on the topics covered here.

Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Server
===============================================

To connect to the server, you'll usually need to provide a MySQL
username when you invoke `mysql' and, most likely, a password.  If the
server runs on a machine other than the one where you log in, you'll
also need to specify a hostname.  Contact your administrator to find
out what connection parameters you should use to connect (that is, what
host, username, and password to use).  Once you know the proper
parameters, you should be able to connect like this:

     shell> mysql -h host -u user -p
     Enter password: ********

`host' and `user' represent the hostname where your MySQL server is
running and the username of your MySQL account.  Substitute appropriate
values for your setup.  The `********' represents your password; enter
it when `mysql' displays the `Enter password:' prompt.

If that works, you should see some introductory information followed by
a `mysql>' prompt:

     shell> mysql -h host -u user -p
     Enter password: ********
     Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
     Your MySQL connection id is 25338 to server version: 4.0.14-log
     
     Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.
     
     mysql>

The prompt tells you that `mysql' is ready for you to enter commands.

Some MySQL installations allow users to connect as the anonymous
(unnamed) user to the server running on the local host.  If this is the
case on your machine, you should be able to connect to that server by
invoking `mysql' without any options:

     shell> mysql

After you have connected successfully, you can disconnect any time by
typing `QUIT' (or `\q') at the `mysql>' prompt:

     mysql> QUIT
     Bye

On Unix, you can also disconnect by pressing Control-D.

Most examples in the following sections assume you are connected to the
server.  They indicate this by the `mysql>' prompt.

Entering Queries
================

Make sure you are connected to the server, as discussed in the previous
section.  Doing so will not in itself select any database to work with,
but that's okay.  At this point, it's more important to find out a
little about how to issue queries than to jump right in creating
tables, loading data into them, and retrieving data from them.  This
section describes the basic principles of entering commands, using
several queries you can try out to familiarise yourself with how
`mysql' works.

Here's a simple command that asks the server to tell you its version
number and the current date.  Type it in as shown here following the
`mysql>' prompt and press Enter:

     mysql> SELECT VERSION(), CURRENT_DATE;
     +--------------+--------------+
     | VERSION()    | CURRENT_DATE |
     +--------------+--------------+
     | 3.22.20a-log | 1999-03-19   |
     +--------------+--------------+
     1 row in set (0.01 sec)
     mysql>

This query illustrates several things about `mysql':

   * A command normally consists of an SQL statement followed by a
     semicolon.  (There are some exceptions where a semicolon may be
     omitted.  `QUIT', mentioned earlier, is one of them.  We'll get to
     others later.)

   * When you issue a command, `mysql' sends it to the server for
     execution and displays the results, then prints another `mysql>'
     prompt to indicate that it is ready for another command.

   * `mysql' displays query output in tabular form (rows and columns).
     The first row contains labels for the columns.  The rows following
     are the query results.  Normally, column labels are the names of
     the columns you fetch from database tables.  If you're retrieving
     the value of an expression rather than a table column (as in the
     example just shown), `mysql' labels the column using the
     expression itself.

   * `mysql' shows how many rows were returned and how long the query
     took to execute, which gives you a rough idea of server
     performance.  These values are imprecise because they represent
     wall clock time (not CPU or machine time), and because they are
     affected by factors such as server load and network latency.  (For
     brevity, the "rows in set" line is not shown in the remaining
     examples in this chapter.)

Keywords may be entered in any lettercase.  The following queries are
equivalent:

     mysql> SELECT VERSION(), CURRENT_DATE;
     mysql> select version(), current_date;
     mysql> SeLeCt vErSiOn(), current_DATE;

Here's another query.  It demonstrates that you can use `mysql' as a
simple calculator:

     mysql> SELECT SIN(PI()/4), (4+1)*5;
     +-------------+---------+
     | SIN(PI()/4) | (4+1)*5 |
     +-------------+---------+
     |    0.707107 |      25 |
     +-------------+---------+

The queries shown thus far have been relatively short, single-line
statements.  You can even enter multiple statements on a single line.
Just end each one with a semicolon:

     mysql> SELECT VERSION(); SELECT NOW();
     +--------------+
     | VERSION()    |
     +--------------+
     | 3.22.20a-log |
     +--------------+
     
     +---------------------+
     | NOW()               |
     +---------------------+
     | 1999-03-19 00:15:33 |
     +---------------------+

A command need not be given all on a single line, so lengthy commands
that require several lines are not a problem.  `mysql' determines where
your statement ends by looking for the terminating semicolon, not by
looking for the end of the input line.  (In other words, `mysql'
accepts free-format input:  it collects input lines but does not
execute them until it sees the semicolon.)

Here's a simple multiple-line statement:

     mysql> SELECT
         -> USER()
         -> ,
         -> CURRENT_DATE;
     +--------------------+--------------+
     | USER()             | CURRENT_DATE |
     +--------------------+--------------+
     | joesmith@localhost | 1999-03-18   |
     +--------------------+--------------+

In this example, notice how the prompt changes from `mysql>' to `->'
after you enter the first line of a multiple-line query.  This is how
`mysql' indicates that it hasn't seen a complete statement and is
waiting for the rest.  The prompt is your friend, because it provides
valuable feedback.  If you use that feedback, you will always be aware
of what `mysql' is waiting for.

If you decide you don't want to execute a command that you are in the
process of entering, cancel it by typing `\c':

     mysql> SELECT
         -> USER()
         -> \c
     mysql>

Here, too, notice the prompt.  It switches back to `mysql>' after you
type `\c', providing feedback to indicate that `mysql' is ready for a
new command.

The following table shows each of the prompts you may see and
summarizes what they mean about the state that `mysql' is in:

*Prompt**Meaning*
`mysql>'Ready for new command.
`       Waiting for next line of multiple-line command.
->'     
`       Waiting for next line, collecting a string that begins
'>'     with a single quote (`'').
`       Waiting for next line, collecting a string that begins
">'     with a double quote (`"').
`       Waiting for next line, collecting an identifier that
`>'     begins with a backtick (``').

Multiple-line statements commonly occur by accident when you intend to
issue a command on a single line, but forget the terminating semicolon.
In this case, `mysql' waits for more input:

     mysql> SELECT USER()
         ->

If this happens to you (you think you've entered a statement but the
only response is a `->' prompt), most likely `mysql' is waiting for the
semicolon.  If you don't notice what the prompt is telling you, you
might sit there for a while before realising what you need to do.
Enter a semicolon to complete the statement, and `mysql' will execute
it:

     mysql> SELECT USER()
         -> ;
     +--------------------+
     | USER()             |
     +--------------------+
     | joesmith@localhost |
     +--------------------+

The `'>' and `">' prompts occur during string collection.  In MySQL,
you can write strings surrounded by either `'' or `"' characters (for
example, `'hello'' or `"goodbye"'), and `mysql' lets you enter strings
that span multiple lines.  When you see a `'>' or `">' prompt, it means
that you've entered a line containing a string that begins with a `''
or `"' quote character, but have not yet entered the matching quote
that terminates the string.  That's fine if you really are entering a
multiple-line string, but how likely is that?  Not very.  More often,
the `'>' and `">' prompts indicate that you've inadvertantly left out a
quote character.  For example:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE name = "Smith AND age < 30;
         ">

If you enter this `SELECT' statement, then press Enter and wait for the
result, nothing will happen.  Instead of wondering why this query takes
so long, notice the clue provided by the `">' prompt.  It tells you
that `mysql' expects to see the rest of an unterminated string.  (Do
you see the error in the statement?  The string `"Smith' is missing the
second quote.)

At this point, what do you do?  The simplest thing is to cancel the
command.  However, you cannot just type `\c' in this case, because
`mysql' interprets it as part of the string that it is collecting!
Instead, enter the closing quote character (so `mysql' knows you've
finished the string), then type `\c':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE name = "Smith AND age < 30;
         "> "\c
     mysql>

The prompt changes back to `mysql>', indicating that `mysql' is ready
for a new command.

The ``>' prompt is similar to th `'>' and `">' prompts, but indicates
that you have begun but not completed a backtick-quoted identifier.

It's important to know what the `'>', `">', and ``>' prompts signify,
because if you mistakenly enter an unterminated string, any further
lines you type will appear to be ignored by `mysql'--including a line
containing `QUIT'!  This can be quite confusing, especially if you
don't know that you need to supply the terminating quote before you can
cancel the current command.

Creating and Using a Database
=============================

Now that you know how to enter commands, it's time to access a database.

Suppose you have several pets in your home (your menagerie) and you'd
like to keep track of various types of information about them.  You can
do so by creating tables to hold your data and loading them with the
desired information.  Then you can answer different sorts of questions
about your animals by retrieving data from the tables.  This section
shows you how to:

   * Create a database

   * Create a table

   * Load data into the table

   * Retrieve data from the table in various ways

   * Use multiple tables

The menagerie database will be simple (deliberately), but it is not
difficult to think of real-world situations in which a similar type of
database might be used.  For example, a database like this could be
used by a farmer to keep track of livestock, or by a veterinarian to
keep track of patient records.  A menagerie distribution containing
some of the queries and sample data used in the following sections can
be obtained from the MySQL web site.  It's available in either
compressed `tar' format
(`http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Contrib/Examples/menagerie.tar.gz') or
Zip format
(`http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/Contrib/Examples/menagerie.zip').

Use the `SHOW' statement to find out what databases currently exist on
the server:

     mysql> SHOW DATABASES;
     +----------+
     | Database |
     +----------+
     | mysql    |
     | test     |
     | tmp      |
     +----------+

The list of databases is probably different on your machine, but the
`mysql' and `test' databases are likely to be among them.  The `mysql'
database is required because it describes user access privileges.  The
`test' database is often provided as a workspace for users to try
things out.

Note that you may not see all databases if you don't have the `SHOW
DATABASES' privilege. *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

If the `test' database exists, try to access it:

     mysql> USE test
     Database changed

Note that `USE', like `QUIT', does not require a semicolon.  (You can
terminate such statements with a semicolon if you like; it does no
harm.)  The `USE' statement is special in another way, too:  it must be
given on a single line.

You can use the `test' database (if you have access to it) for the
examples that follow, but anything you create in that database can be
removed by anyone else with access to it.  For this reason, you should
probably ask your MySQL administrator for permission to use a database
of your own.  Suppose you want to call yours `menagerie'.  The
administrator needs to execute a command like this:

     mysql> GRANT ALL ON menagerie.* TO 'your_mysql_name'@'your_client_host';

where `your_mysql_name' is the MySQL username assigned to you and
`your_client_host' is the host from which you connect to the server.

Creating and Selecting a Database
---------------------------------

If the administrator creates your database for you when setting up your
permissions, you can begin using it.  Otherwise, you need to create it
yourself:

     mysql> CREATE DATABASE menagerie;

Under Unix, database names are case-sensitive (unlike SQL keywords), so
you must always refer to your database as `menagerie', not as
`Menagerie', `MENAGERIE', or some other variant.  This is also true for
table names.  (Under Windows, this restriction does not apply, although
you must refer to databases and tables using the same lettercase
throughout a given query.)

Creating a database does not select it for use; you must do that
explicitly.  To make `menagerie' the current database, use this command:

     mysql> USE menagerie
     Database changed

Your database needs to be created only once, but you must select it for
use each time you begin a `mysql' session.  You can do this by issuing a
`USE' statement as shown in the example.  Alternatively, you can select
the database on the command-line when you invoke `mysql'.  Just specify
its name after any connection parameters that you might need to
provide.  For example:

     shell> mysql -h host -u user -p menagerie
     Enter password: ********

Note that `menagerie' is not your password on the command just shown.
If you want to supply your password on the command-line after the `-p'
option, you must do so with no intervening space (for example, as
`-pmypassword', not as `-p mypassword').  However, putting your
password on the command-line is not recommended, because doing so
exposes it to snooping by other users logged in on your machine.

Creating a Table
----------------

Creating the database is the easy part, but at this point it's empty, as
`SHOW TABLES' will tell you:

     mysql> SHOW TABLES;
     Empty set (0.00 sec)

The harder part is deciding what the structure of your database should
be: what tables you will need and what columns will be in each of them.

You'll want a table that contains a record for each of your pets.  This
can be called the `pet' table, and it should contain, as a bare minimum,
each animal's name.  Because the name by itself is not very
interesting, the table should contain other information.  For example,
if more than one person in your family keeps pets, you might want to
list each animal's owner.  You might also want to record some basic
descriptive information such as species and sex.

How about age?  That might be of interest, but it's not a good thing to
store in a database.  Age changes as time passes, which means you'd
have to update your records often.  Instead, it's better to store a
fixed value such as date of birth.  Then, whenever you need age, you
can calculate it as the difference between the current date and the
birth date.  MySQL provides functions for doing date arithmetic, so
this is not difficult.  Storing birth date rather than age has other
advantages, too:

   * You can use the database for tasks such as generating reminders
     for upcoming pet birthdays.  (If you think this type of query is
     somewhat silly, note that it is the same question you might ask in
     the context of a business database to identify clients to whom
     you'll soon need to send out birthday greetings, for that
     computer-assisted personal touch.)

   * You can calculate age in relation to dates other than the current
     date.  For example, if you store death date in the database, you
     can easily calculate how old a pet was when it died.

You can probably think of other types of information that would be
useful in the `pet' table, but the ones identified so far are
sufficient for now: name, owner, species, sex, birth, and death.

Use a `CREATE TABLE' statement to specify the layout of your table:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE pet (name VARCHAR(20), owner VARCHAR(20),
         -> species VARCHAR(20), sex CHAR(1), birth DATE, death DATE);

`VARCHAR' is a good choice for the `name', `owner', and `species'
columns because the column values will vary in length.  The lengths of
those columns need not all be the same, and need not be `20'.  You can
pick any length from `1' to `255', whatever seems most reasonable to
you.  (If you make a poor choice and it turns out later that you need a
longer field, MySQL provides an `ALTER TABLE' statement.)

Several types of values can be chosen to represent sex in animal
records, such as `"m"' and `"f"', or perhaps `"male"' and `"female"'.
It's simplest to use the single characters `"m"' and `"f"'.

The use of the `DATE' datatype for the `birth' and `death' columns is a
fairly obvious choice.

Now that you have created a table, `SHOW TABLES' should produce some
output:

     mysql> SHOW TABLES;
     +---------------------+
     | Tables in menagerie |
     +---------------------+
     | pet                 |
     +---------------------+

To verify that your table was created the way you expected, use a
`DESCRIBE' statement:

     mysql> DESCRIBE pet;
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | Field   | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | name    | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | owner   | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | species | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | sex     | char(1)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | birth   | date        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | death   | date        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

You can use `DESCRIBE' any time, for example, if you forget the names of
the columns in your table or what types they have.

Loading Data into a Table
-------------------------

After creating your table, you need to populate it.  The `LOAD DATA' and
`INSERT' statements are useful for this.

Suppose your pet records can be described as shown here.  (Observe that
MySQL expects dates in `'YYYY-MM-DD'' format; this may be different
from what you are used to.)

*name*  *owner* *species**sex**birth*        *death*
Fluffy  Harold  cat     f    1993-02-04     
Claws   Gwen    cat     m    1994-03-17     
Buffy   Harold  dog     f    1989-05-13     
Fang    Benny   dog     m    1990-08-27     
Bowser  Diane   dog     m    1979-08-31     1995-07-29
Chirpy  Gwen    bird    f    1998-09-11     
WhistlerGwen    bird         1997-12-09     
Slim    Benny   snake   m    1996-04-29     

Because you are beginning with an empty table, an easy way to populate
it is to create a text file containing a row for each of your animals,
then load the contents of the file into the table with a single
statement.

You could create a text file `pet.txt' containing one record per line,
with values separated by tabs, and given in the order in which the
columns were listed in the `CREATE TABLE' statement.  For missing
values (such as unknown sexes or death dates for animals that are still
living), you can use `NULL' values.  To represent these in your text
file, use `\N' (backslash, capital-N).  For example, the record for
Whistler the bird would look like this (where the whitespace between
values is a single tab character):

*name*  *owner* *species**sex**birth*        *death*
`Whistler'`Gwen'  `bird'  `\N' `1997-12-09'   `\N'

To load the text file `pet.txt' into the `pet' table, use this command:

     mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "pet.txt" INTO TABLE pet;

Note that if you created the file on Windows with an editor that uses
`\r\n' as a line terminator, you should use:

     mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "pet.txt" INTO TABLE pet
         -> LINES TERMINATED BY '\r\n';

You can specify the column value separator and end of line marker
explicitly in the `LOAD DATA' statement if you wish, but the defaults
are tab and linefeed.  These are sufficient for the statement to read
the file `pet.txt' properly.

If the statement fails, it is likely that your MySQL installation does
not have local file capability enabled by default.  See *Note `LOAD
DATA LOCAL': LOAD DATA LOCAL for information on how to change this.

When you want to add new records one at a time, the `INSERT' statement
is useful.  In its simplest form, you supply values for each column, in
the order in which the columns were listed in the `CREATE TABLE'
statement.  Suppose Diane gets a new hamster named Puffball.  You could
add a new record using an `INSERT' statement like this:

     mysql> INSERT INTO pet
         -> VALUES ('Puffball','Diane','hamster','f','1999-03-30',NULL);

Note that string and date values are specified as quoted strings here.
Also, with `INSERT', you can insert `NULL' directly to represent a
missing value.  You do not use `\N' like you do with `LOAD DATA'.

From this example, you should be able to see that there would be a lot
more typing involved to load your records initially using several
`INSERT' statements rather than a single `LOAD DATA' statement.

Retrieving Information from a Table
-----------------------------------

The `SELECT' statement is used to pull information from a table.  The
general form of the statement is:

     SELECT what_to_select
     FROM which_table
     WHERE conditions_to_satisfy;

`what_to_select' indicates what you want to see.  This can be a list of
columns, or `*' to indicate "all columns." `which_table' indicates the
table from which you want to retrieve data.  The `WHERE' clause is
optional.  If it's present, `conditions_to_satisfy' specifies
conditions that rows must satisfy to qualify for retrieval.

Selecting All Data
..................

The simplest form of `SELECT' retrieves everything from a table:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet;
     +----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name     | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Fluffy   | Harold | cat     | f    | 1993-02-04 | NULL       |
     | Claws    | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL       |
     | Buffy    | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL       |
     | Fang     | Benny  | dog     | m    | 1990-08-27 | NULL       |
     | Bowser   | Diane  | dog     | m    | 1979-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     | Chirpy   | Gwen   | bird    | f    | 1998-09-11 | NULL       |
     | Whistler | Gwen   | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL       |
     | Slim     | Benny  | snake   | m    | 1996-04-29 | NULL       |
     | Puffball | Diane  | hamster | f    | 1999-03-30 | NULL       |
     +----------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+

This form of `SELECT' is useful if you want to review your entire table,
for instance, after you've just loaded it with your initial dataset.
For example, you may happen to think that the birth date for Bowser
doesn't seem quite right.  Consulting your original pedigree papers,
you find that the correct birth year should be 1989, not 1979.

There are least a couple of ways to fix this:

   * Edit the file `pet.txt' to correct the error, then empty the table
     and reload it using `DELETE' and `LOAD DATA':

          mysql> DELETE FROM pet;
          mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "pet.txt" INTO TABLE pet;

     However, if you do this, you must also re-enter the record for
     Puffball.

   * Fix only the erroneous record with an `UPDATE' statement:

          mysql> UPDATE pet SET birth = "1989-08-31" WHERE name = "Bowser";

     The `UPDATE' changes only the record in question and does not
     require you to reload the table.

Selecting Particular Rows
.........................

As shown in the preceding section, it is easy to retrieve an entire
table.  Just omit the `WHERE' clause from the `SELECT' statement.  But
typically you don't want to see the entire table, particularly when it
becomes large.  Instead, you're usually more interested in answering a
particular question, in which case you specify some constraints on the
information you want.  Let's look at some selection queries in terms of
questions about your pets that they answer.

You can select only particular rows from your table.  For example, if
you want to verify the change that you made to Bowser's birth date,
select Bowser's record like this:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name = "Bowser";
     +--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name   | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Bowser | Diane | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     +--------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+

The output confirms that the year is correctly recorded now as 1989,
not 1979.

String comparisons normally are case-insensitive, so you can specify the
name as `"bowser"', `"BOWSER"', etc.  The query result will be the same.

You can specify conditions on any column, not just `name'.  For example,
if you want to know which animals were born after 1998, test the `birth'
column:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE birth >= "1998-1-1";
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Chirpy   | Gwen  | bird    | f    | 1998-09-11 | NULL  |
     | Puffball | Diane | hamster | f    | 1999-03-30 | NULL  |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+

You can combine conditions, for example, to locate female dogs:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE species = "dog" AND sex = "f";
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

The preceding query uses the `AND' logical operator.  There is also an
`OR' operator:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE species = "snake" OR species = "bird";
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Chirpy   | Gwen  | bird    | f    | 1998-09-11 | NULL  |
     | Whistler | Gwen  | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL  |
     | Slim     | Benny | snake   | m    | 1996-04-29 | NULL  |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+-------+

`AND' and `OR' may be intermixed, though `AND' has higher precedence
than `OR'.  If you use both operators, it's a good idea to use
parentheses to indicate explicitly how conditions should be grouped:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE (species = "cat" AND sex = "m")
         -> OR (species = "dog" AND sex = "f");
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

Selecting Particular Columns
............................

If you don't want to see entire rows from your table, just name the
columns in which you're interested, separated by commas.  For example,
if you want to know when your animals were born, select the `name' and
`birth' columns:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet;
     +----------+------------+
     | name     | birth      |
     +----------+------------+
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
     +----------+------------+

To find out who owns pets, use this query:

     mysql> SELECT owner FROM pet;
     +--------+
     | owner  |
     +--------+
     | Harold |
     | Gwen   |
     | Harold |
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     | Gwen   |
     | Gwen   |
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     +--------+

However, notice that the query simply retrieves the `owner' field from
each record, and some of them appear more than once.  To minimise the
output, retrieve each unique output record just once by adding the
keyword `DISTINCT':

     mysql> SELECT DISTINCT owner FROM pet;
     +--------+
     | owner  |
     +--------+
     | Benny  |
     | Diane  |
     | Gwen   |
     | Harold |
     +--------+

You can use a `WHERE' clause to combine row selection with column
selection.  For example, to get birth dates for dogs and cats only, use
this query:

     mysql> SELECT name, species, birth FROM pet
         -> WHERE species = "dog" OR species = "cat";
     +--------+---------+------------+
     | name   | species | birth      |
     +--------+---------+------------+
     | Fluffy | cat     | 1993-02-04 |
     | Claws  | cat     | 1994-03-17 |
     | Buffy  | dog     | 1989-05-13 |
     | Fang   | dog     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser | dog     | 1989-08-31 |
     +--------+---------+------------+

Sorting Rows
............

You may have noticed in the preceding examples that the result rows are
displayed in no particular order.  It's often easier to examine query
output when the rows are sorted in some meaningful way.  To sort a
result, use an `ORDER BY' clause.

Here are animal birthdays, sorted by date:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet ORDER BY birth;
     +----------+------------+
     | name     | birth      |
     +----------+------------+
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
     +----------+------------+

On character type columns, sorting--like all other comparison
operations--is normally performed in a case-insensitive fashion.  This
means that the order will be undefined for columns that are identical
except for their case. You can force a case-sensitive sort for a column
by using the `BINARY' cast: `ORDER BY BINARY col_name'.

The default sort order is ascending, with smallest values first.  To
sort in reverse (descending) order, add the `DESC' keyword to the name
of the column you are sorting by:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet ORDER BY birth DESC;
     +----------+------------+
     | name     | birth      |
     +----------+------------+
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |
     +----------+------------+

You can sort on multiple columns, and you can sort columns in different
directions.  For example, to sort by type of animal in ascending order,
then by birth date within animal type in descending order (youngest
animals first), use the following query:

     mysql> SELECT name, species, birth FROM pet ORDER BY species, birth DESC;
     +----------+---------+------------+
     | name     | species | birth      |
     +----------+---------+------------+
     | Chirpy   | bird    | 1998-09-11 |
     | Whistler | bird    | 1997-12-09 |
     | Claws    | cat     | 1994-03-17 |
     | Fluffy   | cat     | 1993-02-04 |
     | Fang     | dog     | 1990-08-27 |
     | Bowser   | dog     | 1989-08-31 |
     | Buffy    | dog     | 1989-05-13 |
     | Puffball | hamster | 1999-03-30 |
     | Slim     | snake   | 1996-04-29 |
     +----------+---------+------------+

Note that the `DESC' keyword applies only to the column name immediately
preceding it (`birth'); it does not affect the `species' column sort
order.

Date Calculations
.................

MySQL provides several functions that you can use to perform
calculations on dates, for example, to calculate ages or extract parts
of dates.

To determine how many years old each of your pets is, compute the
difference in the year part of the current date and the birth date, then
subtract one if the current date occurs earlier in the calendar year
than the birth date.  The following query shows, for each pet, the
birth date, the current date, and the age in years.

     mysql> SELECT name, birth, CURDATE(),
         -> (YEAR(CURDATE())-YEAR(birth))
         -> - (RIGHT(CURDATE(),5)<RIGHT(birth,5))
         -> AS age
         -> FROM pet;
     +----------+------------+------------+------+
     | name     | birth      | CURDATE()  | age  |
     +----------+------------+------------+------+
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 | 2003-08-19 |   10 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 | 2003-08-19 |    9 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 | 2003-08-19 |   14 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 | 2003-08-19 |   12 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 | 2003-08-19 |   13 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 | 2003-08-19 |    4 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 | 2003-08-19 |    5 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 | 2003-08-19 |    7 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 | 2003-08-19 |    4 |
     +----------+------------+------------+------+

Here, `YEAR()' pulls out the year part of a date and `RIGHT()' pulls
off the rightmost five characters that represent the `MM-DD' (calendar
year) part of the date.  The part of the expression that compares the
`MM-DD' values evaluates to 1 or 0, which adjusts the year difference
down a year if `CURDATE()' occurs earlier in the year than `birth'.
The full expression is somewhat ungainly, so an alias (`age') is used
to make the output column label more meaningful.

The query works, but the result could be scanned more easily if the rows
were presented in some order.  This can be done by adding an `ORDER BY
name' clause to sort the output by name:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth, CURDATE(),
         -> (YEAR(CURDATE())-YEAR(birth))
         -> - (RIGHT(CURDATE(),5)<RIGHT(birth,5))
         -> AS age
         -> FROM pet ORDER BY name;
     +----------+------------+------------+------+
     | name     | birth      | CURDATE()  | age  |
     +----------+------------+------------+------+
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 | 2003-08-19 |   13 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 | 2003-08-19 |   14 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 | 2003-08-19 |    4 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 | 2003-08-19 |    9 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 | 2003-08-19 |   12 |
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 | 2003-08-19 |   10 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 | 2003-08-19 |    4 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 | 2003-08-19 |    7 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 | 2003-08-19 |    5 |
     +----------+------------+------------+------+

To sort the output by `age' rather than `name', just use a different
`ORDER BY' clause:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth, CURDATE(),
         -> (YEAR(CURDATE())-YEAR(birth))
         -> - (RIGHT(CURDATE(),5)<RIGHT(birth,5))
         -> AS age
         -> FROM pet ORDER BY age;
     +----------+------------+------------+------+
     | name     | birth      | CURDATE()  | age  |
     +----------+------------+------------+------+
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 | 2003-08-19 |    4 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 | 2003-08-19 |    4 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 | 2003-08-19 |    5 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 | 2003-08-19 |    7 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 | 2003-08-19 |    9 |
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 | 2003-08-19 |   10 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 | 2003-08-19 |   12 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 | 2003-08-19 |   13 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 | 2003-08-19 |   14 |
     +----------+------------+------------+------+

A similar query can be used to determine age at death for animals that
have died.  You determine which animals these are by checking whether
the `death' value is `NULL'.  Then, for those with non-`NULL' values,
compute the difference between the `death' and `birth' values:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth, death,
         -> (YEAR(death)-YEAR(birth)) - (RIGHT(death,5)<RIGHT(birth,5))
         -> AS age
         -> FROM pet WHERE death IS NOT NULL ORDER BY age;
     +--------+------------+------------+------+
     | name   | birth      | death      | age  |
     +--------+------------+------------+------+
     | Bowser | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |    5 |
     +--------+------------+------------+------+

The query uses `death IS NOT NULL' rather than `death <> NULL' because
`NULL' is a special value that cannot be compared using the usual
comparison operators.  This is discussed later.  *Note Working with
`NULL': Working with NULL.

What if you want to know which animals have birthdays next month?  For
this type of calculation, year and day are irrelevant; you simply want
to extract the month part of the `birth' column.  MySQL provides several
date-part extraction functions, such as `YEAR()', `MONTH()', and
`DAYOFMONTH()'.  `MONTH()' is the appropriate function here.  To see
how it works, run a simple query that displays the value of both
`birth' and `MONTH(birth)':

     mysql> SELECT name, birth, MONTH(birth) FROM pet;
     +----------+------------+--------------+
     | name     | birth      | MONTH(birth) |
     +----------+------------+--------------+
     | Fluffy   | 1993-02-04 |            2 |
     | Claws    | 1994-03-17 |            3 |
     | Buffy    | 1989-05-13 |            5 |
     | Fang     | 1990-08-27 |            8 |
     | Bowser   | 1989-08-31 |            8 |
     | Chirpy   | 1998-09-11 |            9 |
     | Whistler | 1997-12-09 |           12 |
     | Slim     | 1996-04-29 |            4 |
     | Puffball | 1999-03-30 |            3 |
     +----------+------------+--------------+

Finding animals with birthdays in the upcoming month is easy, too.
Suppose the current month is April.  Then the month value is `4' and
you look for animals born in May (month `5') like this:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet WHERE MONTH(birth) = 5;
     +-------+------------+
     | name  | birth      |
     +-------+------------+
     | Buffy | 1989-05-13 |
     +-------+------------+

There is a small complication if the current month is December.  You
don't just add one to the month number (`12') and look for animals born
in month `13', because there is no such month.  Instead, you look for
animals born in January (month `1').

You can even write the query so that it works no matter what the current
month is.  That way you don't have to use a particular month number in
the query.  `DATE_ADD()' allows you to add a time interval to a given
date.  If you add a month to the value of `CURDATE()', then extract the
month part with `MONTH()', the result produces the month in which to
look for birthdays:

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet
         -> WHERE MONTH(birth) = MONTH(DATE_ADD(CURDATE(), INTERVAL 1 MONTH));

A different way to accomplish the same task is to add `1' to get the
next month after the current one (after using the modulo function
(`MOD') to wrap around the month value to `0' if it is currently `12'):

     mysql> SELECT name, birth FROM pet
         -> WHERE MONTH(birth) = MOD(MONTH(CURDATE()), 12) + 1;

Note that `MONTH' returns a number between `1' and `12'. And
`MOD(something,12)' returns a number between `0' and `11'. So the
addition has to be after the `MOD()', otherwise we would go from
November (`11') to January (`1').

Working with `NULL' Values
..........................

The `NULL' value can be surprising until you get used to it.
Conceptually, `NULL' means missing value or unknown value and it is
treated somewhat differently than other values.  To test for `NULL',
you cannot use the arithmetic comparison operators such as `=', `<', or
`<>'.  To demonstrate this for yourself, try the following query:

     mysql> SELECT 1 = NULL, 1 <> NULL, 1 < NULL, 1 > NULL;
     +----------+-----------+----------+----------+
     | 1 = NULL | 1 <> NULL | 1 < NULL | 1 > NULL |
     +----------+-----------+----------+----------+
     |     NULL |      NULL |     NULL |     NULL |
     +----------+-----------+----------+----------+

Clearly you get no meaningful results from these comparisons.  Use the
`IS NULL' and `IS NOT NULL' operators instead:

     mysql> SELECT 1 IS NULL, 1 IS NOT NULL;
     +-----------+---------------+
     | 1 IS NULL | 1 IS NOT NULL |
     +-----------+---------------+
     |         0 |             1 |
     +-----------+---------------+

Note that in MySQL, `0' or `NULL' means false and anything else means
true. The default truth value from a boolean operation is `1'.

This special treatment of `NULL' is why, in the previous section, it
was necessary to determine which animals are no longer alive using
`death IS NOT NULL' instead of `death <> NULL'.

Two `NULL' values are regarded as equal in a `GROUP BY'.

When doing an `ORDER BY', `NULL' values are presented first if you do
`ORDER BY ... ASC' and last if you do `ORDER BY ... DESC'.

Note that MySQL 4.0.2 to 4.0.10 incorrectly always sorts `NULL' values
first regardless of the sort direction.

Pattern Matching
................

MySQL provides standard SQL pattern matching as well as a form of
pattern matching based on extended regular expressions similar to those
used by Unix utilities such as `vi', `grep', and `sed'.

SQL pattern matching allows you to use `_' to match any single
character and `%' to match an arbitrary number of characters (including
zero characters).  In MySQL, SQL patterns are case-insensitive by
default.  Some examples are shown here.  Note that you do not use `='
or `<>' when you use SQL patterns; use the `LIKE' or `NOT LIKE'
comparison operators instead.

To find names beginning with `b':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name LIKE "b%";
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name   | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Buffy  | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL       |
     | Bowser | Diane  | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+

To find names ending with `fy':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name LIKE "%fy";
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name   | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Fluffy | Harold | cat     | f    | 1993-02-04 | NULL  |
     | Buffy  | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

To find names containing a `w':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name LIKE "%w%";
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Claws    | Gwen  | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL       |
     | Bowser   | Diane | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     | Whistler | Gwen  | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL       |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+

To find names containing exactly five characters, use fives instances of
the `_' pattern character:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name LIKE "_____";
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

The other type of pattern matching provided by MySQL uses extended
regular expressions.  When you test for a match for this type of
pattern, use the `REGEXP' and `NOT REGEXP' operators (or `RLIKE' and
`NOT RLIKE', which are synonyms).

Some characteristics of extended regular expressions are:

   * `.' matches any single character.

   * A character class `[...]' matches any character within the
     brackets.  For example, `[abc]' matches `a', `b', or `c'.  To name
     a range of characters, use a dash.  `[a-z]' matches any letter,
     whereas `[0-9]' matches any digit.

   * `*' matches zero or more instances of the thing preceding it.  For
     example, `x*' matches any number of `x' characters, `[0-9]*'
     matches any number of digits, and `.*' matches any number of
     anything.

   * A `REGEXP' pattern match succeed if the pattern matches anywhere
     in the value being tested.  (This differs from a `LIKE' pattern
     match, which succeeds only if the pattern matches the entire
     value.)

   * To anchor a pattern so that it must match the beginning or end of
     the value being tested, use `^' at the beginning or `$' at the end
     of the pattern.

To demonstrate how extended regular expressions work, the `LIKE' queries
shown previously are rewritten here to use `REGEXP'.

To find names beginning with `b', use `^' to match the beginning of the
name:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "^b";
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name   | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Buffy  | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL       |
     | Bowser | Diane  | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+------------+

Prior to MySQL Version 3.23.4, `REGEXP' is case-sensitive, and the
previous query will return no rows. In this case, to match either
lowercase or uppercase `b', use this query instead:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "^[bB]";

From MySQL 3.23.4 on, if you really want to force a `REGEXP' comparison
to be case-sensitive, use the `BINARY' keyword to make one of the
strings a binary string. This query will match only lowercase `b' at
the beginning of a name:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP BINARY "^b";

To find names ending with `fy', use `$' to match the end of the name:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "fy$";
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name   | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Fluffy | Harold | cat     | f    | 1993-02-04 | NULL  |
     | Buffy  | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +--------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

To find names containing a `w', use this query:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "w";
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | name     | owner | species | sex  | birth      | death      |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+
     | Claws    | Gwen  | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL       |
     | Bowser   | Diane | dog     | m    | 1989-08-31 | 1995-07-29 |
     | Whistler | Gwen  | bird    | NULL | 1997-12-09 | NULL       |
     +----------+-------+---------+------+------------+------------+

Because a regular expression pattern matches if it occurs anywhere in
the value, it is not necessary in the previous query to put a wildcard
on either side of the pattern to get it to match the entire value like
it would be if you used an SQL pattern.

To find names containing exactly five characters, use `^' and `$' to
match the beginning and end of the name, and five instances of `.' in
between:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "^.....$";
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

You could also write the previous query using the `{n}'
"repeat-`n'-times" operator:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM pet WHERE name REGEXP "^.{5}$";
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | name  | owner  | species | sex  | birth      | death |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+
     | Claws | Gwen   | cat     | m    | 1994-03-17 | NULL  |
     | Buffy | Harold | dog     | f    | 1989-05-13 | NULL  |
     +-------+--------+---------+------+------------+-------+

Counting Rows
.............

Databases are often used to answer the question, "How often does a
certain type of data occur in a table?"  For example, you might want to
know how many pets you have, or how many pets each owner has, or you
might want to perform various kinds of census operations on your
animals.

Counting the total number of animals you have is the same question as
"How many rows are in the `pet' table?" because there is one record per
pet.  `COUNT(*)' counts the number of rows, so the query to count your
animals looks like this:

     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM pet;
     +----------+
     | COUNT(*) |
     +----------+
     |        9 |
     +----------+

Earlier, you retrieved the names of the people who owned pets.  You can
use `COUNT()' if you want to find out how many pets each owner has:

     mysql> SELECT owner, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY owner;
     +--------+----------+
     | owner  | COUNT(*) |
     +--------+----------+
     | Benny  |        2 |
     | Diane  |        2 |
     | Gwen   |        3 |
     | Harold |        2 |
     +--------+----------+

Note the use of `GROUP BY' to group together all records for each
`owner'.  Without it, all you get is an error message:

     mysql> SELECT owner, COUNT(*) FROM pet;
     ERROR 1140: Mixing of GROUP columns (MIN(),MAX(),COUNT()...)
     with no GROUP columns is illegal if there is no GROUP BY clause

`COUNT()' and `GROUP BY' are useful for characterising your data in
various ways.  The following examples show different ways to perform
animal census operations.

Number of animals per species:

     mysql> SELECT species, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY species;
     +---------+----------+
     | species | COUNT(*) |
     +---------+----------+
     | bird    |        2 |
     | cat     |        2 |
     | dog     |        3 |
     | hamster |        1 |
     | snake   |        1 |
     +---------+----------+

Number of animals per sex:

     mysql> SELECT sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY sex;
     +------+----------+
     | sex  | COUNT(*) |
     +------+----------+
     | NULL |        1 |
     | f    |        4 |
     | m    |        4 |
     +------+----------+

(In this output, `NULL' indicates that the sex is unknown.)

Number of animals per combination of species and sex:

     mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet GROUP BY species, sex;
     +---------+------+----------+
     | species | sex  | COUNT(*) |
     +---------+------+----------+
     | bird    | NULL |        1 |
     | bird    | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | m    |        1 |
     | dog     | f    |        1 |
     | dog     | m    |        2 |
     | hamster | f    |        1 |
     | snake   | m    |        1 |
     +---------+------+----------+

You need not retrieve an entire table when you use `COUNT()'.  For
example, the previous query, when performed just on dogs and cats,
looks like this:

     mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet
         -> WHERE species = "dog" OR species = "cat"
         -> GROUP BY species, sex;
     +---------+------+----------+
     | species | sex  | COUNT(*) |
     +---------+------+----------+
     | cat     | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | m    |        1 |
     | dog     | f    |        1 |
     | dog     | m    |        2 |
     +---------+------+----------+

Or, if you wanted the number of animals per sex only for known-sex
animals:

     mysql> SELECT species, sex, COUNT(*) FROM pet
         -> WHERE sex IS NOT NULL
         -> GROUP BY species, sex;
     +---------+------+----------+
     | species | sex  | COUNT(*) |
     +---------+------+----------+
     | bird    | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | f    |        1 |
     | cat     | m    |        1 |
     | dog     | f    |        1 |
     | dog     | m    |        2 |
     | hamster | f    |        1 |
     | snake   | m    |        1 |
     +---------+------+----------+

Using More Than one Table
.........................

The `pet' table keeps track of which pets you have.  If you want to
record other information about them, such as events in their lives like
visits to the vet or when litters are born, you need another table.
What should this table look like? It needs:

   * To contain the pet name so you know which animal each event
     pertains to.

   * A date so you know when the event occurred.

   * A field to describe the event.

   * An event type field, if you want to be able to categorise events.

Given these considerations, the `CREATE TABLE' statement for the
`event' table might look like this:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE event (name VARCHAR(20), date DATE,
         -> type VARCHAR(15), remark VARCHAR(255));

As with the `pet' table, it's easiest to load the initial records by
creating a tab-delimited text file containing the information:

*name*      *date*      *type*      *remark*
Fluffy      1995-05-15  litter      4 kittens, 3 female, 1
                                    male
Buffy       1993-06-23  litter      5 puppies, 2 female, 3
                                    male
Buffy       1994-06-19  litter      3 puppies, 3 female
Chirpy      1999-03-21  vet         needed beak straightened
Slim        1997-08-03  vet         broken rib
Bowser      1991-10-12  kennel      
Fang        1991-10-12  kennel      
Fang        1998-08-28  birthday    Gave him a new chew toy
Claws       1998-03-17  birthday    Gave him a new flea
                                    collar
Whistler    1998-12-09  birthday    First birthday

Load the records like this:

     mysql> LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE "event.txt" INTO TABLE event;

Based on what you've learned from the queries you've run on the `pet'
table, you should be able to perform retrievals on the records in the
`event' table; the principles are the same.  But when is the `event'
table by itself insufficient to answer questions you might ask?

Suppose you want to find out the ages at which each pet had its
litters. We saw earlier how to calculate ages from two dates.  The
litter date of the mother is in the `event' table, but to calculate her
age on that date you need her birth date, which is stored in the `pet'
table.  This means the query requires both tables:

     mysql> SELECT pet.name,
         -> (YEAR(date)-YEAR(birth)) - (RIGHT(date,5)<RIGHT(birth,5)) AS age,
         -> remark
         -> FROM pet, event
         -> WHERE pet.name = event.name AND type = "litter";
     +--------+------+-----------------------------+
     | name   | age  | remark                      |
     +--------+------+-----------------------------+
     | Fluffy |    2 | 4 kittens, 3 female, 1 male |
     | Buffy  |    4 | 5 puppies, 2 female, 3 male |
     | Buffy  |    5 | 3 puppies, 3 female         |
     +--------+------+-----------------------------+

There are several things to note about this query:

   * The `FROM' clause lists two tables because the query needs to pull
     information from both of them.

   * When combining (joining) information from multiple tables, you
     need to specify how records in one table can be matched to records
     in the other.  This is easy because they both have a `name'
     column.  The query uses `WHERE' clause to match up records in the
     two tables based on the `name' values.

   * Because the `name' column occurs in both tables, you must be
     specific about which table you mean when referring to the column.
     This is done by prepending the table name to the column name.

You need not have two different tables to perform a join.  Sometimes it
is useful to join a table to itself, if you want to compare records in
a table to other records in that same table.  For example, to find
breeding pairs among your pets, you can join the `pet' table with
itself to produce candidate pairs of males and females of like species:

     mysql> SELECT p1.name, p1.sex, p2.name, p2.sex, p1.species
         -> FROM pet AS p1, pet AS p2
         -> WHERE p1.species = p2.species AND p1.sex = "f" AND p2.sex = "m";
     +--------+------+--------+------+---------+
     | name   | sex  | name   | sex  | species |
     +--------+------+--------+------+---------+
     | Fluffy | f    | Claws  | m    | cat     |
     | Buffy  | f    | Fang   | m    | dog     |
     | Buffy  | f    | Bowser | m    | dog     |
     +--------+------+--------+------+---------+

In this query, we specify aliases for the table name in order to refer
to the columns and keep straight which instance of the table each
column reference is associated with.

Getting Information About Databases and Tables
==============================================

What if you forget the name of a database or table, or what the
structure of a given table is (for example, what its columns are
called)?  MySQL addresses this problem through several statements that
provide information about the databases and tables it supports.

You have already seen `SHOW DATABASES', which lists the databases
managed by the server.  To find out which database is currently
selected, use the `DATABASE()' function:

     mysql> SELECT DATABASE();
     +------------+
     | DATABASE() |
     +------------+
     | menagerie  |
     +------------+

If you haven't selected any database yet, the result is `NULL' (or the
empty string before MySQL 4.1.1).

To find out what tables the current database contains (for example, when
you're not sure about the name of a table), use this command:

     mysql> SHOW TABLES;
     +---------------------+
     | Tables in menagerie |
     +---------------------+
     | event               |
     | pet                 |
     +---------------------+

If you want to find out about the structure of a table, the `DESCRIBE'
command is useful; it displays information about each of a table's
columns:

     mysql> DESCRIBE pet;
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | Field   | Type        | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | name    | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | owner   | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | species | varchar(20) | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | sex     | char(1)     | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | birth   | date        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | death   | date        | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     +---------+-------------+------+-----+---------+-------+

`Field' indicates the column name, `Type' is the datatype for the
column, `NULL' indicates whether the column can contain `NULL' values,
`Key' indicates whether the column is indexed, and `Default' specifies
the column's default value.

If you have indexes on a table, `SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name' produces
information about them.

Using `mysql' in Batch Mode
===========================

In the previous sections, you used `mysql' interactively to enter
queries and view the results.  You can also run `mysql' in batch mode.
To do this, put the commands you want to run in a file, then tell
`mysql' to read its input from the file:

     shell> mysql < batch-file

If you are running `mysql' under Windows and have some special
characters in the file that cause problems, you can do this:

     dos> mysql -e "source batch-file"

If you need to specify connection parameters on the command line, the
command might look like this:

     shell> mysql -h host -u user -p < batch-file
     Enter password: ********

When you use `mysql' this way, you are creating a script file, then
executing the script.

If you want the script to continue even if some of the statements in it
produce errors, you should use the `--force' command-line option.

Why use a script?  Here are a few reasons:

   * If you run a query repeatedly (say, every day or every week),
     making it a script allows you to avoid retyping it each time you
     execute it.

   * You can generate new queries from existing ones that are similar
     by copying and editing script files.

   * Batch mode can also be useful while you're developing a query,
     particularly for multiple-line commands or multiple-statement
     sequences of commands.  If you make a mistake, you don't have to
     retype everything.  Just edit your script to correct the error,
     then tell `mysql' to execute it again.

   * If you have a query that produces a lot of output, you can run the
     output through a pager rather than watching it scroll off the top
     of your screen:

          shell> mysql < batch-file | more

   * You can catch the output in a file for further processing:

          shell> mysql < batch-file > mysql.out

   * You can distribute your script to other people so they can run the
     commands, too.

   * Some situations do not allow for interactive use, for example,
     when you run a query from a `cron' job.  In this case, you must
     use batch mode.

The default output format is different (more concise) when you run
`mysql' in batch mode than when you use it interactively.  For example,
the output of `SELECT DISTINCT species FROM pet' looks like this when
`mysql' is run interactively:

     +---------+
     | species |
     +---------+
     | bird    |
     | cat     |
     | dog     |
     | hamster |
     | snake   |
     +---------+

In batch mode, the output looks like this instead:

     species
     bird
     cat
     dog
     hamster
     snake

If you want to get the interactive output format in batch mode, use
`mysql -t'.  To echo to the output the commands that are executed, use
`mysql -vvv'.

You can also use scripts from the `mysql' prompt by using the `source'
command:

     mysql> source filename;

Examples of Common Queries
==========================

Here are examples of how to solve some common problems with MySQL.

Some of the examples use the table `shop' to hold the price of each
article (item number) for certain traders (dealers).  Supposing that
each trader has a single fixed price per article, then (`article',
`dealer') is a primary key for the records.

Start the command-line tool `mysql' and select a database:

     shell> mysql your-database-name

(In most MySQL installations, you can use the database name `test').

You can create and populate the example table with these statements:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE shop (
         -> article INT(4) UNSIGNED ZEROFILL DEFAULT '0000' NOT NULL,
         -> dealer  CHAR(20)                 DEFAULT ''     NOT NULL,
         -> price   DOUBLE(16,2)             DEFAULT '0.00' NOT NULL,
         -> PRIMARY KEY(article, dealer));
     mysql> INSERT INTO shop VALUES
         -> (1,'A',3.45),(1,'B',3.99),(2,'A',10.99),(3,'B',1.45),(3,'C',1.69),
         -> (3,'D',1.25),(4,'D',19.95);

After issuing the statements, the table should have the following
contents:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM shop;
     +---------+--------+-------+
     | article | dealer | price |
     +---------+--------+-------+
     |    0001 | A      |  3.45 |
     |    0001 | B      |  3.99 |
     |    0002 | A      | 10.99 |
     |    0003 | B      |  1.45 |
     |    0003 | C      |  1.69 |
     |    0003 | D      |  1.25 |
     |    0004 | D      | 19.95 |
     +---------+--------+-------+

The Maximum Value for a Column
------------------------------

"What's the highest item number?"

     SELECT MAX(article) AS article FROM shop;
     
     +---------+
     | article |
     +---------+
     |       4 |
     +---------+

The Row Holding the Maximum of a Certain Column
-----------------------------------------------

"Find number, dealer, and price of the most expensive article."

In SQL-99 (and MySQL Version 4.1) this is easily done with a subquery:

     SELECT article, dealer, price
     FROM   shop
     WHERE  price=(SELECT MAX(price) FROM shop);

In MySQL versions prior to 4.1, just do it in two steps:

  1. Get the maximum price value from the table with a `SELECT'
     statement.
          mysql> SELECT MAX(price) FROM shop;
          +------------+
          | MAX(price) |
          +------------+
          |      19.95 |
          +------------+

  2. Using the value 19.95 shown by the previous query to be the maximum
     article price, write a query to locate and display the
     corresponding record:
          mysql> SELECT article, dealer, price
              -> FROM   shop
              -> WHERE  price=19.95;
          +---------+--------+-------+
          | article | dealer | price |
          +---------+--------+-------+
          |    0004 | D      | 19.95 |
          +---------+--------+-------+

Another solution is to sort all rows descending by price and only get
the first row using the MySQL-specific `LIMIT' clause:

     SELECT article, dealer, price
     FROM   shop
     ORDER BY price DESC
     LIMIT 1;

*NOTE*:  If there were several most expensive articles, each with a
price of 19.95, the `LIMIT' solution would show only one of them!

Maximum of Column per Group
---------------------------

"What's the highest price per article?"

     SELECT article, MAX(price) AS price
     FROM   shop
     GROUP BY article
     
     +---------+-------+
     | article | price |
     +---------+-------+
     |    0001 |  3.99 |
     |    0002 | 10.99 |
     |    0003 |  1.69 |
     |    0004 | 19.95 |
     +---------+-------+

The Rows Holding the Group-wise Maximum of a Certain Field
----------------------------------------------------------

"For each article, find the dealer or dealers with the most expensive
price."

In SQL-99 (and MySQL Version 4.1 or greater), the problem can be solved
with a subquery like this:

     SELECT article, dealer, price
     FROM   shop s1
     WHERE  price=(SELECT MAX(s2.price)
                   FROM shop s2
                   WHERE s1.article = s2.article);

In MySQL versions prior to 4.1, it's best do it in several steps:

  1. Get the list of (article,maxprice) pairs.

  2. For each article, get the corresponding rows that have the stored
     maximum price.

This can easily be done with a temporary table and a join:

     CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp (
             article INT(4) UNSIGNED ZEROFILL DEFAULT '0000' NOT NULL,
             price   DOUBLE(16,2)             DEFAULT '0.00' NOT NULL);
     
     LOCK TABLES shop READ;
     
     INSERT INTO tmp SELECT article, MAX(price) FROM shop GROUP BY article;
     
     SELECT shop.article, dealer, shop.price FROM shop, tmp
     WHERE shop.article=tmp.article AND shop.price=tmp.price;
     
     UNLOCK TABLES;
     
     DROP TABLE tmp;

If you don't use a `TEMPORARY' table, you must also lock the `tmp'
table.

"Can it be done with a single query?"

Yes, but only by using a quite inefficient trick called the "MAX-CONCAT
trick":

     SELECT article,
            SUBSTRING( MAX( CONCAT(LPAD(price,6,'0'),dealer) ), 7) AS dealer,
       0.00+LEFT(      MAX( CONCAT(LPAD(price,6,'0'),dealer) ), 6) AS price
     FROM   shop
     GROUP BY article;
     
     +---------+--------+-------+
     | article | dealer | price |
     +---------+--------+-------+
     |    0001 | B      |  3.99 |
     |    0002 | A      | 10.99 |
     |    0003 | C      |  1.69 |
     |    0004 | D      | 19.95 |
     +---------+--------+-------+

The last example can be made a bit more efficient by doing the
splitting of the concatenated column in the client.

Using User Variables
--------------------

You can use MySQL user variables to remember results without having to
store them in temporary variables in the client.  *Note Variables::.

For example, to find the articles with the highest and lowest price you
can do this:

     mysql> SELECT @min_price:=MIN(price),@max_price:=MAX(price) FROM shop;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM shop WHERE price=@min_price OR price=@max_price;
     +---------+--------+-------+
     | article | dealer | price |
     +---------+--------+-------+
     |    0003 | D      |  1.25 |
     |    0004 | D      | 19.95 |
     +---------+--------+-------+

Using Foreign Keys
------------------

In MySQL 3.23.44 and up, `InnoDB' tables support checking of foreign
key constraints. *Note `InnoDB': InnoDB.  See also *Note ANSI diff
Foreign Keys::.

You don't actually need foreign keys to join two tables.  For table
types other than `InnoDB'), the only things MySQL currently doesn't do
are 1) `CHECK' to make sure that the keys you use really exist in the
table or tables you're referencing and 2) automatically delete rows
from a table with a foreign key definition. Using your keys to join
tables will work just fine:

     CREATE TABLE person (
         id SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
         name CHAR(60) NOT NULL,
         PRIMARY KEY (id)
     );
     
     CREATE TABLE shirt (
         id SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
         style ENUM('t-shirt', 'polo', 'dress') NOT NULL,
         color ENUM('red', 'blue', 'orange', 'white', 'black') NOT NULL,
         owner SMALLINT UNSIGNED NOT NULL REFERENCES person(id),
         PRIMARY KEY (id)
     );
     
     
     INSERT INTO person VALUES (NULL, 'Antonio Paz');
     
     INSERT INTO shirt VALUES
     (NULL, 'polo', 'blue', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 'dress', 'white', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 't-shirt', 'blue', LAST_INSERT_ID());
     
     
     INSERT INTO person VALUES (NULL, 'Lilliana Angelovska');
     
     INSERT INTO shirt VALUES
     (NULL, 'dress', 'orange', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 'polo', 'red', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 'dress', 'blue', LAST_INSERT_ID()),
     (NULL, 't-shirt', 'white', LAST_INSERT_ID());
     
     
     SELECT * FROM person;
     +----+---------------------+
     | id | name                |
     +----+---------------------+
     |  1 | Antonio Paz         |
     |  2 | Lilliana Angelovska |
     +----+---------------------+
     
     SELECT * FROM shirt;
     +----+---------+--------+-------+
     | id | style   | color  | owner |
     +----+---------+--------+-------+
     |  1 | polo    | blue   |     1 |
     |  2 | dress   | white  |     1 |
     |  3 | t-shirt | blue   |     1 |
     |  4 | dress   | orange |     2 |
     |  5 | polo    | red    |     2 |
     |  6 | dress   | blue   |     2 |
     |  7 | t-shirt | white  |     2 |
     +----+---------+--------+-------+
     
     
     SELECT s.* FROM person p, shirt s
      WHERE p.name LIKE 'Lilliana%'
        AND s.owner = p.id
        AND s.color <> 'white';
     
     +----+-------+--------+-------+
     | id | style | color  | owner |
     +----+-------+--------+-------+
     |  4 | dress | orange |     2 |
     |  5 | polo  | red    |     2 |
     |  6 | dress | blue   |     2 |
     +----+-------+--------+-------+

Searching on Two Keys
---------------------

MySQL doesn't yet optimize when you search on two different keys
combined with `OR' (searching on one key with different `OR' parts is
optimized quite well):

     SELECT field1_index, field2_index FROM test_table
     WHERE field1_index = '1' OR  field2_index = '1'

The reason is that we haven't yet had time to come up with an efficient
way to handle this in the general case. (The `AND' handling is, in
comparison, now completely general and works very well.)

In MySQL 4.0 and up, you can solve this problem efficiently by using a
`UNION' that combines the output of two separate `SELECT' statements.
*Note UNION::.  Each `SELECT' searches only one key and can be
optimized:

     SELECT field1_index, field2_index FROM test_table WHERE field1_index = '1'
     UNION
     SELECT field1_index, field2_index FROM test_table WHERE field2_index = '1';

Prior to MySQL 4.0, you can achieve the same effect by using a
`TEMPORARY' table and separate `SELECT' statements.  This type of
optimization is also very good if you are using very complicated
queries where the SQL server does the optimizations in the wrong order.

     CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp
     SELECT field1_index, field2_index FROM test_table WHERE field1_index = '1';
     INSERT INTO tmp
     SELECT field1_index, field2_index FROM test_table WHERE field2_index = '1';
     SELECT * from tmp;
     DROP TABLE tmp;

The above way to solve this query is in effect a `UNION' of two queries.

Calculating Visits Per Day
--------------------------

The following example shows how you can use the bit group functions to
calculate the number of days per month a user has visited a web page.

     CREATE TABLE t1 (year YEAR(4), month INT(2) UNSIGNED ZEROFILL,
                  day INT(2) UNSIGNED ZEROFILL);
     INSERT INTO t1 VALUES(2000,1,1),(2000,1,20),(2000,1,30),(2000,2,2),
                 (2000,2,23),(2000,2,23);

The example table contains year-month-day values representing visits by
users to the page. To determine how many different days in each month
these visits occur, use this query:

     SELECT year,month,BIT_COUNT(BIT_OR(1<<day)) AS days FROM t1
            GROUP BY year,month;

Which returns:

     +------+-------+------+
     | year | month | days |
     +------+-------+------+
     | 2000 |    01 |    3 |
     | 2000 |    02 |    2 |
     +------+-------+------+

The query calculates how many different days appear in the table for
each year/month combination, with automatic removal of duplicate
entries.

Using `AUTO_INCREMENT'
----------------------

The `AUTO_INCREMENT' attribute can be used to generate a unique
identity for new rows:

     CREATE TABLE animals (
                  id MEDIUMINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
                  name CHAR(30) NOT NULL,
                  PRIMARY KEY (id)
                  );
     INSERT INTO animals (name) VALUES ("dog"),("cat"),("penguin"),
                                       ("lax"),("whale"),("ostrich");
     SELECT * FROM animals;

Which returns:

     +----+---------+
     | id | name    |
     +----+---------+
     |  1 | dog     |
     |  2 | cat     |
     |  3 | penguin |
     |  4 | lax     |
     |  5 | whale   |
     |  6 | ostrich |
     +----+---------+

You can retrieve the most recent `AUTO_INCREMENT' value with the
`LAST_INSERT_ID()' SQL function or the `mysql_insert_id()' C API
function.  Note: For a multiple-row insert,
`LAST_INSERT_ID()'/`mysql_insert_id()' will actually return the
`AUTO_INCREMENT' key from the *first* of the inserted rows.  This
allows multiple-row inserts to be reproduced correctly on other servers
in a replication setup.

For `MyISAM' and `BDB' tables you can specify `AUTO_INCREMENT' on a
secondary column in a multiple-column index.  In this case, the
generated value for the `AUTO_INCREMENT' column is calculated as
`MAX(auto_increment_column)+1) WHERE prefix=given-prefix'.  This is
useful when you want to put data into ordered groups.

     CREATE TABLE animals (
                  grp ENUM('fish','mammal','bird') NOT NULL,
                  id MEDIUMINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
                  name CHAR(30) NOT NULL,
                  PRIMARY KEY (grp,id)
                  );
     INSERT INTO animals (grp,name) VALUES("mammal","dog"),("mammal","cat"),
                       ("bird","penguin"),("fish","lax"),("mammal","whale"),
                       ("bird","ostrich");
     SELECT * FROM animals ORDER BY grp,id;

Which returns:

     +--------+----+---------+
     | grp    | id | name    |
     +--------+----+---------+
     | fish   |  1 | lax     |
     | mammal |  1 | dog     |
     | mammal |  2 | cat     |
     | mammal |  3 | whale   |
     | bird   |  1 | penguin |
     | bird   |  2 | ostrich |
     +--------+----+---------+

Note that in this case (when the `AUTO_INCREMENT' column is part of a
multiple-column index), `AUTO_INCREMENT' values will be reused if you
delete the row with the biggest `AUTO_INCREMENT' value in any group.
This happens even for `MyISAM' tables, for which `AUTO_INCREMENT'
values normally are not reused.)

Queries from the Twin Project
=============================

At Analytikerna and Lentus, we have been doing the systems and field
work for a big research project. This project is a collaboration
between the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Karolinska
Institutet Stockholm and the Section on Clinical Research in Aging and
Psychology at the University of Southern California.

The project involves a screening part where all twins in Sweden older
than 65 years are interviewed by telephone. Twins who meet certain
criteria are passed on to the next stage. In this latter stage, twins
who want to participate are visited by a doctor/nurse team. Some of the
examinations include physical and neuropsychological examination,
laboratory testing, neuroimaging, psychological status assessment, and
family history collection. In addition, data are collected on medical
and environmental risk factors.

More information about Twin studies can be found at:
`http://www.mep.ki.se/twinreg/index_en.html'

The latter part of the project is administered with a web interface
written using Perl and MySQL.

Each night all data from the interviews is moved into a MySQL database.

Find All Non-distributed Twins
------------------------------

The following query is used to determine who goes into the second part
of the project:

     SELECT
             CONCAT(p1.id, p1.tvab) + 0 AS tvid,
             CONCAT(p1.christian_name, " ", p1.surname) AS Name,
             p1.postal_code AS Code,
             p1.city AS City,
             pg.abrev AS Area,
             IF(td.participation = "Aborted", "A", " ") AS A,
             p1.dead AS dead1,
             l.event AS event1,
             td.suspect AS tsuspect1,
             id.suspect AS isuspect1,
             td.severe AS tsevere1,
             id.severe AS isevere1,
             p2.dead AS dead2,
             l2.event AS event2,
             h2.nurse AS nurse2,
             h2.doctor AS doctor2,
             td2.suspect AS tsuspect2,
             id2.suspect AS isuspect2,
             td2.severe AS tsevere2,
             id2.severe AS isevere2,
             l.finish_date
     FROM
             twin_project AS tp
             /* For Twin 1 */
             LEFT JOIN twin_data AS td ON tp.id = td.id
                       AND tp.tvab = td.tvab
             LEFT JOIN informant_data AS id ON tp.id = id.id
                       AND tp.tvab = id.tvab
             LEFT JOIN harmony AS h ON tp.id = h.id
                       AND tp.tvab = h.tvab
             LEFT JOIN lentus AS l ON tp.id = l.id
                       AND tp.tvab = l.tvab
             /* For Twin 2 */
             LEFT JOIN twin_data AS td2 ON p2.id = td2.id
                       AND p2.tvab = td2.tvab
             LEFT JOIN informant_data AS id2 ON p2.id = id2.id
                       AND p2.tvab = id2.tvab
             LEFT JOIN harmony AS h2 ON p2.id = h2.id
                       AND p2.tvab = h2.tvab
             LEFT JOIN lentus AS l2 ON p2.id = l2.id
                       AND p2.tvab = l2.tvab,
             person_data AS p1,
             person_data AS p2,
             postal_groups AS pg
     WHERE
             /* p1 gets main twin and p2 gets his/her twin. */
             /* ptvab is a field inverted from tvab */
             p1.id = tp.id AND p1.tvab = tp.tvab AND
             p2.id = p1.id AND p2.ptvab = p1.tvab AND
             /* Just the sceening survey */
             tp.survey_no = 5 AND
             /* Skip if partner died before 65 but allow emigration (dead=9) */
             (p2.dead = 0 OR p2.dead = 9 OR
              (p2.dead = 1 AND
               (p2.death_date = 0 OR
                (((TO_DAYS(p2.death_date) - TO_DAYS(p2.birthday)) / 365)
                 >= 65))))
             AND
             (
             /* Twin is suspect */
             (td.future_contact = 'Yes' AND td.suspect = 2) OR
             /* Twin is suspect - Informant is Blessed */
             (td.future_contact = 'Yes' AND td.suspect = 1
                                        AND id.suspect = 1) OR
             /* No twin - Informant is Blessed */
             (ISNULL(td.suspect) AND id.suspect = 1
                                 AND id.future_contact = 'Yes') OR
             /* Twin broken off - Informant is Blessed */
             (td.participation = 'Aborted'
              AND id.suspect = 1 AND id.future_contact = 'Yes') OR
             /* Twin broken off - No inform - Have partner */
             (td.participation = 'Aborted' AND ISNULL(id.suspect)
                                           AND p2.dead = 0))
             AND
             l.event = 'Finished'
             /* Get at area code */
             AND SUBSTRING(p1.postal_code, 1, 2) = pg.code
             /* Not already distributed */
             AND (h.nurse IS NULL OR h.nurse=00 OR h.doctor=00)
             /* Has not refused or been aborted */
             AND NOT (h.status = 'Refused' OR h.status = 'Aborted'
             OR h.status = 'Died' OR h.status = 'Other')
     ORDER BY
             tvid;

Some explanations:
`CONCAT(p1.id, p1.tvab) + 0 AS tvid'
     We want to sort on the concatenated `id' and `tvab' in numerical
     order. Adding `0' to the result causes MySQL to treat the result
     as a number.

column `id'
     This identifies a pair of twins. It is a key in all tables.

column `tvab'
     This identifies a twin in a pair. It has a value of `1' or `2'.

column `ptvab'
     This is an inverse of `tvab'. When `tvab' is `1' this is `2', and
     vice versa. It exists to save typing and to make it easier for
     MySQL to optimize the query.

This query demonstrates, among other things, how to do lookups on a
table from the same table with a join (`p1' and `p2'). In the example,
this is used to check whether a twin's partner died before the age of
65. If so, the row is not returned.

All of the above exist in all tables with twin-related information. We
have a key on both `id,tvab' (all tables), and `id,ptvab'
(`person_data') to make queries faster.

On our production machine (A 200MHz UltraSPARC), this query returns
about 150-200 rows and takes less than one second.

The current number of records in the tables used above:
*Table*            *Rows*
`person_data'      71074
`lentus'           5291
`twin_project'     5286
`twin_data'        2012
`informant_data'   663
`harmony'          381
`postal_groups'    100

Show a Table of Twin Pair Status
--------------------------------

Each interview ends with a status code called `event'. The query shown
here is used to display a table over all twin pairs combined by event.
This indicates in how many pairs both twins are finished, in how many
pairs one twin is finished and the other refused, and so on.

     SELECT
             t1.event,
             t2.event,
             COUNT(*)
     FROM
             lentus AS t1,
             lentus AS t2,
             twin_project AS tp
     WHERE
             /* We are looking at one pair at a time */
             t1.id = tp.id
             AND t1.tvab=tp.tvab
             AND t1.id = t2.id
             /* Just the sceening survey */
             AND tp.survey_no = 5
             /* This makes each pair only appear once */
             AND t1.tvab='1' AND t2.tvab='2'
     GROUP BY
             t1.event, t2.event;

Using MySQL with Apache
=======================

There are programs that let you authenticate your users from a MySQL
database and also let you write your log files into a MySQL table.

You can change the Apache logging format to be easily readable by MySQL
by putting the following into the Apache configuration file:

     LogFormat \
             "\"%h\",%{%Y%m%d%H%M%S}t,%>s,\"%b\",\"%{Content-Type}o\",  \
             \"%U\",\"%{Referer}i\",\"%{User-Agent}i\""

To load a log file in that format into MySQL, you can use a statement
something like this:

     LOAD DATA INFILE '/local/access_log' INTO TABLE table_name
     FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"' ESCAPED BY '\\'

The named table should be created to have columns that correspond to
those that the `LogFormat' line writes to the log file.

Using MySQL Programs
********************

This chapter provides a brief overview of the programs provided by
MySQL AB and discusses how to specify options when you run these
programs.  Most programs have options that are specific to their own
operation, but the syntax for specifying options is similar for all of
them. Later chapters provide more detailed descriptions of individual
programs, including which options they recognize.

Overview of MySQL Programs
==========================

MySQL AB provides several types of programs:

The MYSQL server and server startup scripts:
        * `mysqld' is the MySQL server

        * `mysqld_safe', `mysql.server', and `mysqld_multi' are server
          startup scripts

        * `mysql_install_db' initializes the data directory and the
          initial databases

Client programs that access the server:
        * `mysql' is a command-line client for executing SQL statements
          interactively or in batch mode

        * `mysqlcc' (MySQL Control Center) is an interactive graphical
          tool for executing SQL statements and administration

        * `mysqladmin' is an administrative client

        * `mysqlcheck' performs table maintenance operations

        * `mysqldump' and `mysqlhotcopy' make database backups

        * `mysqlimport' imports data files

        * `mysqlshow' displays information about databases and tables

Utility programs that operate independently of the server:
        * `myisamchk' performs table maintenance operations

        * `myisampack' produces compressed, read-only tables

        * `mysqlbinlog' is a tool for processing binary log files

        * `mysql_config' shows command-line options for compiling MySQL
          programs

        * `perror' displays error code meanings

More information on running the server may be found in *Note Database
Administration::.  Client and utility programs are described in more
detail in *Note Client-Side Scripts::.

Most MySQL distribution formats include all of these programs, except
for those programs that are platform-specific. (For example, the server
startup scripts are not used on Windows.) The exception is that RPM
distributions are more specialized. There is one RPM for the server,
another for the client programs, and so forth. If you appear to be
missing one or more programs, see *Note Installing:: for information on
distributions and what they contain.  It may be that you need to
install something else.

Invoking MySQL Programs
=======================

To invoke a MySQL program at the command line (that is, from your shell
or command prompt), enter the program name followed by any options or
other arguments needed to instruct the program what you want it to do.
The following commands show some sample program invocations. "`shell>'"
represents your command prompt; it is not part of what you type.

     shell> mysql test
     shell> mysqldump --quote-names personnel
     shell> mysqladmin extended-status variables
     shell> mysqlshow --help

Arguments that begin with a dash are option arguments. They typically
specify the type of connection a program should make to the server or
affect its operational mode. Options have a syntax that is described in
*Note Program Options::.

Non-option arguments (arguments with no leading dash) provide additional
information to the program. For example, the `mysql' program interprets
the first non-option argument as a database name, so the command `mysql
test' indicates that you want to use the `test' database.

Later sections that describe individual programs indicate which options
a program understands and describe the meaning of any additional
non-option arguments.

Some options are common to a number of programs. The most common of
these are the `--host', `--user', and `--password' options that specify
connection parameters. They indicate the host where the MySQL server is
running, and the username and password of your MySQL account. All MySQL
client programs understand these options; they allow you to specify
which server to connect to and the account to use on that server.

Note that you may find it necessary to invoke MySQL programs using the
pathname to the `bin' directory in which they are installed. This is
likely to be the case if you get a "program not found" error whenever
you attempt to run a MySQL program from any directory other than the
`bin' directory.  To make it more convenient to use MySQL, you can add
the pathname of the `bin' directory to your `PATH' environment variable
setting. Then to run a program you need only type its name, not its
entire pathname.

Consult the documentation for your command interpreter for instructions
on setting your `PATH'; the syntax for setting environment variables is
interpreter-specific.

Specifying Program Options
==========================

You can provide options for MySQL programs in several ways:

   * On the command line following the program name. This is most
     common for options that apply to a specific invocation of the
     program.

   * In an option file that the program reads when it starts. This is
     common for options that you want the program to use each time it
     runs.

   * In environment variables. These are useful for options that you
     want to apply each time the program runs, though in practice
     option files are used more commonly for this purpose.  (*Note
     Multiple Unix servers:: discusses one situation in which
     environment variables can be very helpful. It describes a handy
     technique that uses such variables to specify the TCP/IP port and
     Unix socket file for both the server and client programs.)


MySQL programs determine which options are given by examining
environment variables first, then option files, then the command line.
If an option is specified multiple times, the last occurrence takes
precedence.  This means that environment variables have the lowest
precedence and command-line options the highest.

You can take advantage of the way that MySQL programs process options by
specifying the default value for a program's options in an option file.
Then you need not type them each time you run the program, but can
override the defaults if necessary by using command-line options.

Using Options on the Command Line
---------------------------------

Program options specified on the command line follow these rules:

   * Options are given after the command name.

   * An option argument begins with one dash or two dashes, depending
     on whether it has a short name or a long name. Many options have
     both forms.  For example, `-?' and `--help' are the short and long
     forms of the option that instructs a MySQL program to display a
     help message.

   * Option names are case sensitive.  `-v' and `-V' are both legal and
     have different meanings. (They are the corresponding short forms
     of the `--verbose' and `--version' options.)

   * Some options take a value following the option name.  For example,
     `-h localhost' or `--host=localhost' indicate the MySQL server
     host to a client program.  The option value tells the program the
     name of the host where the MySQL server is running.

   * For a long option that takes a value, separate the option name and
     the value by an `=' sign.  For a short option that takes a value,
     the option value can immediately follow the option letter, or
     there can be a space between.  (`-hlocalhost' and `-h localhost'
     are equivalent.)  An exception to this rule is the option for
     specifying your MySQL password.  This option can be given in long
     form as `--password=pass_val' or as `--password'. In the latter
     case (with no password value given), the program will prompt you
     for the password.  The password option also may be given in short
     form as `-ppass_val' or as `-p'. However, for the short form, if
     the password value is given, it must follow the option letter
     _with no intervening space_. The reason for this is that if a
     space follows the option letter, the program has no way to tell
     whether a following argument is supposed to be the password value
     or some other kind of argument.  Consequently, the following two
     commands have two completely different meanings:

          shell> mysql -ptest
          shell> mysql -p test

     The first command instructs `mysql' to use a password value of
     `test', but specifies no default database.  The second instructs
     `mysql' to prompt for the password value and to use `test' as the
     default database.


MySQL 4.0 introduced some additional flexibility in the way you specify
options. These changes were made in MySQL 4.0.2. Some of them relate to
the way you specify options that have "enabled" and "disabled" states,
and to the use of options that may be present in one version of MySQL
but not another.  Those capabilities are discussed here.  Another
change pertains to the way you use options to set program variables.
*Note Program variables:: discusses that topic further.

Some options control behavior that can be turned on or off. For example,
the `mysql' client supports a `--column-names' option that determines
whether or not to display a row of column names at the beginning of
query results. By default, this option is enabled. However, you may
want to disable it in some instances, such as when sending the output
of `mysql' into another program that expects to see only data and not
an initial header line.

To disable column names, you can specify the option using any of these
forms:

     --disable-column-names
     --skip-column-names
     --column-names=0

The `--disable' and `--skip' prefixes and the `=0' suffix all have the
same effect of turning the option off.

The "enabled" form of the option may be specified as:

     --column-names
     --enable-column-names
     --column-names=1

Another change to option processing introduced in MySQL 4.0 is that you
can use the `--loose' prefix for command-line options. If an option is
prefixed by `--loose', the program will not exit with an error if it
does not recognize the option, but instead will issue only a warning:

     shell> mysql --loose-no-such-option
     mysql: WARNING: unknown option '--no-such-option'

The `--loose' prefix can be useful when you run programs from multiple
installations of MySQL on the same machine, at least if all the
versions are as recent as 4.0.2.  This prefix is particularly useful
when you list options in an option file.  An option that may not be
recognized by all versions of a program can be given using the `--loose'
prefix (or `loose' in an option file). Versions of the program that do
not recognize the option will issue a warning and ignore it. Note that
this strategy works only if all versions involved are 4.0.2 or later,
because earlier versions know nothing of the `--loose' convention.

Using Option Files
------------------

MySQL programs can read startup options from option files (also
sometimes called configuration files).  Option files provide a
convenient way to specify commonly used options so they need not be
entered on the command line each time you run a program.  Option file
capability is available from MySQL 3.22 on.

The following programs support option files:  `mysql', `mysqladmin',
`mysqld', `mysqld_safe', `mysql.server', `mysqldump', `mysqlimport',
`mysqlshow', `mysqlcheck', `mysqlhotcopy', `myisamchk', and
`myisampack'.

On Windows, MySQL programs read startup options from the following
files:

*Filename*             *Purpose*
`windows-dir\my.ini'   Global options
`C:\my.cnf'            Global options

`windows-dir' represents the location of your Windows directory.  This
is commonly `C:\Windows' or `C:\WinNT'. Check the value of the `WINDIR'
environment vairable to see where this directory is located on your
system.

On Unix, MySQL programs read startup options from the following files:

*Filename*             *Purpose*
`/etc/my.cnf'          Global options
`DATADIR/my.cnf'       Server-specific options
`defaults-extra-file'  The file specified with
                       `--defaults-extra-file=path', if any
`~/.my.cnf'            User-specific options

`DATADIR' represents the location of the MySQL data directory. Typically
this is `/usr/local/mysql/data' for a binary installation or
`/usr/local/var' for a source installation.  Note that this is the data
directory location that was specified at configuration time, not the
one specified with `--datadir' when `mysqld' starts!  Use of
`--datadir' at runtime has no effect on where the server looks for
option files, because it looks for them before processing any
command-line arguments.

MySQL looks for option files in the order listed above and reads any
that exist.  If multiple option files exist, an option specified in a
file read later takes precedence over the same option specified in a
file read earlier.

Any long option that may be given on the command-line when running a
MySQL program can be given in an option file as well.  To get the list
of available options for a program, run it with the `--help' option.

The syntax for specifying options in an option file is similar to
command-line syntax, except that you omit the leading two dashes. For
example, `--quick' or `--host=localhost' on the command line are
specified as `quick' or `host=localhost' in an option file.  To specify
an option of the form `--loose-opt_name' in an option file, write it as
`loose-opt_name'.

Empty lines in option files are ignored. Non-empty lines can take any
of the following forms:

`#comment'
`;comment'
     Comment lines start with `#' or `;'. As of MySQL 4.0.14, a
     `#'-comment can start in the middle of a line as well.

`[group]'
     `group' is the name of the program or group for which you want to
     set options.  After a group line, any `option' or `set-variable'
     lines apply to the named group until the end of the option file or
     another group line is given.

`opt_name'
     This is equivalent to `--opt_name' on the command-line.

`opt_name=value'
     This is equivalent to `--opt_name=value' on the command-line.  In
     an option file, you can have spaces around the `=' character,
     something that is not true on the command line.  As of MySQL
     4.0.16, you can quote the value with double quotes or single
     quotes.  This is useful if the value contains a comment character
     or whitespace.

`set-variable = var_name=value'
     Set the program variable `var_name' to the given value.  This is
     equivalent to `--set-variable=var_name=value' on the command-line.
     Spaces are allowed around the first `=' character but not around
     the second.  This syntax is deprecated as of MySQL 4.0.  See *Note
     Program variables:: for more information on setting program
     variables.

Note that for options and values, all leading and trailing blanks are
automatically deleted.  You may use the escape sequences `\b', `\t',
`\n', `\r', `\\', and `\s' in option values to represent the backspace,
tab, newline, carriage return, and space characters.

On Windows, if an option value represents a pathname, you should
specify the value using `/' rather than `\' as the pathname separator.
If you use `\', you must double it as `\\', because `\' is the escape
character in MySQL.

If an option group name is the same as a program name, options in the
group apply specifically to that program.

The `[client]' option group is read by all client programs (but not by
`mysqld'). This allows you to specify options that apply to every
client. For example, `[client]' is the perfect group to use to specify
the password that you use to connect to the server.  (But make sure the
option file is readable and writable only by yourself, so that other
people cannot find out your password.) Be sure not to put an option in
the `[client]' group unless it is recognized by _all_ client programs.

As of MySQL 4.0.14, if you want to create options that should only be
read by one specific `mysqld' server release series, you can do this
with `[mysqld-4.0]', `[mysqld-4.1]', and so forth:

     [mysqld-4.0]
     new

The above `new' option will be used only with MySQL server versions
4.0.x.

Here is a typical global option file:

     [client]
     port=3306
     socket=/tmp/mysql.sock
     
     [mysqld]
     port=3306
     socket=/tmp/mysql.sock
     key_buffer_size=16M
     max_allowed_packet=1M
     
     [mysqldump]
     quick

Here is a typical user option file:

     [client]
     # The following password will be sent to all standard MySQL clients
     password="my_password"
     
     [mysql]
     no-auto-rehash
     set-variable = connect_timeout=2
     
     [mysqlhotcopy]
     interactive-timeout

If you have a source distribution, you will find sample option files
named `my-xxxx.cnf' in the `support-files' directory.  If you have a
binary distribution, look in the `support-files' directory under your
MySQL installation directory (typically `C:\mysql' on Windows or
`/usr/local/mysql' on Unix).  Currently there are sample option files
for small, medium, large, and very large systems. To experiment with
one of these files, copy it to `C:\my.cnf' on Windows or to `.my.cnf'
in your home directory on Unix.

All MySQL programs that support option files support the following
command-line options:

`--no-defaults'
     Don't read any option files.

`--print-defaults'
     Print the program name and all options that it will get from
     option files.

`--defaults-file=path_name'
     Use only the given option file. `path_name' is the full pathname
     to the file.

`--defaults-extra-file=path_name'
     Read this option file after the global option file but before the
     user option file. `path_name' is the full pathname to the file.

Note that to work properly, each of these options must immediately
follow the command name on the command line, with the exception that
`--print-defaults' may be used immediately after `--defaults-file' or
`--defaults-extra-file'.

In shell scripts, you can use the `my_print_defaults' program to parse
the option files. The following example shows the output that
`my_print_defaults' might produce when asked to show the options found
in the `[client]' and `[mysql]' groups:


     shell> my_print_defaults client mysql
     --port=3306
     --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock
     --no-auto-rehash

Note for developers:  Option file handling is implemented in the C
client library simply by processing all matching options (that is,
options in the appropriate group) before any command-line arguments.
This works nicely for programs that use the last instance of an option
that is specified multiple times. If you have a C or C++ program that
handles multiply specified options this way but doesn't read option
files, you need add only two lines to give it that capability.  Check
the source code of any of the standard MySQL clients to see how to do
this.

Several other language interfaces to MySQL are based on the C client
library, and some of them provide a way to access option file contents.
These include Perl and Python. See the documentation for your preferred
interface for details.

Using Environment Variables to Specify Options
----------------------------------------------

To specify an option using an environment variable, set the variable
using the syntax appropriate for your comment processor. For example,
on Windows or NetWare, you can set the `USER' variable to specify your
MySQL account name.  To do so, use this syntax:

     SET USER=your_name

The syntax on Unix depends on your shell. Suppose you want to specify
the TCP/IP port number using the `MYSQL_TCP_PORT' variable. The syntax
for Bourne shell and variants (`sh', `bash', `zsh', etc.) is:

     MYSQL_TCP_PORT=3306

For `csh' and `tcsh', use this syntax:

     setenv MYSQL_TCP_PORT 3306

The commands to set environment variables can be executed at your
command prompt to take effect immediately. These settings persist until
you log out.  To have the settings take effect each time you log in,
place the appropriate command or commands in a startup file that your
command interpreter reads each time it starts. Typical startup files are
`AUTOEXEC.BAT' for Windows, `.bash_profile' for `bash', or `.tcshrc'
for `tcsh'. Consult the documentation for your command interpreter for
specific details.

*Note Environment variables:: lists all environment variables that
affect MySQL program operation.

Using Options to Set Program Variables
--------------------------------------

Many MySQL programs have internal variables that can be set at runtime.
As of MySQL 4.0.2, program variables are set the same way as any other
long option that takes a value.  For example, `mysql' has a
`max_allowed_packet' variable that controls the maximum size of its
communication buffer.  To set the `max_allowed_packet' variable for
`mysql' to a value of 64 MB, use either of the following commands:

     shell> mysql --max_allowed_packet=6710740
     shell> mysql --max_allowed_packet=64M

The first command specifies the value in bytes. The second specifies
the value in megabytes. Variable values can have a suffix of `K', `M',
or `G' (either uppercase or lowercase) to indicate units of kilobytes,
megabytes, or gigabytes.

In an option file, the variable setting is given without the leading
dashes:

     [mysql]
     max_allowed_packet=6710740

Or:

     [mysql]
     max_allowed_packet=64M

If you like, underscores in a variable name can be specified as dashes.

Prior to MySQL 4.0.2, program variable names are not recognized as
option names.  Instead, use the `--set-variable' option to assign a
value to a variable:

     shell> mysql --set-variable=max_allowed_packet=6710740
     shell> mysql --set-variable=max_allowed_packet=64M

In an option file, omit the leading dashes:

     [mysql]
     set-variable = max_allowed_packet=6710740

Or:

     [mysql]
     set-variable = max_allowed_packet=64M

With `--set-variable', underscores in variable names may not be given as
dashes for versions of MySQL older than 4.0.2.

The `--set-variable' option is still recognized in MySQL 4.0.2 and up,
but is deprecated.

Database Administration
***********************

This chapter covers topics that deal with administering a MySQL
installation, such as configuring the server, managing user accounts,
and performing backups.

The MySQL Server and Server Startup Scripts
===========================================

The MySQL server, `mysqld', is the main program that does most of the
work in a MySQL installation. The server is accompanied by several
related scripts that perform setup operations when you install MySQL or
that are helper programs to assist you in starting and stopping the
server.

Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities
-------------------------------------------------

All MySQL programs take many different options. However, every MySQL
program provides a `--help' option that you can use to get a
description of the program's options. For example, try `mysqld --help'.

You can override default options for all standard programs by specifying
options on the command line or in an option file.  *Note Program
Options::.

The following list briefly describes the server-related MySQL programs:

`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 the the server.

`mysqld-max'
     A version of the server that includes additional features.

`mysqld_safe'
     A server startup script.  `mysqld_safe' attempts to start
     `mysqld-max' if it exists, and `mysqld' otherwise.

`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.

`mysqld_multi'
     A server startup script that can start or stop multiple servers
     installed on the system.

`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.

`mysql_fix_privilege_tables'
     This script is used after an upgrade install operation, to update
     the grant tables with any changes that were made in newer versions
     of MySQL.

There are several other programs that also are run on the server host:

`myisamchk'
     A utility to describe, check, optimize, and repair MySQL tables.
     `myisamchk' is described in *Note Table maintenance::.

`make_binary_distribution'
     This program makes a binary release of a compiled MySQL. This
     could be sent by FTP to `/pub/mysql/Incoming' on
     `support.mysql.com' for the convenience of other MySQL users.

`mysqlbug'
     The MySQL bug reporting script.  It can be be used to send a bug
     report to the MySQL list. (You can also visit
     <http://bugs.mysql.com/> to file a bug report online.)

`mysqld-max', An Extended `mysqld' Server
-----------------------------------------

A MySQL-Max server is a version of the `mysqld' MySQL server that is
configured to include additional features.

You can find the MySQL-Max binaries at
`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-max-4.0.html'.

The MySQL binary distributions Windows include both the standard server
(named `mysqld.exe') and the MySQL-Max server (named `mysqld-max.exe').
`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-4.0.html'.  *Note Windows
installation::.

If you install MySQL on Linux using RPM distributions, install the
`MySQL-server' RPM first, and then the `MySQL-Max' RPM.  The latter
presupposes that you have already installed the regular server RPM.
This process installs a standard server named `mysqld' and a MySQL-Max
server named `mysqld-max'.

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

MySQL-Max servers are built by using the following `configure' options:

*Option*                  *Comment*
`--with-server-suffix=-max'Add a `-max' suffix to the `mysqld' version
                          string
`--with-innodb'           Support for `InnoDB' tables (MySQL 3.23 only)
`--with-bdb'              Support for Berkeley DB (`BDB') tables
`CFLAGS=-DUSE_SYMDIR'     Symbolic link support for Windows

MySQL-Max binary distributions are a convenience for those who wish to
install precompiled programs. If you build MySQL using a source
distribution, you can build your own Max-like server by enabling the
same features at configuration time that the MySQL-Max binary
distributions are built with.

MySQL-Max servers always include the `InnoDB' storage engine.  The
`--with-innodb' option for enabling `InnoDB' support is needed only in
MySQL 3.23. (In MySQL 4 and up, `InnoDB' is included by default.  so
you do not need a MySQL-Max server to obtain `InnoDB' support.)

MySQL-Max servers include the BerkeleyDB (`BDB') storage engine
whenever possible, but not all platforms support `BDB'.  The following
table shows which platforms allow MySQL-Max binaries to include `BDB':

*System*               `BDB'
Windows/NT             Y
AIX 4.3                N
HP-UX 11.0             N
Linux-Alpha            N
Linux-Intel            Y
Linux-IA-64            N
Solaris-Intel          N
Solaris-SPARC          Y
SCO OSR5               Y
UnixWare               Y
Mac OS X               N

As of Version 3.23, all MySQL servers support `MyISAM' tables, because
`MyISAM' is the default storage engine. To find out which storage
engines your server supports, issue the following statement:

     mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE "have_%";
     +------------------+----------+
     | Variable_name    | Value    |
     +------------------+----------+
     | have_bdb         | NO       |
     | have_crypt       | YES      |
     | have_innodb      | YES      |
     | have_isam        | NO       |
     | have_raid        | NO       |
     | have_symlink     | DISABLED |
     | have_openssl     | NO       |
     | have_query_cache | YES      |
     +------------------+----------+

The values in the second column indicate the server's level of support
for each feature:

*Value*     *Meaning*
`YES'       The feature is supported and is active.
`NO'        The feature is not supported.
`DISABLED'  The feature is supported but has been disabled.

A value of `NO' means that the server was compiled without support for
the feature, so it cannot be activated at runtime.

A value of `DISABLED' occurs either because the server was started with
an option that disables the feature, or because not all options
required to enable it were given. In the latter case, the
`hostname.err' file should contain a reason indicating why the option
is disabled.

One situation in which you might see `DISABLED' occurs with MySQL 3.23
when the `InnoDB' storage engine is compiled in. In MySQL 3.23, you
must supply at least the `innodb_data_file_path' option at runtime to
set up the `InnoDB' tablespace. Without the options, `InnoDB' disables
itself.  *Note InnoDB in MySQL 3.23::.  (You can specify configuration
options for the `BDB' storage engine, too, but `BDB' will not disable
itself without them.  *Note BDB start::.)

You may also see `DISABLED' for the `InnoDB', `BDB', or `ISAM' storage
engines if the server was compiled to support them, but was started
with the `--skip-innodb', `--skip-bdb', or `--skip-isam' options at
runtime.

`mysqld_safe', The Wrapper Around `mysqld'
------------------------------------------

`mysqld_safe' is the recommended way to start a `mysqld' server on
Unix.  `mysqld_safe' adds some safety features such as restarting the
server when an error occurs and logging run-time information to a log
file.

*Note:* Before MySQL 4.0, `mysqld_safe' is named `safe_mysqld'.  To
preserve backward compatibility, MySQL binary distributions for some
time will include `safe_mysqld' as a symbolic link to `mysqld_safe'.

If you don't use `--mysqld=#' or `--mysqld-version=#' `mysqld_safe'
will use an executable named `mysqld-max' if it exists. If not,
`mysqld_safe' will start `mysqld'.

On Linux, the `MySQL-Max' RPM uses this `mysqld_safe' feature. (It just
installs the `mysqld-max' executable, so `mysqld_safe' automatically
uses this executable when `mysqld_safe' is restarted.)

The preference of `mysqld_safe' for `mysqld-max' over `mysqld' makes it
very easy to test a new `mysqld' binary in an existing installation.
Just run `configure' with the options you want and then install the new
`mysqld' binary as `mysqld-max' in the same directory where your
existing `mysqld' binary is located.

On the other hand, this behavior means that 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' will still attempt
to run the old `mysqld-max' server.  If you perform such an upgrade,
manually remove the old `mysqld-max' server to ensure that
`mysqld_safe' runs the new `mysqld' server.

Normally, you should never edit the `mysqld_safe' script.  Instead, put
the options to `mysqld_safe' in the `[mysqld_safe]' section in a
`my.cnf' option file.  *Note Option files::.  `mysqld_safe' reads all
options from the `[mysqld]', `[server]' and `[mysqld_safe]' sections
from the option files.  (For backward compatibility, it also reads the
`[safe_mysqld]' sections, though you should rename such sections to
`[mysqld_safe]' once you begin using MySQL 4.0 or later.)

Note that all options specified to `mysqld_safe' on the command-line
are passed to `mysqld'.  If you wants to use any options for
`mysqld_safe' that `mysqld' doesn't support, you must specify them in
the option file.

Many of the options to `mysqld_safe' are the same as the options to
`mysqld'. *Note Server options::.

`mysqld_safe' supports the following options:

`--basedir=path'
     The path to the installation directory.

`--core-file-size=#'
     The size of the core file `mysqld' should be able to create. 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.

`--defaults-file=path'
     The name of an option file to be read instead of the usual option
     files.

`--err-log=path'
     Old form of the `--log-error' option, to be used before MySQL 4.0.

`--log-error=path'
     Write the error log to the above file. *Note Error log::.

`--ledir=path'
     The path to the directory containing the `mysqld' program.  Use
     this option to explicitly indicate the location of the server.

`--log=path'

`--mysqld=prog_name'
     The name of the server program (in the `ledir' directory) that you
     want to start.

`--mysqld-version=suffix'
     Similar to `--mysqld=' but here you only give the suffix for the
     server program name. The base name is assumed to be `mysqld'.  For
     example, if you use `--mysqld-version=max', `mysqld_safe' will
     start the `mysqld-max' program in the `ledir' directory.  If the
     argument to `--mysqld-version' is empty, `mysqld' in the `ledir'
     directory is used.

`--nice=#'
     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.

`--open-files-limit=#'
     The number of files `mysqld' should be able to open. 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=#'
     The TCP/IP port number.

`--socket=path'
     The Unix socket file path.

`--timezone=#'
     Set the time zone (the `TZ') variable to the value of this
     parameter.

`--user=#'
The `mysqld_safe' script is written so that it normally is able to start
a server that was installed from either a source or a binary
distribution of MySQL, even those these normally install the server in
slightly different locations.  *Note Installation layouts::.
`mysqld_safe' expects one of the following conditions to be true:

   * The server and databases can be found relative to the directory
     from which `mysqld_safe' is invoked.  `mysqld_safe' looks under
     its working directory for `bin' and `data' directories (for binary
     distributions) or for `libexec' and `var' directories (for source
     distributions).  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.

Because `mysqld_safe' will try 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 start `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.

In rare cases, it may be necessary to edit `mysqld_safe' to get it to
start the server properly. If you do this, note that if you upgrade
MySQL in the future, your modified version of `mysqld_safe' will be
overwritten, so you should make a copy of your edited version that you
can reinstall.

`mysql.server', A Server Startup Script for Run Directories
-----------------------------------------------------------

MySQL distributions on Unix include a script named `mysql.server'.  It
can be used on systems such as Linux and Solaris that use System V-style
run directories to start and stop system services.

On Linux systems, the server RPM distribution installs `mysql.server'
in `/etc/init.d' automatically under the name `mysql'.

If you install MySQL on Linux using another distribution format, or on
a System V-style system, you can install the script manually by copying
it to the `/etc/init.d' directory with the name `mysql'.  Make sure the
script is executable. (Use `chmod +x mysql'.)

The commands needed to activate the script depend on your operating
system.  On Linux, you can use `chkconfig':

     shell> chkconfig --add mysql

For other systems, consult your operating system documentation to see
how to install startup scripts.

`mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers
-------------------------------------------------------------

`mysqld_multi' is meant for managing several `mysqld' processes that
listen for connections on different Unix socket files and TCP/IP ports.
It can start or stop servers, or report their current status.

The program searches for groups named `[mysqld#]' in `my.cnf' (or in
the file named by the `--config-file=...' option on the command line).
`#' can be any positive integer.  This number is referred to in the
following discussion as the option group number, or GNR.  Group numbers
distinquish option groups from one another and are used as arguments to
`mysqld_multi' to specify which servers you want to start, stop, or
obtain the status of.  Options listed in these groups are the same as
you would use in the usual `[mysqld]' group used for starting `mysqld'.
(See, for example, *Note Automatic start::.) However, when using
multiple servers it is necessary that each one use its own value for
options such as the Unix socket file and TCP/IP port number. For more
information on which options should be specified in a multiple-server
environment, see *Note Multiple servers::.

To invoke `mysqld_multi', use the following syntax:

     shell> mysqld_multi [OPTIONS] {start|stop|report} [GNR[,GNR]...]

`start', `stop', and `report' indicate the operation you want to
perform. You can perform the operation on a single server or multiple
servers, depending on the GNR list that follows the option name.  If
there is no list, `mysqld_multi' performs the operation for all servers
in the option file.

Each GNR value represents an option group number or range of group
numbers.  The value should be the number at the end of the group name
in the option file.  For example, the GNR for a group named `[mysqld17]'
is `17'.  To specify a range of numbers, separate the first and last
numbers by a dash.  The GNR value 10-13 represents groups `[mysqld10]'
through `[mysqld13]'.  Multiple groups or group ranges can be specified
on the command line, separated by commas.  There must be no whitespace
characters (spaces or tabs) in the GNR list. (Anything after a
whitespace character is ignored.)

This command starts a single server using option group `[mysqld17]':

     shell> mysqld_multi start 17

This command stops serveral servers, using option groups `[mysql8]' and
`[mysqld10]' through `[mysqld13]':

     shell> mysqld_multi start 8,10-13

For an example of how you might set up an option file, use this command:

     shell> mysqld_multi --example

`mysqld_multi' supports the following options:

`--config-file=...'
     Specify the name of an alternative option file. This affects where
     `mysqld_multi' looks for `[mysqld#]' option groups.  It 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.
     Without this option, all options are read from the usual `my.cnf'
     file.

`--example'
     Display an example option file.

`--help'
     Print this help message and exit.

`--log=...'
     Specify the name of the log file. If the file exists, log output
     is appended to it.

`--mysqladmin=...'
     The `mysqladmin' binary to be used to stop servers.

`--mysqld=...'
     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 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=...'
     The password of the MySQL account to use when invoking
     `mysqladmin'.

`--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 may
     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=...'
     The username of the MySQL account to use when invoking
     `mysqladmin'.

`--version'
     Print the version number and exit.

Some notes about `mysqld_multi':

   * Make sure that the MySQL user who is stopping the `mysqld'
     services (using the `mysqladmin' program) has the same password
     and username for all the data directories accessed (to the `mysql'
     database). And make sure that the user has the `SHUTDOWN'
     privilege! If you have many data directories and many different
     `mysql' databases with different passwords for the MySQL `root'
     user, you may want to create a common `multi_admin' user for each
     using the same password (see below). Example how to do it:
          shell> mysql -u root -S /tmp/mysql.sock -proot_password -e
          "GRANT SHUTDOWN ON *.* TO multi_admin@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'multipass'"
     *Note Privileges::.  You will have to do the above for each
     `mysqld' running in each data directory, that you have (just
     change the socket, `-S=...').

   * `pid-file' is very important, if you are using `mysqld_safe' to
     start `mysqld' (for example, `--mysqld=mysqld_safe') Every
     `mysqld' should have its own `pid-file'. The advantage using
     `mysqld_safe' instead of `mysqld' directly here is, that
     `mysqld_safe' "guards" every `mysqld' process and will restart it,
     if a `mysqld' 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 may require that you start it
     from a certain place. This means that you may have to `cd' to a
     certain directory, before you start the `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
          --------------------------------------------------------------------------

     *Note `mysqld_safe': mysqld_safe.  The above test should be
     successful, or you may encounter problems.

   * Beware of the dangers of using multiple `mysqld' servers with the
     same data directory.  Use separate data directories, unless you
     *know* what you are doing!  *Note Multiple servers::.

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

   * You may want to use option `--user' 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 config file doesn't matter;
     you will just get a warning, if you are not the superuser and the
     `mysqlds' are started under *your* Unix account. *Important*: Make
     sure that the `pid-file' and the data directory are
     read+write(+execute for the latter one) accessible for *that* Unix
     user, who the specific `mysqld' process is started as. *Do not*
     use the Unix root account for this, unless you *know* 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. Starting multiple servers with the same data
     directory *will not* give you extra performance in a threaded
     system!  *Note Multiple servers::.

The following example shows how you might set up an option file for use
with `mysqld_multi'.  The first and fifth `[mysqld#]' group were
intentionally left out from the example.  You may have "gaps" in the
option file. This gives you more flexibility.  The order in which the
`mysqld' programs are started or stopped depends on the order in which
they appear in the option file.

     # This file should probably be in your home dir (~/.my.cnf)
     # or /etc/my.cnf
     # Version 2.1 by Jani Tolonen
     
     [mysqld_multi]
     mysqld     = /usr/local/bin/mysqld_safe
     mysqladmin = /usr/local/bin/mysqladmin
     user       = multi_admin
     password   = multipass
     
     [mysqld2]
     socket     = /tmp/mysql.sock2
     port       = 3307
     pid-file   = /usr/local/mysql/var2/hostname.pid2
     datadir    = /usr/local/mysql/var2
     language   = /usr/local/share/mysql/english
     user       = john
     
     [mysqld3]
     socket     = /tmp/mysql.sock3
     port       = 3308
     pid-file   = /usr/local/mysql/var3/hostname.pid3
     datadir    = /usr/local/mysql/var3
     language   = /usr/local/share/mysql/swedish
     user       = monty
     
     [mysqld4]
     socket     = /tmp/mysql.sock4
     port       = 3309
     pid-file   = /usr/local/mysql/var4/hostname.pid4
     datadir    = /usr/local/mysql/var4
     language   = /usr/local/share/mysql/estonia
     user       = tonu
     
     [mysqld6]
     socket     = /tmp/mysql.sock6
     port       = 3311
     pid-file   = /usr/local/mysql/var6/hostname.pid6
     datadir    = /usr/local/mysql/var6
     language   = /usr/local/share/mysql/japanese
     user       = jani

*Note Option files::.

Configuring MySQL
=================

This section discusses MySQL server configuration topics:

   * Startup options that the server supports.

   * How to set the server SQL mode.

`mysqld' Command-line Options
-----------------------------

When you start the `mysqld' server, you specify program options using
any of the methods described in *Note Program Options::. The most
common methods are to provide options in an option file or on the
command line. However, in most cases it is desirable to make sure the
server uses the same options each time it runs. The best way to ensure
this is to specify server options in an option file.  *Note Option
files::.

`mysqld' reads options from the `[mysqld]' and `[server]' groups.
`mysqld_safe' reads options from the `[mysqld]', `[server]',
`[mysqld_safe]' and `[safe_mysqld]' groups.  `mysql.server' reads
options from the `[mysqld]' and `[mysql.server]' groups.  An embedded
MySQL server usually reads options from the `[server]', `[embedded]'
and `[xxxxx_SERVER]' groups, where `xxxxx' is the name of the
application into which the server is embedded.

`mysqld' accepts many command-line options.  For a list, execute
`mysqld --help'. Before MySQL 4.1.1, `--help' prints the full help
message. As of 4.1.1, it prints a brief message; to see the full list,
use `mysqld --help --verbose'.

The following list shows some of the most common server options.
Options used for replication are listed in a separate section, see
*Note Replication Options::.

`--ansi'
     Use SQL-99 syntax instead of MySQL syntax.  *Note 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 installation directory. All paths are usually
     resolved relative to this.

`--big-tables'
     Allow large result sets by saving all temporary sets on file.
     This option prevents most "table full" errors, but also slows down
     queries for which in-memory tables would suffice.  Since Version
     3.23.2, MySQL 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.

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

`--character-sets-dir=path'
     The directory where character sets are installed.  *Note Character
     sets::.

`--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'.

`--core-file'
     Write a core file if `mysqld' dies.  For some systems, you must
     also specify the `--core-file-size' option to `mysqld_safe'.
     *Note `mysqld_safe': mysqld_safe.  Note that on some systems, such
     as Solaris, you will not get a core file if you are also using the
     `--user' option.

`--datadir=path, -h path'
     The path to the data directory.

`--debug[=...]'
     If MySQL is configured with `--with-debug', you can use this
     option to get a trace file of what `mysqld' is doing.  *Note
     Making trace files::.

`--default-character-set=charset'
     Set the default character set.  *Note Character sets::.

`--default-table-type=type'
     Set the default table type for tables.  *Note Table types::.

`--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.  *Note Server parameters::.

`--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=filename'
     Read the default keys used by `DES_ENCRYPT()' and `DES_DECRYPT()'
     from this file.

`--enable-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), you
     will easily get `mysqld' to deadlock.  This option used to be
     named `--enable-locking'.

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

`--exit-info, -T'
     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!

`--flush'
     Flush all changes to disk after each SQL statement.  Normally MySQL
     only does a write of all changes to disk after each SQL statement
     and lets the operating system handle the syncing to disk.  *Note
     Crashing::.

`--help, -?'
     Display a short help message and exit.  Prior to 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.

`--init-file=file'
     Read SQL statements from this file at startup.

`--language=lang_name, -L lang_name'
     Client error messages in given language.  `lang_name' may be given
     as the language name or as the full pathname to the directory
     where the language files are installed.  *Note Languages::.

`--log[=file], -l [file]'
     Log connections and queries to this file. *Note Query log::. If
     you don't specify a file name, MySQL will use `hostname.log' as
     filename.

`--log-bin=[file]'
     Log all queries that change data to this file. Used for backup and
     replication.  *Note Binary log::.  If you don't specify a file
     name, MySQL will use `hostname-bin' as filename.

`--log-bin-index[=file]'
     The index file for binary log file names. *Note Binary log::.  If
     you don't specify file name, MySQL will use `hostname-bin.index' as
     filename.

`--log-error[=file]'
     Log errors and startup messages to this file. *Note Error log::.
     If you don't specify file name, MySQL will use `hostname.err' as
     filename.

`--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. If you are using `--log-slow-queries' and
     `--log-long-format', then queries that are not using indexes also
     are logged to the slow query log.  Note that `--log-long-format'
     is deprecated as of MySQL version 4.1, when `--log-short-format'
     was introduced (the 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
     queries log.

`--log-queries-not-using-indexes'
     If you are using this option with `--log-slow-queries', then also
     queries that are not using indexes are logged to the slow query
     log. This option is available as of MySQL 4.1. *Note 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
     options was introduced in MySQL 4.1.

`--log-slow-queries[=file]'
     Log all queries that have taken more than `long_query_time' seconds
     to execute to file. Note that the default for the amount of
     information logged has changed in MySQL 4.1. See the
     `--log-long-format' and `--log-long-format' options for details.
     *Note Slow query log::.

`--log-update[=file]'
     Log updates to `file.#' where `#' is a unique number if not given.
     *Note Update log::. The update log is deprecated and is removed in
     MySQL 5.0.0; you should use the binary log instead (`--log-bin').
     *Note Binary log::. Starting from version 5.0.0, using
     `--log-update' will just turn on the binlog instead (*note
     News-5.0.0::).

`--log-warnings, -W'
     Print out warnings like `Aborted connection...' to the `.err'
     file. Enabling this option is recommended, for example, if you use
     replication (you will get more information about what is happening,
     such as messages about network failures and reconnections). *Note
     Communication errors::.

     This option used to be called `--warnings'.

`--low-priority-updates'
     Table-modifying operations (`INSERT'/`DELETE'/`UPDATE') will have
     lower priority than selects.  It can also be done via `{INSERT |
     REPLACE | UPDATE | DELETE} LOW_PRIORITY ...' to lower the priority
     of only one query, or by `SET LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES=1' to change
     the priority in one thread.  *Note Table locking::.

`--memlock'
     Lock the `mysqld' process in memory.  This works on systems such as
     Solaris that support the `mlockall()' system call.  This may 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, seprate them by
     commas.  You can also use a value of `""' to disable this option.
     If this option is used, `mysqld' will on open check if the table
     is marked as crashed or if the table wasn't closed properly.  (The
     last option works only if you are running with
     `--skip-external-locking'.)  If this is the case `mysqld' will run
     check on the table. If the table was corrupted, `mysqld' will
     attempt to repair it.

     The following options affects how the repair works.

     *Option*   *Description*
     `DEFAULT'  The same as not giving any option to
                         `--myisam-recover'.
     `BACKUP'   If the data table was changed during recover,
                save a                     backup of the
                `table_name.MYD' datafile as
                 `table_name-datetime.BAK'.
     `FORCE'    Run recover even if we will lose more than one
                row                     from the `.MYD' file.
     `QUICK'    Don't check the rows in the table if there
                aren't any                     delete blocks.

     Before a table is automatically repaired, MySQL will add 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 will force a repair of a table even
     if some rows would be deleted, but it will keep the old datafile
     as a backup so that you can later examine what happened.

`--new'
     From version 4.0.12, 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:
        * `TIMESTAMP' is returned as a string with the format
          `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS''.  *Note Column types::.

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

`--pid-file=path'
     The path to pid file used by `mysqld_safe'.

`--port=num, -P num'
     The port number to listen for TCP/IP connections.

`--old-protocol, -o'
     Use the 3.20 protocol for compatibility with some very old clients.
     *Note Upgrading-from-3.20::.

`--one-thread'
     Only use one thread (for debugging under Linux).  This option is
     available only if the server is built with debugging enabled.
     *Note Debugging server::.

`--open-files-limit='
     To change the number of file descriptors available to `mysqld'.
     If this is not set or set to 0, then `mysqld' will use this value
     to reserve file descriptors to use with `setrlimit()'.  If this
     value is 0 then `mysqld' will reserve `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'.

`--set-variable=name=value, -O value'
     Assign a value to a system variable.  Use `--help' to list the
     variables.  You can find a full description for all variables in
     the `SHOW VARIABLES' section in this manual.  *Note `SHOW
     VARIABLES': SHOW VARIABLES.  The section on tuning server
     parameters includes information on how to optimize them.  *Note
     Server parameters::.

     Please note that `--set-variable=name=value' and `-O name=value'
     syntax is deprecated as of MySQL 4.0.2.  In 4.0.2, you can set
     variables directly using `--variable-name=value' syntax, and
     `--set-variable' is no longer needed.

     If you want to restrict the maximum value a startup option can be
     set to with `SET', you can define this by using the
     `--maximum-variable-name' command line option.  *Note `SET
     OPTION': SET OPTION.

     Note that when setting a variable to a value, MySQL may
     automatically correct it to stay within a given range, or adjust
     the value to the closest allowable value if only certain values
     are allowed.

`--safe-mode'
     Skip some optimize stages.

`--safe-show-database'
     With this option, the `SHOW DATABASES' statement returns only those
     databases for which the user has some kind of privilege.  From
     version 4.0.2 this option is deprecated and doesn't do anything
     (the option is enabled by default) as we now have the `SHOW
     DATABASES' privilege. *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

`--safe-user-create'
     If this is enabled, a user can't create new users with the `GRANT'
     statement, if the user doesn't have `INSERT' privilege to the
     `mysql.user' table or any column in this table.

`--skip-bdb'
     Disable the `BDB' storage engine. This saves memory and may speed
     up some operations.  Do not use this operation 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 only to be used 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.  *Note
     Server parameters::.

`--skip-external-locking'
     Don't use system locking.  To use `isamchk' or `myisamchk' you must
     shut down the server.  *Note Stability::.  Note that in MySQL
     Version 3.23, you can use `CHECK TABLE' and `REPAIR TABLE' to
     check and repair`MyISAM' tables.  This option used to be named
     `--skip-locking'.

`--skip-grant-tables'
     This option causes the server not to use the privilege system at
     all.  This gives everyone *full access* to all databases!  (You
     can tell a running server to start using the grant tables again by
     executing a `mysqladmin flush-privileges' or `mysqladmin reload'
     command, or by issuing a `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' statement.)

`--skip-host-cache'
     Do not use the internal hostname cache for faster name-IP
     resolution. Instead, query the DNS server every time a client
     connects.  *Note DNS::.

`--skip-innodb'
     Disable the `InnoDB' storage engine.  This saves memory and disk
     space and may speed up some operations.  Do not use this operation
     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'.  *Note
     DNS::.

`--skip-networking'
     Don't listen for TCP/IP connections at all.  All interaction with
     `mysqld' must be made via named pipes (on Windows) or Unix socket
     files (on Unix).  This option is highly recommended for systems
     where only local clients are allowed.  *Note DNS::.

`--skip-new'
     Don't use new, possibly wrong routines.

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

`--symbolic-links, --skip-symbolic-links'
     Enable or disable symbolic link support. This option has different
     effects on Windows and Unix:

        * On Windows, enabling symbolic links allows you to establish a
          symbolic link to a database directory by creating a
          `directory.sym' file that contains the path to the real
          directory.  *Note Windows symbolic links::.

        * On Unix, enabling symbolic links means that you can link a
          `MyISAM' index file or datafile to another directory with the
          `INDEX DIRECTORY' or `DATA DIRECTORY' options of the `CREATE
          TABLE' statement.  If you delete or rename the table, the
          files that its symbolic links point to also are deleted or
          renamed. *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

     This option was added in MySQL 4.0.13.

`--skip-safemalloc'
     If MySQL is configured with `--with-debug=full', all MySQL programs
     checks 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 don't need it by using the
     `--skip-safemalloc' option.

`--skip-show-database'
     Don't allow the `SHOW DATABASES' statement, unless the user has the
     `SHOW DATABASES' privilege.

`--skip-stack-trace'
     Don't write stack traces.  This option is useful when you are
     running `mysqld' under a debugger. On some systems, you also must
     use this option to get a core file. *Note Debugging server::.

`--skip-thread-priority'
     Disable using thread priorities for faster response time.

`--socket=path'
     On Unix, this option specifies the Unix socket file to use for
     local connections. The default value is `/tmp/mysql.sock'.  On
     Windows, the option specifies the pipe name to use for local
     connections that use a named pipe. The default value is `MySQL'.

`--sql-mode=value[,value[,value...]]'
     Set the SQL mode for MySQL. *Note SQL mode::. This option was
     added in 3.23.41.

`--temp-pool'
     This option causes most temporary files created by the server to
     use a small set of names, rather than a unique name for each new
     file. This works around a problem in the Linux kernel dealing with
     creating many new files with different names. With the old
     behavior, Linux seems to "leak" memory, as it's being allocated to
     the directory entry cache rather than to the disk cache.

`--transaction-isolation=level'
     Sets the default transaction isolation level, which may be
     `READ-UNCOMMITTED', `READ-COMMITTED', `REPEATABLE-READ', or
     `SERIALIZABLE'.  *Note `SET TRANSACTION': SET TRANSACTION.

`--tmpdir=path, -t path'
     The path of the directory to use for creating temporary files. It
     may be useful if your default `/tmp' directory resides on a
     partition that is too small to hold temporary tables.  Starting
     from MySQL 4.1, this option accepts several paths that are used in
     round-robin fashion. Paths should be separated by colon characters
     (`:') on Unix and semicolon characters (`;') on Windows.  It is
     possible to set `tmpdir' to point to a memory-based filesystem,
     except if the MySQL server is a slave replication server. If it is
     a slave, some of its temporary files are needed to survive a
     machine's reboot.  (For example, to replicate temporary tables or
     `LOAD DATA INFILE' statements).  In this case, a memory-based
     `tmpdir' that is cleared when the machine reboots is not suitable;
     a disk-based `tmpdir' is necessary.

`--user={user_name | user_id}, -u {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.)

     This option is *mandatory* when starting `mysqld' as `root'.  The
     server will change its user ID during its startup sequence,
     causing it to run as that particular user rather than as `root'.
     *Note Security guidelines::.

     Starting from MySQL 3.23.56 and 4.0.12: To avoid a possible
     security hole where a user adds a `--user=root' option to some
     `my.cnf' file (thus causing the server to run as `root'), `mysqld'
     uses only the first `--user' option specified and produces a
     warning if there are multiple `--user' options. Options in
     `/etc/my.cnf' and `datadir/my.cnf' are processed before
     command-line options, so it is recommended that you put a `--user'
     option in `/etc/my.cnf' and specify a value other than `root'. The
     option in `/etc/my.cnf' will be found before any other `--user'
     options, which ensures that the server runs as a user other than
     `root', and that a warning results if any other `--user' option is
     found.

`--version, -V'
     Display version information and exit.

You can change the values of most system variables for a running server
with the `SET' statement. *Note `SET OPTION': SET OPTION.

The Server SQL Mode
-------------------

The MySQL server can operate in different SQL modes, and (as of MySQL
4.1) can apply these modes differentially for different clients. This
allows applications to tailor server operation to their own
requirements.

Modes define what SQL syntax MySQL should support and what kind of data
validation checks it should perform.  This makes it easier to use MySQL
in different environments and to use MySQL together with other database
servers.

You can set the default SQL mode by starting `mysqld' with the
`--sql-mode="modes"' option. Beginning with MySQL 4.1, you can also
change the mode after startup time by setting the `sql_mode' variable
with a `SET [SESSION|GLOBAL] sql_mode='modes'' statement.  Setting the
`GLOBAL' variable affects the operation of all clients that connect
from that time on. Setting the `SESSION' variable affects only the
current client.  `modes' is a list of different modes separated by
comma (`,') characters.  You can retrieve the current mode by issuing a
`SELECT @@sql_mode' statement. The default value is empty (no modes
set).

The value also can be empty (`--sql-mode=""') if you want to reset it.

The following table lists the supported modes. The *Version* column
indicates when each mode value was implemented.

*Value*        *Version**Meaning*
`ANSI_QUOTES'  4.0.0   Treat `"' as an identifier quote character (like
                       the MySQL Server ``' quote character) and not as
                       a string quote character. You can still use ``'
                       to quote identifers in ANSI mode. With
                       `ANSI_QUOTES' enabled, you cannot use double
                       quotes to quote a literal string, because it will
                       be intepreted as an identifier.
`IGNORE_SPACE' 4.0.0   Allow spaces between a function name and the `('
                       character.  This forces all function names to be
                       treated as reserved words. As a result, if you
                       want to access any database, table, or column
                       name that is a reserved word, you must quote it.
                       For example, because there is a `USER()'
                       function, the name of the `user' table in the
                       `mysql' database and the `User' column in that
                       table become reserved, so you must quote them:
                            SELECT "User" FROM mysql."user";
`NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO'4.1.1    `NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO' affects handling of
                       `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns. Normally, you generate
                       the next sequence number for the column by
                       inserting either `NULL' or `0' into it.
                       `NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO' suppresses this behavior
                       for `0' so that only `NULL' generates the next
                       sequence number. This mode can be useful if `0'
                       has been stored in a table's `AUTO_INCREMENT'
                       column. (This is not a recommended practice, by
                       the way.)  For example, if you dump the table
                       with `mysqldump' and then reload it, normally
                       MySQL will generate new sequence numbers when it
                       encounters the `0' values, resulting in a table
                       with different contents than the one that was
                       dumped. Enabling `NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO' before
                       reloading the dump file solves this problem. (As
                       of MySQL 4.1.1, `mysqldump' automatically
                       includes statements in the dump output to enable
                       `NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO'.)
`NO_DIR_IN_CREATE'4.0.15  When creating a table, ignore all `INDEX
                       DIRECTORY' and `DATA DIRECTORY' directives. This
                       option is useful on slave replication servers.
`NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'4.1.1   Don't print MySQL field-specific options in the
                       output of `SHOW CREATE TABLE'. This mode is used
                       by `mysqldump' in portability mode.
`NO_KEY_OPTIONS'4.1.1   Don't print MySQL index-specific options in the
                       output of `SHOW CREATE TABLE'. This mode is used
                       by `mysqldump' in portability mode.
`NO_TABLE_OPTIONS'4.1.1   Don't print MySQL table-specific options (such as
                       `ENGINE') in the output of `SHOW CREATE TABLE'.
                       This mode is used by `mysqldump' in portability
                       mode.
`NO_UNSIGNED_SUBTRACTION'4.0.2   In subtraction operations, don't mark the result
                       as `UNSIGNED' if one of the operands is unsigned.
                       Note that this makes `UNSIGNED BIGINT' not 100%
                       usable in all contexts. *Note Cast Functions::.
`ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY'4.0.0   Don't allow queries which in the `GROUP BY' part
                       refers to a not selected column.
`PIPES_AS_CONCAT'4.0.0   Treat `||' as a string concatenation operator
                       (same as `CONCAT()') rather than as a synonym for
                       `OR'.
`REAL_AS_FLOAT'4.0.0   Treat `REAL' as a synonym for `FLOAT' rather than
                       as a synonym for `DOUBLE'.

The following special modes are provided as shorthand for combinations
of mode values from the preceding table:

*Value*        `Version'*Meaning*
`ANSI'         4.1.1   `REAL_AS_FLOAT,PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,ONLY_FULL_GROUP_BY'.
                       *Note ANSI mode::.
`DB2'          4.1.1   `PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,NO_KEY_OPTIONS,NO_TABLE_OPTIONS,NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'
`DB2'          4.1.1   `PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,NO_KEY_OPTIONS,NO_TABLE_OPTIONS,NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'
`MAXDB'        4.1.1   `PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,NO_KEY_OPTIONS,NO_TABLE_OPTIONS,NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'
`MSSQL'        4.1.1   `PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,NO_KEY_OPTIONS,NO_TABLE_OPTIONS,NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'
`MYSQL323'     4.1.1   `NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'
`MYSQL40'      4.1.1   `NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'
`ORACLE'       4.1.1   `PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,NO_KEY_OPTIONS,NO_TABLE_OPTIONS,NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'
`POSTGRESQL'   4.1.1   `PIPES_AS_CONCAT,ANSI_QUOTES,IGNORE_SPACE,NO_KEY_OPTIONS,NO_TABLE_OPTIONS,NO_FIELD_OPTIONS'

General Security Issues
=======================

This section describes some general security issues to be aware of and
what you can do to make your MySQL installation more secure against
attack or misuse. For information specifically about the access control
system that MySQL uses for setting up user accounts and checking
database access, see *Note Privilege system::.

General Security Guidelines
---------------------------

Anyone using MySQL on a computer connected to the Internet should read
this section to avoid the most common security mistakes.

In discussing security, we emphasize the necessity of fully protecting
the entire server host (not just the MySQL server) against all types of
applicable attacks: eavesdropping, altering, playback, and denial of
service. We do not cover all aspects of availability and fault tolerance
here.

MySQL uses security based on Access Control Lists (ACLs) for all
connections, queries, and other operations that users may attempt to
perform. There is also some support for SSL-encrypted connections
between MySQL clients and servers. Many of the concepts discussed here
are not specific to MySQL at all; the same general ideas apply to
almost all applications.

When running MySQL, follow these guidelines whenever possible:

   * *Do not ever give anyone (except MySQL `root' accounts) access to
     the `user' table in the `mysql' database!*  This is critical.
     *The encrypted password is the real password in MySQL.* Anyone who
     knows the password which is listed in the `user' table and has
     access to the host listed for the account *can easily log in as
     that user*.

   * Learn the MySQL access privilege system. The `GRANT' and `REVOKE'
     statements are used for controlling access to MySQL. Do not grant
     any more privileges than necessary. Never grant privileges to all
     hosts.

     Checklist:
        - Try `mysql -u root'. If you are able to connect successfully
          to the server without being asked for a password, you have
          problems. Anyone can connect to your MySQL server as the MySQL
          `root' user with full privileges!  Review the MySQL
          installation instructions, paying particular attention to the
          item about setting a `root' password.

        - Use the `SHOW GRANTS' statement and check to see who has
          access to what.  Then use the `REVOKE' statement to remove
          those privileges that are not necessary.

   * Do not store any plain-text passwords in your database. If your
     computer becomes compromised, the intruder can take the full list
     of passwords and use them. Instead, use `MD5()', `SHA1()' or some
     other one-way hashing function.

   * Do not choose passwords from dictionaries. There are special
     programs to break them. Even passwords like "xfish98" are very
     bad.  Much better is "duag98" which contains the same word "fish"
     but typed one key to the left on a standard QWERTY keyboard.
     Another method is to use "Mhall" which is taken from the first
     characters of each word in the sentence "Mary had a little lamb."
     This is easy to remember and type, but difficult to guess for
     someone who does not know it.

   * Invest in a firewall. This protects you from at least 50% of all
     types of exploits in any software. Put MySQL behind the firewall
     or in a demilitarized zone (DMZ).

     Checklist:
        - Try to scan your ports from the Internet using a tool such as
          `nmap'. MySQL uses port 3306 by default. This port should not
          be accessible from untrusted hosts. Another simple way to
          check whether or not your MySQL port is open is to try the
          following command from some remote machine, where
          `server_host' is the host where your MySQL server runs:

               shell> telnet server_host 3306

          If you get a connection and some garbage characters, the port
          is open, and should be closed on your firewall or router,
          unless you really have a good reason to keep it open. If
          `telnet' just hangs or the connection is refused, everything
          is OK; the port is blocked.

   * Do not trust any data entered by users of your applications. They
     can try to trick your code by entering special or escaped
     character sequences in web forms, URLs, or whatever application
     you have built. Be sure that your application remains secure if a
     user enters something like "`; DROP DATABASE mysql;'". This is an
     extreme example, but large security leaks and data loss may occur
     as a result of hackers using similar techniques, if you do not
     prepare for them.

     A common mistake is to protect only string data values.  Remember
     to check numeric data as well.  If an application generates a
     query such as `SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID=234' when a user
     enters the value `234', the user can enter the value `234 OR 1=1'
     to cause the application to generate the query `SELECT * FROM
     table WHERE ID=234 OR 1=1'.  As a result, the server retrieves
     every record in the table.  This exposes every record and causes
     excessive server load.  The simplest way to protect from this type
     of attack is to use apostrophes around the numeric constants:
     `SELECT * FROM table WHERE ID='234''. If the user enters extra
     information, it all becomes part of the string. In numeric context,
     MySQL automatically converts this string to a number and strips
     any trailing non-numeric characters from it.

     Sometimes people think that if a database contains only publicly
     available data, it need not be protected. This is incorrect.  Even
     if it is allowable to display any record in the database, you
     should still protect against denial of service attacks (for
     example, those that are based on the technique in the preceding
     paragraph that causes the server to waste resources). Otherwise,
     your server becomes unresponsive to legitimate users.

     Checklist:
        - Try to enter `'' and `"' in all your web forms. If you get
          any kind of MySQL error, investigate the problem right away.

        - Try to modify any dynamic URLs by adding `%22' (`"'), `%23'
          (`#'), and `%27' (`'') in the URL.

        - Try to modify datatypes in dynamic URLs from numeric ones to
          character ones containing characters from previous examples.
          Your application should be safe against this and similar
          attacks.

        - Try to enter characters, spaces, and special symbols rather
          than numbers in numeric fields. Your application should
          remove them before passing them to MySQL or else generate an
          error. Passing unchecked values to MySQL is very dangerous!

        - Check data sizes before passing them to MySQL.

        - Consider having your application connect to the database
          using a different username than the one you use for
          administrative purposes. Do not give your applications any
          access privileges they do not need.

   * Many application programming interfaces provide the means of
     escaping special characters in data values. Properly used, this
     prevents application users from entering values that cause the
     application to generate statements that have a different effect
     than you intend:
        - Users of PHP: Use the `mysql_escape_string()' function, which
          is based on the function of the same name in the MySQL C API.
          Prior to PHP 4.0.3, use  `addslashes()' instead.

        - Users of MySQL C API: Use the `mysql_real_escape_string()'
          API call.

        - Users of MySQL++: Use the `escape' and `quote' modifiers for
          query streams.

        - Users of Perl DBI: Use the `quote()' method or use
          placeholders.

        - Users of Java JDBC: Use a `PreparedStatement' object and
          placeholders.

     Other programming interfaces may have similar capabilities.

   * Do not transmit plain (unencrypted) data over the Internet. This
     information is accessible to everyone who has the time and ability
     to intercept it and use it for their own purposes. Instead, use an
     encrypted protocol such as SSL or SSH. MySQL supports internal SSL
     connections as of Version 4.0.0.  SSH port-forwarding can be used
     to create an encrypted (and compressed) tunnel for the
     communication.

   * Learn to use the `tcpdump' and `strings' utilities. For most cases,
     you can check whether MySQL data streams are unencrypted by
     issuing a command like the following:

          shell> tcpdump -l -i eth0 -w - src or dst port 3306 | strings

     (This works under Linux and should work with small modifications
     under other systems.)  Warning: If you do not see plaintext data,
     this doesn't always mean that the information actually is
     encrypted. If you need high security, you should consult with a
     security expert.

Making MySQL Secure Against Attackers
-------------------------------------

When you connect to a MySQL server, you should use a password.  The
password is not transmitted in clear text over the connection. Password
handling during the client connection sequence was upgraded in MySQL
4.1.1 to be very secure.  If you are using an older version of MySQL,
or are still using pre-4.1.1-style passwords, the encryption algorithm
is less strong and with some effort a clever attacker that can sniff
the traffic between the client and the server can crack the password.
(See *Note Password hashing:: for a discussion of the different
password handling methods.)  If the connection between the client and
the server goes through an untrusted network, you should use an SSH
tunnel to encrypt the communication.

All other information is transferred as text that can be read by anyone
who is able to watch the connection.  If you are concerned about this,
you can use the compressed protocol (in MySQL Version 3.22 and above)
to make traffic much more difficult to decipher.  To make the
connection even more secure, you should use SSH to get an encrypted
TCP/IP connection between a MySQL server and a MySQL client.  You can
find an `Open Source' SSH client at `http://www.openssh.org/', and a
commercial SSH client at `http://www.ssh.com/'.

If you are using MySQL 4.0 or newer, you can also use internal OpenSSL
support.  *Note Secure connections::.

To make a MySQL system secure, you should strongly consider the
following suggestions:

   * Use passwords for all MySQL users. A client program does not
     necessarily know the identify of the person running it. It is
     common for client/server applications that the user may specify
     any username to the client program.  For example, anyone can use
     the `mysql' program to connect as any other person simply by
     invoking it as `mysql -u other_user db_name' if `other_user' has
     no password. If all users have a password, connecting using
     another user's account becomes much more difficult.

     To change the password for a user, use the `SET PASSWORD'
     statement.  It is also possible to update the `user' table in the
     `mysql' database directly.  For example, to change the password of
     all MySQL accounts that have a username of `root', do this:

          shell> mysql -u root mysql
          mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('new_password')
              -> WHERE user='root';
          mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

   * Don't run the MySQL server as the Unix `root' user.  This is very
     dangerous, because any user with the `FILE' privilege will be able
     to create files as `root' (for example, `~root/.bashrc'). To
     prevent this, `mysqld' refuses to run as `root' unless that is
     specified explicitly using a `--user=root' option.

     `mysqld' can be run as an ordinary unprivileged user instead.  You
     can also create a separate Unix account named `mysql' to make
     everything even more secure (use the account only for
     administering MySQL).  To start `mysqld' as another Unix user, add
     a `user' option that specifies the username to the `[mysqld]'
     group of the `/etc/my.cnf' option file or the `my.cnf' option file
     in the server's data directory. For example:

          [mysqld]
          user=mysql

     This causes the server to start as the designated user whether you
     start it manually or by using `mysqld_safe' or `mysql.server'.
     For more details, see *Note Changing MySQL user::.

     Note that running `mysql' as a Unix user other than `root' does not
     mean that you need to change the `root' username in the `user'
     table. Usernames for MySQL accounts have nothing to do with
     usernames for Unix accounts.

   * Don't allow the use of symlinks to tables. (This can be disabled
     with the `--skip-symlink' option.) This is especially important if
     you run `mysqld' as `root', because anyone that has write access
     to the server's data directory could then delete any file in the
     system!  *Note Symbolic links to tables::.

   * Make sure that the only Unix user with read or write privileges in
     the database directories is the user that `mysqld' runs as.

   * Don't grant the `PROCESS' privilege to non-administrative users.
     The output of `mysqladmin processlist' shows the text of the
     currently executing queries, so any user who is allowed to execute
     that command might be able to see if another user issues an
     `UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD('not_secure')' query.

     `mysqld' reserves an extra connection for users who have the
     `PROCESS' privilege, so that a MySQL `root' user can log in and
     check server activity even if all normal connections are in use.

   * Don't grant the `SUPER' privilege to non-administrative users.  It
     can be used to terminate client connections, change server
     operation by changing the value of system variables, and control
     replication servers.

   * Don't grant the `FILE' privilege to non-administrative users.  Any
     user that has this privilege can write a file anywhere in the
     filesystem with the privileges of the `mysqld' daemon!  To make
     this a bit safer, files generated with `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'
     will not overwrite existing files and are writable by everyone.

     The `FILE' privilege may also be used to read any file that is
     world-readable or accessible to the Unix user that the server runs
     as.  With this privilege, you can read any file into a database
     table.  This could be abused, for example, by using `LOAD DATA' to
     load `/etc/passwd' into a table, which then can be displayed with
     `SELECT'.

   * If you don't trust your DNS, you should use IP numbers rather than
     hostnames in the grant tables. In any case, you should be very
     careful about creating grant table entries using hostname values
     that contain wildcards!

   * If you want to restrict the number of connections allowed to a
     single account, you can do so by setting the
     `max_user_connections' variable in `mysqld'.  The `GRANT'
     statement also supports resource control options for limiting the
     extent of server use allowed to an account.

Startup Options for `mysqld' Concerning Security
------------------------------------------------

The following `mysqld' options affect security:

`--local-infile[={0|1}]'
     If you start the server with `--local-infile=0', clients cannot use
     `LOCAL' in `LOAD DATA' statements.  *Note `LOAD DATA LOCAL': LOAD
     DATA LOCAL.

`--safe-show-database'
     With this option, the `SHOW DATABASES' statement displays the names
     of only those databases for which the user has some kind of
     privilege.  As of version 4.0.2, this option is deprecated and
     doesn't do anything (it is enabled by default), because there is
     now a `SHOW DATABASES' privilege that can be used to control
     access to database names on a per-account basis. *Note `GRANT':
     GRANT.

`--safe-user-create'
     If this is enabled, a user cannot create new users with the `GRANT'
     statement unless the user has the `INSERT' privilege for the
     `mysql.user' table.  If you want a user to have the ability to
     create new users with those privileges that the user has right to
     grant, you should grant the user the following privilege:

          mysql> GRANT INSERT(user) ON mysql.user TO 'user'@'hostname';

     This will ensure that the user can't change any privilege columns
     directly, but has to use the `GRANT' statement to give privileges
     to other users.

`--skip-grant-tables'
     This option causes the server not to use the privilege system at
     all. This gives everyone *full access* to all databases!  (You can
     tell a running server to start using the grant tables again by
     executing a `mysqladmin flush-privileges' or `mysqladmin reload'
     command, or by issuing a `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' statement.)

`--skip-name-resolve'
     Hostnames are not resolved.  All `Host' column values in the grant
     tables must be IP numbers or `localhost'.

`--skip-networking'
     Don't allow TCP/IP connections over the network.  All connections
     to `mysqld' must be made via Unix socket files.  This option is
     unsuitable when using a MySQL version prior to 3.23.27 with the
     MIT-pthreads package, because Unix socket files were not supported
     by MIT-pthreads at that time.

`--skip-show-database'
     Don't allow the `SHOW DATABASES' statement, unless the user has the
     `SHOW DATABASES' privilege. As of version 4.0.2, you should no
     longer need this option. Access now can be granted to specific
     accounts with the `SHOW DATABASES' privilege.

Security Issues with `LOAD DATA LOCAL'
--------------------------------------

The `LOAD DATA' statement can load a file that is located on the server
host, or, when the `LOCAL' keyword is specified, a file that is located
on the client host.

There are two possible problems with supporting the `LOCAL' version of
`LOAD DATA' statements:

   * The reading of the file is initiated from the server, so one could
     theoretically create a patched MySQL server that could tell the
     client program to read any file on the client machine that the
     current user has read access to, when the client issues a query
     against the table.

   * In a web environment where the clients are connecting from a web
     server, a user could use `LOAD DATA LOCAL' to read any files that
     the web server process has read access to (assuming a user could
     run any command against the SQL server). In this environment, the
     client with respect to the MySQL server actually is the web
     server, not the program being run by the user connecting to the
     web server.


To deal with these potential security issues, we changed how `LOAD DATA
LOCAL' is handled as of MySQL 3.23.49 and MySQL 4.0.2 (4.0.13 on
Windows):

   * By default, all MySQL clients and libraries in binary
     distributions are compiled with the `--enable-local-infile'
     option, to be compatible with MySQL 3.23.48 and before.

   * If you build MySQL from source but don't use the
     `--enable-local-infile' option to `configure', `LOAD DATA LOCAL'
     cannot be used by any client unless it is written explicitly to
     invoke `mysql_options(... MYSQL_OPT_LOCAL_INFILE, 0)'.  *Note
     `mysql_options()': mysql_options.

   * You can disable all `LOAD DATA LOCAL' commands from the server side
     by starting `mysqld' with `--local-infile=0'.

   * For the `mysql' command-line client, `LOAD DATA LOCAL' can be
     enabled by specifying the `--local-infile[=1]' option, or disabled
     with the `--local-infile=0' option.  Similarly, for `mysqlimport',
     the `--local' or `-L' option enable local datafile loading. In any
     case, successful use of a local loading operation requires that the
     server is enabled to allow it.

   * If `LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE' is disabled, either in the server or
     the client, a client that attempts to issue such a statement
     receives the following error message:

          ERROR 1148: The used command is not allowed with this MySQL version


The MySQL Access Privilege System
=================================

MySQL has an advanced but non-standard security/privilege system.  This
section describes how it works.

What the Privilege System Does
------------------------------

The primary function of the MySQL privilege system is to authenticate a
user connecting from a given host, and to associate that user with
privileges on a database such as `SELECT', `INSERT', `UPDATE' and
`DELETE'.

Additional functionality includes the ability to have an anonymous user
and to grant privileges for MySQL-specific functions such as `LOAD DATA
INFILE' and administrative operations.

How the Privilege System Works
------------------------------

The MySQL privilege system ensures that all users may perform only the
operations allowed to them.  As a user, when you connect to a MySQL
server, your identity is determined by *the host from which you
connect* and *the username you specify*.  The system grants privileges
according to your identity and *what you want to do*.

MySQL considers both your hostname and username in identifying you
because there is little reason to assume that a given username belongs
to the same person everywhere on the Internet.  For example, the user
`joe' who connects from `office.com' need not be the same person as the
user `joe' who connects from `elsewhere.com'.  MySQL handles this by
allowing you to distinguish users on different hosts that happen to
have the same name:  you can grant `joe' one set of privileges for
connections from `office.com', and a different set of privileges for
connections from `elsewhere.com'.

MySQL access control involves two stages:

   * Stage 1: The server checks whether you are even allowed to connect.

   * Stage 2: Assuming you can connect, the server checks each request
     you issue to see whether you have sufficient privileges to perform
     it.  For example, if you try to select rows from a table in a
     database or drop a table from the database, the server makes sure
     you have the `SELECT' privilege for the table or the `DROP'
     privilege for the database.

Note that if your privileges are changed (either by yourself or someone
else) while you are connected, those changes will not necessarily take
effect with your next query or queries. See *Note Privilege changes::
for details.

The server uses the `user', `db', and `host' tables in the `mysql'
database at both stages of access control.  The columns in these grant
tables are shown here:

*Table name*   *user*         *db*           *host*
*Scope         `Host'         `Host'         `Host'
columns*                                     
               `User'         `Db'           `Db'
               `Password'     `User'         
*Privilege     `Select_priv'  `Select_priv'  `Select_priv'
columns*                                     
               `Insert_priv'  `Insert_priv'  `Insert_priv'
               `Update_priv'  `Update_priv'  `Update_priv'
               `Delete_priv'  `Delete_priv'  `Delete_priv'
               `Index_priv'   `Index_priv'   `Index_priv'
               `Alter_priv'   `Alter_priv'   `Alter_priv'
               `Create_priv'  `Create_priv'  `Create_priv'
               `Drop_priv'    `Drop_priv'    `Drop_priv'
               `Grant_priv'   `Grant_priv'   `Grant_priv'
               `References_priv'`References_priv'`References_priv'
               `Reload_priv'                 
               `Shutdown_priv'               
               `Process_priv'                
               `File_priv'                   
               `Show_db_priv'                
               `Super_priv'                  
               `Create_tmp_table_priv'`Create_tmp_table_priv'`Create_tmp_table_priv'
               `Lock_tables_priv'`Lock_tables_priv'`Lock_tables_priv'
               `Execute_priv'                
               `Repl_slave_priv'               
               `Repl_client_priv'               
               `ssl_type'                    
               `ssl_cypher'                  
               `x509_issuer'                 
               `x509_cubject'                
               `max_questions'               
               `max_updates'                 
               `max_connections'               

During the second stage of access control (request verification), the
server may, if the request involves tables, additionally consult the
`tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables that provide finer control at
the table and column levels.  The columns in these tables are shown
here:

*Table name*   *tables_priv*  *columns_priv*
*Scope         `Host'         `Host'
columns*                      
               `Db'           `Db'
               `User'         `User'
               `Table_name'   `Table_name'
                              `Column_name'
*Privilege     `Table_priv'   `Column_priv'
columns*                      
               `Column_priv'  
*Other         `Timestamp'    `Timestamp'
columns*                      
               `Grantor'      

Each grant table contains scope columns and privilege columns.

Scope columns determine the scope of each entry (row) in the tables,
that is, the context in which the entry applies.  For example, a `user'
table entry with `Host' and `User' values of `'thomas.loc.gov'' and
`'bob'' would be used for authenticating connections made to the server
from the host `thomas.loc.gov' by a client that specifies a username of
`bob'.  Similarly, a `db' table entry with `Host', `User', and `Db'
column values of `'thomas.loc.gov'', `'bob'' and `'reports'' would be
used when `bob' connects from the host `thomas.loc.gov' to access the
`reports' database.  The `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables
contain scope columns indicating tables or table/column combinations to
which each entry applies.

For access-checking purposes, comparisons of `Host' values are
case-insensitive.  `User', `Password', `Db', and `Table_name' values
are case-sensitive.  `Column_name' values are case-insensitive in MySQL
Version 3.22.12 or later.

Privilege columns indicate the privileges granted by a table entry,
that is, what operations can be performed.  The server combines the
information in the various grant tables to form a complete description
of a user's privileges.  The rules used to do this are described in
*Note Request access::.

Scope columns contain strings. They are declared as shown here; the
default value for each is the empty string:

*Column name*  *Type*
`Host'         `CHAR(60)'
`User'         `CHAR(16)'
`Password'     `CHAR(16)'
`Db'           `CHAR(64)'
`Table_name'   `CHAR(60)'
`Column_name'  `CHAR(60)'

Before MySQL 3.23, the `Db' column was `CHAR(32)' in some tables and
`CHAR(60)' in others.

In the `user', `db' and `host' tables, each privilege is listed in a
separate column. Each privilege column is declared as `ENUM('N','Y')'
and can have a value of `'N'' or `'Y''; the default value is `'N''.

In the `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables, the privilege columns
are declared as `SET' columns. Values in these columns can contain any
combination of the privileges controlled by the table:

*Table      *Column     *Possible set elements*
name*       name*       
`tables_priv'`Table_priv'`'Select', 'Insert', 'Update',
                        'Delete', 'Create', 'Drop', 'Grant',
                        'References', 'Index', 'Alter''
`tables_priv'`Column_priv'`'Select', 'Insert', 'Update',
                        'References''
`columns_priv'`Column_priv'`'Select', 'Insert', 'Update',
                        'References''

Briefly, the server uses the grant tables like this:

   * The `user' table scope columns determine whether to allow or reject
     incoming connections.  For allowed connections, any privileges
     granted in the `user' table indicate the user's global (superuser)
     privileges.  These privileges apply to *all* databases on the
     server.

   * The `db' and `host' tables are used together:

        - The `db' table scope columns determine which users can access
          which databases from which hosts.  The privilege columns
          determine which operations are allowed.

        - The `host' table is used as an extension of the `db' table
          when you want a given `db' table entry to apply to several
          hosts.  For example, if you want a user to be able to use a
          database from several hosts in your network, leave the `Host'
          value empty in the user's `db' table entry, then populate the
          `host' table with an entry for each of those hosts.  This
          mechanism is described more detail in *Note Request access::.
          Note that the `host' table is not affected by the `GRANT' and
          `REVOKE' statements. Most MySQL installations need not use
          this table at all.

   * The `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables are similar to the
     `db' table, but are more fine-grained: they apply at the table and
     column levels rather than at the database level.

Administrative privileges (such as `RELOAD' or `SHUTDOWN') are
specified only in the `user' table.  This is because administrative
operations are operations on the server itself and are not
database-specific, so there is no reason to list these privileges in the
other grant tables.  In fact, to determine whether you can perform an
administrative operation, the server need consult only the `user' table.

The `FILE' privilege also is specified only in the `user' table.  It is
not an administrative privilege as such, but your ability to read or
write files on the server host is independent of the database you are
accessing.

The `mysqld' server reads the contents of the grant tables once, when it
starts.  Changes to the grant tables take effect as indicated in *Note
Privilege changes::.

When you modify the contents of the grant tables, it is a good idea to
make sure that your changes set up privileges the way you want.  For
help in diagnosing problems, see *Note Access denied::.  For advice on
general security issues, see *Note Security::.

A useful diagnostic tool is the `mysqlaccess' script, which Yves
Carlier has provided for the MySQL distribution.  Invoke `mysqlaccess'
with the `--help' option to find out how it works.  Note that
`mysqlaccess' checks access using only the `user', `db' and `host'
tables.  It does not check table or column privileges in the
`tables_priv' or `columns_priv' tables.

Privileges Provided by MySQL
----------------------------

Information about user privileges is stored in the `user', `db',
`host', `tables_priv', and `columns_priv' tables in the `mysql'
database (that is, in the database named `mysql').  The MySQL server
reads the contents of these tables when it starts and under the
circumstances indicated in *Note Privilege changes::.

The names used in this manual to refer to the privileges provided by
MySQL version 4.0.2 are shown here, along with the table column name
associated with each privilege in the grant tables and the context in
which the privilege applies. Further information about the meaning of
each privilege may be found at *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

*Privilege* *Column*       *Context*
`ALTER'     `Alter_priv'   tables
`DELETE'    `Delete_priv'  tables
`INDEX'     `Index_priv'   tables
`INSERT'    `Insert_priv'  tables
`SELECT'    `Select_priv'  tables
`UPDATE'    `Update_priv'  tables
`CREATE'    `Create_priv'  databases, tables, or
                           indexes
`DROP'      `Drop_priv'    databases or tables
`GRANT'     `Grant_priv'   databases or tables
`REFERENCES'`References_priv'databases or tables
`CREATE     `Create_tmp_table_priv'server administration
TEMPORARY                  
TABLES'                    
`EXECUTE'   `Execute_priv' server administration
`FILE'      `File_priv'    file access on server
`LOCK       `Lock_tables_priv'server administration
TABLES'                    
`PROCESS'   `Process_priv' server administration
`RELOAD'    `Reload_priv'  server administration
`REPLICATION`Repl_client_priv'server administration
CLIENT'                    
`REPLICATION`Repl_slave_priv'server administration
SLAVE'                     
`SHOW       `Show_db_priv' server administration
DATABASES'                 
`SHUTDOWN'  `Shutdown_priv'server administration
`SUPER'     `Super_priv'   server administration

The `SELECT', `INSERT', `UPDATE', and `DELETE' privileges allow you to
perform operations on rows in existing tables in a database.

`SELECT' statements require the `SELECT' privilege only if they
actually retrieve rows from a table.  Some `SELECT' statements do not
access tables, so they can be executed even without permission for any
of the databases on the server.  For example, you can use the `mysql'
client as a simple calculator:

     mysql> SELECT 1+1;
     mysql> SELECT PI()*2;

The `INDEX' privilege allows you to create or drop (remove) indexes.

The `ALTER' privilege allows you to use `ALTER TABLE'.

The `CREATE' and `DROP' privileges allow you to create new databases
and tables, or to drop (remove) existing databases and tables.

Note that if you grant the `DROP' privilege for the `mysql' database to
a user, that user can drop the database in which the MySQL access
privileges are stored!

The `GRANT' privilege allows you to give to other users those
privileges you yourself possess.

The `FILE' privilege gives you permission to read and write files on
the server using the `LOAD DATA INFILE' and `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'
statements.  Any user to whom this privilege is granted can read any
world-readable file accessable by the MySQL server and create a new
world-readable file in any directory where the MySQL server can write.
The user can also read any file in the current database directory.
However, the user cannot change any existing file.

The remaining privileges are used for administrative operations. Many of
them can be performed by using using the `mysqladmin' program or by
issuing SQL statements.  The following table shows which `mysqladmin'
commands each administrative privilege allows you to execute:

*Privilege* *Commands permitted to privilege holders*
`RELOAD'    `refresh', `reload', `flush-hosts', `flush-logs',
            `flush-privileges', `flush-status', `flush-threads',
            and `flush-tables'
`SHUTDOWN'  `shutdown'
`PROCESS'   `processlist'
`SUPER'     `kill'

The `reload' command tells the server to re-read the grant tables.  The
`refresh' command flushes all tables and opens and closes the log
files.  `flush-privileges' is a synonym for `reload'.  The other
`flush-*' commands perform functions similar to `refresh' but are more
limited in scope, and may be preferable in some instances.  For example,
if you want to flush just the log files, `flush-logs' is a better choice
than `refresh'.

The `shutdown' command shuts down the server. This command can be issued
only from `mysqladmin'. There is no corresponding SQL statement.

The `processlist' command displays information about the threads
executing within the server (that is, about the statements that other
clients are executing).  The `kill' command kills server threads.  You
can always display or kill your own threads, but you need the `PROCESS'
privilege to display threads initiated by other users and and the
`SUPER' privilege to kill them.  *Note `KILL': KILL.

It is a good idea in general to grant privileges only to those users
who need them, but you should exercise particular caution in granting
administrative privileges:

   * The `GRANT' privilege allows users to give their privileges to
     other users.  Two users with different privileges and with the
     `GRANT' privilege are able to combine privileges.

   * The `ALTER' privilege may be used to subvert the privilege system
     by renaming tables.

   * The `FILE' privilege can be abused to read into a database table
     any world-readable file on the server host or any file in the
     server's data directory. The contents of that table can then be
     accessed using `SELECT'.

   * The `SHUTDOWN' privilege can be abused to deny service to other
     users entirely by terminating the server.

   * The `PROCESS' privilege can be used to view the plain text of
     currently executing queries, including queries that set or change
     passwords.

   * The `SUPER' privilege can be used to terminate other clients or
     change how the server operates.

   * Privileges granted for the `mysql' database itself can be used to
     change passwords and other access privilege information.
     (Passwords are stored encrypted, so a malicious user cannot simply
     read them to know the plain text password.)  If they can access
     the `mysql.user' password column, they can use it to log into the
     MySQL server for the given user.  (With sufficient privileges, the
     same user can replace a password with a different one.)

There are some things that you cannot do with the MySQL privilege
system:

   * You cannot explicitly specify that a given user should be denied
     access.  That is, you cannot explicitly match a user and then
     refuse the connection.

   * You cannot specify that a user has privileges to create or drop
     tables in a database but not to create or drop the database itself.

Connecting to the MySQL Server
------------------------------

MySQL client programs generally require that you specify connection
parameters when you want to access a MySQL server: the host you want to
connect to, your username, and your password.  For example, the `mysql'
client can be started like this, where optional arguments are indicated
by `[' and `]':

     shell> mysql [-h host_name] [-u user_name] [-pyour_pass]

Alternate forms of the `-h', `-u', and `-p' options are
`--host=host_name', `--user=user_name', and `--password=your_pass'.
Note that there is _no space_ between `-p' or `--password=' and the
password following it.

*Note:* Specifying a password on the command line is not secure!  Any
user on your system may then find out your password by typing a command
like: `ps auxww'.  *Note Option files::.

`mysql' uses default values for connection parameters that are not given
on the command line:

   * The default hostname is `localhost'.

   * The default username is your Unix login name.

   * No password is supplied if `-p' is missing.

Thus, for a Unix user `joe', the following commands are equivalent:

     shell> mysql -h localhost -u joe
     shell> mysql -h localhost
     shell> mysql -u joe
     shell> mysql

Other MySQL clients behave similarly.

On Unix systems, you can specify different default values to be used
when you make a connection, so that you need not enter them on the
command-line each time you invoke a client program.  This can be done
in a couple of ways:

   * You can specify connection parameters in the `[client]' section of
     the `.my.cnf' option file in your home directory.  The relevant
     section of the file might look like this:

          [client]
          host=host_name
          user=user_name
          password=your_pass

     *Note Option files::.

   * You can specify connection parameters using environment variables.
     The host can be specified for `mysql' using `MYSQL_HOST'.  The
     MySQL username can be specified using `USER' (this is for Windows
     and NetWare only).  The password can be specified using `MYSQL_PWD'
     (but this is insecure; see the next section).  *Note Environment
     variables::.

Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification
------------------------------------------------

When you attempt to connect to a MySQL server, the server accepts or
rejects the connection based on your identity and whether you can
verify your identity by supplying the correct password.  If not, the
server denies access to you completely.  Otherwise, the server accepts
the connection, then enters Stage 2 and waits for requests.

Your identity is based on two pieces of information:

   * The host from which you connect

   * Your MySQL username

Identity checking is performed using the three `user' table scope
columns (`Host', `User', and `Password').  The server accepts the
connection only if a `user' table entry matches your hostname and user
name, and you supply the correct password.

Values in the `user' table scope columns may be specified as follows:

   * A `Host' value may be a hostname or an IP number, or `'localhost''
     to indicate the local host.

   * You can use the wildcard characters `%' and `_' in the `Host'
     column.

   * A `Host' value of `'%'' matches any hostname.

   * A blank `Host' value means that the privilege should be anded with
     the entry in the `host' table that matches the given hostname.
     You can find more information about this in the next chapter.

   * As of MySQL Version 3.23, for `Host' values specified as IP
     numbers, you can specify a netmask indicating how many address
     bits to use for the network number. For example:

          mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON db.*
              -> TO david@'192.58.197.0/255.255.255.0';

     This will allow everyone to connect from an IP where the following
     is true:

          user_ip & netmask = host_ip.

     In the above example all IP:s in the interval 192.58.197.0 -
     192.58.197.255 can connect to the MySQL server.

   * Wildcard characters are not allowed in the `User' column, but you
     can specify a blank value, which matches any name.  If the `user'
     table entry that matches an incoming connection has a blank
     username, the user is considered to be the anonymous user (the
     user with no name), rather than the name that the client actually
     specified.  This means that a blank username is used for all
     further access checking for the duration of the connection (that
     is, during Stage 2).

   * The `Password' column can be blank.  This does not mean that any
     password matches, it means the user must connect without
     specifying a password.

Non-blank `Password' values represent encrypted passwords.  MySQL does
not store passwords in plaintext form for anyone to see.  Rather, the
password supplied by a user who is attempting to connect is encrypted
(using the `PASSWORD()' function). The encrypted password is then used
when the client/server is checking if the password is correct. (This is
done without the encrypted password ever traveling over the
connection.)  Note that from MySQL's point of view the encrypted
password is the REAL password, so you should not give anyone access to
it!  In particular, don't give normal users read access to the tables
in the `mysql' database!  From version 4.1, MySQL employs a different
password and login mechanism that is secure even if TCP/IP packets are
sniffed and/or the mysql database is captured.

The examples here show how various combinations of `Host' and `User'
values in `user' table entries apply to incoming connections:

`Host' *value*            `User'      *Connections matched by entry*
                          *value*     
`'thomas.loc.gov''        `'fred''    `fred', connecting from
                                      `thomas.loc.gov'
`'thomas.loc.gov''        `'''        Any user, connecting from
                                      `thomas.loc.gov'
`'%''                     `'fred''    `fred', connecting from any host
`'%''                     `'''        Any user, connecting from any host
`'%.loc.gov''             `'fred''    `fred', connecting from any host in
                                      the `loc.gov' domain
`'x.y.%''                 `'fred''    `fred', connecting from `x.y.net',
                                      `x.y.com',`x.y.edu', etc. (this is
                                      probably not useful)
`'144.155.166.177''       `'fred''    `fred', connecting from the host
                                      with IP address `144.155.166.177'
`'144.155.166.%''         `'fred''    `fred', connecting from any host in
                                      the `144.155.166' class C subnet
`'144.155.166.0/255.255.255.0''`'fred''    Same as previous example

Because you can use IP wildcard values in the `Host' column (for
example, `'144.155.166.%'' to match every host on a subnet), there is
the possibility that someone might try to exploit this capability by
naming a host `144.155.166.somewhere.com'.  To foil such attempts, MySQL
disallows matching on hostnames that start with digits and a dot. Thus,
if you have a host named something like `1.2.foo.com', its name will
never match the `Host' column of the grant tables.  Only an IP number
can match an IP wildcard value.

An incoming connection may be matched by more than one entry in the
`user' table.  For example, a connection from `thomas.loc.gov' by
`fred' would be matched by several of the entries shown in the preceding
table.  How does the server choose which entry to use if more than one
matches?  The server resolves this question by sorting the `user' table
after reading it at startup time, then looking through the entries in
sorted order when a user attempts to connect.  The first matching entry
is the one that is used.

`user' table sorting works as follows.  Suppose the `user' table looks
like this:

     +-----------+----------+-
     | Host      | User     | ...
     +-----------+----------+-
     | %         | root     | ...
     | %         | jeffrey  | ...
     | localhost | root     | ...
     | localhost |          | ...
     +-----------+----------+-

When the server reads in the table, it orders the entries with the
most-specific `Host' values first (`'%'' in the `Host' column means
"any host" and is least specific).  Entries with the same `Host' value
are ordered with the most-specific `User' values first (a blank `User'
value means "any user" and is least specific).  The resulting sorted
`user' table looks like this:

     +-----------+----------+-
     | Host      | User     | ...
     +-----------+----------+-
     | localhost | root     | ...
     | localhost |          | ...
     | %         | jeffrey  | ...
     | %         | root     | ...
     +-----------+----------+-

When a connection is attempted, the server looks through the sorted
entries and uses the first match found.  For a connection from
`localhost' by `jeffrey', the entries with `'localhost'' in the `Host'
column match first.  Of those, the entry with the blank username
matches both the connecting hostname and username.  (The
`'%'/'jeffrey'' entry would have matched, too, but it is not the first
match in the table.)

Here is another example.  Suppose the `user' table looks like this:

     +----------------+----------+-
     | Host           | User     | ...
     +----------------+----------+-
     | %              | jeffrey  | ...
     | thomas.loc.gov |          | ...
     +----------------+----------+-

The sorted table looks like this:

     +----------------+----------+-
     | Host           | User     | ...
     +----------------+----------+-
     | thomas.loc.gov |          | ...
     | %              | jeffrey  | ...
     +----------------+----------+-

A connection from `thomas.loc.gov' by `jeffrey' is matched by the first
entry, whereas a connection from `whitehouse.gov' by `jeffrey' is
matched by the second.

A common misconception is to think that for a given username, all
entries that explicitly name that user will be used first when the
server attempts to find a match for the connection.  This is simply not
true.  The previous example illustrates this, where a connection from
`thomas.loc.gov' by `jeffrey' is first matched not by the entry
containing `'jeffrey'' as the `User' column value, but by the entry
with no username!

If you have problems connecting to the server, print out the `user'
table and sort it by hand to see where the first match is being made.
If connection was successful, but your privileges are not what you
expected you may use `CURRENT_USER()' function (new in version 4.0.6)
to see what user/host combination your connection actually matched.
*Note `CURRENT_USER()': Miscellaneous functions.

Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification
---------------------------------------------

Once you establish a connection, the server enters Stage 2.  For each
request that comes in on the connection, the server checks whether you
have sufficient privileges to perform it, based on the type of
operation you wish to perform.  This is where the privilege columns in
the grant tables come into play.  These privileges can come from any of
the `user', `db', `host', `tables_priv', or `columns_priv' tables.  The
grant tables are manipulated with `GRANT' and `REVOKE' commands.  *Note
`GRANT': GRANT.  (You may find it helpful to refer to *Note
Privileges::, which lists the columns present in each of the grant
tables.)

The `user' table grants privileges that are assigned to you on a global
basis and that apply no matter what the current database is.  For
example, if the `user' table grants you the `DELETE' privilege, you can
delete rows from any database on the server host!  In other words,
`user' table privileges are superuser privileges.  It is wise to grant
privileges in the `user' table only to superusers such as server or
database administrators.  For other users, you should leave the
privileges in the `user' table set to `'N'' and grant privileges on a
database-specific basis only, using the `db' and `host' tables.

The `db' and `host' tables grant database-specific privileges.  Values
in the scope columns may be specified as follows:

   * The wildcard characters `%' and `_' can be used in the `Host' and
     `Db' columns of either table. If you wish to use for instance a
     `_' character as part of a database name, specify it as `\_' in
     the `GRANT' command.

   * A `'%'' `Host' value in the `db' table means "any host." A blank
     `Host' value in the `db' table means "consult the `host' table for
     further information."

   * A `'%'' or blank `Host' value in the `host' table means "any host."

   * A `'%'' or blank `Db' value in either table means "any database."

   * A blank `User' value in either table matches the anonymous user.

The `db' and `host' tables are read in and sorted when the server
starts (at the same time that it reads the `user' table).  The `db'
table is sorted on the `Host', `Db', and `User' scope columns, and the
`host' table is sorted on the `Host' and `Db' scope columns.  As with
the `user' table, sorting puts the most-specific values first and
least-specific values last, and when the server looks for matching
entries, it uses the first match that it finds.

The `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables grant table- and
column-specific privileges.  Values in the scope columns may be
specified as follows:

   * The wildcard characters `%' and `_' can be used in the `Host'
     column of either table.

   * A `'%'' or blank `Host' value in either table means "any host."

   * The `Db', `Table_name' and `Column_name' columns cannot contain
     wildcards or be blank in either table.

The `tables_priv' and `columns_priv' tables are sorted on the `Host',
`Db', and `User' columns.  This is similar to `db' table sorting,
although the sorting is simpler because only the `Host' column may
contain wildcards.

The request verification process is described here.  (If you are
familiar with the access-checking source code, you will notice that the
description here differs slightly from the algorithm used in the code.
The description is equivalent to what the code actually does; it
differs only to make the explanation simpler.)

For administrative requests (`SHUTDOWN', `RELOAD', etc.), the server
checks only the `user' table entry, because that is the only table that
specifies administrative privileges.  Access is granted if the entry
allows the requested operation and denied otherwise.  For example, if
you want to execute `mysqladmin shutdown' but your `user' table entry
doesn't grant the `SHUTDOWN' privilege to you, access is denied without
even checking the `db' or `host' tables.  (They contain no
`Shutdown_priv' column, so there is no need to do so.)

For database-related requests (`INSERT', `UPDATE', etc.), the server
first checks the user's global (superuser) privileges by looking in the
`user' table entry.  If the entry allows the requested operation,
access is granted.  If the global privileges in the `user' table are
insufficient, the server determines the user's database-specific
privileges by checking the `db' and `host' tables:

  1. The server looks in the `db' table for a match on the `Host',
     `Db', and `User' columns.  The `Host' and `User' columns are
     matched to the connecting user's hostname and MySQL username.  The
     `Db' column is matched to the database the user wants to access.
     If there is no entry for the `Host' and `User', access is denied.

  2. If there is a matching `db' table entry and its `Host' column is
     not blank, that entry defines the user's database-specific
     privileges.

  3. If the matching `db' table entry's `Host' column is blank, it
     signifies that the `host' table enumerates which hosts should be
     allowed access to the database.  In this case, a further lookup is
     done in the `host' table to find a match on the `Host' and `Db'
     columns.  If no `host' table entry matches, access is denied.  If
     there is a match, the user's database-specific privileges are
     computed as the intersection (*not* the union!) of the privileges
     in the `db' and `host' table entries, that is, the privileges that
     are `'Y'' in both entries.  (This way you can grant general
     privileges in the `db' table entry and then selectively restrict
     them on a host-by-host basis using the `host' table entries.)

After determining the database-specific privileges granted by the `db'
and `host' table entries, the server adds them to the global privileges
granted by the `user' table.  If the result allows the requested
operation, access is granted.  Otherwise, the server checks the user's
table and column privileges in the `tables_priv' and `columns_priv'
tables and adds those to the user's privileges.  Access is allowed or
denied based on the result.

Expressed in boolean terms, the preceding description of how a user's
privileges are calculated may be summarized like this:

     global privileges
     OR (database privileges AND host privileges)
     OR table privileges
     OR column privileges

It may not be apparent why, if the global `user' entry privileges are
initially found to be insufficient for the requested operation, the
server adds those privileges to the database-, table-, and
column-specific privileges later. The reason is that a request might
require more than one type of privilege.  For example, if you execute
an `INSERT ...  SELECT' statement, you need both `INSERT' and `SELECT'
privileges.  Your privileges might be such that the `user' table entry
grants one privilege and the `db' table entry grants the other.  In
this case, you have the necessary privileges to perform the request,
but the server cannot tell that from either table by itself; the
privileges granted by the entries in both tables must be combined.

The `host' table can be used to maintain a list of secure servers.

At TcX, the `host' table contains a list of all machines on the local
network. These are granted all privileges.

You can also use the `host' table to indicate hosts that are *not*
secure.  Suppose you have a machine `public.your.domain' that is located
in a public area that you do not consider secure.  You can allow access
to all hosts on your network except that machine by using `host' table
entries like this:

     +--------------------+----+-
     | Host               | Db | ...
     +--------------------+----+-
     | public.your.domain | %  | ... (all privileges set to 'N')
     | %.your.domain      | %  | ... (all privileges set to 'Y')
     +--------------------+----+-

Naturally, you should always test your entries in the grant tables (for
example, using `mysqlaccess') to make sure your access privileges are
actually set up the way you think they are.

Password Hashing in MySQL 4.1
-----------------------------

MySQL user accounts are listed in the `user' table of the `mysql'
database. Each MySQL account is assigned a password, although what is
stored in the `Password' column of the `user' table is not the
plaintext version of the password, but a hash value computed from it.
Password hash values are computed by the `PASSWORD()' function.

MySQL uses passwords in two phases of client/server communication:

   * First, when a client attempts to connect to the server, there is an
     initial authentication step in which the client must present a
     password that matches the hash value stored in the user table for
     the account that the client wants to use.

   * Second, after the client connects, it may set or change the
     password hashes for accounts listed in the user table (if it has
     sufficient privileges). The client may do this by using the
     PASSWORD() function to generate a password hash, or by using the
     GRANT or SET PASSWORD statements.


In other words, the server _uses_ hash values during authentication when
a client first attempts to connect. The server _generates_ hash values
if a connected client invokes the `PASSWORD()' function or uses a
`GRANT' or `SET PASSWORD' statement to set or change a password.

The password hashing mechanism was updated in MySQL 4.1 to provide
better security and to reduce the risk of passwords being stolen.
However, this new mechanism is understood only by the 4.1 server and
4.1 clients, which can result in some compatibility problems.  A 4.1
client can connect to a pre-4.1 server, because the client understands
both the old and new password hashing mechanisms. However, a pre-4.1
client that attempts to connect to a 4.1 server may run into
difficulties.  For example, a 4.0 `mysql' client that attempts to
connect to a 4.1 server may fail with the following error message:

     shell> mysql
     Client does not support authentication protocol requested
     by server; consider upgrading MySQL client

The following discussion describes the differences between the old and
new password mechanisms, and what you should do if you upgrade your
server to 4.1 but need to maintain backward compatibility with pre-4.1
clients.

*Note:* This discussion contrasts 4.1 behavior with pre-4.1 behavior,
but the 4.1 behavior described here actually begins with 4.1.1. MySQL
4.1.0 is an "odd" release because it has a slightly different mechanism
than that implemented in 4.1.1 and up.  Differences between 4.1.0 and
more recent versions are described later.

Prior to MySQL 4.1, password hashes computed by the `PASSWORD()'
function are 16 bytes long.  Such hashes look like this:

     mysql> SELECT PASSWORD('mypass');
     +--------------------+
     | PASSWORD('mypass') |
     +--------------------+
     | 6f8c114b58f2ce9e   |
     +--------------------+

The `Password' column of the `user' table (in which these hashes are
stored) also is 16 bytes long before MySQL 4.1.

As of MySQL 4.1, the `PASSWORD()' function has been modified to produce
a longer 41-byte hash value:

     mysql> SELECT PASSWORD('mypass');
     +-----------------------------------------------+
     | PASSWORD('mypass')                            |
     +-----------------------------------------------+
     | *43c8aa34cdc98eddd3de1fe9a9c2c2a9f92bb2098d75 |
     +-----------------------------------------------+

Accordingly, the `Password' column in the `user' table also must be 41
bytes long to store these values:

   * If you perform a new installation of MySQL 4.1, the `Password'
     column will be made 41 bytes long automatically.

   * If you upgrade an older installation to 4.1, you should run the
     `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script to update the length of the
     `Password' column from 16 to 41 bytes. (The script does not change
     existing password values, which remain 16 bytes long.)


A widened `Password' column can store password hashes in both the old
and new formats. The format of any given password hash value can be
determined two ways:

   * The obvious difference is the length (16 bytes versus 41 bytes)

   * A second difference is that password hashes in the new format
     always begin with a `*' character, whereas passwords in the old
     format never do


The longer password hash format has better cryptographic properties, and
client authentication based on long hashes is more secure than that
based on the older short hashes.

The differences between short and long password hashes are relevant
both for how the server uses passwords during authentication and for
how it generates password hashes for connected clients that perform
password-changing operations.

The way in which the server uses password hashes during authentication
is affected by the width of the Password column:

   * If the column is narrow, only short-hash authentication is used.

   * If the column is wide, it can hold either short or long hashes, and
     the server can use either format:

        * Pre-4.1 clients can connect, though because they know only
          about the old hashing mechanism, they can authenticate only
          for accounts that have short hashes.

        * 4.1 clients can authenticate for accounts that have short or
          long hashes.



For short-hash accounts, the authentication process is actually a bit
more secure for 4.1 clients than for older clients.  In terms of
security, the gradient from least to most secure is:

   * Pre-4.1 client authenticating for account with short password hash

   * 4.1 client authenticating for account with short password hash

   * 4.1 client authenticating for account with long password hash


The way in which the server generates password hashes for connected
clients is affected by the width of the `Password' column and by the
`--old-passwords' option.  A 4.1 server generates long hashes only if
certain conditions are met: The `Password' column must be wide enough
to hold long values and the `--old-passwords' option must not be given.
These conditions apply as follows:

   * The `Password' column must be wide enough to hold long hashes (41
     bytes).  If the column has not been updated and still has the
     pre-4.1 width (16 bytes), the server notices that long hashes
     cannot fit into it and generates only short hashes when a client
     performs password-changing operations using `PASSWORD()', `GRANT',
     or `SET PASSWORD'.  (This behavior occurs if you have upgraded to
     4.1 but have not run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script to
     widen the `Password' column.)

   * If the `Password' column is wide, it can store either short or long
     password hashes. In this case, `PASSWORD()', `GRANT', and `SET
     PASSWORD' will generate long hashes unless the server was started
     with the `--old-passwords' option. This option forces the server
     to generate short passsword hashes instead.


The purpose of the `--old-passwords' option is to allow you to maintain
backward compatibility with pre-4.1 clients under circumstances where
the server would otherwise generate long password hashes. It doesn't
affect authentication (4.1 clients can still use accounts that have
long password hashes), but it does prevent creation of a long password
hash in the `user' table as the result of a password-changing
operation. Were that to occur, the account no longer could be used by
pre-4.1 clients. Without the `--old-passwords' option, the following
scenario is possible:

   * An old client connects to an account that has a short password
     hash.

   * The client changes the account's password. Without
     `--old-passwords', this results in the account having a long
     password hash.

   * The next time the old client attempts to connect to the account, it
     cannot, because the account now requires the new hashing mechanism
     during authentication. (Once an account has a long password hash in
     the user table, only 4.1 clients can authenticate for it, because
     pre-4.1 clients do not understand long hashes.)


This scenario illustrates that it is dangerous to run a 4.1 server
without using the `--old-passwords' option if you must support older
pre-4.1 clients. By running the server with `--old-passwords',
password-changing operations will not generate long password hashes and
thus do not cause accounts to become inaccessible to older clients.
(Those clients cannot inadvertently lock themselves out by changing
their password and ending up with a long password hash.)

The downside of the `--old-passwords' option is that any passwords you
create or change will use short hashes, even for 4.1 clients. Thus, you
lose the additional security provided by long password hashes. If you
want to create an account that has a long hash (for example, for use by
4.1 clients), you must do so while running the server without
`--old-passwords'.

The following scenarios are possible for running a 4.1 server:

Scenario 1) Narrow `Password' column in user table

   * Only short hashes can be stored in the `Password' column.

   * The server uses only short hashes during client authentication.

   * For connected clients, password hash-generating operations
     involving `PASSWORD()', `GRANT', or `SET PASSWORD' use short hashes
     exclusively.  Any change to an account's password results in that
     account having a short password hash.

   * The `--old-passwords' option can be used but is superfluous because
     with a narrow `Password' column, the server will be generating
     short password hashes anyway.


Scenario 2) Long `Password' column; server not started with
`--old-passwords' option

   * Short or long hashes can be stored in the `Password' column.

   * 4.1 clients can authenticate for accounts that have short or long
     hashes.

   * Pre-4.1 clients can authenticate only for accounts that have short
     hashes.

   * For connected clients, password hash-generating operations
     involving `PASSWORD()', `GRANT', or `SET PASSWORD' use long hashes
     exclusively.  Any change to an account's password results in that
     account having a long password hash.

   * `OLD_PASSWORD()' may be used to explicitly generate a short hash.
     For example, to assign an account a short password, use `UPDATE'
     as follows:

          mysql> UPDATE user SET Password = OLD_PASSWORD('mypass')
              -> WHERE Host = 'some_host' AND User = 'some_user';
          mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;


As indicated earlier, a danger in this scenario is that it is possible
for accounts that have a short password hash to become inaccessible to
pre-4.1 clients. Any change to such an account's password made via
`GRANT', `SET PASSWORD', or `PASSWORD()' results in the account being
given a long password hash, and from that point on, no pre-4.1 client
can authenticate to that account until the client upgrades to 4.1.

Scenario 3) Long `Password' column; server started with
`--old-passwords' option

   * Short or long hashes can be stored in the `Password' column.

   * 4.1 clients can authenticate for accounts that have short or long
     hashes (but note that it is possible to create long hashes only
     when the server is started without `--old-passwords').

   * Pre-4.1 clients can authenticate only for accounts that have short
     hashes.

   * For connected clients, password hash-generating operations
     involving `PASSWORD()', `GRANT', or `SET PASSWORD' use short hashes
     exclusively.  Any change to an account's password results in that
     account having a short password hash.


In this scenario, you cannot create accounts that have long password
hashes, because `--old-passwords' prevents generation of long hashes.
Also, if you create an account with a long hash before using the
`--old-passwords' option, changing the account's password while
`--old-passwords' is in effect results in the account being given a
short password, causing it to lose the security benefits of a longer
hash.

The disadvantages for these scenarios may be summarized as follows:

Scenario 1) You cannot take advantage of longer hashes that provide more
secure authentication.

Scenario 2) Accounts with short hashes become inaccessible to pre-4.1
clients if you change their passwords without explicitly using
`OLD_PASSWORD()'.

Scenario 3) `--old-passwords' prevents accounts with short hashes from
becoming inaccessible, but password-changing operations cause accounts
with long hashes to revert to short hashes, and you cannot change them
back to long hashes while `--old-passwords' is in effect.

Implications of Password Hashing Changes for Application Programs
-----------------------------------------------------------------

An upgrade to MySQL 4.1 can cause a compatibility issue for
applications that use `PASSWORD()' to generate passwords for their own
purposes. (Applications really should not do this, because `PASSWORD()'
should be used only to manage passwords for MySQL accounts. But some
applications use `PASSWORD()' for their own purposes anyway.)  If you
upgrade to 4.1 and run the server under conditions where it generates
long password hashes, an application that uses `PASSWORD()' for its own
passwords will break.  The recommended course of action is to modify
the application to use another function such as `SHA1()' or `MD5()' to
produce hashed values.  If that is not possible, you can use the
`OLD_PASSWORD()' function, which is provided to generate short hashes
in the old format. (But note that `OLD_PASSWORD()' may one day no
longer be supported.)

If the server is running under circumstances where it generates short
hashes, `OLD_PASSWORD()' is available but is equivalent to `PASSWORD()'.

Password hashing in MySQL 4.1.0 differs from hashing in 4.1.1 and up.
The 4.1.0 differences are:

   * Password hashes are 45 bytes long rather than 41 bytes.

   * The `PASSWORD()' function is non-repeatable.  That is, with a given
     argument `X', successive calls to `PASSWORD(X)' generate different
     results.


Causes of `Access denied' Errors
--------------------------------

If you encounter `Access denied' errors when you try to connect to the
MySQL server, the following list indicates some courses of action you
can take to correct the problem:

   * After installing MySQL, did you run the `mysql_install_db' script
     to set up the initial grant table contents?  If not, do so.  *Note
     Default privileges::.  Test the initial privileges by executing
     this command:

          shell> mysql -u root test

     The server should let you connect without error.  You should also
     make sure you have a file `user.MYD' in the MySQL database
     directory.  Ordinarily, this is `PATH/var/mysql/user.MYD', where
     `PATH' is the pathname to the MySQL installation root.

   * After a fresh installation, you should connect to the server and
     set up your users and their access permissions:

          shell> mysql -u root mysql

     The server should let you connect because the MySQL `root' user
     has no password initially.  That is also a security risk, so
     setting the `root' password is something you should do while
     you're setting up your other MySQL users.

     If you try to connect as `root' and get this error:

          Access denied for user: '@unknown' to database mysql

     this means that you don't have an entry in the `user' table with a
     `User' column value of `'root'' and that `mysqld' cannot resolve
     the hostname for your client.  In this case, you must restart the
     server with the `--skip-grant-tables' option and edit your
     `/etc/hosts' or `\windows\hosts' file to add an entry for your
     host.

   * If you get an error like the following:

          shell> mysqladmin -u root -pxxxx ver
          Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using password: YES)

     It means that you are using an incorrect password. *Note
     Passwords::.

     If you have forgot the root password, you can restart `mysqld' with
     `--skip-grant-tables' to change the password.  *Note Resetting
     permissions::.

     If you get the above error even if you haven't specified a
     password, this means that you have an incorrect password in some
     `my.ini' file. *Note Option files::.  You can avoid using option
     files with the `--no-defaults' option, as follows:

          shell> mysqladmin --no-defaults -u root ver

   * If you updated an existing MySQL installation from a version
     earlier than Version 3.22.11 to Version 3.22.11 or later, did you
     run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script?  If not, do so.  The
     structure of the grant tables changed with MySQL Version 3.22.11
     when the `GRANT' statement became functional.  *Note
     Upgrading-grant-tables::.

   * If your privileges seem to have changed in the middle of a
     session, it may be that a superuser has changed them.  Reloading
     the grant tables affects new client connections, but it also
     affects existing connections as indicated in *Note Privilege
     changes::.

   * If you can't get your password to work, remember that you must use
     the `PASSWORD()' function if you set the password with the
     `INSERT', `UPDATE', or `SET PASSWORD' statements.  The
     `PASSWORD()' function is unnecessary if you specify the password
     using the `GRANT ... IDENTIFIED BY' statement or the `mysqladmin
     password' command.  *Note Passwords::.

   * `localhost' is a synonym for your local hostname, and is also the
     default host to which clients try to connect if you specify no host
     explicitly.  However, connections to `localhost' do not work if
     you are using a MySQL version prior to 3.23.27 that uses
     MIT-pthreads (`localhost' connections are made using Unix socket
     files, which were not supported by MIT-pthreads at that time).  To
     avoid this problem on such systems, you should use the `--host'
     option to name the server host explicitly.  This will make a
     TCP/IP connection to the `mysqld' server.  In this case, you must
     have your real hostname in `user' table entries on the server
     host.  (This is true even if you are running a client program on
     the same host as the server.)

   * If you get an `Access denied' error when trying to connect to the
     database with `mysql -u user_name db_name', you may have a problem
     with the `user' table. Check this by executing `mysql -u root
     mysql' and issuing this SQL statement:

          mysql> SELECT * FROM user;

     The result should include an entry with the `Host' and `User'
     columns matching your computer's hostname and your MySQL username.

   * The `Access denied' error message will tell you who you are trying
     to log in as, the host from which you are trying to connect, and
     whether or not you were using a password. Normally, you should
     have one entry in the `user' table that exactly matches the
     hostname and username that were given in the error message. For
     example if you get an error message that contains `Using password:
     NO', this means that you tried to log in without an password.

   * If you get the following error when you try to connect from a
     different host than the one on which the MySQL server is running,
     then there is no row in the `user' table that matches that host:

          Host ... is not allowed to connect to this MySQL server

     You can fix this by using the command-line tool `mysql' (on the
     server host!) to add a row to the `user', `db', or `host' table
     for the user/hostname combination from which you are trying to
     connect and then execute `mysqladmin flush-privileges'.  If you are
     not running MySQL Version 3.22 and you don't know the IP number or
     hostname of the machine from which you are connecting, you should
     put an entry with `'%'' as the `Host' column value in the `user'
     table and restart `mysqld' with the `--log' option on the server
     machine.  After trying to connect from the client machine, the
     information in the MySQL log will indicate how you really did
     connect.  (Then replace the `'%'' in the `user' table entry with
     the actual hostname that shows up in the log.  Otherwise, you'll
     have a system that is insecure.)

     Another reason for this error on Linux is that you are using a
     binary MySQL version that is compiled with a different glibc
     version than the one you are using.  In this case you should
     either upgrade your OS/glibc or download the source MySQL version
     and compile this yourself.  A source RPM is normally trivial to
     compile and install, so this isn't a big problem.

   * If you get an error message where the hostname is not shown or
     where the hostname is an IP, even if you try to connect with a
     hostname:

          shell> mysqladmin -u root -pxxxx -h some-hostname ver
          Access denied for user: 'root@' (Using password: YES)

     This means that MySQL got some error when trying to resolve the IP
     to a hostname.  In this case you can execute `mysqladmin
     flush-hosts' to reset the internal DNS cache. *Note DNS::.

     Some permanent solutions are:

        - Try to find out what is wrong with your DNS server and fix
          this.

        - Specify IPs instead of hostnames in the MySQL privilege
          tables.

        - Start `mysqld' with `--skip-name-resolve'.

        - Start `mysqld' with `--skip-host-cache'.

        - Connect to `localhost' if you are running the server and the
          client on the same machine.

        - Put the client machine names in `/etc/hosts'.

   * If `mysql -u root test' works but `mysql -h your_hostname -u root
     test' results in `Access denied', then you may not have the
     correct name for your host in the `user' table.  A common problem
     here is that the `Host' value in the user table entry specifies an
     unqualified hostname, but your system's name resolution routines
     return a fully qualified domain name (or vice-versa).  For
     example, if you have an entry with host `'tcx'' in the `user'
     table, but your DNS tells MySQL that your hostname is
     `'tcx.subnet.se'', the entry will not work. Try adding an entry to
     the `user' table that contains the IP number of your host as the
     `Host' column value.  (Alternatively, you could add an entry to the
     `user' table with a `Host' value that contains a wildcard--for
     example, `'tcx.%''.  However, use of hostnames ending with `%' is
     *insecure* and is *not* recommended!)

   * If `mysql -u user_name test' works but `mysql -u user_name
     other_db_name' doesn't work, you don't have an entry for
     `other_db_name' listed in the `db' table.

   * If `mysql -u user_name db_name' works when executed on the server
     machine, but `mysql -h host_name -u user_name db_name' doesn't
     work when executed on another client machine, you don't have the
     client machine listed in the `user' table or the `db' table.

   * If you can't figure out why you get `Access denied', remove from
     the `user' table all entries that have `Host' values containing
     wildcards (entries that contain `%' or `_').  A very common error
     is to insert a new entry with `Host'=`'%'' and `User'=`'some
     user'', thinking that this will allow you to specify `localhost'
     to connect from the same machine.  The reason that this doesn't
     work is that the default privileges include an entry with
     `Host'=`'localhost'' and `User'=`'''.  Because that entry has a
     `Host' value `'localhost'' that is more specific than `'%'', it is
     used in preference to the new entry when connecting from
     `localhost'!  The correct procedure is to insert a second entry
     with `Host'=`'localhost'' and `User'=`'some_user'', or to remove
     the entry with `Host'=`'localhost'' and `User'=`'''.

   * If you get the following error, you may have a problem with the
     `db' or `host' table:

          Access to database denied

     If the entry selected from the `db' table has an empty value in the
     `Host' column, make sure there are one or more corresponding
     entries in the `host' table specifying which hosts the `db' table
     entry applies to.

     If you get the error when using the SQL commands `SELECT ...  INTO
     OUTFILE' or `LOAD DATA INFILE', your entry in the `user' table
     probably doesn't have the `FILE' privilege enabled.

   * Remember that client programs will use connection parameters
     specified in configuration files or environment variables.  *Note
     Environment variables::.  If a client seems to be sending the
     wrong default connection parameters when you don't specify them on
     the command-line, check your environment and the `.my.cnf' file in
     your home directory.  You might also check the system-wide MySQL
     configuration files, though it is far less likely that client
     connection parameters will be specified there. If you get `Access
     denied' when you run a client without any options, make sure you
     haven't specified an old password in any of your option files!
     *Note Option files::.

   * If you make changes to the grant tables directly (using an
     `INSERT' or `UPDATE' statement) and your changes seem to be
     ignored, remember that you must issue a `FLUSH PRIVILEGES'
     statement or execute a `mysqladmin flush-privileges' command to
     cause the server to re-read the privilege tables. Otherwise, your
     changes have no effect until the next time the server is
     restarted.  Remember that after you set the `root' password with
     an `UPDATE' command, you won't need to specify it until after you
     flush the privileges, because the server won't know you've changed
     the password yet!

   * If you have access problems with a Perl, PHP, Python, or ODBC
     program, try to connect to the server with `mysql -u user_name
     db_name' or `mysql -u user_name -pyour_pass db_name'.  If you are
     able to connect using the `mysql' client, there is a problem with
     your program and not with the access privileges.  (Note that there
     is no space between `-p' and the password; you can also use the
     `--password=your_pass' syntax to specify the password. If you use
     the `-p' option alone, MySQL will prompt you for the password.)

   * For testing, start the `mysqld' daemon with the
     `--skip-grant-tables' option.  Then you can change the MySQL grant
     tables and use the `mysqlaccess' script to check whether your
     modifications have the desired effect.  When you are satisfied
     with your changes, execute `mysqladmin flush-privileges' to tell
     the `mysqld' server to start using the new grant tables.  *Note:*
     Reloading the grant tables overrides the `--skip-grant-tables'
     option.  This allows you to tell the server to begin using the
     grant tables again without bringing it down and restarting it.

   * If everything else fails, start the `mysqld' daemon with a
     debugging option (for example, `--debug=d,general,query'). This
     will print host and user information about attempted connections,
     as well as information about each command issued. *Note Making
     trace files::.

   * If you have any other problems with the MySQL grant tables and
     feel you must post the problem to the mailing list, always provide
     a dump of the MySQL grant tables. You can dump the tables with the
     `mysqldump mysql' command. As always, post your problem using the
     `mysqlbug' script.  *Note Bug reports::.  In some cases you may
     need to restart `mysqld' with `--skip-grant-tables' to run
     `mysqldump'.

MySQL User Account Management
=============================

MySQL Usernames and Passwords
-----------------------------

There are several distinctions between the way usernames and passwords
are used by MySQL and the way they are used by Unix or Windows:

   * Usernames, as used by MySQL for authentication purposes, have
     nothing to do with Unix usernames (login names) or Windows
     usernames.  Most MySQL clients by default try to log in using the
     current Unix user name as the MySQL username, but that is for
     convenience only.  Client programs allow a different name to be
     specified with the `-u' or `--user' options. This means that you
     can't make a database secure in any way unless all MySQL usernames
     have passwords.  Anyone may attempt to connect to the server using
     any name, and they will succeed if they specify any name that
     doesn't have a password.

   * MySQL usernames can be up to 16 characters long; Unix usernames
     typically are limited to 8 characters.

   * MySQL passwords have nothing to do with Unix passwords.  There is
     no necessary connection between the password you use to log in to
     a Unix machine and the password you use to access a database on
     that machine.

   * MySQL encrypts passwords using a different algorithm than the one
     used during the Unix login process.  See the descriptions of the
     `PASSWORD()' and `ENCRYPT()' functions in *Note Encryption
     functions::.  Note that even if the password is stored
     'scrambled', and knowing your 'scrambled' password is enough to be
     able to connect to the MySQL server!  From version 4.1, MySQL
     employs a different password and login mechanism that is secure
     even if TCP/IP packets are sniffed and/or the mysql database is
     captured.

MySQL users and their privileges are normally created with the `GRANT'
command. *Note GRANT::.

When you login to a MySQL server with a command-line client you should
specify the password with `--password=your-password'.  *Note
Connecting::.

     mysql --user=monty --password=guess database_name

If you want the client to prompt for a password, you should use
`--password' without any argument

     mysql --user=monty --password database_name

or the short form:

     mysql -u monty -p database_name

Note that in the last example the password is *not* 'database_name'.

If you want to use the `-p' option to supply a password you should do so
like this:

     mysql -u monty -pguess database_name

On some systems, the library call that MySQL uses to prompt for a
password will automatically cut the password to 8 characters. Internally
MySQL doesn't have any limit for the length of the password.

When Privilege Changes Take Effect
----------------------------------

When `mysqld' starts, all grant table contents are read into memory and
become effective at that point.

Modifications to the grant tables that you perform using `GRANT',
`REVOKE', or `SET PASSWORD' are noticed by the server immediately.

If you modify the grant tables manually (using `INSERT', `UPDATE',
etc.), you should execute a `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' statement or run
`mysqladmin flush-privileges' or `mysqladmin reload' to tell the server
to reload the grant tables. Otherwise, your changes will have _no
effect_ until you restart the server. If you change the grant tables
manually but forget to reload the privileges, you will be wondering why
your changes don't seem to make any difference!

When the server notices that the grant tables have been changed,
existing client connections are affected as follows:

   * Table and column privilege changes take effect with the client's
     next request.

   * Database privilege changes take effect at the next `USE db_name'
     command.

   * Global privilege changes and password changes take effect the next
     time the client connects.

Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges
---------------------------------------

After installing MySQL, you set up the initial access privileges by
running `scripts/mysql_install_db'.  *Note Quick install::.  The
`mysql_install_db' script starts the `mysqld' server, then initializes
the grant tables to contain the following set of privileges:

   * The MySQL `root' user is created as a superuser who can do
     anything.  Connections must be made from the local host.

     *Note:* The initial `root' password is empty, so anyone can
     connect as `root' _without a password_ and be granted all
     privileges.

   * An anonymous user is created that can do anything with databases
     that have a name of `'test'' or starting with `'test_''.
     Connections must be made from the local host.  This means any
     local user can connect without a password and be treated as the
     anonymous user.

   * Other privileges are denied.  For example, normal users can't use
     `mysqladmin shutdown' or `mysqladmin processlist'.

*Note:* The default privileges are different for Windows.  *Note
Windows running::.

Because your installation is initially wide open, one of the first
things you should do is specify a password for the MySQL `root' user.
You can do this as follows (note that you specify the password using
the `PASSWORD()' function):

     shell> mysql -u root mysql
     mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR root@localhost=PASSWORD('new_password');

Replace `'new_password'' with the password that you want to use.

If you know what you are doing, you can also directly manipulate the
privilege tables:

     shell> mysql -u root mysql
     mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('new_password')
         ->     WHERE user='root';
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Another way to set the password is by using the `mysqladmin' command:

     shell> mysqladmin -u root password new_password

Only users with write/update access to the `mysql' database can change
the password for other users.  All normal users (not anonymous ones)
can only change their own password with either of the above commands or
with `SET PASSWORD=PASSWORD('new_password')'.

Note that if you update the password in the `user' table directly using
`UPDATE', you must tell the server to re-read the grant tables (with
`FLUSH PRIVILEGES'), because the change will go unnoticed otherwise.

Once the `root' password has been set, thereafter you must supply that
password when you connect to the server as `root'.

You may wish to leave the `root' password blank so that you don't need
to specify it while you perform additional setup or testing. However,
be sure to set it before using your installation for any real
production work.

See the `scripts/mysql_install_db' script to see how it sets up the
default privileges.  You can use this as a basis to see how to add
other users.

If you want the initial privileges to be different from those just
described above, you can modify `mysql_install_db' before you run it.

To re-create the grant tables completely, remove all the `.frm',
`.MYI', and `.MYD' files in the directory containing the `mysql'
database.  (This is the directory named `mysql' under the database
directory, which is listed when you run `mysqld --help'.) Then run the
`mysql_install_db' script, possibly after editing it first to have the
privileges you want.

*Note:* For MySQL versions older than Version 3.22.10, you should not
delete the `.frm' files.  If you accidentally do this, you should copy
them back from your MySQL distribution before running
`mysql_install_db'.

Adding New Users to MySQL
-------------------------

You can add users two different ways: by using `GRANT' statements or by
manipulating the MySQL grant tables directly.  The preferred method is
to use `GRANT' statements, because they are more concise and less
error-prone. *Note GRANT::.

There are also several contributed programs (such as `phpMyAdmin') that
can be used to create and administer users.

The following examples show how to use the `mysql' client to set up new
users.  These examples assume that privileges are set up according to
the defaults described in the previous section.  This means that to
make changes, you must be on the same machine where `mysqld' is
running, you must connect as the MySQL `root' user, and the `root' user
must have the `INSERT' privilege for the `mysql' database and the
`RELOAD' administrative privilege.  Also, if you have changed the
`root' user password, you must specify it for the `mysql' commands here.

First, use the `mysql' program to connect to the server as the MySQL
`root' user:

     shell> mysql --user=root mysql

Then you can add new users by issuing `GRANT' statements:

     mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO monty@localhost
         ->     IDENTIFIED BY 'some_pass' WITH GRANT OPTION;
     mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO monty@'%'
         ->     IDENTIFIED BY 'some_pass' WITH GRANT OPTION;
     mysql> GRANT RELOAD,PROCESS ON *.* TO admin@localhost;
     mysql> GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO dummy@localhost;

These `GRANT' statements set up three new users:

`monty'
     A full superuser who can connect to the server from anywhere, but
     who must use a password `'some_pass'' to do so.  Note that we must
     issue `GRANT' statements for both `monty@localhost' and
     `monty@"%"'.  If we don't add the entry with `localhost', the
     anonymous user entry for `localhost' that is created by
     `mysql_install_db' takes precedence when we connect from the local
     host, because it has a more specific `Host' column value and thus
     comes earlier in the `user' table sort order.

`admin'
     A user who can connect from `localhost' without a password and who
     is granted the `RELOAD' and `PROCESS' administrative privileges.
     This allows the user to execute the `mysqladmin reload',
     `mysqladmin refresh', and `mysqladmin flush-*' commands, as well as
     `mysqladmin processlist' .  No database-level privileges are
     granted.  (They can be granted later by issuing additional `GRANT'
     statements.)

`dummy'
     A user who can connect without a password, but only from the local
     host.  No privileges are granted--the `USAGE' privilege type
     allows you to create a user with no privileges. It has the effect
     of setting all the global privileges to `'N''.  It is assumed that
     you will grant specific privileges to the account later.

You can also add the same user access information directly by issuing
`INSERT' statements and then telling the server to reload the grant
tables:

     shell> mysql --user=root mysql
     mysql> INSERT INTO user VALUES('localhost','monty',PASSWORD('some_pass'),
         ->          'Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y');
     mysql> INSERT INTO user VALUES('%','monty',PASSWORD('some_pass'),
         ->          'Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y');
     mysql> INSERT INTO user SET Host='localhost',User='admin',
         ->           Reload_priv='Y', Process_priv='Y';
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
         ->                  VALUES('localhost','dummy','');
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Depending on your MySQL version, you may have to use a different number
of `'Y'' values above. (Versions prior to Version 3.22.11 have fewer
privilege columns, and versions from 4.0.2 on have more.)  For the
`admin' user, the more readable extended `INSERT' syntax using `SET'
that is available starting with Version 3.22.11 is used.

Note that to set up a superuser, you need only create a `user' table
entry with the privilege columns set to `'Y''.  No `db' or `host' table
entries are necessary.

In the last `INSERT' statement (for the `dummy' user), only the `Host',
`User', and `Password' columns in the `user' table record are assigned
values. None of the privilege columns are set explicitly, so MySQL
assigns them all the default value of `'N''.  This is the same thing
that `GRANT USAGE' does.

The following example adds a user `custom' who can access the
`bankaccount' database only from the local host, the `expenses'
database only from the host `whitehouse.gov', and the `customer'
database only from the host `server.domain'.  He wants to use the
password `obscure' from all three hosts.

To set up this user's privileges using `GRANT' statements, run these
commands:

     shell> mysql --user=root mysql
     mysql> GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP
         ->     ON bankaccount.*
         ->     TO custom@localhost
         ->     IDENTIFIED BY 'obscure';
     mysql> GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP
         ->     ON expenses.*
         ->     TO custom@'whitehouse.gov'
         ->     IDENTIFIED BY 'obscure';
     mysql> GRANT SELECT,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE,CREATE,DROP
         ->     ON customer.*
         ->     TO custom@'server.domain'
         ->     IDENTIFIED BY 'obscure';

To set up the user's privileges by modifying the grant tables directly,
run these commands (note the `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' at the end):

     shell> mysql --user=root mysql
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
         -> VALUES('localhost','custom',PASSWORD('obscure'));
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
         -> VALUES('whitehouse.gov','custom',PASSWORD('obscure'));
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
         -> VALUES('server.domain','custom',PASSWORD('obscure'));
     mysql> INSERT INTO db
         -> (Host,Db,User,Select_priv,Insert_priv,Update_priv,Delete_priv,
         ->  Create_priv,Drop_priv)
         -> VALUES
         -> ('localhost','bankaccount','custom','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y');
     mysql> INSERT INTO db
         -> (Host,Db,User,Select_priv,Insert_priv,Update_priv,Delete_priv,
         ->  Create_priv,Drop_priv)
         -> VALUES
         -> ('whitehouse.gov','expenses','custom','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y');
     mysql> INSERT INTO db
         -> (Host,Db,User,Select_priv,Insert_priv,Update_priv,Delete_priv,
         ->  Create_priv,Drop_priv)
         -> VALUES('server.domain','customer','custom','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y','Y');
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

As in the preceding example that used `INSERT' statements, you may need
to use a different number of `'Y'' values, depending on your version of
MySQL.

The first three `INSERT' statements add `user' table entries that allow
user `custom' to connect from the various hosts with the given
password, but grant no permissions (all privileges are set to the
default value of `'N'').  The next three `INSERT' statements add `db'
table entries that grant privileges to `custom' for the `bankaccount',
`expenses', and `customer' databases, but only when accessed from the
proper hosts.  As usual, after you modify the grant tables directly ,
you must tell the server to reload them (with `FLUSH PRIVILEGES') so
that the privilege changes take effect.

If you want to give a specific user access from any machine in a given
domain (for example, `mydomain.com'), you can issue a `GRANT' statement
like the following:

     mysql> GRANT ...
         ->     ON *.*
         ->     TO myusername@'%.mydomain.com'
         ->     IDENTIFIED BY 'mypassword';

To do the same thing by modifying the grant tables directly, do this:

     mysql> INSERT INTO user VALUES ('%.mydomain.com', 'myusername',
         ->             PASSWORD('mypassword'),...);
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Deleting Users from MySQL
-------------------------

     DROP USER user_name

This command was added to MySQL 4.1.1.

It deletes a user that doesn't have any privileges.

To delete a user from MySQL, you should use the following procedure,
performing the steps in the order shown:

  1. Check which privileges the user has with `SHOW PRIVILEGES'.  *Note
     SHOW PRIVILEGES::.

  2. Delete all privileges from the user with `REVOKE'. *Note GRANT::.

  3. Delete the user with `DROP USER'.

If you are using and older MySQL version you should first revoke the
privileges and then delete the user with:

     DELETE FROM mysql.user WHERE user='username' and host='hostname';
     FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Limiting user resources
-----------------------

Starting from MySQL 4.0.2 one can limit certain resources per user.

So far, the only available method of limiting usage of MySQL server
resources has been setting the `max_user_connections' startup variable
to a non-zero value. But this method is strictly global and does not
allow for management of individual users, which could be of particular
interest to Internet Service Providers.

Therefore, management of three resources is introduced on the
individual user level:

   * Number of all queries per hour: All commands that could be run by
     a user.

   * Number of all updates per hour: Any command that changes any table
     or database.

   * Number of connections made per hour: New connections opened per
     hour.

A user in the aforementioned context is a single entry in the `user'
table, which is uniquely identified by its `user' and `host' columns.

All users are by default not limited in using the above resources,
unless the limits are granted to them. These limits can be granted
*only* via global `GRANT (*.*)', using this syntax:

     GRANT ... WITH MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR N1
                    MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR N2
                    MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR N3;

One can specify any combination of the above resources.  `N1', `N2',
and `N3' are integers and represent counts per hour.

If a user reaches the limit on number of connections within one hour, no
further connections will be accepted until that hour is up. Similarly,
if the user reaches the limit on number of queries or updates, further
queries or updates will be rejected until the hour is up. In all cases,
an appropriate error message shall be issued.

Current usage values for a particular user can be flushed (set to zero)
by issuing a `GRANT' statement with any of the above clauses, including
a `GRANT' statement with the current values.

Also, current values for all users will be flushed if privileges are
reloaded (in the server or using `mysqladmin reload') or if the `FLUSH
USER_RESOURCES' command is issued.

The feature is enabled as soon as a single user is granted with any of
the limiting `GRANT' clauses.

As a prerequisite for enabling this feature, the `user' table in the
`mysql' database must contain the additional columns, as defined in the
table creation scripts `mysql_install_db' and `mysql_install_db.sh' in
`scripts' subdirectory.

Setting Up Passwords
--------------------

In most cases you should use `GRANT' to set up your users/passwords, so
the following only applies for advanced users. *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

The examples in the preceding sections illustrate an important
principle: when you store a non-empty password using `INSERT' or
`UPDATE' statements, you must use the `PASSWORD()' function to encrypt
it.  This is because the `user' table stores passwords in encrypted
form, not as plaintext.  If you forget that fact, you are likely to
attempt to set passwords like this:

     shell> mysql -u root mysql
     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
         -> VALUES('%','jeffrey','biscuit');
     mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

The result is that the plaintext value `'biscuit'' is stored as the
password in the `user' table.  When the user `jeffrey' attempts to
connect to the server using this password, the `mysql' client encrypts
it with `PASSWORD()', generates an authentication vector based on
*encrypted* password and a random number, obtained from server, and
sends the result to the server.  The server uses the `password' value
in the `user' table (that is *not encrypted* value `'biscuit'') to
perform the same calculations, and compares results.  The comparison
fails and the server rejects the connection:

     shell> mysql -u jeffrey -pbiscuit test
     Access denied

Passwords must be encrypted when they are inserted in the `user' table,
so the `INSERT' statement should have been specified like this instead:

     mysql> INSERT INTO user (Host,User,Password)
         -> VALUES('%','jeffrey',PASSWORD('biscuit'));

You must also use the `PASSWORD()' function when you use `SET PASSWORD'
statements:

     mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR jeffrey@"%" = PASSWORD('biscuit');

If you set passwords using the `GRANT ... IDENTIFIED BY' statement or
the `mysqladmin password' command, the `PASSWORD()' function is
unnecessary.  They both take care of encrypting the password for you,
so you would specify a password of `'biscuit'' like this:

     mysql> GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO jeffrey@"%" IDENTIFIED BY 'biscuit';

or:

     shell> mysqladmin -u jeffrey password biscuit

*Note:* `PASSWORD()' is different from Unix password encryption.  *Note
User names::.

Keeping Your Password Secure
----------------------------

It is inadvisable to specify your password in a way that exposes it to
discovery by other users.  The methods you can use to specify your
password when you run client programs are listed here, along with an
assessment of the risks of each method:

   * Never give a normal user access to the `mysql.user' table. Knowing
     the encrypted password for a user makes it possible to log in as
     this user.  The passwords are only scrambled so that one shouldn't
     be able to see the real password you used (if you happen to use a
     similar password with your other applications).

   * Use a `-pyour_pass' or `--password=your_pass' option on the command
     line.  This is convenient but insecure, because your password
     becomes visible to system status programs (such as `ps') that may
     be invoked by other users to display command-lines.  (MySQL
     clients typically overwrite the command-line argument with zeroes
     during their initialization sequence, but there is still a brief
     interval during which the value is visible.)

   * Use a `-p' or `--password' option (with no `your_pass' value
     specified).  In this case, the client program solicits the
     password from the terminal:

          shell> mysql -u user_name -p
          Enter password: ********

     The `*' characters represent your password.

     It is more secure to enter your password this way than to specify
     it on the command-line because it is not visible to other users.
     However, this method of entering a password is suitable only for
     programs that you run interactively.  If you want to invoke a
     client from a script that runs non-interactively, there is no
     opportunity to enter the password from the terminal. On some
     systems, you may even find that the first line of your script is
     read and interpreted (incorrectly) as your password!

   * Store your password in a configuration file.  For example, you can
     list your password in the `[client]' section of the `.my.cnf' file
     in your home directory:

          [client]
          password=your_pass

     If you store your password in `.my.cnf', the file should not be
     group or world-readable or -writable.  Make sure the file's access
     mode is `400' or `600'.

     *Note Option files::.

   * You can store your password in the `MYSQL_PWD' environment
     variable, but this method must be considered extremely insecure
     and should not be used.  Some versions of `ps' include an option
     to display the environment of running processes; your password
     will be in plain sight for all to see if you set `MYSQL_PWD'.
     Even on systems without such a version of `ps', it is unwise to
     assume there is no other method to observe process environments.
     *Note Environment variables::.

All in all, the safest methods are to have the client program prompt
for the password or to specify the password in a properly protected
`.my.cnf' file.

Using Secure Connections
------------------------

This section describes how to set up secure connections between MySQL
clients and the server using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol.
It also decribes a way to set up SSH on Windows.

Basics
......

Beginning with version 4.0.0, MySQL has support for SSL encrypted
connections. To understand how MySQL uses SSL, it's necessary to
explain some basic SSL and X509 concepts. People who are already
familiar with them can skip this part.

By default, MySQL uses unencrypted connections between the client and
the server. This means that someone could watch all your traffic and
look at the data being sent or received.  They could even change the
data while it is in transit between client and server. Sometimes you
need to move information over public networks in a secure fashion; in
such cases, using an unencrypted connection is unacceptable.

SSL is a protocol that uses different encryption algorithms to ensure
that data received over a public network can be trusted. It has
mechanisms to detect any change, loss or replay of data. SSL also
incorporates algorithms to recognize and provide identity verification
using the X509 standard.

Encryption is the way to make any kind of data unreadable. In fact,
today's practice requires many additional security elements from
encryption algorithms.  They should resist many kind of known attacks
like just messing with the order of encrypted messages or replaying data
twice.

X509 is a standard that makes it possible to identify someone on the
Internet.  It is most commonly used in e-commerce applications. In basic
terms, there should be some company (called a "Certificate Authority")
that assigns electronic certificates to anyone who needs them.
Certificates rely on asymmetric encryption algorithms that have two
encryption keys (a public key and a secret key). A certificate owner
can prove his identity by showing his certificate to other party. A
certificate consists of its owner's public key. Any data encrypted with
this public key can be decrypted only using the corresponding secret
key, which is held by the owner of the certificate.

MySQL doesn't use encrypted connections by default, because doing so
would make the client/server protocol much slower. Any kind of
additional functionality requires the computer to do additional work and
encrypting data is a CPU-intensive operation that requires time and can
delay MySQL main tasks. By default MySQL is tuned to be fast as
possible.

If you need more information about SSL, X509, or encryption, you should
use your favorite Internet search engine and search for keywords in
which you are interested.

Requirements
............

To get secure connections to work with MySQL you must do the following:

  1. Install the OpenSSL library. We have tested MySQL with OpenSSL
     0.9.6.  `http://www.openssl.org/'.

  2. Configure MySQL with `--with-vio --with-openssl'.

  3. If you are using an old MySQL installation, you have to update your
     `mysql.user' table with some new SSL-related columns.  This is
     necessary if your grant tables date from a version prior to MySQL
     4.0.0.  The procedure is described in *Note
     Upgrading-grant-tables::.

  4. You can check if a running `mysqld' server supports OpenSSL by
     examining if `SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'have_openssl'' returns `YES'.

Setting Up SSL Certificates for MySQL
.....................................

Here is an example for setting up SSL certificates for MySQL:

     DIR=`pwd`/openssl
     PRIV=$DIR/private
     
     mkdir $DIR $PRIV $DIR/newcerts
     cp /usr/share/ssl/openssl.cnf $DIR
     replace ./demoCA $DIR -- $DIR/openssl.cnf
     
     # Create necessary files: $database, $serial and $new_certs_dir
     # directory (optional)
     
     touch $DIR/index.txt
     echo "01" > $DIR/serial
     
     #
     # Generation of Certificate Authority(CA)
     #
     
     openssl req -new -x509 -keyout $PRIV/cakey.pem -out $DIR/cacert.pem \
         -config $DIR/openssl.cnf
     
     # Sample output:
     # Using configuration from /home/monty/openssl/openssl.cnf
     # Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
     # ................++++++
     # .........++++++
     # writing new private key to '/home/monty/openssl/private/cakey.pem'
     # Enter PEM pass phrase:
     # Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
     # -----
     # You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
     # into your certificate request.
     # What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
     # There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
     # For some fields there will be a default value,
     # If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
     # -----
     # Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
     # State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
     # Locality Name (eg, city) []:
     # Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
     # Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
     # Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL admin
     # Email Address []:
     
     #
     # Create server request and key
     #
     openssl req -new -keyout $DIR/server-key.pem -out \
         $DIR/server-req.pem -days 3600 -config $DIR/openssl.cnf
     
     # Sample output:
     # Using configuration from /home/monty/openssl/openssl.cnf
     # Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
     # ..++++++
     # ..........++++++
     # writing new private key to '/home/monty/openssl/server-key.pem'
     # Enter PEM pass phrase:
     # Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
     # -----
     # You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
     # into your certificate request.
     # What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
     # There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
     # For some fields there will be a default value,
     # If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
     # -----
     # Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
     # State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
     # Locality Name (eg, city) []:
     # Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
     # Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
     # Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL server
     # Email Address []:
     #
     # Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
     # to be sent with your certificate request
     # A challenge password []:
     # An optional company name []:
     
     #
     # Remove the passphrase from the key (optional)
     #
     
     openssl rsa -in $DIR/server-key.pem -out $DIR/server-key.pem
     
     #
     # Sign server cert
     #
     openssl ca  -policy policy_anything -out $DIR/server-cert.pem \
         -config $DIR/openssl.cnf -infiles $DIR/server-req.pem
     
     # Sample output:
     # Using configuration from /home/monty/openssl/openssl.cnf
     # Enter PEM pass phrase:
     # Check that the request matches the signature
     # Signature ok
     # The Subjects Distinguished Name is as follows
     # countryName           :PRINTABLE:'FI'
     # organizationName      :PRINTABLE:'MySQL AB'
     # commonName            :PRINTABLE:'MySQL admin'
     # Certificate is to be certified until Sep 13 14:22:46 2003 GMT (365 days)
     # Sign the certificate? [y/n]:y
     #
     #
     # 1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n]y
     # Write out database with 1 new entries
     # Data Base Updated
     
     #
     # Create client request and key
     #
     openssl req -new -keyout $DIR/client-key.pem -out \
         $DIR/client-req.pem -days 3600 -config $DIR/openssl.cnf
     
     # Sample output:
     # Using configuration from /home/monty/openssl/openssl.cnf
     # Generating a 1024 bit RSA private key
     # .....................................++++++
     # .............................................++++++
     # writing new private key to '/home/monty/openssl/client-key.pem'
     # Enter PEM pass phrase:
     # Verifying password - Enter PEM pass phrase:
     # -----
     # You are about to be asked to enter information that will be incorporated
     # into your certificate request.
     # What you are about to enter is what is called a Distinguished Name or a DN.
     # There are quite a few fields but you can leave some blank
     # For some fields there will be a default value,
     # If you enter '.', the field will be left blank.
     # -----
     # Country Name (2 letter code) [AU]:FI
     # State or Province Name (full name) [Some-State]:.
     # Locality Name (eg, city) []:
     # Organization Name (eg, company) [Internet Widgits Pty Ltd]:MySQL AB
     # Organizational Unit Name (eg, section) []:
     # Common Name (eg, YOUR name) []:MySQL user
     # Email Address []:
     #
     # Please enter the following 'extra' attributes
     # to be sent with your certificate request
     # A challenge password []:
     # An optional company name []:
     
     #
     # Remove a passphrase from the key (optional)
     #
     openssl rsa -in $DIR/client-key.pem -out $DIR/client-key.pem
     
     #
     # Sign client cert
     #
     
     openssl ca  -policy policy_anything -out $DIR/client-cert.pem \
         -config $DIR/openssl.cnf -infiles $DIR/client-req.pem
     
     # Sample output:
     # Using configuration from /home/monty/openssl/openssl.cnf
     # Enter PEM pass phrase:
     # Check that the request matches the signature
     # Signature ok
     # The Subjects Distinguished Name is as follows
     # countryName           :PRINTABLE:'FI'
     # organizationName      :PRINTABLE:'MySQL AB'
     # commonName            :PRINTABLE:'MySQL user'
     # Certificate is to be certified until Sep 13 16:45:17 2003 GMT (365 days)
     # Sign the certificate? [y/n]:y
     #
     #
     # 1 out of 1 certificate requests certified, commit? [y/n]y
     # Write out database with 1 new entries
     # Data Base Updated
     
     #
     # Create a my.cnf file that you can use to test the certificates
     #
     
     cnf=""
     cnf="$cnf [client]"
     cnf="$cnf ssl-ca=$DIR/cacert.pem"
     cnf="$cnf ssl-cert=$DIR/client-cert.pem"
     cnf="$cnf ssl-key=$DIR/client-key.pem"
     cnf="$cnf [mysqld]"
     cnf="$cnf ssl-ca=$DIR/cacert.pem"
     cnf="$cnf ssl-cert=$DIR/server-cert.pem"
     cnf="$cnf ssl-key=$DIR/server-key.pem"
     echo $cnf | replace " " '
     ' > $DIR/my.cnf
     
     #
     # To test MySQL
     
     mysqld --defaults-file=$DIR/my.cnf &
     
     mysql --defaults-file=$DIR/my.cnf

You can also test your setup by modifying the above `my.cnf' file to
refer to the demo certificates in the mysql-source-dist/SSL direcory.

SSL `GRANT' Options
...................

MySQL can check X509 certificate attributes in addition to the normal
username/password scheme. All the usual options are still required
(username, password, IP address mask, database/table name).

There are different possibilities to limit connections:

   * Without any SSL or X509 options, all kind of encrypted/unencrypted
     connections are allowed if the username and password are valid.

   * `REQUIRE SSL' option limits the server to allow only SSL encrypted
     connections. Note that this option can be omitted if there are any
     ACL records which allow non-SSL connections.

          mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON test.* TO root@localhost
              -> IDENTIFIED BY 'goodsecret' REQUIRE SSL;

   * `REQUIRE X509' means that the client should have a valid
     certificate but we do not care about the exact certificate, issuer
     or subject.  The only restriction is that it should be possible to
     verify its signature with one of the CA certificates.

          mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON test.* TO root@localhost
              -> IDENTIFIED BY 'goodsecret' REQUIRE X509;

   * `REQUIRE ISSUER 'issuer'' places a restriction on connection
     attempts: The client must present a valid X509 certificate issued
     by CA `'issuer''.  Using X509 certificates always implies
     encryption, so the `SSL' option is unneccessary.

          mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON test.* TO root@localhost
              -> IDENTIFIED BY 'goodsecret'
              -> REQUIRE ISSUER 'C=FI, ST=Some-State, L=Helsinki,
              '> O=MySQL Finland AB, CN=Tonu Samuel/Email=tonu@mysql.com';

   * `REQUIRE SUBJECT 'subject'' requires clients to have valid X509
     certificate with subject `'subject'' on it. If the client presents
     a certificate that is valid but has a different `'subject'', the
     connection is disallowed.

          mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON test.* TO root@localhost
              -> IDENTIFIED BY 'goodsecret'
              -> REQUIRE SUBJECT 'C=EE, ST=Some-State, L=Tallinn,
              '> O=MySQL demo client certificate,
              '> CN=Tonu Samuel/Email=tonu@mysql.com';

   * `REQUIRE CIPHER 'cipher'' is needed to assure enough strong ciphers
     and keylengths will be used. SSL itself can be weak if old
     algorithms with short encryption keys are used. Using this option,
     we can ask for some exact cipher method to allow a connection.

          mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON test.* TO root@localhost
              -> IDENTIFIED BY 'goodsecret'
              -> REQUIRE CIPHER 'EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA';

     The `SUBJECT', `ISSUER', and `CIPHER' options can be combined in
     the `REQUIRE' clause like this:

          mysql> GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON test.* TO root@localhost
              -> IDENTIFIED BY 'goodsecret'
              -> REQUIRE SUBJECT 'C=EE, ST=Some-State, L=Tallinn,
              '> O=MySQL demo client certificate,
              '> CN=Tonu Samuel/Email=tonu@mysql.com'
              -> AND ISSUER 'C=FI, ST=Some-State, L=Helsinki,
              '> O=MySQL Finland AB, CN=Tonu Samuel/Email=tonu@mysql.com'
              -> AND CIPHER 'EDH-RSA-DES-CBC3-SHA';

     Starting from MySQL 4.0.4 the `AND' keyword is optional between
     `REQUIRE' options.

     The order of the options does not matter, but no option can be
     specified twice.

SSL Command-line Options
........................

The following table lists options that are used for specifying the use
of SSL, certificate files, and key files.  These options are available
beginning with MySQL 4.0. They may be given on the command line or in
option files.

`--ssl'
     For the server, specifies that the server allows SSL connections.
     For a client program, allows the client to connect to the server
     using SSL.  This option itself is not sufficient to cause an SSL
     connection to be used.  You must also specify the `--ssl-ca',
     `--ssl-cert', and `--ssl-key' options.

     Note that this option doesn't *require* an SSL connection.  For
     example, if the server or client are compiled without SSL support,
     a normal unencrypted connection will be used.

     The secure way to ensure that a SSL connection will be used is to
     create an account on the server that includes a `REQUIRE SSL'
     clause in the `GRANT' statement.  Then use this account to connect
     to the server, with both a server and client that have SSL support
     enabled.

     You can use this option to indicate that the connection should not
     use SSL.  Do this by specifying the option as `--skip-ssl' or
     `--ssl=0'.

`--ssl-ca=file_name'
     The path to a file with a list of trusted SSL CAs.

`--ssl-capath=directory_name'
     The path to a directory that contains trusted SSL CA certificates
     in pem format.

`--ssl-cert=file_name'
     The name of the SSL certificate file to use used for establishing
     a secure connection.

`--ssl-cipher=cipher_list'
     A list of allowable ciphers to use for SSL encryption.
     `cipher_list' has the same format as the `openssl ciphers' command.

     Example: `--ssl-cipher=ALL:-AES:-EXP'

`--ssl-key=file_name'
     The name of the SSL key file to use used for establishing a secure
     connection.

Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH
..................................................

Here is a note about how to connect to get a secure connection to remote
MySQL server with SSH (by David Carlson <dcarlson@mplcomm.com>):

  1. Install an SSH client on your Windows machine.  As a user, the
     best non-free one I've found is from `SecureCRT' from
     `http://www.vandyke.com/'.  Another option is `f-secure' from
     `http://www.f-secure.com/'. You can also find some free ones on
     `Google' at
     `http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Security/Products_and_Tools/Cryptography/SSH/Clients/Windows/'.

  2. Start your Windows SSH client.  Set `Host_Name =
     yourmysqlserver_URL_or_IP'.  Set `userid=your_userid' to log in to
     your server. This `userid' value may not be the same as the
     username of your MySQL account.

  3. Set up port forwarding. Either do a remote forward (Set
     `local_port: 3306', `remote_host: yourmysqlservername_or_ip',
     `remote_port: 3306' ) or a local forward (Set `port: 3306',
     `host: localhost', `remote port: 3306').

  4. Save everything, otherwise you'll have to redo it the next time.

  5. Log in to your server with the SSH session you just created.

  6. On your Windows machine, start some ODBC application (such as
     Access).

  7. Create a new file in Windows and link to MySQL using the ODBC
     driver the same way you normally do, except type in `localhost'
     for the MySQL host server--not `yourmysqlservername'.

You should now have an ODBC connection to MySQL, encrypted using SSH.

Disaster Prevention and Recovery
================================

This section discusses how to make database backups and how to perform
table maintenance.  The syntax of the SQL statements described here is
given in *Note Database Administration::.

Database Backups
----------------

Because MySQL tables are stored as files, it is easy to do a backup. To
get a consistent backup, do a `LOCK TABLES' on the relevant tables
followed by `FLUSH TABLES' for the tables.  *Note `LOCK TABLES': LOCK
TABLES.  *Note `FLUSH': FLUSH.  You only need a read lock; this allows
other threads to continue to query the tables while you are making a
copy of the files in the database directory.  The `FLUSH TABLE' is
needed to ensure that the all active index pages is written to disk
before you start the backup.

Starting from 3.23.56 and 4.0.12 `BACKUP TABLE' will not allow you to
overwrite existing files as this would be a security risk.

If you want to make an SQL level backup of a table, you can use `SELECT
INTO OUTFILE' or `BACKUP TABLE'. *Note SELECT::.  *Note BACKUP TABLE::.

Another way to back up a database is to use the `mysqldump' program or
the `mysqlhotcopy script'. *Note `mysqldump': mysqldump.  *Note
`mysqlhotcopy': mysqlhotcopy.

  1. Do a full backup of your database:

          shell> mysqldump --tab=/path/to/some/dir --opt db_name

     or:

          shell> mysqlhotcopy db_name /path/to/some/dir

     You can also simply copy all table files (`*.frm', `*.MYD', and
     `*.MYI' files) as long as the server isn't updating anything.  The
     script `mysqlhotcopy' does use this method.  (But note that these
     methods will not work if your database contains `InnoDB' tables.
     `InnoDB' does not store table contents in database directories,
     and `mysqlhotcopy' works only for `MyISAM' and `ISAM' tables.)

  2. Stop `mysqld' if it's running, then start it with the
     `--log-bin[=file_name]' option.  *Note Binary log::. The binary
     log files provide you with the information you need to replicate
     changes to the database that are made subsequent to the point at
     which you executed `mysqldump'.

If your MySQL server is a slave, whatever backup method you choose,
when you backup your slave's data, you should also backup the
`master.info' and `relay-log.info' files which are always needed to
resume replication after you restore the slave's data. If your slave is
subject to replicating `LOAD DATA INFILE' commands, you should also
backup the `SQL_LOAD-*' files which may exist in the directory
specified by the `--slave-load-tmpdir' option. (This location defaults
to the value of the `tmpdir' variable if not specified.) The slave will
need these files to resume replication of any interrupted `LOAD DATA
INFILE' operations.

If you have to restore something, try to recover your tables using
`REPAIR TABLE' or `myisamchk -r' first.  That should work in 99.9% of
all cases.  If `myisamchk' fails, try the following procedure (this
will work only if you have started MySQL with `--log-bin', see *Note
Binary log::):

  1. Restore the original `mysqldump' backup, or binary backup.

  2. Execute the following command to re-run the updates in the binary
     log:

          shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.[0-9]* | mysql

     In your case you may want to re-run only certain binlogs, from
     certain positions (usually you want to re-run all binlogs from the
     date of the restored backup, possibly excepted some wrong queries).
     See *Note mysqlbinlog:: for more information on the `mysqlbinlog'
     utility and how to use it.

     If you are using the update log (which is removed in MySQL 5.0.0)
     you can execute the content of the update log like this:

          shell> ls -1 -t -r hostname.[0-9]* | xargs cat | mysql

`ls' is used to get all the update log files in the right order.

You can also do selective backups with `SELECT * INTO OUTFILE
'file_name' FROM tbl_name' and restore with `LOAD DATA INFILE
'file_name' REPLACE ...' To avoid duplicate records, you need a
`PRIMARY KEY' or a `UNIQUE' key in the table. The `REPLACE' keyword
causes old records to be replaced with new ones when a new record
duplicates an old record on a unique key value.

If you get performance problems in making backups on your system, you
can solve this by setting up replication and do the backups on the slave
instead of on the master. *Note Replication Intro::.

If you are using a Veritas filesystem, you can do:

  1. From a client (or Perl), execute: `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK'.

  2. From another shell, execute: `mount vxfs snapshot'.

  3. From the first client, execute: `UNLOCK TABLES'.

  4. Copy files from snapshot.

  5. Unmount snapshot.

Using `myisamchk' for Table Maintenance and Crash Recovery
----------------------------------------------------------

Starting with MySQL Version 3.23.13, you can check MyISAM tables with
the `CHECK TABLE' command. *Note CHECK TABLE::.  You can repair tables
with the `REPAIR TABLE' command. *Note REPAIR TABLE::.

To check/repair MyISAM tables (`.MYI' and `.MYD') you should use the
`myisamchk' utility. To check/repair ISAM tables (`.ISM' and `.ISD')
you should use the `isamchk' utility. *Note Table types::.

In the following text we will talk about `myisamchk', but everything
also applies to the old `isamchk'.

You can use the `myisamchk' utility to get information about your
database tables, check and repair them, or optimize them.  The following
sections describe how to invoke `myisamchk' (including a description of
its options), how to set up a table maintenance schedule, and how to
use `myisamchk' to perform its various functions.

You can, in most cases, also use the command `OPTIMIZE TABLES' to
optimize and repair tables, but this is not as fast or reliable (in case
of real fatal errors) as `myisamchk'.  On the other hand, `OPTIMIZE
TABLE' is easier to use and you don't have to worry about flushing
tables.  *Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE': OPTIMIZE TABLE.

Even though the repair in `myisamchk' is quite secure, it's always a
good idea to make a backup _before_ doing a repair (or anything that
could make a lot of changes to a table)

`myisamchk' Invocation Syntax
.............................

`myisamchk' is invoked like this:

     shell> myisamchk [options] tbl_name

The `options' specify what you want `myisamchk' to do.  They are
described here.  (You can also get a list of options by invoking
`myisamchk --help'.)  With no options, `myisamchk' simply checks your
table.  To get more information or to tell `myisamchk' to take
corrective action, specify options as described here and in the
following sections.

`tbl_name' is the database table you want to check/repair.  If you run
`myisamchk' somewhere other than in the database directory, you must
specify the path to the file, because `myisamchk' has no idea where your
database is located.  Actually, `myisamchk' doesn't care whether the
files you are working on are located in a database directory; you can
copy the files that correspond to a database table into another
location and perform recovery operations on them there.

You can name several tables on the `myisamchk' command-line if you
wish.  You can also specify a name as an index file name (with the
`.MYI' suffix), which allows you to specify all tables in a directory
by using the pattern `*.MYI'.  For example, if you are in a database
directory, you can check all the tables in the directory like this:

     shell> myisamchk *.MYI

If you are not in the database directory, you can check all the tables
there by specifying the path to the directory:

     shell> myisamchk /path/to/database_dir/*.MYI

You can even check all tables in all databases by specifying a wildcard
with the path to the MySQL data directory:

     shell> myisamchk /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI

The recommended way to quickly check all tables is:

     myisamchk --silent --fast /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI
     isamchk --silent /path/to/datadir/*/*.ISM

If you want to check all tables and repair all tables that are
corrupted, you can use the following line:

     myisamchk --silent --force --fast --update-state -O key_buffer=64M \
               -O sort_buffer=64M -O read_buffer=1M -O write_buffer=1M \
               /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI
     isamchk --silent --force -O key_buffer=64M -O sort_buffer=64M \
             -O read_buffer=1M -O write_buffer=1M /path/to/datadir/*/*.ISM

The above assumes that you have more than 64 M free.

Note that if you get an error like:

     myisamchk: warning: 1 clients is using or hasn't closed the table properly

This means that you are trying to check a table that has been updated by
another program (like the `mysqld' server) that hasn't yet closed the
file or that has died without closing the file properly.

If `mysqld' is running, you must force a sync/close of all tables with
`FLUSH TABLES' and ensure that no one is using the tables while you are
running `myisamchk'.  In MySQL Version 3.23 the easiest way to avoid
this problem is to use `CHECK TABLE' instead of `myisamchk' to check
tables.

General Options for `myisamchk'
...............................

`myisamchk' supports the following options.

`-# or --debug=debug_options'
     Output debug log. The `debug_options' string often is
     `'d:t:o,filename''.

`-? or --help'
     Display a help message and exit.

`-O name=value, --set-variable=name=value'
     Set the value of a variable.  Please note that
     `--set-variable=name=value' and `-O name=value' syntax is
     deprecated as of MySQL 4.0.  Use `--name=value' instead.  The
     possible variables and their default values for myisamchk can be
     examined with `myisamchk --help':
     *Variable*    *Value*
     key_buffer_size523264
     read_buffer_size262136
     write_buffer_size262136
     sort_buffer_size2097144
     sort_key_blocks16
     decode_bits   9

     `sort_buffer_size' is used when the keys are repaired by sorting
     keys, which is the normal case when you use `--recover'.

     `key_buffer_size' is used when you are checking the table with
     `--extended-check' or when the keys are repaired by inserting key
     row by row in to the table (like when doing normal inserts).
     Repairing through the key buffer is used in the following cases:

        * If you use `--safe-recover'.

        * If the temporary files needed to sort the keys would be more
          than twice as big as when creating the key file directly.
          This is often the case when you have big `CHAR', `VARCHAR' or
          `TEXT' keys as the sort needs to store the whole keys during
          sorting. If you have lots of temporary space and you can
          force `myisamchk' to repair by sorting you can use the
          `--sort-recover' option.

     Reparing through the key buffer takes much less disk space than
     using sorting, but is also much slower.

     If you want a faster repair, set the above variables to about 1/4
     of your available memory.  You can set both variables to big
     values, as only one of the above buffers will be used at a time.

`-s or --silent'
     Silent mode.  Write output only when errors occur. You can use `-s'
     twice (`-ss') to make `myisamchk' very silent.

`-v or --verbose'
     Verbose mode.  Print more information. This can be used with `-d'
     and `-e'. Use `-v' multiple times (`-vv', `-vvv') for more
     verbosity!

`-V or --version'
     Print the `myisamchk' version and exit.

`-w or, --wait'
     Instead of giving an error if the table is locked, wait until the
     table is unlocked before continuing.  Note that if you are running
     `mysqld' on the table with `--skip-external-locking', the table
     can only be locked by another `myisamchk' command.

Check Options for `myisamchk'
.............................

`-c or --check'
     Check table for errors. This is the default operation if you are
     not giving `myisamchk' any options that override this.

`-e or --extend-check'
     Check the table very thoroughly (which is quite slow if you have
     many indexes).  This option should only be used in extreme cases.
     Normally, `myisamchk' or `myisamchk --medium-check' should, in most
     cases, be able to find out if there are any errors in the table.

     If you are using `--extended-check' and have much memory, you
     should increase the value of `key_buffer_size' a lot!

`-F or --fast'
     Check only tables that haven't been closed properly.

`-C or --check-only-changed'
     Check only tables that have changed since the last check.

`-f or --force'
     Restart `myisamchk' with `-r' (repair) on the table, if
     `myisamchk' finds any errors in the table.

`-i or --information'
     Print informational statistics about the table that is checked.

`-m or --medium-check'
     Faster than extended-check, but only finds 99.99% of all errors.
     Should, however, be good enough for most cases.

`-U or --update-state'
     Store in the `.MYI' file when the table was checked and if the
     table crashed.  This should be used to get full benefit of the
     `--check-only-changed' option, but you shouldn't use this option
     if the `mysqld' server is using the table and you are running
     `mysqld' with `--skip-external-locking'.

`-T or --read-only'
     Don't mark table as checked. This is useful if you use `myisamchk'
     to check a table that is in use by some other application that
     doesn't use locking (like `mysqld --skip-external-locking').

Repair Options for myisamchk
............................

The following options are used if you start `myisamchk' with `-r' or
`-o':

`-B or --backup'
     Make a backup of the `.MYD' file as `filename-time.BAK'

`--correct-checksum'
     Correct checksum information for table.

`-D # or --data-file-length=#'
     Max length of datafile (when re-creating datafile when it's
     'full').

`-e or --extend-check'
     Try to recover every possible row from the datafile.  Normally
     this will also find a lot of garbage rows. Don't use this option
     if you are not totally desperate.

`-f or --force'
     Overwrite old temporary files (`table_name.TMD') instead of
     aborting.

`-k # or --keys-used=#'
     If you are using `ISAM', tells the `ISAM' storage engine to update
     only the first `#' indexes.  If you are using `MyISAM', tells
     which keys to use, where each binary bit stands for one key (first
     key is bit 0).  This can be used to get faster inserts!
     Deactivated indexes can be reactivated by using `myisamchk -r'.

`-l or --no-symlinks'
     Do not follow symbolic links. Normally `myisamchk' repairs the
     table a symlink points at.  This option doesn't exist in MySQL 4.0,
     as MySQL 4.0 will not remove symlinks during repair.

`-p or --parallel-recover'
     Uses the same technique as `-r' and `-n', but creates all the keys
     in parallel, in different threads.  This option was added in MySQL
     4.0.2.  *This is alpha code. Use at your own risk!*

`-r or --recover'
     Can fix almost anything except unique keys that aren't unique
     (which is an extremely unlikely error with `ISAM'/`MyISAM' tables).
     If you want to recover a table, this is the option to try first.
     Only if `myisamchk' reports that the table can't be recovered by
     `-r', you should then try `-o'.  (Note that in the unlikely case
     that `-r' fails, the datafile is still intact.)  If you have lots
     of memory, you should increase the size of `sort_buffer_size'!

`-o or --safe-recover'
     Uses an old recovery method (reads through all rows in order and
     updates all index trees based on the found rows); this is an order
     of magnitude slower than `-r', but can handle a couple of very
     unlikely cases that `-r' cannot handle.  This recovery method also
     uses much less disk space than `-r'. Normally one should always
     first repair with `-r', and only if this fails use `-o'.

     If you have lots of memory, you should increase the size of
     `key_buffer_size'!

`-n or --sort-recover'
     Force `myisamchk' to use sorting to resolve the keys even if the
     temporary files should be very big.

`--character-sets-dir=...'
     Directory where character sets are stored.

`--set-character-set=name'
     Change the character set used by the index

`-t or --tmpdir=path'
     Path for storing temporary files. If this is not set, `myisamchk'
     will use the environment variable `TMPDIR' for this.  Starting
     from MySQL 4.1, `tmpdir' can be set to a list of paths separated
     by colon `:' (semicolon `;' on Windows). They will be used in
     round-robin fashion.

`-q or --quick'
     Faster repair by not modifying the datafile. One can give a second
     `-q' to force `myisamchk' to modify the original datafile in case
     of duplicate keys

`-u or --unpack'
     Unpack file packed with myisampack.

Other Options for `myisamchk'
.............................

Other actions that `myisamchk' can do, besides repair and check tables:

`-a or --analyze'
     Analyze the distribution of keys. This improves join performance by
     enabling the join optimizer to better choose in which order it
     should join the tables and which keys it should use: `myisamchk
     --describe --verbose table_name'' or using `SHOW KEYS' in MySQL.

`-d or --description'
     Prints some information about table.

`-A or --set-auto-increment[=value]'
     Force `AUTO_INCREMENT' to start at this or higher value. If no
     value is given, then sets the next `AUTO_INCREMENT' value to the
     highest used value for the auto key + 1.

`-S or --sort-index'
     Sort the index tree blocks in high-low order.  This will optimize
     seeks and will make table scanning by key faster.

`-R or --sort-records=#'
     Sorts records according to an index.  This makes your data much
     more localized and may speed up ranged `SELECT' and `ORDER BY'
     operations on this index. (It may be very slow to do a sort the
     first time!)  To find out a table's index numbers, use `SHOW
     INDEX', which shows a table's indexes in the same order that
     `myisamchk' sees them.  Indexes are numbered beginning with 1.

`myisamchk' Memory Usage
........................

Memory allocation is important when you run `myisamchk'.  `myisamchk'
uses no more memory than you specify with the `-O' options.  If you are
going to use `myisamchk' on very large files, you should first decide
how much memory you want it to use.  The default is to use only about
3M to perform repairs.  By using larger values, you can get `myisamchk'
to operate faster.  For example, if you have more than 32M RAM, you
could use options such as these (in addition to any other options you
might specify):

     shell> myisamchk -O sort=16M -O key=16M -O read=1M -O write=1M ...

Using `-O sort=16M' should probably be enough for most cases.

Be aware that `myisamchk' uses temporary files in `TMPDIR'. If `TMPDIR'
points to a memory filesystem, you may easily get out of memory errors.
If this happens, set `TMPDIR' to point at some directory with more
space and restart `myisamchk'.

When repairing, `myisamchk' will also need a lot of disk space:

   * Double the size of the record file (the original one and a copy).
     This space is not needed if one does a repair with `--quick', as
     in this case only the index file will be re-created.  This space
     is needed on the same disk as the original record file!

   * Space for the new index file that replaces the old one. The old
     index file is truncated at start, so one usually ignore this space.
     This space is needed on the same disk as the original index file!

   * When using `--recover' or `--sort-recover' (but not when using
     `--safe-recover'), you will need space for a sort buffer for:
     `(largest_key + row_pointer_length)*number_of_rows * 2'.  You can
     check the length of the keys and the row_pointer_length with
     `myisamchk -dv table'.  This space is allocated on the temporary
     disk (specified by `TMPDIR' or `--tmpdir=#').

If you have a problem with disk space during repair, you can try to use
`--safe-recover' instead of `--recover'.

Using `myisamchk' for Crash Recovery
....................................

If you run `mysqld' with `--skip-external-locking' (which is the
default on some systems, like Linux), you can't reliably use `myisamchk'
to check a table when `mysqld' is using the same table.  If you can be
sure that no one is accessing the tables through `mysqld' while you run
`myisamchk', you only have to do `mysqladmin flush-tables' before you
start checking the tables.  If you can't guarantee the above, then you
must take down `mysqld' while you check the tables.  If you run
`myisamchk' while `mysqld' is updating the tables, you may get a
warning that a table is corrupt even if it isn't.

If you are not using `--skip-external-locking', you can use `myisamchk'
to check tables at any time.  While you do this, all clients that try
to update the table will wait until `myisamchk' is ready before
continuing.

If you use `myisamchk' to repair or optimize tables, you *must* always
ensure that the `mysqld' server is not using the table (this also
applies if you are using `--skip-external-locking').  If you don't take
down `mysqld' you should at least do a `mysqladmin flush-tables' before
you run `myisamchk'.  Your tables *may be corrupted* if the server and
`myisamchk' access the tables simultaneously.

This section describes how to check for and deal with data corruption
in MySQL databases.  If your tables get corrupted frequently you should
try to find the reason for this! *Note Crashing::.

The `MyISAM' table section contains reason for why a table could be
corrupted. *Note MyISAM table problems::.

When performing crash recovery, it is important to understand that each
table `tbl_name' in a database corresponds to three files in the
database directory:

*File*         *Purpose*
`tbl_name.frm' Table definition
               (form) file
`tbl_name.MYD' Datafile
`tbl_name.MYI' Index file

Each of these three file types is subject to corruption in various
ways, but problems occur most often in datafiles and index files.

`myisamchk' works by creating a copy of the `.MYD' (data) file row by
row. It ends the repair stage by removing the old `.MYD' file and
renaming the new file to the original file name.  If you use `--quick',
`myisamchk' does not create a temporary `.MYD' file, but instead
assumes that the `.MYD' file is correct and only generates a new index
file without touching the `.MYD' file. This is safe, because
`myisamchk' automatically detects if the `.MYD' file is corrupt and
aborts the repair in this case.  You can also give two `--quick'
options to `myisamchk'.  In this case, `myisamchk' does not abort on
some errors (like duplicate key) but instead tries to resolve them by
modifying the `.MYD' file. Normally the use of two `--quick' options is
useful only if you have too little free disk space to perform a normal
repair.  In this case you should at least make a backup before running
`myisamchk'.

How to Check Tables for Errors
..............................

To check a MyISAM table, use the following commands:

`myisamchk tbl_name'
     This finds 99.99% of all errors. What it can't find is corruption
     that involves *only* the datafile (which is very unusual). If you
     want to check a table, you should normally run `myisamchk' without
     options or with either the `-s' or `--silent' option.

`myisamchk -m tbl_name'
     This finds 99.999% of all errors. It checks first all index
     entries for errors and then it reads through all rows. It
     calculates a checksum for all keys in the rows and verifies that
     they checksum matches the checksum for the keys in the index tree.

`myisamchk -e tbl_name'
     This does a complete and thorough check of all data (`-e' means
     "extended check"). It does a check-read of every key for each row
     to verify that they indeed point to the correct row.  This may
     take a long time on a big table with many keys.  `myisamchk' will
     normally stop after the first error it finds. If you want to
     obtain more information, you can add the `--verbose' (`-v')
     option.  This causes `myisamchk' to keep going, up through a
     maximum of 20 errors.  In normal usage, a simple `myisamchk' (with
     no arguments other than the table name) is sufficient.

`myisamchk -e -i tbl_name'
     Like the previous command, but the `-i' option tells `myisamchk' to
     print some informational statistics, too.

How to Repair Tables
....................

In the following section we only talk about using `myisamchk' on
`MyISAM' tables (extensions `.MYI' and `.MYD').  If you are using
`ISAM' tables (extensions `.ISM' and `.ISD'), you should use `isamchk'
instead.

Starting with MySQL Version 3.23.14, you can repair MyISAM tables with
the `REPAIR TABLE' command. *Note REPAIR TABLE::.

The symptoms of a corrupted table include queries that abort
unexpectedly and observable errors such as these:

   * `tbl_name.frm' is locked against change

   * Can't find file `tbl_name.MYI' (Errcode: ###)

   * Unexpected end of file

   * Record file is crashed

   * Got error ### from table handler

     To get more information about the error you can run `perror ###'.
     Here is the most common errors that indicates a problem with the
     table:

          shell> perror 126 127 132 134 135 136 141 144 145
          126 = Index file is crashed / Wrong file format
          127 = Record-file is crashed
          132 = Old database file
          134 = Record was already deleted (or record file crashed)
          135 = No more room in record file
          136 = No more room in index file
          141 = Duplicate unique key or constraint on write or update
          144 = Table is crashed and last repair failed
          145 = Table was marked as crashed and should be repaired

     Note that error 135 (no more room in record file), is not an error
     that can be fixed by a simple repair. In this case you have to do:

          ALTER TABLE table MAX_ROWS=xxx AVG_ROW_LENGTH=yyy;

     You can also use this technique for error 136 (no more room in
     index file).


In the other cases, you must repair your tables. `myisamchk' can
usually detect and fix most problems that occur.

The repair process involves up to four stages, described here. Before
you begin, you should `cd' to the database directory and check the
permissions of the table files. Make sure they are readable by the Unix
user that `mysqld' runs as (and to you, because you need to access the
files you are checking).  If it turns out you need to modify files,
they must also be writable by you.

If you are using MySQL Version 3.23.16 and above, you can (and should)
use the `CHECK' and `REPAIR' commands to check and repair `MyISAM'
tables.  *Note CHECK TABLE::.  *Note REPAIR TABLE::.

The manual section about table maintenance includes the options to
`isamchk'/`myisamchk'.  *Note Table maintenance::.

The following section is for the cases where the above command fails or
if you want to use the extended features that `isamchk'/`myisamchk'
provides.

If you are going to repair a table from the command-line, you must first
take down the `mysqld' server. Note that when you do `mysqladmin
shutdown' on a remote server, the `mysqld' server will still be alive
for a while after `mysqladmin' returns, until all queries are stopped
and all keys have been flushed to disk.

*Stage 1: Checking your tables*

Run `myisamchk *.MYI' or `myisamchk -e *.MYI' if you have more time.
Use the `-s' (silent) option to suppress unnecessary information.

If the `mysqld' server is done you should use the -update option to tell
`myisamchk' to mark the table as 'checked'.

You have to repair only those tables for which `myisamchk' announces an
error.  For such tables, proceed to Stage 2.

If you get weird errors when checking (such as `out of memory' errors),
or if `myisamchk' crashes, go to Stage 3.

*Stage 2: Easy safe repair*

Note: If you want repairing to go much faster, you should add: `-O
sort_buffer=# -O key_buffer=#' (where # is about 1/4 of the available
memory) to all `isamchk/myisamchk' commands.

First, try `myisamchk -r -q tbl_name' (`-r -q' means "quick recovery
mode"). This will attempt to repair the index file without touching the
datafile.  If the datafile contains everything that it should and the
delete links point at the correct locations within the datafile, this
should work, and the table is fixed. Start repairing the next table.
Otherwise, use the following procedure:

  1. Make a backup of the datafile before continuing.

  2. Use `myisamchk -r tbl_name' (`-r' means "recovery mode"). This will
     remove incorrect records and deleted records from the datafile and
     reconstruct the index file.

  3. If the preceding step fails, use `myisamchk --safe-recover
     tbl_name'.  Safe recovery mode uses an old recovery method that
     handles a few cases that regular recovery mode doesn't (but is
     slower).

If you get weird errors when repairing (such as `out of memory'
errors), or if `myisamchk' crashes, go to Stage 3.

*Stage 3: Difficult repair*

You should only reach this stage if the first 16K block in the index
file is destroyed or contains incorrect information, or if the index
file is missing.  In this case, it's necessary to create a new index
file. Do so as follows:

  1. Move the datafile to some safe place.

  2. Use the table description file to create new (empty) data and
     index files:

          shell> mysql db_name
          mysql> SET AUTOCOMMIT=1;
          mysql> TRUNCATE TABLE table_name;
          mysql> quit

     If your SQL version doesn't have `TRUNCATE TABLE', use `DELETE FROM
     table_name' instead.

  3. Copy the old datafile back onto the newly created datafile.
     (Don't just move the old file back onto the new file; you want to
     retain a copy in case something goes wrong.)

Go back to Stage 2.  `myisamchk -r -q' should work now.  (This shouldn't
be an endless loop.)

As of `MySQL' 4.0.2 you can also use `REPAIR ... USE_FRM' which
performs the whole procedure automatically.

*Stage 4: Very difficult repair*

You should reach this stage only if the description file has also
crashed. That should never happen, because the description file isn't
changed after the table is created:

  1. Restore the description file from a backup and go back to Stage 3.
     You can also restore the index file and go back to Stage 2.  In
     the latter case, you should start with `myisamchk -r'.

  2. If you don't have a backup but know exactly how the table was
     created, create a copy of the table in another database.  Remove
     the new datafile, then move the description and index files from
     the other database to your crashed database.  This gives you new
     description and index files, but leaves the datafile alone.  Go
     back to Stage 2 and attempt to reconstruct the index file.

Table Optimization
..................

To coalesce fragmented records and eliminate wasted space resulting from
deleting or updating records, run `myisamchk' in recovery mode:

     shell> myisamchk -r tbl_name

You can optimize a table in the same way using the SQL `OPTIMIZE TABLE'
statement.  `OPTIMIZE TABLE' does a repair of the table and a key
analysis, and also sorts the index tree to give faster key lookups.
There is also no possibility of unwanted interaction between a utility
and the server, because the server does all the work when you use
`OPTIMIZE TABLE'. *Note OPTIMIZE TABLE::.

`myisamchk' also has a number of other options you can use to improve
the performance of a table:

   * `-S', `--sort-index'

   * `-R index_num', `--sort-records=index_num'

   * `-a', `--analyze'

For a full description of the option. *Note myisamchk syntax::.

Setting Up a Table Maintenance Regimen
--------------------------------------

Starting with MySQL Version 3.23.13, you can check MyISAM tables with
the `CHECK TABLE' command. *Note CHECK TABLE::.  You can repair tables
with the `REPAIR TABLE' command. *Note REPAIR TABLE::.

It is a good idea to perform table checks on a regular basis rather than
waiting for problems to occur.  For maintenance purposes, you can use
`myisamchk -s' to check tables.  The `-s' option (short for `--silent')
causes `myisamchk' to run in silent mode, printing messages only when
errors occur.

It's also a good idea to check tables when the server starts.  For
example, whenever the machine has done a reboot in the middle of an
update, you usually need to check all the tables that could have been
affected. (This is an "expected crashed table".) You could add a test to
`mysqld_safe' that runs `myisamchk' to check all tables that have been
modified during the last 24 hours if there is an old `.pid' (process
ID) file left after a reboot.  (The `.pid' file is created by `mysqld'
when it starts and removed when it terminates normally.  The presence
of a `.pid' file at system startup time indicates that `mysqld'
terminated abnormally.)

An even better test would be to check any table whose last-modified time
is more recent than that of the `.pid' file.

You should also check your tables regularly during normal system
operation.  At MySQL AB, we run a `cron' job to check all our important
tables once a week, using a line like this in a `crontab' file:

     35 0 * * 0 /path/to/myisamchk --fast --silent /path/to/datadir/*/*.MYI

This prints out information about crashed tables so we can examine and
repair them when needed.

As we haven't had any unexpectedly crashed tables (tables that become
corrupted for reasons other than hardware trouble) for a couple of
years now (this is really true), once a week is more than enough for us.

We recommend that to start with, you execute `myisamchk -s' each night
on all tables that have been updated during the last 24 hours, until
you come to trust MySQL as much as we do.

Normally you don't need to maintain MySQL tables that much.  If you are
changing tables with dynamic size rows (tables with `VARCHAR', `BLOB'
or `TEXT' columns) or have tables with many deleted rows you may want
to from time to time (once a month?) defragment/reclaim space from the
tables.

You can do this by using `OPTIMIZE TABLE' on the tables in question or
if you can take down the `mysqld' server for a while do:

     isamchk -r --silent --sort-index -O sort_buffer_size=16M */*.ISM
     myisamchk -r --silent --sort-index  -O sort_buffer_size=16M */*.MYI

Getting Information About a Table
---------------------------------

To get a description of a table or statistics about it, use the
commands shown here. We explain some of the information in more detail
later:

   * myisamchk -d tbl_name Runs `myisamchk' in "describe mode" to
     produce a description of your table. If you start the MySQL server
     using the `--skip-external-locking' option, `myisamchk' may report
     an error for a table that is updated while it runs.  However,
     because `myisamchk' doesn't change the table in describe mode,
     there isn't any risk of destroying data.

   * myisamchk -d -v tbl_name To produce more information about what
     `myisamchk' is doing, add `-v' to tell it to run in verbose mode.

   * myisamchk -eis tbl_name Shows only the most important information
     from a table. It is slow because it must read the whole table.

   * myisamchk -eiv tbl_name This is like `-eis', but tells you what is
     being done.

Example of `myisamchk -d' output:
     MyISAM file:     company.MYI
     Record format:   Fixed length
     Data records:    1403698  Deleted blocks:         0
     Recordlength:    226
     
     table description:
     Key Start Len Index   Type
     1   2     8   unique  double
     2   15    10  multip. text packed stripped
     3   219   8   multip. double
     4   63    10  multip. text packed stripped
     5   167   2   multip. unsigned short
     6   177   4   multip. unsigned long
     7   155   4   multip. text
     8   138   4   multip. unsigned long
     9   177   4   multip. unsigned long
         193   1           text

Example of `myisamchk -d -v' output:
     MyISAM file:         company
     Record format:       Fixed length
     File-version:        1
     Creation time:       1999-10-30 12:12:51
     Recover time:        1999-10-31 19:13:01
     Status:              checked
     Data records:           1403698  Deleted blocks:              0
     Datafile parts:         1403698  Deleted data:                0
     Datafilepointer (bytes):      3  Keyfile pointer (bytes):     3
     Max datafile length: 3791650815  Max keyfile length: 4294967294
     Recordlength:               226
     
     table description:
     Key Start Len Index   Type                  Rec/key     Root Blocksize
     1   2     8   unique  double                      1 15845376      1024
     2   15    10  multip. text packed stripped        2 25062400      1024
     3   219   8   multip. double                     73 40907776      1024
     4   63    10  multip. text packed stripped        5 48097280      1024
     5   167   2   multip. unsigned short           4840 55200768      1024
     6   177   4   multip. unsigned long            1346 65145856      1024
     7   155   4   multip. text                     4995 75090944      1024
     8   138   4   multip. unsigned long              87 85036032      1024
     9   177   4   multip. unsigned long             178 96481280      1024
         193   1           text

Example of `myisamchk -eis' output:
     Checking MyISAM file: company
     Key:  1:  Keyblocks used:  97%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     Key:  2:  Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:   50%  Max levels:  4
     Key:  3:  Keyblocks used:  97%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     Key:  4:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:   60%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  5:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  6:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  7:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  8:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     Key:  9:  Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     Total:    Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:   17%
     
     Records:          1403698    M.recordlength:     226
     Packed:             0%
     Recordspace used:     100%   Empty space:          0%
     Blocks/Record:   1.00
     Record blocks:    1403698    Delete blocks:        0
     Recorddata:     317235748    Deleted data:         0
     Lost space:             0    Linkdata:             0
     
     User time 1626.51, System time 232.36
     Maximum resident set size 0, Integral resident set size 0
     Non physical pagefaults 0, Physical pagefaults 627, Swaps 0
     Blocks in 0 out 0, Messages in 0 out 0, Signals 0
     Voluntary context switches 639, Involuntary context switches 28966

Example of `myisamchk -eiv' output:
     Checking MyISAM file: company
     Data records: 1403698   Deleted blocks:       0
     - check file-size
     - check delete-chain
     block_size 1024:
     index  1:
     index  2:
     index  3:
     index  4:
     index  5:
     index  6:
     index  7:
     index  8:
     index  9:
     No recordlinks
     - check index reference
     - check data record references index: 1
     Key:  1:  Keyblocks used:  97%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     - check data record references index: 2
     Key:  2:  Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:   50%  Max levels:  4
     - check data record references index: 3
     Key:  3:  Keyblocks used:  97%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     - check data record references index: 4
     Key:  4:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:   60%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 5
     Key:  5:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 6
     Key:  6:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 7
     Key:  7:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 8
     Key:  8:  Keyblocks used:  99%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  3
     - check data record references index: 9
     Key:  9:  Keyblocks used:  98%  Packed:    0%  Max levels:  4
     Total:    Keyblocks used:   9%  Packed:   17%
     
     - check records and index references
     [LOTS OF ROW NUMBERS DELETED]
     
     Records:          1403698    M.recordlength:     226   Packed:             0%
     Recordspace used:     100%   Empty space:          0%  Blocks/Record:   1.00
     Record blocks:    1403698    Delete blocks:        0
     Recorddata:     317235748    Deleted data:         0
     Lost space:             0    Linkdata:             0
     
     User time 1639.63, System time 251.61
     Maximum resident set size 0, Integral resident set size 0
     Non physical pagefaults 0, Physical pagefaults 10580, Swaps 0
     Blocks in 4 out 0, Messages in 0 out 0, Signals 0
     Voluntary context switches 10604, Involuntary context switches 122798

Here are the sizes of the data and index files for the table used in the
preceding examples:

     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    tcx     317235748 Jan 12 17:30 company.MYD
     -rw-rw-r--   1 davida   tcx      96482304 Jan 12 18:35 company.MYM

Explanations for the types of information `myisamchk' produces are
given here.  The "keyfile" is the index file.  "Record" and "row" are
synonymous:

   * ISAM file Name of the ISAM (index) file.

   * Isam-version Version of ISAM format. Currently always 2.

   * Creation time When the datafile was created.

   * Recover time When the index/datafile was last reconstructed.

   * Data records How many records are in the table.

   * Deleted blocks How many deleted blocks still have reserved space.
     You can optimize your table to minimise this space.  *Note
     Optimisation::.

   * Data file: Parts For dynamic record format, this indicates how
     many data blocks there are. For an optimized table without
     fragmented records, this is the same as `Data records'.

   * Deleted data How many bytes of non-reclaimed deleted data there
     are.  You can optimize your table to minimise this space.  *Note
     Optimisation::.

   * Data file pointer The size of the datafile pointer, in bytes. It
     is usually 2, 3, 4, or 5 bytes. Most tables manage with 2 bytes,
     but this cannot be controlled from MySQL yet. For fixed tables,
     this is a record address. For dynamic tables, this is a byte
     address.

   * Keyfile pointer The size of the index file pointer, in bytes. It
     is usually 1, 2, or 3 bytes. Most tables manage with 2 bytes, but
     this is calculated automatically by MySQL. It is always a block
     address.

   * Max datafile length How long the table's datafile (`.MYD' file)
     can become, in bytes.

   * Max keyfile length How long the table's key file (`.MYI' file) can
     become, in bytes.

   * Recordlength How much space each record takes, in bytes.

   * Record format The format used to store table rows.  The preceding
     examples use `Fixed length'.  Other possible values are
     `Compressed' and `Packed'.

   * table description A list of all keys in the table. For each key,
     some low-level information is presented:

        - Key This key's number.

        - Start Where in the record this index part starts.

        - Len How long this index part is. For packed numbers, this
          should always be the full length of the column. For strings,
          it may be shorter than the full length of the indexed column,
          because you can index a prefix of a string column.

        - Index `unique' or `multip.' (multiple). Indicates whether one
          value can exist multiple times in this index.

        - Type What data-type this index part has. This is an ISAM
          data-type with the options `packed', `stripped' or `empty'.

        - Root Address of the root index block.

        - Blocksize The size of each index block. By default this is
          1024, but the value may be changed at compile time.

        - Rec/key This is a statistical value used by the optimizer. It
          tells how many records there are per value for this key. A
          unique key always has a value of 1. This may be updated after
          a table is loaded (or greatly changed) with `myisamchk -a'.
          If this is not updated at all, a default value of 30 is given.

   * In the first example above, the 9th key is a multi-part key with
     two parts.

   * Keyblocks used What percentage of the keyblocks are used. Because
     the table used in the examples had just been reorganized with
     `myisamchk', the values are very high (very near the theoretical
     maximum).

   * Packed MySQL tries to pack keys with a common suffix. This can
     only be used for `CHAR'/`VARCHAR'/`DECIMAL' keys. For long strings
     like names, this can significantly reduce the space used. In the
     third example above, the 4th key is 10 characters long and a 60%
     reduction in space is achieved.

   * Max levels How deep the B-tree for this key is. Large tables with
     long keys get high values.

   * Records How many rows are in the table.

   * M.recordlength The average record length. For tables with
     fixed-length records, this is the exact record length.

   * Packed MySQL strips spaces from the end of strings. The `Packed'
     value indicates the percentage of savings achieved by doing this.

   * Recordspace used What percentage of the datafile is used.

   * Empty space What percentage of the datafile is unused.

   * Blocks/Record Average number of blocks per record (that is, how
     many links a fragmented record is composed of). This is always 1.0
     for fixed-format tables. This value should stay as close to 1.0 as
     possible. If it gets too big, you can reorganize the table with
     `myisamchk'.  *Note Optimisation::.

   * Recordblocks How many blocks (links) are used. For fixed format,
     this is the same as the number of records.

   * Deleteblocks How many blocks (links) are deleted.

   * Recorddata How many bytes in the datafile are used.

   * Deleted data How many bytes in the datafile are deleted (unused).

   * Lost space If a record is updated to a shorter length, some space
     is lost. This is the sum of all such losses, in bytes.

   * Linkdata When the dynamic table format is used, record fragments
     are linked with pointers (4 to 7 bytes each). `Linkdata' is the
     sum of the amount of storage used by all such pointers.

If a table has been compressed with `myisampack', `myisamchk -d' prints
additional information about each table column.  See *Note
`myisampack': myisampack, for an example of this information and a
description of what it means.

MySQL Localization and International Usage
==========================================

The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting
-------------------------------------------

By default, MySQL uses the ISO-8859-1 (Latin1) character set with
sorting according to Swedish/Finnish rules. These defaults are suitable
for the USA and most of western Europe.

All standard MySQL binaries are compiled with
`--with-extra-charsets=complex'.  This will add code to all standard
programs to be able to handle `latin1' and all multi-byte character
sets within the binary. Other character sets will be loaded from a
character-set definition file when needed.

The character set determines what characters are allowed in names and
how strings are sorted by the `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' clauses of the
`SELECT' statement.

You can change the character set with the `--default-character-set'
option when you start the server.  The character sets available depend
on the `--with-charset=charset' and `--with-extra-charsets=
list-of-charset | complex | all | none' options to `configure', and the
character set configuration files listed in `SHAREDIR/charsets/Index'.
*Note configure options::.

If you change the character set when running MySQL (which may also
change the sort order), you must run `myisamchk -r -q
--set-character-set=charset' on all tables. Otherwise, your indexes may
not be ordered correctly.

When a client connects to a MySQL server, the server sends the default
character set in use to the client.  The client will switch to use this
character set for this connection.

One should use `mysql_real_escape_string()' when escaping strings for
an SQL query.  `mysql_real_escape_string()' is identical to the old
`mysql_escape_string()' function, except that it takes the `MYSQL'
connection handle as the first parameter.

If the client is compiled with different paths than where the server is
installed and the user who configured MySQL didn't include all
character sets in the MySQL binary, one must specify for the client
where it can find the additional character sets it will need if the
server runs with a different character set than the client.

One can specify this by putting in a MySQL option file:

     [client]
     character-sets-dir=/usr/local/mysql/share/mysql/charsets

where the path points to the directory in which the dynamic MySQL
character sets are stored.

One can force the client to use specific character set by specifying:

     [client]
     default-character-set=character-set-name

but normally this is never needed.

German character set
....................

To get German sorting order, you should start `mysqld' with
`--default-character-set=latin1_de'.  This will give you the following
characteristics.

When sorting and comparing strings, the following mapping is done on the
strings before doing the comparison:

     a"  ->  ae
     o"  ->  oe
     u"  ->  ue
     ss  ->  ss

All accented characters, are converted to their un-accented uppercase
counterpart.  All letters are converted to uppercase.

When comparing strings with `LIKE' the one -> two character mapping is
not done. All letters are converted to uppercase. Accent are removed
from all letters except: `U"', `u"', `O"', `o"', `A"' and `a"'.

Non-English Error Messages
--------------------------

`mysqld' can issue error messages in the following languages: Czech,
Danish, Dutch, English (the default), Estonian, French, German, Greek,
Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Norwegian-ny, Polish,
Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and Swedish.

To start `mysqld' with a particular language, use either the
`--language=lang' or `-L lang' options. For example:

     shell> mysqld --language=swedish

or:

     shell> mysqld --language=/usr/local/share/swedish

Note that all language names are specified in lowercase.

The language files are located (by default) in
`MYSQL_BASE_DIR/share/LANGUAGE/'.

To update the error message file, you should edit the `errmsg.txt' file
and execute the following command to generate the `errmsg.sys' file:

     shell> comp_err errmsg.txt errmsg.sys

If you upgrade to a newer version of MySQL, remember to repeat your
changes with the new `errmsg.txt' file.

Adding a New Character Set
--------------------------

To add another character set to MySQL, use the following procedure.

Decide if the set is simple or complex.  If the character set does not
need to use special string collating routines for sorting and does not
need multi-byte character support, it is simple.  If it needs either of
those features, it is complex.

For example, `latin1' and `danish' are simple charactersets while
`big5' or `czech' are complex character sets.

In the following section, we have assumed that you name your character
set `MYSET'.

For a simple character set do the following:

  1. Add MYSET to the end of the `sql/share/charsets/Index' file Assign
     a unique number to it.

  2. Create the file `sql/share/charsets/MYSET.conf'.  (You can use
     `sql/share/charsets/latin1.conf' as a base for this.)

     The syntax for the file is very simple:

        * Comments start with a '#' character and proceed to the end of
          the line.

        * Words are separated by arbitrary amounts of whitespace.

        * When defining the character set, every word must be a number
          in hexadecimal format

        * The `ctype' array takes up the first 257 words. The
          `to_lower[]', `to_upper[]' and `sort_order[]' arrays take up
          256 words each after that.

     *Note Character arrays::.

  3. Add the character set name to the `CHARSETS_AVAILABLE' and
     `COMPILED_CHARSETS' lists in `configure.in'.

  4. Reconfigure, recompile, and test.


For a complex character set do the following:

  1. Create the file `strings/ctype-MYSET.c' in the MySQL source
     distribution.

  2. Add MYSET to the end of the `sql/share/charsets/Index' file.
     Assign a unique number to it.

  3. Look at one of the existing `ctype-*.c' files to see what needs to
     be defined, for example `strings/ctype-big5.c'. Note that the
     arrays in your file must have names like `ctype_MYSET',
     `to_lower_MYSET', and so on.  This corresponds to the arrays in
     the simple character set. *Note Character arrays::.

  4. Near the top of the file, place a special comment like this:

          /*
           * This comment is parsed by configure to create ctype.c,
           * so don't change it unless you know what you are doing.
           *
           * .configure. number_MYSET=MYNUMBER
           * .configure. strxfrm_multiply_MYSET=N
           * .configure. mbmaxlen_MYSET=N
           */

     The `configure' program uses this comment to include the character
     set into the MySQL library automatically.

     The strxfrm_multiply and mbmaxlen lines will be explained in the
     following sections.  Only include these if you need the string
     collating functions or the multi-byte character set functions,
     respectively.

  5. You should then create some of the following functions:

        * `my_strncoll_MYSET()'

        * `my_strcoll_MYSET()'

        * `my_strxfrm_MYSET()'

        * `my_like_range_MYSET()'

     *Note String collating::.

  6. Add the character set name to the `CHARSETS_AVAILABLE' and
     `COMPILED_CHARSETS' lists in `configure.in'.

  7. Reconfigure, recompile, and test.

The file `sql/share/charsets/README' includes some more instructions.

If you want to have the character set included in the MySQL
distribution, mail a patch to the MySQL internals mailing list.  *Note
Mailing-list::.

The Character Definition Arrays
-------------------------------

`to_lower[]' and `to_upper[]' are simple arrays that hold the lowercase
and uppercase characters corresponding to each member of the character
set.  For example:

     to_lower['A'] should contain 'a'
     to_upper['a'] should contain 'A'

`sort_order[]' is a map indicating how characters should be ordered for
comparison and sorting purposes. Quite often (but not for all character
sets) this is the same as `to_upper[]' (which means sorting will be
case-insensitive). MySQL will sort characters based on the value of
`sort_order[character]'.  For more complicated sorting rules, see the
discussion of string collating below. *Note String collating::.

`ctype[]' is an array of bit values, with one element for one character.
(Note that `to_lower[]', `to_upper[]', and `sort_order[]' are indexed
by character value, but `ctype[]' is indexed by character value + 1.
This is an old legacy to be able to handle `EOF'.)

You can find the following bitmask definitions in `m_ctype.h':

     #define _U      01      /* Uppercase */
     #define _L      02      /* Lowercase */
     #define _N      04      /* Numeral (digit) */
     #define _S      010     /* Spacing character */
     #define _P      020     /* Punctuation */
     #define _C      040     /* Control character */
     #define _B      0100    /* Blank */
     #define _X      0200    /* heXadecimal digit */

The `ctype[]' entry for each character should be the union of the
applicable bitmask values that describe the character.  For example,
`'A'' is an uppercase character (`_U') as well as a hexadecimal digit
(`_X'), so `ctype['A'+1]' should contain the value:

     _U + _X = 01 + 0200 = 0201

String Collating Support
------------------------

If the sorting rules for your language are too complex to be handled
with the simple `sort_order[]' table, you need to use the string
collating functions.

Right now the best documentation on this is the character sets that are
already implemented.  Look at the `big5', `czech', `gbk', `sjis', and
`tis160' character sets for examples.

You must specify the `strxfrm_multiply_MYSET=N' value in the special
comment at the top of the file.  `N' should be set to the maximum ratio
the strings may grow during `my_strxfrm_MYSET' (it must be a positive
integer).

Multi-byte Character Support
----------------------------

If your want to add support for a new character set that includes
multi-byte characters, you need to use the multi-byte character
functions.

Right now the best documentation on this is the character sets that are
already implemented.  Look at the `euc_kr', `gb2312', `gbk', `sjis',
and `ujis' character sets for examples. These are implemented in the
`ctype-'charset'.c' files in the `strings' directory.

You must specify the `mbmaxlen_MYSET=N' value in the special comment at
the top of the source file.  `N' should be set to the size in bytes of
the largest character in the set.

Problems With Character Sets
----------------------------

If you try to use a character set that is not compiled into your binary,
you can run into a couple of different problems:

   * Your program has a wrong path to where the character sets are
     stored.  (Default `/usr/local/mysql/share/mysql/charsets').  This
     can be fixed by using the `--character-sets-dir' option to the
     program in question.

   * The character set is a multi-byte character set that can't be
     loaded dynamically.  In this case you have to recompile the
     program with the support for the character set.

   * The character set is a dynamic character set, but you don't have a
     configure file for it.  In this case you should install the
     configure file for the character set from a new MySQL distribution.

   * Your `Index' file doesn't contain the name for the character set.

          ERROR 1105: File '/usr/local/share/mysql/charsets/?.conf' not found
          (Errcode: 2)

     In this case you should either get a new `Index' file or add by
     hand the name of any missing character sets.

For `MyISAM' tables, you can check the character set name and number
for a table with `myisamchk -dvv table_name'.

The MySQL Log Files
===================

MySQL has several different log files that can help you find out what's
going on inside `mysqld':

*Log file*     *Description*
The error log  Problems encountering starting, running or stopping
               `mysqld'.
The isam log   Logs all changes to the ISAM tables. Used only for
               debugging the isam code.
The query log  Established connections and executed queries.
The update     Deprecated: Stores all statements that changes data
log            
The binary     Stores all statements that changes something. Used also
log            for replication
The slow log   Stores all queries that took more than `long_query_time'
               seconds to execute or didn't use indexes.

All logs can be found in the `mysqld' data directory.  You can force
`mysqld' to reopen the log files (or in some cases switch to a new log)
by executing `FLUSH LOGS'. *Note FLUSH::.

The Error Log
-------------

The error log file contains information indicating when `mysqld' was
started and stopped and also any critical errors found when running.

If `mysqld' dies unexpectedly and `mysqld_safe' needs to restart
`mysqld', `mysqld_safe' will write a `restarted mysqld' row in this
file.  This log also holds a warning if `mysqld' notices a table that
needs to be automatically checked or repaired.

On some operating systems, the error log will contain a stack trace for
where `mysqld' died. This can be used to find out where `mysqld' died.
*Note Using stack trace::.

Beginning with MySQL 4.0.10 you can specify where `mysqld' stores the
error log file with the option `--log-error[=filename]'. If no file
name is given `mysqld' will use `mysql-data-dir/'hostname'.err' on Unix
and `\mysql\data\mysql.err' on Windows.  If you execute `flush logs'
the old file will be prefixed with `--old' and `mysqld' will create a
new empty log file.

In older MySQL versions the error log handling was done by
`mysqld_safe' which redirected the error file to `'hostname'.err'.  One
could change this file name with the option `--err-log=filename'.

If you don't specify `--log-error' or if you use the `--console' option
the errors will be written to stderr (the terminal).

On Windows, the output is always written to the `.err' file if
`--console' is not given.

The General Query Log
---------------------

If you want to know what happens within `mysqld', you should start it
with `--log[=file]'.  This will log all connections and queries to the
log file (by default named `'hostname'.log').  This log can be very
useful when you suspect an error in a client and want to know exactly
what `mysqld' thought the client sent to it.

Older versions of the `mysql.server' script (from MySQL 3.23.4 to
3.23.8) pass `safe_mysqld' a `--log' option (enable general query log).
If you need better performance when you start using MySQL in a
production environment, you can remove the `--log' option from
`mysql.server' or change it to `--log-bin'. *Note Binary log::.

The entries in this log are written as `mysqld' receives the questions.
This may be different from the order in which the statements are
executed.  This is in contrast to the update log and the binary log
which are written after the query is executed, but before any locks are
released.

The Update Log
--------------

*Note:* The update log has been deprecated and replaced by the binary
log. *Note Binary log::.  The binary log can do anything the old update
log could do, and more. *The update log is removed starting from MySQL
5.0.0*.

When started with the `--log-update[=file_name]' option, `mysqld'
writes a log file containing all SQL commands that update data. If no
filename is given, it defaults to the name of the host machine. If a
filename is given, but it doesn't contain a path, the file is written
in the data directory. If `file_name' doesn't have an extension,
`mysqld' will create log file names like so: `file_name.###', where
`###' is a number that is incremented each time you execute `mysqladmin
refresh', execute `mysqladmin flush-logs', execute the `FLUSH LOGS'
statement, or restart the server.

*Note:* For the above scheme to work, you must not create your own
files with the same filename as the update log + some extensions that
may be regarded as a number, in the directory used by the update log!

If you use the `--log' or `-l' options, `mysqld' writes a general log
with a filename of `hostname.log', and restarts and refreshes do not
cause a new log file to be generated (although it is closed and
reopened). In this case you can copy it (on Unix) by doing:

     mv hostname.log hostname-old.log
     mysqladmin flush-logs
     cp hostname-old.log to-backup-directory
     rm hostname-old.log

Update logging is smart because it logs only statements that really
update data. So an `UPDATE' or a `DELETE' with a `WHERE' that finds no
rows is not written to the log. It even skips `UPDATE' statements that
set a column to the value it already has.

The update logging is done immediately after a query completes but
before any locks are released or any commit is done. This ensures that
the log will be logged in the execution order.

If you want to update a database from update log files, you could do the
following (assuming your update logs have names of the form
`file_name.###'):

     shell> ls -1 -t -r file_name.[0-9]* | xargs cat | mysql

`ls' is used to get all the log files in the right order.

This can be useful if you have to revert to backup files after a crash
and you want to redo the updates that occurred between the time of the
backup and the crash.

The Binary Log
--------------

The binary log has replaced the old update log. The update log is
removed starting from MySQL 5.0. The binary log contains all
information that is available in the update log in a more efficient
format and in a manner that is transactionally safe.

The binary log, like the old update log, only logs statements that
really update data. So an `UPDATE' or a `DELETE' with a `WHERE' that
finds no rows is not written to the log. It even skips `UPDATE'
statements that set a column to the value it already has.

The primary purpose of the binary log is to be able to update the
database during a restore operation as fully as possible, as the binary
log would contain all updates done after a backup was made.

The binary log is also used when you are replicating a slave from a
master.  *Note Replication::.

The binary log also contains information about how long each query took
that updated the database.  It doesn't contain queries that don't modify
any data.  If you want to log all queries (for example to find a problem
query) you should use the general query log. *Note Query log::.

When started with the `--log-bin[=file_name]' option, `mysqld' writes a
log file containing all SQL commands that update data. If no file name
is given, it defaults to the name of the host machine followed by
`-bin'. If file name is given, but it doesn't contain a path, the file
is written in the data directory.

If you supply an extension to `--log-bin=filename.extension', the
extension will be silenty removed.

To the binary log filename `mysqld' will append an extension that is a
number that is incremented each time you execute `mysqladmin refresh',
execute `mysqladmin flush-logs', execute the `FLUSH LOGS' statement or
restart the server. A new binary log will also automatically be created
when the current one's size reaches `max_binlog_size'. Note if you are
using transactions: a transaction is written in one chunk to the binary
log, hence it is never split between several binary logs. Therefore, if
you have big transactions, you may see binlogs bigger than
`max_binlog_size'.

You can delete all binary log files with the `RESET MASTER' command
(*note `RESET': RESET.), or only some of them with `PURGE MASTER LOGS'
(*note Replication Master SQL::).

You can use the following options to `mysqld' to affect what is logged
to the binary log (please make sure to read the notes which follow this
table):

*Option*                    *Description*
`binlog-do-db=database_name' Tells the master that it should log updates
                            to the binary log if the current database
                            (that is, the one selected by `USE')
                            database is 'database_name'. All others
                            databases which are not explicitly mentioned
                            are ignored.  Note that if you use this you
                            should ensure that you only do updates in
                            the current database.  (Example:
                            `binlog-do-db=some_database')
                            
                            Example of what does not work as you could
                            expect it: if the server is started with
                            `binlog-do-db=sales', and you do `USE
                            prices; UPDATE sales.january SET
                            amount=amount+1000;', this query will not be
                            written into the binary log.
`binlog-ignore-db=database_name' Tells the master that updates where the
                            current database (that is, the one selected
                            by `USE') is 'database_name' should not be
                            stored in the binary log.  Note that if you
                            use this you should ensure that you only do
                            updates in the current database.  (Example:
                            `binlog-ignore-db=some_database')
                            
                            Example of what does not work as you could
                            expect it: if the server is started with
                            `binlog-ignore-db=sales', and you do `USE
                            prices; UPDATE sales.january SET
                            amount=amount+1000;', this query will be
                            written into the binary log.

The rules are evaluated in the following order, to decide if the query
should be written to the binary log or not:
  1. Are there `binlog-do-db' or `binlog-ignore-db' rules?
        * No: write the query to the binlog and exit.

        * Yes: go to step below.

  2. So there are some rules (`binlog-do-db' or `binlog-ignore-db' or
     both). Is there a current database (has any database been selected
     by `USE'?)?
        * No: do *NOT* write the query, and exit.

        * Yes: go to step below.

  3. There is a current database. Are there some `binlog-do-db' rules?
        * Yes: Does the current database match any of the `binlog-do-db'
          rules?
             * Yes: write the query and exit.

             * No: do *NOT* write the query, and exit.

        * No: go to step below.

  4. There are some `binlog-ignore-db' rules.  Does the current
     database match any of the `binlog-ignore-db' rules?
        * Yes: do not write the query, and exit.

        * No: write the query and exit.

So for example, a slave running with only `binlog-do-db=sales' will not
write to the binlog any query whose current database is different from
`sales' (in other words, `binlog-do-db' can sometimes mean "ignore
other databases").

To be able to know which different binary log files have been used,
`mysqld' will also create a binary log index file that contains the
name of all used binary log files. By default this has the same name as
the binary log file, with the extension `'.index''.  You can change the
name of the binary log index file with the `--log-bin-index=[filename]'
option.  You should not manually edit this file while `mysqld' is
running; doing this would confuse `mysqld'.

If you are using replication, you should not delete old binary log
files until you are sure that no slave will ever need to use them.  One
way to do this is to do `mysqladmin flush-logs' once a day and then
remove any logs that are more than 3 days old. You can remove them
manually, or preferably using `PURGE MASTER LOGS' (*note Replication
Master SQL::) which will also safely update the binary log index file
for you  (and which can take a date argument since MySQL 4.1)

A connection with the `SUPER' privilege can disable the binary logging
of its queries using `SET SQL_LOG_BIN=0'. *Note Replication Master
SQL::.

You can examine the binary log file with the `mysqlbinlog' utility.
For example, you can update a MySQL server from the binary log as
follows:

     shell> mysqlbinlog log-file | mysql -h server_name

See *Note mysqlbinlog:: for more information on the `mysqlbinlog'
utility and how to use it.

If you are using `BEGIN [WORK]' or `SET AUTOCOMMIT=0', you must use the
MySQL binary log for backups instead of the old update log, which will
is removed in MySQL 5.0.0.

The binary logging is done immediately after a query completes but
before any locks are released or any commit is done. This ensures that
the log will be logged in the execution order.

Updates to non-transactional tables are stored in the binary log
immediately after execution.  For transactional tables such as `BDB' or
`InnoDB' tables, all updates (`UPDATE', `DELETE' or `INSERT') that
change tables are cached until a `COMMIT' command is sent to the
server. At this point `mysqld' writes the whole transaction to the
binary log before the `COMMIT' is executed.  Every thread will, on
start, allocate a buffer of `binlog_cache_size' to buffer queries.  If
a query is bigger than this, the thread will open a temporary file to
store the transaction.  The temporary file will be deleted when the
thread ends.

The `max_binlog_cache_size' (default 4G) can be used to restrict the
total size used to cache a multi-query transaction.  If a transaction is
bigger than this it will fail and roll back.

If you are using the update or binary log, concurrent inserts will be
converted to normal inserts when using `CREATE ... SELECT' or `INSERT
... SELECT'.  This is to ensure that you can re-create an exact copy of
your tables by applying the log on a backup.

The binary log format is different in versions 3.23, 4.0, and 5.0.0.
Those format changes were required to enhance replication.  MySQL 4.1
has the same binary log format as 4.0.

The Slow Query Log
------------------

When started with the `--log-slow-queries[=file_name]' option, `mysqld'
writes a log file containing all SQL commands that took more than
`long_query_time' seconds to execute. The time to get the initial table
locks are not counted as execution time.

The slow query log is logged after the query is executed and after all
locks has been released. This may be different from the order in which
the statements are executed.

If no file name is given, it defaults to the name of the host machine
suffixed with `-slow.log'. If a filename is given, but doesn't contain
a path, the file is written in the data directory.

The slow query log can be used to find queries that take a long time to
execute and are thus candidates for optimization. With a large log, that
can become a difficult task. You can pipe the slow query log through the
`mysqldumpslow' command to get a summary of the queries which appear in
the log.

You are using `--log-long-format' then also queries that are not using
indexes are printed. *Note Server options::.

Log File Maintenance
--------------------

The MySQL Server can create a number of different log files, which make
it easy to see what is going on. *Note Log Files::. However, you must
clean up these files regularly, to ensure that the logs don't take up
too much disk space.

When using MySQL with log files, you will want to remove/backup old log
files from time to time and tell MySQL to start logging to new files.
*Note Backup::.

On a Linux (`Red Hat') installation, you can use the `mysql-log-rotate'
script for this. If you installed MySQL from an RPM distribution, the
script should have been installed automatically.  Note that you should
be careful with this script if you are using the binary log for
replication!

On other systems you must install a short script yourself that you
start from `cron' to handle log files.

You can force MySQL to start using new log files by using `mysqladmin
flush-logs' or by using the SQL command `FLUSH LOGS'.  If you are using
MySQL Version 3.21, you must use `mysqladmin refresh'.

The above command does the following:

   * If standard logging (`--log') or slow query logging
     (`--log-slow-queries') is used, closes and reopens the log file
     (`mysql.log' and ``hostname`-slow.log' as default).

   * If update logging (`--log-update') is used, closes the update log
     and opens a new log file with a higher sequence number.

If you are using only an update log, you only have to flush the logs
and then move away the old update log files to a backup.  If you are
using the normal logging, you can do something like:

     shell> cd mysql-data-directory
     shell> mv mysql.log mysql.old
     shell> mysqladmin flush-logs

and then take a backup and remove `mysql.old'.

Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine
==================================================

In some cases you might want to run multiple `mysqld' servers on the
same machine.  You might want to test a new MySQL release while leaving
your existing production setup undisturbed.  Or you may want to give
different users access to different `mysqld' servers that they manage
themselves.  (For example, you might be an Internet service provider
that wants to provide independent MySQL installations for different
customers.)

To run multiple servers on a single machine, each server must have
unique values for several operating parameters. These can be set on the
command line or in option files.  *Note Program Options::.

At least the following options must be different for each server:

   * `--port=port_num'

   * `--socket=path'

   * `--shared-memory-base-name=name' (Windows only; new in MySQL 4.1)

   * `--pid-file=path' (Unix only)

`--port' controls the port number for TCP/IP connections.  `--socket'
controls the socket file path on Unix and the name of the named pipe on
Windows. (It's necessary to specify distinct pipe names on Windows only
for those servers that support named pipe connections.)
`--shared-memory-base-name' designates the shared memory name used by a
Windows server to allow clients to connect via shared memory.
`--pid-file' indicates the name of the file in which a Unix server
writes its process ID.

If you use the following options, they must be different for each
server:

   * `--log=path'

   * `--log-bin=path'

   * `--log-update=path'

   * `--log-error=path'

   * `--log-isam=path'

   * `--bdb-logdir=path'

If you want more performance, you can also specify the following options
differently for each server, to spread load between several physical
disks:

   * `--tmpdir=path'

   * `--bdb-tmpdir=path'

Having different temporary directories like above is also recommended
because it will be easier for you in case you want to know to which
MySQL server a certain temporary file belongs.

Generally, each server should also use a different data directory,
which is specified using the `--datadir=path' option.

*Warning:* Normally you should never have two servers that update data
in the same databases!  This may lead to unpleasant surprises if your
operating system doesn't support fault-free system locking!  If
(despite this warning) you run multiple servers using the same data
directory and they have logging enabled, you must use the appropriate
options to specify log file names that are unique to each server.
Otherwise, the servers will try to log to the same files.

This warning against sharing a data directory among servers also applies
in an NFS environment.  Allowing multiple MySQL servers to access a
common data directory over NFS is a *bad idea*!

   * The primary problem is that NFS will become the speed bottleneck.
     It is not meant for such use.

   * Another risk with NFS is that you will have to come up with a way
     to make sure that two or more servers do not interfere with each
     other.  Usually NFS file locking is handled by the `lockd' daemon,
     but at the moment there is no platform that will perform locking
     100% reliably in every situation.


Make it easy for yourself: Forget about sharing a data directory among
servers over NFS. A better solution is to have one computer that
contains several CPUs and use an operating system that handles threads
efficiently.

If you have multiple MySQL installations in different locations,
normally you can specify the base installation directory for each
server with the `--basedir=path' option to cause each server to use a
different data directory, log files, and PID file. (The defaults for
all these values are determined relative to the base directory.) In
that case, the only other options you need to specify are the
`--socket' and `--port' options.  For example, suppose you install
different versions of MySQL using `.tar' file binary distributions.
These will install in different locations, so you can start the server
for each installation using the command `./bin/mysqld_safe' under its
corresponding base directory.  `mysqld_safe' will determine the proper
`--basedir' option to pass to `mysqld', and you need specify only the
`--socket' and `--port' options to `mysqld_safe'.

As discussed in the following sections, it is possible to start
additional servers by setting environment variables or by specifying
appropriate command-line options.  However, if you need to run multiple
servers on a more permanent basis, it will be more convenient to use
option files to specify for each server those option values that must
be unique to it.

Running Multiple Servers on Windows
-----------------------------------

You can run multiple servers on Windows by starting them manually from
the command line, each with appropriate operating parameters. On
Windows NT-based systems, you also have the option of installing
several servers as Windows services and running them that way. General
instructions for running MySQL servers from the command line or as
services are given in *Note Windows installation::. This section
describes how to make sure you start each server with different values
for those startup options that must be unique per server, such as the
data directory.  (These options are described in *Note Multiple
servers::.)

Starting Multiple Windows Servers at the Command Line
.....................................................

To start multiple servers manually from the command line, you can
specify the appropriate options on the command line or in an option
file. It's more convenient to place the options in an option file, but
it's necessary to make sure that each server gets its own set of
options. To do this, create an option file for each server and tell the
server the filename with a `--defaults-file' option when you run it.

Suppose you want to run `mysqld' on port 3307 with a data directory of
`C:\mydata1', and `mysqld-max' on port 3308 with a data directory of
`C:\mydata2'. To accomplish this, create two option files. For example,
create one file named `C:\my-opts1.cnf' that looks like this:

     [mysqld]
     datadir = C:/mydata1
     port = 3307

Create a second file named `C:\my-opts2.cnf' that looks like this:

     [mysqld]
     datadir = C:/mydata2
     port = 3308

Then start each server with its own option file:

     shell> mysqld --defaults-file=C:\my-opts1.cnf
     shell> mysqld-max --defaults-file=C:\my-opts2.cnf

(On NT, the servers will start in the foreground, so you'll need to
issue those two commands in separate console windows.)

To shut down the servers, you must connect to the appropriate port
number:

     shell> mysqladmin --port=3307 shutdown
     shell> mysqladmin --port=3308 shutdown

Servers configured as just described will allow clients to connect over
TCP/IP.  If you also want to allow named pipe connections, use the
`mysqld-nt' or `mysqld-max-nt' servers and specify options that enable
the named pipe and specify its name. (Each server that supports named
pipe connections must use a unique pipe name.)  For example, the
`C:\my-opts1.cnf' file might be written like this:

     [mysqld]
     datadir = C:/mydata1
     port = 3307
     enable-named-pipe
     socket = mypipe1

Then start the server this way:

     shell> mysqld-nt --defaults-file=C:\my-opts1.cnf

`C:\my-opts2.cnf' would be modified similarly for use by the second
server.

Starting Multiple Windows Servers as Services
.............................................

On NT-based systems, a MySQL server can be run as a Windows service. The
procedures for installing, controlling, and removing a single MySQL
service are described in *Note NT start::.

As of MySQL 4.0.2, you can install multiple servers as services.  In
this case, you must make sure that each server uses a different service
name in addition to all the other parameters that must be unique per
server.

For the following instructions, assume that you want to run the
`mysqld-nt' server from two different versions of MySQL that are
installed at `C:\mysql-4.0.8' and `C:\mysql-4.0.17', respectively.
(This might be the case if you're running 4.0.8 as your production
server, but want to test 4.0.17 before upgrading to it.)

The following principles are relevant when installing a MySQL service
with the `--install' option:

   * If you specify no service name, the server uses the default
     service name of `MySQL' and the server reads options from the
     `[mysqld]' group in the standard option files.

   * If you specify a service name after the `--install' option, the
     server ignores the `[mysqld]' option group and instead reads
     options from the group that has the same name as the service. The
     server reads options from the standard option files.

   * If you specify a `--defaults-file' option after the service name,
     the server ignores the standard option files and reads options
     only from the `[mysqld]' group of the named file.


These principles also apply if you install a server using the
`--install-manual' option.

Based on the preceding information, you have several ways to set up
multiple services.  The following instructions describe some examples.
Before trying any of them, be sure you shut down and remove any
existing MySQL services first.

   * Specify the options for all services in one of the standard option
     files.  To do this, use a different service name for each server.
     Suppose you want to run the 4.0.8 `mysqld-nt' using the service
     name of `mysqld1' and the 4.0.17 `mysqld-nt' using the service
     name `mysqld2'.  In this case, you can use the `[mysqld1]' group
     for 4.0.8 and the `[mysqld2]' group for 4.0.17.  For example, you
     can set up `C:\my.cnf' like this:

          # options for mysqld1 service
          [mysqld1]
          basedir = C:/mysql-4.0.8
          port = 3307
          enable-named-pipe
          socket = mypipe1
          
          # options for mysqld2 service
          [mysqld2]
          basedir = C:/mysql-4.0.17
          port = 3308
          enable-named-pipe
          socket = mypipe2

     Install the services as follows, using the full server pathnames
     to ensure that Windows registers the correct executable program
     for each service:

          shell> C:\mysql-4.0.8\bin\mysqld-nt --install mysqld1
          shell> C:\mysql-4.0.17\bin\mysqld-nt --install mysqld2

     To start the services, use the services manager, or use `NET START'
     with the appropriate service names:

          shell> NET START mysqld1
          shell> NET START mysqld2

     To stop the services, use the services manager, or use `NET STOP'
     with the appropriate service names:

          shell> NET STOP mysqld1
          shell> NET STOP mysqld2

     Note: Before MySQL 4.0.17, only a server installed using the
     default service name (`MySQL') or one installed explicitly with a
     service name of `mysqld' will read the `[mysqld]' group in the
     standard option files. As of 4.0.17, all servers read the
     `[mysqld' group if they read the standard option files, even if
     they are installed using another service name. This allows you to
     use the `[mysqld]' group for options that should be used by all
     MySQL services, and an option group named after each service for
     use by the server installed with that service name.

   * Specify options for each server in separate files and use
     `--defaults-file' when you install the services to tell each server
     what file to use.  In this case, each file should list options
     using a `[mysqld]' group.

     With this approach, to specify options for the 4.0.8 `mysqld-nt',
     create a file `C:\my-opts1.cnf' that looks like this:

          [mysqld]
          basedir = C:/mysql-4.0.8
          port = 3307
          enable-named-pipe
          socket = mypipe1

     For the 4.0.17 `mysqld-nt', create a file `C:\my-opts2.cnf' that
     looks like this:

          [mysqld]
          basedir = C:/mysql-4.0.17
          port = 3308
          enable-named-pipe
          socket = mypipe2

     Install the services as follows (enter each command on a single
     line):

          shell> C:\mysql-4.0.8\bin\mysqld-nt --install mysqld1
                     --defaults-file=C:\my-opts1.cnf
          shell> C:\mysql-4.0.17\bin\mysqld-nt --install mysqld2
                     --defaults-file=C:\my-opts2.cnf

     To use a `--defaults-file' option when you install a MySQL server
     as a service, you must precede the option with the service name.

     After installing the services, start and stop them the same way as
     in the preceding example.


To remove multiple services, use `mysqld --remove' for each one,
specifying a service name following the `--remove' option if the
service to remove has a name different than the default.

Running Multiple Servers on Unix
--------------------------------

The easiest way is to run multiple servers on Unix is to compile them
with different TCP/IP ports and socket files so that each one is
listening on different network interfaces. Also, by compiling in
different base directories for each installation, that automatically
results in different compiled-in data directory, log file, and PID file
locations for each of your servers.

Assume an existing server is configured for the default port number and
socket file.  To configure a new server to have different operating
parameters, use a `configure' command something like this:

     shell> ./configure --with-tcp-port=port_number \
                  --with-unix-socket-path=file_name \
                  --prefix=/usr/local/mysql-4.0.17

Here `port_number' and `file_name' should be different from the default
port number and socket file pathname, and the `--prefix' value should
specify an installation directory different than the one under which
the existing MySQL installation is located.

If you have a MySQL server listening on a given port number, you can
use the following command to find out what operating parameters it is
using for several important configurable variables, including the base
directory and socket name:

     shell> mysqladmin --host=host_name --port=port_number variables

With the information displayed by that command, you can tell what option
values *not* to use when configuring an additional server.

Note that if you specify "`localhost'" as a hostname, `mysqladmin' will
default to using a Unix socket connection rather than TCP/IP.  In MySQL
4.1, you can explicitly specify the connection protocol to use by using
the `--protocol={TCP | SOCKET | PIPE | MEMORY}' option.

You don't have to compile a new MySQL server just to start with a
different socket file and TCP/IP port number.  It is also possible to
specify those values at runtime. One way to do so is by using
command-line options:

     shell> /path/to/mysqld_safe --socket=file_name --port=port_number

To use another database directory for the second server, pass a
`--datadir=path' option to `mysqld_safe'.

Another way to achieve a similar effect is to use environment variables
to set the socket name and port number:

     shell> MYSQL_UNIX_PORT=/tmp/mysqld-new.sock
     shell> MYSQL_TCP_PORT=3307
     shell> export MYSQL_UNIX_PORT MYSQL_TCP_PORT
     shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
     shell> bin/mysqld_safe &

This is a quick way of starting a second server to use for testing.
The nice thing about this method is that the environment variable
settings will apply to any client programs that you invoke from the
above shell. Thus, connections for those clients automatically will be
directed to the second server!

*Note Environment variables:: includes a list of other environment
variables you can use to affect `mysqld'.

For automatic server execution, your startup script that is executed at
boot time should execute the following command once for each server
with an appropriate option file path for each command:

     mysqld_safe --defaults-file=path-to-option-file

Each option file should contain option values specific to a given
server.

On Unix, the `mysqld_multi' script is another way to start multiple
servers.  *Note `mysqld_multi': mysqld_multi.

Using Client Programs in a Multiple-Server Environment
------------------------------------------------------

When you want to connect with a client program to a MySQL server that is
listening to different network interfaces than those compiled into your
client, you can use one of the following methods:

   * Start the client with `--host=host_name --port=port_number' to
     connect via TCP/IP to a remote host, or with `--host=localhost
     --socket=file_name' to connect to a local host via a Unix socket
     or a Windows named pipe.

   * As of MySQL 4.1, start the client with `--protocol=tcp' to connect
     via TCP/IP, `--protocol=socket' to connect via a Unix socket,
     `--protocol=pipe' to connect via a named pipe, or
     `--protocol=memory' to connect via shared memory.  For TCP/IP
     connections, you may also need to specify `--host' and `--port'
     options.  For the other types of connections, you may need to
     specify a `--socket' option to specify a socket or named pipe
     name, or a `--shared-memory-base-name' option to specify the
     shared memory name.

   * On Unix, set the `MYSQL_UNIX_PORT' and `MYSQL_TCP_PORT'
     environment variables to point to the Unix socket and TCP/IP port
     before you start your clients.  If you normally use a specific
     socket or port, you can place commands to set these environment
     variables in your `.login' file so that they apply each time you
     log in.  *Note Environment variables::.

   * Specify the default socket and TCP/IP port in the `[client]' group
     of an option file. For example, you can use `C:\my.cnf' on
     Windows, or the `.my.cnf' file in your home directory on Unix.
     *Note Option files::.

   * In a C program, you can specify the port or socket arguments in the
     `mysql_real_connect()' call.  You can also have the program read
     option files by calling `mysql_options()'.  *Note C API
     functions::.

   * If you are using the Perl `DBD::mysql' module, you can read the
     options from the MySQL option files. For example:

          $dsn = "DBI:mysql:test;mysql_read_default_group=client;"
                  . "mysql_read_default_file=/usr/local/mysql/data/my.cnf";
          $dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, $user, $password);

     *Note Perl::.


Replication in MySQL
********************

Replication capabilities allowing the databases on one MySQL server to
be duplicated on another were introduced in MySQL version 3.23.15.
This section describes the various replication features in MySQL.  It
serves as a reference to the options available with replication.  You
will be introduced to replication and learn how to implement it.
Toward that end, there are some frequently asked questions, descriptions
of problems, and how to solve them.

For a description of the syntax of replication SQL statements, see
*Note Replication SQL::.

We suggest that you visit our website at `http://www.mysql.com/' often
and read updates to this section. Replication is constantly being
improved, and we update the manual frequently with the most current
information.

Introduction to Replication
===========================

Starting in Version 3.23.15, MySQL supports one-way replication
internally. One server acts as the master, while one or more other
servers act as slaves.  The master server keeps a binary log of updates
(*note Binary log::).  It also maintains an index file of the binary
logs to keep track of log rotation.  Each slave, upon connecting,
informs the master where it left off since the last successfully
propagated update, catches up any updates that have occurred since
then, and then blocks and waits for the master to notify it of new
updates.

A slave can also serve as a master if you set up chained replication
servers.

Note that when you are using replication, all updates to the tables
that are replicated should be performed on the master server.
Otherwise, you must always be careful to avoid conflicts between
updates that users make to tables on the master and updates that they
make to tables on the slave.

One-way replication has benefits for robustness, speed, and system
administration:

   * Robustness is increased with a master/slave setup.  In the event
     of problems with the master, you can switch to the slave as a
     backup.

   * The extra speed is achieved by splitting the load for processing
     client queries between the master and slave servers, resulting in
     better client response time.  `SELECT' queries may be sent to the
     slave to reduce query processing load of the master. Queries that
     modify data should still be sent to the master so that the master
     and slave to not get out of sync.  This load-balancing strategy is
     effective if non-updating queries dominate, but that is the normal
     case.

   * Another benefit of using replication is that one can get
     non-disturbing backups of the system by doing a backup on a slave
     instead of doing it on the master. *Note Backup::.


Replication Implementation Overview
===================================

MySQL replication is based on the master server keeping track of all
changes to your database (updates, deletes, etc) in the binary log
(*note Binary log::).  Each slave server receives from the master the
saved queries that the master has recorded in its binary log, so that
the slave can execute the same queries on its copy of the data.

It is *very important* to realize that the binary log is simply a
record starting from a fixed point in time (the moment you enable binary
logging). Any slaves that you set up will need copies of the databases
on your master as they existed at the moment you enabled binary logging
on the master. If you start your slaves with data that is not the same
as what was on the master *when the binary log was started*, your
slaves may fail.

Starting from 4.0.0, you can use `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' to set up a
slave. Be aware that `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' currently works only if
all the tables on the master are `MyISAM' type. Also, this statement
acquires a global read lock, so no writes are possible while the tables
are being transferred from the master. When we implement lock-free hot
table backup (in MySQL 5.0), this global read lock will no longer be
necessary.

Due to these limitations, we recommend that at this point  you use
`LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' only if the dataset on the master is relatively
small, or if a prolonged read lock on the master is acceptable. While
the actual speed of `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' may vary from system to
system, a good rule of thumb for how long it is going to take is 1
second per 1 MB of the datafile. You will get close to the estimate if
both master and slave are equivalent to 700 MHz Pentium and are
connected through a 100 MBit/s network.  Note that this is only a rough
estimate.

Once a slave is properly configured and running, it will simply connect
to the master and wait for updates to process. If the master goes away
or the slave loses connectivity with your master, it will keep trying to
connect periodically until it is able to reconnect and resume listening
for updates. The retry interval is controlled by the
`--master-connect-retry' option. The default is 60 seconds.

Each slave keeps track of where it left off. The master server has no
knowledge of how many slaves there are or which ones are up-to-date at
any given time.

Replication Implementation Details
==================================

Three threads are involved in replication: one on the master and two on
the slave.  When `START SLAVE' is issued, the I/O thread is created on
the slave. It connects to the master and asks it to send the queries
recorded in its binlogs. Then one thread is created on the master to
send these binlogs.  This thread is identified by `Binlog Dump' in
`SHOW PROCESSLIST' output on the master.  The I/O thread reads what the
master `Binlog Dump' thread sends and simply copies it to some local
files in the slave's data directory called relay logs.  The last
thread, the SQL thread, is created on the slave; it reads the relay
logs and executes the queries it contains.

Note that the master has one thread for each currently connected slave
server.

With `SHOW PROCESSLIST' you can know what is happening on the master
and on the slave as regards replication.

The following example illustrates how the three threads show up in
`SHOW PROCESSLIST'.  The output format is that used by `SHOW
PROCESSLIST' as of MySQL version 4.0.15, when the content of the
`State' column was changed to be more meaningful compared to earlier
versions.

On the master server, the output looks like this:

     mysql> SHOW PROCESSLIST\G
     *************************** 1. row ***************************
          Id: 2
        User: root
        Host: localhost:32931
          db: NULL
     Command: Binlog Dump
        Time: 94
       State: Has sent all binlog to slave; waiting for binlog to be updated
        Info: NULL

On the slave server, the output looks like this:

     mysql> SHOW PROCESSLIST\G
     *************************** 1. row ***************************
          Id: 10
        User: system user
        Host:
          db: NULL
     Command: Connect
        Time: 11
       State: Waiting for master to send event
        Info: NULL
     *************************** 2. row ***************************
          Id: 11
        User: system user
        Host:
          db: NULL
     Command: Connect
        Time: 11
       State: Has read all relay log; waiting for the slave I/O thread to update it
        Info: NULL

Here thread 2 is on the master. Thread 10 is the I/O thread on the
slave.  Thread 11 is the SQL thread on the slave; note that the value
in the `Time' column can tell how late the slave is compared to the
master (*note Replication FAQ::).

The following list shows the most common states you will see in the
`State' column for the master's `Binlog Dump' thread. If you don't see
this thread on a master server, replication is not running.

`Sending binlog event to slave'
     Binlogs consist of events, where an event is usually a query plus
     some other information. The thread has read an event from the
     binlog and is sending it to the slave.

`Finished reading one binlog; switching to next binlog'
     The thread has finished reading a binlog file and is opening the
     next one to send to the slave.

`Has sent all binlog to slave; waiting for binlog to be updated'
     The thread has read all binary log files and is idle. It is
     waiting for new events to appear in the binary log as a result of
     new update queries being executed on the master.

`Waiting to finalize termination'
     A very brief state that happens as the thread is stopping.

Here are the most common states you will see in the `State' column for
the I/O thread of a slave server. Beginning with MySQL 4.1.1, this
state also appears in the `Slave_IO_State' column of `SHOW SLAVE
STATUS' output. This means that you can get a good view of what is
happening by using only `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'.

`Connecting to master'
     The thread is attempting to connect to the master.

`Checking master version'
     A very brief state that happens just after the connection to the
     master is established.

`Registering slave on master'
     A very brief state that happens just after the connection to the
     master is established.

`Requesting binlog dump'
     A very brief state that happens just after the connection to the
     master is established.  The thread sends to the master a request
     for the contents of its binlogs, starting from the requested
     binlog filename and position.

`Waiting to reconnect after a failed binlog dump request'
     If the binlog dump request failed (due to disconnection), the
     thread goes into this state while it sleeps. The thread sleeps for
     `master-connect-retry' seconds before retrying.

`Reconnecting after a failed binlog dump request'
     Then the thread tries to reconnect to the master.

`Waiting for master to send event'
     The thread has connected and is waiting for binlog events to
     arrive. This can last for a long time if the master is idle. If the
     wait lasts for `slave_read_timeout' seconds, a timeout will occur.
     At that point, the thread will consider the connection to be
     broken and make an attempt to reconnect.

`Queueing master event to the relay log'
     The thread has read an event and is copying it to the relay log so
     the SQL thread can process it.

`Waiting to reconnect after a failed master event read'
     An error occurred while reading (due to disconnection). The thread
     is sleeping for `master-connect-retry' seconds before attempting
     to reconnect.

`Reconnecting after a failed master event read'
     Then the thread tries to reconnect. When connection is established
     again, the state will become `Waiting for master to send event'.

`Waiting for the slave SQL thread to free enough relay log space'
     You are using a non-zero `relay_log_space_limit' value, and the
     relay logs have grown so much that their combined size exceeds
     this value.  The I/O thread is waiting until the SQL thread frees
     enough space by processing relay log contents so that it can
     delete some relay log files.

`Waiting for slave mutex on exit'
     A very brief state that happens as the thread is stopping.

Here are the most common states you will see in the `State' column for
the SQL thread of a slave server:

`Reading event from the relay log'
     The thread has read an event from the relay log so that it can
     process it.

`Has read all relay log; waiting for the slave I/O thread to update it'
     The thread has processed all events in the relay log files and is
     waiting for the I/O thread to write new events to the relay log.

`Waiting for slave mutex on exit'
     A very brief state that happens as the thread is stopping.

The `State' column for the I/O thread may also show a query string.
This indicates that the thread has read an event from the relay log,
extracted the query from it and is executing the query.

Before MySQL 4.0.2, the slave I/O and SQL threads were combined as a
single thread, and no relay log files were used.  The advantage of
using two threads is that it separates query reading and query
execution into two independent tasks, so the task of reading queries is
not slowed down if query execution is slow.  For example, if the slave
server has not been running for a while, its I/O thread can quickly
fetch all the binlog contents from the master when the slave starts,
even if the SQL thread lags far behind and may take hours to catch up.
If the slave stops before the SQL thread has executed all the fetched
queries, the I/O thread has at least fetched everything so that a safe
copy of the queries is locally stored in the slave's relay logs for
execution when next the slave starts. This allows the binlogs to be
purged on the master, because it no longer need wait for the slave to
fetch their contents.

By default, relay logs are named using filenames of the form
`host_name-relay-bin.nnn', where `host_name' is the name of the slave
server host, and `nnn' is a sequence number.  Successive relay log
files are created using successive sequence numbers, beginning with
`001'.  The slave keeps track of relay logs currently in use in an
index file.  The default relay log index filename is
`host_name-relay-bin.index'.  By default these files are created in the
slave's data directory.  The default filenames may be overridden with
the `--relay-log' and `--relay-log-index' server options.

Relay logs have the same format as binary logs, so they can be read
with `mysqlbinlog'.  A relay log is automatically deleted by the SQL
thread as soon as it no longer needs it (that is, as soon as it has
executed all its events). There is no command to delete relay logs,
because the SQL thread takes care of doing so. However, from MySQL
4.0.14, `FLUSH LOGS' rotates relay logs, which will influence when the
SQL thread deletes them.

A new relay log is created under the following conditions:

   * The first time the I/O thread starts after the slave server starts.
     (In MySQL 5.0, a new relay log will be created each time the I/O
     thread starts, not just the first time.)

   * A `FLUSH LOGS' statement is issued (4.0.14 and up only).

   * The size of the current relay log file becomes too big. The
     meaning of "too big" is determined as follows:
        - `max_relay_log_size', if `max_relay_log_size' > 0

        - `max_binlog_size', if `max_relay_log_size' = 0 or MySQL is
          older than 4.0.14


A slave replication server creates additional two small files in the
data directory.  These files are named `master.info' and
`relay-log.info' by default.  They contain information like that shown
in the output of the `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' statement (*note Replication
Slave SQL:: for a description of this command).  As disk files they
survive slave's shutdown. The next time the slave starts up, it can
read these files to know how far it has proceeded in reading binlogs
from the master and in processing its own relay logs.

The `master.info' file is updated by the I/O thread.  The
correspondance between the lines in the file and the columns displayed
by `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' is as follows:

*Line**Description*
1    `Master_Log_File'
2    `Read_Master_Log_Pos'
3    `Master_Host'
4    `Master_User'
5    Password (not shown by `SHOW SLAVE STATUS')
6    `Master_Port'
7    `Connect_Retry'

The `relay-log.info' file is updated by the SQL thread.  The
correspondance between the lines in the file and the columns displayed
by `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' is as follows:

*Line**Description*
1    `Relay_Log_File'
2    `Relay_Log_Pos'
3    `Relay_Master_Log_File'
4    `Exec_Master_Log_Pos'

When you back up your slave's data, you should back up these 2 small
files as well, along with the relay log files. because they are needed
to resume replication after you restore the slave's data.  If you lose
the relay logs but still have the `relay-log.info' file, you can check
it to determine how far the SQL thread has executed in the master
binlogs. Then you can use `CHANGE MASTER TO' with the
`MASTER_RELAY_LOG' and `MASTER_RELAY_POS' options to tell the slave to
re-read the binlogs from that point.  This requires that the binlogs
still exist on the master server.

If your slave is subject to replicating `LOAD DATA INFILE' statements,
you should also backup the `SQL_LOAD-*' files that may exist in the
directory that the slave uses for this purpose.  The slave needs these
files to resume replication of any interrupted `LOAD DATA INFILE'
statements.  The directory location is specified using the
`--slave-load-tmpdir' option.  Its default value if not specified is
the value of the `tmpdir' variable.

How to Set Up Replication
=========================

Here is a quick description of how to set up complete replication on
your current MySQL server. It assumes you want to replicate all your
databases and have not configured replication before. You will need to
shut down your master server briefly to complete the steps outlined
here.

The procedure is written in terms of setting up a single slave, but you
can use it to set up multiple slaves.

While this method is the most straightforward way to set up a slave, it
is not the only one. For example, if you already have a snapshot of the
master's data, and the master already has its server ID set and binary
logging enabled, you can set up a slave without shutting down the
master or even blocking updates to it.  For more details, please see
*Note Replication FAQ::.

If you want to administer a MySQL replication setup, we suggest that you
read this entire chapter through and try all commands mentioned in
*Note Replication Master SQL:: ans *Note Replication Slave SQL::.  You
should also familiarise yourself with replication startup options in
`my.cnf' in *Note Replication Options::.

Note that this procedure and some of the replication SQL statements in
later sections refer to the `SUPER' privilege. Prior to MySQL 4.0.2,
use the `PROCESS' privilege instead.

  1. Make sure you have a recent version of MySQL installed on the
     master and and slaves, and that these versions are compatible
     according to the table shown in *Note Replication Upgrade::.

     Please do not report bugs until you have verified that the problem
     is present in the latest release.

  2. Set up an account on the master server that the slave server can
     use to connnect. This account must be given the `REPLICATION
     SLAVE' privilege.  (If MySQL versions older than 4.0.2, give the
     account the `FILE' privilege instead.)  If the account is only for
     replication (which is recommended), you don't need to grant any
     additional privileges.

     The hostname in the account name should be such that each of the
     slave servers can use the account to connect to the master.  For
     example, to create a user named `repl' which can access your
     master from any host, you might use this command:

          mysql> GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE ON *.* TO repl@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '<password>';

     For MySQL versions older than 4.0.2, use this command instead:

          mysql> GRANT FILE ON *.* TO repl@'%' IDENTIFIED BY '<password>';

     If you plan to use the `LOAD TABLE FROM MASTER' or `LOAD DATA FROM
     MASTER' statements from the slave host, you will need to grant this
     account additional privileges:

        * Grant to the account the `SUPER' and `RELOAD' global
          privileges.

        * Grant the `SELECT' privilege for all tables that you want to
          load. Any master tables from which the account cannot
          `SELECT' will be ignored by `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'.

  3. If you are using MyISAM tables, flush all the tables and block
     write queries by executing `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK' command.

          mysql> FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK;

     and then take a snapshot of the data on your master server.

     The easiest way to create a snapshot is to simply use an archiving
     program (`tar' on Unix, `PowerArchiver', `WinRAR', `WinZip' or any
     similar software on Windows) to produce an archive of the
     databases in your master's data directory.  For example, to use
     `tar' to create an archive that includes all databases, change
     location into the master server's data directory, then execute
     this command:

          shell> tar -cvf /tmp/mysql-snapshot.tar .

     If you want the archive to include only a database called
     `this_db', use this command instead:

          shell> tar -cvf /tmp/mysql-snapshot.tar ./this_db

     Then copy the archive file to the `/tmp' directory on the slave
     server host. On that machine, change location into the slave's
     data directory, and unpack the archive file using this command:

          shell> tar -xvf /tmp/mysql-snapshot.tar

     You may not want to replicate the `mysql' database. If not, you can
     exclude it from the archive. You also need not include any log
     files in the archive, or the `master.info' or `relay-log.info'
     files.

     While the read lock placed by `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK' is in
     effect, read the value of the current binary log name and offset
     on the master:

          mysql > SHOW MASTER STATUS;
          +---------------+----------+--------------+------------------+
          | File          | Position | Binlog_Do_DB | Binlog_Ignore_DB |
          +---------------+----------+--------------+------------------+
          | mysql-bin.003 | 73       | test,bar     | foo,manual,mysql |
          +---------------+----------+--------------+------------------+
          1 row in set (0.06 sec)

     The `File' column shows the name of the log,  while `Position'
     shows the offset. In the above example, the binary log value is
     `mysql-bin.003' and the offset is 73. Record the values. You will
     need to use them later when you are setting up the slave.

     Once you have taken the snapshot and recorded the log name and
     offset, you can re-enable write activity on the master:

          mysql> UNLOCK TABLES;

     If you are using InnoDB tables, ideally you should use the InnoDB
     Hot Backup tool that is available to those who purchase MySQL
     commercial licenses, support, or the backup tool itself. It takes
     a consistent snapshot without acquiring any locks on the master
     server, and records the log name and offset corresponding to the
     snapshot to be later used on the slave. More information about the
     tool is available at `http://www.innodb.com/order.php'.

     Without the Hot Backup tool, the quickest way to take a snapshot
     of  InnoDB tables is to shut down the master server and copy the
     InnoDB datafiles and logs, and the table definition files
     (`.frm'). To record the current log file name and offset, you
     should do the following before you shut down the server:

          mysql> FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK;
          mysql> SHOW MASTER STATUS;

     And then record the log name and the offset from the output of
     `SHOW MASTER STATUS' as was shown earlier. Once you have recorded
     the log name and the offset, shut down the server without
     unlocking the tables to make sure it goes down with the snapshot
     corresponding to the current log file and offset:

          shell> mysqladmin -uroot shutdown

     An alternative for both MyISAM and InnoDB tables is to take an SQL
     dump of the master instead of a binary copy like above; for this
     you can use `mysqldump --master-data' on your master and later run
     this SQL dump into your slave. However, this is slower than doing
     a binary copy.

     If the master has been previously running without `--log-bin'
     enabled, the log name and position values displayed by `SHOW MASTER
     STATUS' or `mysqldump' will be empty. In that case, record empty
     string (") for the log name, and 4 for the offset.

  4. Make sure the `[mysqld]' section of the `my.cnf' file on the
     master host includes a `log-bin' option. The section should also
     have a `server-id=master_id' option, where `master_id' must be an
     integer value from 1 to 2^32 - 1. For example:

          [mysqld]
          log-bin
          server-id=1

     If those options are not present, add them and restart the server.

  5. Stop the server that is to be used as a slave server and add the
     following to its `my.cnf' file:

          [mysqld]
          server-id=slave_id

     The `slave_id' value, like the `master_id' value, must be an
     integer value from 1 to 2^32 - 1. In addition, it is very
     important that the ID of the slave be different than the ID of the
     master. For example:

          [mysqld]
          server-id=2

     If you are setting up multiple slaves, each one must have a
     `server-id' value that differs from that of the master and from
     each of the other slaves.  Think of `server-id' values as
     something similar to IP addresses: These IDs uniquely identify
     each server instance in the community of replication partners.

     If you don't specify a `server-id' value, it will be set to 1 if
     you have not defined `master-host', else it will be set to 2. Note
     that in the case of `server-id' omission, a master will refuse
     connections from all slaves, and a slave will refuse to connect to
     a master. Thus, omitting `server-id' is only good for backup with a
     binary log.

  6. If you made a binary backup of the master server's data, copy it
     to the slave server's data directory before starting the slave.
     Make sure that the privileges on the files and directories are
     correct. The user which MySQL runs as needs to be able to read
     from and write to them, just as on the master.

     If you made a backup using `mysqldump', start the slave first (see
     next step).

  7. Start the slave server. If it has been replicating previously,
     start the slave server with the `--skip-slave-start' option.  You
     also may want to start the slave server with the `--log-warnings'
     option. That way, you will get more messages about problems (for
     example, network or connection problems).

  8. If you made a backup of the master server's data using
     `mysqldump', load the dump file into the slave server:

          shell> mysql -u root -p < dump_file.sql

  9. Execute the following command on the slave, replacing the values
     within `<>' with the actual values relevant to your system:

          mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO
              ->     MASTER_HOST='<master hostname>',
              ->     MASTER_USER='<replication username>',
              ->     MASTER_PASSWORD='<replication password>',
              ->     MASTER_LOG_FILE='<recorded log file name>',
              ->     MASTER_LOG_POS=<recorded log offset>;

     The following table lists the maximum string length for these
     variables:

     `MASTER_HOST'               60
     `MASTER_USER'               16
     `MASTER_PASSWORD'           32
     `MASTER_LOG_FILE'           255

 10. Start the slave threads:

          mysql> START SLAVE;


After you have performed this procedure, the slave should connect to
the master and catch up on any updates that have occurred since the
snapshot was taken.

If you have forgotten to set `server-id' for the master, slaves will
not be able to connect to it.

If you have forgotten to set `server-id' for the slave, you will get
the following error in its error log:

     Warning: one should set server_id to a non-0 value if master_host is set.
     The server will not act as a slave.

You will also find error messages in the slave's error log if it is not
able to replicate for any other reason.

Once a slave is replicating, you will find in its data directory one
file called `master.info' and another called `relay-log.info'.  The
slave uses these two files to keep track of how much of the master's
binary log it has processed. *Do not* remove or edit these files,
unless you really know what you are doing and understand the
implications. Even in that case, it is preferred that you use `CHANGE
MASTER TO' command.

*NOTE*: The content of `master.info' overrides some options specified
on the command-line or in `my.cnf' See *Note Replication Options:: for
more details.

Once you have a snapshot, you can use it to set up other slaves by
following the slave portion of the procedure just described. You do not
need to take another snapshot of the master.

Upgrading a Replication Setup - Mixing Different MySQL Versions
===============================================================

Any MySQL 4.1.x version is identical to MySQL 4.0.3 (and newer 4.0) as
far as replication is concerned (same binary log format).  So
replication between 4.0.3 (and newer 4.0) and any 4.1.x (whatever of
the two is the master or slave) is working seamlessly.

Binary log format was changed between MySQL 3.23 and MySQL 4.0, and
between MySQL 4.0 (or 4.1, as it's the same binary log format) and
MySQL 5.0. This has consequences on how to upgrade a replication setup,
which is explained below.

The following table indicates master/slave replication compatibility
between different versions of MySQL.

                    *Master*    *Master*    *Master*
                    *3.23.33    *4.0.3 and  *5.0.0*
                    and up*     up or any   
                                4.1.x*      
*Slave* *3.23.33    yes         no          no
        and up*                             
*Slave* *4.0.3 and  yes         yes         no
        up*                                 
*Slave* *5.0.0*     yes         yes         yes

Versions 4.0.0, 4.0.1 and 4.0.2 were very early development versions
which should not be used anymore (their compatibility is still
documented in the manual included in these versions' distributions).

As a general rule, it's always recommended to use recent MySQL versions,
because replication capabilities are continually being improved.  We
recommend using same version for both the master and the slave.

*Upgrading from 3.23 to 4.0 (4.0.3 or newer) or any 4.1.x*
     When you upgrade a master from MySQL 3.23 to MySQL 4.0 (or 4.1),
     you should first ensure that all the slaves of this master are
     already 4.0 or 4.1 (if that's not the case, you should first
     upgrade your slaves as explained a few lines below).  Once the
     master is upgraded, you should not restart replication using old
     3.23 binary logs, because this will unfortunately confuse the 4.0
     or 4.1 slave. The upgrade can safely be done this way, assuming
     you have a 3.23 master to upgrade and you have 4.0 or 4.1 slaves:

       1. Block all updates on the master (`FLUSH TABLES WITH READ
          LOCK').

       2. Wait until all the slaves have caught up all changes from the
          master (use `SHOW MASTER STATUS' on the master, and `SELECT
          MASTER_POS_WAIT()' on the slaves). Then run `STOP SLAVE' on
          the slaves.

       3. Shut down MySQL on the master and upgrade the master to MySQL
          4.0 or 4.1.

       4. Restart MySQL on the master. Record the name `<name>' of the
          master's newly created binary log. You can obtain the name of
          the file by issuing `SHOW MASTER STATUS' on the master. Then
          issue these commands on each slave:
               mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_LOG_FILE='<name>', MASTER_LOG_POS=4;
               mysql> START SLAVE;


     If you also must upgrade your slaves from 3.23 to 4.0 or 4.1, you
     should first upgrade your slaves: shut down each one, upgrade it,
     and restart it. Then upgrade the master as just described.

*Upgrading from 3.23 or 4.0 (4.0.3 or newer) or any 4.1.x to 5.0.0*
     First, note that MySQL 5.0.0 is alpha; even if it is supposed to
     work better than older versions (easier upgrade, replication of
     some important session variables like `sql_mode'; see *Note
     News-5.0.0::), it has not been tested a lot yet so, as with any
     alpha release, we recommend you do not use in critical production
     environment yet.

     When you upgrade a master from MySQL 3.23 or 4.0 or 4.1 to 5.0.0,
     you should first ensure that all the slaves of this master are
     already 5.0.0 (if that's not the case, you should first upgrade
     your slaves as explained a few lines below).  Then just shut down
     your master, upgrade it to 5.0.0 and restart it.  The 5.0.0 master
     will be able to read the old binary logs (of before the master
     upgrade) and to send them to the 5.0.0 slaves which will recognize
     this old format and handle it. Binary logs created after the
     master upgrade will be in 5.0.0 format and be recognized by 5.0.0
     slaves too.  To upgrade the slaves, just shut them down, upgrade
     them to 5.0.0, and restart them (and restart replication). The
     5.0.0 slaves will be able to read the old relay logs (of before
     the slave upgrade) and execute the statements they contain. Relay
     logs created after the slave upgrade will be in 5.0.0 format.  In
     other words, there are no measures to take when upgrading to 5.0.0,
     except that slaves must be 5.0.0 to be able to upgrade the master
     to 5.0.0. Note that downgrading from 5.0.0 to older versions does
     not work as automatically; you will have to remove any 5.0.0
     binary logs or relay logs before proceeding.

Replication Features and Known Problems
=======================================

Here is an explanation of what is supported and what is not:

   * Replication will be done correctly with `AUTO_INCREMENT',
     `LAST_INSERT_ID()', and `TIMESTAMP' values.

   * The `USER()' and `LOAD_FILE()' functions are replicated without
     changes and will thus not work reliably on the slave. This is also
     true for `CONNECTION_ID()' in slave versions older than 4.1.1.
     The *new* `PASSWORD()' function in MySQL 4.1, is well replicated
     since 4.1.1 masters; your slaves must be 4.1.0 or above to
     replicate it. If you have older slaves and need to replicate
     `PASSWORD()' from your 4.1.x master, you must start your master
     with option `--old-password'.

   * The `SQL_MODE', `UNIQUE_CHECKS', `SQL_AUTO_IS_NULL' variables are
     replicated only starting from 5.0.0.  `SQL_SELECT_LIMIT' and
     `TABLE_TYPE' variables are not replicated yet.
     `FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS' is replicated since version 4.0.14.

   * You must use the same character set (`--default-character-set') on
     the master and the slave. Otherwise, you may get duplicate key
     errors on the slave, because a key that is regarded as unique in
     the master character set may not be unique in the slave character
     set. Character sets will be replicated in 5.0.x.

   * If you are using transactional tables on the master and
     non-transactional tables (for the same tables) on the slave, you
     will get problems if the slave is stopped in the middle of a
     `BEGIN/COMMIT' block, as the slave will later start at the
     beginning of the `BEGIN' block.  This issue is on our TODO and
     will be fixed in the near future.

   * Update queries that use user variables are badly replicated in
     3.23 and 4.0. This is fixed in 4.1. Note that user variable names
     are case insensitive starting from version 5.0, so you should take
     this into account when setting up replication between 5.0 and a
     previous version.

   * The slave can connect to the master using SSL, if the master and
     slave are both 4.1.1 or newer.

   * If a `DATA DIRECTORY' or `INDEX DIRECTORY' clause was used in a
     `CREATE TABLE' on master, then these clauses will be used too on
     slave. Starting from MySQL 4.0.15 there is a `SQL_MODE' mode called
     `NO_DIR_IN_CREATE'; if the slave server is run in this mode, it
     will simply cut off the clauses before replicating the `CREATE
     TABLE' (so the MyISAM data and index files will be created in the
     slave's `datadir' directory).

   * Though we have never heard of it actually occurring, it is
     theoretically possible for the data on the master and slave to
     become different if a query is designed in such a way that the
     data modification is non-deterministic, that is, left to the will
     of the query optimizer (which generally is not a good practice,
     even outside of replication!).  For a detailed explanation, see
     *Note Open bugs::.

   * Before MySQL 4.1.1, `FLUSH', `ANALYZE', `OPTIMIZE', `REPAIR'
     commands are not stored in the binary log and thus are not
     replicated to the slaves. This is not normally a problem as these
     commands don't change anything. However, it does mean that if you
     update the MySQL privilege tables directly without using the
     `GRANT' statement and you replicate the `mysql' privilege
     database, you must do a `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' on your slaves to put
     the new privileges into effect. Also if you use `FLUSH TABLES'
     when renaming a `MyISAM' table involved in a `MERGE' table, you
     will have to issue `FLUSH TABLES' manually on the slave.  Since
     MySQL 4.1.1, these commands are written to the binary log (except
     `FLUSH LOGS', `FLUSH MASTER', `FLUSH SLAVE', `FLUSH TABLES WITH
     READ LOCK') unless you specify `NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG' (or its alias
     `LOCAL').  For a syntax example, see *Note `FLUSH': FLUSH.

   * MySQL only supports one master and many slaves. Later we will add
     a voting algorithm to automatically change master if something goes
     wrong with the current master. We will also introduce "agent"
     processes to help do load balancing by sending `SELECT' queries to
     different slaves.

   * Starting from MySQL 4.0.18, the master notifies the slave of a
     `HEAP' table having been emptied by master's shutdown/restart by
     writing a `DELETE FROM' to its binary log the first time it uses
     the table since startup. See *Note HEAP:: for more details.

   * Temporary tables are replicated with the exception of the case
     that you shut down slave server (not just slave thread) and you
     have some replicated temporary tables that are used in update
     statements that have not yet been executed on the slave.  (If you
     shut down the slave, the temporary tables needed by those updates
     no longer are available when the slave starts again.)  To avoid
     this problem, do not shut down the slave while it has temporary
     tables open. Instead, use this procedure:

       1. Issue a `STOP SLAVE' statement.

       2. Use `SHOW STATUS' to check the value of the
          `Slave_open_temp_tables' variable.

       3. If the value is 0, issue a `mysqladmin shutdown' command to
          shut down the slave.

       4. If the value is not 0, restart the slave threads with `START
          SLAVE'.

       5. Repeat the procedure later to see if you have better luck
          next time.


     We have plans to fix this problem in the near future.

   * It is safe to connect servers in a circular master/slave
     relationship with `log-slave-updates' enabled.  Note, however,
     that many queries will not work correctly in this kind of setup
     unless your client code is written to take care of the potential
     problems that can happen from updates that occur in different
     sequence on different servers.

     This means that you can do a setup like the following:

          A -> B -> C -> A

     Server IDs are encoded in the binary log events.  A will know when
     an event it reads had originally been created by A, so A will not
     execute it and there will be no infinite loop.  But this circular
     setup will work only if you only if you perform no conflicting
     updates between the tables.  In other words, if you insert data in
     A and C, you should never insert a row in A that may have a
     conflicting key with a row insert in C.  You should also not update
     the same rows on two servers if the order in which the updates are
     applied matters.

   * If a query on the slave gets an error, the slave SQL thread will
     terminate, and a message will appear in the slave error log. You
     should then connect to the slave manually, fix the cause of the
     error (for example, non-existent table), and then run `START
     SLAVE'.

   * If the connection to the master is lost, the slave will try to
     reconnect immediately. If that fails, the slave will retry every
     `master-connect-retry' seconds (default 60). Because of this, it
     is safe to shut down the master, and then restart it after a
     while. The slave will also be able to deal with network
     connectivity outages. However, the slave will notice the network
     outage only after receiving no data from the master for
     `slave_net_timeout' seconds. So if your outages are short, you may
     want to decrease `slave_net_timeout'.  *Note `SHOW VARIABLES':
     SHOW VARIABLES.

   * Shutting down the slave (cleanly) is also safe, as it keeps track
     of where it left off.  Unclean shutdowns might produce problems,
     especially if disk cache was not synced before the system died.
     Your system fault tolerance will be greatly increased if you have
     a good UPS.

   * Due to the non-transactional nature of MyISAM tables, it is
     possible to have a query that will only partially update a table
     and return an error code. This can happen, for example, on a
     multi-row insert that has one row violating a key constraint, or
     if a long update query is killed after updating some of the rows.
     If that happens on the master, the slave thread will exit and wait
     for the DBA to decide what to do about it unless the error code is
     legitimate and the query execution results in the same error code.
     If this error code validation behavior is not desirable, some (or
     all) errors can be masked out (ignored) with the
     `--slave-skip-errors' option.  This option is available starting
     with MySQL Version 3.23.47.

   * If you update transactional tables from non-transactional tables
     inside a `BEGIN/COMMIT' segment, updates to the binary log may be
     out of sync if some thread changes the non-transactional table
     before the transaction commits.  This is because the transaction
     is written to the binary log only when it's commited.

   * Before version 4.0.15, any update to a non-transactional table is
     written to the binary log at once when the update is made while
     transactional updates are written on `COMMIT' or not written at
     all if you use `ROLLBACK'; you have to take this into account when
     updating both transactional tables and non-transactional tables in
     the same transaction if you are using binary logging for backups or
     replication. In version 4.0.15, we changed the logging behavior
     for transactions that mix updates to transactional and
     non-transactional tables, which solves the problems (order of
     queries is good in binlog, and all needed queries are written to
     the binlog even in case of `ROLLBACK'). The problem which remains
     is when a second connection updates the non-transactional table
     while the first connection's transaction is not finished yet
     (wrong order can still occur, because the second connection's
     update will be written immediately after it is done).

The following table lists problems in MySQL 3.23 that are fixed in
MySQL 4.0:

   * `LOAD DATA INFILE' is handled properly, as long as the data file
     still resides on the master server at the time of update
     propagation.

   * `LOAD LOCAL DATA INFILE' will be skipped.

   * In 3.23 `RAND()' in updates does not replicate properly.  Use
     `RAND(some_non_rand_expr)' if you are replicating updates with
     `RAND()'. You can, for example, use `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()' for the
     argument to `RAND()'. This is fixed in 4.0.

Replication Startup Options
===========================

On both the master and the slave you need to use the `server-id' option
to establish a unique replication ID for each server. You should pick a
unique integer in the range from 1 to 2^32 - 1 for each master and
slave.  Example: `server-id=3'

The options that you can use on the master server for controlling binary
logging are all described in *Note Binary log::.

The following table describes the options you can use on slave servers.
You can specify them on the command line or in an option file.

*NOTE*: Replication handles the following options in a special way:

   * `--master-host'

   * `--master-user'

   * `--master-password'

   * `--master-port'

   * `--master-connect-retry'

If no `master.info' file exists when the slave server starts, it uses
values for those options that are specified in option files or on the
command line.  This will occur when you start the server as a
replication slave for the very first time, or you have run `RESET
SLAVE' and shut down and restarted the slave server.

However, if the `master.info' file exists when the slave server starts,
it uses the values in the file and *IGNORES* any values specified for
those options in option files or on the command line.

Suppose you specify this option in your `my.cnf' file:

     [mysqld]
     master-host=this_host

The first time you start the server as a replication slave, it will
read and use that option from the `my.cnf' file.  The server will then
record that value in the `master.info' file.  The next time you start
the server, it will read the master host value from the `master.info'
file only.  If you modify the `my.cnf' file to specify a different
master host, it will have no effect.  You must use `CHANGE MASTER TO'
instead.

As of MySQL 4.1.1, the following options also are handled specially:

   * `--master-ssl'

   * `--master-ssl-ca'

   * `--master-ssl-capath'

   * `--master-ssl-cert'

   * `--master-ssl-cipher'

   * `--master-ssl-key'

The `master.info' file includes the values corresponding to those
options. In addition, the 4.1.1 file format includes as its first line
the number of lines in the file. If you upgrade an older server to
4.1.1, the `master.info' will be upgraded to the new format
automatically when the new server starts. (If you downgrade a 4.1.1 or
newer server to a version older than 4.1.1, you should manually remove
the first line before starting the older server for the first time.)

Because the server gives an existing `master.info' file precedence over
the startup options just described, you might prefer not to use startup
options for these values at all, and instead specify them by using the
`CHANGE MASTER TO' statement.  See *Note `CHANGE MASTER TO': CHANGE
MASTER TO.

This example shows a more extensive use of startup options to configure
a slave server:

     [mysqld]
     server-id=2
     master-host=db-master.mycompany.com
     master-port=3306
     master-user=pertinax
     master-password=freitag
     master-connect-retry=60
     report-host=db-slave.mycompany.com

The following list describes startup options for controlling
replication:

`--log-slave-updates'
     Tells the slave to log the updates performed by its SQL thread to
     the slave's own binary log. Off by default.  For this option to
     have any effect, the slave must be started with binary logging
     enabled (`--log-bin' option).  `--log-slave-updates' is used when
     you want to chain replication servers.  For example, you might
     want a setup like this:

          A -> B -> C

     That is, A serves as the master for the slave B, and B serves as
     the master for the slave C. For this to work, where B is both a
     master and a slave, you must start B with the
     `--log-slave-updates' option.  A and B must both be started with
     binary logging enabled.

`--log-warnings'
     Makes the slave print more messages about what it is doing. For
     example, it will warn you that it succeeded in reconnecting after a
     network/connection failure, and warn you about how each slave
     thread started.

     This option is not limited to replication use only. It produces
     warnings across a spectrum of server activities.

`--master-host=host'
     Specify the hostname or IP address of the master replication
     server.  If this option is not given, the slave thread will not be
     started.  The value in `master.info' takes precedence if it can be
     read.  Probably a better name for this options would have been
     something like `--bootstrap-master-host', but it is too late to
     change now.

`--master-user=username'
     The username of the account that the slave thread uses for
     authentication when connecting to the master. The account must
     have the `REPLICATION SLAVE' privilege (prior to MySQL 4.0.2, it
     must have the `FILE' privilege instead). If the master user is not
     set, user `test' is assumed. The value in `master.info' takes
     precedence if it can be read.

`--master-password=password'
     The password of the account that the slave thread uses for
     authentication when connecting to the master.  If not set, an
     empty password is assumed. The value in `master.info' takes
     precedence if it can be read.

`--master-port=port_number'
     The port the master is listening on. If not set, the compiled
     setting of `MYSQL_PORT' is assumed. If you have not tinkered with
     `configure' options, this should be 3306. The value in
     `master.info' takes precedence if it can be read.

`--master-connect-retry=seconds'
     The number of seconds the slave thread sleeps before retrying to
     connect to the master in case the master goes down or the
     connection is lost.  Default is 60. The value in `master.info'
     takes precedence if it can be read.

`--master-info-file=filename'
     Specifies the name to use for the file in which the slave records
     information about the master.  The default name is `mysql.info' in
     the data directory.

`--master-ssl'
`--master-ssl-ca=file_name'
`--master-ssl-capath=directory_name'
`--master-ssl-cert=file_name'
`--master-ssl-cipher=cipher_list'
`--master-ssl-key=file_name'
     These options are used for setting up a secure replication
     connection to the master server using SSL.  Their meanings are the
     same as the corresponding `--ssl', `--ssl-ca', `--ssl-capath',
     `--ssl-cert', `--ssl-cipher', `--ssl-key' options described in
     *Note SSL options::.

     These options are operational as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`--max-relay-log-size=#'
     To rotate the relay log automatically.  *Note `SHOW VARIABLES':
     SHOW VARIABLES.

`--relay-log=filename'
     To specify the location and name that should be used for relay
     logs.  You can use this to have hostname-independant relay log
     names, or if your relay logs tend to be big (and you don't want to
     decrease `max_relay_log_size') and you need to put them on some
     area different from the data directory, or if you want to increase
     speed by balancing load between disks.

`--relay-log-index=filename'
     To specify the location and name that should be used for the relay
     logs index file.

`--relay-log-info-file=filename'
     To give `relay-log.info' another name and/or to put it in another
     directory than the data directory.

`--relay-log-purge=0|1'
     Disables/enables automatic purging of relay logs as soon as they
     are not needed any more. This is a global variable that can be
     dynamically changed with `SET GLOBAL RELAY_LOG_PURGE=0|1'. The
     default value is 1.

     This option is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`--relay-log-space-limit=#'
     To put an upper limit on the total size of all relay logs on the
     slave (a value of 0 means "unlimited"). This is useful if you have
     a small hard disk on your slave machine. When the limit is
     reached, the I/O thread pauses (does not read the master's binlog)
     until the SQL thread has caught up and deleted some now unused
     relay logs. Note that this limit is not absolute: there are cases
     where the SQL thread needs more events to be able to delete; in
     that case the I/O thread will overgo the limit until deletion
     becomes possible. Not doing so would cause a deadlock (which
     happens before MySQL 4.0.13).  Users should not set
     `--relay-log-space-limit' to less than twice the value of
     `--max-relay-log-size' (or `--max-binlog-size' if
     `--max-relay-log-size' is 0) because in that case there are
     chances that when the I/O thread waits for free space because
     `--relay-log-space-limit' is exceeded, the SQL thread has no relay
     log to purge and so cannot satisfy the I/O thread, forcing the I/O
     thread to temporarily ignore `--relay-log-space-limit'.

`--replicate-do-table=db_name.table_name'
     Tells the slave thread to restrict replication to the specified
     table.  To specify more than one table, use the directive multiple
     times, once for each table.  This will work for cross-database
     updates, in contrast to `--replicate-do-db'.  Please read the
     notes that follow this option list.

`--replicate-ignore-table=db_name.table_name'
     Tells the slave thread to not replicate any command that updates
     the specified table (even if any other tables may be update by the
     same command). To specify more than one table to ignore, use the
     directive multiple times, once for each table. This will work for
     cross-database updates, in contrast to `--replicate-ignore-db'.
     Please read the notes that follow this option list.

`--replicate-wild-do-table=db_name.table_name'
     Tells the slave thread to restrict replication to queries where
     any of the updated tables match the specified wildcard pattern.
     To specify more than one table, use the directive multiple times,
     once for each table.  This will work for cross-database updates.
     Please read the notes that follow this option list.

     Example: `--replicate-wild-do-table=foo%.bar%' will replicate only
     updates that uses a table in any databases that start with `foo'
     and whose table names start with `bar'.

     Note that if you do `--replicate-wild-do-table=foo%.%' then the
     rule will be propagated to `CREATE DATABASE' and `DROP DATABASE',
     that is, these two statements will be replicated if the database
     name matches the database pattern (`foo%' here) (this magic is
     triggered by `%' being the table pattern).

     Escaping wildcard characters `_' and `%': if you want to
     replicate, for example, all tables of the `my_own%db' database
     (this is the exact name of the database), but not replicate tables
     from the `my1ownAABCdb' database, you should escape the `_' and
     `%': you should use something like this:
     `replicate-wild-do-table=my\_own\%db'. And if you are specifying
     this option from the command-line, depending on your system you
     may need to escape the `\' (for example, with a `bash' shell, you
     would need to type `--replicate-wild-do-table=my\\_own\\%db').

`--replicate-wild-ignore-table=db_name.table_name'
     Tells the slave thread to not replicate a query where any table
     matches the given wildcard pattern. To specify more than one table
     to ignore, use the directive multiple times, once for each table.
     This will work for cross-database updates.  Please read the notes
     that follow this option list.

     Example: `--replicate-wild-ignore-table=foo%.bar%' will not do
     updates to tables in databases that start with `foo' and whose
     table names start with `bar'.

     Note that if you do `--replicate-wild-ignore-table=foo%.%' then the
     rule will be propagated to `CREATE DATABASE' and `DROP DATABASE',
     that is, these two statements will not be replicated if the
     database name matches the database pattern (`foo%' here) (this
     magic is triggered by `%' being the table pattern).

     Escaping wildcard characters `_' and `%': see notes in the
     description of `replicate-wild-do-table' just above.

`--replicate-do-db=database_name'
     Tells the slave to restrict replication to commands where the
     current database (that is, the one selected by `USE') is
     `database_name'.  To specify more than one database, use the
     directive multiple times, once for each database. Note that this
     will not replicate cross-database queries such as `UPDATE
     some_db.some_table SET foo='bar'' while having selected a
     different or no database. If you need cross database updates to
     work, make sure you have 3.23.28 or later, and use
     `--replicate-wild-do-table=db_name.%'.  Please read the notes that
     follow this option list.

     Example of what does not work as you could expect it: if the slave
     is started with `--replicate-do-db=sales', and you do `USE prices;
     UPDATE sales.january SET amount=amount+1000;', this query will not
     be replicated.

     If you need cross database updates to work, use
     `--replicate-wild-do-table=db_name.%' instead.

     The main reason for this "just-check-the-current-database"
     behavior is that it's hard from the command alone to know if a
     query should be replicated or not; for example if you are using
     multiple-table-delete or multiple-table-update commands that go
     across multiple databases.  It's also very fast to just check the
     current database.

`--replicate-ignore-db=database_name'
     Tells the slave to not replicate any command where the current
     database (that is, the one selected by `USE') is `database_name'.
     To specify more than one database to ignore, use the directive
     multiple times, once for each database.  You should not use this
     directive if you are using cross table updates and you don't want
     these update to be replicated.  Please read the notes that follow
     this option list.

     Example of what does not work as you could expect it: if the slave
     is started with `--replicate-ignore-db=sales', and you do `USE
     prices; UPDATE sales.january SET amount=amount+1000;', this query
     will be replicated.

     If you need cross database updates to work, use
     `--replicate-wild-ignore-table=db_name.%' instead.

`--replicate-rewrite-db=from_name->to_name'
     Tells the slave to translate the current database (that is, the
     one selected by `USE') to `to_name' if it was `from_name' on the
     master.  Only statements involving tables may be affected (`CREATE
     DATABASE', `DROP DATABASE' won't), and only if `from_name' was the
     current database on the master.  This will not work for
     cross-database updates.  Note that the translation is done before
     `--replicate-*' rules are tested.

     Example: `replicate-rewrite-db=master_db_name->slave_db_name'

`--report-host=host'
     The hostname or IP number of the slave to be reported to the
     master during slave registration. Will appear in the output of
     `SHOW SLAVE HOSTS'. Leave unset if you do not want the slave to
     register itself with the master. Note that it is not sufficient
     for the master to simply read the IP number of the slave from the
     TCP/IP socket once the slave connects. Due to `NAT' and other
     routing issues, that IP may not be valid for connecting to the
     slave from the master or other hosts.

     This option is available as of MySQL 4.0.0.

`--report-port=port_number'
     Port for connecting to slave reported to the master during slave
     registration.  Set it only if the slave is listening on a
     non-default port or if you have a special tunnel from the master or
     other clients to the slave. If not sure, leave this option unset.

     This option is available as of MySQL 4.0.0.

`--skip-slave-start'
     Tells the slave server not to start the slave threads on server
     startup. The user can start them later with `START SLAVE'.

`--slave_compressed_protocol=#'
     If 1, then use compression on the slave/client protocol if both
     slave and master support this.

`--slave-load-tmpdir=filename'
     This option is by default equal to the value of the `tmpdir'
     variable.  When the slave SQL thread replicates a `LOAD DATA
     INFILE' command, it extracts the to-be-loaded file from the relay
     log into temporary files, then loads these into the table. If the
     file loaded on the master was huge, the temporary files on the
     slave will be huge, too; therefore you may wish/have to tell the
     slave to put the temporary files on some large disk different from
     `tmpdir', using this option. In that case, you may also use the
     `--relay-log' option, as relay logs will be huge, too.
     `--slave-load-tmpdir' should point to a disk-based filesystem; not
     a memory-based one. Because the slave needs the temporary files
     used to replicate `LOAD DATA INFILE') to survive a machine's
     reboot.

`--slave-net-timeout=#'
     Number of seconds to wait for more data from the master before
     aborting the read, considering the connection broken and retrying
     to connect. The first retry occurs immediately after timeout. The
     interval between retries is controlled by the
     `--master-connect-retry' option.

`--slave-skip-errors= [err_code1,err_code2,... | all]'
     Tells the slave SQL thread to continue replication when a query
     returns an error from the provided list. Normally, replication
     will discontinue when an error is encountered, giving the user a
     chance to resolve the inconsistency in the data manually. Do not
     use this option unless you fully understand why you are getting
     the errors.  If there are no bugs in your replication setup and
     client programs, and no bugs in MySQL itself, you should never get
     an abort with error. Indiscriminate use of this option will result
     in slaves being hopelessly out of sync with the master and you
     having no idea how the problem happened.

     For error codes, you should use the numbers provided by the error
     message in your slave error log and in the output of `SHOW SLAVE
     STATUS'. A full list of error messages can be found in the source
     distribution in `Docs/mysqld_error.txt'.  The server error codes
     also are listed at *Note Error-returns::.

     You can (but should not) also use a very non-recommended value of
     `all' which will ignore all error messages and keep barging along
     regardless.  Needless to say, if you use it, we make no promises
     regarding your data integrity. Please do not complain if your data
     on the slave is not anywhere close to what it is on the master in
     this case -- you have been warned.

     Examples:

          --slave-skip-errors=1062,1053
          --slave-skip-errors=all

Some of these options, like all `--replicate-*' options, can only be
set at the slave server's startup, not on-the-fly. We plan to fix this.

Here is the order of evaluation of the `r--eplicate-*' rules, to decide
if the query is going to be executed by the slave or ignored by it:
  1. Are there some `--replicate-do-db' or `--replicate-ignore-db'
     rules?
        * Yes: test them like for `--binlog-do-db' and
          `--binlog-ignore-db' (*note Binary log::). What is the result
          of the test?
             - ignore the query: ignore it and exit.

             - execute the query: don't execute it immediately, defer
               the decision, go to step below.

        * No: go to step below.

  2. Are there some `--replicate-*-table' rules?
        * No: execute the query and exit.

        * Yes: go to step below. Only tables which are to be updated
          will be compared to rules (`INSERT INTO sales SELECT * from
          prices': only `sales' will be compared to rules). If several
          tables are to be updated (multiple-table statement), the
          first matching table (matching "do" or "ignore") wins (that
          is, the first table is compared to rules, then if no decision
          could be taken the second table is compared to rules, etc).

  3. Are there some `--replicate-do-table' rules?
        * Yes: does the table match any of them?
             - Yes: execute the query and exit.

             - No: go to step below.

        * No: go to step below.

  4. Are there some `--replicate-ignore-table' rules?
        * Yes: does the table match any of them?
             - Yes: ignore the query and exit.

             - No: go to step below.

        * No: go to step below.

  5. Are there some `--replicate-wild-do-table' rules?
        * Yes: does the table match any of them?
             - Yes: execute the query and exit.

             - No: go to step below.

        * No: go to step below.

  6. Are there some `--replicate-wild-ignore-table' rules?
        * Yes: does the table match any of them?
             - Yes: ignore the query and exit.

             - No: go to step below.

        * No: go to step below.

  7. No `--replicate-*-table' rule was matched.  Is there another table
     to test against these rules?
        * Yes: loop.

        * No: we have tested all tables to be updated, could not match
          any rule.  Are there `--replicate-do-table' or
          `--replicate-wild-do-table' rules ?
             - Yes: ignore the query and exit.

             - No: execute the query and exit.

Replication FAQ
===============

*Q*: How do I configure a slave if the master is already running and I
do not want to stop it?

*A*: There are several options. If you have taken a backup of the
master at some point and recorded the binlog name and offset ( from the
output of `SHOW MASTER STATUS' ) corresponding to the snapshot, do the
following:

  1. Make sure the slave is assigned a unique server ID.

  2. Execute the following statement on the slave, filling in
     appropriate values for each parameter:

          mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO
              ->     MASTER_HOST='master_host-name',
              ->     MASTER_USER='master_user_name',
              ->     MASTER_PASSWORD='master_pass',
              ->     MASTER_LOG_FILE='recorded_log_name',
              ->     MASTER_LOG_POS=recorded_log_pos;

  3. Execute `START SLAVE' on the slave.

If you do not have a backup of the master already, here is a quick way
to do it consistently:

  1. `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK'

  2. `gtar zcf /tmp/backup.tar.gz /var/lib/mysql' (or a variation of
     this)

  3. `SHOW MASTER STATUS' - make sure to record the output - you will
     need it later

  4. `UNLOCK TABLES'

An alternative is taking an SQL dump of the master instead of a binary
copy like above; for this you can use `mysqldump --master-data' on your
master and later run this SQL dump into your slave. However, this is
slower than makeing a binary copy.

No matter which of the two methods you use, afterwards follow the
instructions for the case when you have a snapshot and have recorded
the log name and offset. You can use the same snapshot to set up
several slaves. As long as the binary logs of the master are left
intact, you can wait as long as several days or in some cases maybe a
month to set up a slave once you have the snapshot of the master. In
theory the waiting gap can be infinite. The two practical limitations
is the diskspace of the master getting filled with old logs, and the
amount of time it will take the slave to catch up.

You can also use `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'.  This is a convenient command
that takes a snapshot, restores it to the slave, and adjusts the log
name and offset on the slave all at once. In the future, `LOAD DATA
FROM MASTER' will be the recommended way to set up a slave.  Be warned,
howerver, that the read lock may be held for a long time if you use
this command. It is not yet implemented as efficiently as we would like
to have it. If you have large tables, the preferred method at this time
is still with a local `tar' snapshot after executing `FLUSH TABLES WITH
READ LOCK'.

*Q*: Does the slave need to be connected to the master all the time?

*A*: No, it does not. The slave can go down or stay disconnected for
hours or even days, then reconnect and catch up on the updates.  For
example, you can set up a master/slave relationship over a dial-up link
where the link is up only sporadically and for short periods of time.
The implication of this is that at any given time the slave is not
guaranteed to be in sync with the master unless you take some special
measures. In the future, we will have the option to block the master
until at least one slave is in sync.

*Q*: How do I know how late a slave is compared to the master? In other
words, how do I know the date of the last query replicated by the slave?

*A*: If the slave is 4.1.1 or newer, read the `Seconds_Behind_Master'
column in `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'. For older versions, the following
applies.  This is possible only if the slave SQL thread exists (that
is, if it shows up in `SHOW PROCESSLIST', *note Replication
Implementation Details::) (in MySQL 3.23: if the slave thread exists,
that is, shows up in `SHOW PROCESSLIST'), and if it has executed at
least one event from the master. Indeed, when the slave SQL thread
executes an event read from the master, this thread modifies its own
time to the event's timestamp (this is why `TIMESTAMP' is well
replicated). So in the `Time' column in the output of `SHOW
PROCESSLIST', the number of seconds displayed for the slave SQL thread
is the number of seconds between the timestamp of the last replicated
event and the real time of the slave machine. You can use this to
determine the date of the last replicated event. Note that if your
slave has been disconnected from the master for one hour, then
reconnects, you may immediately see `Time' values like 3600 for the
slave SQL thread in `SHOW PROCESSLIST'... This would be because the
slave is executing queries that are one hour old.

*Q*: How do I force the master to block updates until the slave catches
up?

*A*: Use the following procedure:

  1. On the master, execute these commands:

          mysql> FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK;
          mysql> SHOW MASTER STATUS;

     Record the log name and the offset from the output of the `SHOW'
     statement.

  2. On the slave, issue this command, where the replication
     coordinates that are the arguments to the `MASTER_POS_WAIT()'
     function are the values recorded in the previous step:

          mysql> SELECT MASTER_POS_WAIT('log_name', log_offset);

     The `SELECT' statement will block until the slave reaches the
     specified log file and offset. At that point, the slave will be in
     sync with the master and the statement will return.

  3. On the master, issue the following statement to allow the master
     to begin processing updates again:

          mysql> UNLOCK TABLES;


*Q*: What issues should I be aware of when setting up two-way
replication?

*A*: MySQL replication currently does not support any locking protocol
between master and slave to guarantee the atomicity of a distributed
(cross-server) update. In other words, it is possible for client A to
make an update to  co-master 1, and in the meantime, before it
propagates to co-master 2, client B could make an update to co-master 2
that will make the update of client A work differently than it did on
co-master 1. Thus, when the update of client A will make it to
co-master 2, it will produce  tables that are different than what you
have on co-master 1, even after all the updates from co-master 2 have
also propagated. So you should not co-chain two servers in a two-way
replication relationship, unless you are sure that your updates can
safely happen in any order, or unless you take care of mis-ordered
updates somehow in the client code.

You must also realize that two-way replication actually does not improve
performance very much (if at all), as far as updates are concerned. Both
servers need to do the same amount of updates each, as you would have
one server do. The only difference is that there will be a little less
lock contention, because the updates originating on another server will
be serialized in one slave thread. Even so, this benefit might be
offset by network delays.

*Q*: How can I use replication to improve performance of my system?

*A*: You should set up one server as the master and direct all writes
to it. Then configure as many slaves as you have the money and
rackspace for, and distribute the reads among the master and the slaves.
You can also start the slaves with `--skip-bdb',
`--low-priority-updates' and `--delay-key-write=ALL' to get speed
improvements for the slave.  In this case the slave will use
non-transactional `MyISAM' tables instead of `BDB' tables to get more
speed.

*Q*: What should I do to prepare client code in my own applications to
use performance-enhancing replication?

*A*: If the part of your code that is responsible for database access
has been properly abstracted/modularised, converting it to run with a
replicated setup should be very smooth and easy. Just change the
implementation of your database access to send all writes the the
master, and to send reads to either the master or a slave.  If your
code does not have this level of abstraction, setting up a replicated
system will give you the opportunity and motivation to it clean up.
You should start by creating a wrapper library or module with the
following functions:

   * `safe_writer_connect()'

   * `safe_reader_connect()'

   * `safe_reader_query()'

   * `safe_writer_query()'

`safe_' in each function name means that the function will take care of
handling all the error conditions.  You can use different names for the
functions. The important thing is to have a unified interface for
connecting for reads, connecting for writes, doing a read, and doing a
write.

You should then convert your client code to use the wrapper library.
This may be a painful and scary process at first, but it will pay off in
the long run. All applications that use the approach just described
will be able to take advantage of a master/slave configuration, even
one involving multiple slaves.  The code will be a lot easier to
maintain, and adding troubleshooting options will be trivial. You will
just need to modify one or two functions, for example, to log how long
each query took, or which query, among your many thousands, gave you an
error.

If you have written a lot of code already, you may want to automate the
conversion task by using the `replace' utility that comes with the
standard distribution of MySQL, or just write your own Perl script.
Hopefully, your code follows some recognizable pattern. If not, then
you are probably better off rewriting it anyway, or at least going
through and manually beating it into a pattern.

*Q*: When and how much can MySQL replication improve the performance of
my system?

*A*: MySQL replication is most beneficial for a system with frequent
reads and infrequent writes. In theory, by using a
single-master/multiple-slave setup, you can scale the system by adding
more slaves until you either run out of network bandwidth, or your
update load grows to the point that the master cannot handle it.

In order to determine how many slaves you can get before the added
benefits begin to level out, and how much you can improve performance
of your site, you need to know your query patterns, and empirically
(by benchmarking) determine the relationship between the throughput on
reads (reads per second, or `max_reads') and on writes (`max_writes')
on a typical master and a typical slave. The example here will show you
a rather simplified calculation of what you can get with replication
for a hypothetical system.

Let's say that system load consists of 10% writes and 90% reads, and we
have determined `max_reads' to be 1200 - 2 * `max_writes'.  In other
words, the system can do 1200 reads per second with no writes, the
average write is twice as slow as average read, and the relationship is
linear. Let us suppose that the master and each slave have the same
capacity, and that we have 1 master and N slaves. Then we have for each
server (master or slave):

`reads = 1200 - 2 * writes' (from benchmarks)

`reads = 9* writes / (N + 1) ' (reads split, but writes go to all
servers)

`9*writes/(N+1) + 2 * writes = 1200'

`writes = 1200/(2 + 9/(N+1)'

This analysis yields the following conclusions:

   * If N = 0 (which means we have no replication), our system can
     handle 1200/11, about 109 writes per second (which means we will
     have 9 times as many reads due to the nature of our application).

   * If N = 1, we can get up to 184 writes per second.

   * If N = 8, we get up to 400.

   * If N = 17, 480 writes.

   * Eventually, as N approaches infinity (and our budget negative
     infinity), we can get very close to 600 writes per second,
     increasing system throughput about 5.5 times. However, with only 8
     servers, we increased it almost 4 times already.


Note that these computations assume infinite network bandwidth and
neglect several other factors that could turn out to be significant on
your system. In many cases, you may not be able to perform a computation
similar to the one above that will accurately predict what will happen
on your system if you add N replication slaves. However, answering the
following questions should help you decide whether and how much
replication will improve the performance of your system:

   * What is the read/write ratio on your system?

   * How much more write load can one server handle if you reduce the
     reads?

   * How many slaves do you have bandwidth available for on your
     network?

*Q*: How can I use replication to provide redundancy/high availability?

*A*: With the currently available features, you would have to set up a
master and a slave (or several slaves), and write a script that will
monitor the master to see whether it is up, and instruct your
applications and the slaves of the master change in case of failure.
Some suggestions:

   * To tell a slave to change the master, use the `CHANGE MASTER TO'
     command.

   * A good way to keep your applications informed as to the location
     of the master is by having a dynamic DNS entry for the master.
     With `bind' you can use `nsupdate' to dynamically update your DNS.

   * You should run your slaves with the `--log-bin' option and without
     `--log-slave-updates'. This way the slave will be ready to become a
     master as soon as you issue `STOP SLAVE'; `RESET MASTER', and
     `CHANGE MASTER TO' on the other slaves.  For example, consider you
     have the following setup ("M" means the master, "S" the slaves,
     "WC" the clients that issue database writes and reads; clients
     that issue only database reads are not represented, because they
     need not switch):

                 WC
                  \
                   v
           WC----> M
                 / | \
                /  |  \
               v   v   v
              S1   S2  S3

     S1 (like S2 and S3) is a slave running with `--log-bin' and
     without `--log-slave-updates'. As the only writes executed on S1
     are those replicated from M, the binary log on S1 is *empty*
     (remember, S1 runs without `--log-slave-updates').  Then, for some
     reason, M becomes unavailable, and you want S1 to become the new
     master (that is, direct all WC to S1, and make S2 and S3 replicate
     S1).

     Make sure that all slaves have processed any queries in their
     relay log.  On each slave, issue `STOP SLAVE IO_THREAD', then
     check the output of `SHOW PROCESSLIST' until you see `Has read all
     relay log'.  When this is true for all slaves, they can be
     reconfigured to the new setup.  Issue `STOP SLAVE' on all slaves,
     `RESET MASTER' on the slave being promoted to master, and `CHANGE
     MASTER' on the other slaves.

     No WC accesses M. Instruct all WC to direct their queries to S1.
     From now on, all queries sent by WC to S1 are written to the
     binary log of S1. The binary log of S1 contains exactly every
     writing query sent to S1 since M died.  On S2 (and S3) do `STOP
     SLAVE', `CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_HOST='S1'' (where `'S1'' is
     replaced by the real hostname of S1). To `CHANGE MASTER', add all
     information about how to connect to S1 from S2 or S3 (user,
     password, port). In `CHANGE MASTER', no need to specify the name
     of S1's binary log or binary log position to read from: we know it
     is the first binary log, from position 4, and these are the
     defaults of `CHANGE MASTER'. Finally do `START SLAVE' on S2 and
     S3, and now you have this:

                 WC
                /
                |
           WC   |  M(unavailable)
            \   |
             \  |
              v v
               S1<--S2  S3
                ^       |
                +-------+

     When M is up again, you just have to issue on it the same `CHANGE
     MASTER' as the one issued on S2 and S3, so that M becomes a slave
     of S1 and picks all the WC writes it has missed while it was down.
     Now to make M a master again (because it is the most powerful
     machine, for example), follow the preceding procedure as if S1 was
     unavailable and M was to be the new master; then during the
     procedure don't forget to run `RESET MASTER' on M before making
     S1, S2, S3 slaves of M, or they may pick old WC writes from before
     M's unavailibility.


We are currently working on integrating an automatic master election
system into MySQL, but until it is ready, you will have to create your
own monitoring tools.

Troubleshooting Replication
===========================

If you have followed the instructions, and your replication setup is not
working, first check the following:

   * *Check the error log for messages*. Many users have lost time by
     not doing this early enough.

   * Is the master logging to the binary log? Check with `SHOW MASTER
     STATUS'.  If it is, `Position' will be non-zero. If not, verify
     that you have given the master `log-bin' option and have set
     `server-id'.

   * Is the slave running? Do `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' and check that the
     `Slave_IO_Running' and `Slave_SQL_Running' values are both `Yes'.
     If not, verify slave options

   * If the slave is running, did it establish a connection with the
     master? Do `SHOW PROCESSLIST', find the I/O and SQL threads (*note
     Replication Implementation Details:: to see how they display), and
     check their `State' column. If it says `Connecting to master',
     verify the privileges for the replication user on the master,
     master hostname, your DNS setup, whether the master is actually
     running, whether it is reachable from the slave.

   * If the slave was running before but now has stopped, the reason
     usually is that some query that succeeded on the master failed on
     the slave. This should never happen if you have taken a proper
     snapshot of the master, and never modify the data on the slave
     outside of the slave thread. If it does, it is a bug; read below
     on how to report it.

   * If a query on that succeeded on the master refuses to run on the
     slave, and it does not feasible to do a full database resync (that
     is, to delete the slave's database and copy a new snapshot from
     the master), try the following:
        - First see if the slave's table was different from the
          master's. Understand how it happened (it may be a bug: read
          the Changelogs in the online MySQL manual as
          `http://www.mysql.com/documentation' to check if this is a
          known bug and if it is fixed yet).  Then make the slave's
          table identical to the master's and run `START SLAVE'.

        - If the above does not work or does not apply, try to
          understand if it would be safe to make the update manually
          (if needed) and then ignore the next query from the master.

        - If you have decided you can skip the next query, issue the
          following statements:

               mysql> SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER = n;
               mysql> START SLAVE;

          The value of `n' should be 1 if the query does not use
          `AUTO_INCREMENT' or `LAST_INSERT_ID()'. Otherwise, the value
          should be 2.  The reason for using a value of 2 for queries
          that use `AUTO_INCREMENT' or `LAST_INSERT_ID()' is that they
          take two events in the binary log of the master.

        - Make sure you are not running into an old bug by upgrading to
          the most recent version.

        - If you are sure the slave started out perfectly in sync with
          the master, and no one has updated  the tables involved
          outside of slave thread, report the bug.

Reporting Replication Bugs
==========================

When you have determined that there is no user error involved, and
replication still either does not work at all or is unstable, it is
time to send us a bug report. We need to get as much information as
possible from you to be able to track down the bug. Please do spend
some time and effort preparing a good bug report.

If you have a repeatable way to demonstrate the bug, please enter it
into our bugs database at `http://bugs.mysql.com/'. If you have a
phantom problem (one that you cannot duplicate "at will"), use the
following procedure:

  1. Verify that no user error is involved. For example, if you update
     the slave outside of the slave thread, the data will go out of
     sync, and you can have unique key violations on updates. In this
     case, the slave thread will stop and wait for you to clean up the
     tables manually to bring them in sync.  This is not a replication
     problem; it is a problem of outside interference that causes
     replication to fail.

  2. Run the slave with the `--log-slave-updates' and `--log-bin'
     options.  They will cause the slave to log the updates that it
     receives in its own binlogs.

  3. Save all evidence before resetting the replication state. If we
     have no information or only sketchy information, it will take us
     longer to track down the problem. The evidence you should collect
     is:
        * All binary logs from the master

        * All binary logs from the slave

        * The output of `SHOW MASTER STATUS' from the master at the time
          you have discovered the problem

        * The output of `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' from the master at the time
          you have discovered the problem

        * Error logs from the master and on the slave

  4. Use `mysqlbinlog' to examine the binary logs. The following should
     be helpful to find the trouble query, for example:
          mysqlbinlog -j pos_from_slave_status /path/to/log_from_slave_status | head

Once you have collected the evidence for the phantom problem, try hard
to isolate it into a separate test case first. Then enter the problem
into our bugs database at `http://bugs.mysql.com/' with as much
information as possible.

MySQL Optimization
******************

Optimization is a complicated task because it ultimately requires
understanding of the whole system. While it may be possible to perform
some local optimizations with small knowledge of your system or
application, the more optimal you want your system to become the more
you will have to know about it.

This chapter tries to explain and give some examples of different ways
to optimize MySQL.  Remember, however, that there are always some
(increasingly harder) additional ways to make the system even faster.

Optimization Overview
=====================

The most important factor in making a system fast is the basic design.
You also need to know what kinds of things your system will be doing,
and what your bottlenecks are.

The most common bottlenecks are:
   * Disk seeks.  It takes time for the disk to find a piece of data.
     With modern disks in 1999, the mean time for this is usually lower
     than 10ms, so we can in theory do about 100 seeks a second. This
     time improves slowly with new disks and is very hard to optimize
     for a single table. The way to optimize this is to spread the data
     on more than one disk.

   * Disk reading/writing.  When the disk is at the correct position we
     need to read the data. With modern disks in 1999, one disk
     delivers something like 10-20 MB. This is easier to optimize than
     seeks because you can read in parallel from multiple disks.

   * CPU cycles.  When we have the data in main memory (or if it
     already were there) we need to process it to get to our result.
     Having small tables compared to the memory is the most common
     limiting factor. But then, with small tables speed is usually not
     the problem.

   * Memory bandwidth.  When the CPU needs more data than can fit in
     the CPU cache the main memory bandwidth becomes a bottleneck. This
     is an uncommon bottleneck for most systems, but one should be
     aware of it.

MySQL Design Limitations/Tradeoffs
----------------------------------

When using the MyISAM storage engine, MySQL uses extremely fast table
locking (multiple readers / single writers). The biggest problem with
this table type occurs when you have a mix of a steady stream of
updates and slow selects on the same table.  If this is a problem with
some tables, you can use another table type for these. *Note Table
types::.

MySQL can work with both transactional and non-transactional tables.
To be able to work smoothly with non-transactional tables (which can't
roll back if something goes wrong), MySQL has the following rules:

   * All columns have default values.

   * If you insert a 'wrong' value in a column like a `NULL' in a `NOT
     NULL' column or a too big numerical value in a numerical column,
     MySQL will instead of giving an error instead set the column to
     the 'best possible value'.  For numerical values this is 0, the
     smallest possible values or the largest possible value. For
     strings this is either the empty string or the longest possible
     string that can be in the column.

   * All calculated expressions returns a value that can be used
     instead of signaling an error condition. For example 1/0 returns
     `NULL'

For more information about this, see *Note Constraints::.

The above means that one should not use MySQL to check fields content,
but one should do this in the application.

Portability
-----------

Because all SQL servers implement different parts of SQL, it takes work
to write portable SQL applications. For very simple selects/inserts it
is very easy, but the more you need the harder it gets. If you want an
application that is fast with many databases it becomes even harder!

To make a complex application portable you need to choose a number of
SQL servers that it should work with.

You can use the MySQL `crash-me' program/web-page
`http://www.mysql.com/information/crash-me.php' to find functions,
types, and limits you can use with a selection of database servers.
Crash-me now tests far from everything possible, but it is still
comprehensive with about 450 things tested.

For example, you shouldn't have column names longer than 18 characters
if you want to be able to use Informix or DB2.

Both the MySQL benchmarks and `crash-me' programs are very
database-independent.  By taking a look at how we have handled this, you
can get a feeling for what you have to do to write your application
database-independent.  The benchmarks themselves can be found in the
`sql-bench' directory in the MySQL source distribution. They are
written in Perl with DBI database interface (which solves the access
part of the problem).

See `http://www.mysql.com/information/benchmarks.html' for the results
from this benchmark.

As you can see in these results, all databases have some weak points.
That is, they have different design compromises that lead to different
behavior.

If you strive for database independence, you need to get a good feeling
for each SQL server's bottlenecks. MySQL is very fast in retrieving and
updating records, but will have a problem in mixing slow
readers/writers on the same table. Oracle, on the other hand, has a big
problem when you try to access rows that you have recently updated
(until they are flushed to disk). Transaction databases in general are
not very good at generating summary tables from log tables, as in this
case row locking is almost useless.

To get your application _really_ database-independent, you need to
define an easy extendable interface through which you manipulate your
data. As C++ is available on most systems, it makes sense to use a C++
classes interface to the databases.

If you use some specific feature for some database (like the `REPLACE'
command in MySQL), you should code a method for the other SQL servers
to implement the same feature (but slower).  With MySQL you can use the
`/*!  */' syntax to add MySQL-specific keywords to a query.  The code
inside `/**/' will be treated as a comment (ignored) by most other SQL
servers.

If high performance is more important than exactness, as in some web
applications, it is possibile to create an application layer that
caches all results to give you even higher performance. By letting old
results 'expire' after a while, you can keep the cache reasonably
fresh.  This provides a method to handle high load spikes, in which case
you can dynamically increase the cache and set the expire timeout higher
until things get back to normal.

In this case the table creation information should contain information
of the initial size of the cache and how often the table should normally
be refreshed.

What We Have Used MySQL For
---------------------------

During MySQL initial development, the features of MySQL were made to
fit our largest customer. They handle data warehousing for a couple of
the biggest retailers in Sweden.

From all stores, we get weekly summaries of all bonus card transactions,
and we are expected to provide useful information for the store owners
to help them find how their advertisement campaigns are affecting their
customers.

The data is quite huge (about 7 million summary transactions per month),
and we have data for 4-10 years that we need to present to the users.
We got weekly requests from the customers that they want to get
'instant' access to new reports from this data.

We solved this by storing all information per month in compressed
'transaction' tables. We have a set of simple macros (script) that
generates summary tables grouped by different criteria (product group,
customer id, store ...) from the transactional tables.  The reports are
web pages that are dynamically generated by a small Perl script that
parses a web page, executes the SQL statements in it, and inserts the
results. We would have used PHP or mod_perl instead but they were not
available at that time.

For graphical data we wrote a simple tool in `C' that can produce GIFs
based on the result of an SQL query (with some processing of the
result). This is also dynamically executed from the Perl script that
parses the HTML files.

In most cases a new report can simply be done by copying an existing
script and modifying the SQL query in it.  In some cases, we will need
to add more fields to an existing summary table or generate a new one,
but this is also quite simple, as we keep all transactions tables on
disk.  (Currently we have at least 50G of transactions tables and 200G
of other customer data.)

We also let our customers access the summary tables directly with ODBC
so that the advanced users can themselves experiment with the data.

We haven't had any problems handling this with quite modest Sun Ultra
SPARCstation (2x200 Mhz). We recently upgraded one of our servers to a 2
CPU 400 Mhz UltraSPARC, and we are now planning to start handling
transactions on the product level, which would mean a ten-fold increase
of data. We think we can keep up with this by just adding more disk to
our systems.

We are also experimenting with Intel-Linux to be able to get more CPU
power cheaper. Now that we have the binary portable database format (new
in Version 3.23), we will start to use this for some parts of the
application.

Our initial feelings are that Linux will perform much better on
low-to-medium load and Solaris will perform better when you start to
get a high load because of extreme disk IO, but we don't yet have
anything conclusive about this. After some discussion with a Linux
kernel developer, this might be a side effect of Linux allocating so
many resources to the batch job that the interactive performance gets
very low. This makes the machine feel very slow and unresponsive while
big batches are going. Hopefully this will be better handled in future
Linux Kernels.

The MySQL Benchmark Suite
-------------------------

This section should contain a technical description of the MySQL
benchmark suite (and `crash-me'), but that description is not written
yet. Currently, you can get a good idea of the benchmark by looking at
the code and results in the `sql-bench' directory in any MySQL source
distribution.

This benchmark suite is meant to be a benchmark that will tell any user
what operations a given SQL implementation performs well or poorly.

Note that this benchmark is single-threaded, so it measures the minimum
time for the operations performed. We plan to add a lot of
multi-threaded tests to the benchmark suite in the future.

The following tables show some comparative benchmark results for several
database servers when accessed through ODBC on a Windows NT 4.0 machine.

*Reading 2000000 rows by  *Seconds**Seconds*
index*                            
mysql                     367     249
mysql_odbc                464     
db2_odbc                  1206    
informix_odbc             121126  
ms-sql_odbc               1634    
oracle_odbc               20800   
solid_odbc                877     
sybase_odbc               17614   

*Inserting 350768 rows*   *Seconds**Seconds*
mysql                     381     206
mysql_odbc                619     
db2_odbc                  3460    
informix_odbc             2692    
ms-sql_odbc               4012    
oracle_odbc               11291   
solid_odbc                1801    
sybase_odbc               4802    

For the preceding tests, MySQL was run with an index cache size of 8M.

We have gathered some more benchmark results at
`http://www.mysql.com/information/benchmarks.html'.

Note that Oracle is not included because they asked to be removed. All
Oracle benchmarks have to be passed by Oracle! We believe that makes
Oracle benchmarks *very* biased because the above benchmarks are
supposed to show what a standard installation can do for a single
client.

To use the benchmark suite, the following requirements must be
satisified:

   * The benchmark suite is provided with MySQL source distributions,
     so you must have a source distribution.  You can either download a
     released distribution from `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/', or
     use the current development source tree (*note Installing source
     tree::).

   * The benchmark scripts are written in Perl and use the Perl DBI
     module to access database servers, so DBI must be installed.  You
     will also need the server-specific DBD drivers for each of the
     servers you want to test.  For example, to test MySQL, PostgreSQL,
     and DB2, the DBD::mysql, DBD::Pg, and DBD::DB2 modules must be
     installed.


The benchmark suite is located in the `sql-bench' directory of MySQL
source distributions.  To run the benchmark tests, change location into
that directory and execute the `run-all-tests' script:

     shell> cd sql-bench
     shell> perl run-all-tests --server=server_name

`server_name' is one of supported servers. You can get a list of all
options and supported servers by invoking `run-all-tests --help'.

`crash-me' tries to determine what features a database supports and
what its capabilities and limitations are by actually running queries.
For example, it determines:

   * What column types are supported

   * How many indexes are supported

   * What functions are supported

   * How big a query can be

   * How big a `VARCHAR' column can be

We can find the result from `crash-me' on a lot of different databases
at `http://www.mysql.com/information/crash-me.php'.

Using Your Own Benchmarks
-------------------------

You should definitely benchmark your application and database to find
out where the bottlenecks are.  By fixing it (or by replacing the
bottleneck with a "dummy module") you can then easily identify the next
bottleneck (and so on).  Even if the overall performance for your
application currently is acceptable, you should at least make a plan
for each bottleneck, and decide how to solve it if someday you really
need the extra performance.

For an example of portable benchmark programs, look at the MySQL
benchmark suite. *Note MySQL Benchmarks: MySQL Benchmarks. You can take
any program from this suite and modify it for your needs. By doing
this, you can try different solutions to your problem and test which is
really fastest for you.

Another free benchmark suite is the `Open Source Database Benchmark',
available at `http://osdb.sourceforge.net/'.

It is very common for a problem to occur only when the system is very
heavily loaded. We have had many customers who contact us when they
have a (tested) system in production and have encountered load
problems. In most cases, performance problems turn out to be due to
issues of basic database design (table scans are *not good* at high
load) or problems with the operating system or libraries. Most of the
time, these problems would be a *lot* easier to fix if the systems were
not already in production.

To avoid problems like this, you should put some effort into
benchmarking your whole application under the worst possible load!  You
can use Super Smack for this. It is available at
`http://www.mysql.com/Downloads/super-smack/super-smack-1.0.tar.gz'.
As the name suggests, it can bring your system to its knees if you ask
it, so make sure to use it only on your development systems.

Optimizing `SELECT' Statements and Other Queries
================================================

First, one thing that affects all queries: The more complex permission
system setup you have, the more overhead you get.

If you do not have any `GRANT' statements done, MySQL will optimize the
permission checking somewhat. So if you have a very high volume it may
be worth the time to avoid grants. Otherwise, more permission check
results in a larger overhead.

If your problem is with some explicit MySQL function, you can always
time this in the MySQL client:

     mysql> SELECT BENCHMARK(1000000,1+1);
     +------------------------+
     | BENCHMARK(1000000,1+1) |
     +------------------------+
     |                      0 |
     +------------------------+
     1 row in set (0.32 sec)

The above shows that MySQL can execute 1,000,000 `+' expressions in
0.32 seconds on a `PentiumII 400MHz'.

All MySQL functions should be very optimized, but there may be some
exceptions, and the `BENCHMARK(loop_count,expression)' is a great tool
to find out if this is a problem with your query.

`EXPLAIN' Syntax (Get Information About a `SELECT')
---------------------------------------------------

         EXPLAIN tbl_name
     or  EXPLAIN SELECT select_options

`EXPLAIN tbl_name' is a synonym for `DESCRIBE tbl_name' or `SHOW
COLUMNS FROM tbl_name'.

When you precede a `SELECT' statement with the keyword `EXPLAIN', MySQL
explains how it would process the `SELECT', providing information about
how tables are joined and in which order.

With the help of `EXPLAIN', you can see when you must add indexes to
tables to get a faster `SELECT' that uses indexes to find the records.

You should frequently run `ANALYZE TABLE' to update table statistics
such as cardinality of keys which can affect the choices the optimizer
makes. *Note ANALYZE TABLE::.

You can also see if the optimizer joins the tables in an optimal order.
To force the optimizer to use a specific join order for a `SELECT'
statement, add a `STRAIGHT_JOIN' clause.

For non-simple joins, `EXPLAIN' returns a row of information for each
table used in the `SELECT' statement. The tables are listed in the order
they would be read.  MySQL resolves all joins using a single-sweep
multi-join method. This means that MySQL reads a row from the first
table, then finds a matching row in the second table, then in the third
table and so on. When all tables are processed, it outputs the selected
columns and backtracks through the table list until a table is found
for which there are more matching rows. The next row is read from this
table and the process continues with the next table.

In MySQL version 4.1 the `EXPLAIN' output was changed to work better
with constructs like `UNION' statements, subqueries and derived tables.
Most notable is the addition of two new columns: `id' and `select_type'.

Output from `EXPLAIN' consists of the following columns:

`id'
     `SELECT' identifier, the sequential number of this `SELECT' within
     the query.

`select_type'
     Type of `SELECT' clause, which can be any of the following:

    `SIMPLE'
          Simple `SELECT' (not using `UNION' or subqueries).

    `PRIMARY'
          Outermost `SELECT'.

    `UNION'
          Second and further `SELECT' statements in a `UNION'.

    `DEPENDENT UNION'
          Second and further `SELECT' statements in a `UNION',
          dependent on outer subquery.

    `SUBQUERY'
          First `SELECT' in subquery.

    `DEPENDENT SUBQUERY'
          First `SELECT', dependent on outer subquery.

    `DERIVED'
          Derived table `SELECT' (subquery in `FROM' clause).

`table'
     The table to which the row of output refers.

`type'
     The join type. The different join types are listed here, ordered
     from best to worst type:

    `system'
          The table has only one row (= system table). This is a
          special case of the `const' join type.

    `const'
          The table has at most one matching row, which will be read at
          the start of the query. Because there is only one row, values
          from the column in this row can be regarded as constants by
          the rest of the optimizer. `const' tables are very fast as
          they are read only once!

          `const' is used when you compare all parts of a
          `PRIMARY'/`UNIQUE' key with constants:

               SELECT * FROM const_table WHERE primary_key=1;
               
               SELECT * FROM const_table
               WHERE primary_key_part1=1 AND primary_key_part2=2;

    `eq_ref'
          One row will be read from this table for each combination of
          rows from the previous tables.  This is the best possible
          join type, other than the `const' types.  It is used when all
          parts of an index are used by the join and the index is
          `UNIQUE' or a `PRIMARY KEY'.

          `eq_ref' can be used for indexed columns that is compared
          with the `=' operator.  The compared item may be a constant
          or an expression that uses columns from tables that are read
          before this table.

          In the following examples, `ref_table' will be able to use
          `eq_ref'

               SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table
               WHERE ref_table.key_column=other_table.column;
               
               SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table
               WHERE ref_table.key_column_part1=other_table.column
               AND ref_table.key_column_part2=1;

    `ref'
          All rows with matching index values will be read from this
          table for each combination of rows from the previous tables.
          `ref' is used if the join uses only a leftmost prefix of the
          key, or if the key is not `UNIQUE' or a `PRIMARY KEY' (in
          other words, if the join cannot select a single row based on
          the key value).  If the key that is used matches only a few
          rows, this join type is good.

          `ref' can be used for indexed columns that is compared with
          the `=' operator.

          In the following examples, `ref_table' will be able to use
          `ref'.

               SELECT * FROM ref_table WHERE key_column=expr;
               
               SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table
               WHERE ref_table.key_column=other_table.column;
               
               SELECT * FROM ref_table,other_table
               WHERE ref_table.key_column_part1=other_table.column
               AND ref_table.key_column_part2=1;

    `ref_or_null'
          Like `ref', but with the addition that we will do an extra
          search for rows with `NULL'.  *Note `IS NULL' optimisation:
          IS NULL optimisation.

               SELECT * FROM ref_table WHERE key_column=expr OR key_column IS NULL;

          This join type optimization is new for MySQL 4.1.1 and is
          mostly used when resolving subqueries.

    `unique_subquery'
          This type replaces `ref' for some `IN' subqueries of the
          following form:
               value IN (SELECT primary_key FROM single_table WHERE some_exp)
          `unique_subquery' is just an index lookup function that
          replaces the subquery completely for better efficiency.

    `index_subquery'
          Like `unique_subquery', this type replaces `IN' subqueries,
          but it works for non-unique indexes:
               value IN (SELECT key_field FROM single_table WHERE some_exp)

    `range'
          Only rows that are in a given range will be retrieved, using
          an index to select the rows.  The `key' column indicates
          which index is used.  The `key_len' contains the longest key
          part that was used.  The `ref' column will be `NULL' for this
          type.

          `range' can be used for when an key column is compared to a
          constant with `=', `<>', `>', `>=', `<', `<=', `IS NULL',
          `<=>', `BETWEEN' and `IN'.

               SELECT * FROM range_table WHERE key_column = 10;
               
               SELECT * FROM range_table WHERE key_column BETWEEN 10 and 20;
               
               SELECT * FROM range_table WHERE key_column IN (10,20,30);
               
               SELECT * FROM range_table WHERE key_part1= 10 and key_part2 IN (10,20,30);

    `index'
          This is the same as `ALL', except that only the index tree is
          scanned.  This is usually faster than `ALL', as the index
          file is usually smaller than the datafile.

          This can be used when the query only uses columns that are
          part of one index.

    `ALL'
          A full table scan will be done for each combination of rows
          from the previous tables.  This is normally not good if the
          table is the first table not marked `const', and usually
          *very* bad in all other cases. You normally can avoid `ALL'
          by adding more indexes, so that the row can be retrieved
          based on constant values or column values from earlier tables.

`possible_keys'
     The `possible_keys' column indicates which indexes MySQL could use
     to find the rows in this table. Note that this column is totally
     independent of the order of the tables. That means that some of
     the keys in `possible_keys' may not be usable in practice with the
     generated table order.

     If this column is `NULL', there are no relevant indexes. In this
     case, you may be able to improve the performance of your query by
     examining the `WHERE' clause to see whether it refers to some
     column or columns that would be suitable for indexing.  If so,
     create an appropriate index and check the query with `EXPLAIN'
     again.  *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

     To see what indexes a table has, use `SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name'.

`key'
     The `key' column indicates the key (index) that MySQL actually
     decided to use. The key is `NULL' if no index was chosen. To force
     MySQL to use an key listed in the `possible_keys' column, use `USE
     KEY/IGNORE KEY' in your query.  *Note `SELECT': SELECT.

     Also, running `myisamchk --analyze' (*note `myismchk' syntax:
     myisamchk syntax.) or `ANALYZE TABLE' (*note `ANALYZE TABLE':
     ANALYZE TABLE.) on the table will help the optimizer choose better
     indexes.

`key_len'
     The `key_len' column indicates the length of the key that MySQL
     decided to use.  The length is `NULL' if the `key' is `NULL'. Note
     that this tells us how many parts of a multi-part key MySQL will
     actually use.

`ref'
     The `ref' column shows which columns or constants are used with the
     `key' to select rows from the table.

`rows'
     The `rows' column indicates the number of rows MySQL believes it
     must examine to execute the query.

`Extra'
     This column contains additional information of how MySQL will
     resolve the query. Here is an explanation of the different text
     strings that can be found in this column:

    `Distinct'
          MySQL will not continue searching for more rows for the
          current row combination after it has found the first matching
          row.

    `Not exists'
          MySQL was able to do a `LEFT JOIN' optimization on the query
          and will not examine more rows in this table for the previous
          row combination after it finds one row that matches the `LEFT
          JOIN' criteria.

          Here is an example for this:

               SELECT * FROM t1 LEFT JOIN t2 ON t1.id=t2.id
               WHERE t2.id IS NULL;

          Assume that `t2.id' is defined with `NOT NULL'.  In this case
          MySQL will scan `t1' and look up the rows in `t2' through
          `t1.id'. If MySQL finds a matching row in `t2', it knows that
          `t2.id' can never be `NULL', and will not scan through the
          rest of the rows in `t2' that has the same `id'.  In other
          words, for each row in `t1', MySQL only needs to do a single
          lookup in `t2', independent of how many matching rows there
          are in `t2'.

    ``range checked for each record (index map: #)''
          MySQL didn't find a real good index to use. It will, instead,
          for each row combination in the preceding tables, do a check
          on which index to use (if any), and use this index to
          retrieve the rows from the table.  This isn't very fast but
          is faster than having to do a join without an index.

    `Using filesort'
          MySQL will need to do an extra pass to find out how to
          retrieve the rows in sorted order.  The sort is done by going
          through all rows according to the `join type' and storing the
          sort key + pointer to the row for all rows that match the
          `WHERE'. Then the keys are sorted. Finally the rows are
          retrieved in sorted order.

    `Using index'
          The column information is retrieved from the table using only
          information in the index tree without having to do an
          additional seek to read the actual row.  This can be done
          when all the used columns for the table are part of the same
          index.

    `Using temporary'
          To resolve the query MySQL will need to create a temporary
          table to hold the result.  This typically happens if you do an
          `ORDER BY' on a different column set than you did a `GROUP
          BY' on.

    `Using where'
          A `WHERE' clause will be used to restrict which rows will be
          matched against the next table or sent to the client.  If you
          don't have this information and the table is of type `ALL' or
          `index', you may have something wrong in your query (if you
          don't intend to fetch/examine all rows from the table).

     If you want to get your queries as fast as possible, you should
     look out for `Using filesort' and `Using temporary'.

You can get a good indication of how good a join is by multiplying all
values in the `rows' column of the `EXPLAIN' output. This should tell
you roughly how many rows MySQL must examine to execute the query. This
number is also used when you restrict queries with the `max_join_size'
variable.  *Note Server parameters::.

The following example shows how a `JOIN' can be optimized progressively
using the information provided by `EXPLAIN'.

Suppose you have the `SELECT' statement shown here, that you examine
using `EXPLAIN':

     EXPLAIN SELECT tt.TicketNumber, tt.TimeIn,
                 tt.ProjectReference, tt.EstimatedShipDate,
                 tt.ActualShipDate, tt.ClientID,
                 tt.ServiceCodes, tt.RepetitiveID,
                 tt.CurrentProcess, tt.CurrentDPPerson,
                 tt.RecordVolume, tt.DPPrinted, et.COUNTRY,
                 et_1.COUNTRY, do.CUSTNAME
             FROM tt, et, et AS et_1, do
             WHERE tt.SubmitTime IS NULL
                 AND tt.ActualPC = et.EMPLOYID
                 AND tt.AssignedPC = et_1.EMPLOYID
                 AND tt.ClientID = do.CUSTNMBR;

For this example, assume that:

   * The columns being compared have been declared as follows:

     *Table* *Column*   *Column
                        type*
     `tt'    `ActualPC' `CHAR(10)'
     `tt'    `AssignedPC'`CHAR(10)'
     `tt'    `ClientID' `CHAR(10)'
     `et'    `EMPLOYID' `CHAR(15)'
     `do'    `CUSTNMBR' `CHAR(15)'

   * The tables have the indexes shown here:

     *Table* *Index*
     `tt'    `ActualPC'
     `tt'    `AssignedPC'
     `tt'    `ClientID'
     `et'    `EMPLOYID' (primary
             key)
     `do'    `CUSTNMBR' (primary
             key)

   * The `tt.ActualPC' values aren't evenly distributed.

Initially, before any optimizations have been performed, the `EXPLAIN'
statement produces the following information:

     table type possible_keys                key  key_len ref  rows  Extra
     et    ALL  PRIMARY                      NULL NULL    NULL 74
     do    ALL  PRIMARY                      NULL NULL    NULL 2135
     et_1  ALL  PRIMARY                      NULL NULL    NULL 74
     tt    ALL  AssignedPC,ClientID,ActualPC NULL NULL    NULL 3872
           range checked for each record (key map: 35)

Because `type' is `ALL' for each table, this output indicates that
MySQL is generating a Cartesian product of all the tables!  This will
take quite a long time, as the product of the number of rows in each
table must be examined!  For the case at hand, this is `74 * 2135 * 74
* 3872 = 45,268,558,720' rows.  If the tables were bigger, you can only
imagine how long it would take.

One problem here is that MySQL can't (yet) use indexes on columns
efficiently if they are declared differently.  In this context,
`VARCHAR' and `CHAR' are the same unless they are declared as different
lengths. Because `tt.ActualPC' is declared as `CHAR(10)' and
`et.EMPLOYID' is declared as `CHAR(15)', there is a length mismatch.

To fix this disparity between column lengths, use `ALTER TABLE' to
lengthen `ActualPC' from 10 characters to 15 characters:

     mysql> ALTER TABLE tt MODIFY ActualPC VARCHAR(15);

Now `tt.ActualPC' and `et.EMPLOYID' are both `VARCHAR(15)'.  Executing
the `EXPLAIN' statement again produces this result:

     table type   possible_keys   key     key_len ref         rows    Extra
     tt    ALL    AssignedPC,ClientID,ActualPC NULL NULL NULL 3872    Using where
     do    ALL    PRIMARY         NULL    NULL    NULL        2135
           range checked for each record (key map: 1)
     et_1  ALL    PRIMARY         NULL    NULL    NULL        74
           range checked for each record (key map: 1)
     et    eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY 15      tt.ActualPC 1

This is not perfect, but is much better (the product of the `rows'
values is now less by a factor of 74). This version is executed in a
couple of seconds.

A second alteration can be made to eliminate the column length
mismatches for the `tt.AssignedPC = et_1.EMPLOYID' and `tt.ClientID =
do.CUSTNMBR' comparisons:

     mysql> ALTER TABLE tt MODIFY AssignedPC VARCHAR(15),
         ->                MODIFY ClientID   VARCHAR(15);

Now `EXPLAIN' produces the output shown here:

     table type   possible_keys   key      key_len ref           rows Extra
     et    ALL    PRIMARY         NULL     NULL    NULL          74
     tt    ref    AssignedPC,     ActualPC 15      et.EMPLOYID   52   Using where
                  ClientID,
                  ActualPC
     et_1  eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY  15      tt.AssignedPC 1
     do    eq_ref PRIMARY         PRIMARY  15      tt.ClientID   1

This is almost as good as it can get.

The remaining problem is that, by default, MySQL assumes that values in
the `tt.ActualPC' column are evenly distributed, and that isn't the
case for the `tt' table.  Fortunately, it is easy to tell MySQL about
this:

     shell> myisamchk --analyze PATH_TO_MYSQL_DATABASE/tt
     shell> mysqladmin refresh

Now the join is perfect, and `EXPLAIN' produces this result:

     table type   possible_keys key     key_len ref           rows Extra
     tt    ALL    AssignedPC    NULL    NULL    NULL          3872 Using where
                  ClientID,
                  ActualPC
     et    eq_ref PRIMARY       PRIMARY 15      tt.ActualPC   1
     et_1  eq_ref PRIMARY       PRIMARY 15      tt.AssignedPC 1
     do    eq_ref PRIMARY       PRIMARY 15      tt.ClientID   1

Note that the `rows' column in the output from `EXPLAIN' is an educated
guess from the MySQL join optimizer. To optimize a query, you should
check if the numbers are even close to the truth.  If not, you may get
better performance by using `STRAIGHT_JOIN' in your `SELECT' statement
and trying to list the tables in a different order in the `FROM' clause.

Estimating Query Performance
----------------------------

In most cases you can estimate the performance by counting disk seeks.
For small tables, you can usually find the row in 1 disk seek (as the
index is probably cached).  For bigger tables, you can estimate that
(using B++ tree indexes) you will need: `log(row_count) /
log(index_block_length / 3 * 2 / (index_length + data_pointer_length)) +
1' seeks to find a row.

In MySQL an index block is usually 1024 bytes and the data pointer is
usually 4 bytes. A 500,000 row table with an index length of 3 (medium
integer) gives you: `log(500,000)/log(1024/3*2/(3+4)) + 1' = 4 seeks.

As the above index would require about 500,000 * 7 * 3/2 = 5.2M,
(assuming that the index buffers are filled to 2/3, which is typical)
you will probably have much of the index in memory and you will probably
only need 1-2 calls to read data from the OS to find the row.

For writes, however, you will need 4 seek requests (as above) to find
where to place the new index and normally 2 seeks to update the index
and write the row.

Note that the above doesn't mean that your application will slowly
degenerate by log N!  As long as everything is cached by the OS or SQL
server, things will go only marginally slower while the table gets
bigger. After the data gets too big to be cached, things will start to
go much slower until your applications is only bound by disk-seeks
(which increase by log N). To avoid this, increase the index cache as
the data grows. *Note Server parameters::.

Speed of `SELECT' Queries
-------------------------

In general, when you want to make a slow `SELECT ... WHERE' faster, the
first thing to check is whether you can add an index. *Note MySQL
indexes: MySQL indexes. All references between different tables should
usually be done with indexes. You can use the `EXPLAIN' command to
determine which indexes are used for a `SELECT'.  *Note `EXPLAIN':
EXPLAIN.

Some general tips:

   * To help MySQL optimize queries better, run `myisamchk --analyze'
     on a table after it has been loaded with relevant data. This
     updates a value for each index part that indicates the average
     number of rows that have the same value.  (For unique indexes,
     this is always 1.)  MySQL will use this to decide which index to
     choose when you connect two tables with 'a non-constant
     expression'.  You can check the result from the `analyze' run by
     doing `SHOW INDEX FROM table_name' and examining the `Cardinality'
     column.

   * To sort an index and data according to an index, use `myisamchk
     --sort-index --sort-records=1' (if you want to sort on index 1).
     If you have a unique index from which you want to read all records
     in order according to that index, this is a good way to make that
     faster.  Note, however, that this sorting isn't written optimally
     and will take a long time for a large table!

How MySQL Optimizes `WHERE' Clauses
-----------------------------------

The `WHERE' optimizations are put in the `SELECT' part here because
they are mostly used with `SELECT', but the same optimizations apply for
`WHERE' in `DELETE' and `UPDATE' statements.

Also note that this section is incomplete. MySQL does many
optimizations, and we have not had time to document them all.

Some of the optimizations performed by MySQL are listed here:

   * Removal of unnecessary parentheses:
             ((a AND b) AND c OR (((a AND b) AND (c AND d))))
          -> (a AND b AND c) OR (a AND b AND c AND d)

   * Constant folding:
             (a<b AND b=c) AND a=5
          -> b>5 AND b=c AND a=5

   * Constant condition removal (needed because of constant folding):
             (B>=5 AND B=5) OR (B=6 AND 5=5) OR (B=7 AND 5=6)
          -> B=5 OR B=6

   * Constant expressions used by indexes are evaluated only once.

   * `COUNT(*)' on a single table without a `WHERE' is retrieved
     directly from the table information for `MyISAM' and `HEAP' tables.
     This is also done for any `NOT NULL' expression when used with
     only one table.

   * Early detection of invalid constant expressions. MySQL quickly
     detects that some `SELECT' statements are impossible and returns
     no rows.

   * `HAVING' is merged with `WHERE' if you don't use `GROUP BY' or
     group functions (`COUNT()', `MIN()'...).

   * For each sub-join, a simpler `WHERE' is constructed to get a fast
     `WHERE' evaluation for each sub-join and also to skip records as
     soon as possible.

   * All constant tables are read first, before any other tables in the
     query.  A constant table is:
        - An empty table or a table with 1 row.

        - A table that is used with a `WHERE' clause on a `UNIQUE'
          index, or a `PRIMARY KEY', where all index parts are used
          with constant expressions and the index parts are defined as
          `NOT NULL'.
     All the following tables are used as constant tables:
          mysql> SELECT * FROM t WHERE primary_key=1;
          mysql> SELECT * FROM t1,t2
              ->          WHERE t1.primary_key=1 AND t2.primary_key=t1.id;

   * The best join combination to join the tables is found by trying all
     possibilities. If all columns in `ORDER BY' and in `GROUP BY' come
     from the same table, then this table is preferred first when
     joining.

   * If there is an `ORDER BY' clause and a different `GROUP BY'
     clause, or if the `ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY' contains columns from
     tables other than the first table in the join queue, a temporary
     table is created.

   * If you use `SQL_SMALL_RESULT', MySQL will use an in-memory
     temporary table.

   * Each table index is queried, and the best index that spans fewer
     than 30% of the rows is used. If no such index can be found, a
     quick table scan is used.

   * In some cases, MySQL can read rows from the index without even
     consulting the datafile.  If all columns used from the index are
     numeric, only the index tree is used to resolve the query.

   * Before each record is output, those that do not match the `HAVING'
     clause are skipped.

Some examples of queries that are very fast:

     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tbl_name;
     mysql> SELECT MIN(key_part1),MAX(key_part1) FROM tbl_name;
     mysql> SELECT MAX(key_part2) FROM tbl_name
         ->        WHERE key_part_1=constant;
     mysql> SELECT ... FROM tbl_name
         ->        ORDER BY key_part1,key_part2,... LIMIT 10;
     mysql> SELECT ... FROM tbl_name
         ->        ORDER BY key_part1 DESC,key_part2 DESC,... LIMIT 10;

The following queries are resolved using only the index tree (assuming
the indexed columns are numeric):

     mysql> SELECT key_part1,key_part2 FROM tbl_name WHERE key_part1=val;
     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM tbl_name
         ->        WHERE key_part1=val1 AND key_part2=val2;
     mysql> SELECT key_part2 FROM tbl_name GROUP BY key_part1;

The following queries use indexing to retrieve the rows in sorted order
without a separate sorting pass:

     mysql> SELECT ... FROM tbl_name
         ->            ORDER BY key_part1,key_part2,... ;
     mysql> SELECT ... FROM tbl_name
         ->            ORDER BY key_part1 DESC,key_part2 DESC,... ;

How MySQL Optimizes `OR' Clauses
--------------------------------

The `Merge Index' method is used to retrieve rows with several `ref',
`ref_or_null' or `range' scans and merge the results into one.  This
method is employed when the table condition is a disjunction of
conditions for which `ref', `ref_or_null', or `range' could be used
with different keys.  The `key' column contains a list of used indexes.
`key_len' contains a list of the longest key parts of the used indexes.

Example:

     SELECT * FROM table WHERE key1column = 10 OR key2column = 20;
     
     SELECT * FROM table WHERE
       (key1column = 10 OR key2column = 20) AND nonkeycolumn=30;
     
     SELECT * FROM t1,t2 WHERE
       (t1.key1 IN (1,2) OR t1.key2 LIKE 'value%') AND t2.key1=t1.somefield
     
     SELECT * FROM t1,t2 WHERE
       t1.key1=1 AND (t2.key1=t1.somefield OR t2.key2=t1.somefield2)

This "join" type optimization is new in MySQL 5.0.0, and represents a
significant change in behaviour with regard to indexes since the _old_
rule was that the server is only ever able to use at most one index for
each referenced table.

How MySQL Optimizes `IS NULL'
-----------------------------

MySQL can do the same optimization on `column IS NULL' as it can do
with `column = constant_value'.  For example, MySQL can use indexes and
ranges to search for `NULL' with `IS NULL'.

     SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE key_col IS NULL;
     
     SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE key_col <=> NULL;
     
     SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE key_col=# OR key_col=# OR key_col IS NULL

If you use `column_name IS NULL' on a `NOT NULL' in a `WHERE' clause on
table that is not used `OUTER JOIN' that expression will be optimized
away.

MySQL 4.1.1 can additionally optimize the combination `column = expr
AND column IS NULL', an form that is common in resolved sub queries.
`EXPLAIN' will show `ref_or_null' when this optimization is used.

This optimization can handle one `IS NULL' for any key part.

Some examples of queries that are optimized (assuming key on t2 (a,b)):

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE t1.a=expr OR t1.a IS NULL;
     
     SELECT * FROM t1,t2 WHERE t1.a=t2.a OR t2.a IS NULL;
     
     SELECT * FROM t1,t2 WHERE (t1.a=t2.a OR t2.a IS NULL) AND t2.b=t1.b;
     
     SELECT * FROM t1,t2 WHERE t1.a=t2.a AND (t2.b=t1.b OR t2.b IS NULL);
     
     SELECT * FROM t1,t2 WHERE (t1.a=t2.a AND t2.a IS NULL AND ...) OR (t1.a=t2.a AND t2.a IS NULL AND ...);

`ref_or_null' works by first doing a read on the reference key and
after that a separate search after rows with NULL key.

Note that the optimization can only handle one `IS NULL' level.

     SELECT * FROM t1,t2 where (t1.a=t2.a AND t2.a IS NULL) OR (t1.b=t2.b AND t2.b IS NULL);

Int the above case MySQL will only use key lookups on the part
`(t1.a=t2.a AND t2.a IS NULL)' and not be able to use the key part on
`b'.

How MySQL Optimizes `DISTINCT'
------------------------------

`DISTINCT' combined with `ORDER BY' will in many cases need a temporary
table.

Note that as `DISTINCT' may use `GROUP BY', you should be aware of how
MySQL works with in fields in `ORDER BY' or `HAVING' that are not part
of the selected fields. *Note GROUP-BY-hidden-fields::.

When combining `LIMIT row_count' with `DISTINCT', MySQL will stop as
soon as it finds `row_count' unique rows.

If you don't use columns from all used tables, MySQL will stop the
scanning of the not used tables as soon as it has found the first match.

     SELECT DISTINCT t1.a FROM t1,t2 where t1.a=t2.a;

In this case, assuming `t1' is used before `t2' (check with `EXPLAIN'),
then MySQL will stop reading from `t2' (for that particular row in
`t1') when the first row in `t2' is found.

How MySQL Optimizes `LEFT JOIN' and `RIGHT JOIN'
------------------------------------------------

`A LEFT JOIN B join_condition' in MySQL is implemented as follows:

   * The table `B' is set to be dependent on table `A' and all tables
     that `A' is dependent on.

   * The table `A' is set to be dependent on all tables (except `B')
     that are used in the `LEFT JOIN' condition.

   * The `LEFT JOIN' condition is used to decide how we should retrieve
     rows from table B. (In other words, any condition in the `WHERE'
     clause is not used).

   * All standard join optimizations are done, with the exception that
     a table is always read after all tables it is dependent on.  If
     there is a circular dependence then MySQL will issue an error.

   * All standard `WHERE' optimizations are done.

   * If there is a row in `A' that matches the `WHERE' clause, but there
     wasn't any row in `B' that matched the `ON' condition, then an
     extra `B' row is generated with all columns set to `NULL'.

   * If you use `LEFT JOIN' to find rows that don't exist in some table
     and you have the following test: `column_name IS NULL' in the
     `WHERE' part, where column_name is a column that is declared as
     `NOT NULL', then MySQL will stop searching after more rows (for a
     particular key combination) after it has found one row that
     matches the `LEFT JOIN' condition.

`RIGHT JOIN' is implemented analogously to `LEFT JOIN'.

The table read order forced by `LEFT JOIN' and `STRAIGHT JOIN' will
help the join optimizer (which calculates in which order tables should
be joined) to do its work much more quickly, as there are fewer table
permutations to check.

Note that the above means that if you do a query of type:

     SELECT * FROM a,b LEFT JOIN c ON (c.key=a.key) LEFT JOIN d (d.key=a.key)
              WHERE b.key=d.key

MySQL will do a full scan on `b' as the `LEFT JOIN' will force it to be
read before `d'.

The fix in this case is to change the query to:

     SELECT * FROM b,a LEFT JOIN c ON (c.key=a.key) LEFT JOIN d (d.key=a.key)
              WHERE b.key=d.key

Starting from 4.0.14, MySQL does the following `LEFT JOIN' optimization:

If the `WHERE' condition is always be false for the generated `NULL'
row, the `LEFT JOIN' is changed to a normal join.

For example, in the following query the `WHERE' clause would be false
if t2.column would be `NULL' so it's safe to convert to a normal join.

     SELECT * FROM t1 LEFT t2 ON (column) WHERE t2.column2 =5;
     ->
     SELECT * FROM t1,t2 WHERE t2.column2=5 AND t1.column=t2.column;

This can be made faster as MySQL can now use table `t2' before table
`t1' if this would result in a better query plan.  To force a specific
table order, use `STRAIGHT JOIN'.

How MySQL Optimizes `ORDER BY'
------------------------------

In some cases MySQL can uses index to satisfy an `ORDER BY' or `GROUP
BY' request without doing any extra sorting.

The index can also be used even if the `ORDER BY' doesn't match the
index exactly, as long as all the unused index parts and all the extra
are `ORDER BY' columns are constants in the `WHERE' clause. The
following queries will use the index to resolve the `ORDER BY' / `GROUP
BY' part:

     SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BY key_part1,key_part2,...
     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE key_part1=constant ORDER BY key_part2
     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE key_part1=constant GROUP BY key_part2
     SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BY key_part1 DESC,key_part2 DESC
     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE key_part1=1 ORDER BY key_part1 DESC,key_part2 DESC

Some cases where MySQL can *not* use indexes to resolve the `ORDER BY':
(Note that MySQL will still use indexes to find the rows that matches
the `WHERE' clause):

   * You are doing an `ORDER BY' on different keys:

     `SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BY key1,key2'

   * You are doing an `ORDER BY' using non-consecutive key parts.

     `SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE key2=constant ORDER BY key_part2'

   * You are mixing `ASC' and `DESC'.

     `SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BY key_part1 DESC,key_part2 ASC'

   * The key used to fetch the rows are not the same one that is used to
     do the `ORDER BY':

     `SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE key2=constant ORDER BY key1'

   * You are joining many tables and the columns you are doing an `ORDER
     BY' on are not all from the first not-`const' table that is used to
     retrieve rows (This is the first table in the `EXPLAIN' output
     which doesn't use a `const' row fetch method).

   * You have different `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' expressions.

   * The used table index is an index type that doesn't store rows in
     order.  (Like the `HASH' index in `HEAP' tables).

In the cases where MySQL have to sort the result, it uses the following
algorithm:

   * Read all rows according to key or by table scanning.  Rows that
     don't match the `WHERE' clause are skipped.

   * Store the sort-key in a buffer (of size `sort_buffer').

   * When the buffer gets full, run a qsort on it and store the result
     in a temporary file.  Save a pointer to the sorted block.  (In the
     case where all rows fits into the sort buffer, no temporary file
     is created)

   * Repeat the above until all rows have been read.

   * Do a multi-merge of up to `MERGEBUFF' (7) regions to one block in
     another temporary file.  Repeat until all blocks from the first
     file are in the second file.

   * Repeat the following until there is less than `MERGEBUFF2' (15)
     blocks left.

   * On the last multi-merge, only the pointer to the row (last part of
     the sort-key) is written to a result file.

   * Now the code in `sql/records.cc' will be used to read through them
     in sorted order by using the row pointers in the result file.  To
     optimize this, we read in a big block of row pointers, sort these
     and then we read the rows in the sorted order into a row buffer
     (`read_rnd_buffer_size') .

You can with `EXPLAIN SELECT ... ORDER BY' check if MySQL can use
indexes to resolve the query.  If you get `Using filesort' in the
`extra' column, then MySQL can't use indexes to resolve the `ORDER BY'.
*Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN.

If you want to have a higher `ORDER BY' speed, you should first see if
you can get MySQL to use indexes instead of having to do an extra
sorting phase. If this is not possible, then you can do:

   * Increase the size of the `sort_buffer_size' variable.

   * Increase the size of the `read_rnd_buffer_size' variable.

   * Change `tmpdir' to point to a dedicated disk with lots of empty
     space.  If you use MySQL 4.1 or later you can spread load between
     several physical disks by setting `tmpdir' to a list of paths
     separated by colon `:' (semicolon `;' on Windows). They will be
     used in round-robin fashion.  *Note:* These paths should end up on
     different *physical* disks, not different partitions of the same
     disk.

By default, MySQL sorts all `GROUP BY x,y[,...]' queries as if you
specified `ORDER BY x,y[,...]' in the query as well. If you include the
`ORDER BY' clause explicitly,  MySQL optimizes it away without any speed
penalty, though the sorting still occurs.  If a query includes `GROUP
BY' but you want to avoid the overhead of sorting the result, you can
supress sorting by specifying `ORDER BY NULL':

     INSERT INTO foo SELECT a,COUNT(*) FROM bar GROUP BY a ORDER BY NULL;

How MySQL Optimizes `LIMIT'
---------------------------

In some cases MySQL will handle the query differently when you are
using `LIMIT row_count' and not using `HAVING':

   * If you are selecting only a few rows with `LIMIT', MySQL will use
     indexes in some cases when it normally would prefer to do a full
     table scan.

   * If you use `LIMIT row_count' with `ORDER BY', MySQL will end the
     sorting as soon as it has found the first `row_count' lines
     instead of sorting the whole table.

   * When combining `LIMIT row_count' with `DISTINCT', MySQL will stop
     as soon as it finds `row_count' unique rows.

   * In some cases a `GROUP BY' can be resolved by reading the key in
     order (or do a sort on the key) and then calculate summaries until
     the key value changes.  In this case `LIMIT row_count' will not
     calculate any unnecessary `GROUP BY' values.

   * As soon as MySQL has sent the first `#' rows to the client, it
     will abort the query (if you are not using `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS').

   * `LIMIT 0' will always quickly return an empty set.  This is useful
     to check the query and to get the column types of the result
     columns.

   * When the server uses temporary tables to resolve the query, the
     `LIMIT row_count' is used to calculate how much space is required.

Speed of `INSERT' Queries
-------------------------

The time to insert a record consists approximately of:

   * Connect:                 (3)

   * Sending query to server: (2)

   * Parsing query:           (2)

   * Inserting record:        (1 x size of record)

   * Inserting indexes:       (1 x number of indexes)

   * Close:                   (1)

where the numbers are somewhat proportional to the overall time. This
does not take into consideration the initial overhead to open tables
(which is done once for each concurrently running query).

The size of the table slows down the insertion of indexes by log N
(B-trees).

Some ways to speed up inserts:

   * If you are inserting many rows from the same client at the same
     time, use multiple value lists `INSERT' statements. This is much
     faster (many times in some cases) than using separate `INSERT'
     statements.  If you are adding data to non-empty table, you may
     tune up the `bulk_insert_buffer_size' variable to make it even
     faster.  *Note `bulk_insert_buffer_size': SHOW VARIABLES.

   * If you are inserting a lot of rows from different clients, you can
     get higher speed by using the `INSERT DELAYED' statement. *Note
     `INSERT': INSERT.

   * Note that with `MyISAM' tables you can insert rows at the same time
     `SELECT' statements are running if there are no deleted rows in
     the tables.

   * When loading a table from a text file, use `LOAD DATA INFILE'. This
     is usually 20 times faster than using a lot of `INSERT' statements.
     *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

   * It is possible with some extra work to make `LOAD DATA INFILE' run
     even faster when the table has many indexes. Use the following
     procedure:

       1. Optionally create the table with `CREATE TABLE'. For example,
          using `mysql' or Perl-DBI.

       2. Execute a `FLUSH TABLES' statement or the shell command
          `mysqladmin flush-tables'.

       3. Use `myisamchk --keys-used=0 -rq /path/to/db/tbl_name'. This
          will remove all usage of all indexes from the table.

       4. Insert data into the table with `LOAD DATA INFILE'. This will
          not update any indexes and will therefore be very fast.

       5. If you are going to only read the table in the future, run
          `myisampack' on it to make it smaller. *Note Compressed
          format::.

       6. Re-create the indexes with `myisamchk -r -q
          /path/to/db/tbl_name'. This will create the index tree in
          memory before writing it to disk, which is much faster
          because it avoids lots of disk seeks. The resulting index
          tree is also perfectly balanced.

       7. Execute a `FLUSH TABLES' statement or the shell command
          `mysqladmin flush-tables'.

     Note that `LOAD DATA INFILE' also does the above optimization if
     you insert into an empty table; the main difference with the above
     procedure is that you can let `myisamchk' allocate much more
     temporary memory for the index creation that you may want MySQL to
     allocate for every index recreation.

     Since MySQL 4.0 you can also use `ALTER TABLE tbl_name DISABLE
     KEYS' instead of `myisamchk --keys-used=0 -rq
     /path/to/db/tbl_name' and `ALTER TABLE tbl_name ENABLE KEYS'
     instead of `myisamchk -r -q /path/to/db/tbl_name'. This way you
     can also skip `FLUSH TABLES' steps.

   * You can speed up insertions that are done using multiple
     statements by locking your tables:

          mysql> LOCK TABLES a WRITE;
          mysql> INSERT INTO a VALUES (1,23),(2,34),(4,33);
          mysql> INSERT INTO a VALUES (8,26),(6,29);
          mysql> UNLOCK TABLES;

     The main speed difference is that the index buffer is flushed to
     disk only once, after all `INSERT' statements have completed.
     Normally there would be as many index buffer flushes as there are
     different `INSERT' statements. Locking is not needed if you can
     insert all rows with a single statement.

     For transactional tables, you should use `BEGIN/COMMIT' instead of
     `LOCK TABLES' to get a speedup.

     Locking will also lower the total time of multi-connection tests,
     but the maximum wait time for some threads will go up (because
     they wait for locks).  For example:

          thread 1 does 1000 inserts
          thread 2, 3, and 4 does 1 insert
          thread 5 does 1000 inserts

     If you don't use locking, 2, 3, and 4 will finish before 1 and 5.
     If you use locking, 2, 3, and 4 probably will not finish before 1
     or 5, but the total time should be about 40% faster.

     As `INSERT', `UPDATE', and `DELETE' operations are very fast in
     MySQL, you will obtain better overall performance by adding locks
     around everything that does more than about 5 inserts or updates
     in a row.  If you do very many inserts in a row, you could do a
     `LOCK TABLES' followed by an `UNLOCK TABLES' once in a while
     (about each 1000 rows) to allow other threads access to the table.
     This would still result in a nice performance gain.

     `LOAD DATA INFILE' is much faster for loading data.

To get some more speed for both `LOAD DATA INFILE' and `INSERT',
enlarge the key buffer. *Note Server parameters::.

Speed of `UPDATE' Queries
-------------------------

Update queries are optimized as a `SELECT' query with the additional
overhead of a write. The speed of the write is dependent on the size of
the data that is being updated and the number of indexes that are
updated.  Indexes that are not changed will not be updated.

Also, another way to get fast updates is to delay updates and then do
many updates in a row later. Doing many updates in a row is much quicker
than doing one at a time if you lock the table.

Note that, with dynamic record format, updating a record to a longer
total length may split the record.  So if you do this often, it is very
important to `OPTIMIZE TABLE' sometimes.  *Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE':
OPTIMIZE TABLE.

Speed of `DELETE' Queries
-------------------------

If you want to delete all rows in the table, you should use `TRUNCATE
TABLE table_name'. *Note `TRUNCATE': TRUNCATE.

The time to delete a record is exactly proportional to the number of
indexes. To delete records more quickly, you can increase the size of
the index cache. *Note Server parameters::.

Other Optimization Tips
-----------------------

Unsorted tips for faster systems:

   * Use persistent connections to the database to avoid the connection
     overhead. If you can't use persistent connections and you are
     doing a lot of new connections to the database, you may want to
     change the value of the `thread_cache_size' variable. *Note Server
     parameters::.

   * Always check that all your queries really use the indexes you have
     created in the tables. In MySQL you can do this with the `EXPLAIN'
     command. *Note Explain: (manual)EXPLAIN.

   * Try to avoid complex `SELECT' queries on `MyISAM' tables that are
     updated a lot. This is to avoid problems with table locking.

   * With `MyISAM' tables that have no deleted rows, you can insert rows
     at the same time another query is reading from it.  If this is
     important for you, you should consider methods where you don't
     have to delete rows or run `OPTIMIZE TABLE' after you have deleted
     a lot of rows.

   * Use `ALTER TABLE ... ORDER BY expr1,expr2...' if you mostly
     retrieve rows in `expr1,expr2...' order.  By using this option
     after big changes to the table, you may be able to get higher
     performance.

   * In some cases it may make sense to introduce a column that is
     'hashed' based on information from other columns. If this column
     is short and reasonably unique it may be much faster than a big
     index on many columns. In MySQL it's very easy to use this extra
     column: `SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE hash=MD5(CONCAT(col1,col2))
     AND col_1='constant' AND col_2='constant''

   * For tables that change a lot you should try to avoid all `VARCHAR'
     or `BLOB' columns. You will get dynamic row length as soon as you
     are using a single `VARCHAR' or `BLOB' column. *Note Table types::.

   * It's not normally useful to split a table into different tables
     just because the rows gets 'big'. To access a row, the biggest
     performance hit is the disk seek to find the first byte of the
     row. After finding the data most new disks can read the whole row
     fast enough for most applications. The only cases where it really
     matters to split up a table is if it's a dynamic row size table
     (see above) that you can change to a fixed row size, or if you
     very often need to scan the table and don't need most of the
     columns. *Note Table types::.

   * If you very often need to calculate things based on information
     from a lot of rows (like counts of things), it's probably much
     better to introduce a new table and update the counter in real
     time. An update of type `UPDATE table SET count=count+1 WHERE
     index_column=constant' is very fast!

     This is really important when you use MySQL table types like
     MyISAM and ISAM that only have table locking (multiple readers /
     single writers). This will also give better performance with most
     databases, as the row locking manager in this case will have less
     to do.

   * If you need to collect statistics from big log tables, use summary
     tables instead of scanning the whole table. Maintaining the
     summaries should be much faster than trying to do statistics
     'live'. It's much faster to regenerate new summary tables from the
     logs when things change (depending on business decisions) than to
     have to change the running application!

   * If possible, one should classify reports as 'live' or
     'statistical', where data needed for statistical reports are only
     generated based on summary tables that are generated from the
     actual data.

   * Take advantage of the fact that columns have default values. Insert
     values explicitly only when the value to be inserted differs from
     the default. This reduces the parsing that MySQL need to do and
     improves the insert speed.

   * In some cases it's convenient to pack and store data into a blob.
     In this case you have to add some extra code in your application
     to pack/unpack things in the blob, but this may save a lot of
     accesses at some stage.  This is practical when you have data that
     doesn't conform to a static table structure.

   * Normally you should try to keep all data non-redundant (what is
     called 3rd normal form in database theory), but you should not be
     afraid of duplicating things or creating summary tables if you
     need these to gain more speed.

   * Stored procedures or UDF (user-defined functions) may be a good
     way to get more performance.  In this case you should, however,
     always have a way to do this some other (slower) way if you use
     some database that doesn't support this.

   * You can always gain something by caching queries/answers in your
     application and trying to do many inserts/updates at the same
     time.  If your database supports lock tables (like MySQL and
     Oracle), this should help to ensure that the index cache is only
     flushed once after all updates.

   * Use `INSERT /*! DELAYED */' when you do not need to know when your
     data is written. This speeds things up because many records can be
     written with a single disk write.

   * Use `INSERT /*! LOW_PRIORITY */' when you want your selects to be
     more important.

   * Use `SELECT /*! HIGH_PRIORITY */' to get selects that jump the
     queue. That is, the select is done even if there is somebody
     waiting to do a write.

   * Use the multi-line `INSERT' statement to store many rows with one
     SQL command (many SQL servers supports this).

   * Use `LOAD DATA INFILE' to load bigger amounts of data. This is
     faster than normal inserts and will be even faster when `myisamchk'
     is integrated in `mysqld'.

   * Use `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns to make unique values.

   * Use `OPTIMIZE TABLE' once in a while to avoid fragmentation when
     using a dynamic table format. *Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE': OPTIMIZE
     TABLE.

   * Use `HEAP' tables to get more speed when possible. *Note Table
     types::.

   * When using a normal web server setup, images should be stored as
     files. That is, store only a file reference in the database.  The
     main reason for this is that a normal web server is much better at
     caching files than database contents. So it it's much easier to
     get a fast system if you are using files.

   * Use in memory tables for non-critical data that are accessed often
     (like information about the last shown banner for users that don't
     have cookies).

   * Columns with identical information in different tables should be
     declared identical and have identical names. Before Version 3.23
     you got slow joins otherwise.

     Try to keep the names simple (use `name' instead of
     `customer_name' in the customer table). To make your names portable
     to other SQL servers you should keep them shorter than 18
     characters.

   * If you need really high speed, you should take a look at the
     low-level interfaces for data storage that the different SQL
     servers support!  For example, by accessing the MySQL `MyISAM'
     directly, you could get a speed increase of 2-5 times compared to
     using the SQL interface.  To be able to do this the data must be
     on the same server as the application, and usually it should only
     be accessed by one process (because external file locking is
     really slow).  One could eliminate the above problems by
     introducing low-level `MyISAM' commands in the MySQL server (this
     could be one easy way to get more performance if needed).  By
     carefully designing the database interface, it should be quite
     easy to support this types of optimization.

   * In many cases it's faster to access data from a database (using a
     live connection) than accessing a text file, just because the
     database is likely to be more compact than the text file (if you
     are using numerical data), and this will involve fewer disk
     accesses.  You will also save code because you don't have to parse
     your text files to find line and column boundaries.

   * You can also use replication to speed things up. *Note
     Replication::.

   * Declaring a table with `DELAY_KEY_WRITE=1' will make the updating
     of indexes faster, as these are not logged to disk until the file
     is closed.  The downside is that you should run `myisamchk' on
     these tables before you start `mysqld' to ensure that they are
     okay if something killed `mysqld' in the middle.  As the key
     information can always be generated from the data, you should not
     lose anything by using `DELAY_KEY_WRITE'.

Locking Issues
==============

How MySQL Locks Tables
----------------------

You can find a discussion about different locking methods in the
appendix.  *Note Locking methods::.

All locking in MySQL is deadlock-free, except for `InnoDB' and `BDB'
type tables.  This is managed by always requesting all needed locks at
once at the beginning of a query and always locking the tables in the
same order.

`InnoDB' type tables automatically acquire their row locks and `BDB'
type tables their page locks during the processing of SQL statements,
not at the start of the transaction.

The locking method MySQL uses for `WRITE' locks works as follows:

   * If there are no locks on the table, put a write lock on it.

   * Otherwise, put the lock request in the write lock queue.

The locking method MySQL uses for `READ' locks works as follows:

   * If there are no write locks on the table, put a read lock on it.

   * Otherwise, put the lock request in the read lock queue.

When a lock is released, the lock is made available to the threads in
the write lock queue, then to the threads in the read lock queue.

This means that if you have many updates on a table, `SELECT'
statements will wait until there are no more updates.

To work around this for the case where you want to do many `INSERT' and
`SELECT' operations on a table, you can insert rows in a temporary
table and update the real table with the records from the temporary
table once in a while.

This can be done with the following code:
     mysql> LOCK TABLES real_table WRITE, insert_table WRITE;
     mysql> INSERT INTO real_table SELECT * FROM insert_table;
     mysql> TRUNCATE TABLE insert_table;
     mysql> UNLOCK TABLES;

You can use the `LOW_PRIORITY' options with `INSERT', `UPDATE' or
`DELETE' or `HIGH_PRIORITY' with `SELECT' if you want to prioritize
retrieval in some specific cases.  You can also start `mysqld' with
`--low-priority-updates' to get the same behavior.

Using `SQL_BUFFER_RESULT' can also help making table locks shorter.
*Note `SELECT': SELECT.

You could also change the locking code in `mysys/thr_lock.c' to use a
single queue.  In this case, write locks and read locks would have the
same priority, which might help some applications.

Table Locking Issues
--------------------

The table locking code in MySQL is deadlock free.

MySQL uses table locking (instead of row locking or column locking) on
all table types, except `InnoDB' and `BDB' tables, to achieve a very
high lock speed.  For large tables, table locking is much better than
row locking for most applications, but there are some pitfalls.

For `InnoDB' and `BDB' tables, MySQL only uses table locking if you
explicitly lock the table with `LOCK TABLES'.  For these table types we
recommend you to not use `LOCK TABLES' at all, because `InnoDB' uses
automatic row level locking and `BDB' uses page level locking to ensure
transaction isolation.

As of MySQL Version 3.23.7 (3.23.25 for Windows), you can insert rows
into `MyISAM' tables at the same time other threads are reading from the
table.  Note that currently this works only if there are no holes
resulting from deleted rows in the table at the time the insert is
made. When all holes has been filled with new data, concurrent inserts
will automatically be enabled again.

Table locking enables many threads to read from a table at the same
time, but if a thread wants to write to a table, it must first get
exclusive access.  During the update, all other threads that want to
access this particular table will wait until the update is ready.

As updates on tables normally are considered to be more important than
`SELECT', all statements that update a table have higher priority than
statements that retrieve information from a table. This should ensure
that updates are not 'starved' because one issues a lot of heavy
queries against a specific table. (You can change this by using
`LOW_PRIORITY' with the statement that does the update or
`HIGH_PRIORITY' with the `SELECT' statement.)

Starting from MySQL Version 3.23.7 one can use the
`max_write_lock_count' variable to force MySQL to temporary give all
`SELECT' statements, that wait for a table, a higher priority after a
specific number of inserts on a table.

Table locking is, however, not very good under the following scenario:

   * A client issues a `SELECT' that takes a long time to run.

   * Another client then issues an `UPDATE' on a used table. This client
     will wait until the `SELECT' is finished.

   * Another client issues another `SELECT' statement on the same
     table. As `UPDATE' has higher priority than `SELECT', this `SELECT'
     will wait for the `UPDATE' to finish.  It will also wait for the
     first `SELECT' to finish!

   * A thread is waiting for something like `full disk', in which case
     all threads that wants to access the problem table will also be
     put in a waiting state until more disk space is made available.

Some possible solutions to this problem are:

   * Try to get the `SELECT' statements to run faster. You may have to
     create some summary tables to do this.

   * Start `mysqld' with `--low-priority-updates'.  This will give all
     statements that update (modify) a table lower priority than a
     `SELECT' statement. In this case the last `SELECT' statement in
     the previous scenario would execute before the `INSERT' statement.

   * You can give a specific `INSERT', `UPDATE', or `DELETE' statement
     lower priority with the `LOW_PRIORITY' attribute.

   * Start `mysqld' with a low value for `max_write_lock_count' to give
     `READ' locks after a certain number of `WRITE' locks.

   * You can specify that all updates from a specific thread should be
     done with low priority by using the SQL command: `SET
     LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES=1'.  *Note `SET': SET OPTION.

   * You can specify that a specific `SELECT' is very important with the
     `HIGH_PRIORITY' attribute. *Note `SELECT': SELECT.

   * If you have problems with `INSERT' combined with `SELECT', switch
     to use the new `MyISAM' tables as these support concurrent
     `SELECT' and `INSERT' statements.

   * If you mainly mix `INSERT' and `SELECT' statements, the `DELAYED'
     attribute to `INSERT' will probably solve your problems.  *Note
     `INSERT': INSERT.

   * If you have problems with `SELECT' and `DELETE', the `LIMIT'
     option to `DELETE' may help. *Note `DELETE': DELETE.

Optimizing Database Structure
=============================

Design Choices
--------------

MySQL keeps row data and index data in separate files. Many (almost
all) other databases mix row and index data in the same file. We
believe that the MySQL choice is better for a very wide range of modern
systems.

Another way to store the row data is to keep the information for each
column in a separate area (examples are SDBM and Focus). This will
cause a performance hit for every query that accesses more than one
column. Because this degenerates so quickly when more than one column
is accessed, we believe that this model is not good for general purpose
databases.

The more common case is that the index and data are stored together (as
in Oracle/Sybase et al). In this case you will find the row information
at the leaf page of the index. The good thing with this layout is that
it, in many cases, depending on how well the index is cached, saves a
disk read.  The bad things with this layout are:

   * Table scanning is much slower because you have to read through the
     indexes to get at the data.

   * You can't use only the index table to retrieve data for a query.

   * You lose a lot of space, as you must duplicate indexes from the
     nodes (as you can't store the row in the nodes).

   * Deletes will degenerate the table over time (as indexes in nodes
     are usually not updated on delete).

   * It's harder to cache only the index data.

Get Your Data as Small as Possible
----------------------------------

One of the most basic optimization is to get your data (and indexes) to
take as little space on the disk (and in memory) as possible. This can
give huge improvements because disk reads are faster and normally less
main memory will be used. Indexing also takes less resources if done on
smaller columns.

MySQL supports a lot of different table types and row formats.
Choosing the right table format may give you a big performance gain.
*Note Table types::.

You can get better performance on a table and minimise storage space
using the techniques listed here:

   * Use the most efficient (smallest) types possible. MySQL has many
     specialized types that save disk space and memory.

   * Use the smaller integer types if possible to get smaller tables.
     For example, `MEDIUMINT' is often better than `INT'.

   * Declare columns to be `NOT NULL' if possible. It makes everything
     faster and you save one bit per column. Note that if you really
     need `NULL' in your application you should definitely use it. Just
     avoid having it on all columns by default.

   * If you don't have any variable-length columns (`VARCHAR', `TEXT',
     or `BLOB' columns), a fixed-size record format is used. This is
     faster but unfortunately may waste some space.  *Note `MyISAM'
     table formats: MyISAM table formats.

   * The primary index of a table should be as short as possible. This
     makes identification of one row easy and efficient.

   * For each table, you have to decide which storage/index method to
     use. *Note Table types::.

   * Only create the indexes that you really need. Indexes are good for
     retrieval but bad when you need to store things fast. If you mostly
     access a table by searching on a combination of columns, make an
     index on them. The first index part should be the most used
     column. If you are *always* using many columns, you should use the
     column with more duplicates first to get better compression of the
     index.

   * If it's very likely that a column has a unique prefix on the first
     number of characters, it's better to only index this prefix. MySQL
     supports an index on a part of a character column. Shorter indexes
     are faster not only because they take less disk space but also
     because they will give you more hits in the index cache and thus
     fewer disk seeks. *Note Server parameters::.

   * In some circumstances it can be beneficial to split into two a
     table that is scanned very often. This is especially true if it is
     a dynamic format table and it is possible to use a smaller static
     format table that can be used to find the relevant rows when
     scanning the table.

How MySQL Uses Indexes
----------------------

Indexes are used to find rows with specific column values fast. Without
an index MySQL has to start with the first record and then read through
the whole table to find the relevant rows. The bigger the table, the
more this costs. If the table has an index for the columns in question,
MySQL can quickly get a position to seek to in the middle of the
datafile without having to look at all the data. If a table has 1000
rows, this is at least 100 times faster than reading sequentially. Note
that if you need to access almost all 1000 rows, it is faster to read
sequentially, because that minimises disk seeks.

All MySQL indexes (`PRIMARY KEY', `UNIQUE', and `INDEX') are stored in
B-trees. Strings are automatically prefix- and end-space compressed.
*Note `CREATE INDEX': CREATE INDEX.

Indexes are used in the following ways:
   * To quickly find the rows that match a `WHERE' clause.

   * To retrieve rows from other tables when performing joins.

   * To find the `MAX()' or `MIN()' value for a specific indexed
     column. This is optimized by a preprocessor that checks if you are
     using `WHERE' key_part_# = constant on all key parts < N.  In this
     case MySQL will do a single key lookup and replace the `MIN()'
     expression with a constant.  If all expressions are replaced with
     constants, the query will return at once:

          SELECT MIN(key_part2),MAX(key_part2) FROM table_name where key_part1=10

   * To sort or group a table if the sorting or grouping is done on a
     leftmost prefix of a usable key (for example, `ORDER BY
     key_part_1,key_part_2 '). The key is read in reverse order if all
     key parts are followed by `DESC'.  *Note ORDER BY optimisation::.

   * In some cases a query can be optimized to retrieve values without
     consulting the datafile. If all used columns for some table are
     numeric and form a leftmost prefix for some key, the values may be
     retrieved from the index tree for greater speed:

          SELECT key_part3 FROM table_name WHERE key_part1=1


Suppose you issue the following `SELECT' statement:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col1=val1 AND col2=val2;

If a multiple-column index exists on `col1' and `col2', the appropriate
rows can be fetched directly. If separate single-column indexes exist
on `col1' and `col2', the optimizer tries to find the most restrictive
index by deciding which index will find fewer rows and using that index
to fetch the rows.

If the table has a multiple-column index, any leftmost prefix of the
index can be used by the optimizer to find rows. For example, if you
have a three-column index on `(col1, col2, col3)', you have indexed
search capabilities on `(col1)', `(col1, col2)', and `(col1, col2,
col3)'.

MySQL can't use a partial index if the columns don't form a leftmost
prefix of the index.  Suppose you have the `SELECT' statements shown
here:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col1=val1;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col2=val2;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE col2=val2 AND col3=val3;

If an index exists on `(col1, col2, col3)', only the first of the
preceding queries uses the index. The second and third queries do
involve indexed columns, but `(col2)' and `(col2, col3)' are not
leftmost prefixes of `(col1, col2, col3)'.

MySQL also uses indexes for `LIKE' comparisons if the argument to
`LIKE' is a constant string that doesn't start with a wildcard
character.  For example, the following `SELECT' statements use indexes:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE key_col LIKE "Patrick%";
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE key_col LIKE "Pat%_ck%";

In the first statement, only rows with `"Patrick" <= key_col <
"Patricl"' are considered.  In the second statement, only rows with
`"Pat" <= key_col < "Pau"' are considered.

The following `SELECT' statements will not use indexes:
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE key_col LIKE "%Patrick%";
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE key_col LIKE other_col;

In the first statement, the `LIKE' value begins with a wildcard
character.  In the second statement, the `LIKE' value is not a constant.

MySQL 4.0 does another optimization on `LIKE'.  If you use `... LIKE
"%string%"' and `string' is longer than 3 characters, MySQL will use
the `Turbo Boyer-Moore' algorithm to initialize the pattern for the
string and then use this pattern to perform the search quicker.

Searching using `column_name IS NULL' will use indexes if `column_name'
is an index.

MySQL normally uses the index that finds the smallest number of rows. An
index is used for columns that you compare with the following operators:
`=', `>', `>=', `<', `<=', `BETWEEN', or a `LIKE' with a pattern that
begins with a non-wildcard prefix like `'something%''.

Any index that doesn't span all `AND' levels in the `WHERE' clause is
not used to optimize the query. In other words:  To be able to use an
index, a prefix of the index must be used in every `AND' group.

The following `WHERE' clauses use indexes:
     ... WHERE index_part1=1 AND index_part2=2 AND other_column=3
     ... WHERE index=1 OR A=10 AND index=2      /* index = 1 OR index = 2 */
     ... WHERE index_part1='hello' AND index_part_3=5
               /* optimized like "index_part1='hello'" */
     ... WHERE index1=1 AND index2=2 OR index1=3 AND index3=3;
               /* Can use index on index1 but not on index2 or index 3 */

These `WHERE' clauses do *not* use indexes:
     ... WHERE index_part2=1 AND index_part3=2  /* index_part_1 is not used */
     ... WHERE index=1 OR A=10                  /* Index is not used in
                                                             both AND parts */
     ... WHERE index_part1=1 OR index_part2=10  /* No index spans all rows  */

Note that sometime MySQL will not use an index, even if one is
available.  One instance of this is when use of the index would require
MySQL to access more than 30% of the rows in the table.  (In this case
a table scan is probably much faster, as it will require many fewer
seeks.)  However, if such a query uses `LIMIT' to only retrieve part of
the rows, MySQL will use an index anyway, as it can much more quickly
find the few rows to return in the result.

Column Indexes
--------------

All MySQL column types can be indexed.  Use of indexes on the relevant
columns is the best way to improve the performance of `SELECT'
operations.

The maximum number of indexes per table and the maximum index length is
defined per storage engine. *Note Table types::. All storage engines
support a minimum of 16 indexes per table and a minimum total index
length of 256 bytes.

For `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns, you can index a prefix of a column.
This is much faster and requires less disk space than indexing the
whole column.  The syntax to use in the `CREATE TABLE' statement to
index a column prefix looks like this:

     INDEX index_name (col_name(length))

The example here creates an index for the first 10 characters of the
`name' column:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE test (
         ->        name CHAR(200) NOT NULL,
         ->        INDEX index_name (name(10)));

For `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns, you must index a prefix of the column.
The prefix may be up to 255 bytes long.

In MySQL Version 3.23.23 or later, you can also create special
`FULLTEXT' indexes. They are used for full-text search. Only the
`MyISAM' table type supports `FULLTEXT' indexes and only for `CHAR',
`VARCHAR', and `TEXT' columns.  Indexing always happens over the entire
column and partial (prefix) indexing is not supported. See *Note
Fulltext Search:: for details.

Multiple-Column Indexes
-----------------------

MySQL can create indexes on multiple columns.  An index may consist of
up to 15 columns. (On `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns you can also use a
prefix of the column as a part of an index.)

A multiple-column index can be considered a sorted array containing
values that are created by concatenating the values of the indexed
columns.

MySQL uses multiple-column indexes in such a way that queries are fast
when you specify a known quantity for the first column of the index in a
`WHERE' clause, even if you don't specify values for the other columns.

Suppose a table has the following specification:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE test (
         ->       id INT NOT NULL,
         ->       last_name CHAR(30) NOT NULL,
         ->       first_name CHAR(30) NOT NULL,
         ->       PRIMARY KEY (id),
         ->       INDEX name (last_name,first_name));

Then the index `name' is an index over `last_name' and `first_name'.
The index can used for queries that specify values in a known range for
`last_name', or for both `last_name' and `first_name'.  Therefore, the
`name' index will be used in the following queries:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius";
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius"
         ->                    AND first_name="Michael";
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius"
         ->                    AND (first_name="Michael" OR first_name="Monty");
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius"
         ->                    AND first_name >="M" AND first_name < "N";

However, the `name' index will *not* be used in the following queries:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE first_name="Michael";
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM test WHERE last_name="Widenius"
         ->                    OR first_name="Michael";

For more information on the manner in which MySQL uses indexes to
improve query performance, see *Note MySQL indexes: MySQL indexes.

The MyISAM Key Cache
--------------------

To minimize disk I/O, the MyISAM storage engine employs a strategy that
is used by many database management systems. It exploits a cache
mechanism to keep the most frequently accessed table blocks in memory:

   * For index blocks, a special structure called the key cache (key
     buffer) is employed. The structure contains a number of block
     buffers where the most-used index blocks are placed.

   * For data blocks, MySQL uses no special cache. Instead it relies on
     the native operating system filesystem cache.


This section first describes the basic operation of the `MyISAM' key
cache. Then it discusses changes made in MySQL 4.1 that improve key
cache performance and that allow you control over cache operation:

   * The key cache access no longer is serialized among threads.
     Multiple threads can access the cache concurrently.

   * Multiple key caches can be set up and table indexes assigned to
     specific caches.


The key cache mechanism also is used for `ISAM' tables, which use
B-tree indexes. However, the significance of this fact is on the wane.
`ISAM' table use has been decreasing since MySQL 3.23 when `MyISAM' was
introduced. MySQL 4.1 carries this trend further; the `ISAM' storage
engine is disabled by default.

You can control the size of the key cache by means of the
`key_buffer_size' system variable.  If this variable is set equal to
zero, no key cache is used.  The key cache also is not used if the
`key_buffer_size' value is too small to allocate the minimal number of
block buffers (8).

If the key cache is not used, index files are accessed using only the
native filesystem buffering provided by the operating system.  (That is,
table index blocks are accessed using the same strategy as that employed
for table data blocks.)

An index block is a contiguous unit of access to the MyISAM index files.
Usually the size of an index block is equal to the size of nodes of the
index B-tree. (Indexes are represented on disk using a B-tree data
structure.  Nodes at the bottom of the tree are leaf nodes. Nodes above
the leaf nodes are non-leaf nodes.)

All block buffers in a key cache structure are the same size. This size
can be equal to, greater than, or less than the size of a table index
block.  Usually one these two values is the multiple of the other.

When data from any table index block must be accessed, the server first
checks whether it is available in some block buffer of the key cache. If
it is, the server accesses data in the key cache rather than on disk.
That is, it reads from the cache or writes into it rather than reading
from or writing to disk. Otherwise, the server chooses a cache block
buffer containing a different table index block (or blocks) and replaces
the data there by a copy of required table index block.  As soon as the
new index block is in the cache, the index data can be accessed.

If it happens that a block selected for replacement has been modified,
the block is considered "dirty." In this case, before being replaced,
its contents are flushed to the table index from which it came.

Usually the server follows a LRU (Least Recently Used) strategy: When
choosing a block for replacement, it selects the least recently used
index block. To be able to make such a choice easy, the key cache
module maintains a special queue (LRU chain) of all used blocks.  When
a block is accessed, it is placed at the end of the queue.  When blocks
need to be replaced, blocks at the beginning of the queue are the least
recently used and become the first candidates for eviction.

Shared Key Cache Access
.......................

Prior to MySQL 4.1, access to the key cache is serialized: No two
threads can access key cache buffers simultaneously.  The server
processes a request for an index block only after it has finished
processing the previous request. As a result, a request for an index
block not present in any key cache buffer blocks access by other
threads while a buffer is being updated to contain the requested index
block.

Starting from version 4.1.0, the server supports shared access to the
key cache:

   * A buffer that is not being updated can be accessed by multiple
     threads

   * A buffer that is being updated causes threads that need to use it
     to wait until the update is complete

   * Multiple threads can initiate requests that result in cache block
     replacements, as long as they do not interfere with each other
     (that is, as long as they need different index blocks, and thus
     cause different cache blocks to be replaced).


Shared access to the key cache allows the server to improve throughput
significantly.

Multiple Key Caches
...................

Shared access to the key cache improves performance but does not
eliminate contention among threads entirely. They still compete for
control structures that manage access to the key cache buffers. To
reduce key cache access contention further, MySQL 4.1.1 offers the
feature of multiple key caches.  This allows you to assign different
table indexes to different key caches.

When there may be multiple key caches, the server must know which cache
to use when processing queries for a given `MyISAM' table. By default,
all `MyISAM' table indexes are cached in the default key cache. To
assign table indexes to a specific key cache, use the `CACHE INDEX'
statement.

For example, The following statement assigns indexes from the tables
`t1', `t2', and `t3' to the key cache named `hot_cache':

     mysql> CACHE INDEX t1, t2, t3 IN hot_cache;
     +---------+--------------------+----------+----------+
     | Table   | Op                 | Msg_type | Msg_text |
     +---------+--------------------+----------+----------+
     | test.t1 | assign_to_keycache | status   | OK       |
     | test.t2 | assign_to_keycache | status   | OK       |
     | test.t3 | assign_to_keycache | status   | OK       |
     +---------+--------------------+----------+----------+

*Note:* If the server has been built with the `ISAM' storage engine
enabled, `ISAM' tables use the key cache mechanism. However, `ISAM'
indexes use only the default key cache and cannot be reassigned to a
different cache.

The key cache referred to in a `CACHE INDEX' statement can be created
by setting its size with a parameter setting statement or in the server
parameter settings. For example:

     mysql> SET GLOBAL keycache1.key_buffer_size=128*1024;

To destroy a key cache, set its size to zero:

     mysql> SET GLOBAL keycache1.key_buffer_size=0;

See *Note Structured System Variables:: for a description of the syntax
used for referring to structured key cache system variables.

By default, table indexes are assigned to the main (default) key cache
created at the server start-up. When a key cache is destroyed, all
indexes assigned to it become assigned to the default key cache again.

For a busy server, we recommend a strategy that uses three key caches:

   * A hot key cache that takes up another 20% the space allocated for
     all key caches. This is used for tables that are heavily used for
     searches but that are not updated.

   * A cold key cache that takes up 20% of the space allocated for all
     key caches.  This is used for medium-sized intensively modified
     tables, such as temporary tables.

   * A warm key cache that takes up 60% of the key cache space.  This
     is the default key cache, to be used by default for all other
     tables.


One reason the use of three key caches be beneficial is that access to
one key cache structure does not block access to the others.  Queries
that access tables assigned to one cache do not compete with queries
that access tables assigned to another cache.  Performance gains occur
for other reasons as well:

   * The hot cache is used only for retrieval queries, so its contents
     are never modified.  Consequently, whenever an index block needs
     to be pulled in from disk, the contents of the cache block chosen
     for replacement need not be flushed first.

   * For an index assigned to the hot cache, if there are no queries
     requiring an index scan, there is a high probability that the index
     blocks corresponding to non-leaf nodes of the index B-tree will
     remain in the cache.

   * An update operation most frequently executed for temporary tables
     is performed much faster when the updated node already is in the
     cache and need not be read in from disk first. If the size of the
     indexes of the temporary tables are comparable with the size of
     cold key cache, the probability is very high that the updated node
     already will be in the cache.


Midpoint Insertion Strategy
...........................

By default, the key cache management system of MySQL 4.1 uses the LRU
strategy for choosing key cache blocks to be evicted, but it also
supports a more sophisticated method called the midpoint insertion
strategy.

When using the midpoint insertion strategy, the LRU chain is divided
into two parts: A hot sub-chain and a warm sub-chain. The division
point between two parts is not fixed, but the key cache management
system takes care that the warm part is not "too short," always
containing at least `key_cache_division_limit' percent of the key cache
blocks.  The `key_cache_division_limit' value is a parameter and can be
set per key cache.

When an index block is read from a table into the key cache, it is
placed at the end of the warm sub-chain. After a certain number of hits
(accesses of the block) it is promoted to the hot sub-chain.  At
present, the number of hits required to promote a block (3) is the same
for all index blocks.  In the future, we will allow the hit count to
depend on the B-tree level of the node corresponding to an index block:
Fewer hits will be required for promotion of an index block if it
contains a non-leaf node from the upper levels of the index B-tree than
if it contains a leaf node.

A block promoted into the hot sub-chain is placed at the end of the
chain.  The block then circulates within this sub-chain. If the block
stays at the beginning of the sub-chain for a long enough time, it is
demoted to the warm chain. This time is determined by the
`key_cache_age_threshold' variable of the key cache.

This variable prescribes that, for a key cache containing `N' blocks,
the block at the beginning of the hot sub-chain not accessed within the
last `N*key_cache_age_threshold/100' hits is to be moved to the
beginning of the warm sub-chain. It then becomes the first candidate
for eviction, because blocks for replacement always are taken from the
beginning of the warm sub-chain.

The midpoint insertion strategy allows you to keep more valued blocks
always in the cache. If you prefer to use the plain LRU strategy, leave
the `key_cache_division_limit' variable set to its default value of 100.

The midpoint insertion strategy helps to improve performance when
execution of a query that requires an index scan effectively pushes out
of the cache all the index blocks corresponding to valuable high level
B-tree nodes. To avoid this, you must use a midpoint insertion strategy
with the `key_cache_division_limit' set to much less than 100.  Then
valuable frequently hit nodes will be preserved in the hot sub-chain
during an index scan operation as well.

Index Preloading
................

If there are enough blocks in a key cache to hold blocks of an entire
index, or at least the blocks corresponding to its non-leaf nodes, then
it makes sense to preload the key cache with index blocks before
starting to use it. Preloading allows you to put the table index blocks
into a key cache buffer in the most efficient way: By reading the index
blocks from disk sequentially.

Without preloading, the blocks still will be placed into the key cache
as needed by queries. In this case, however, although the blocks will
stay in the cache as there are enough buffers for all of them, they
will be fetched from disk in a random order, not sequentially.

To preload an index into a cache, use the `LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE'
statement. For example, the following statement preloads nodes (index
blocks) of indexes of the tables `t1' and `t2':

     mysql> LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE t1, t2 IGNORE LEAVES;
     +---------+--------------+----------+----------+
     | Table   | Op           | Msg_type | Msg_text |
     +---------+--------------+----------+----------+
     | test.t1 | preload_keys | status   | OK       |
     | test.t2 | preload_keys | status   | OK       |
     +---------+--------------+----------+----------+

The `IGNORE LEAVES' modifier causes only blocks for the non-leaf nodes
of the index to be preloaded. Thus, this statement preloads all index
blocks from `t1', but only blocks for the non-leaf nodes from `t2'.

If an index has been assigned to a key cache using a `CACHE INDEX'
statement, preloading places index blocks into that cache.  Otherwise,
the index is loaded into the default key cache.

Key Cache Block Size
....................

MySQL 4.1 introduces a new `key_cache_block_size' variable on a per-key
cache basis. This variable specifies the size of the block buffers for
a key cache.

This variable is introduced to allow tuning the performance of I/O
operations for index files.

The best performance for I/O operations is achieved when the size of
read buffers are equal to the size of the native operating system I/O
buffers. But setting the size of key nodes equal to the size of I/O
buffer does not always ensure the best overall performance. When
reading the big leaf nodes the server pulls in a lot of unnecessary
data, effectively preventing reading other leaf nodes.

Currently, you cannot control the size of the index blocks in a table.
This size is set by the server when the `.MYI' index file is created,
depending on the size of the keys in the indexes present in the table
definition.  In most cases, it is set equal to the I/O buffer size. In
the future this will be changed and then `key_cache_block_size' variable
will be fully employed.

Restructuring a Key Cache
.........................

A key cache can be restructured at any time by updating its parameter
values.  For example:

     mysql> SET GLOBAL cold_cache.key_buffer_size=4*1024*1024;

If you assign to either the `key_buffer_size' or `key_cache_block_size'
key cache component a value that differs from the component's currrent
value, the server destroys the cache's old structure and creates a new
one based on the new values.  If the cache contains any dirty blocks,
the server saves them to disk before destroying and recreating the
cache. Restructuring does not occur if you set other key cache
parameters.

When restructuring a key cache, the server first flushes the contents
of any dirty buffers to disk. After that, the cache contents become
unavailable.  However, restructuring does not block queries that need
to use indexes assigned to the cache.  Instead, the server directly
accesses the table indexes using native filesystem caching.  Filesystem
caching is not as efficient as using a key cache, so although queries
will execute, a slowdown can be anticipated.  Once the cache has been
restructured, it becomes available again for caching indexes assigned
to it. The use of filesystem caching for the indexes ceases.

How MySQL Counts Open Tables
----------------------------

When you run `mysqladmin status', you'll see something like this:

     Uptime: 426 Running threads: 1 Questions: 11082 Reloads: 1 Open tables: 12

The `Open tables' value of 12 can be somewhat puzzling if you have only
6 tables.

MySQL is multi-threaded, so there may be many clients issuing queries
for a given simultaneously. To minimise the problem with two client
threads having different states on the same file, the table is opened
independently by each concurrent thread. This takes some memory but
will normally increase performance.  With `ISAM' and `MyISAM' tables,
one extra file descriptor is required for the datafile for each client
that has the table open. With these table types, the index file
descriptor is shared between all threads.

You can read more about this topic in the next section. *Note Table
cache::.

How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables
---------------------------------

The `table_cache', `max_connections', and `max_tmp_tables' server
variables affect the maximum number of files the server keeps open.  If
you increase one or more of these values, you may run up against a
limit imposed by your operating system on the per-process number of
open file descriptors.  You can increase the open-files limit on many
operating systems, though the method varies widely from system to
system.  Consult your operating system documentation to determine
whether it is possible to increase the limit and how to do so.

`table_cache' is related to `max_connections'.  For example, for 200
concurrent running connections, you should have a table cache size of
at least `200 * n', where `n' is the maximum number of tables in a
join.  You also need to reserve some extra file descriptors for
temporary tables and files.

Make sure that your operating system can handle the number of open file
descriptors implied by the `table_cache' setting.  If `table_cache' is
set too high, MySQL may run out of file descriptors and refuse
connections, fail to perform queries, and be very unreliable.  You also
have to take into account that the `MyISAM' storage engine needs two
file descriptors for each unique open table. You can increase the
number of file descriptors available for MySQL with the
`--open-files-limit=#' startup option. *Note Not enough file handles::.

The cache of open tables will be kept at a level of `table_cache'
entries. The default value is 64; this can be changed with the `-O
table_cache=#' option to `mysqld').  Note that MySQL may temporarily
open even more tables to be able to execute queries.

A not used table is closed and removed from the table cache under the
following circumstances:

   * When the cache is full and a thread tries to open a table that is
     not in the cache.

   * When the cache contains more than `table_cache' entries and a
     thread is no longer using a table.

   * When someone executes `mysqladmin refresh' or `mysqladmin
     flush-tables'.

   * When someone executes a `FLUSH TABLES' statement.

When the table cache fills up, the server uses the following procedure
to locate a cache entry to use:

   * Tables that are not currently in use are released, in
     least-recently-used order.

   * If the cache is full and no tables can be released, but a new
     table needs to be opened, the cache is temporarily extended as
     necessary.

   * If the cache is in a temporarily extended state and a table goes
     from in-use to not-in-use state, the table is closed and released
     from the cache.

A table is opened for each concurrent access. This means the table
needs to be opened twice if two threads access the same table or if a
thread accesses the table twice in the same query (for example, by
joining the table to itself).  The first open of any table takes two
file descriptors; each additional use of the table takes only one file
descriptor.  The extra descriptor for the first open is used for the
index file; this descriptor is shared among all threads.

If you are opening a table with the `HANDLER table_name OPEN'
statement, a dedicated table object is allocated for the thread.  This
table object is not shared by other threads and is not closed until the
thread calls `HANDLER table_name CLOSE' or the thread dies.  *Note
`HANDLER': HANDLER.  When this happens, the table is put back in the
table cache (if the cache isn't full).

You can check if your table cache is too small by checking the `mysqld'
variable `Opened_tables'.  If this is quite big, even if you haven't
done a lot of `FLUSH TABLES', you should increase your table cache
size. *Note `Opened_tables': SHOW STATUS.

Drawbacks to Creating Large Numbers of Tables in the Same Database
------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have many files in a directory, open, close, and create
operations will be slow.  If you execute `SELECT' statements on many
different tables, there will be a little overhead when the table cache
is full, because for every table that has to be opened, another must be
closed. You can reduce this overhead by making the table cache larger.

Optimizing the MySQL Server
===========================

System/Compile Time and Startup Parameter Tuning
------------------------------------------------

We start with the system level factors, because some of these decisions
must be made very early. In other cases, a quick look at this section
may suffice because it not that important for the big gains. However,
it is always nice to have a feeling about how much one could gain by
changing things at this level.

The default operating system to use is really important!  To get the
best use of multiple-CPU machines, you should use Solaris (because its
threads implementation works really well) or Linux (because the 2.2
kernel has really good SMP support).  Also, older Linux kernels have a
2G file-size limit by default. If you have such a kernel and a
desperate need for files larger than 2G, you should get the LFS (large
file system) patch for the ext2 filesystem.  Other filesystems such as
ReiserFS and XFS do not have this 2G limitation.

Because we have not run MySQL in production on that many platforms, we
advise you to test your intended platform before choosing it, if
possible.

Other tips:
   * If you have enough RAM, you could remove all swap devices. Some
     operating systems will use a swap device in some contexts even if
     you have free memory.

   * Use the `--skip-external-locking' MySQL option to avoid external
     locking. Note that this will not impact MySQL's functionality as
     long as you only run one server. Just remember to take down the
     server (or lock and flush the relevant tables) before you run
     `myisamchk'. On some systems this option is mandatory, because the
     external locking does not work in any case.

     The `--skip-external-locking' option is on by default as of MySQL
     4.0.  Before that, it is on by default when compiling with
     MIT-pthreads, because `flock()' isn't fully supported by
     MIT-pthreads on all platforms.  It's also on default for Linux as
     Linux file locking are not yet safe.

     The only case when you can't use `--skip-external-locking' is if
     you run multiple MySQL _servers_ (not clients) on the same data,
     or if you run `myisamchk' on the table without telling the server
     to flush and lock the tables first.

     You can still use `LOCK TABLES'/`UNLOCK TABLES' even if you are
     using `--skip-external-locking'.

Tuning Server Parameters
------------------------

You can determine the default buffer sizes used by the `mysqld' server
with this command:

     shell> mysqld --help

This command produces a list of all `mysqld' options and configurable
variables. The output includes the default variable values and looks
something like this:

     back_log                 current value: 5
     bdb_cache_size           current value: 1048540
     binlog_cache_size        current value: 32768
     connect_timeout          current value: 5
     delayed_insert_timeout   current value: 300
     delayed_insert_limit     current value: 100
     delayed_queue_size       current value: 1000
     flush_time               current value: 0
     interactive_timeout      current value: 28800
     join_buffer_size         current value: 131072
     key_buffer_size          current value: 1048540
     lower_case_table_names   current value: 0
     long_query_time          current value: 10
     max_allowed_packet       current value: 1048576
     max_binlog_cache_size    current value: 4294967295
     max_connections          current value: 100
     max_connect_errors       current value: 10
     max_delayed_threads      current value: 20
     max_heap_table_size      current value: 16777216
     max_join_size            current value: 4294967295
     max_sort_length          current value: 1024
     max_tmp_tables           current value: 32
     max_write_lock_count     current value: 4294967295
     myisam_sort_buffer_size  current value: 8388608
     net_buffer_length        current value: 16384
     net_retry_count          current value: 10
     net_read_timeout         current value: 30
     net_write_timeout        current value: 60
     read_buffer_size         current value: 131072
     read_rnd_buffer_size     current value: 262144
     slow_launch_time         current value: 2
     sort_buffer              current value: 2097116
     table_cache              current value: 64
     thread_concurrency       current value: 10
     tmp_table_size           current value: 1048576
     thread_stack             current value: 131072
     wait_timeout             current value: 28800

If there is a `mysqld' server currently running, you can see what
values it actually is using for the variables by issuing this statement:

     mysql> SHOW VARIABLES;

You can also see some statistics and status indicators for a running
server by issuing this statement:

     mysql> SHOW STATUS;

You can find a full description for all variables in the `SHOW
VARIABLES' section in this manual. *Note `SHOW VARIABLES': SHOW
VARIABLES.  For information about status variables, see *Note `SHOW
STATUS': SHOW STATUS.

Server variable and status information also can be obtained using
`mysqladmin':

     shell> mysqladmin variables
     shell> mysqladmin extended-status

MySQL uses algorithms that are very scalable, so you can usually run
with very little memory. However, if you give MySQL more memory,
normally you will also get better performance.

When tuning a MySQL server, the two most important variables to use are
`key_buffer_size' and `table_cache'.  You should first feel confident
that you have these set appropriately before trying to change any other
variables.

The following examples indicate some typical variable values for
different runtime configurations. The examples use the `mysqld_safe'
script and use `--name=value' syntax to set the variable `name' to the
value `value'.  This syntax is available as of MySQL 4.0.  For older
versions of MySQL, take the following differences into account:

   * Use `safe_mysqld' rather than `mysqld_safe'.

   * Set variables using `--set-variable=name=value' or `-O name=value'
     syntax.

   * For variable names that end in `_size', you may need to specify
     them without `_size'. For example, the old name for
     `sort_buffer_size' is `sort_buffer'. The old name for
     `read_buffer_size' is `record_buffer'. To see which variables your
     version of the server recognizes, use `mysqld --help'.


If you have at least 256M of memory and many tables and want maximum
performance with a moderate number of clients, you should use something
like this:

     shell> mysqld_safe --key_buffer_size=64M --table_cache=256 \
                --sort_buffer_size=4M --read_buffer_size=1M &

If you have only 128M of memory and only a few tables, but you still do
a lot of sorting, you can use something like:

     shell> mysqld_safe --key_buffer_size=16M --sort_buffer_size=1M

If you have little memory and lots of connections, use something like
this:

     shell> mysqld_safe --key_buffer_size=512K --sort_buffer_size=100K \
                --read_buffer_size=100K &

Or even this:

     shell> mysqld_safe --key_buffer_size=512K --sort_buffer_size=16K \
                --table_cache=32 --read_buffer_size=8K -O net_buffer_length=1K &

If you are doing a `GROUP BY' or `ORDER BY' on tables that are much
larger than your available memory, you should increase the value of
`read_rnd_buffer_size' to speed up the reading of rows after sorting
operations.

When you have installed MySQL, the `support-files' directory will
contain some different `my.cnf' example files, `my-huge.cnf',
`my-large.cnf', `my-medium.cnf', and `my-small.cnf', you can use as a
base to optimize your system.

If there are very many simultaneous connections, swapping problems may
occur unless `mysqld' has been configured to use very little memory for
each connection. `mysqld' performs better if you have enough memory for
all connections.

Note that if you specicy an option on the command line for `mysqld' or
`mysqld_safe', it remains in effect only for that invocation of the
server.  To use the option every time the server runs, put it in an
option file.

To see the effects of a parameter change, do something like this:

     shell> mysqld --key_buffer_size=32m --help

Make sure that the `--help' option is last; otherwise, the effect of any
options listed after it on the command line will not be reflected in the
output.

How Compiling and Linking Affects the Speed of MySQL
----------------------------------------------------

Most of the following tests are done on Linux with the MySQL
benchmarks, but they should give some indication for other operating
systems and workloads.

You get the fastest executable when you link with `-static'.

On Linux, you will get the fastest code when compiling with `pgcc' and
`-O3'. To compile `sql_yacc.cc' with these options, you need about 200M
memory because `gcc/pgcc' needs a lot of memory to make all functions
inline. You should also set `CXX=gcc' when configuring MySQL to avoid
inclusion of the `libstdc++' library (it is not needed). Note that with
some versions of `pgcc', the resulting code will run only on true
Pentium processors, even if you use the compiler option that you want
the resulting code to be working on all x586 type processors (like AMD).

By just using a better compiler and/or better compiler options you can
get a 10-30% speed increase in your application.  This is particularly
important if you compile the SQL server yourself!

We have tested both the Cygnus CodeFusion and Fujitsu compilers, but
when we tested them, neither was sufficiently bug free to allow MySQL
to be compiled with optimizations on.

When you compile MySQL you should only include support for the
character sets that you are going to use. (Option `--with-charset=xxx'.)
The standard MySQL binary distributions are compiled with support for
all character sets.

Here is a list of some measurements that we have done:
   * If you use `pgcc' and compile everything with `-O6', the `mysqld'
     server is 1% faster than with `gcc' 2.95.2.

   * If you link dynamically (without `-static'), the result is 13%
     slower on Linux.  Note that you still can use a dynamic linked
     MySQL library for your client applications. It is the server that
     is most critical for performance.

   * If you strip your `mysqld' binary with `strip libexec/mysqld', the
     resulting binary can be up to 4% faster.

   * For a connection from a client to a server running on the same
     host, if you connect using TCP/IP rather than a Unix socket file,
     performance is 7.5% slower. (If you connect to the hostname
     `localhost', MySQL uses a socket file by default.)

   * For TCP/IP connections from a client to a server, connecting to a
     remote server on another host will be 8-11% slower than connecting
     to the local server on the same host, even for connections over
     100M Ethernet.

   * When running our benchmark tests using secure connections (all data
     encrypted with internal SSL support) performance was 55% slower.

   * If you compile with `--with-debug=full', most queries will be 20%
     slower.  Some queries may take substantially longer (for example,
     the MySQL benchmarks ran 35% slower).  If you use `--with-debug',
     the slowdown will be only 15%.  For a `mysqld' version that has
     been compiled with `--with-debug=full', you can disable memory
     checking at runtime by starting it with the `--skip-safemalloc'
     option. The end result in this case should be close to when
     configuring with `--with-debug'.

   * On a Sun UltraSPARC-IIe, Forte 5.0 is 4% faster than `gcc' 3.2.

   * On a Sun UltraSPARC-IIe, Forte 5.0 is 4% faster in 32-bit mode
     than in 64-bit mode.

   * Compiling with `gcc' 2.95.2 for UltraSPARC with the option
     `-mcpu=v8 -Wa,-xarch=v8plusa' gives 4% more performance.

   * On Solaris 2.5.1, MIT-pthreads is 8-12% slower than Solaris native
     threads on a single processor. With more load/CPUs the difference
     should be larger.

   * Running with `--log-bin' makes `mysqld' 1% slower.

   * Compiling on Linux-x86 using `gcc' without frame pointers
     `-fomit-frame-pointer' or `-fomit-frame-pointer -ffixed-ebp' makes
     `mysqld' 1-4% faster.

The MySQL-Linux distribution provided by MySQL AB used to be compiled
with `pgcc', but we had to go back to regular `gcc' because of a bug in
`pgcc' that would generate the code that does not run on AMD. We will
continue using `gcc' until that bug is resolved.  In the meantime, if
you have a non-AMD machine, you can get a faster binary by compiling
with `pgcc'.  The standard MySQL Linux binary is linked statically to
make it faster and more portable.

How MySQL Uses Memory
---------------------

The following list indicates some of the ways that the `mysqld' server
uses memory.  Where applicable, the name of the server variable relevant
to the memory use is given:

   * The key buffer (variable `key_buffer_size') is shared by all
     threads; other buffers used by the server are allocated as needed.
     *Note Server parameters::.

   * Each connection uses some thread-specific space: A stack (default
     64K, variable `thread_stack'), a connection buffer (variable
     `net_buffer_length'), and a result buffer (variable
     `net_buffer_length'). The connection buffer and result buffer are
     dynamically enlarged up to `max_allowed_packet' when needed.  When
     a query is running, a copy of the current query string is also
     allocated.

   * All threads share the same base memory.

   * Only compressed `ISAM' and `MyISAM' tables are memory mapped.  This
     is because the 32-bit memory space of 4 GB is not large enough for
     most big tables. When systems with a 64-bit address space become
     more common we may add general support for memory mapping.

   * Each request doing a sequential scan over a table allocates a read
     buffer (variable `read_buffer_size').

   * When reading rows in "random" order (for example, after a sort) a
     random-read buffer is allocated to avoid disk seeks.  (variable
     `read_rnd_buffer_size').

   * All joins are done in one pass, and most joins can be done without
     even using a temporary table. Most temporary tables are
     memory-based (`HEAP') tables.  Temporary tables with a large
     record length (calculated as the sum of all column lengths) or
     that contain `BLOB' columns are stored on disk.

     One problem in MySQL before Version 3.23.2 is that if an in-memory
     `HEAP' table exceeds the size of `tmp_table_size', you get the
     error `The table tbl_name is full'. From 3.23.2 on, this is handled
     automatically by changing the in-memory `HEAP' table to a
     disk-based `MyISAM' table as necessary. To work around this
     problem, you can increase the temporary table size by setting the
     `tmp_table_size' option to `mysqld', or by setting the SQL option
     `BIG_TABLES' in the client program.  *Note `SET' Syntax: SET
     OPTION. In MySQL Version 3.20, the maximum size of the temporary
     table is `record_buffer*16'; if you are using this version, you
     have to increase the value of `record_buffer'. You can also start
     `mysqld' with the `--big-tables' option to always store temporary
     tables on disk. However, this will affect the speed of many
     complicated queries.

   * Most requests that perform a sort allocate a sort buffer and 0 to
     2 temporary files depending on the result set size. *Note
     Temporary files::.

   * Almost all parsing and calculating is done in a local memory
     store. No memory overhead is needed for small items and the normal
     slow memory allocation and freeing is avoided. Memory is allocated
     only for unexpectedly large strings; this is done with `malloc()'
     and `free()'.

   * Each index file is opened once and the datafile is opened once for
     each concurrently running thread. For each concurrent thread, a
     table structure, column structures for each column, and a buffer
     of size `3 * n' is allocated (where `n' is the maximum row length,
     not counting `BLOB' columns). A `BLOB' column uses 5 to 8 bytes
     plus the length of the `BLOB' data. The `ISAM' and `MyISAM'
     storage engines use one extra row buffer for internal usage.

   * For each table having `BLOB' columns, a buffer is enlarged
     dynamically to read in larger `BLOB' values. If you scan a table,
     a buffer as large as the largest `BLOB' value is allocated.

   * Handler structures for all in-use tables are saved in a cache and
     managed as a FIFO. Normally the cache has 64 entries. If a table
     has been used by two running threads at the same time, the cache
     contains two entries for the table. *Note Table cache::.

   * A `mysqladmin flush-tables' command (or `FLUSH TABLES' statement)
     closes all tables that are not in use and marks all in-use tables
     to be closed when the currently executing thread finishes. This
     will effectively free most in-use memory.

`ps' and other system status programs may report that `mysqld' uses a
lot of memory. This may be caused by thread-stacks on different memory
addresses. For example, the Solaris version of `ps' counts the unused
memory between stacks as used memory. You can verify this by checking
available swap with `swap -s'. We have tested `mysqld' with commercial
memory-leakage detectors, so there should be no memory leaks.

How MySQL uses DNS
------------------

When a new client connects to `mysqld', `mysqld' spawns a new thread to
handle the request.  This thread first checks if the hostname is in the
hostname cache. If not, the thread attempts to resolve the hostname:

   * If the operating system supports the thread-safe
     `gethostbyaddr_r()' and `gethostbyname_r()' calls, the thread uses
     them to perform hostname resolution.

   * If the operating system doesn't support the thread-safe calls, the
     thread locks a mutex and calls `gethostbyaddr()' and
     `gethostbyname()' instead. Note that in this case no other thread
     can resolve hostnames that are not in the hostname cache until the
     first thread unlocks the mutex.


You can disable DNS hostname lookups by starting `mysqld' with the
`--skip-name-resolve' option.  However, in this case you can use only IP
numbers in the MySQL grant tables.

If you have a very slow DNS and many hosts, you can get more
performance by either disabling DNS lookups with `--skip-name-resolve'
or by increasing the `HOST_CACHE_SIZE' define (default value: 128) and
recompiling `mysqld'.

You can disable the hostname cache by starting the server with the
`--skip-host-cache' option. To clear the hostname cache, issue a `FLUSH
HOSTS' statement or execute the `mysqladmin flush-hosts' command.

If you want to disallow TCP/IP connections entirely, start `mysqld' with
the `--skip-networking' option.

`SET' Syntax
------------

     SET [GLOBAL | SESSION] sql_variable=expression,
         [[GLOBAL | SESSION] sql_variable=expression] ...

`SET' sets various options that affect the operation of the server or
your client.

The following examples shows the different syntaxes one can use to set
variables:

In old MySQL versions we allowed the use of the `SET OPTION' syntax,
but this syntax is now deprecated.

In MySQL 4.0.3 we added the `GLOBAL' and `SESSION' options and access
to most important startup variables.

`LOCAL' can be used as a synonym for `SESSION'.

If you set several variables on the same command line, the last used
`GLOBAL | SESSION' mode is used.

     SET sort_buffer_size=10000;
     SET @@local.sort_buffer_size=10000;
     SET GLOBAL sort_buffer_size=1000000, SESSION sort_buffer_size=1000000;
     SET @@sort_buffer_size=1000000;
     SET @@global.sort_buffer_size=1000000, @@local.sort_buffer_size=1000000;

The `@@variable_name' syntax is supported to make MySQL syntax
compatible with some other databases.

The different system variables you can set are described in the system
variable section of this manual. *Note System Variables::.

If you are using `SESSION' (the default), the option you set remains in
effect until the current session ends or until you set the option to a
different value. If you use `GLOBAL', which requires the `SUPER'
privilege, the option is remembered and used for new connections until
the server restarts. If you want to make an option permanent, you
should set it in an option file.  *Note Option files::.

To avoid incorrect usage, MySQL will produce an error if you use `SET
GLOBAL' with a variable that can only be used with `SET SESSION' or if
you are not using `SET GLOBAL' with a global variable.

If you want to set a `SESSION' variable to the `GLOBAL' value or a
`GLOBAL' value to the MySQL default value, you can set it to `DEFAULT'.

     SET max_join_size=DEFAULT;

This is identical to:

     SET @@session.max_join_size=@@global.max_join_size;

If you want to restrict the maximum value to which a server variable
can be set with the `SET' command, you can specify this maximum by
using the `--maximum-variable-name' command line option. *Note Server
options::.

You can get a list of most variables with `SHOW VARIABLES'.  *Note
`SHOW VARIABLES': SHOW VARIABLES.  You can get the value for a specific
value with the `@@[global.|local.]variable_name' syntax:
     SHOW VARIABLES like "max_join_size";
     SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES like "max_join_size";
     SELECT @@max_join_size, @@global.max_join_size;

Here follows a description of the variables that use a non-standard
`SET' syntax and some of the other variables.  The other variable
definitions can be found in the system variable section, among the
startup options or in the description of `SHOW VARIABLES'.  *Note
System Variables::.  *Note Server options::.  *Note `SHOW VARIABLES':
SHOW VARIABLES.

`AUTOCOMMIT= 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', all changes to a table will be done at once. To
     start a multi-command transaction, you have to use the `BEGIN'
     statement. *Note COMMIT::. If set to `0' you have to use `COMMIT'
     to accept that transaction or `ROLLBACK' to cancel it.  *Note
     COMMIT::.  Note that when you change `AUTOCOMMIT' mode from `0' to
     `1', MySQL performs an automatic `COMMIT' of any open transaction.

`BIG_TABLES = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', all temporary tables are stored on disk rather than
     in memory.  This will be a little slower, but you will not get the
     error `The table tbl_name is full' for big `SELECT' operations that
     require a large temporary table.  The default value for a new
     connection is `0' (that is, use in-memory temporary tables).  This
     variable previously was named `SQL_BIG_TABLES'.  In MySQL 4.0, you
     should normally never need to set this variable, because MySQL
     automatically converts in-memory tables to disk-based tables as
     necessary.

`CHARACTER SET character_set_name | DEFAULT'
     This maps all strings from and to the client with the given
     mapping.  Currently the only option for `character_set_name' is
     `cp1251_koi8', but you can easily add new mappings by editing the
     `sql/convert.cc' file in the MySQL source distribution.  The
     default mapping can be restored by using a `character_set_name'
     value of `DEFAULT'.

     Note that the syntax for setting the `CHARACTER SET' option differs
     from the syntax for setting the other options.

`INSERT_ID = #'
     Set the value to be used by the following `INSERT' or `ALTER TABLE'
     command when inserting an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.  This is mainly
     used with the binary log.

`LAST_INSERT_ID = #'
     Set the value to be returned from `LAST_INSERT_ID()'. This is
     stored in the binary log when you use `LAST_INSERT_ID()' in a
     command that updates a table. Setting this variable does not
     update `mysql_insert_id()'.

`LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', all `INSERT', `UPDATE', `DELETE', and `LOCK TABLE
     WRITE' statements wait until there is no pending `SELECT' or `LOCK
     TABLE READ' on the affected table.  This variable previously was
     named `SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES'.

`MAX_JOIN_SIZE = value | DEFAULT'
     Don't allow `SELECT' statements that will probably need to examine
     more than `value' row combinations or is likely to do more than
     `value' disk seeks.  By setting this value, you can catch `SELECT'
     statements where keys are not used properly and that would
     probably take a long time. Setting this to a value other than
     `DEFAULT' resets the `SQL_BIG_SELECTS' value to `0'.  If you set
     the `SQL_BIG_SELECTS' value again, the `SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE'
     variable will be ignored.  You can set a default value for this
     variable by starting `mysqld' with the `--max_join_size=value'
     option.  This variable previously was named `SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE'.

     Note that if a query result already is in the query cache, no
     result size check is performed, because the result has already
     been computed and it will not burden the server to send it to the
     client.

`PASSWORD = PASSWORD('some password')'
     Set the password for the current user. Any non-anonymous user can
     change his own password!

`PASSWORD FOR user = PASSWORD('some password')'
     Set the password for a specific user on the current server host.
     Only a user with access to the `mysql' database can do this.  The
     user should be given in `user@hostname' format, where `user' and
     `hostname' are exactly as they are listed in the `User' and `Host'
     columns of the `mysql.user' table entry.  For example, if you had
     an entry with `User' and `Host' fields of `'bob'' and
     `'%.loc.gov'', you would write:

          mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'bob'@'%.loc.gov' = PASSWORD('newpass');

     Which is equivalent to:

          mysql> UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('newpass')
              ->                   WHERE User='bob' AND Host='%.loc.gov';
          mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

`QUERY_CACHE_TYPE = OFF | ON | DEMAND'

`QUERY_CACHE_TYPE = 0   | 1  | 2'
     Set query cache setting for this thread.
     *Option*      *Description*
     `0' or `OFF'  Don't cache or retrieve results.
     `1' or `ON'   Cache all results except `SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE
                   ...' queries.
     `2' or        Cache only `SELECT SQL_CACHE ...' queries.
     `DEMAND'      

`SQL_AUTO_IS_NULL = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1' (default), you can find the last inserted row for a
     table that contains an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column by using the
     following construct: `WHERE auto_increment_column IS NULL'.  This
     is used by some ODBC programs like Access.

`SQL_BIG_SELECTS = 0 | 1'
     If set to `0', MySQL aborts `SELECT' statements that probably will
     take a very long time (that is, statements for which the optimizer
     estimates that the number of of examined rows probably will exceed
     the value of `MAX_JOIN_SIZE').  This is useful when an inadvisable
     `WHERE' statement has been issued.  The default value for a new
     connection is `1', which allows all `SELECT' statements.

     If you set `MAX_JOIN_SIZE' to a value other than `DEFAULT',
     `SQL_BIG_SELECTS' will be set to `0'.

`SQL_BUFFER_RESULT = 0 | 1'
     `SQL_BUFFER_RESULT' forces the result from `SELECT' statements to
     be put into a temporary table. This will help MySQL free the table
     locks early and will help in cases where it takes a long time to
     send the result set to the client.

`SQL_LOG_BIN = 0 | 1'
     If set to `0', no logging is done to the binary log for the client,
     if the client has the `SUPER' privilege.

`SQL_LOG_OFF = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', no logging is done to the standard log for this
     client, if the client has the `SUPER' privilege.

`SQL_LOG_UPDATE = 0 | 1'
     If set to `0', no logging is done to the update log for the client,
     if the client has the `SUPER' privilege.  This variable is
     deprecated starting from version 5.0.0 and mapped to `SQL_LOG_BIN'
     (*note News-5.0.0::).

`SQL_QUOTE_SHOW_CREATE = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', `SHOW CREATE TABLE' quotes table and column names.
     This is *on* by default, so that replication of tables with fancy
     column names will work.  *Note `SHOW CREATE TABLE': SHOW CREATE
     TABLE.

`SQL_SAFE_UPDATES = 0 | 1'
     If set to `1', MySQL aborts `UPDATE' or `DELETE' statements that
     do not use a key or `LIMIT' in the `WHERE' clause. This makes it
     possible to catch wrong updates when creating SQL statements by
     hand.

`SQL_SELECT_LIMIT = value | DEFAULT'
     The maximum number of records to return from `SELECT' statements.
     If a `SELECT' has a `LIMIT' clause, the `LIMIT' takes precedence
     over the value of `SQL_SELECT_LIMIT'.  The default value for a new
     connection is "unlimited." If you have changed the limit, the
     default value can be restored by using a `SQL_SELECT_LIMIT' value
     of `DEFAULT'.

`TIMESTAMP = timestamp_value | DEFAULT'
     Set the time for this client.  This is used to get the original
     timestamp if you use the binary log to restore rows.
     `timestamp_value' should be a Unix epoch timestamp, not a MySQL
     timestamp.

Disk Issues
===========

   * As mentioned before, disks seeks are a big performance bottleneck.
     This problems gets more and more apparent when the data starts to
     grow so large that effective caching becomes impossible. For large
     databases, where you access data more or less randomly, you can be
     sure that you will need at least one disk seek to read and a
     couple of disk seeks to write things. To minimise this problem,
     use disks with low seek times.

   * Increase the number of available disk spindles (and thereby reduce
     the seek overhead) by either symlink files to different disks or
     striping the disks.

    *Using symbolic links*
          This means that, for MyISAM tables, you symlink the index
          file and/or datafile from their usual location in the data
          directory to another disk (that may also be striped). This
          makes both the seek and read times better, assuming the disk
          is not used for other purposes as well). *Note Symbolic
          links::.

    *Striping*
          Striping means that you have many disks and put the first
          block on the first disk, the second block on the second disk,
          and the Nth on the (N mod number_of_disks) disk, and so on.
          This means if your normal data size is less than the stripe
          size (or perfectly aligned) you will get much better
          performance. Striping is very dependent on the operating
          system and the stripe size, so benchmark your application
          with different stripe sizes. *Note Custom Benchmarks::.

          Note that the speed difference for striping is *very*
          dependent on the parameters. Depending on how you set the
          striping parameters and number of disks you may get a
          difference in orders of magnitude. Note that you have to
          choose to optimize for random or sequential access.

   * For reliability you may want to use RAID 0+1 (striping +
     mirroring), but in this case you will need 2*N drives to hold N
     drives of data. This is probably the best option if you have the
     money for it!  However, you may also have to invest in some
     volume-management software to handle it efficiently.

   * A good option is to vary the RAID level according to how critical
     a type of data is. For example, have semi-important data that can
     be regenerated on a RAID 0 disk while storing really important
     data such as host information and logs on a RAID 0+1 or RAID N
     disk. RAID N can be a problem if you have many writes because of
     the time to update the parity bits.

   * On Linux, you can get much more performance (up to 100% under load
     is not uncommon) by using `hdparm' to configure your disk's
     interface!  The following should be quite good `hdparm' options
     for MySQL (and probably many other applications):

          hdparm -m 16 -d 1

     Note that performance and reliability when using the above depends
     on your hardware, so we strongly suggest that you test your system
     thoroughly after using `hdparm'.  Please consult the `hdparm' man
     page for more information.  If `hdparm' is not used wisely,
     filesystem corruption may result, so back up everything before
     experimenting!

   * You may also set the parameters for the filesystem that the
     database uses:

        * If you don't need to know when files were last accessed
          (which is not really useful on a database server), you can
          mount your filesystems with the `-o noatime' option.  That
          skips updates to the last access time in inodes on the
          filesystem, which avoids some disk seeks.

        * On many operating systems you can mount the disks with the
          `-o async' option to set the filesystem to be updated
          asynchronously.  If your computer is reasonably stable, this
          should give you more performance without sacrificing too much
          reliability.  (This flag is on by default on Linux.)



Using Symbolic Links
--------------------

You can move tables and databases from the database directory to other
locations and replace them with symbolic links to the new locations.
You might want to do this, for example, to move a database to a file
system with more free space or increase the speed of your system by
spreading your tables to different disk.

The recommended way to do this is to just symlink databases to a
different disk and only symlink tables as a last resort.

Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Unix
..........................................

On Unix, the way to symlink a database is to first create a directory
on some disk where you have free space and then create a symlink to it
from the MySQL database directory.

     shell> mkdir /dr1/databases/test
     shell> ln -s /dr1/databases/test mysqld-datadir

MySQL doesn't support that you link one directory to multiple
databases.  Replacing a database directory with a symbolic link will
work fine as long as you don't make a symbolic link between databases.
Suppose you have a database `db1' under the MySQL data directory, and
then make a symlink `db2' that points to `db1':

     shell> cd /path/to/datadir
     shell> ln -s db1 db2

Now, for any table `tbl_a' in `db1', there also appears to be a table
`tbl_a' in `db2'.  If one thread updates `db1.tbl_a' and another thread
updates `db2.tbl_a', there will be problems.

If you really need this, you must change the following code in
`mysys/mf_format.c':

     if (flag & 32 || (!lstat(to,&stat_buff) && S_ISLNK(stat_buff.st_mode)))

to

     if (1)

On Windows you can use internal symbolic links to directories by
compiling MySQL with `-DUSE_SYMDIR'. This allows you to put different
databases on different disks. *Note Windows symbolic links::.

Using Symbolic Links for Tables on Unix
.......................................

Before MySQL 4.0 you should not symlink tables unless you are *very*
careful with them. The problem is that if you run `ALTER TABLE',
`REPAIR TABLE', or `OPTIMIZE TABLE' on a symlinked table, the symlinks
will be removed and replaced by the original files. This happens
because these statements work by creating a temporary file in the
database directory and replacing the original file with the temporary
file when the statement operation is complete.

You should not symlink tables on systems that don't have a fully
working `realpath()' call. (At least Linux and Solaris support
`realpath()'). You can check if your system supports symbolic links by
doing `SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'have_symlink''.

In MySQL 4.0, symlinks are fully supported only for `MyISAM' tables.
For other table types, you will probably get strange problems if you
try to use symbolic links on files in the operating system with any of
the above commands.

The handling of symbolic links for `MyISAM' tables in MySQL 4.0 works
the following way:

   * In the data directory you will always have the table definition
     file, the datafile, and the index files The datafile and index file
     can be moved elsewhere and replaced in the data directory by
     symlinks. The definition file cannot.

   * You can symlink the datafile and the index file to different
     directories independently of the other.

   * The symlinking can be done at the operating system level (if
     `mysqld' is not running) or with SQL by using the `DATA DIRECTORY'
     and `INDEX DIRECTORY' options to `CREATE TABLE'.  *Note `CREATE
     TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

   * `myisamchk' will not replace a symlink with the datafile or index
     file.  It works directly on the file a symlink points to. Any
     temporary files will be created in the same directory where the
     datafile or index file is located.

   * When you drop a table that is using symlinks, both the symlink and
     the file the symlink points to are dropped.  This is a good reason
     to why you should *not* run `mysqld' as `root' or allow persons to
     have write access to the MySQL database directories.

   * If you rename a table with `ALTER TABLE RENAME' and you don't move
     the table to another database, the symlinks in the database
     directory are renamed to the new names and the datafile and index
     file are renamed accordingly.

   * If you use `ALTER TABLE RENAME' to move a table to another
     database, the table is moved to the other database directory and
     the old symlinks and the files to which they pointed are deleted.
     (In other words, the new table will not be symlinked.)

   * If you are not using symlinks, you should use the `--skip-symlink'
     option to `mysqld' to ensure that no one can use `mysqld' to drop
     or rename a file outside of the data directory.

`SHOW CREATE TABLE' doesn't report if the table has symbolic links
prior to MySQL 4.0.15. This is also true for `mysqldump', which uses
`SHOW CREATE TABLE' to generate `CREATE TABLE' statements.

Things that are not yet supported:

   * `ALTER TABLE' ignores the `DATA DIRECTORY' and `INDEX DIRECTORY'
     table options.

   * `BACKUP TABLE' and `RESTORE TABLE' don't respect symbolic links.

   * The `frm' file must *never* be a symbolic link (as said
     previously, only the data and index files can be symbolic links).
     Doing this (for example to make synonyms), will produce incorrect
     results.  Suppose you have a database `db1' under the MySQL data
     directory, a table `tbl1' in this database, and in the `db1'
     directory you make a symlink `tbl2' that points to `tbl1':

          shell> cd /path/to/datadir/db1
          shell> ln -s tbl1.frm tbl2.frm
          shell> ln -s tbl1.MYD tbl2.MYD
          shell> ln -s tbl1.MYI tbl2.MYI

     Now if one thread reads `db1.tbl1' and another thread updates
     `db1.tbl2', there will be problems: the query cache will be fooled
     (it will believe `tbl1' has not been updated so will return
     out-of-date results), the `ALTER' commands on `tbl2' will also
     fail.

Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Windows
.............................................

Beginning with MySQL Version 3.23.16, the `mysqld-max' and
`mysql-max-nt' servers in the MySQL distribution are compiled with the
`-DUSE_SYMDIR' option.  This allows you to put a database directory on
a different disk by setting up a symbolic link to it.  This is similar
to the way that symbolic links work on Unix, though the procedure for
setting up the link is different.

On Windows, you make a symbolic link to a MySQL database by creating a
file that contains the path to the destination directory. Save the file
in the data directory using the filename `db_name.sym', where `db_name'
is the database name.

For example, if the MySQL data directory is `C:\mysql\data' and you
want to have database `foo' located at `D:\data\foo', you should create
the file `C:\mysql\data\foo.sym' that contains the pathname
`D:\data\foo\'.  After that, all tables created in the database `foo'
will be created in `D:\data\foo'.  The `D:\data\foo' directory must
exist for this to work. Also, note that the symbolic link will not be
used if a directory with the database name exists in the MySQL data
directory.  This means that if you already have a database directory
named `foo' in the data directory, you must move it to `D:\data' before
the symbolic link will be effective.  (To avoid problems, the server
should not be running when you move the database directory.)

Note that because of the speed penalty you get when opening every table,
we have not enabled this by default even if you have compiled MySQL
with support for this. To enable symlinks you should put in your
`my.cnf' or `my.ini' file the following entry:

     [mysqld]
     symbolic-links

In MySQL 4.0, symbolic links are enabled by default. If you don't need
them, you can disable them with the `skip-symbolic-links' option.

MySQL Client and Utility Programs
*********************************

Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities
=================================================

All MySQL clients that communicate with the server using the
`mysqlclient' library use the following environment variables:

*Name*             *Description*
`MYSQL_UNIX_PORT'  The default socket; used for connections
                   to `localhost'
`MYSQL_TCP_PORT'   The default TCP/IP port
`MYSQL_PWD'        The default password
`MYSQL_DEBUG'      Debug-trace options when debugging
`TMPDIR'           The directory where temporary tables/files
                   are created

Use of `MYSQL_PWD' is insecure.  *Note Connecting::.

On Unix, the `mysql' client uses the file named in the `MYSQL_HISTFILE'
environment variable to save the command-line history. The default
value for the history file is `$HOME/.mysql_history', where `$HOME' is
the value of the `HOME' environment variable. *Note Environment
variables::.

If you do not want to maintain a file that contains a record of your
queries, first remove `.mysql_history' if it exists, then use either of
the following techniques:

   * Set the `MYSQL_HISTFILE' variable to `/dev/null'. To cause this
     setting to take effect each time you log in, put the setting in
     one of your shell's startup files.

   * Create `.mysql_histfile' as a symbolic link to `/dev/null':

          shell> ln -s /dev/null $HOME/.mysql_history

     You need do this only once.


All MySQL programs take many different options. However, every MySQL
program provides a `--help' option that you can use to get a full
description of the program's different options. For example, try `mysql
--help'.

You can override default options for all standard programs by specifying
options on the command line or in an option file.  *Note Program
Options::.

The following list briefly describes the MySQL client programs and
utilities:

`msql2mysql'
     A shell script that converts `mSQL' programs to MySQL. It doesn't
     handle all cases, but it gives a good start when converting.

`mysql'
     The command-line tool for interactively entering queries or
     executing queries from a file in batch mode.  *Note `mysql': mysql.

`mysqlcc'
     This program provides a graphical interface for interacting with
     the server.  *Note `mysqlcc': mysqlcc.

`mysqlaccess'
     A script that checks the access privileges for a host, user, and
     database combination.

`mysqladmin'
     Utility for performing administrative operations, such as creating
     or dropping databases, reloading the grant tables, flushing tables
     to disk, and reopening log files.  `mysqladmin' can also be used
     to retrieve version, process, and status information from the
     server.  *Note `mysqladmin': mysqladmin.

`mysqlbinlog'
     Utility for reading queries from a binary log. Can be used to
     recover from a crash with an old backup.  *Note `mysqlbinlog':
     mysqlbinlog.

`mysqldump'
     Dumps a MySQL database into a file as SQL statements or as
     tab-separated text files. Enhanced freeware originally by Igor
     Romanenko.  *Note `mysqldump': mysqldump.

`mysqlimport'
     Imports text files into their respective tables using `LOAD DATA
     INFILE'. *Note `mysqlimport': mysqlimport.

`mysqlshow'
     Displays information about databases, tables, columns, and indexes.

`replace'
     A utility program that is used by `msql2mysql', but that has more
     general applicability as well.  `replace' changes strings in place
     in files or on the standard input. Uses a finite state machine to
     match longer strings first. Can be used to swap strings. For
     example, this command swaps `a' and `b' in the given files:

          shell> replace a b b a -- file1 file2 ...

`mysql', The Command-line Tool
==============================

`mysql' is a simple SQL shell (with GNU `readline' capabilities).  It
supports interactive and non-interactive use. When used interactively,
query results are presented in an ASCII-table format. When used
non-interactively (for example, as a filter), the result is presented in
tab-separated format.  (The output format can be changed using
command-line options.)  You can run scripts simply like this:

     shell> mysql database < script.sql > output.tab

If you have problems due to insufficient memory in the client, use the
`--quick' option!  This forces `mysql' to use `mysql_use_result()'
rather than `mysql_store_result()' to retrieve the result set.

Using `mysql' is very easy. Just start it as follows: `mysql database'
or `mysql --user=user_name --password=your_password database'. Type an
SQL statement, end it with `;', `\g', or `\G' and press Enter.

`mysql' supports the following options:

`-?, --help'
     Display this help and exit.

`-A, --no-auto-rehash'
     No automatic rehashing. One has to use 'rehash' to get table and
     field completion. This gives a quicker start of mysql.

`--prompt=...'
     Set the mysql prompt to specified format.

`-b, --no-beep'
     Turn off beep-on-error.

`-B, --batch'
     Print results with a tab as separator, each row on a new line.
     Doesn't use history file.

`--character-sets-dir=...'
     Directory where character sets are located.

`-C, --compress'
     Use compression in server/client protocol.

`-#, --debug[=...]'
     Debug log. Default is 'd:t:o,/tmp/mysql.trace'.

`-D, --database=...'
     Database to use. This is mainly useful in the `my.cnf' file.

`--default-character-set=...'
     Set the default character set.

`-e, --execute=...'
     Execute command and quit. (Output like with -batch)

`-E, --vertical'
     Print the output of a query (rows) vertically. Without this option
     you can also force this output by ending your statements with `\G'.

`-f, --force'
     Continue even if we get an SQL error.

`-g, --no-named-commands'
     Named commands are disabled. Use \* form only, or use named
     commands only in the beginning of a line ending with a semicolon
     (`;'). Since Version 10.9, the client now starts with this option
     *enabled* by default!  With the -g option, long format commands
     will still work from the first line, however.

`-G, --enable-named-commands'
     Named commands are *enabled*.  Long format commands are allowed as
     well as shortened \* commands.

`-i, --ignore-space'
     Ignore space after function names.

`-h, --host=...'
     Connect to the given host.

`-H, --html'
     Produce HTML output.

`-X, --xml'
     Produce XML output.

`-L, --skip-line-numbers'
     Don't write line number for errors. Useful when one wants to
     compare result files that includes error messages

`--no-pager'
     Disable pager and print to stdout. See interactive help (\h) also.

`--no-tee'
     Disable outfile. See interactive help (\h) also.

`-n, --unbuffered'
     Flush buffer after each query.

`-N, --skip-column-names'
     Don't write column names in results.

`-O, --set-variable=name=value'
     Give a variable a value. `--help' lists variables.  Please note
     that `--set-variable=name=value' and `-O name=value' syntax is
     deprecated as of MySQL 4.0.  Use `--name=value' instead.

`-o, --one-database'
     Only update the default database. This is useful for skipping
     updates to other database in the binary log.

``--pager[=...]''
     Output type. Default is your `ENV' variable `PAGER'. Valid pagers
     are less, more, cat [> filename], etc.  See interactive help (\h)
     also. This option does not work in batch mode. Pager works only in
     Unix.

`-p[password], --password[=...]'
     Password to use when connecting to server. If a password is not
     given on the command-line, you will be prompted for it.  Note that
     if you use the short form `-p' you can't have a space between the
     option and the password.

`-P port_num, --port=port_num'
     TCP/IP port number to use for connection.

``--protocol=(TCP | SOCKET | PIPE | MEMORY)''
     To specify the connect protocol to use.  New in MySQL 4.1.

`-q, --quick'
     Don't cache result, print it row-by-row. This may slow down the
     server if the output is suspended. Doesn't use history file.

`-r, --raw'
     Write column values without escape conversion. Used with `--batch'

`--reconnect'
     If the connection is lost, automatically try to reconnect to the
     server (but only once).

`-s, --silent'
     Be more silent.

`-S  --socket=...'
     Socket file to use for connection.

`-t  --table'
     Output in table format. This is default in non-batch mode.

`-T, --debug-info'
     Print some debug information at exit.

`--tee=...'
     Append everything into outfile. See interactive help (\h) also.
     Does not work in batch mode.

`-u, --user=#'
     User for login if not current user.

`-U, --safe-updates[=#], --i-am-a-dummy[=#]'
     Only allow `UPDATE' and `DELETE' that uses keys. See below for
     more information about this option.  You can reset this option if
     you have it in your `my.cnf' file by using `--safe-updates=0'.

`-v, --verbose'
     More verbose output (-v -v -v gives the table output format).

`-V, --version'
     Output version information and exit.

`-w, --wait'
     Wait and retry if connection is down instead of aborting.

You can also set the following variables with `-O' or `--set-variable'.
Please note that `--set-variable=name=value' and `-O name=value' syntax
is deprecated as of MySQL 4.0.  Use `--name=value' instead.

*Variable Name*    *Default**Description*
connect_timeout    0       Number of seconds before connection timeout.
local-infile       0       Disable (0) or enable (1) `LOCAL' capability
                           for `LOAD DATA INFILE'
max_allowed_packet 16777216Max packet length to send to/receive from
                           server
net_buffer_length  16384   Buffer for TCP/IP and socket communication
select_limit       1000    Automatic limit for `SELECT' when using
                           `--safe-updates'
max_join_size      1000000 Automatic limit for rows in a join when using
                           `--safe-updates'

If the `mysql' client loses connection to the server while sending it a
query, it will immediately and automatically try to reconnect once to
the server and send the query again.  Note that even if it succeeds in
reconnecting, as your first connection has ended, all your previous
session objects are lost: temporary tables, user and session variables.
Therefore, the above behavior may be dangerous for you, as in this
example where the server was shut down and restarted without you
knowing it:

     mysql> SET @a=1;
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.05 sec)
     
     mysql> INSERT INTO t VALUES(@a);
     ERROR 2006: MySQL server has gone away
     No connection. Trying to reconnect...
     Connection id:    1
     Current database: test
     
     Query OK, 1 row affected (1.30 sec)
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM t;
     +------+
     | a    |
     +------+
     | NULL |
     +------+
     1 row in set (0.05 sec)

The `@a' user variable has been lost with the connection, and after the
reconnection it is undefined.  To protect from this risk, you can start
the `mysql' client with the `--disable-reconnect' option.

If you type 'help' on the command-line, `mysql' will print out the
commands that it supports:

     mysql> help
     
     MySQL commands:
     help      (\h)    Display this text.
     ?         (\h)    Synonym for `help'.
     clear     (\c)    Clear command.
     connect   (\r)    Reconnect to the server.
                       Optional arguments are db and host.
     delimiter (\d)    Set query delimiter.
     edit      (\e)    Edit command with $EDITOR.
     ego       (\G)    Send command to mysql server,
                       display result vertically.
     exit      (\q)    Exit mysql. Same as quit.
     go        (\g)    Send command to mysql server.
     nopager   (\n)    Disable pager, print to stdout.
     notee     (\t)    Don't write into outfile.
     pager     (\P)    Set PAGER [to_pager].
                       Print the query results via PAGER.
     print     (\p)    Print current command.
     prompt    (\R)    Change your mysql prompt.
     quit      (\q)    Quit mysql.
     rehash    (\#)    Rebuild completion hash.
     source    (\.)    Execute an SQL script file.
                       Takes a file name as an argument.
     status    (\s)    Get status information from the server.
     system    (\!)    Execute a system shell command.
     tee       (\T)    Set outfile [to_outfile].
                       Append everything into given outfile.
     use       (\u)    Use another database.
                       Takes database name as argument.

The `edit', `nopager', `pager', and `system' commands work only in Unix.

The `status' command gives you some information about the connection
and the server you are using. If you are running in the
`--safe-updates' mode, `status' will also print the values for the
`mysql' variables that affect your queries.

A useful startup option for beginners (introduced in MySQL Version
3.23.11) is `--safe-updates' (or `--i-am-a-dummy' for users that once
may have done a `DELETE FROM table_name' but forgot the `WHERE'
clause).  When using this option, `mysql' sends the following command
to the MySQL server when opening the connection:

     SET SQL_SAFE_UPDATES=1,SQL_SELECT_LIMIT=#select_limit#,
         SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE=#max_join_size#"

where `#select_limit#' and `#max_join_size#' are variables that can be
set from the `mysql' command-line. *Note `SET': SET OPTION.

The effect of the above is:

   * You are not allowed to do an `UPDATE' or `DELETE' statement if you
     don't have a key constraint in the `WHERE' part. One can, however,
     force an `UPDATE/DELETE' by using `LIMIT':
          UPDATE table_name SET not_key_column=# WHERE not_key_column=# LIMIT 1;

   * All big results are automatically limited to `#select_limit#' rows.

   * `SELECT' statements that will probably need to examine more than
     `#max_join_size' row combinations will be aborted.

Some useful hints about the `mysql' client:

Some data is much more readable when displayed vertically, instead of
the usual horizontal box type output. For example longer text, which
includes new lines, is often much easier to be read with vertical
output.

     mysql> SELECT * FROM mails WHERE LENGTH(txt) < 300 lIMIT 300,1\G
     *************************** 1. row ***************************
       msg_nro: 3068
          date: 2000-03-01 23:29:50
     time_zone: +0200
     mail_from: Monty
         reply: monty@no.spam.com
       mail_to: "Thimble Smith" <tim@no.spam.com>
           sbj: UTF-8
           txt: >>>>> "Thimble" == Thimble Smith writes:
     
     Thimble> Hi.  I think this is a good idea.  Is anyone familiar with UTF-8
     Thimble> or Unicode? Otherwise, I'll put this on my TODO list and see what
     Thimble> happens.
     
     Yes, please do that.
     
     Regards,
     Monty
          file: inbox-jani-1
          hash: 190402944
     1 row in set (0.09 sec)

For logging, you can use the `tee' option. The `tee' can be started
with option `--tee=...', or from the command-line interactively with
command `tee'. All the data displayed on the screen will also be
appended into a given file. This can be very useful for debugging
purposes also. The `tee' can be disabled from the command-line with
command `notee'. Executing `tee' again starts logging again. Without a
parameter the previous file will be used. Note that `tee' will flush
the results into the file after each command, just before the
command-line appears again waiting for the next command.

Browsing, or searching the results in the interactive mode in Unix less,
more, or any other similar program, is now possible with option
`--pager[=...]'. Without argument, `mysql' client will look for the
`PAGER' environment variable and set `pager' to that.  `pager' can be
started from the interactive command-line with command `pager' and
disabled with command `nopager'.  The command takes an argument
optionally and the `pager' will be set to that. Command `pager' can be
called without an argument, but this requires that the option `--pager'
was used, or the `pager' will default to stdout. `pager' works only in
Unix, since it uses the `popen()' function, which doesn't exist in
Windows. In Windows, the `tee' option can be used instead, although it
may not be as handy as `pager' can be in some situations.

A few tips about `pager':
   * You can use it to write to a file:
          mysql> pager cat > /tmp/log.txt
     and the results will go only to a file. You can also pass any
     options for the programs that you want to use with the `pager':
          mysql> pager less -n -i -S

   * From the above do note the option `-S'. You may find it very
     useful when browsing the results; try the option with horizontal
     output (end commands with `\g', or `;') and with vertical output
     (end commands with `\G'). Sometimes a very wide result set is hard
     to be read from the screen, with option `-S' to `less' you can
     browse the results within the interactive `less' from left to
     right, preventing lines longer than your screen from being
     continued to the next line. This can make the result set much more
     readable. You can switch the mode between on and off within the
     interactive `less' with `-S'. See the 'h' for more help about
     `less'.

   * You can combine very complex ways to handle the results, for
     example the following would send the results to two files in two
     different directories, on two different hard-disks mounted on /dr1
     and /dr2, yet let the results still be seen on the screen via less:
          mysql> pager cat | tee /dr1/tmp/res.txt | \
          tee /dr2/tmp/res2.txt | less -n -i -S


You can also combine the two functions above; have the `tee' enabled,
`pager' set to 'less' and you will be able to browse the results in
Unix 'less' and still have everything appended into a file the same
time. The difference between Unix `tee' used with the `pager' and the
`mysql' client in-built `tee', is that the in-built `tee' works even if
you don't have the Unix `tee' available. The in-built `tee' also logs
everything that is printed on the screen, where the Unix `tee' used
with `pager' doesn't log quite that much. Last, but not least, the
interactive `tee' is more handy to switch on and off, when you want to
log something into a file, but want to be able to turn the feature off
sometimes.

From MySQL version 4.0.2 it is possible to change the prompt in the
`mysql' command-line client.

You can use the following prompt options:
*Option**Description*
\v      mysqld version
\d      database in use
\h      host connected to
\p      port connected on
\u      username
\U      full username@host
\\      `\'
\n      new line break
\t      tab
\       space
\_      space
\R      military hour time (0-23)
\r      standard hour time (1-12)
\m      minutes
\y      two digit year
\Y      four digit year
\D      full date format
\s      seconds
\w      day of the week in three letter
        format (Mon, Tue, ...)
\P      am/pm
\o      month in number format
\O      month in three letter format (Jan,
        Feb, ...)
\c      counter that counts up for each
        command you do

`\' followed by any other letter just becomes that letter.

You may set the prompt in the following places:

*Environment Variable*
     You may set the `MYSQL_PS1' environment variable to a prompt
     string.  For example:

          shell> export MYSQL_PS1="(\u@\h) [\d]> "

*`my.cnf'*

*`.my.cnf'*
     You may set the `prompt' option in any MySQL configuration file,
     in the `mysql' group.  For example:

          [mysql]
          prompt=(\u@\h) [\d]>\_

*Command Line*
     You may set the `--prompt' option on the command line to `mysql'.
     For example:

          shell> mysql --prompt="(\u@\h) [\d]> "
          
          (user@host) [database]>

*Interactively*
     You may also use the `prompt' (or `\R') command to change your
     prompt interactively.  For example:

          mysql> prompt (\u@\h) [\d]>\_
          PROMPT set to '(\u@\h) [\d]>\_'
          (user@host) [database]>
          (user@host) [database]> prompt
          Returning to default PROMPT of mysql>
          mysql>

How to Run SQL Commands from a Text File
----------------------------------------

The `mysql' client typically is used interactively, like this:

     shell> mysql database

However, it's also possible to put your SQL commands in a file and tell
`mysql' to read its input from that file.  To do so, create a text file
`text_file' that contains the commands you wish to execute.  Then
invoke `mysql' as shown here:

     shell> mysql database < text_file

You can also start your text file with a `USE db_name' statement.  In
this case, it is unnecessary to specify the database name on the command
line:

     shell> mysql < text_file

If you are already running `mysql', you can execute an SQL script file
using the `source' command:

     mysql> source filename;

For more information about batch mode, *Note Batch mode::.

`mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center
===================================

`mysqlcc', the MySQL Control Center, is a platform-independent client
that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to the MySQL database
server.  It supports interactive use, including syntax highlighting and
tab-completion.  It provides database and table management, and allows
server administration.

Currently, `mysqlcc' runs on Windows and Linux platforms.

`mysqlcc' is not included with MySQL distributions, but can be
downloaded separately at `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/'.

`mysqlcc' supports the following options:

`-?, --help'
     Display this help and exit.

`-b, --blocking_queries'
     Use blocking queries.

`-C, --compress'
     Use compression in server/client protocol.

`-c, --connection_name=name'
     This is a synonym for `--server'.

`-d, --database=...'
     Database to use. This is mainly useful in the `my.cnf' file.

`-H, --history_size=#'
     History size for the query window.

`-h, --host=...'
     Connect to the given host.

`-p[password], --password[=...]'
     Password to use when connecting to server. If a password is not
     given on the command-line, you will be prompted for it.  Note that
     if you use the short form `-p' you can't have a space between the
     option and the password.

`-g, --plugins_path=name'
     Path to the directory where MySQL Control Center plugins are
     located.

`-P port_num, --port=port_num'
     TCP/IP port number to use for connection.

`-q, --query'
     Open a query window on startup.

`-r, --register'
     Open the 'Register Server' dialog on startup.

`-s, --server=name'
     MySQL Control Center connection name.

`-S  --socket=...'
     Socket file to use for connection.

`-y, --syntax'
     Enable syntax highlighting and completion.

`-Y, --syntax_file=name'
     Syntax file for completion.

`-T, --translations_path=name'
     Path to the directory where MySQL Control Center translations are
     located.

`-u, --user=#'
     User for login if not current user.

`-V, --version'
     Output version information and exit.

You can also set the following variables with `-O' or `--set-variable'.
please note that `--set-variable' Please note that
`--set-variable=name=value' and `-O name=value' syntax is deprecated as
of MySQL 4.0.  Use `--name=value' instead.

*Variable Name*    *Default**Description*
connect_timeout    0       Number of seconds before connection timeout.
local-infile       0       Disable (0) or enable (1) `LOCAL' capability
                           for `LOAD DATA INFILE'
max_allowed_packet 16777216Max packet length to send to/receive from
                           server
net_buffer_length  16384   Buffer for TCP/IP and socket communication
select_limit       1000    Automatic limit for `SELECT' when using
                           `--safe-updates'
max_join_size      1000000 Automatic limit for rows in a join when using
                           `--safe-updates'

`mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server
==========================================

A utility for performing administrative operations. The syntax is:

     shell> mysqladmin [OPTIONS] command [command-option] command ...

You can get a list of the options your version of `mysqladmin' supports
by executing `mysqladmin --help'.

The current `mysqladmin' supports the following commands:

`create databasename'
     Create a new database.

`drop databasename'
     Delete a database and all its tables.

`extended-status'
     Gives an extended status message from the server.

`flush-hosts'
     Flush all cached hosts.

`flush-logs'
     Flush all logs.

`flush-tables'
     Flush all tables.

`flush-privileges'
     Reload grant tables (same as reload).

`kill id,id,...'
     Kill mysql threads.

`password'
     Set a new password. Change old password to new-password.

`ping'
     Check if mysqld is alive.

`processlist'
     Show list of active threads in server, as with the `SHOW
     PROCESSLIST' statement.  If the `--verbose' option is given, the
     output is like that of `SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST'.

`reload'
     Reload grant tables.

`refresh'
     Flush all tables and close and open log files.

`shutdown'
     Take down the server.

`slave-start'
     Start slave replication thread.

`slave-stop'
     Stop slave replication thread.

`status'
     Gives a short status message from the server.

`variables'
     Prints variables available.

`version'
     Get version information from server.

All commands can be shortened to their unique prefix.  For example:

     shell> mysqladmin proc stat
     +----+-------+-----------+----+-------------+------+-------+------+
     | Id | User  | Host      | db | Command     | Time | State | Info |
     +----+-------+-----------+----+-------------+------+-------+------+
     | 6  | monty | localhost |    | Processlist | 0    |       |      |
     +----+-------+-----------+----+-------------+------+-------+------+
     Uptime: 10077  Threads: 1  Questions: 9  Slow queries: 0
     Opens: 6 Flush tables: 1  Open tables: 2
     Memory in use: 1092K  Max memory used: 1116K

The `mysqladmin status' command result has the following columns:

*Column*       *Description*
Uptime         Number of seconds the MySQL server has been up.
Threads        Number of active threads (clients).
Questions      Number of questions from clients since
               `mysqld' was started.
Slow queries   Queries that have taken more than
               `long_query_time' seconds. *Note Slow query
               log::.
Opens          How many tables `mysqld' has opened.
Flush tables   Number of `flush ...', `refresh', and `reload'
               commands.
Open tables    Number of tables that are open now.
Memory in use  Memory allocated directly by the `mysqld' code
               (only available when MySQL is compiled with
               -with-debug=full).
Max memory     Maximum memory allocated directly by the
used           `mysqld' code (only available when MySQL is
               compiled with -with-debug=full).

If you do `mysqladmin shutdown' on a socket (in other words, on a the
computer where `mysqld' is running), `mysqladmin' will wait until the
MySQL `pid-file' is removed to ensure that the `mysqld' server has
stopped properly.

`mysqlbinlog', Executing the queries from a binary log
======================================================

You can examine the binary log file (*note Binary log::) with the
`mysqlbinlog' utility.

     shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.001

will print all queries contained in binlog `hostname-bin.001', together
with information (time the query took, ID of the thread which issued
it, timestamp when it was issued etc).

You can pipe the output of `mysqlbinlog' into a `mysql' client; this is
used to recover from a crash when you have an old backup (*note
Backup::):

     shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.001 | mysql

or:

     shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.[0-9]* | mysql

You can also redirect the output of `mysqlbinlog' to a text file
instead, modify this text file (to cut queries you don't want to
execute for some reason), then execute the queries from the text file
into `mysql'.

`mysqlbinlog' has the `position=#' options which will print only
queries whose offset in the binlog is greater or equal to `#'.

If you have more than one binary log to execute on the MySQL server,
the safe method is to do it in one unique MySQL connection. Here is
what may be UNsafe:

     shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.001 | mysql # DANGER!!
     shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.002 | mysql # DANGER!!

It will cause problems if the first binlog contains a `CREATE TEMPORARY
TABLE' and the second one contains a query which uses this temporary
table: when the first `mysql' terminates, it will drop the temporary
table, so the second `mysql' will report "unknown table". This is why
you should run all binlogs you want in one unique connection,
especially if you use temporary tables. Here are two possible ways:

     shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.001 hostname-bin.002 | mysql

     shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.001 >  /tmp/queries.sql
     shell> mysqlbinlog hostname-bin.002 >> /tmp/queries.sql
     shell> mysql -e "source /tmp/queries.sql"

Starting from MySQL 4.0.14, `mysqlbinlog' can prepare suitable input
for `mysql' to execute a `LOAD DATA INFILE' from a binlog. As the binlog
contains the data to load (this is true for MySQL 4.0; MySQL 3.23 did
not write the loaded data into the binlog, so the original file was
needed when one wanted to execute the content of the binlog),
`mysqlbinlog' will copy this data to a temporary file and print a `LOAD
DATA INFILE' command for `mysql' to load this temporary file. The
location where the temporary file is created is by default the
temporary directory; it can be changed with the `local-load' option of
`mysqlbinlog'.

*Warning:* When you run `mysqlbinlog' on a binary log file, it will
create a temporary file for every found `LOAD DATA INFILE' command.
These files will *not* be automatically deleted, because you will need
them when executing the produced sql log.  You should delete them
yourself when you don't need the sql log anymore.  The files are named
`temporary-dir/original_file_name-#-#'.

In the future we will fix this problem by allowing `mysqlbinlog' to
connect directly to a `mysqld' server.  In this case we can safely
remove the log files when the logs have been applied.

Before MySQL 4.1, `mysqlbinlog' could not prepare suitable output for
`mysql' when the binary log contained queries from different threads
using temporary tables of the same name, if these queries were
interlaced. This is solved in MySQL 4.1.

You can also use `mysqlbinlog --read-from-remote-server' to read the
binary log directly from a remote MySQL server.  However, this is
something that is deprecated as we instead want to make it easy to to
apply binary logs to a running MySQL server.

`mysqlbinlog --help' will give you more information.

Using `mysqlcheck' for Table Maintenance and Crash Recovery
===========================================================

Since MySQL version 3.23.38 you will be able to use a new checking and
repairing tool for `MyISAM' tables. The difference to `myisamchk' is
that `mysqlcheck' should be used when the `mysqld' server is running,
whereas `myisamchk' should be used when it is not. The benefit is that
you no longer have to take down the server for checking or repairing
your tables.

`mysqlcheck' uses MySQL server commands `CHECK', `REPAIR', `ANALYZE'
and `OPTIMIZE' in a convenient way for the user.

There are three alternative ways to invoke `mysqlcheck':

     shell> mysqlcheck [OPTIONS] database [tables]
     shell> mysqlcheck [OPTIONS] --databases DB1 [DB2 DB3...]
     shell> mysqlcheck [OPTIONS] --all-databases

So it can be used in a similar way as `mysqldump' when it comes to what
databases and tables you want to choose.

`mysqlcheck' does have a special feature compared to the other clients;
the default behavior, checking tables (-c), can be changed by renaming
the binary. So if you want to have a tool that repairs tables by
default, you should just copy `mysqlcheck' to your harddrive with a new
name, `mysqlrepair', or alternatively make a symbolic link to
`mysqlrepair' and name the symbolic link as `mysqlrepair'. If you
invoke `mysqlrepair' now, it will repair tables by default.

The names that you can use to change `mysqlcheck' default behavior are
here:

     mysqlrepair:   The default option will be -r
     mysqlanalyze:  The default option will be -a
     mysqloptimize: The default option will be -o

The options available for `mysqlcheck' are listed here, please check
what your version supports with `mysqlcheck --help'.

`-A, --all-databases'
     Check all the databases. This will be same as -databases with all
     databases selected

`-1, --all-in-1'
     Instead of making one query for each table, execute all queries in
     1 query separately for each database. Table names will be in a
     comma separated list.

`-a, --analyze'
     Analyze given tables.

`--auto-repair'
     If a checked table is corrupted, automatically fix it. Repairing
     will be done after all tables have been checked, if corrupted ones
     were found.

`-#, --debug=...'
     Output debug log. Often this is 'd:t:o,filename'

`--character-sets-dir=...'
     Directory where character sets are

`-c, --check'
     Check table for errors

`-C, --check-only-changed'
     Check only tables that have changed since last check or haven't
     been closed properly.

`--compress'
     Use compression in server/client protocol.

`-?, --help'
     Display this help message and exit.

`-B, --databases'
     To check several databases. Note the difference in usage; in this
     case no tables are given. All name arguments are regarded as
     database names.

`--default-character-set=...'
     Set the default character set

`-F, --fast'
     Check only tables that hasn't been closed properly

`-f, --force'
     Continue even if we get an sql-error.

`-e, --extended'
     If you are using this option with CHECK TABLE, it will ensure that
     the table is 100 percent consistent, but will take a long time.

     If you are using this option with REPAIR TABLE, it will run an
     extended repair on the table, which may not only take a long time
     to execute, but may produce a lot of garbage rows also!

`-h, --host=...'
     Connect to host.

`-m, --medium-check'
     Faster than extended-check, but only finds 99.99 percent of all
     errors. Should be good enough for most cases.

`-o, --optimize'
     Optimize table

`-p, --password[=...]'
     Password to use when connecting to server. If password is not given
     it's solicited on the tty.

`-P, --port=...'
     Port number to use for TCP/IP connections.

``--protocol=(TCP | SOCKET | PIPE | MEMORY)''
     To specify the connect protocol to use.  New in MySQL 4.1.

`-q, --quick'
     If you are using this option with CHECK TABLE, it prevents the
     check from scanning the rows to check for wrong links. This is the
     fastest check.

     If you are using this option with REPAIR TABLE, it will try to
     repair only the index tree. This is the fastest repair method for
     a table.

`-r, --repair'
     Can fix almost anything except unique keys that aren't unique.

`-s, --silent'
     Print only error messages.

`-S, --socket=...'
     Socket file to use for connection.

`--tables'
     Overrides option `--databases' (`-B'). All arguments following
     that option are regarded as table names.

`-u, --user=#'
     User for login if not current user.

`-v, --verbose'
     Print information about the various stages.

`-V, --version'
     Output version information and exit.

`mysqldump', Dumping Table Structure and Data
=============================================

The `mysqldump' client can be used to dump a database or a collection
of database for backup or for transferring the data to another SQL
server (not necessarily a MySQL server).  The dump will contain SQL
statements to create the table and/or populate the table.

If you are doing a backup on the server, you should consider using the
`mysqlhotcopy' instead. *Note `mysqlhotcopy': mysqlhotcopy.

     shell> mysqldump [OPTIONS] database [tables]
     OR     mysqldump [OPTIONS] --databases [OPTIONS] DB1 [DB2 DB3...]
     OR     mysqldump [OPTIONS] --all-databases [OPTIONS]

If you don't give any tables or use the `--databases' or
`--all-databases' option, entire databases will be dumped.

You can get a list of the options your version of `mysqldump' supports
by executing `mysqldump --help'.

If you run `mysqldump' without `--quick' or `--opt', `mysqldump' will
load the whole result set into memory before dumping the result.  This
will probably be a problem if you are dumping a big database.

If you are using a recent copy of the `mysqldump' program and you are
going to do a dump that will be read into a very old MySQL server, you
should not use the `--opt' or `-e' options.

Out-of-range numeric values such as `-inf' and `inf', as well as NaN
(not-a-number) values are dumped by `mysqldump' as `NULL'.  You can see
this using the following example table:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE t (f DOUBLE);
     mysql> INSERT INTO t VALUES(1e+111111111111111111111);
     mysql> INSERT INTO t VALUES(-1e111111111111111111111);
     mysql> SELECT f FROM t;
     +------+
     | f    |
     +------+
     |  inf |
     | -inf |
     +------+

For this table, `mysqldump' produces the following data output:

     --
     -- Dumping data for table `t`
     --
     
     INSERT INTO t VALUES (NULL);
     INSERT INTO t VALUES (NULL);

The significance of this behavior is that if you dump and restore the
table, the new table has contents that differ from the original
contents.

`mysqldump' supports the following options:

`--add-locks'
     Add `LOCK TABLES' before and `UNLOCK TABLE' after each table dump.
     (To get faster inserts into MySQL.)

`--add-drop-table'
     Add a `drop table' before each create statement.

`-A, --all-databases'
     Dump all the databases. This will be same as `--databases' with all
     databases selected.

`-a, --all'
     Include all MySQL-specific create options.

`--allow-keywords'
     Allow creation of column names that are keywords.  This works by
     prefixing each column name with the table name.

`-c, --complete-insert'
     Use complete insert statements (with column names).

`--comments=...'
     If set to `0', suppresses additional information (like program
     version, server version, host) in dumps. The `--skip-comments'
     option does the same. Default is `1' to not suppress that
     information.  New in MySQL 4.0.17.

`-C, --compress'
     Compress all information between the client and the server if both
     support compression.

`-B, --databases'
     To dump several databases. Note the difference in usage. In this
     case no tables are given. All name arguments are regarded as
     database names.  `USE db_name;' will be included in the output
     before each new database.

`--default-character-set=...'
     Sets the character set for the dump.  If not specified,
     `mysqldump' 10.3 (MySQL-4.1.2) or later will use `utf8', earlier
     versions use `latin1'.

`--delayed'
     Insert rows with the `INSERT DELAYED' command.

`-e, --extended-insert'
     Use the new multiline `INSERT' syntax. (Gives more compact and
     faster inserts statements.)

`-#, --debug[=option_string]'
     Trace usage of the program (for debugging).

`--help'
     Display a help message and exit.

`--fields-terminated-by=...'
`--fields-enclosed-by=...'
`--fields-optionally-enclosed-by=...'
`--fields-escaped-by=...'
`--lines-terminated-by=...'
     These options are used with the `-T' option and have the same
     meaning as the corresponding clauses for `LOAD DATA INFILE'.
     *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

`-F, --flush-logs'
     Flush log file in the MySQL server before starting the dump. Note
     that if you use this option in combination with the
     `--all-databases' (or `-A') option, the logs will be flushed _for
     each database dumped_.

`-f, --force'
     Continue even if we get an SQL error during a table dump.

`-h, --host=...'
     Dump data from the MySQL server on the named host. The default host
     is `localhost'.

`-l, --lock-tables'
     Lock all tables before starting the dump.  The tables are locked
     with `READ LOCAL' to allow concurrent inserts in the case of
     `MyISAM' tables.

     Please note that when dumping multiple databases, `--lock-tables'
     will lock tables for each database separately. So using this
     option will not guarantee your tables will be logically consistent
     between databases.  Tables in different databases may be dumped in
     completely different states.

`-K, --disable-keys'
     `/*!40000 ALTER TABLE tb_name DISABLE KEYS */;' and `/*!40000
     ALTER TABLE tb_name ENABLE KEYS */;' will be put in the output.
     This will make loading the data into a MySQL 4.0 server faster as
     the indexes are created after all data are inserted.

`-n, --no-create-db'
     `CREATE DATABASE /*!32312 IF NOT EXISTS*/ db_name;' will not be
     put in the output. The above line will be added otherwise, if a
     `--databases' or `--all-databases' option was given.

`-t, --no-create-info'
     Don't write table creation information (the `CREATE TABLE'
     statement).

`-d, --no-data'
     Don't write any row information for the table.  This is very
     useful if you just want to get a dump of the structure for a table!

`--opt'
     Same as `--quick --add-drop-table --add-locks --extended-insert
     --lock-tables'.  Should give you the fastest possible dump for
     reading into a MySQL server.

`-pyour_pass, --password[=your_pass]'
     The password to use when connecting to the server. If you specify
     no `=your_pass' part, `mysqldump' you will be prompted for a
     password.

`-P, --port=...'
     Port number to use for TCP/IP connections.

``--protocol=(TCP | SOCKET | PIPE | MEMORY)''
     To specify the connect protocol to use.  New in MySQL 4.1.

`-q, --quick'
     Don't buffer query, dump directly to stdout. Uses
     `mysql_use_result()' to do this. Especially useful for big dumps.

`-Q, --quote-names'
     Quote table and column names within ``' characters.

`-r, --result-file=...'
     Direct output to a given file. This option should be used in MSDOS,
     because it prevents new line `\n' from being converted to `\n\r'
     (new line + carriage return).

`--single-transaction'
     This option issues a `BEGIN' SQL command before dumping data from
     server. It is mostly useful with `InnoDB' tables and
     `READ_COMMITTED' transaction isolation level, as in this mode it
     will dump the consistent state of the database at the time then
     `BEGIN' was issued without blocking any applications.

     When using this option you should keep in mind that only
     transactional tables will be dumped in a consistent state, for
     example, any `MyISAM' or `HEAP' tables dumped while using this
     option may still change state.

     The `--single-transaction' option was added in version 4.0.2.
     This option is mutually exclusive with the `--lock-tables' option
     as `LOCK TABLES' already commits a previous transaction internally.

`-S /path/to/socket, --socket=/path/to/socket'
     The socket file to use when connecting to `localhost' (which is the
     default host).

`--skip-comments'
     Suppresses additional information (like program version, server
     version, host) in dumps. It does the same as setting `--comments'
     to `0'. New in MySQL 4.0.17.

`--tables'
     Overrides option -databases (-B).

`-T, --tab=path-to-some-directory'
     Creates a `table_name.sql' file, that contains the SQL CREATE
     commands, and a `table_name.txt' file, that contains the data, for
     each give table.  The format of the `.txt' file is made according
     to the `--fields-xxx' and `--lines--xxx' options.  *Note:* This
     option works only if `mysqldump' is run on the same machine as the
     `mysqld' daemon. You must use a MySQL account that has the `FILE'
     privilege, and the login user/group that `mysqld' is running as
     (normally user `mysql', group `mysql') must have permission to
     create/write a file at the location you specify.

`-u user_name, --user=user_name'
     The MySQL username to use when connecting to the server. The
     default value is your Unix login name.

`-O name=value, --set-variable=name=value'
     Set the value of a variable.  The possible variables are listed
     below.  Please note that `--set-variable=name=value' and `-O
     name=value' syntax is deprecated as of MySQL 4.0.  Use
     `--name=value' instead.

`-v, --verbose'
     Verbose mode.  Print out more information on what the program does.

`-V, --version'
     Print version information and exit.

`-w, --where='where-condition''
     Dump only selected records. Note that quotes are mandatory:
          "--where=user='jimf'" "-wuserid>1" "-wuserid<1"

`-X, --xml'
     Dumps a database as well formed XML

`-x, --first-slave'
     Locks all tables across all databases.

`--master-data'
     Like `--first-slave', but also prints some `CHANGE MASTER TO'
     commands which will later make your slave start from the right
     position in the master's binlogs, if you have set up your slave
     using this SQL dump of the master.

`-O net_buffer_length=#, where # < 16M'
     When creating multi-row-insert statements (as with option
     `--extended-insert' or `--opt'), `mysqldump' will create rows up
     to `net_buffer_length' length. If you increase this variable, you
     should also ensure that the `max_allowed_packet' variable in the
     MySQL server is bigger than the `net_buffer_length'.

The most normal use of `mysqldump' is probably for making a backup of
whole databases. *Note Backup::.

     mysqldump --opt database > backup-file.sql

You can read this back into MySQL with:

     mysql database < backup-file.sql

or:

     mysql -e "source /path-to-backup/backup-file.sql" database

However, it's also very useful to populate another MySQL server with
information from a database:

     mysqldump --opt database | mysql ---host=remote-host -C database

It is possible to dump several databases with one command:

     mysqldump --databases database1 [database2 ...] > my_databases.sql

If all the databases are wanted, one can use:

     mysqldump --all-databases > all_databases.sql

`mysqlhotcopy', Copying MySQL Databases and Tables
==================================================

`mysqlhotcopy' is a Perl script that uses `LOCK TABLES', `FLUSH TABLES'
and `cp' or `scp' to quickly make a backup of a database.  It's the
fastest way to make a backup of the database or single tables, but it
can only be run on the same machine where the database directories are.
`mysqlhotcopy' works only for backing up `MyISAM' and `ISAM' tables.
It runs on Unix, and on NetWare as of MySQL 4.0.18.

     mysqlhotcopy db_name [/path/to/new_directory]
     
     mysqlhotcopy db_name_1 ... db_name_n /path/to/new_directory
     
     mysqlhotcopy db_name./regex/

`mysqlhotcopy' supports the following options:

`-?, --help'
     Display a help screen and exit

`-u, --user=#'
     User for database login

`-p, --password=#'
     Password to use when connecting to server

`-P, --port=#'
     Port to use when connecting to local server

`-S, --socket=#'
     Socket to use when connecting to local server

`--allowold'
     Don't abort if target already exists (rename it _old)

`--keepold'
     Don't delete previous (now renamed) target when done

`--noindices'
     Don't include full index files in copy to make the backup smaller
     and faster The indexes can later be reconstructed with `myisamchk
     -rq.'.

`--method=#'
     Method for copy (`cp' or `scp').

`-q, --quiet'
     Be silent except for errors

`--debug'
     Enable debug

`-n, --dryrun'
     Report actions without doing them

`--regexp=#'
     Copy all databases with names matching regexp

`--suffix=#'
     Suffix for names of copied databases

`--checkpoint=#'
     Insert checkpoint entry into specified db.table

`--flushlog'
     Flush logs once all tables are locked.

`--tmpdir=#'
     Temporary directory (instead of /tmp).

You can use `perldoc mysqlhotcopy' to get more complete documentation
for `mysqlhotcopy'.

`mysqlhotcopy' reads the groups `[client]' and  `[mysqlhotcopy]' from
the option files.

To be able to execute `mysqlhotcopy' you need write access to the
backup directory, the `SELECT' privilege for the tables you are about to
copy and the MySQL `RELOAD' privilege (to be able to execute `FLUSH
TABLES').

`mysqlimport', Importing Data from Text Files
=============================================

`mysqlimport' provides a command-line interface to the `LOAD DATA
INFILE' SQL statement.  Most options to `mysqlimport' correspond
directly to the same options to `LOAD DATA INFILE'.  *Note `LOAD DATA':
LOAD DATA.

`mysqlimport' is invoked like this:

     shell> mysqlimport [options] database textfile1 [textfile2 ...]

For each text file named on the command-line, `mysqlimport' strips any
extension from the filename and uses the result to determine which
table to import the file's contents into.  For example, files named
`patient.txt', `patient.text', and `patient' would all be imported into
a table named `patient'.

`mysqlimport' supports the following options:

`-c, --columns=...'
     This option takes a comma-separated list of field names as an
     argument.  The field list is used to create a proper `LOAD DATA
     INFILE' command, which is then passed to MySQL. *Note `LOAD DATA':
     LOAD DATA.

`-C, --compress'
     Compress all information between the client and the server if both
     support compression.

`-#, --debug[=option_string]'
     Trace usage of the program (for debugging).

`-d, --delete'
     Empty the table before importing the text file.

`--fields-terminated-by=...'
`--fields-enclosed-by=...'
`--fields-optionally-enclosed-by=...'
`--fields-escaped-by=...'
`--lines-terminated-by=...'
     These options have the same meaning as the corresponding clauses
     for `LOAD DATA INFILE'. *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

`-f, --force'
     Ignore errors.  For example, if a table for a text file doesn't
     exist, continue processing any remaining files.  Without `--force',
     `mysqlimport' exits if a table doesn't exist.

`--help'
     Display a help message and exit.

`-h host_name, --host=host_name'
     Import data to the MySQL server on the named host. The default host
     is `localhost'.

`-i, --ignore'
     See the description for the `--replace' option.

`--ignore-lines=n'
     Ignore first `n' lines of the datafile.

`-l, --lock-tables'
     Lock *all* tables for writing before processing any text files.
     This ensures that all tables are synchronized on the server.

`-L, --local'
     Read input files from the client.  By default, text files are
     assumed to be on the server if you connect to `localhost' (which
     is the default host).

`-pyour_pass, --password[=your_pass]'
     The password to use when connecting to the server. If you specify
     no `=your_pass' part, `mysqlimport' you will be prompted for a
     password.

`-P port_num, --port=port_num'
     TCP/IP port number to use for connection.

``--protocol=(TCP | SOCKET | PIPE | MEMORY)''
     To specify the connect protocol to use.  New in MySQL 4.1.

`-r, --replace'
     The `--replace' and `--ignore' options control handling of input
     records that duplicate existing records on unique key values.  If
     you specify `--replace', new rows replace existing rows that have
     the same unique key value. If you specify `--ignore', input rows
     that duplicate an existing row on a unique key value are skipped.
     If you don't specify either option, an error occurs when a
     duplicate key value is found, and the rest of the text file is
     ignored.

`-s, --silent'
     Silent mode.  Write output only when errors occur.

`-S /path/to/socket, --socket=/path/to/socket'
     The socket file to use when connecting to `localhost' (which is the
     default host).

`-u user_name, --user=user_name'
     The MySQL username to use when connecting to the server. The
     default value is your Unix login name.

`-v, --verbose'
     Verbose mode.  Print out more information what the program does.

`-V, --version'
     Print version information and exit.

Here is a sample run using `mysqlimport':

     $ mysql --version
     mysql  Ver 9.33 Distrib 3.22.25, for pc-linux-gnu (i686)
     $ uname -a
     Linux xxx.com 2.2.5-15 #1 Mon Apr 19 22:21:09 EDT 1999 i586 unknown
     $ mysql -e 'CREATE TABLE imptest(id INT, n VARCHAR(30))' test
     $ ed
     a
     100     Max Sydow
     101     Count Dracula
     .
     w imptest.txt
     32
     q
     $ od -c imptest.txt
     0000000   1   0   0  \t   M   a   x       S   y   d   o   w  \n   1   0
     0000020   1  \t   C   o   u   n   t       D   r   a   c   u   l   a  \n
     0000040
     $ mysqlimport --local test imptest.txt
     test.imptest: Records: 2  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0
     $ mysql -e 'SELECT * FROM imptest' test
     +------+---------------+
     | id   | n             |
     +------+---------------+
     |  100 | Max Sydow     |
     |  101 | Count Dracula |
     +------+---------------+

`mysqlshow', Showing Databases, Tables, and Columns
===================================================

`mysqlshow' can be used to quickly look at which databases exist, their
tables, and the table's columns.

With the `mysql' program you can get the same information with the
`SHOW' commands.  *Note SHOW::.

`mysqlshow' is invoked like this:

     shell> mysqlshow [OPTIONS] [database [table [column]]]

   * If no database is given, all matching databases are shown.

   * If no table is given, all matching tables in the database are
     shown.

   * If no column is given, all matching columns and column types in
     the table are shown.

Note that in newer MySQL versions, you only see those
database/tables/columns for which you have some privileges.

If the last argument contains a shell or SQL wildcard (`*', `?', `%' or
`_'), only what's matched by the wildcard is shown.  If a database name
contains any underscores, those should be escaped with backslash (some
Unix shells will require two), in order to get tables / columns
properly. '*' are converted into SQL '%' wildcard and '?' into SQL '_'
wildcard.  This may cause some confusion when you try to display the
columns for a table with a `_' as in this case `mysqlshow' only shows
you the table names that match the pattern.  This is easily fixed by
adding an extra `%' last on the command-line (as a separate argument).

`myisampack', The MySQL Compressed Read-only Table Generator
============================================================

`myisampack' is used to compress MyISAM tables, and `pack_isam' is used
to compress ISAM tables. Because ISAM tables are deprecated, we will
discuss only `myisampack' here, but everything said about `myisampack'
should also be true for `pack_isam'.

`myisampack' works by compressing each column in the table separately.
The information needed to decompress columns is read into memory when
the table is opened. This results in much better performance when
accessing individual records, because you only have to uncompress
exactly one record, not a much larger disk block as when using Stacker
on MS-DOS.  Usually, `myisampack' packs the datafile 40%-70%.

MySQL uses memory mapping (`mmap()') on compressed tables and falls
back to normal read/write file usage if `mmap()' doesn't work.

Please note the following:
   * After packing, the table is read-only. This is generally intended
     (such as when accessing packed tables on a CD). Also allowing
     writes to a packed table is on our TODO list but with low priority.

   * `myisampack' can also pack `BLOB' or `TEXT' columns.  The older
     `pack_isam' (for `ISAM' tables) cannot do this.

`myisampack' is invoked like this:

     shell> myisampack [options] filename ...

Each filename should be the name of an index (`.MYI') file.  If you are
not in the database directory, you should specify the pathname to the
file.  It is permissible to omit the `.MYI' extension.

`myisampack' supports the following options:

`-b, --backup'
     Make a backup of the table as `tbl_name.OLD'.

`-#, --debug=debug_options'
     Output debug log. The `debug_options' string often is
     `'d:t:o,filename''.

`-f, --force'
     Force packing of the table even if it becomes bigger or if the
     temporary file exists.  `myisampack' creates a temporary file
     named `tbl_name.TMD' while it compresses the table.  If you kill
     `myisampack', the `.TMD' file may not be deleted.  Normally,
     `myisampack' exits with an error if it finds that `tbl_name.TMD'
     exists.  With `--force', `myisampack' packs the table anyway.

`-?, --help'
     Display a help message and exit.

`-j big_tbl_name, --join=big_tbl_name'
     Join all tables named on the command-line into a single table
     `big_tbl_name'.  All tables that are to be combined *must* be
     identical (same column names and types, same indexes, etc.).

`-p #, --packlength=#'
     Specify the record length storage size, in bytes.  The value
     should be 1, 2, or 3.  (`myisampack' stores all rows with length
     pointers of 1, 2, or 3 bytes.  In most normal cases, `myisampack'
     can determine the right length value before it begins packing the
     file, but it may notice during the packing process that it could
     have used a shorter length. In this case, `myisampack' will print
     a note that the next time you pack the same file, you could use a
     shorter record length.)

`-s, --silent'
     Silent mode.  Write output only when errors occur.

`-t, --test'
     Don't actually pack table, just test packing it.

`-T dir_name, --tmp_dir=dir_name'
     Use the named directory as the location in which to write the
     temporary table.

`-v, --verbose'
     Verbose mode.  Write information about progress and packing result.

`-V, --version'
     Display version information and exit.

`-w, --wait'
     Wait and retry if table is in use.  If the `mysqld' server was
     invoked with the `--skip-external-locking' option, it is not a
     good idea to invoke `myisampack' if the table might be updated
     during the packing process.

The sequence of commands shown here illustrates a typical table
compression session:

     shell> ls -l station.*
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my         994128 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYD
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my          53248 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYI
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my           5767 Apr 17 19:00 station.frm
     
     shell> myisamchk -dvv station
     
     MyISAM file:     station
     Isam-version:  2
     Creation time: 1996-03-13 10:08:58
     Recover time:  1997-02-02  3:06:43
     Data records:              1192  Deleted blocks:              0
     Datafile: Parts:           1192  Deleted data:                0
     Datafile pointer (bytes):     2  Keyfile pointer (bytes):     2
     Max datafile length:   54657023  Max keyfile length:   33554431
     Recordlength:               834
     Record format: Fixed length
     
     table description:
     Key Start Len Index   Type                       Root  Blocksize    Rec/key
     1   2     4   unique  unsigned long              1024       1024          1
     2   32    30  multip. text                      10240       1024          1
     
     Field Start Length Type
     1     1     1
     2     2     4
     3     6     4
     4     10    1
     5     11    20
     6     31    1
     7     32    30
     8     62    35
     9     97    35
     10    132   35
     11    167   4
     12    171   16
     13    187   35
     14    222   4
     15    226   16
     16    242   20
     17    262   20
     18    282   20
     19    302   30
     20    332   4
     21    336   4
     22    340   1
     23    341   8
     24    349   8
     25    357   8
     26    365   2
     27    367   2
     28    369   4
     29    373   4
     30    377   1
     31    378   2
     32    380   8
     33    388   4
     34    392   4
     35    396   4
     36    400   4
     37    404   1
     38    405   4
     39    409   4
     40    413   4
     41    417   4
     42    421   4
     43    425   4
     44    429   20
     45    449   30
     46    479   1
     47    480   1
     48    481   79
     49    560   79
     50    639   79
     51    718   79
     52    797   8
     53    805   1
     54    806   1
     55    807   20
     56    827   4
     57    831   4
     
     shell> myisampack station.MYI
     Compressing station.MYI: (1192 records)
     - Calculating statistics
     
     normal:     20  empty-space:      16  empty-zero:        12  empty-fill:  11
     pre-space:   0  end-space:        12  table-lookups:      5  zero:         7
     Original trees:  57  After join: 17
     - Compressing file
     87.14%
     
     shell> ls -l station.*
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my         127874 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYD
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my          55296 Apr 17 19:04 station.MYI
     -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my           5767 Apr 17 19:00 station.frm
     
     shell> myisamchk -dvv station
     
     MyISAM file:     station
     Isam-version:  2
     Creation time: 1996-03-13 10:08:58
     Recover time:  1997-04-17 19:04:26
     Data records:              1192  Deleted blocks:              0
     Datafile: Parts:           1192  Deleted data:                0
     Datafilepointer (bytes):      3  Keyfile pointer (bytes):     1
     Max datafile length:   16777215  Max keyfile length:     131071
     Recordlength:               834
     Record format: Compressed
     
     table description:
     Key Start Len Index   Type                       Root  Blocksize    Rec/key
     1   2     4   unique  unsigned long             10240       1024          1
     2   32    30  multip. text                      54272       1024          1
     
     Field Start Length Type                         Huff tree  Bits
     1     1     1      constant                             1     0
     2     2     4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
     3     6     4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     4     10    1                                           3     9
     5     11    20     table-lookup                         4     0
     6     31    1                                           3     9
     7     32    30     no endspace, not_always              5     9
     8     62    35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
     9     97    35     no empty                             7     9
     10    132   35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
     11    167   4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
     12    171   16     no endspace, not_always, no empty    5     9
     13    187   35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
     14    222   4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
     15    226   16     no endspace, not_always, no empty    5     9
     16    242   20     no endspace, not_always              8     9
     17    262   20     no endspace, no empty                8     9
     18    282   20     no endspace, no empty                5     9
     19    302   30     no endspace, no empty                6     9
     20    332   4      always zero                          2     9
     21    336   4      always zero                          2     9
     22    340   1                                           3     9
     23    341   8      table-lookup                         9     0
     24    349   8      table-lookup                        10     0
     25    357   8      always zero                          2     9
     26    365   2                                           2     9
     27    367   2      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     28    369   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     29    373   4      table-lookup                        11     0
     30    377   1                                           3     9
     31    378   2      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     32    380   8      no zeros                             2     9
     33    388   4      always zero                          2     9
     34    392   4      table-lookup                        12     0
     35    396   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)               13     9
     36    400   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
     37    404   1                                           2     9
     38    405   4      no zeros                             2     9
     39    409   4      always zero                          2     9
     40    413   4      no zeros                             2     9
     41    417   4      always zero                          2     9
     42    421   4      no zeros                             2     9
     43    425   4      always zero                          2     9
     44    429   20     no empty                             3     9
     45    449   30     no empty                             3     9
     46    479   1                                          14     4
     47    480   1                                          14     4
     48    481   79     no endspace, no empty               15     9
     49    560   79     no empty                             2     9
     50    639   79     no empty                             2     9
     51    718   79     no endspace                         16     9
     52    797   8      no empty                             2     9
     53    805   1                                          17     1
     54    806   1                                           3     9
     55    807   20     no empty                             3     9
     56    827   4      no zeros, zerofill(2)                2     9
     57    831   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9

The information printed by `myisampack' is described here:

`normal'
     The number of columns for which no extra packing is used.

`empty-space'
     The number of columns containing values that are only spaces;
     these will occupy 1 bit.

`empty-zero'
     The number of columns containing values that are only binary 0's;
     these will occupy 1 bit.

`empty-fill'
     The number of integer columns that don't occupy the full byte
     range of their type; these are changed to a smaller type (for
     example, an `INTEGER' column may be changed to `MEDIUMINT').

`pre-space'
     The number of decimal columns that are stored with leading spaces.
     In this case, each value will contain a count for the number of
     leading spaces.

`end-space'
     The number of columns that have a lot of trailing spaces.  In this
     case, each value will contain a count for the number of trailing
     spaces.

`table-lookup'
     The column had only a small number of different values, which were
     converted to an `ENUM' before Huffman compression.

`zero'
     The number of columns for which all values are zero.

`Original trees'
     The initial number of Huffman trees.

`After join'
     The number of distinct Huffman trees left after joining trees to
     save some header space.

After a table has been compressed, `myisamchk -dvv' prints additional
information about each field:

`Type'
     The field type may contain the following descriptors:

    `constant'
          All rows have the same value.

    `no endspace'
          Don't store endspace.

    `no endspace, not_always'
          Don't store endspace and don't do end space compression for
          all values.

    `no endspace, no empty'
          Don't store endspace. Don't store empty values.

    `table-lookup'
          The column was converted to an `ENUM'.

    `zerofill(n)'
          The most significant `n' bytes in the value are always 0 and
          are not stored.

    `no zeros'
          Don't store zeros.

    `always zero'
          0 values are stored in 1 bit.

`Huff tree'
     The Huffman tree associated with the field.

`Bits'
     The number of bits used in the Huffman tree.

After you have run `pack_isam'/`myisampack' you must run
`isamchk'/`myisamchk' to re-create the index.  At this time you can
also sort the index blocks and create statistics needed for the MySQL
optimizer to work more efficiently:

     myisamchk -rq --analyze --sort-index table_name.MYI
     isamchk   -rq --analyze --sort-index table_name.ISM

After you have installed the packed table into the MySQL database
directory you should do `mysqladmin flush-tables' to force `mysqld' to
start using the new table.

If you want to unpack a packed table, you can do this with the
`--unpack' option to `isamchk' or `myisamchk'.

`mysql_config', Get compile options for compiling clients
=========================================================

`mysql_config' provides you with useful information how to compile your
MySQL client and connect it to MySQL.

`mysql_config' supports the following options:

`--cflags'
     Compiler flags to find include files and critical ccompiler flags
     and defines used when compiling the `libmysqlclient' library.

`--include'
     Compiler options to find MySQL include files. (Normally one would
     use `--cflags' instead of this)

`--libs'
     Libraries and options required to link with the MySQL client
     library.

`--libs_r'
     Libraries and options required to link with the thread-safe MySQL
     client library.

`--socket'
     The default socket name, defined when configuring MySQL.

`--port'
     The default port number, defined when configuring MySQL.

`--version'
     Version number and version for the MySQL distribution.

`--libmysqld-libs or --embedded'
     Libraries and options required to link with the MySQL embedded
     server.

If you execute `mysql_config' without any options it will print all
options it supports plus the value of all options:

     shell> mysql_config
     Usage: /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config [OPTIONS]
     Options:
             --cflags         [-I/usr/local/mysql/include/mysql -mcpu=pentiumpro]
             --include        [-I/usr/local/mysql/include/mysql]
             --libs           [-L/usr/local/mysql/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient -lz -lcrypt -lnsl -lm -L/usr/lib -lssl -lcrypto]
             --libs_r         [-L/usr/local/mysql/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient_r -lpthread -lz -lcrypt -lnsl -lm -lpthread]
             --socket         [/tmp/mysql.sock]
             --port           [3306]
             --version        [4.0.16]
             --libmysqld-libs [-L/usr/local/mysql/lib/mysql -lmysqld -lpthread -lz -lcrypt -lnsl -lm -lpthread -lrt]

You can use this to compile a MySQL client by as follows:

     CFG=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config
     sh -c "gcc -o progname `$CFG --cflags` progname.c `$CFG --libs`"

`perror', Explaining Error Codes
================================

For most system errors MySQL will, in addition to a internal text
message, also print the system error code in one of the following
styles: `message ... (errno: #)' or `message ... (Errcode: #)'.

You can find out what the error code means by either examining the
documentation for your system or use the `perror' utility.

`perror' prints a description for a system error code, or an MyISAM/ISAM
storage engine (table handler) error code.

`perror' is invoked like this:

     shell> perror [OPTIONS] [ERRORCODE [ERRORCODE...]]
     
     Example:
     
     shell> perror 13 64
     Error code  13:  Permission denied
     Error code  64:  Machine is not on the network

Note that the error messages are mostly system dependent!

MySQL Language Reference
************************

MySQL has a very complex, but intuitive and easy to learn SQL
interface.  The next several chapters of the manual comprise a language
reference. They describe the various commands, types, and functions you
will need to know in order to use MySQL efficiently and effectively.
These chapters also serve as a reference to all functionality included
in MySQL. The material they contain is grouped by topic:

   *  See *Note Language Structure:: for information about how to write
     data values, identifiers, and comments.

   * See *Note Column types:: for information about the various column
     types that MySQL supports for storing data in tables.

   * See *Note Functions:: for a list of the functions and operators
     that you can use when writing expressions.

   * See *Note SQL Syntax:: for descriptions of the SQL statements that
     MySQL supports.


In order to use this material most effectively, you may find it useful
to refer to the various indexes.

Language Structure
******************

This chapter discusses the rules for writing the following elements of
SQL statements when using MySQL:

   * Literal values such as strings and numbers

   * Identifiers such as table and column names

   * User and system variables

   * Comments

   * Reserved words


Literal Values
==============

This section describes how to write literal values in MySQL. These
include strings, numbers, hexadecimal values, boolean values, and
`NULL'. The section also covers the various nuances and "gotchas" that
you may run into when dealing with these basic types in MySQL.

Strings
-------

A string is a sequence of characters, surrounded by either single quote
(`'') or double quote.  Examples:

     'a string'
     "another string"

If the server SQL mode has `ANSI_QUOTES' enabled, string literals can be
quoted only with single quotes. (A string quoted with double quotes
will be interpreted as an identifier.)

Within a string, certain sequences have special meaning.  Each of these
sequences begins with a backslash (`\'), known as the _escape
character_.  MySQL recognizes the following escape sequences:

`\0'
     An ASCII 0 (`NUL') character.

`\''
     A single quote (`'') character.

`\"'
     A double quote (`"') character.

`\b'
     A backspace character.

`\n'
     A newline (linefeed) character.

`\r'
     A carriage return character.

`\t'
     A tab character.

`\z'
     ASCII 26 (Control-Z).  This character can be encoded as `\z' to
     allow you to work around the problem that ASCII 26 stands for
     END-OF-FILE on Windows.  (ASCII 26 will cause problems if you try
     to use `mysql db_name < file_name'.)

`\\'
     A backslash (`\') character.

`\%'
     A `%' character. This is used to search for literal instances of
     `%' in pattern-matching contexts where `%' would otherwise be
     interpreted as a wildcard character. *Note String comparison
     functions::.

`\_'
     A `_' character. This is used to search for literal instances of
     `_' in pattern-matching contexts where `_' would otherwise be
     interpreted as a wildcard character. *Note String comparison
     functions::.

These sequences are case sensitive. For example, `\b' is interpreted as
a backslash, but `\B' is interpreted as `B'.

Note that if you use `\%' or `\_' in some string contexts, these will
return the strings `\%' and `\_' and not `%' and `_'.

There are several ways to include quotes within a string:

   * A `'' inside a string quoted with `'' may be written as `'''.

   * A `"' inside a string quoted with `"' may be written as `""'.

   * You can precede the quote character with an escape character (`\').

   * A `'' inside a string quoted with `"' needs no special treatment
     and need not be doubled or escaped.  In the same way, `"' inside a
     string quoted with `'' needs no special treatment.

The `SELECT' statements shown here demonstrate how quoting and escaping
work:

     mysql> SELECT 'hello', '"hello"', '""hello""', 'hel''lo', '\'hello';
     +-------+---------+-----------+--------+--------+
     | hello | "hello" | ""hello"" | hel'lo | 'hello |
     +-------+---------+-----------+--------+--------+
     
     mysql> SELECT "hello", "'hello'", "''hello''", "hel""lo", "\"hello";
     +-------+---------+-----------+--------+--------+
     | hello | 'hello' | ''hello'' | hel"lo | "hello |
     +-------+---------+-----------+--------+--------+
     
     mysql> SELECT "This\nIs\nFour\nlines";
     +--------------------+
     | This
     Is
     Four
     lines |
     +--------------------+

If you want to insert binary data into a string column (such as a
`BLOB'), the following characters must be represented by escape
sequences:
`NUL'
     `NUL' byte (ASCII 0).  Represent this character by `\0' (a
     backslash followed by an ASCII `0' character).

`\'
     Backslash (ASCII 92).  Represent this character by `\\'.

`''
     Single quote (ASCII 39).  Represent this character by `\''.

`"'
     Double quote (ASCII 34).  Represent this character by `\"'.

When writing application programs, any string that might contain any of
these special characters must be properly escaped before the string is
used as a data value in a SQL statement that is sent to the MySQL
server.  You can do this in two ways:

   * Process the string with a function that escapes the special
     characters.  For example, if you write C code, you can use the C
     API function `mysql_real_escape_string()' to escape characters.
     *Note C API function overview::.  The Perl DBI interface provides a
     `quote' method to convert special characters to the proper escape
     sequences.  *Note Perl::.

   * As an alternative to explicitly escaping special characters, many
     MySQL APIs provide some sort of placeholder capability that allows
     you to insert special markers into a query string, and then bind
     data values to them when you issue the query.  In this case, the
     API takes care of escaping special characters in the values for
     you.


Numbers
-------

Integers are represented as a sequence of digits. Floats use `.' as a
decimal separator.  Either type of number may be preceded by `-' to
indicate a negative value.

Examples of valid integers:

     1221
     0
     -32

Examples of valid floating-point numbers:

     294.42
     -32032.6809e+10
     148.00

An integer may be used in a floating-point context; it is interpreted
as the equivalent floating-point number.

Hexadecimal Values
------------------

MySQL supports hexadecimal values.  In numeric contexts, these act like
integers (64-bit precision). In string contexts, these act like binary
strings, where each pair of hex digits is converted to a character:

     mysql> SELECT x'4D7953514C';
             -> 'MySQL'
     mysql> SELECT 0xa+0;
             -> 10
     mysql> SELECT 0x5061756c;
             -> 'Paul'

In MySQL 4.1 (and in MySQL 4.0 when using the `--new' option) the
default type of of a hexadecimal value is a string.  If you want to
ensure that the value is treated as a number, you can use `CAST(... AS
UNSIGNED)':

     mysql> SELECT 0x41, CAST(0x41 AS UNSIGNED);
             -> 'A', 65

The `0x' syntax is based on ODBC.  Hexadecimal strings are often used by
ODBC to supply values for `BLOB' columns.  The `x'hexstring'' syntax is
new in 4.0 and is based on standard SQL.

Beginning with MySQL 4.0.1, you can convert a string or a number to a
string in hexadecimal format with the `HEX()' function:

     mysql> SELECT HEX('cat');
             -> '636174'
     mysql> SELECT 0x636174;
             -> 'cat'

Boolean Values
--------------

Beginning with MySQL 4.1.0, the constant `TRUE' evaluates to `1' and
the constant `FALSE' evaluates to `0'. The constant names can be
written in any lettercase.

     mysql> SELECT TRUE, true, FALSE, false;
             -> 1, 1, 0, 0

`NULL' Values
-------------

The `NULL' value means "no data."  `NULL' can be written in any
lettercase.

Be aware that the `NULL' value is different than values such as `0' for
numeric types or the empty string for string types.  *Note Problems
with `NULL': Problems with NULL.

`NULL' may be represented by `\N' when using the text file import or
export formats (`LOAD DATA INFILE', `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE').  *Note
`LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names
===============================================

Database, table, index, column, and alias names are identifiers.  This
section describes the allowable syntax for identifiers in MySQL.

The following table describes the maximum length and allowable
characters for each type of identifier.

*Identifier**Maximum    *Allowed characters*
            length      
            (bytes)*    
Database    64          Any character that is allowed in a directory name
                        except `/', `\', or `.'
Table       64          Any character that is allowed in a filename,
                        except `/', `\', or `.'
Column      64          All characters
Index       64          All characters
Alias       255         All characters

In addition to the restrictions noted in the table, no identifier can
contain ASCII 0, ASCII 255, or the quoting character.

An identifier may be quoted or unquoted.  If an identifier is a reserved
word or contains special characters, you *must* quote it whenever you
refer to it.  For a list of reserved words, see *Note Reserved words::.
Special characters are those outside the set of alphanumeric characters
from the current character set, `_', and `$'.

The quote character is the backtick (``'):

     mysql> SELECT * FROM `select` WHERE `select`.id > 100;

If the server SQL mode includes the `ANSI_QUOTES' mode option, it is
also allowable to quote identifiers with double quotes:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE "test" (col INT);
     ERROR 1064: You have an error in your SQL syntax. (...)
     mysql> SET sql_mode="ANSI_QUOTES";
     mysql> CREATE TABLE "test" (col INT);
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

*Note SQL mode::.

Identifier quoting was introduced in MySQL 3.23.6 to allow use of
identifiers that are reserved words or that contain special characters.
Before 3.23.6, cannot use identifiers that require quotes, so the rules
for legal identifiers are more restrictive:

   * A name may consist of alphanumeric characters from the current
     character set, `_', and `$'. The default character set is
     ISO-8859-1 (Latin1). This may be changed with the
     `--default-character-set' option to `mysqld'.  *Note Character
     sets::.

   * A name may start with any character that is legal in a name.  In
     particular, a name may start with a digit; this differs from many
     other database systems!  However, a name cannot consist _only_ of
     digits.

   * You cannot use the `.' character in names because it is used to
     extend the format by which you can refer to columns (see
     immediately below).

It is recommended that you do not use names like `1e', because an
expression like `1e+1' is ambiguous. It may be interpreted as the
expression `1e + 1' or as the number `1e+1'.

Identifier Qualifiers
---------------------

MySQL allows names that consist of a single identifier or multiple
identifiers. The components of a multiple-part name should be separated
by period (`.') characters. The initial parts of a multiple-part name
act as qualifiers that affect the context within which the final
identifier is interpreted.

In MySQL you can refer to a column using any of the following forms:

*Column reference*     *Meaning*
`col_name'             Column `col_name' from whichever table used in
                       the query contains a column of that name.
`tbl_name.col_name'    Column `col_name' from table `tbl_name' of the
                       current database.
`db_name.tbl_name.col_name'Column `col_name' from table `tbl_name' of the
                       database `db_name'.  This syntax is unavailable
                       before MySQL Version 3.22.

If any components of a multiple-part name require quoting, quote them
individually rather than quoting the name as a whole. For example,
``my-table`.`my-column`' is legal, but ``my-table.my-column`' is not.

You need not specify a `tbl_name' or `db_name.tbl_name' prefix for a
column reference in a statement unless the reference would be ambiguous.
Suppose tables `t1' and `t2' each contain a column `c', and you
retrieve `c' in a `SELECT' statement that uses both `t1' and `t2'.  In
this case, `c' is ambiguous because it is not unique among the tables
used in the statement. You must qualify it with a table name as `t1.c'
or `t2.c' to indicate which table you mean.  Similarly, to retrieve
from a table `t' in database `db1' and from a table `t' in database
`db2' in the same statement, you must refer to columns in those tables
as `db1.t.col_name' and `db2.t.col_name'.

The syntax `.tbl_name' means the table `tbl_name' in the current
database.  This syntax is accepted for ODBC compatibility, because some
ODBC programs prefix table names with a `.' character.

Identifier Case Sensitivity
---------------------------

In MySQL, databases correspond to directories within the data directory.
Tables within a database correspond to at least one file within the
database directory (and possibly more, depending on the storage engine).
Consequently, the case sensitivity of the underlying operating system
determines the case sensitivity of database and table names.  This
means database and table names are not case sensitive in Windows, and
case sensitive in most varieties of Unix. One notable exception is Mac
OS X, for which the default filesystem type (HFS+) is not case
sensitive.  However Mac OS X also supports UFS volumes, which are case
sensitive just as on any Unix.  *Note Extensions to ANSI::.

*Note:* Although database and table names are not case sensitive on
some platforms, you should not refer to a given database or table using
different cases within the same query.  The following query would not
work because it refers to a table both as `my_table' and as `MY_TABLE':

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE MY_TABLE.col=1;

Column names, index names, and column aliases are not case sensitive on
any platform.

Table aliases are case sensitive before MySQL 4.1.1.  The following
query would not work because it refers to the alias both as `a' and as
`A':

     mysql> SELECT col_name FROM tbl_name AS a
         -> WHERE a.col_name = 1 OR A.col_name = 2;

If you have trouble remembering the lettercase for database and table
names, adopt a consistent convention, such as always creating databases
and tables using lowercase names.

How table names are stored on disk and used in MySQL is defined by the
`lower_case_table_names' variable, which you can set when starting
`mysqld'.  It can take one of the following values:

*Value* *Meaning*
0       Table and database names are case sensitive and are stored on
        disk using the lettercase specified in the `CREATE TABLE' or
        `CREATE DATABASE' statement.  This is the default on Unix
        systems.
1       Table and database names are not case sensitive and are stored
        on disk in lowercase. MySQL will convert all table names to
        lowercase on storage and lookup. This is the default on Windows
        and Mac OS X systems. (This option also applies to database
        names as of MySQL 4.0.2, and to table aliases as of 4.1.1.)
2       New in 4.0.18: Table and database names are not case sensitive,
        but are stored on disk using the lettercase specified in the
        `CREATE TABLE' or `CREATE DATABASE' statement. MySQL will
        convert all table names to lowercase on storage and lookup.
        *Note:* This works *only* on file systems that are not case
        sensitive!

If you are using MySQL on only one platform, you don't normally have to
change the `lower_case_table_names' variable. However, you may encounter
difficulties if you want to transfer tables between platforms that
differ in filesystem case sensitivity. For example, on Unix, you can
have two different tables named `my_table' and `MY_TABLE', but on
Windows those names are considered the same.  To avoid data transfer
problems stemming from database or table name lettercase, you have two
options:

   * Use `lower_case_table_names=1' on all systems. The main
     disadvantage with this is that when you use `SHOW TABLES' or `SHOW
     DATABASES', you don't see the names in their original case.

   * Use `lower_case_table_names=0' on Unix and
     `lower_case_table_names=2' on Windows. This will preserve the case
     of database and table names.  The disadvantage of this is that you
     must ensure that you always refer to your database and table names
     with the correct case on Windows as things will not work on Unix
     if you use the wrong case (as Unix is case sensitive).

Note that if you set `lower_case_table_names' to 1 on Unix, you must
first convert your old database and table names to lowercase before
restarting `mysqld'.

User Variables
==============

MySQL supports user variables as of version 3.23.6. You can store a
value in a user variable and refer to it later, which allows you to
pass values from one statement to another. User variables are
connection-specific. That is, a variable defined by one client cannot
be seen or used by other clients.  All variables for a client
connection are automatically freed when the client exits.

User variables are written as `@var_name', where the variable name
`var_name' may consist of alphanumeric characters from the current
character set, `_', `$', and `.' . The default character set is
ISO-8859-1 (Latin1). This may be changed with the
`--default-character-set' option to `mysqld'. *Note Character sets::.
User variable names are not case insensitive beginning with MySQL 5.0.
Before that, they are case sensitive.

One way to set a user variable is by issuing a `SET' statement:

     SET @var_name = expression [,@var_name = expression] ...

The `expression' assigned to the variable can evaluate to an integer,
real, string, or `NULL' value.

You can also assign a value to a user variable in statements other than
`SET'.  However, in this case, the assignment operator is `:=' rather
than `=', because `=' is treated as a comparison operator in non-`SET'
statements:

     mysql> SET @t1=0, @t2=0, @t3=0;
     mysql> SELECT @t1:=(@t2:=1)+@t3:=4,@t1,@t2,@t3;
     +----------------------+------+------+------+
     | @t1:=(@t2:=1)+@t3:=4 | @t1  | @t2  | @t3  |
     +----------------------+------+------+------+
     |                    5 |    5 |    1 |    4 |
     +----------------------+------+------+------+

User variables may be used where expressions are allowed.  However, this
does not currently include contexts that explicitly require a number,
such as in the `LIMIT' clause of a `SELECT' statement, or the `IGNORE
number LINES' clause of a `LOAD DATA' statement.

If you refer to a variable that has not been initialized, its value is
`NULL'.

*Note:* In a `SELECT' statement, each expression is evaluated only when
it's sent to the client.  This means that in the `HAVING', `GROUP BY',
or `ORDER BY' clause, you can't refer to an expression that involves
variables that are set in the `SELECT' part. For example, the following
statement will *not* work as expected:

     mysql> SELECT (@aa:=id) AS a, (@aa+3) AS b FROM table_name HAVING b=5;

The reason is that `@aa' will not contain the value of the current row,
but the value of `id' from the previous selected row.

The general rule is to never assign *and* use the same variable in the
same statement.

Another issue with setting a variable and using it in the same statement
is that the default result type of a variable is based on the type of
the variable at the start of the statement.  The following example
illustrates this:

     mysql> SET @a="test";
     mysql> SELECT @a,(@a:=20) FROM table_name;

For the `SELECT' statement, MySQL will report to the client that column
one is a string and convert all accesses of `@a' to strings, even if @a
will be set to a number for the second row.  After the `SELECT'
statement is executed, `@a' will be regarded as a number for the next
statement.

An unassigned variable has a value of `NULL' with a type of string.

To avoid problems with this behavior, either do not set and use the same
variable within a single statement, or else set the variable to `0',
`0.0', or `''' to define its type before you use it.

System Variables
================

Starting from MySQL 4.0.3, we provide better access to a lot of system
and connection variables. Many variables can be changed dynamically
while the server is running. This allows you to modify server operation
without having to stop and restart it.

The `mysqld' server maintains two kinds of variables while it runs.
Global variables affect the overall operation of the server.  Session
variables affect its operation for individual client connections.

When the server starts, it initializes all global variables to their
default values. These defaults may be changed by options specified in
option files or on the command line.  After the server starts, those
global variables that are dynamic can be changed by connecting to the
server and issuing a `SET GLOBAL var_name' statement. To change a
global variable, you must have the `SUPER' privilege.

The server also maintains a set of session variables for each client
that connects. The client's session variables are initialized at connect
time using the current values of the corresponding global variables. For
those session variables that are dynamic, the client can change them by
issuing a `SET SESSION var_name' statement. Setting a session variable
requires no special privilege, but a client can change only its own
session variables, not those of any other client.

A change to a global variable affects only client connections that occur
after the change. It does not affect session variables for any client
that is already connected (not even those of the client that issues the
`SET GLOBAL' statement).

Global or session variables may be set or retrieved using several syntax
forms.  The following examples use `sort_buffer_size' as a sample
variable name.

To set the value of a `GLOBAL' variable, use one of the following
syntaxes:

     mysql> SET GLOBAL sort_buffer_size=value;
     mysql> SET @@global.sort_buffer_size=value;

To set the value of a `SESSION' variable, use one of the following
syntaxes:

     mysql> SET SESSION sort_buffer_size=value;
     mysql> SET @@session.sort_buffer_size=value;
     mysql> SET sort_buffer_size=value;

`LOCAL' is a synonym for `SESSION'.

If you don't specify `GLOBAL', `SESSION', or `LOCAL' when setting a
variable, `SESSION' is the default.  *Note `SET OPTION': SET OPTION.

To retrieve the value of a `GLOBAL' variable, use one of the following
statements:

     mysql> SELECT @@global.sort_buffer_size;
     mysql> SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES like 'sort_buffer_size';

To retrieve the value of a `SESSION' variable, use one of the following
statements:

     mysql> SELECT @@session.sort_buffer_size;
     mysql> SHOW SESSION VARIABLES like 'sort_buffer_size';

Here, too, `LOCAL' is a synonym for `SESSION'.

If you don't specify `@@global', `@@session', or `@@local' when
retrieving a variable with `SELECT', MySQL returns the `SESSION' value
if it exists and the `GLOBAL' value otherwise.

If you don't specify `GLOBAL', `SESSION', or `LOCAL' for `SHOW
VARIABLES', MySQL returns the `SESSION' value.

The reason for requiring the `GLOBAL' keyword when setting
`GLOBAL'-only variables but not when retrieving them is to ensure that
we don't later run into problems if we would introduce a `SESSION'
variable with the same name or remove a `SESSION' variable.  In that
case, a client with the `SUPER' privilege might change the `GLOBAL'
variable by accident, rather than just the `SESSION' variable for the
client's own connection.

Further information about system variables can be found in the startup
options section, and in the descriptions of the `SHOW VARIABLES' and
`SET' statements.  *Note Server options::.  *Note `SHOW VARIABLES':
SHOW VARIABLES.  *Note `SET OPTION': SET OPTION.

Dynamic System Variables
------------------------

The following table shows the full list of all variables that you can
change and retrieve using `GLOBAL' or `SESSION'. The last column
indicates for each variable whether `GLOBAL' or `SESSION' (or both)
apply.

*Variable name*                  *Value type*       *Type*
`autocommit'                     bool               `SESSION'
`big_tables'                     bool               `SESSION'
`binlog_cache_size'              num                `GLOBAL'
`bulk_insert_buffer_size'        num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`concurrent_insert'              bool               `GLOBAL'
`connect_timeout'                num                `GLOBAL'
`convert_character_set'          string             `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`delay_key_write'                `OFF' | `ON' |     `GLOBAL'
                                 `ALL'              
`delayed_insert_limit'           num                `GLOBAL'
`delayed_insert_timeout'         num                `GLOBAL'
`delayed_queue_size'             `num'              `GLOBAL'
`error_count'                    num                `SESSION'
`flush'                          bool               `GLOBAL'
`flush_time'                     num                `GLOBAL'
`foreign_key_checks'             bool               `SESSION'
`identity'                       num                `SESSION'
`insert_id'                      bool               `SESSION'
`interactive_timeout'            num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`join_buffer_size'               num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`key_buffer_size'                num                `GLOBAL'
`last_insert_id'                 num                `SESSION'
`local_infile'                   bool               `GLOBAL'
`log_warnings'                   bool               `GLOBAL'
`long_query_time'                num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`low_priority_updates'           bool               `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`max_allowed_packet'             num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`max_binlog_cache_size'          num                `GLOBAL'
`max_binlog_size'                num                `GLOBAL'
`max_connect_errors'             num                `GLOBAL'
`max_connections'                num                `GLOBAL'
`max_error_count'                num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`max_delayed_threads'            num                `GLOBAL'
`max_heap_table_size'            num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`max_join_size'                  num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`max_relay_log_size'             num                `GLOBAL'
`max_seeks_for_key'              num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`max_sort_length'                num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`max_tmp_tables'                 num                `GLOBAL'
`max_user_connections'           num                `GLOBAL'
`max_write_lock_count'           num                `GLOBAL'
`myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size'num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`myisam_repair_threads'          num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`myisam_max_sort_file_size'      num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`myisam_sort_buffer_size'        num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`net_buffer_length'              num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`net_read_timeout'               num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`net_retry_count'                num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`net_write_timeout'              num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`query_alloc_block_size'         num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`query_cache_limit'              num                `GLOBAL'
`query_cache_size'               num                `GLOBAL'
`query_cache_type'               enum               `GLOBAL'
`query_prealloc_size'            num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`range_alloc_block_size'         num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`read_buffer_size'               num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`read_rnd_buffer_size'           num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`rpl_recovery_rank'              num                `GLOBAL'
`safe_show_database'             bool               `GLOBAL'
`server_id'                      num                `GLOBAL'
`slave_compressed_protocol'      bool               `GLOBAL'
`slave_net_timeout'              num                `GLOBAL'
`slow_launch_time'               num                `GLOBAL'
`sort_buffer_size'               num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`sql_auto_is_null'               bool               `SESSION'
`sql_big_selects'                bool               `SESSION'
`sql_big_tables'                 bool               `SESSION'
`sql_buffer_result'              bool               `SESSION'
`sql_log_binlog'                 bool               `SESSION'
`sql_log_off'                    bool               `SESSION'
`sql_log_update'                 bool               `SESSION'
`sql_low_priority_updates'       bool               `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`sql_max_join_size'              num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`sql_quote_show_create'          bool               `SESSION'
`sql_safe_updates'               bool               `SESSION'
`sql_select_limit'               bool               `SESSION'
`sql_slave_skip_counter'         num                `GLOBAL'
`sql_warnings'                   bool               `SESSION'
`table_cache'                    num                `GLOBAL'
`table_type'                     enum               `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`thread_cache_size'              num                `GLOBAL'
`timestamp'                      bool               `SESSION'
`tmp_table_size'                 enum               `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`transaction_alloc_block_size'   num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`transaction_prealloc_size'      num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`tx_isolation'                   enum               `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`wait_timeout'                   num                `GLOBAL' | `SESSION'
`warning_count'                  num                `SESSION'
`unique_checks'                  bool               `SESSION'

Variables that are marked as `num' can be given a numeric value.
Variables that are marked as `bool' can be set to 0, 1, `ON' or `OFF'.
Variables that are marked as `enum' should normally be set to one of
the available values for the variable, but can also be set to the
number that correspond to the desired enumeration value.  (The first
enumeration value corresponds to 0; note that this differs from `ENUM'
columns, for which the first enumeration value corresponds to 1.)

Here is a description of some of the variables:

*Variable*                *Description*
`identity'                Alias for `last_insert_id' (Sybase
                          compatibility)
`sql_low_priority_updates'Alias for `low_priority_updates'
`sql_max_join_size'       Alias for `max_join_size'
`version'                 Alias for `VERSION()' (Sybase (?)
                          compatibility)

Structured System Variables
---------------------------

Structured system variables are supported beginning with MySQL 4.1.1.
A structured variable differs from a regular system variable in two
respects:

   * Its value is a structure with components that specify some
     parameters of the server that are considered to be closely related.

   * There might be several instances of a given type of structured
     variable.  Each one will have a different name and refers to a
     different resource maintained by the server.

Currently, MySQL supports one structured variable type. It specifies
parameters that govern the operation of key caches. A key cache
structured variable has these components:

   * `key_buffer_size'

   * `key_cache_block_size'

   * `key_cache_division_limit'

   * `key_cache_age_threshold'

The purpose of this section is to describe the syntax for referring to
structured variables. Key cache variables are used for syntax examples,
but specific details about how key caches operate are found elsewhere,
in *Note MyISAM key cache::.

To refer to a component of a structured variable instance, you can use a
compound name in `instance_name.component_name' format. Examples:

     hot_cache.key_buffer_size
     hot_cache.key_cache_block_size.
     cold_cache.key_cache_block_size.

An instance with the name of `default' is always predefined for each
structured system variable.  If you refer to a component of a structured
variable without any instance name, the `default' instance is used.
Thus, `default.key_buffer_size' and `key_buffer_size' both refer to the
same system variable.

The naming rules for structured variable instances and components are as
follows:

   * For a given type of structured variable, each instance must have a
     name that is unique _within_ variables of that type. However,
     instance names need not be unique _across_ structured variable
     types. For example, each structured variable will have an instance
     named `default', so `default' is not unique across variable types.

   * The names of the components of each structured variable type must
     be unique across all system variable names.  If this were not true
     (such that two different types of structured variables could share
     component member names), it would not be clear which default
     structured variable to use for references to member names that are
     not qualified by an instance name.


At the moment, these rules have no possibility of being violated,
because the only structured variable type is the one for key caches. If
some other type of structured variable is created in the future, these
rules will assume greater significance.

With one exception, it is allowable to refer to structured variable
components using compound names in any context where simple variable
names can occur.

For example, you can assign a value to a structured variable using a
command line option:

     shell> mysqld --hot_cache.key_buffer_size=64K

In an option file, do this:

     [mysqld]
     hot_cache.key_buffer_size=64K

If you start the server with such an option, it creates a key cache
named `hot_cache' with a size of 64 KB in addition to the default key
cache that has a default size of 8 MB.

Suppose you start the server as follows:

     shell> mysqld --key_buffer_size=256K  \
              --extra_cache.key_buffer_size=128K  \
              --extra_cache.key_cache_block_size=2096

In this case, the server sets the size of the default key cache to 256
KB.  (You could also have written `--default.key_buffer_size=256'.)  In
addition, the server creates a second key cache named `extra_cache'
that has a size of 128 KB, with the size of block buffers for caching
table index blocks set to 2096 bytes.

The following example starts the server with three different key caches
having sizes in a 3:1:1 ratio:

     shell> mysqld --key_buffer_size=6M \
              --hot_cache.key_buffer_size=2M \
              --cold_cache.key_buffer_size=2M

Structured variable values may be set and retrieved at runtime as well.
For example, to set a key cache named `hot_cache' to a size of 10 MB,
use either of these statements:

     mysql> SET GLOBAL hot_cache.key_buffer_size = 10*1024*1024;
     mysql> SET @global.hot_cache.key_buffer_size = 10*1024*1024;

To retrieve the cache size, do this:

     mysql> SELECT @global.hot_cache.key_buffer_size;

However, the following statement does not work, because the variable is
not interpreted as a compound name, but as a simple string for a `LIKE'
pattern-matching operation:

     mysql> SHOW GLOBAL VARIABLES LIKE 'hot_cache.key_buffer_size';

This is the exception to being able to use structured variable names
anywhere a simple variable name may occur.

Comment Syntax
==============

The MySQL server supports three comment styles:

   * From a `#' character to the end of the line.

   * From a `-- ' sequence to the end of the line.  This style is
     supported as of MySQL 3.23.3.  Note that the `-- ' (double-dash)
     comment style requires the second dash to be followed by at least
     one space (or by a control character such as a newline). This
     syntax differs slightly from SQL-99 comment syntax, as discussed in
     *Note ANSI diff comments::.

   * From a `/*' sequence to the following `*/' sequence.  The closing
     sequence need not be on the same line, so this syntax allows a
     comment to extend over multiple lines.


The following example demonstrates all three comment styles:

     mysql> SELECT 1+1;     # This comment continues to the end of line
     mysql> SELECT 1+1;     -- This comment continues to the end of line
     mysql> SELECT 1 /* this is an in-line comment */ + 1;
     mysql> SELECT 1+
     /*
     this is a
     multiple-line comment
     */
     1;

The comment syntax just described applies to how the `mysqld' server
parses SQL statements. The `mysql' client program also performs some
parsing of statements before sending them to the server. (For example,
it does this to determine statement boundaries within a
multiple-statement input line.) However, there are some limitations on
the way that `mysql' parses `/* ... */' comments:

   * A single-quote or double-quote character is taken to indicate the
     beginning of a quoted string, even within a comment.  If the quote
     is not matched by a second quote within the comment, the parser
     doesn't realize the comment has ended.  If you are running `mysql'
     interactively, you can tell that it has gotten confused like this
     because the prompt changes from `mysql>' to `'>' or `">'.  This
     problem was fixed in MySQL 4.1.1.

   * A semicolon within the comment is taken to indicate the end of the
     current SQL statement and anything following it to indicate the
     beginning of the next statement.  This problem was fixed in MySQL
     4.0.13.

For affected versions of MySQL, these limitations apply both when you
run `mysql' interactively and when you put commands in a file and use
`mysql' in batch mode to process the file with `mysql < file_name'.

Treatment of Reserved Words in MySQL
====================================

A common problem stems from trying to use an identifier such as a table
or column name that is the name of a built-in MySQL datatype or
function, such as `TIMESTAMP' or `GROUP'.  You're allowed to do this
(for example, `ABS' is allowed as a column name). However, by default,
no whitespace is allowed in function invocations between the function
name and the following `(' character. This requirement allows a
function call to be distinguished from a reference to a column name.

A side-effect of this behavior is that omitting a space in some contexts
causes an identifier to be interpreted as a function name. For example,
this statement is legal:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE abs (val INT);

But omitting the space after `abs' causes a syntax error, because the
statement then appears to invoke the `ABS()' function:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE abs(val INT);

If the server SQL mode includes the `IGNORE_SPACE' mode value, the
server allows function invocations to have whitespace between a function
name and the following `(' character. This causes function names to be
treated as reserved words. As a result, identifiers that are the same as
function names must be quoted as described in *Note Legal names::.  The
server SQL mode is controlled as described in *Note SQL mode::.

The words in the following table are explicitly reserved in MySQL. Most
of them are forbidden by SQL-92 as column and/or table names (for
example, `GROUP').  A few are reserved because MySQL needs them and
(currently) uses a `yacc' parser.  A reserved word can be used as an
identifier by quoting it.

*Word*                   *Word*                   *Word*
`ADD'                    `ALL'                    `ALTER'
`ANALYZE'                `AND'                    `AS'
`ASC'                    `ASENSITIVE'             `AUTO_INCREMENT'
`BDB'                    `BEFORE'                 `BERKELEYDB'
`BETWEEN'                `BIGINT'                 `BINARY'
`BLOB'                   `BOTH'                   `BY'
`CALL'                   `CASCADE'                `CASE'
`CHANGE'                 `CHAR'                   `CHARACTER'
`CHECK'                  `COLLATE'                `COLUMN'
`COLUMNS'                `CONDITION'              `CONNECTION'
`CONSTRAINT'             `CONTINUE'               `CREATE'
`CROSS'                  `CURRENT_DATE'           `CURRENT_TIME'
`CURRENT_TIMESTAMP'      `CURSOR'                 `DATABASE'
`DATABASES'              `DAY_HOUR'               `DAY_MICROSECOND'
`DAY_MINUTE'             `DAY_SECOND'             `DEC'
`DECIMAL'                `DECLARE'                `DEFAULT'
`DELAYED'                `DELETE'                 `DESC'
`DESCRIBE'               `DETERMINISTIC'          `DISTINCT'
`DISTINCTROW'            `DIV'                    `DOUBLE'
`DROP'                   `ELSE'                   `ELSEIF'
`ENCLOSED'               `ESCAPED'                `EXISTS'
`EXIT'                   `EXPLAIN'                `FALSE'
`FETCH'                  `FIELDS'                 `FLOAT'
`FOR'                    `FORCE'                  `FOREIGN'
`FOUND'                  `FRAC_SECOND'            `FROM'
`FULLTEXT'               `GRANT'                  `GROUP'
`HAVING'                 `HIGH_PRIORITY'          `HOUR_MICROSECOND'
`HOUR_MINUTE'            `HOUR_SECOND'            `IF'
`IGNORE'                 `IN'                     `INDEX'
`INFILE'                 `INNER'                  `INNODB'
`INOUT'                  `INSENSITIVE'            `INSERT'
`INT'                    `INTEGER'                `INTERVAL'
`INTO'                   `IO_THREAD'              `IS'
`ITERATE'                `JOIN'                   `KEY'
`KEYS'                   `KILL'                   `LEADING'
`LEAVE'                  `LEFT'                   `LIKE'
`LIMIT'                  `LINES'                  `LOAD'
`LOCALTIME'              `LOCALTIMESTAMP'         `LOCK'
`LONG'                   `LONGBLOB'               `LONGTEXT'
`LOOP'                   `LOW_PRIORITY'           `MASTER_SERVER_ID'
`MATCH'                  `MEDIUMBLOB'             `MEDIUMINT'
`MEDIUMTEXT'             `MIDDLEINT'              `MINUTE_MICROSECOND'
`MINUTE_SECOND'          `MOD'                    `NATURAL'
`NOT'                    `NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG'     `NULL'
`NUMERIC'                `ON'                     `OPTIMIZE'
`OPTION'                 `OPTIONALLY'             `OR'
`ORDER'                  `OUT'                    `OUTER'
`OUTFILE'                `PRECISION'              `PRIMARY'
`PRIVILEGES'             `PROCEDURE'              `PURGE'
`READ'                   `REAL'                   `REFERENCES'
`REGEXP'                 `RENAME'                 `REPEAT'
`REPLACE'                `REQUIRE'                `RESTRICT'
`RETURN'                 `REVOKE'                 `RIGHT'
`RLIKE'                  `SECOND_MICROSECOND'     `SELECT'
`SENSITIVE'              `SEPARATOR'              `SET'
`SHOW'                   `SMALLINT'               `SOME'
`SONAME'                 `SPATIAL'                `SPECIFIC'
`SQL'                    `SQLEXCEPTION'           `SQLSTATE'
`SQLWARNING'             `SQL_BIG_RESULT'         `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS'
`SQL_SMALL_RESULT'       `SQL_TSI_DAY'            `SQL_TSI_FRAC_SECOND'
`SQL_TSI_HOUR'           `SQL_TSI_MINUTE'         `SQL_TSI_MONTH'
`SQL_TSI_QUARTER'        `SQL_TSI_SECOND'         `SQL_TSI_WEEK'
`SQL_TSI_YEAR'           `SSL'                    `STARTING'
`STRAIGHT_JOIN'          `STRIPED'                `TABLE'
`TABLES'                 `TERMINATED'             `THEN'
`TIMESTAMPADD'           `TIMESTAMPDIFF'          `TINYBLOB'
`TINYINT'                `TINYTEXT'               `TO'
`TRAILING'               `TRUE'                   `UNDO'
`UNION'                  `UNIQUE'                 `UNLOCK'
`UNSIGNED'               `UPDATE'                 `USAGE'
`USE'                    `USER_RESOURCES'         `USING'
`UTC_DATE'               `UTC_TIME'               `UTC_TIMESTAMP'
`VALUES'                 `VARBINARY'              `VARCHAR'
`VARCHARACTER'           `VARYING'                `WHEN'
`WHERE'                  `WHILE'                  `WITH'
`WRITE'                  `XOR'                    `YEAR_MONTH'
`ZEROFILL'                                        

The following symbols (from the table above) are disallowed by SQL-99
but allowed by MySQL as column/table names. This is because they are
very natural names and a lot of people have already used them.

   * `ACTION'

   * `BIT'

   * `DATE'

   * `ENUM'

   * `NO'

   * `TEXT'

   * `TIME'

   * `TIMESTAMP'

Column Types
************

MySQL supports a number of column types, which may be grouped into
three categories: numeric types, date and time types, and string
(character) types.  This section first gives an overview of the types
available and summarizes the storage requirements for each column type,
and then provides a more detailed description of the properties of the
types in each category.  The overview is intentionally brief.  The more
detailed descriptions should be consulted for additional information
about particular column types, such as the allowable formats in which
you can specify values.

The column types supported by MySQL follow.  The following code letters
are used in the descriptions:

`M'
     Indicates the maximum display size.  The maximum legal display
     size is 255.

`D'
     Applies to floating-point types and indicates the number of digits
     following the decimal point.  The maximum possible value is 30, but
     should be no greater than `M'-2.

Square brackets (`[' and `]') indicate parts of type specifiers that
are optional.

Note that if you specify `ZEROFILL' for a column, MySQL automatically
adds the `UNSIGNED' attribute to the column.

*Warning:* You should be aware that when you use subtraction between
integer values where one is of type `UNSIGNED', the result will be
unsigned! *Note Cast Functions::.

`TINYINT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A very small integer. The signed range is `-128' to `127'. The
     unsigned range is `0' to `255'.

`BIT'
`BOOL'
`BOOLEAN'
     These are synonyms for `TINYINT(1)'.  The `BOOLEAN' synonym was
     added in version 4.1.0

     Full boolean type handling will be introduced in accordance with
     SQL-99.

`SMALLINT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A small integer. The signed range is `-32768' to `32767'. The
     unsigned range is `0' to `65535'.

`MEDIUMINT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A medium-size integer. The signed range is `-8388608' to
     `8388607'. The unsigned range is `0' to `16777215'.

`INT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A normal-size integer. The signed range is `-2147483648' to
     `2147483647'.  The unsigned range is `0' to `4294967295'.

`INTEGER[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     This is a synonym for `INT'.

`BIGINT[(M)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A large integer. The signed range is `-9223372036854775808' to
     `9223372036854775807'. The unsigned range is `0' to
     `18446744073709551615'.  Some things you should be aware of with
     respect to `BIGINT' columns:

        * All arithmetic is done using signed `BIGINT' or `DOUBLE'
          values, so you shouldn't use unsigned big integers larger than
          `9223372036854775807' (63 bits) except with bit functions! If
          you do that, some of the last digits in the result may be
          wrong because of rounding errors when converting the `BIGINT'
          to a `DOUBLE'.

          MySQL 4.0 can handle `BIGINT' in the following cases:
             * Use integers to store big unsigned values in a `BIGINT'
               column.

             * In `MIN(big_int_column)' and `MAX(big_int_column)'.

             * When using operators (`+', `-', `*', etc.) where both
               operands are integers.

        * You can always store an exact integer value in a `BIGINT'
          column by storing it as a string.  In this case, MySQL will
          perform a string-to-number conversion that involves no
          intermediate double representation.

        * `-', `+', and `*' will use `BIGINT' arithmetic when both
          arguments are integer values!  This means that if you
          multiply two big integers (or results from functions that
          return integers) you may get unexpected results when the
          result is larger than `9223372036854775807'.

`FLOAT(precision) [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A floating-point number.  `precision' can be `<=24' for a
     single-precision floating-point number and between 25 and 53 for a
     double-precision floating-point number. These types are like the
     `FLOAT' and `DOUBLE' types described immediately following.
     `FLOAT(X)' has the same range as the corresponding `FLOAT' and
     `DOUBLE' types, but the display size and number of decimals are
     undefined.

     In MySQL Version 3.23, this is a true floating-point value.  In
     earlier MySQL versions, `FLOAT(precision)' always has 2 decimals.

     Note that using `FLOAT' might give you some unexpected problems
     because all calculations in MySQL are done with double precision.
     *Note No matching rows::.

     This syntax is provided for ODBC compatibility.

`FLOAT[(M,D)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A small (single-precision) floating-point number.  Allowable
     values are `-3.402823466E+38' to `-1.175494351E-38', `0', and
     `1.175494351E-38' to `3.402823466E+38'.  If `UNSIGNED' is
     specified, negative values are disallowed.  The `M' is the display
     width and `D' is the number of decimals.  `FLOAT' without
     arguments or `FLOAT(X)' (where `X' is in the range from 0 to 24)
     stands for a single-precision floating-point number.

`DOUBLE[(M,D)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     A normal-size (double-precision) floating-point number.  Allowable
     values are `-1.7976931348623157E+308' to
     `-2.2250738585072014E-308', `0', and `2.2250738585072014E-308' to
     `1.7976931348623157E+308'.  If `UNSIGNED' is specified, negative
     values are disallowed.  The `M' is the display width and `D' is
     the number of decimals.  `DOUBLE' without arguments or `FLOAT(X)'
     (where `X' is in the range from 25 to 53) stands for a
     double-precision floating-point number.

`DOUBLE PRECISION[(M,D)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
`REAL[(M,D)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     These are synonyms for `DOUBLE'.

`DECIMAL[(M[,D])] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     An unpacked floating-point number.  Behaves like a `CHAR' column:
     "unpacked" means the number is stored as a string, using one
     character for each digit of the value.  The decimal point and, for
     negative numbers, the `-' sign, are not counted in `M' (but space
     for these is reserved). If `D' is 0, values will have no decimal
     point or fractional part.  The maximum range of `DECIMAL' values is
     the same as for `DOUBLE', but the actual range for a given
     `DECIMAL' column may be constrained by the choice of `M' and `D'.
     If `UNSIGNED' is specified, negative values are disallowed.

     If `D' is omitted, the default is 0.  If `M' is omitted, the
     default is 10.

     Prior to MySQL Version 3.23, the `M' argument must include the
     space needed for the sign and the decimal point.

`DEC[(M[,D])] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
`NUMERIC[(M[,D])] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
`FIXED[(M[,D])] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]'
     These are synonyms for `DECIMAL'.

     The `FIXED' alias was added in version 4.1.0 for compatibility
     with other servers.

`DATE'
     A date.  The supported range is `'1000-01-01'' to `'9999-12-31''.
     MySQL displays `DATE' values in `'YYYY-MM-DD'' format, but allows
     you to assign values to `DATE' columns using either strings or
     numbers. *Note DATETIME::.

`DATETIME'
     A date and time combination.  The supported range is `'1000-01-01
     00:00:00'' to `'9999-12-31 23:59:59''.  MySQL displays `DATETIME'
     values in `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' format, but allows you to assign
     values to `DATETIME' columns using either strings or numbers.
     *Note DATETIME::.

`TIMESTAMP[(M)]'
     A timestamp.  The range is `'1970-01-01 00:00:00'' to sometime in
     the year `2037'.

     In MySQL 4.0 and earlier, `TIMESTAMP' values are displayed in
     `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS', `YYMMDDHHMMSS', `YYYYMMDD', or `YYMMDD' format,
     depending on whether `M' is `14' (or missing), `12', `8', or `6',
     but allows you to assign values to `TIMESTAMP' columns using
     either strings or numbers.

     From MySQL 4.1, `TIMESTAMP' is returned as a string with the format
     `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS''. If you want to have this as a number, you
     should add +0 to the timestamp column. Different timestamp lengths
     are not supported. From version 4.0.12, the `--new' option can be
     used to make the server behave as in version 4.1.

     A `TIMESTAMP' column is useful for recording the date and time of
     an `INSERT' or `UPDATE' operation because it is automatically set
     to the date and time of the most recent operation if you don't
     give it a value yourself.  You can also set it to the current date
     and time by assigning it a `NULL' value.  *Note Date and time
     types::.

     The `M' argument affects only how a `TIMESTAMP' column is
     displayed; its values always are stored using 4 bytes each.

     Note that `TIMESTAMP(M)' columns where `M' is 8 or 14 are reported
     to be numbers, whereas other `TIMESTAMP(M)' columns are reported
     to be strings.  This is just to ensure that you can reliably dump
     and restore the table with these types!  *Note `DATETIME':
     DATETIME.

`TIME'
     A time.  The range is `'-838:59:59'' to `'838:59:59''.  MySQL
     displays `TIME' values in `'HH:MM:SS'' format, but allows you to
     assign values to `TIME' columns using either strings or numbers.
     *Note `TIME': TIME.

`YEAR[(2|4)]'
     A year in 2- or 4-digit format (default is 4-digit).  The
     allowable values are `1901' to `2155', `0000' in the 4-digit year
     format, and 1970-2069 if you use the 2-digit format (70-69).
     MySQL displays `YEAR' values in `YYYY' format, but allows you to
     assign values to `YEAR' columns using either strings or numbers.
     (The `YEAR' type is unavailable prior to MySQL Version 3.22.)
     *Note `YEAR': YEAR.

`[NATIONAL] CHAR(M) [BINARY | ASCII | UNICODE]'
     A fixed-length string that is always right-padded with spaces to
     the specified length when stored. The range of `M' is 0 to 255
     characters (1 to 255 prior to MySQL Version 3.23).  Trailing
     spaces are removed when the value is retrieved. `CHAR' values are
     sorted and compared in case-insensitive fashion according to the
     default character set unless the `BINARY' keyword is given.

     From version 4.1.0, if the `M' value specified is greater than 255,
     the column type is converted to `TEXT'.  This is a compatibility
     feature.

     `NATIONAL CHAR' (or its equivalent short form, `NCHAR') is the
     SQL-99 way to define that a `CHAR' column should use the default
     CHARACTER set.  This is the default in MySQL.

     `CHAR' is a shorthand for `CHARACTER'.

     From version 4.1.0, the `ASCII' attribute can be specified which
     assigns the `latin1' character set to a `CHAR' column.

     From version 4.1.1, the `UNICODE' attribute can be specified which
     assigns the `ucs2' character set to a `CHAR' column.

     MySQL allows you to create a column of type `CHAR(0)'. This is
     mainly useful when you have to be compliant with some old
     applications that depend on the existence of a column but that do
     not actually use the value.  This is also quite nice when you need
     a column that can take only two values: A `CHAR(0)', that is not
     defined as `NOT NULL', will occupy only one bit and can take two
     values: `NULL' or `""'. *Note `CHAR': CHAR.

`CHAR'
     This is a synonym for `CHAR(1)'.

`[NATIONAL] VARCHAR(M) [BINARY]'
     A variable-length string.  *Note:* Trailing spaces are removed when
     the value is stored (this differs from the SQL-99 specification).
     The range of `M' is 0 to 255 characters (1 to 255 prior to MySQL
     Version 4.0.2).  `VARCHAR' values are sorted and compared in
     case-insensitive fashion unless the `BINARY' keyword is given.
     *Note Silent column changes::.

     From version 4.1.0, if the `M' value specified is greater than 255,
     the column type is converted to `TEXT'.  This is a compatibility
     feature.

     `VARCHAR' is a shorthand for `CHARACTER VARYING'.  *Note CHAR::.

`TINYBLOB'
`TINYTEXT'
     A `BLOB' or `TEXT' column with a maximum length of 255 (2^8 - 1)
     characters. *Note Silent column changes::. *Note BLOB::.

`BLOB'
`TEXT'
     A `BLOB' or `TEXT' column with a maximum length of 65535 (2^16 - 1)
     characters. *Note Silent column changes::. *Note BLOB::.

`MEDIUMBLOB'
`MEDIUMTEXT'
     A `BLOB' or `TEXT' column with a maximum length of 16777215 (2^24
     - 1) characters. *Note Silent column changes::. *Note BLOB::.

`LONGBLOB'
`LONGTEXT'
     A `BLOB' or `TEXT' column with a maximum length of 4294967295 or
     4G (2^32 - 1) characters. *Note Silent column changes::.  Up to
     MySQL version 3.23 the server/client protocol and MyISAM tables had
     a limit of 16M per communication packet / table row, from version
     4.x the maximum allowed length of `LONGTEXT' or `LONGBLOB' columns
     depends on the configured maximum packet size in the client/server
     protocol and available memory. *Note BLOB::.

`ENUM('value1','value2',...)'
     An enumeration.  A string object that can have only one value,
     chosen from the list of values `'value1'', `'value2'', `...',
     `NULL' or the special `""' error value.  An `ENUM' can have a
     maximum of 65535 distinct values. *Note ENUM::.

`SET('value1','value2',...)'
     A set.  A string object that can have zero or more values, each of
     which must be chosen from the list of values `'value1'',
     `'value2'', `...' A `SET' can have a maximum of 64 members. *Note
     SET::.

Numeric Types
=============

MySQL supports all of the SQL-92 numeric datatypes.  These types
include the exact numeric datatypes (`NUMERIC', `DECIMAL', `INTEGER',
and `SMALLINT'), as well as the approximate numeric datatypes (`FLOAT',
`REAL', and `DOUBLE PRECISION'). The keyword `INT' is a synonym for
`INTEGER', and the keyword `DEC' is a synonym for `DECIMAL'.

The `NUMERIC' and `DECIMAL' types are implemented as the same type by
MySQL, as permitted by the SQL-92 standard.  They are used for values
for which it is important to preserve exact precision, for example with
monetary data.  When declaring a column of one of these types the
precision and scale can be (and usually is) specified; for example:

         salary DECIMAL(5,2)

In this example, `5' (`precision') represents the number of significant
decimal digits that will be stored for values, and `2' (`scale')
represents the number of digits that will be stored following the
decimal point.  In this case, therefore, the range of values that can
be stored in the `salary' column is from `-99.99' to `99.99'.  (MySQL
can actually store numbers up to `999.99' in this column because it
doesn't have to store the sign for positive numbers)

In SQL-92, the syntax `DECIMAL(p)' is equivalent to `DECIMAL(p,0)'.
Similarly, the syntax `DECIMAL' is equivalent to `DECIMAL(p,0)', where
the implementation is allowed to decide the value of `p'.  MySQL does
not currently support either of these variant forms of the
`DECIMAL'/`NUMERIC' datatypes.  This is not generally a serious
problem, as the principal benefits of these types derive from the
ability to control both precision and scale explicitly.

`DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC' values are stored as strings, rather than as
binary floating-point numbers, in order to preserve the decimal
precision of those values.  One character is used for each digit of the
value, the decimal point (if `scale' > 0), and the `-' sign (for
negative numbers).  If `scale' is 0, `DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC' values
contain no decimal point or fractional part.

The maximum range of `DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC' values is the same as for
`DOUBLE', but the actual range for a given `DECIMAL' or `NUMERIC'
column can be constrained by the `precision' or `scale' for a given
column.  When such a column is assigned a value with more digits
following the decimal point than are allowed by the specified `scale',
the value is converted to that `scale'.  (The precise behavior is
operating-system specific, but generally the effect is truncation to
the allowable number of digits.)  When a `DECIMAL' or `NUMERIC' column
is assigned a value whose magnitude exceeds the range implied by the
specified (or defaulted) `precision' and `scale', MySQL stores the
value representing the corresponding end point of that range.

As an extension to the SQL-92 standard, MySQL also supports the integer
types `TINYINT', `MEDIUMINT', and `BIGINT' as listed in the tables
above.  Another extension is supported by MySQL for optionally
specifying the display width of an integer value in parentheses
following the base keyword for the type (for example, `INT(4)').  This
optional width specification is used to left-pad the display of values
whose width is less than the width specified for the column, but does
not constrain the range of values that can be stored in the column, nor
the number of digits that will be displayed for values whose width
exceeds that specified for the column.  When used in conjunction with
the optional extension attribute `ZEROFILL', the default padding of
spaces is replaced with zeroes.  For example, for a column declared as
`INT(5) ZEROFILL', a value of `4' is retrieved as `00004'.  Note that
if you store larger values than the display width in an integer column,
you may experience problems when MySQL generates temporary tables for
some complicated joins, as in these cases MySQL trusts that the data
did fit into the original column width.

All integer types can have an optional (non-standard) attribute
`UNSIGNED'.  Unsigned values can be used when you want to allow only
positive numbers in a column and you need a little bigger numeric range
for the column.

As of MySQL 4.0.2, floating-point types also can be `UNSIGNED'.  As
with integer types, this attribute prevents negative values from being
stored in the column.  Unlike the integer types, the upper range of
column values remains the same.

The `FLOAT' type is used to represent approximate numeric datatypes.
The SQL-92 standard allows an optional specification of the precision
(but not the range of the exponent) in bits following the keyword
`FLOAT' in parentheses.  The MySQL implementation also supports this
optional precision specification.  When the keyword `FLOAT' is used for
a column type without a precision specification, MySQL uses four bytes
to store the values.  A variant syntax is also supported, with two
numbers given in parentheses following the `FLOAT' keyword.  With this
option, the first number continues to represent the storage
requirements for the value in bytes, and the second number specifies
the number of digits to be stored and displayed following the decimal
point (as with `DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC').  When MySQL is asked to store
a number for such a column with more decimal digits following the
decimal point than specified for the column, the value is rounded to
eliminate the extra digits when the value is stored.

The `REAL' and `DOUBLE PRECISION' types do not accept precision
specifications.  As an extension to the SQL-92 standard, MySQL
recognizes `DOUBLE' as a synonym for the `DOUBLE PRECISION' type.  In
contrast with the standard's requirement that the precision for `REAL'
be smaller than that used for `DOUBLE PRECISION', MySQL implements both
as 8-byte double-precision floating-point values (when not running in
"ANSI mode").  For maximum portability, code requiring storage of
approximate numeric data values should use `FLOAT' or `DOUBLE
PRECISION' with no specification of precision or number of decimal
points.

When asked to store a value in a numeric column that is outside the
column type's allowable range, MySQL clips the value to the appropriate
endpoint of the range and stores the resulting value instead.

For example, the range of an `INT' column is `-2147483648' to
`2147483647'.  If you try to insert `-9999999999' into an `INT' column,
the value is clipped to the lower endpoint of the range, and
`-2147483648' is stored instead. Similarly, if you try to insert
`9999999999', `2147483647' is stored instead.

If the `INT' column is `UNSIGNED', the size of the column's range is
the same but its endpoints shift up to `0' and `4294967295'.  If you
try to store `-9999999999' and `9999999999', the values stored in the
column become `0' and `4294967296'.

Conversions that occur due to clipping are reported as "warnings" for
`ALTER TABLE', `LOAD DATA INFILE', `UPDATE', and multi-row `INSERT'
statements.

*Type*         *Bytes*        *From*                 *To*
`TINYINT'      1              -128                   127
`SMALLINT'     2              -32768                 32767
`MEDIUMINT'    3              -8388608               8388607
`INT'          4              -2147483648            2147483647
`BIGINT'       8              -9223372036854775808   9223372036854775807

Date and Time Types
===================

The date and time types are `DATETIME', `DATE', `TIMESTAMP', `TIME',
and `YEAR'.  Each of these has a range of legal values, as well as a
"zero" value that is used when you specify a really illegal value.
Note that MySQL allows you to store certain 'not strictly' legal date
values, for example `1999-11-31'.  The reason for this is that we think
it's the responsibility of the application to handle date checking, not
the SQL servers.  To make the date checking 'fast', MySQL only checks
that the month is in the range of 0-12 and the day is in the range of
0-31. The above ranges are defined this way because MySQL allows you to
store, in a `DATE' or `DATETIME' column, dates where the day or
month-day is zero.  This is extremely useful for applications that need
to store a birth-date for which you don't know the exact date. In this
case you simply store the date like `1999-00-00' or `1999-01-00'.  (You
cannot expect to get a correct value from functions like `DATE_SUB()'
or `DATE_ADD' for dates like these.)

Here are some general considerations to keep in mind when working with
date and time types:

   * MySQL retrieves values for a given date or time type in a standard
     format, but it attempts to interpret a variety of formats for
     values that you supply (for example, when you specify a value to
     be assigned to or compared to a date or time type).  Nevertheless,
     only the formats described in the following sections are
     supported.  It is expected that you will supply legal values, and
     unpredictable results may occur if you use values in other formats.

   * Although MySQL tries to interpret values in several formats, it
     always expects the year part of date values to be leftmost.  Dates
     must be given in year-month-day order (for example, `'98-09-04''),
     rather than in the month-day-year or day-month-year orders
     commonly used elsewhere (for example, `'09-04-98'', `'04-09-98'').

   * MySQL automatically converts a date or time type value to a number
     if the value is used in a numeric context, and vice versa.

   * When MySQL encounters a value for a date or time type that is out
     of range or otherwise illegal for the type (see the start of this
     section), it converts the value to the "zero" value for that type.
     (The exception is that out-of-range `TIME' values are clipped to
     the appropriate endpoint of the `TIME' range.)  The following table
     shows the format of the "zero" value for each type:

     *Column    *"Zero" value*
     type*      
     `DATETIME' `'0000-00-00 00:00:00''
     `DATE'     `'0000-00-00''
     `TIMESTAMP'`00000000000000' (length depends on
                display size)
     `TIME'     `'00:00:00''
     `YEAR'     `0000'

   * The "zero" values are special, but you can store or refer to them
     explicitly using the values shown in the table.  You can also do
     this using the values `'0'' or `0', which are easier to write.

   * "Zero" date or time values used through `MyODBC' are converted
     automatically to `NULL' in `MyODBC' Version 2.50.12 and above,
     because ODBC can't handle such values.

Y2K Issues and Date Types
-------------------------

MySQL itself is Y2K-safe (*note Year 2000 compliance::), but input
values presented to MySQL may not be.  Any input containing 2-digit
year values is ambiguous, because the century is unknown.  Such values
must be interpreted into 4-digit form because MySQL stores years
internally using four digits.

For `DATETIME', `DATE', `TIMESTAMP', and `YEAR' types, MySQL interprets
dates with ambiguous year values using the following rules:

   * Year values in the range `00-69' are converted to `2000-2069'.

   * Year values in the range `70-99' are converted to `1970-1999'.

Remember that these rules provide only reasonable guesses as to what
your data mean.  If the heuristics used by MySQL don't produce the
correct values, you should provide unambiguous input containing 4-digit
year values.

`ORDER BY' will sort 2-digit `YEAR/DATE/DATETIME' types properly.

Note also that some functions like `MIN()' and `MAX()' will convert a
`TIMESTAMP/DATE' to a number. This means that a timestamp with a
2-digit year will not work properly with these functions.  The fix in
this case is to convert the `TIMESTAMP/DATE' to 4-digit year format or
use something like `MIN(DATE_ADD(timestamp,INTERVAL 0 DAYS))'.

The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types
---------------------------------------------

The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' types are related.  This
section describes their characteristics, how they are similar, and how
they differ.

The `DATETIME' type is used when you need values that contain both date
and time information.  MySQL retrieves and displays `DATETIME' values
in `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' format.  The supported range is `'1000-01-01
00:00:00'' to `'9999-12-31 23:59:59''.  ("Supported" means that
although earlier values might work, there is no guarantee that they
will.)

The `DATE' type is used when you need only a date value, without a time
part.  MySQL retrieves and displays `DATE' values in `'YYYY-MM-DD''
format.  The supported range is `'1000-01-01'' to `'9999-12-31''.

The `TIMESTAMP' column type has varying properties and behavior,
depending on the MySQL version and the SQL mode the server is running
in.

`TIMESTAMP' behavior when running in `MAXDB' mode
.................................................

When MySQL is running in `MAXDB' mode, `TIMESTAMP' behaves like
`DATETIME'. No automatic updating of `TIMESTAMP' columns occurs, as
described in the following paragraphs. MySQL can be run in `MAXDB' mode
as of version 4.1.1. *Note Server options::.

`TIMESTAMP' behavior when not running in `MAXDB' mode
.....................................................

The `TIMESTAMP' column type provides a type that you can use to
automatically mark `INSERT' or `UPDATE' operations with the current
date and time.  If you have multiple `TIMESTAMP' columns, only the first
one is updated automatically.

Automatic updating of the first `TIMESTAMP' column occurs under any of
the following conditions:

   * The column is not specified explicitly in an `INSERT' or `LOAD
     DATA INFILE' statement.

   * The column is not specified explicitly in an `UPDATE' statement
     and some other column changes value.  (Note that an `UPDATE' that
     sets a column to the value it already has will not cause the
     `TIMESTAMP' column to be updated, because if you set a column to
     its current value, MySQL ignores the update for efficiency.)

   * You explicitly set the `TIMESTAMP' column to `NULL'.

`TIMESTAMP' columns other than the first may also be set to the current
date and time.  Just set the column to `NULL' or to `NOW()'.

You can set any `TIMESTAMP' column to a value different from the current
date and time by setting it explicitly to the desired value.  This is
true even for the first `TIMESTAMP' column.  You can use this property
if, for example, you want a `TIMESTAMP' to be set to the current date
and time when you create a row, but not to be changed whenever the row
is updated later:

   * Let MySQL set the column when the row is created.  This will
     initialize it to the current date and time.

   * When you perform subsequent updates to other columns in the row,
     set the `TIMESTAMP' column explicitly to its current value.

On the other hand, you may find it just as easy to use a `DATETIME'
column that you initialize to `NOW()' when the row is created and leave
alone for subsequent updates.

`TIMESTAMP' properties when running in `MAXDB' mode
...................................................

When MySQL is running in `MAXDB' mode, `TIMESTAMP' is identical with
`DATETIME'. It uses the same format to store and display values, and it
has the same range. MySQL can be run in `MAXDB' mode as of version
4.1.1.  *Note Server options::.

`TIMESTAMP' properties as of MySQL 4.1 when not running in `MAXDB' mode
.......................................................................

In MySQL 4.1.0, `TIMESTAMP' columns are stored and displayed in the same
format as `DATETIME' columns. This also means that they cannot be
narrowed or widened in the ways described in the following paragraphs.
In other words, you cannot use `TIMESTAMP(2)', `TIMESTAMP(4)', etc.
Other than that, the properties are the same as in previous MySQL
versions.

`TIMESTAMP' properties prior to MySQL 4.1
.........................................

`TIMESTAMP' values may range from the beginning of 1970 to sometime in
the year 2037, with a resolution of one second.  Values are displayed as
numbers.

The format in which MySQL retrieves and displays `TIMESTAMP' values
depends on the display size, as illustrated by the following table.  The
`full' `TIMESTAMP' format is 14 digits, but `TIMESTAMP' columns may be
created with shorter display sizes:

*Column type*  *Display format*
`TIMESTAMP(14)'`YYYYMMDDHHMMSS'
`TIMESTAMP(12)'`YYMMDDHHMMSS'
`TIMESTAMP(10)'`YYMMDDHHMM'
`TIMESTAMP(8)' `YYYYMMDD'
`TIMESTAMP(6)' `YYMMDD'
`TIMESTAMP(4)' `YYMM'
`TIMESTAMP(2)' `YY'

All `TIMESTAMP' columns have the same storage size, regardless of
display size.  The most common display sizes are 6, 8, 12, and 14.  You
can specify an arbitrary display size at table creation time, but
values of 0 or greater than 14 are coerced to 14.  Odd-valued sizes in
the range from 1 to 13 are coerced to the next higher even number.

*Note:* From version 4.1, `TIMESTAMP' is returned as a string with the
format `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' and different timestamp lengths are no
longer supported.

You can specify `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' values using any of
a common set of formats:

   * As a string in either `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' or `'YY-MM-DD
     HH:MM:SS'' format.  A "relaxed" syntax is allowed--any punctuation
     character may be used as the delimiter between date parts or time
     parts.  For example, `'98-12-31 11:30:45'', `'98.12.31 11+30+45'',
     `'98/12/31 11*30*45'', and `'98@12@31 11^30^45'' are equivalent.

   * As a string in either `'YYYY-MM-DD'' or `'YY-MM-DD'' format.  A
     "relaxed" syntax is allowed here, too.  For example, `'98-12-31'',
     `'98.12.31'', `'98/12/31'', and `'98@12@31'' are equivalent.

   * As a string with no delimiters in either `'YYYYMMDDHHMMSS'' or
     `'YYMMDDHHMMSS'' format, provided that the string makes sense as a
     date.  For example, `'19970523091528'' and `'970523091528'' are
     interpreted as `'1997-05-23 09:15:28'', but `'971122129015'' is
     illegal (it has a nonsensical minute part) and becomes `'0000-00-00
     00:00:00''.

   * As a string with no delimiters in either `'YYYYMMDD'' or `'YYMMDD''
     format, provided that the string makes sense as a date.  For
     example, `'19970523'' and `'970523'' are interpreted as
     `'1997-05-23'', but `'971332'' is illegal (it has nonsensical month
     and day parts) and becomes `'0000-00-00''.

   * As a number in either `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' or `YYMMDDHHMMSS' format,
     provided that the number makes sense as a date.  For example,
     `19830905132800' and `830905132800' are interpreted as
     `'1983-09-05 13:28:00''.

   * As a number in either `YYYYMMDD' or `YYMMDD' format, provided that
     the number makes sense as a date.  For example, `19830905' and
     `830905' are interpreted as `'1983-09-05''.

   * As the result of a function that returns a value that is acceptable
     in a `DATETIME', `DATE', or `TIMESTAMP' context, such as `NOW()'
     or `CURRENT_DATE'.

Illegal `DATETIME', `DATE', or `TIMESTAMP' values are converted to the
"zero" value of the appropriate type (`'0000-00-00 00:00:00'',
`'0000-00-00'', or `00000000000000').

For values specified as strings that include date part delimiters, it
is not necessary to specify two digits for month or day values that are
less than `10'.  `'1979-6-9'' is the same as `'1979-06-09''.  Similarly,
for values specified as strings that include time part delimiters, it
is not necessary to specify two digits for hour, minute, or second
values that are less than `10'.  `'1979-10-30 1:2:3'' is the same as
`'1979-10-30 01:02:03''.

Values specified as numbers should be 6, 8, 12, or 14 digits long.  If
the number is 8 or 14 digits long, it is assumed to be in `YYYYMMDD' or
`YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' format and that the year is given by the first 4
digits.  If the number is 6 or 12 digits long, it is assumed to be in
`YYMMDD' or `YYMMDDHHMMSS' format and that the year is given by the
first 2 digits.  Numbers that are not one of these lengths are
interpreted as though padded with leading zeros to the closest length.

Values specified as non-delimited strings are interpreted using their
length as given.  If the string is 8 or 14 characters long, the year is
assumed to be given by the first 4 characters.  Otherwise, the year is
assumed to be given by the first 2 characters.  The string is
interpreted from left to right to find year, month, day, hour, minute,
and second values, for as many parts as are present in the string.
This means you should not use strings that have fewer than 6
characters.  For example, if you specify `'9903'', thinking that will
represent March, 1999, you will find that MySQL inserts a "zero" date
into your table.  This is because the year and month values are `99'
and `03', but the day part is completely missing, so the value is not a
legal date.  However, as of MySQL 3.23, you can explicitly specify a
value of zero to represent missing month or day parts.  For example,
you can use `'990300'' to insert the value `'1999-03-00''.

`TIMESTAMP' columns store legal values using the full precision with
which the value was specified, regardless of the display size.  This has
several implications:

   * Always specify year, month, and day, even if your column types are
     `TIMESTAMP(4)' or `TIMESTAMP(2)'.  Otherwise, the value will not
     be a legal date and `0' will be stored.

   * If you use `ALTER TABLE' to widen a narrow `TIMESTAMP' column,
     information will be displayed that previously was "hidden".

   * Similarly, narrowing a `TIMESTAMP' column does not cause
     information to be lost, except in the sense that less information
     is shown when the values are displayed.

   * Although `TIMESTAMP' values are stored to full precision, the only
     function that operates directly on the underlying stored value is
     `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()'.  Other functions operate on the formatted
     retrieved value.  This means you cannot use functions such as
     `HOUR()' or `SECOND()' unless the relevant part of the `TIMESTAMP'
     value is included in the formatted value.  For example, the `HH'
     part of a `TIMESTAMP' column is not displayed unless the display
     size is at least 10, so trying to use `HOUR()' on shorter
     `TIMESTAMP' values produces a meaningless result.

You can to some extent assign values of one date type to an object of a
different date type.  However, there may be some alteration of the
value or loss of information:

   * If you assign a `DATE' value to a `DATETIME' or `TIMESTAMP'
     object, the time part of the resulting value is set to
     `'00:00:00'', because the `DATE' value contains no time
     information.

   * If you assign a `DATETIME' or `TIMESTAMP' value to a `DATE'
     object, the time part of the resulting value is deleted, because
     the `DATE' type stores no time information.

   * Remember that although `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' values
     all can be specified using the same set of formats, the types do
     not all have the same range of values.  For example, `TIMESTAMP'
     values cannot be earlier than `1970' or later than `2037'.  This
     means that a date such as `'1968-01-01'', while legal as a
     `DATETIME' or `DATE' value, is not a valid `TIMESTAMP' value and
     will be converted to `0' if assigned to such an object.

Be aware of certain pitfalls when specifying date values:

   * The relaxed format allowed for values specified as strings can be
     deceiving.  For example, a value such as `'10:11:12'' might look
     like a time value because of the `:' delimiter, but if used in a
     date context will be interpreted as the year `'2010-11-12''.  The
     value `'10:45:15'' will be converted to `'0000-00-00'' because
     `'45'' is not a legal month.

   * The MySQL server only performs basic checking on the validity of a
     date: days `00-31', months `00-12', years `1000-9999'.  Any date
     not within this range will revert to `0000-00-00'.  Please note
     that this still allows you to store invalid dates such as
     `2002-04-31'. It allows web applications to store data from a form
     without further checking. To ensure a date is valid, perform a
     check in your application.

   * Year values specified as two digits are ambiguous, because the
     century is unknown.  MySQL interprets 2-digit year values using
     the following rules:

        - Year values in the range `00-69' are converted to `2000-2069'.

        - Year values in the range `70-99' are converted to `1970-1999'.

The `TIME' Type
---------------

MySQL retrieves and displays `TIME' values in `'HH:MM:SS'' format (or
`'HHH:MM:SS'' format for large hours values).  `TIME' values may range
from `'-838:59:59'' to `'838:59:59''.  The reason the hours part may be
so large is that the `TIME' type may be used not only to represent a
time of day (which must be less than 24 hours), but also elapsed time
or a time interval between two events (which may be much greater than
24 hours, or even negative).

You can specify `TIME' values in a variety of formats:

   * As a string in `'D HH:MM:SS.fraction'' format.  (Note that MySQL
     doesn't yet store the fraction for the time column.)  One can also
     use one of the following "relaxed" syntax:

     `HH:MM:SS.fraction', `HH:MM:SS', `HH:MM', `D HH:MM:SS', `D HH:MM',
     `D HH' or `SS'.  Here `D' is days between 0-33.

   * As a string with no delimiters in `'HHMMSS'' format, provided that
     it makes sense as a time.  For example, `'101112'' is understood as
     `'10:11:12'', but `'109712'' is illegal (it has a nonsensical
     minute part) and becomes `'00:00:00''.

   * As a number in `HHMMSS' format, provided that it makes sense as a
     time.  For example, `101112' is understood as `'10:11:12''.  The
     following alternative formats are also understood: `SS',
     `MMSS',`HHMMSS', `HHMMSS.fraction'.  Note that MySQL doesn't yet
     store the fraction part.

   * As the result of a function that returns a value that is acceptable
     in a `TIME' context, such as `CURRENT_TIME'.

For `TIME' values specified as strings that include a time part
delimiter, it is not necessary to specify two digits for hours,
minutes, or seconds values that are less than `10'.  `'8:3:2'' is the
same as `'08:03:02''.

Be careful about assigning "short" `TIME' values to a `TIME' column.
Without colons, MySQL interprets values using the assumption that the
rightmost digits represent seconds. (MySQL interprets `TIME' values as
elapsed time rather than as time of day.) For example, you might think
of `'1112'' and `1112' as meaning `'11:12:00'' (12 minutes after 11
o'clock), but MySQL interprets them as `'00:11:12'' (11 minutes, 12
seconds).  Similarly, `'12'' and `12' are interpreted as `'00:00:12''.
`TIME' values with colons, by contrast, are always treated as time of
the day. That is `'11:12'' will mean `'11:12:00'', not `'00:11:12''.

Values that lie outside the `TIME' range but are otherwise legal are
clipped to the appropriate endpoint of the range.  For example,
`'-850:00:00'' and `'850:00:00'' are converted to `'-838:59:59'' and
`'838:59:59''.

Illegal `TIME' values are converted to `'00:00:00''.  Note that because
`'00:00:00'' is itself a legal `TIME' value, there is no way to tell,
from a value of `'00:00:00'' stored in a table, whether the original
value was specified as `'00:00:00'' or whether it was illegal.

The `YEAR' Type
---------------

The `YEAR' type is a 1-byte type used for representing years.

MySQL retrieves and displays `YEAR' values in `YYYY' format.  The range
is `1901' to `2155'.

You can specify `YEAR' values in a variety of formats:

   * As a four-digit string in the range `'1901'' to `'2155''.

   * As a four-digit number in the range `1901' to `2155'.

   * As a two-digit string in the range `'00'' to `'99''.  Values in the
     ranges `'00'' to `'69'' and `'70'' to `'99'' are converted to
     `YEAR' values in the ranges `2000' to `2069' and `1970' to `1999'.

   * As a two-digit number in the range `1' to `99'.  Values in the
     ranges `1' to `69' and `70' to `99' are converted to `YEAR' values
     in the ranges `2001' to `2069' and `1970' to `1999'.  Note that
     the range for two-digit numbers is slightly different from the
     range for two-digit strings, because you cannot specify zero
     directly as a number and have it be interpreted as `2000'.  You
     *must* specify it as a string `'0'' or `'00'' or it will be
     interpreted as `0000'.

   * As the result of a function that returns a value that is acceptable
     in a `YEAR' context, such as `NOW()'.

Illegal `YEAR' values are converted to `0000'.

String Types
============

The string types are `CHAR', `VARCHAR', `BLOB', `TEXT', `ENUM', and
`SET'.  This section describes how these types work, their storage
requirements, and how to use them in your queries.

*Type*                        *Max.size*             *Bytes*
`TINYTEXT'   or `TINYBLOB'    2^8-1                  255
`TEXT'       or `BLOB'        2^16-1 (64K-1)         65535
`MEDIUMTEXT' or `MEDIUMBLOB'  2^24-1 (16M-1)         16777215
`LONGBLOB'                    2^32-1 (4G-1)          4294967295

The `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' Types
------------------------------

The `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' types are similar, but differ in the way they
are stored and retrieved.

The length of a `CHAR' column is fixed to the length that you declare
when you create the table.  The length can be any value between 1 and
255.  (As of MySQL Version 3.23, the length of `CHAR' may be 0 to 255.)
When `CHAR' values are stored, they are right-padded with spaces to the
specified length.  When `CHAR' values are retrieved, trailing spaces are
removed.

Values in `VARCHAR' columns are variable-length strings.  You can
declare a `VARCHAR' column to be any length between 1 and 255, just as
for `CHAR' columns.  However, in contrast to `CHAR', `VARCHAR' values
are stored using only as many characters as are needed, plus one byte
to record the length.  Values are not padded; instead, trailing spaces
are removed when values are stored.  (This space removal differs from
the SQL-99 specification.) No case conversion takes place during
storage or retrieval.

If you assign a value to a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' column that exceeds the
column's maximum length, the value is truncated to fit.

The following table illustrates the differences between the two types
of columns by showing the result of storing various string values into
`CHAR(4)' and `VARCHAR(4)' columns:

*Value*     `CHAR(4)'   *Storage       `VARCHAR(4)'*Storage
                        required*                  required*
`'''        `'    ''    4 bytes        `'''        1 byte
`'ab''      `'ab  ''    4 bytes        `'ab''      3 bytes
`'abcd''    `'abcd''    4 bytes        `'abcd''    5 bytes
`'abcdefgh''`'abcd''    4 bytes        `'abcd''    5 bytes

The values retrieved from the `CHAR(4)' and `VARCHAR(4)' columns will
be the same in each case, because trailing spaces are removed from
`CHAR' columns upon retrieval.

Values in `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns are sorted and compared in
case-insensitive fashion, unless the `BINARY' attribute was specified
when the table was created.  The `BINARY' attribute means that column
values are sorted and compared in case-sensitive fashion according to
the ASCII order of the machine where the MySQL server is running.
`BINARY' doesn't affect how the column is stored or retrieved.

From version 4.1.0, column type `CHAR BYTE' is an alias for `CHAR
BINARY'. This is a compatibility feature.

The `BINARY' attribute is sticky.  This means that if a column marked
`BINARY' is used in an expression, the whole expression is compared as a
`BINARY' value.

MySQL may silently change the type of a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' column at
table creation time.  *Note Silent column changes::.

The `BLOB' and `TEXT' Types
---------------------------

A `BLOB' is a binary large object that can hold a variable amount of
data.  The four `BLOB' types `TINYBLOB', `BLOB', `MEDIUMBLOB', and
`LONGBLOB' differ only in the maximum length of the values they can
hold.  *Note Storage requirements::.

The four `TEXT' types `TINYTEXT', `TEXT', `MEDIUMTEXT', and `LONGTEXT'
correspond to the four `BLOB' types and have the same maximum lengths
and storage requirements.  The only difference between `BLOB' and
`TEXT' types is that sorting and comparison is performed in
case-sensitive fashion for `BLOB' values and case-insensitive fashion
for `TEXT' values.  In other words, a `TEXT' is a case-insensitive
`BLOB'. No case conversion takes place during storage or retrieval.

If you assign a value to a `BLOB' or `TEXT' column that exceeds the
column type's maximum length, the value is truncated to fit.

In most respects, you can regard a `TEXT' column as a `VARCHAR' column
that can be as big as you like.  Similarly, you can regard a `BLOB'
column as a `VARCHAR BINARY' column.  The differences are:

   * You can have indexes on `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns with MySQL
     Version 3.23.2 and newer. Older versions of MySQL did not support
     this.

   * There is no trailing-space removal for `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns
     when values are stored, as there is for `VARCHAR' columns.

   * `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns cannot have `DEFAULT' values.

From version 4.1.0, `LONG' and `LONG VARCHAR' map to the `MEDIUMTEXT'
data type. This is a compatibility feature.

`MyODBC' defines `BLOB' values as `LONGVARBINARY' and `TEXT' values as
`LONGVARCHAR'.

Because `BLOB' and `TEXT' values may be extremely long, you may run up
against some constraints when using them:

   * If you want to use `GROUP BY' or `ORDER BY' on a `BLOB' or `TEXT'
     column, you must convert the column value into a fixed-length
     object. The standard way to do this is with the `SUBSTRING'
     function.  For example:

          mysql> SELECT comment FROM tbl_name,SUBSTRING(comment,20) AS substr
              ->                 ORDER BY substr;

     If you don't do this, only the first `max_sort_length' bytes of the
     column are used when sorting.  The default value of
     `max_sort_length' is 1024; this value can be changed using the
     `-O' option when starting the `mysqld' server. You can group on an
     expression involving `BLOB' or `TEXT' values by specifying the
     column position or by using an alias:

          mysql> SELECT id,SUBSTRING(blob_col,1,100) FROM tbl_name GROUP BY 2;
          mysql> SELECT id,SUBSTRING(blob_col,1,100) AS b FROM tbl_name GROUP BY b;

   * The maximum size of a `BLOB' or `TEXT' object is determined by its
     type, but the largest value you can actually transmit between the
     client and server is determined by the amount of available memory
     and the size of the communications buffers.  You can change the
     message buffer size (`max_allowed_packet'), but you must do so on
     both the server and client ends. *Note Server parameters::.

Note that each `BLOB' or `TEXT' value is represented internally by a
separately allocated object. This is in contrast to all other column
types, for which storage is allocated once per column when the table is
opened.

The `ENUM' Type
---------------

An `ENUM' is a string object whose value normally is chosen from a list
of allowed values that are enumerated explicitly in the column
specification at table creation time.

The value may also be the empty string (`""') or `NULL' under certain
circumstances:

   * If you insert an invalid value into an `ENUM' (that is, a string
     not present in the list of allowed values), the empty string is
     inserted instead as a special error value. This string can be
     distinguished from a 'normal' empty string by the fact that this
     string has the numerical value 0. More about this later.

   * If an `ENUM' is declared `NULL', `NULL' is also a legal value for
     the column, and the default value is `NULL'.  If an `ENUM' is
     declared `NOT NULL', the default value is the first element of the
     list of allowed values.

Each enumeration value has an index:

   * Values from the list of allowable elements in the column
     specification are numbered beginning with 1.

   * The index value of the empty string error value is 0.  This means
     that you can use the following `SELECT' statement to find rows
     into which invalid `ENUM' values were assigned:

          mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE enum_col=0;

   * The index of the `NULL' value is `NULL'.

For example, a column specified as `ENUM("one", "two", "three")' can
have any of the values shown here.  The index of each value is also
shown:

*Value* *Index*
`NULL'  `NULL'
`""'    0
`"one"' 1
`"two"' 2
`"three"'3

An enumeration can have a maximum of 65535 elements.

Starting from 3.23.51 trailing spaces are automatically deleted from
`ENUM' values when the table is created.

Lettercase is irrelevant when you assign values to an `ENUM' column.
However, values retrieved from the column later have lettercase
matching the values that were used to specify the allowable values at
table creation time.

If you retrieve an `ENUM' in a numeric context, the column value's
index is returned.  For example, you can retrieve numeric values from
an `ENUM' column like this:

     mysql> SELECT enum_col+0 FROM tbl_name;

If you store a number into an `ENUM', the number is treated as an
index, and the value stored is the enumeration member with that index.
(However, this will not work with `LOAD DATA', which treats all input
as strings.)  It's not advisable to store numbers in an `ENUM' string
because it will make things confusing.

`ENUM' values are sorted according to the order in which the enumeration
members were listed in the column specification.  (In other words,
`ENUM' values are sorted according to their index numbers.)  For
example, `"a"' sorts before `"b"' for `ENUM("a", "b")', but `"b"' sorts
before `"a"' for `ENUM("b", "a")'.  The empty string sorts before
non-empty strings, and `NULL' values sort before all other enumeration
values.  To prevent unexpected results, specify the `ENUM' list in
alphabetical order. You can also use `GROUP BY CONCAT(col)' to make
sure the column is sorted alphabetically rather than by index number.

If you want to get all possible values for an `ENUM' column, you should
use: `SHOW COLUMNS FROM table_name LIKE enum_column_name' and parse the
`ENUM' definition in the second column.

The `SET' Type
--------------

A `SET' is a string object that can have zero or more values, each of
which must be chosen from a list of allowed values specified when the
table is created.  `SET' column values that consist of multiple set
members are specified with members separated by commas (`,').  A
consequence of this is that `SET' member values cannot themselves
contain commas.

For example, a column specified as `SET("one", "two") NOT NULL' can have
any of these values:

     ""
     "one"
     "two"
     "one,two"

A `SET' can have a maximum of 64 different members.

Starting from 3.23.51 trailing spaces are automatically deleted from
`SET' values when the table is created.

MySQL stores `SET' values numerically, with the low-order bit of the
stored value corresponding to the first set member.  If you retrieve a
`SET' value in a numeric context, the value retrieved has bits set
corresponding to the set members that make up the column value.  For
example, you can retrieve numeric values from a `SET' column like this:

     mysql> SELECT set_col+0 FROM tbl_name;

If a number is stored into a `SET' column, the bits that are set in the
binary representation of the number determine the set members in the
column value.  Suppose a column is specified as `SET("a","b","c","d")'.
Then the members have the following bit values:

`SET'       *Decimal       *Binary value*
*member*    value*         
`a'         `1'            `0001'
`b'         `2'            `0010'
`c'         `4'            `0100'
`d'         `8'            `1000'

If you assign a value of `9' to this column, that is `1001' in binary,
so the first and fourth `SET' value members `"a"' and `"d"' are
selected and the resulting value is `"a,d"'.

For a value containing more than one `SET' element, it does not matter
what order the elements are listed in when you insert the value.  It
also does not matter how many times a given element is listed in the
value.  When the value is retrieved later, each element in the value
will appear once, with elements listed according to the order in which
they were specified at table creation time.  For example, if a column
is specified as `SET("a","b","c","d")', then `"a,d"', `"d,a"', and
`"d,a,a,d,d"' will all appear as `"a,d"' when retrieved.

If you set a `SET' column to an unsupported value, the value will be
ignored.

`SET' values are sorted numerically.  `NULL' values sort before
non-`NULL' `SET' values.

Normally, you perform a `SELECT' on a `SET' column using the `LIKE'
operator or the `FIND_IN_SET()' function:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE set_col LIKE '%value%';
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE FIND_IN_SET('value',set_col)>0;

But the following will also work:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE set_col = 'val1,val2';
     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE set_col & 1;

The first of these statements looks for an exact match.  The second
looks for values containing the first set member.

If you want to get all possible values for a `SET' column, you should
use: `SHOW COLUMNS FROM table_name LIKE set_column_name' and parse the
`SET' definition in the second column.

Choosing the Right Type for a Column
====================================

For the most efficient use of storage, try to use the most precise type
in all cases. For example, if an integer column will be used for values
in the range between `1' and `99999', `MEDIUMINT UNSIGNED' is the best
type.

Accurate representation of monetary values is a common problem. In
MySQL, you should use the `DECIMAL' type. This is stored as a string,
so no loss of accuracy should occur. If accuracy is not too important,
the `DOUBLE' type may also be good enough.

For high precision, you can always convert to a fixed-point type stored
in a `BIGINT'. This allows you to do all calculations with integers and
convert results back to floating-point values only when necessary.

Using Column Types from Other Database Engines
==============================================

To make it easier to use code written for SQL implementations from other
vendors, MySQL maps column types as shown in the following table.  These
mappings make it easier to move table definitions from other database
engines to MySQL:

*Other vendor      *MySQL type*
type*              
`BINARY(NUM)'      `CHAR(NUM) BINARY'
`CHAR              `VARCHAR(NUM)'
VARYING(NUM)'      
`FLOAT4'           `FLOAT'
`FLOAT8'           `DOUBLE'
`INT1'             `TINYINT'
`INT2'             `SMALLINT'
`INT3'             `MEDIUMINT'
`INT4'             `INT'
`INT8'             `BIGINT'
`LONG VARBINARY'   `MEDIUMBLOB'
`LONG VARCHAR'     `MEDIUMTEXT'
`MIDDLEINT'        `MEDIUMINT'
`VARBINARY(NUM)'   `VARCHAR(NUM) BINARY'

Column type mapping occurs at table creation time.  If you create a
table with types used by other vendors and then issue a `DESCRIBE
tbl_name' statement, MySQL reports the table structure using the
equivalent MySQL types.

Column Type Storage Requirements
================================

The storage requirements for each of the column types supported by
MySQL are listed by category.

Storage Requirements for Numeric Types
......................................

*Column type*             *Storage required*
`TINYINT'                 1 byte
`SMALLINT'                2 bytes
`MEDIUMINT'               3 bytes
`INT'                     4 bytes
`INTEGER'                 4 bytes
`BIGINT'                  8 bytes
`FLOAT(X)'                4 if X <= 24 or 8 if 25 <= X <= 53
`FLOAT'                   4 bytes
`DOUBLE'                  8 bytes
`DOUBLE PRECISION'        8 bytes
`REAL'                    8 bytes
`DECIMAL(M,D)'            `M+2' bytes if D > 0, `M+1' bytes if D = 0
                          (`D'+2, if `M < D')
`NUMERIC(M,D)'            `M+2' bytes if D > 0, `M+1' bytes if D = 0
                          (`D'+2, if `M < D')

Storage Requirements for Date and Time Types
............................................

*Column type*             *Storage required*
`DATE'                    3 bytes
`DATETIME'                8 bytes
`TIMESTAMP'               4 bytes
`TIME'                    3 bytes
`YEAR'                    1 byte

Storage Requirements for String Types
.....................................

*Column type*             *Storage required*
`CHAR(M)'                 `M' bytes, `1 <= M <= 255'
`VARCHAR(M)'              `L'+1 bytes, where `L <= M' and `1 <= M <= 255'
`TINYBLOB', `TINYTEXT'    `L'+1 bytes, where `L' < 2^8
`BLOB', `TEXT'            `L'+2 bytes, where `L' < 2^16
`MEDIUMBLOB',             `L'+3 bytes, where `L' < 2^24
`MEDIUMTEXT'              
`LONGBLOB', `LONGTEXT'    `L'+4 bytes, where `L' < 2^32
`ENUM('value1','value2',...)'1 or 2 bytes, depending on the number of
                          enumeration values (65535 values maximum)
`SET('value1','value2',...)'1, 2, 3, 4 or 8 bytes, depending on the number
                          of set members (64 members maximum)

`VARCHAR' and the `BLOB' and `TEXT' types are variable-length types,
for which the storage requirements depend on the actual length of
column values (represented by `L' in the preceding table), rather than
on the type's maximum possible size.  For example, a `VARCHAR(10)'
column can hold a string with a maximum length of 10 characters.  The
actual storage required is the length of the string (`L'), plus 1 byte
to record the length of the string.  For the string `'abcd'', `L' is 4
and the storage requirement is 5 bytes.

The `BLOB' and `TEXT' types require 1, 2, 3, or 4 bytes to record the
length of the column value, depending on the maximum possible length of
the type.  *Note BLOB::.

If a table includes any variable-length column types, the record format
will also be variable-length.  Note that when a table is created, MySQL
may, under certain conditions, change a column from a variable-length
type to a fixed-length type, or vice-versa.  *Note Silent column
changes::.

The size of an `ENUM' object is determined by the number of different
enumeration values.  One byte is used for enumerations with up to 255
possible values.  Two bytes are used for enumerations with up to 65535
values. *Note ENUM::.

The size of a `SET' object is determined by the number of different set
members.  If the set size is `N', the object occupies `(N+7)/8' bytes,
rounded up to 1, 2, 3, 4, or 8 bytes.  A `SET' can have a maximum of 64
members. *Note SET::.

The maximum size of a row in a `MyISAM' table is 65534 bytes. Each
`BLOB' and `TEXT' column accounts for only 5-9 bytes toward this size.

Functions and Operators
***********************

A `select_expression' or `where_definition' in an SQL statement can
consist of any expression using the functions described below.

An expression that contains `NULL' always produces a `NULL' value
unless otherwise indicated in the documentation for the operators and
functions involved in the expression.

*Note:* There must be no whitespace between a function name and the
parentheses following it. This helps the MySQL parser distinguish
between function calls and references to tables or columns that happen
to have the same name as a function.  Spaces around arguments are
permitted, though.

You can force MySQL to accept spaces after the function name by
starting `mysqld' with `--ansi' or using the `CLIENT_IGNORE_SPACE' to
`mysql_connect()', but in this case all function names will become
reserved words. *Note ANSI mode::.

For the sake of brevity, examples display the output from the `mysql'
program in abbreviated form.  So this:

     mysql> SELECT MOD(29,9);
     1 rows in set (0.00 sec)
     
     +-----------+
     | mod(29,9) |
     +-----------+
     |         2 |
     +-----------+

is displayed like this:

     mysql> SELECT MOD(29,9);
             -> 2

Non-Type-Specific Operators and Functions
=========================================

Parentheses
-----------

     ( ... )

Use parentheses to force the order of evaluation in an expression.  For
example:

     mysql> SELECT 1+2*3;
             -> 7
     mysql> SELECT (1+2)*3;
             -> 9

Comparison Operators
--------------------

Comparison operations result in a value of `1' (TRUE), `0' (FALSE), or
`NULL'. These functions work for both numbers and strings.  Strings are
automatically converted to numbers and numbers to strings as needed (as
in Perl).

MySQL performs comparisons using the following rules:

   * If one or both arguments are `NULL', the result of the comparison
     is `NULL', except for the `<=>' operator.

   * If both arguments in a comparison operation are strings, they are
     compared as strings.

   * If both arguments are integers, they are compared as integers.

   * Hexadecimal values are treated as binary strings if not compared
     to a number.

   * If one of the arguments is a `TIMESTAMP' or `DATETIME' column and
     the other argument is a constant, the constant is converted to a
     timestamp before the comparison is performed. This is done to be
     more ODBC-friendly.

   * In all other cases, the arguments are compared as floating-point
     (real) numbers.

By default, string comparisons are done in case-independent fashion
using the current character set (ISO-8859-1 Latin1 by default, which
also works excellently for English).

If you are comparing case-insensitive strings with any of the standard
operators (`=', `<>'..., but not `LIKE') trailing whitespace (spaces,
tabs and newlines) will be ignored.

     mysql> SELECT "a" ="A \n";
             -> 1

The following examples illustrate conversion of strings to numbers for
comparison operations:

     mysql> SELECT 1 > '6x';
             -> 0
     mysql> SELECT 7 > '6x';
             -> 1
     mysql> SELECT 0 > 'x6';
             -> 0
     mysql> SELECT 0 = 'x6';
             -> 1

Note that when you are comparing a string column with a number, MySQL
can't use index to quickly look up the value:

     SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE string_key=1

The reason for this is that there is many different strings that may
return the value `1':  `"1"', `" 1"', `"1a"' ...

`='
     Equal:
          mysql> SELECT 1 = 0;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT '0' = 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT '0.0' = 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT '0.01' = 0;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT '.01' = 0.01;
                  -> 1

`<>'
`!='
     Not equal:
          mysql> SELECT '.01' <> '0.01';
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT .01 <> '0.01';
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 'zapp' <> 'zappp';
                  -> 1

`<='
     Less than or equal:
          mysql> SELECT 0.1 <= 2;
                  -> 1

`<'
     Less than:
          mysql> SELECT 2 < 2;
                  -> 0

`>='
     Greater than or equal:
          mysql> SELECT 2 >= 2;
                  -> 1

`>'
     Greater than:
          mysql> SELECT 2 > 2;
                  -> 0

`<=>'
     `NULL'-safe equal:
          mysql> SELECT 1 <=> 1, NULL <=> NULL, 1 <=> NULL;
                  -> 1 1 0

`IS NULL'
`IS NOT NULL'
     Test whether a value is or is not `NULL':
          mysql> SELECT 1 IS NULL, 0 IS NULL, NULL IS NULL;
                  -> 0 0 1
          mysql> SELECT 1 IS NOT NULL, 0 IS NOT NULL, NULL IS NOT NULL;
                  -> 1 1 0

     To be able to work well with other programs, MySQL supports the
     following extra features when using `IS NULL':

        * You can find the last inserted row with:

               SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE auto_col IS NULL

          This can be disabled by setting `SQL_AUTO_IS_NULL=0'. *Note
          SET OPTION::.

        * For `NOT NULL' `DATE' and `DATETIME' columns you can find the
          special date `0000-00-00' by using:

               SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE date_column IS NULL

          This is needed to get some ODBC applications to work (as ODBC
          doesn't support a `0000-00-00' date)

`expr BETWEEN min AND max'
     If `expr' is greater than or equal to `min' and `expr' is less
     than or equal to `max', `BETWEEN' returns `1', otherwise it
     returns `0'.  This is equivalent to the expression `(min <= expr
     AND expr <= max)' if all the arguments are of the same type.
     Otherwise type conversion takes place, according to the rules
     above, but applied to all the three arguments. *Note* that before
     4.0.5 arguments were converted to the type of `expr' instead.

          mysql> SELECT 1 BETWEEN 2 AND 3;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 'b' BETWEEN 'a' AND 'c';
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 2 BETWEEN 2 AND '3';
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 2 BETWEEN 2 AND 'x-3';
                  -> 0

`expr NOT BETWEEN min AND max'
     Same as `NOT (expr BETWEEN min AND max)'.

`expr IN (value,...)'
     Returns `1' if `expr' is any of the values in the `IN' list, else
     returns `0'.  If all values are constants, then all values are
     evaluated according to the type of `expr' and sorted. The search
     for the item is then done using a binary search. This means `IN'
     is very quick if the `IN' value list consists entirely of
     constants.  If `expr' is a case-sensitive string expression, the
     string comparison is performed in case-sensitive fashion:

          mysql> SELECT 2 IN (0,3,5,'wefwf');
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 'wefwf' IN (0,3,5,'wefwf');
                  -> 1

     The number of values in the `IN' list is only limited by the
     `max_allowed_packet' value.

     From 4.1 (to comply with the SQL-99 standard), `IN' returns `NULL'
     not only if the expression on the left hand side is `NULL', but
     also if no match is found in the list and one of the expressions
     in the list is `NULL'.

     From MySQL version 4.1, an IN() clause may also contain a subquery.
     *Note ANY IN SOME subqueries::.

`expr NOT IN (value,...)'
     Same as `NOT (expr IN (value,...))'.

`ISNULL(expr)'
     If `expr' is `NULL', `ISNULL()' returns `1', otherwise it returns
     `0':
          mysql> SELECT ISNULL(1+1);
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT ISNULL(1/0);
                  -> 1

     Note that a comparison of `NULL' values using `=' will always be
     false!

`COALESCE(list)'
     Returns first non-`NULL' element in list:

          mysql> SELECT COALESCE(NULL,1);
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT COALESCE(NULL,NULL,NULL);
                  -> NULL

`INTERVAL(N,N1,N2,N3,...)'
     Returns `0' if `N' < `N1', `1' if `N' < `N2' and so on or `-1' if
     `N' is `NULL'. All arguments are treated as integers.  It is
     required that `N1' < `N2' < `N3' < `...' < `Nn' for this function
     to work correctly. This is because a binary search is used (very
     fast):

          mysql> SELECT INTERVAL(23, 1, 15, 17, 30, 44, 200);
                  -> 3
          mysql> SELECT INTERVAL(10, 1, 10, 100, 1000);
                  -> 2
          mysql> SELECT INTERVAL(22, 23, 30, 44, 200);
                  -> 0

Logical Operators
-----------------

In SQL, all logical operators evaluate to TRUE, FALSE or NULL (UNKNOWN).
In MySQL, this is implemented as `1' (TRUE), `0' (FALSE), and `NULL'.
Most of this is common between different SQL databases, however some
may return any non-zero value for TRUE.

`NOT'
`!'
     Logical NOT.  Evaluates to `1' if the operand is `0', to `0' if
     the operand is non-zero, and `NOT NULL' returns `NULL'.
          mysql> SELECT NOT 10;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT NOT 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT NOT NULL;
                  -> NULL
          mysql> SELECT ! (1+1);
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT ! 1+1;
                  -> 1
     The last example produces `1' because the expression evaluates the
     same way as `(!1)+1'.

`AND'
`&&'
     Logical AND.  Evaluates to `1' if all operands are non-zero and
     not `NULL', to `0' if one or more operands are `0', otherwise
     `NULL' is returned.
          mysql> SELECT 1 && 1;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 1 && 0;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 1 && NULL;
                  -> NULL
          mysql> SELECT 0 && NULL;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT NULL && 0;
                  -> 0

     Please note that MySQL versions prior to 4.0.5 stop evaluation when
     a `NULL' is encountered, rather than continuing the process to
     check for possible `0' values. This means that in these versions,
     `SELECT (NULL AND 0)' returns `NULL' instead of `0'.  In 4.0.5 the
     code has been re-engineered so that the result will always be as
     prescribed by the SQL standards while still using the optimization
     wherever possible.

`OR'
`||'
     Logical OR.  Evaluates to `1' if any operand is non-zero, to
     `NULL' if any operand is `NULL', otherwise `0' is returned.
          mysql> SELECT 1 || 1;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 1 || 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 0 || 0;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 0 || NULL;
                  -> NULL
          mysql> SELECT 1 || NULL;
                  -> 1

`XOR'
     Logical XOR.  Returns `NULL' if either operand is `NULL'.  For
     non-`NULL' operands, evaluates to `1' if an odd number of operands
     is non-zero, otherwise `0' is returned.
           example_for_help_topic XOR
          mysql> SELECT 1 XOR 1;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 1 XOR 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 1 XOR NULL;
                  -> NULL
          mysql> SELECT 1 XOR 1 XOR 1;
                  -> 1

     `a XOR b' is mathematically equal to `(a AND (NOT b)) OR ((NOT a)
     and b)'.

     `XOR' was added in version 4.0.2.

Control Flow Functions
----------------------

`CASE value WHEN [compare-value] THEN result [WHEN [compare-value] THEN result ...] [ELSE result] END'

`CASE WHEN [condition] THEN result [WHEN [condition] THEN result ...] [ELSE result] END'
     The first version returns the `result' where
     `value=compare-value'. The second version returns the result for
     the first condition, which is true. If there was no matching result
     value, then the result after `ELSE' is returned. If there is no
     `ELSE' part then `NULL' is returned:

          mysql> SELECT CASE 1 WHEN 1 THEN "one"
                     WHEN 2 THEN "two" ELSE "more" END;
                 -> "one"
          mysql> SELECT CASE WHEN 1>0 THEN "true" ELSE "false" END;
                 -> "true"
          mysql> SELECT CASE BINARY "B" WHEN "a" THEN 1 WHEN "b" THEN 2 END;
                 -> NULL

     The type of the return value (`INTEGER', `DOUBLE' or `STRING') is
     the same as the type of the first returned value (the expression
     after the first `THEN').

`IF(expr1,expr2,expr3)'
     If `expr1' is TRUE (`expr1 <> 0' and `expr1 <> NULL') then `IF()'
     returns `expr2', else it returns `expr3'.  `IF()' returns a
     numeric or string value, depending on the context in which it is
     used:

          mysql> SELECT IF(1>2,2,3);
                  -> 3
          mysql> SELECT IF(1<2,'yes','no');
                  -> 'yes'
          mysql> SELECT IF(STRCMP('test','test1'),'no','yes');
                  -> 'no'

     If `expr2' or `expr3' is explicitly `NULL' then the result type of
     the `IF()' function is the type of the not `NULL' column. (This
     behavior is new in MySQL 4.0.3).

     `expr1' is evaluated as an integer value, which means that if you
     are testing floating-point or string values, you should do so
     using a comparison operation:

          mysql> SELECT IF(0.1,1,0);
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT IF(0.1<>0,1,0);
                  -> 1

     In the first case above, `IF(0.1)' returns `0' because `0.1' is
     converted to an integer value, resulting in a test of `IF(0)'.
     This may not be what you expect.  In the second case, the
     comparison tests the original floating-point value to see whether
     it is non-zero.  The result of the comparison is used as an
     integer.

     The default return type of `IF()' (which may matter when it is
     stored into a temporary table) is calculated in MySQL Version 3.23
     as follows:

     *Expression*                       *Return
                                        value*
     expr2 or expr3 returns string      string
     expr2 or expr3 returns a           floating-point
     floating-point value               
     expr2 or expr3 returns an integer  integer

     If expr2 and expr3 are strings, then the result is case
     insensitive if both strings are case-insensitive. (Starting from
     3.23.51)

`IFNULL(expr1,expr2)'
     If `expr1' is not `NULL', `IFNULL()' returns `expr1', else it
     returns `expr2'.  `IFNULL()' returns a numeric or string value,
     depending on the context in which it is used:
          mysql> SELECT IFNULL(1,0);
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT IFNULL(NULL,10);
                  -> 10
          mysql> SELECT IFNULL(1/0,10);
                  -> 10
          mysql> SELECT IFNULL(1/0,'yes');
                  -> 'yes'

     In MySQL 4.0.6 and above, the default result value of
     `IFNULL(expr1,expr2)' is the more "general" of the two expressions,
     in the order `STRING', `REAL' or `INTEGER'. The difference to
     earlier MySQL versions are mostly notable when you create a table
     based on expressions or MySQL has to internally store a value from
     `IFNULL()' in a temporary table.

          CREATE TABLE foo SELECT IFNULL(1,"test") as test;

     In MySQL 4.0.6, the type for column 'test' is `CHAR(4)' while in
     earlier versions you would get `BIGINT'.

`NULLIF(expr1,expr2)'
     If `expr1 = expr2' is true, return `NULL' else return `expr1'.
     This is the same as `CASE WHEN x = y THEN NULL ELSE x END':
          mysql> SELECT NULLIF(1,1);
                  -> NULL
          mysql> SELECT NULLIF(1,2);
                  -> 1

     Note that `expr1' is evaluated twice in MySQL if the arguments are
     not equal.

String Functions
================

String-valued functions return `NULL' if the length of the result would
be greater than the `max_allowed_packet' server parameter.  *Note
Server parameters::.

For functions that operate on string positions, the first position is
numbered 1.

`ASCII(str)'
     Returns the ASCII code value of the leftmost character of the
     string `str'. Returns `0' if `str' is the empty string.  Returns
     `NULL' if `str' is `NULL':

          mysql> SELECT ASCII('2');
                  -> 50
          mysql> SELECT ASCII(2);
                  -> 50
          mysql> SELECT ASCII('dx');
                  -> 100

     See also the `ORD()' function.

`BIN(N)'
     Returns a string representation of the binary value of `N', where
     `N' is a longlong (`BIGINT') number.  This is equivalent to
     `CONV(N,10,2)'.  Returns `NULL' if `N' is `NULL':

          mysql> SELECT BIN(12);
                  -> '1100'

`BIT_LENGTH(str)'
     Returns the length of the string `str' in bits:

          mysql> SELECT BIT_LENGTH('text');
                  -> 32

`CHAR(N,...)'
     `CHAR()' interprets the arguments as integers and returns a string
     consisting of the characters given by the ASCII code values of
     those integers. `NULL' values are skipped:

          mysql> SELECT CHAR(77,121,83,81,'76');
                  -> 'MySQL'
          mysql> SELECT CHAR(77,77.3,'77.3');
                  -> 'MMM'

`CHAR_LENGTH(str)'
     Returns the length of the string `str', measured in characters.  A
     multi-byte character counts as a single character.  This means
     that for a string containing five two-byte characters, `LENGTH()'
     returns `10', whereas `CHAR_LENGTH()' returns `5'.

`CHARACTER_LENGTH(str)'
     `CHARACTER_LENGTH()' is a synonym for `CHAR_LENGTH()'.

`COMPRESS(string_to_compress)'
     Compresses a string.

          mysql> SELECT LENGTH(COMPRESS(REPEAT("a",1000)));
                  -> 21
          mysql> SELECT LENGTH(COMPRESS(""));
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT LENGTH(COMPRESS("a"));
                  -> 13
          mysql> SELECT LENGTH(COMPRESS(REPEAT("a",16)));
                  -> 15

     `COMPRESS()' was added in MySQL version 4.1.1.  It requires MySQL
     to have been compiled with a compression library such as `zlib'.
     Otherwise, the return value is always `NULL'.

     The compressed string contents are stored the following way:
        * Empty strings are stored as empty strings.

        * Non-empty strings are stored as a 4-byte length of the
          uncompressed string (low byte first), followed by the string
          compressed with gzip.  If the string ends with space, we add
          an extra `.' to avoid problems with end space trimming should
          the result be stored in a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' column.  Use of
          `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' to store compressed strings is not
          recommended. It is better to use a `BLOB' column instead.

`CONCAT(str1,str2,...)'
     Returns the string that results from concatenating the arguments.
     Returns `NULL' if any argument is `NULL'.  May have more than two
     arguments.  A numeric argument is converted to its equivalent
     string form:

          mysql> SELECT CONCAT('My', 'S', 'QL');
                  -> 'MySQL'
          mysql> SELECT CONCAT('My', NULL, 'QL');
                  -> NULL
          mysql> SELECT CONCAT(14.3);
                  -> '14.3'

`CONCAT_WS(separator, str1, str2,...)'
     `CONCAT_WS()' stands for CONCAT With Separator and is a special
     form of `CONCAT()'.  The first argument is the separator for the
     rest of the arguments.  The separator is added between the strings
     to be concatenated: The separator can be a string as can the rest
     of the arguments. If the separator is `NULL', the result is `NULL'.
     The function skips any `NULL' values after the separator argument.

          mysql> SELECT CONCAT_WS(",","First name","Second name","Last Name");
                 -> 'First name,Second name,Last Name'
          mysql> SELECT CONCAT_WS(",","First name",NULL,"Last Name");
                 -> 'First name,Last Name'

     Before MySQL 4.0.14, `CONCAT_WS()' skips empty strings as well as
     `NULL' values.

`CONV(N,from_base,to_base)'
     Converts numbers between different number bases.  Returns a string
     representation of the number `N', converted from base `from_base'
     to base `to_base'.  Returns `NULL' if any argument is `NULL'.  The
     argument `N' is interpreted as an integer, but may be specified as
     an integer or a string.  The minimum base is `2' and the maximum
     base is `36'.  If `to_base' is a negative number, `N' is regarded
     as a signed number.  Otherwise, `N' is treated as unsigned.
     `CONV' works with 64-bit precision:

          mysql> SELECT CONV("a",16,2);
                  -> '1010'
          mysql> SELECT CONV("6E",18,8);
                  -> '172'
          mysql> SELECT CONV(-17,10,-18);
                  -> '-H'
          mysql> SELECT CONV(10+"10"+'10'+0xa,10,10);
                  -> '40'

`ELT(N,str1,str2,str3,...)'
     Returns `str1' if `N' = `1', `str2' if `N' = `2', and so on.
     Returns `NULL' if `N' is less than `1' or greater than the number
     of arguments.  `ELT()' is the complement of `FIELD()':

          mysql> SELECT ELT(1, 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
                  -> 'ej'
          mysql> SELECT ELT(4, 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
                  -> 'foo'

`EXPORT_SET(bits,on,off,[separator,[number_of_bits]])'
     Returns a string in which for every bit set in `bits', you get an
     `on' string and for every reset bit you get an `off' string. Each
     string is separated by `separator' (default `,'), and only
     `number_of_bits' (default 64) of `bits' is used:

          mysql> SELECT EXPORT_SET(5,'Y','N',',',4)
                  -> Y,N,Y,N

`FIELD(str,str1,str2,str3,...)'
     Returns the index of `str' in the `str1', `str2', `str3', `...'
     list.  Returns `0' if `str' is not found.  `FIELD()' is the
     complement of `ELT()':

          mysql> SELECT FIELD('ej', 'Hej', 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
                  -> 2
          mysql> SELECT FIELD('fo', 'Hej', 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo');
                  -> 0

`FIND_IN_SET(str,strlist)'
     Returns a value `1' to `N' if the string `str' is in the list
     `strlist' consisting of `N' substrings. A string list is a string
     composed of substrings separated by `,' characters. If the first
     argument is a constant string and the second is a column of type
     `SET', the `FIND_IN_SET()' function is optimized to use bit
     arithmetic!  Returns `0' if `str' is not in `strlist' or if
     `strlist' is the empty string.  Returns `NULL' if either argument
     is `NULL'.  This function will not work properly if the first
     argument contains a comma `,':

          mysql> SELECT FIND_IN_SET('b','a,b,c,d');
                  -> 2

`HEX(N_or_S)'
     If N_OR_S is a number, returns a string representation of the
     hexadecimal value of `N', where `N' is a longlong (`BIGINT')
     number.  This is equivalent to `CONV(N,10,16)'.

     If N_OR_S is a string, returns a hexadecimal string of N_OR_S
     where each character in N_OR_S is converted to two hexadecimal
     digits. This is the inverse of the `0xff' strings.

          mysql> SELECT HEX(255);
                  -> 'FF'
          mysql> SELECT HEX("abc");
                  -> 616263
          mysql> SELECT 0x616263;
                  -> "abc"

`INSERT(str,pos,len,newstr)'
     Returns the string `str', with the substring beginning at position
     `pos' and `len' characters long replaced by the string `newstr':

          mysql> SELECT INSERT('Quadratic', 3, 4, 'What');
                  -> 'QuWhattic'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`INSTR(str,substr)'
     Returns the position of the first occurrence of substring `substr'
     in string `str'. This is the same as the two-argument form of
     `LOCATE()', except that the arguments are swapped:

          mysql> SELECT INSTR('foobarbar', 'bar');
                  -> 4
          mysql> SELECT INSTR('xbar', 'foobar');
                  -> 0

     This function is multi-byte safe.  In MySQL 3.23 this function is
     case sensitive, while in 4.0 it's only case sensitive if either
     argument is a binary string.

`LCASE(str)'
     `LCASE()' is a synonym for `LOWER()'.

`LEFT(str,len)'
     Returns the leftmost `len' characters from the string `str':

          mysql> SELECT LEFT('foobarbar', 5);
                  -> 'fooba'

`LENGTH(str)'
     Returns the length of the string `str', measured in bytes.  A
     multi-byte character counts as multiple bytes.  This means that
     for a string containing five two-byte characters, `LENGTH()'
     returns `10', whereas `CHAR_LENGTH()' returns `5'.

          mysql> SELECT LENGTH('text');
                  -> 4

`LOAD_FILE(file_name)'
     Reads the file and returns the file contents as a string.  The file
     must be on the server, you must specify the full pathname to the
     file, and you must have the `FILE' privilege.  The file must be
     readable by all and be smaller than `max_allowed_packet'.

     If the file doesn't exist or can't be read due to one of these
     reasons, the function returns `NULL':

          mysql> UPDATE tbl_name
                     SET blob_column=LOAD_FILE("/tmp/picture")
                     WHERE id=1;

     If you are not using MySQL Version 3.23, you have to do the reading
     of the file inside your application and create an `INSERT'
     statement to update the database with the file information. One
     way to do this, if you are using the MySQL++ library, can be found
     at
     `http://www.mysql.com/documentation/mysql++/mysql++-examples.html'.

`LOCATE(substr,str)'
`LOCATE(substr,str,pos)'
     The first syntax returns the position of the first occurrence of
     substring `substr' in string `str'.  The second syntax returns the
     position of the first occurrence of substring `substr' in string
     `str', starting at position `pos'.  Returns `0' if `substr' is not
     in `str'.

          mysql> SELECT LOCATE('bar', 'foobarbar');
                  -> 4
          mysql> SELECT LOCATE('xbar', 'foobar');
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT LOCATE('bar', 'foobarbar',5);
                  -> 7

     This function is multi-byte safe.  In MySQL 3.23 this function is
     case sensitive, while in 4.0 it's only case sensitive if either
     argument is a binary string.

`LOWER(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with all characters changed to lowercase
     according to the current character set mapping (the default is
     ISO-8859-1 Latin1):

          mysql> SELECT LOWER('QUADRATICALLY');
                  -> 'quadratically'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`LPAD(str,len,padstr)'
     Returns the string `str', left-padded with the string `padstr' to
     a length of `len' characters. If `str' is longer than `len', the
     return value is shortened to `len' characters.

          mysql> SELECT LPAD('hi',4,'??');
                  -> '??hi'

`LTRIM(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with leading space characters removed:

          mysql> SELECT LTRIM('  barbar');
                  -> 'barbar'

`MAKE_SET(bits,str1,str2,...)'
     Returns a set (a string containing substrings separated by `,'
     characters) consisting of the strings that have the corresponding
     bit in `bits' set.  `str1' corresponds to bit 0, `str2' to bit 1,
     etc.  `NULL' strings in `str1', `str2', `...' are not appended to
     the result:

          mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(1,'a','b','c');
                  -> 'a'
          mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(1 | 4,'hello','nice','world');
                  -> 'hello,world'
          mysql> SELECT MAKE_SET(0,'a','b','c');
                  -> ''

`MID(str,pos,len)'
     `MID(str,pos,len)' is a synonym for `SUBSTRING(str,pos,len)'.

`OCT(N)'
     Returns a string representation of the octal value of `N', where
     `N' is a longlong number.  This is equivalent to `CONV(N,10,8)'.
     Returns `NULL' if `N' is `NULL':

          mysql> SELECT OCT(12);
                  -> '14'

`OCTET_LENGTH(str)'
     `OCTET_LENGTH()' is a synonym for `LENGTH()'.

`ORD(str)'
     If the leftmost character of the string `str' is a multi-byte
     character, returns the code for that character, calculated from
     the ASCII code values of its constituent characters using this
     formula: `((first byte ASCII code)*256+(second byte ASCII
     code))[*256+third byte ASCII code...]'.  If the leftmost character
     is not a multi-byte character, returns the same value that the
     `ASCII()' function does:

          mysql> SELECT ORD('2');
                  -> 50

`POSITION(substr IN str)'
     `POSITION(substr IN str)' is a synonym for `LOCATE(substr,str)'.

`QUOTE(str)'
     Quotes a string to produce a result that can be used as a properly
     escaped data value in an SQL statement.  The string is returned
     surrounded by single quotes and with each instance of single quote
     (`''), backslash (`\'), ASCII NUL, and Control-Z preceded by a
     backslash.  If the argument is `NULL', the return value is the
     word "NULL" without surrounding single quotes.  The `QUOTE()'
     function was added in MySQL version 4.0.3.

          mysql> SELECT QUOTE("Don't");
                  -> 'Don\'t!'
          mysql> SELECT QUOTE(NULL);
                  -> NULL

`REPEAT(str,count)'
     Returns a string consisting of the string `str' repeated `count'
     times. If `count <= 0', returns an empty string. Returns `NULL' if
     `str' or `count' are `NULL':

          mysql> SELECT REPEAT('MySQL', 3);
                  -> 'MySQLMySQLMySQL'

`REPLACE(str,from_str,to_str)'
     Returns the string `str' with all occurrences of the string
     `from_str' replaced by the string `to_str':

          mysql> SELECT REPLACE('www.mysql.com', 'w', 'Ww');
                  -> 'WwWwWw.mysql.com'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`REVERSE(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with the order of the characters reversed:

          mysql> SELECT REVERSE('abc');
                  -> 'cba'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`RIGHT(str,len)'
     Returns the rightmost `len' characters from the string `str':

          mysql> SELECT RIGHT('foobarbar', 4);
                  -> 'rbar'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`RPAD(str,len,padstr)'
     Returns the string `str', right-padded with the string `padstr' to
     a length of `len' characters. If `str' is longer than `len', the
     return value is shortened to `len' characters.

          mysql> SELECT RPAD('hi',5,'?');
                  -> 'hi???'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`RTRIM(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with trailing space characters removed:

          mysql> SELECT RTRIM('barbar   ');
                  -> 'barbar'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`SOUNDEX(str)'
     Returns a soundex string from `str'. Two strings that sound almost
     the same should have identical soundex strings. A standard soundex
     string is 4 characters long, but the `SOUNDEX()' function returns
     an arbitrarily long string. You can use `SUBSTRING()' on the
     result to get a standard soundex string.  All non-alphanumeric
     characters are ignored in the given string. All international
     alpha characters outside the A-Z range are treated as vowels:

          mysql> SELECT SOUNDEX('Hello');
                  -> 'H400'
          mysql> SELECT SOUNDEX('Quadratically');
                  -> 'Q36324'

`expr1 SOUNDS LIKE expr2'
     Same as `SOUNDEX(expr1)=SOUNDEX(expr2)' (available only in version
     4.1 or later).

`SPACE(N)'
     Returns a string consisting of `N' space characters:

          mysql> SELECT SPACE(6);
                  -> '      '

`SUBSTRING(str,pos)'
`SUBSTRING(str FROM pos)'
`SUBSTRING(str,pos,len)'
`SUBSTRING(str FROM pos FOR len)'
     The forms without a `len' argument return a substring from string
     `str' starting at position `pos'.  The forms with a `len' argument
     return a substring `len' characters long from string `str',
     starting at position `pos'.  The forms that use `FROM' are SQL-92
     syntax.

          mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('Quadratically',5);
                  -> 'ratically'
          mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbar' FROM 4);
                  -> 'barbar'
          mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING('Quadratically',5,6);
                  -> 'ratica'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`SUBSTRING_INDEX(str,delim,count)'
     Returns the substring from string `str' before `count' occurrences
     of the delimiter `delim'.  If `count' is positive, everything to
     the left of the final delimiter (counting from the left) is
     returned.  If `count' is negative, everything to the right of the
     final delimiter (counting from the right) is returned:

          mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX('www.mysql.com', '.', 2);
                  -> 'www.mysql'
          mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX('www.mysql.com', '.', -2);
                  -> 'mysql.com'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`TRIM([[BOTH | LEADING | TRAILING] [remstr] FROM] str)'
     Returns the string `str' with all `remstr' prefixes and/or suffixes
     removed. If none of the specifiers `BOTH', `LEADING' or `TRAILING'
     is given, `BOTH' is assumed. If `remstr' is not specified, spaces
     are removed:

          mysql> SELECT TRIM('  bar   ');
                  -> 'bar'
          mysql> SELECT TRIM(LEADING 'x' FROM 'xxxbarxxx');
                  -> 'barxxx'
          mysql> SELECT TRIM(BOTH 'x' FROM 'xxxbarxxx');
                  -> 'bar'
          mysql> SELECT TRIM(TRAILING 'xyz' FROM 'barxxyz');
                  -> 'barx'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

`UCASE(str)'
     `UCASE()' is a synonym for `UPPER()'.

`UNCOMPRESS(string_to_uncompress)'
     Uncompresses a string compressed by the `COMPRESS()' function.

          mysql> SELECT UNCOMPRESS(COMPRESS("any string"));
                  -> 'any string'

     `UNCOMPRESS()' was added in MySQL version 4.1.1.  It requires
     MySQL to have been compiled with a compression library such as
     `zlib'. Otherwise, the return value is always `NULL'.

`UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH(compressed_string)'
     Returns the length of a compressed string before compressing.

          mysql> SELECT UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH(COMPRESS(REPEAT("a",30)));
                  -> 30

     `UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH()' was added in MySQL version 4.1.1.

`UPPER(str)'
     Returns the string `str' with all characters changed to uppercase
     according to the current character set mapping (the default is
     ISO-8859-1 Latin1):

          mysql> SELECT UPPER('Hej');
                  -> 'HEJ'

     This function is multi-byte safe.

String Comparison Functions
---------------------------

MySQL automatically converts numbers to strings as necessary, and
vice-versa:

     mysql> SELECT 1+"1";
             -> 2
     mysql> SELECT CONCAT(2,' test');
             -> '2 test'

If you want to convert a number to a string explicitly, pass it as the
argument to `CONCAT()'.

If a string function is given a binary string as an argument, the
resulting string is also a binary string.  A number converted to a
string is treated as a binary string.  This only affects comparisons.

Normally, if any expression in a string comparison is case sensitive,
the comparison is performed in case-sensitive fashion.

`expr LIKE pat [ESCAPE 'escape-char']'
     Pattern matching using SQL simple regular expression comparison.
     Returns `1' (TRUE) or `0' (FALSE).  With `LIKE' you can use the
     following two wildcard characters in the pattern:

     *Char*  *Description*
     `%'     Matches any number of characters, even
             zero characters
     `_'     Matches exactly one character

          mysql> SELECT 'David!' LIKE 'David_';
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 'David!' LIKE '%D%v%';
                  -> 1

     To test for literal instances of a wildcard character, precede the
     character with the escape character.  If you don't specify the
     `ESCAPE' character, `\' is assumed:

     *String**Description*
     `\%'    Matches one `%' character
     `\_'    Matches one `_' character

          mysql> SELECT 'David!' LIKE 'David\_';
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 'David_' LIKE 'David\_';
                  -> 1

     To specify a different escape character, use the `ESCAPE' clause:

          mysql> SELECT 'David_' LIKE 'David|_' ESCAPE '|';
                  -> 1

     The following two statements illustrate that string comparisons are
     not case sensitive unless one of the operands is a binary string:

          mysql> SELECT 'abc' LIKE 'ABC';
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 'abc' LIKE BINARY 'ABC';
                  -> 0

     `LIKE' is allowed on numeric expressions! (This is a MySQL
     extension to the SQL-99 `LIKE'.)

          mysql> SELECT 10 LIKE '1%';
                  -> 1

     Note: Because MySQL uses the C escape syntax in strings (for
     example, `\n'), you must double any `\' that you use in your `LIKE'
     strings.  For example, to search for `\n', specify it as `\\n'.  To
     search for `\', specify it as `\\\\' (the backslashes are stripped
     once by the parser and another time when the pattern match is
     done, leaving a single backslash to be matched).

     *Note:* Currently `LIKE' is not `multi-byte character' safe.
     Comparison is done character by character.

`MATCH (col1,col2,...) AGAINST (expr [IN BOOLEAN MODE | WITH QUERY EXPANSION] )'
     `MATCH ... AGAINST()' is used for full-text search and returns
     relevance - similarity measure between the text in columns
     `(col1,col2,...)' and the query `expr'. Relevance is a positive
     floating-point number. Zero relevance means no similarity.  `MATCH
     ... AGAINST()' is available in MySQL version 3.23.23 or later. `IN
     BOOLEAN MODE' extension was added in version 4.0.1, `WITH QUERY
     EXPANSION' was added in 4.1.1.  For details and usage examples,
     see *Note Fulltext Search::.

`expr NOT LIKE pat [ESCAPE 'escape-char']'
     Same as `NOT (expr LIKE pat [ESCAPE 'escape-char'])'.

`expr NOT REGEXP pat'
`expr NOT RLIKE pat'
     Same as `NOT (expr REGEXP pat)'.

`expr REGEXP pat'
`expr RLIKE pat'
     Performs a pattern match of a string expression `expr' against a
     pattern `pat'.  The pattern can be an extended regular expression.
     *Note Regexp::.  Returns `1' if `expr' matches `pat', otherwise
     returns `0'.  `RLIKE' is a synonym for `REGEXP', provided for
     `mSQL' compatibility. Note: Because MySQL uses the C escape syntax
     in strings (for example, `\n'), you must double any `\' that you
     use in your `REGEXP' strings.  As of MySQL Version 3.23.4,
     `REGEXP' is not case sensitive for normal (not binary) strings:

          mysql> SELECT 'Monty!' REGEXP 'm%y%%';
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 'Monty!' REGEXP '.*';
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 'new*\n*line' REGEXP 'new\\*.\\*line';
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "a" REGEXP "A", "a" REGEXP BINARY "A";
                  -> 1  0
          mysql> SELECT "a" REGEXP "^[a-d]";
                  -> 1

     `REGEXP' and `RLIKE' use the current character set (ISO-8859-1
     Latin1 by default) when deciding the type of a character.

`STRCMP(expr1,expr2)'
     `STRCMP()' returns `0' if the strings are the same, `-1' if the
     first argument is smaller than the second according to the current
     sort order, and `1' otherwise:

          mysql> SELECT STRCMP('text', 'text2');
                  -> -1
          mysql> SELECT STRCMP('text2', 'text');
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT STRCMP('text', 'text');
                  -> 0

     As of MySQL 4.0, `STRCMP()' uses the current character set when
     performing comparisons.  This makes the default comparison
     behavior case insensitive unless one or both of the operands are
     binary strings.  Before MySQL 4.0, `STRCMP()' is case sensitive.

Case-Sensitivity
----------------

``BINARY''
     The `BINARY' operator casts the string following it to a binary
     string.  This is an easy way to force a column comparison to be
     case sensitive even if the column isn't defined as `BINARY' or
     `BLOB':
          mysql> SELECT "a" = "A";
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT BINARY "a" = "A";
                  -> 0

     `BINARY string' is a shorthand for `CAST(string AS BINARY)'.
     *Note Cast Functions::.  `BINARY' was introduced in MySQL Version
     3.23.0.

     Note that in some context MySQL will not be able to use the index
     efficiently when you cast an indexed column to `BINARY'.

If you want to compare a `BLOB' case-insensitively you can always
convert it to uppercase before doing the comparison:

     SELECT 'A' LIKE UPPER(blob_col) FROM table_name;

We plan to soon introduce casting between different character sets to
make string comparison even more flexible.

Numeric Functions
=================

Arithmetic Operations
---------------------

The usual arithmetic operators are available. Note that in the case of
`-', `+', and `*', the result is calculated with `BIGINT' (64-bit)
precision if both arguments are integers!  If one of the argument is an
unsigned integer, and the other argument is also an integer, the result
will be an unsigned integer.  *Note Cast Functions::.

`+'
     Addition:
          mysql> SELECT 3+5;
                  -> 8

`-'
     Subtraction:
          mysql> SELECT 3-5;
                  -> -2

`*'
     Multiplication:
          mysql> SELECT 3*5;
                  -> 15
          mysql> SELECT 18014398509481984*18014398509481984.0;
                  -> 324518553658426726783156020576256.0
          mysql> SELECT 18014398509481984*18014398509481984;
                  -> 0

     The result of the last expression is incorrect because the result
     of the integer multiplication exceeds the 64-bit range of `BIGINT'
     calculations.

`/'
     Division:
          mysql> SELECT 3/5;
                  -> 0.60

     Division by zero produces a `NULL' result:

          mysql> SELECT 102/(1-1);
                  -> NULL

     A division will be calculated with `BIGINT' arithmetic only if
     performed in a context where its result is converted to an integer!

Mathematical Functions
----------------------

All mathematical functions return `NULL' in case of an error.

`-'
     Unary minus. Changes the sign of the argument:
          mysql> SELECT - 2;
                  -> -2

     Note that if this operator is used with a `BIGINT', the return
     value is a `BIGINT'!  This means that you should avoid using `-'
     on integers that may have the value of `-2^63'!

`ABS(X)'
     Returns the absolute value of `X':
          mysql> SELECT ABS(2);
                  -> 2
          mysql> SELECT ABS(-32);
                  -> 32

     This function is safe to use with `BIGINT' values.

`ACOS(X)'
     Returns the arc cosine of `X', that is, the value whose cosine is
     `X'. Returns `NULL' if `X' is not in the range `-1' to `1':
          mysql> SELECT ACOS(1);
                  -> 0.000000
          mysql> SELECT ACOS(1.0001);
                  -> NULL
          mysql> SELECT ACOS(0);
                  -> 1.570796

`ASIN(X)'
     Returns the arc sine of `X', that is, the value whose sine is `X'.
     Returns `NULL' if `X' is not in the range `-1' to `1':
          mysql> SELECT ASIN(0.2);
                  -> 0.201358
          mysql> SELECT ASIN('foo');
                  -> 0.000000

`ATAN(X)'
     Returns the arc tangent of `X', that is, the value whose tangent is
     `X':
          mysql> SELECT ATAN(2);
                  -> 1.107149
          mysql> SELECT ATAN(-2);
                  -> -1.107149

`ATAN(Y,X)'
`ATAN2(Y,X)'
     Returns the arc tangent of the two variables `X' and `Y'. It is
     similar to calculating the arc tangent of `Y / X', except that the
     signs of both arguments are used to determine the quadrant of the
     result:
          mysql> SELECT ATAN(-2,2);
                  -> -0.785398
          mysql> SELECT ATAN2(PI(),0);
                  -> 1.570796

`CEILING(X)'
`CEIL(X)'
     Returns the smallest integer value not less than `X':
          mysql> SELECT CEILING(1.23);
                  -> 2
          mysql> SELECT CEIL(-1.23);
                  -> -1

     The `CEIL()' alias was added in version 4.0.6.

     Note that the return value is converted to a `BIGINT'!

`COS(X)'
     Returns the cosine of `X', where `X' is given in radians:
          mysql> SELECT COS(PI());
                  -> -1.000000

`COT(X)'
     Returns the cotangent of `X':
          mysql> SELECT COT(12);
                  -> -1.57267341
          mysql> SELECT COT(0);
                  -> NULL

`CRC32(expr)'
     Computes a cyclic redundancy check value and returns a 32-bit
     unsigned value.  The result is `NULL' if the argument is `NULL'.
     The argument is expected be a string and will be treated as one if
     it is not.
          mysql> SELECT CRC32('MySQL');
                  -> 3259397556

     `CRC32()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.0.

`DEGREES(X)'
     Returns the argument `X', converted from radians to degrees:
          mysql> SELECT DEGREES(PI());
                  -> 180.000000

`DIV'
     Integer division.  Similar to `FLOOR()' but safe with `BIGINT'
     values.
          mysql> SELECT 5 DIV 2
                  -> 2

     `DIV' is new in MySQL 4.1.0.

`EXP(X)'
     Returns the value of `e' (the base of natural logarithms) raised to
     the power of `X':
          mysql> SELECT EXP(2);
                  -> 7.389056
          mysql> SELECT EXP(-2);
                  -> 0.135335

`FLOOR(X)'
     Returns the largest integer value not greater than `X':
          mysql> SELECT FLOOR(1.23);
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT FLOOR(-1.23);
                  -> -2

     Note that the return value is converted to a `BIGINT'!

`GREATEST(X,Y,...)'
     Returns the largest (maximum-valued) argument.  The arguments are
     compared using the same rules as for `LEAST':
          mysql> SELECT GREATEST(2,0);
                  -> 2
          mysql> SELECT GREATEST(34.0,3.0,5.0,767.0);
                  -> 767.0
          mysql> SELECT GREATEST("B","A","C");
                  -> "C"
     In MySQL versions prior to Version 3.22.5, you can use `MAX()'
     instead of `GREATEST'.

`LEAST(X,Y,...)'
     With two or more arguments, returns the smallest (minimum-valued)
     argument.  The arguments are compared using the following rules:

        * If the return value is used in an `INTEGER' context or all
          arguments are integer-valued, they are compared as integers.

        * If the return value is used in a `REAL' context or all
          arguments are real-valued, they are compared as reals.

        * If any argument is a case-sensitive string, the arguments are
          compared as case-sensitive strings.

        * In other cases, the arguments are compared as
          case-insensitive strings:

          mysql> SELECT LEAST(2,0);
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT LEAST(34.0,3.0,5.0,767.0);
                  -> 3.0
          mysql> SELECT LEAST("B","A","C");
                  -> "A"
     In MySQL versions prior to Version 3.22.5, you can use `MIN()'
     instead of `LEAST'.

     Note that the above conversion rules can produce strange results
     in some borderline cases:

          SELECT CAST(least(3600, 9223372036854775808.0) as SIGNED);
           -> -9223372036854775808

     This happens because MySQL reads `9223372036854775808.0' in an
     integer context and the integer representation is not good enough
     to hold the value so it's wraps to a signed integer.

`LN(X)'
     Returns the natural logarithm of `X':
          mysql> SELECT LN(2);
                  -> 0.693147
          mysql> SELECT LN(-2);
                  -> NULL

     This function was added in MySQL version 4.0.3.  It is synonymous
     with `LOG(X)' in MySQL.

`LOG(X)'
`LOG(B,X)'
     If called with one parameter, this function returns the natural
     logarithm of `X':
          mysql> SELECT LOG(2);
                  -> 0.693147
          mysql> SELECT LOG(-2);
                  -> NULL

     If called with two parameters, this function returns the logarithm
     of `X' for an arbitary base `B':
          mysql> SELECT LOG(2,65536);
                  -> 16.000000
          mysql> SELECT LOG(1,100);
                  -> NULL

     The arbitrary base option was added in MySQL version 4.0.3.
     `LOG(B,X)' is equivalent to `LOG(X)/LOG(B)'.

`LOG2(X)'
     Returns the base-2 logarithm of `X':
          mysql> SELECT LOG2(65536);
                  -> 16.000000
          mysql> SELECT LOG2(-100);
                  -> NULL

     `LOG2()' is useful for finding out how many bits a number would
     require for storage.  This function was added in MySQL version
     4.0.3.  In earlier versions, you can use `LOG(X)/LOG(2)' instead.

`LOG10(X)'
     Returns the base-10 logarithm of `X':
          mysql> SELECT LOG10(2);
                  -> 0.301030
          mysql> SELECT LOG10(100);
                  -> 2.000000
          mysql> SELECT LOG10(-100);
                  -> NULL

`MOD(N,M)'
`%'
     Modulo (like the `%' operator in C).  Returns the remainder of `N'
     divided by `M':
          mysql> SELECT MOD(234, 10);
                  -> 4
          mysql> SELECT 253 % 7;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT MOD(29,9);
                  -> 2
          mysql> SELECT 29 MOD 9;
                  -> 2

     This function is safe to use with `BIGINT' values.  The last
     example works only in MySQL 4.1

`PI()'
     Returns the value of PI. The default shown number of decimals is
     5, but MySQL internally uses the full double precession for PI.
          mysql> SELECT PI();
                  -> 3.141593
          mysql> SELECT PI()+0.000000000000000000;
                  -> 3.141592653589793116

`POW(X,Y)'
`POWER(X,Y)'
     Returns the value of `X' raised to the power of `Y':
          mysql> SELECT POW(2,2);
                  -> 4.000000
          mysql> SELECT POW(2,-2);
                  -> 0.250000

`RADIANS(X)'
     Returns the argument `X', converted from degrees to radians:
          mysql> SELECT RADIANS(90);
                  -> 1.570796

`RAND()'
`RAND(N)'
     Returns a random floating-point value in the range `0' to `1.0'.
     If an integer argument `N' is specified, it is used as the seed
     value (producing a repeatable sequence):
          mysql> SELECT RAND();
                  -> 0.9233482386203
          mysql> SELECT RAND(20);
                  -> 0.15888261251047
          mysql> SELECT RAND(20);
                  -> 0.15888261251047
          mysql> SELECT RAND();
                  -> 0.63553050033332
          mysql> SELECT RAND();
                  -> 0.70100469486881

     You can't use a column with `RAND()' values in an `ORDER BY'
     clause, because `ORDER BY' would evaluate the column multiple
     times.  From version 3.23 you can do: `SELECT * FROM table_name
     ORDER BY RAND()'

     This is useful to get a random sample of a set `SELECT * FROM
     table1,table2 WHERE a=b AND c<d ORDER BY RAND() LIMIT 1000'.

     Note that a `RAND()' in a `WHERE' clause will be re-evaluated
     every time the `WHERE' is executed.

     `RAND()' is not meant to be a perfect random generator, but
     instead a fast way to generate ad hoc random numbers that will be
     portable between platforms for the same MySQL version.

`ROUND(X)'
`ROUND(X,D)'
     Returns the argument `X', rounded to the nearest integer.  With
     two arguments, rounded to a number to `D' decimals.
          mysql> SELECT ROUND(-1.23);
                  -> -1
          mysql> SELECT ROUND(-1.58);
                  -> -2
          mysql> SELECT ROUND(1.58);
                  -> 2
          mysql> SELECT ROUND(1.298, 1);
                  -> 1.3
          mysql> SELECT ROUND(1.298, 0);
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT ROUND(23.298, -1);
                  -> 20

     Note that the behavior of `ROUND()' when the argument is halfway
     between two integers depends on the C library implementation.
     Some round to the nearest even number, always up, always down, or
     always toward zero.  If you need one kind of rounding, you should
     use a well-defined function such as `TRUNCATE()' or `FLOOR()'
     instead.

`SIGN(X)'
     Returns the sign of the argument as `-1', `0', or `1', depending
     on whether `X' is negative, zero, or positive:
          mysql> SELECT SIGN(-32);
                  -> -1
          mysql> SELECT SIGN(0);
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT SIGN(234);
                  -> 1

`SIN(X)'
     Returns the sine of `X', where `X' is given in radians:
          mysql> SELECT SIN(PI());
                  -> 0.000000

`SQRT(X)'
     Returns the non-negative square root of `X':
          mysql> SELECT SQRT(4);
                  -> 2.000000
          mysql> SELECT SQRT(20);
                  -> 4.472136

`TAN(X)'
     Returns the tangent of `X', where `X' is given in radians:
          mysql> SELECT TAN(PI()+1);
                  -> 1.557408

`TRUNCATE(X,D)'
     Returns the number `X', truncated to `D' decimals.  If `D' is `0',
     the result will have no decimal point or fractional part:
          mysql> SELECT TRUNCATE(1.223,1);
                  -> 1.2
          mysql> SELECT TRUNCATE(1.999,1);
                  -> 1.9
          mysql> SELECT TRUNCATE(1.999,0);
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT TRUNCATE(-1.999,1);
                  -> -1.9

     Starting from MySQL 3.23.51, all numbers are rounded toward zero.

     If `D' is negative, the whole part of the number is zeroed out:

          mysql> SELECT TRUNCATE(122,-2);
                 -> 100

     Note that decimal numbers are normally not stored as exact numbers
     in computers, but as double-precision values, so you may be fooled
     by the following result:

          mysql> SELECT TRUNCATE(10.28*100,0);
                 -> 1027

     The above happens because 10.28 is actually stored as something
     like 10.2799999999999999.

Date and Time Functions
=======================

This section describes the functions that can be used to manipulate
temporal values.  See *Note Date and time types:: for a description of
the range of values each date and time type has and the valid formats
in which values may be specified.

Here is an example that uses date functions.  The following query
selects all records with a `date_col' value from within the last 30
days:

     mysql> SELECT something FROM tbl_name
                WHERE TO_DAYS(NOW()) - TO_DAYS(date_col) <= 30;

(Note that the query will also select records with dates that lie in the
future.)

Functions that expect date values usually will accept datetime values
and ignore the time part. Functions that expect time values usually will
accept datetime values and ignore the date part.

Functions that return the current date or time each are evaluated only
once per query at the start of query execution. This means that
multiple references to a function such as `NOW()' within a single query
will always produce the same result.  This principle also applies to
`CURDATE()', `CURTIME()', `UTC_DATE()', `UTC_TIME()', `UTC_TIMESTAMP()',
and any of their synonyms.

The return value ranges in the following function descriptions apply for
complete dates. If a date is a "zero" value or an incomplete date such
as `'2001-11-00'', functions that extract a part of a date may return
`0'. For example, `DAYOFMONTH('2001-11-00')' returns `0'.

`ADDDATE(date,INTERVAL expr type)'
`ADDDATE(expr,days)'
     When invoked with the `INTERVAL' form of the second argument,
     `ADDDATE()' is a synonym for `DATE_ADD()'.  The related function
     `SUBDATE()' is a synonym for `DATE_SUB()'.

          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1998-01-02', INTERVAL 31 DAY);
                  -> '1998-02-02'
          mysql> SELECT ADDDATE('1998-01-02', INTERVAL 31 DAY);
                  -> '1998-02-02'

     As of MySQL 4.1.1, the second syntax is allowed, where `expr' is a
     date or datetime expression and `days' is the number of days to be
     added to `expr'.

          mysql> SELECT ADDDATE('1998-01-02', 31);
                  -> '1998-02-02'

`ADDTIME(expr,expr2)'
     `ADDTIME()' adds `expr2' to `expr' and returns the result.  `expr'
     is a date or datetime expression, and `expr2' is a time expression.

          mysql> SELECT ADDTIME("1997-12-31 23:59:59.999999", "1 1:1:1.000002");
                  -> '1998-01-02 01:01:01.000001'
          mysql> SELECT ADDTIME("01:00:00.999999", "02:00:00.999998");
                  -> '03:00:01.999997'

     `ADDTIME()' was added in MySQL 4.1.1.

`CURDATE()'
     Returns the current date as a value in `'YYYY-MM-DD'' or `YYYYMMDD'
     format, depending on whether the function is used in a string or
     numeric context:

          mysql> SELECT CURDATE();
                  -> '1997-12-15'
          mysql> SELECT CURDATE() + 0;
                  -> 19971215

`CURRENT_DATE'
`CURRENT_DATE()'
     `CURRENT_DATE' and `CURRENT_DATE()' are synonyms for `CURDATE()'.

`CURTIME()'
     Returns the current time as a value in `'HH:MM:SS'' or `HHMMSS'
     format, depending on whether the function is used in a string or
     numeric context:

          mysql> SELECT CURTIME();
                  -> '23:50:26'
          mysql> SELECT CURTIME() + 0;
                  -> 235026

`CURRENT_TIME'
`CURRENT_TIME()'
     `CURRENT_TIME' and `CURRENT_TIME()' are synonyms for `CURTIME()'.

`CURRENT_TIMESTAMP'
`CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()'
     `CURRENT_TIMESTAMP' and `CURRENT_TIMESTAMP()' are synonyms for
     `NOW()'.

`DATE(expr)'
     Extracts the date part of the date or datetime expression `expr'.

          mysql> SELECT DATE('2003-12-31 01:02:03');
                  -> '2003-12-31'

     `DATE()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`DATEDIFF(expr,expr2)'
     `DATEDIFF()' returns the number of days between the start date
     `expr' and the end date `expr2'.  `expr' and `expr2' are date or
     date-and-time expressions.  Only the date parts of the values are
     used in the calculation.

          mysql> SELECT DATEDIFF('1997-12-31 23:59:59','1997-12-30');
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT DATEDIFF('1997-11-31 23:59:59','1997-12-31');
                  -> -30

     `DATEDIFF()' was added in MySQL 4.1.1.

`DATE_ADD(date,INTERVAL expr type)'
`DATE_SUB(date,INTERVAL expr type)'
     These functions perform date arithmetic.

     As of MySQL Version 3.23, `INTERVAL expr type' is allowed on either
     side of the `+' operator if the expression on the other side is a
     date or datetime value.  For the `-' operator, `INTERVAL expr
     type' is allowed only on the right side, because it makes no sense
     to subtract a date or datetime value from an interval.  (See
     examples below.)

     `date' is a `DATETIME' or `DATE' value specifying the starting
     date.  `expr' is an expression specifying the interval value to be
     added or subtracted from the starting date.  `expr' is a string;
     it may start with a `-' for negative intervals.  `type' is a
     keyword indicating how the expression should be interpreted.

     The following table shows how the `type' and `expr' arguments are
     related:

     `type' *Value*          *Expected* `expr' *Format*
     `MICROSECOND'           `MICROSECONDS'
     `SECOND'                `SECONDS'
     `MINUTE'                `MINUTES'
     `HOUR'                  `HOURS'
     `DAY'                   `DAYS'
     `WEEK'                  `WEEKS'
     `MONTH'                 `MONTHS'
     `QUARTER'               `QUARTERS'
     `YEAR'                  `YEARS'
     `SECOND_MICROSECOND'    `'SECONDS.MICROSECONDS''
     `MINUTE_MICROSECOND'    `'MINUTES.MICROSECONDS''
     `MINUTE_SECOND'         `'MINUTES:SECONDS''
     `HOUR_MICROSECOND'      `'HOURS.MICROSECONDS''
     `HOUR_SECOND'           `'HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS''
     `HOUR_MINUTE'           `'HOURS:MINUTES''
     `DAY_MICROSECOND'       `'DAYS.MICROSECONDS''
     `DAY_SECOND'            `'DAYS HOURS:MINUTES:SECONDS''
     `DAY_MINUTE'            `'DAYS HOURS:MINUTES''
     `DAY_HOUR'              `'DAYS HOURS''
     `YEAR_MONTH'            `'YEARS-MONTHS''

     The `type' values `DAY_MICROSECOND', `HOUR_MICROSECOND',
     `MINUTE_MICROSECOND', `SECOND_MICROSECOND', and `MICROSECOND' are
     allowed as of MySQL 4.1.1.  The values `QUARTER' and `WEEK' are
     allowed as of MySQL 5.0.0.

     MySQL allows any punctuation delimiter in the `expr' format.
     Those shown in the table are the suggested delimiters.  If the
     `date' argument is a `DATE' value and your calculations involve
     only `YEAR', `MONTH', and `DAY' parts (that is, no time parts), the
     result is a `DATE' value.  Otherwise, the result is a `DATETIME'
     value:

          mysql> SELECT '1997-12-31 23:59:59' + INTERVAL 1 SECOND;
                  -> '1998-01-01 00:00:00'
          mysql> SELECT INTERVAL 1 DAY + '1997-12-31';
                  -> '1998-01-01'
          mysql> SELECT '1998-01-01' - INTERVAL 1 SECOND;
                  -> '1997-12-31 23:59:59'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1997-12-31 23:59:59',
              ->                 INTERVAL 1 SECOND);
                  -> '1998-01-01 00:00:00'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1997-12-31 23:59:59',
              ->                 INTERVAL 1 DAY);
                  -> '1998-01-01 23:59:59'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1997-12-31 23:59:59',
              ->                 INTERVAL '1:1' MINUTE_SECOND);
                  -> '1998-01-01 00:01:00'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB('1998-01-01 00:00:00',
              ->                 INTERVAL '1 1:1:1' DAY_SECOND);
                  -> '1997-12-30 22:58:59'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1998-01-01 00:00:00',
              ->                 INTERVAL '-1 10' DAY_HOUR);
                  -> '1997-12-30 14:00:00'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB('1998-01-02', INTERVAL 31 DAY);
                  -> '1997-12-02'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1992-12-31 23:59:59.000002',
              ->                 INTERVAL '1.999999' SECOND_MICROSECOND);
                  -> '1993-01-01 00:00:01.000001'

     If you specify an interval value that is too short (does not
     include all the interval parts that would be expected from the
     `type' keyword), MySQL assumes you have left out the leftmost
     parts of the interval value.  For example, if you specify a `type'
     of `DAY_SECOND', the value of `expr' is expected to have days,
     hours, minutes, and seconds parts.  If you specify a value like
     `'1:10'', MySQL assumes that the days and hours parts are missing
     and the value represents minutes and seconds.  In other words,
     `'1:10' DAY_SECOND' is interpreted in such a way that it is
     equivalent to `'1:10' MINUTE_SECOND'.  This is analogous to the
     way that MySQL interprets `TIME' values as representing elapsed
     time rather than as time of day.

     Note that if you add to or subtract from a date value something
     that contains a time part, the result is automatically converted
     to a datetime value:

          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1999-01-01', INTERVAL 1 DAY);
                  -> '1999-01-02'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1999-01-01', INTERVAL 1 HOUR);
                  -> '1999-01-01 01:00:00'

     If you use really malformed dates, the result is `NULL'. If you add
     `MONTH', `YEAR_MONTH', or `YEAR' and the resulting date has a day
     that is larger than the maximum day for the new month, the day is
     adjusted to the maximum days in the new month:

          mysql> SELECT DATE_ADD('1998-01-30', interval 1 month);
                  -> '1998-02-28'

     Note from the preceding example that the keyword `INTERVAL' and the
     `type' specifier are not case sensitive.

`DATE_FORMAT(date,format)'
     Formats the `date' value according to the `format' string. The
     following specifiers may be used in the `format' string:

     *Specifier**Description*
     `%a'    Abbreviated weekday name (`Sun'..`Sat')
     `%b'    Abbreviated month name (`Jan'..`Dec')
     `%c'    Month, numeric (`0'..`12')
     `%D'    Day of the month with English suffix
             (`0th', `1st', `2nd', `3rd', etc.)
     `%d'    Day of the month, numeric (`00'..`31')
     `%e'    Day of the month, numeric (`0'..`31')
     `%f'    Microseconds (`000000'..`999999')
     `%H'    Hour (`00'..`23')
     `%h'    Hour (`01'..`12')
     `%I'    Hour (`01'..`12')
     `%i'    Minutes, numeric (`00'..`59')
     `%j'    Day of year (`001'..`366')
     `%k'    Hour (`0'..`23')
     `%l'    Hour (`1'..`12')
     `%M'    Month name (`January'..`December')
     `%m'    Month, numeric (`00'..`12')
     `%p'    `AM' or `PM'
     `%r'    Time, 12-hour (`hh:mm:ss' followed by `AM'
             or `PM')
     `%S'    Seconds (`00'..`59')
     `%s'    Seconds (`00'..`59')
     `%T'    Time, 24-hour (`hh:mm:ss')
     `%U'    Week (`00'..`53'), where Sunday is the
             first day of the week
     `%u'    Week (`00'..`53'), where Monday is the
             first day of the week
     `%V'    Week (`01'..`53'), where Sunday is the
             first day of the week; used with `%X'
     `%v'    Week (`01'..`53'), where Monday is the
             first day of the week; used with `%x'
     `%W'    Weekday name (`Sunday'..`Saturday')
     `%w'    Day of the week (`0'=Sunday..`6'=Saturday)
     `%X'    Year for the week where Sunday is the first
             day of the week, numeric, 4 digits; used
             with `%V'
     `%x'    Year for the week, where Monday is the
             first day of the week, numeric, 4 digits;
             used with `%v'
     `%Y'    Year, numeric, 4 digits
     `%y'    Year, numeric, 2 digits
     `%%'    A literal `%'.

     All other characters are just copied to the result without
     interpretation.

     The `%f' format specifier is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

     As of MySQL Version 3.23, the `%' character is required before
     format specifier characters.  In earlier versions of MySQL, `%'
     was optional.

     The reason the ranges for the month and day specifiers begin with
     zero is that MySQL allows incomplete dates such as `'2004-00-00''
     to be stored as of MySQL 3.23.

          mysql> SELECT DATE_FORMAT('1997-10-04 22:23:00', '%W %M %Y');
                  -> 'Saturday October 1997'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_FORMAT('1997-10-04 22:23:00', '%H:%i:%s');
                  -> '22:23:00'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_FORMAT('1997-10-04 22:23:00',
                                    '%D %y %a %d %m %b %j');
                  -> '4th 97 Sat 04 10 Oct 277'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_FORMAT('1997-10-04 22:23:00',
                                    '%H %k %I %r %T %S %w');
                  -> '22 22 10 10:23:00 PM 22:23:00 00 6'
          mysql> SELECT DATE_FORMAT('1999-01-01', '%X %V');
                  -> '1998 52'

`DAY(date)'
     `DAY()' is a synonym for `DAYOFMONTH()'.  It is available as of
     MySQL 4.1.1.

`DAYNAME(date)'
     Returns the name of the weekday for `date':

          mysql> SELECT DAYNAME('1998-02-05');
                  -> 'Thursday'

`DAYOFMONTH(date)'
     Returns the day of the month for `date', in the range `1' to `31':

          mysql> SELECT DAYOFMONTH('1998-02-03');
                  -> 3

`DAYOFWEEK(date)'
     Returns the weekday index for `date' (`1' = Sunday, `2' = Monday,
     ... `7' = Saturday).  These index values correspond to the ODBC
     standard.

          mysql> SELECT DAYOFWEEK('1998-02-03');
                  -> 3

`DAYOFYEAR(date)'
     Returns the day of the year for `date', in the range `1' to `366':

          mysql> SELECT DAYOFYEAR('1998-02-03');
                  -> 34

`EXTRACT(type FROM date)'
     The `EXTRACT()' function uses the same kinds of interval type
     specifiers as `DATE_ADD()' or `DATE_SUB()', but extracts parts
     from the date rather than performing date arithmetic.

          mysql> SELECT EXTRACT(YEAR FROM "1999-07-02");
                 -> 1999
          mysql> SELECT EXTRACT(YEAR_MONTH FROM "1999-07-02 01:02:03");
                 -> 199907
          mysql> SELECT EXTRACT(DAY_MINUTE FROM "1999-07-02 01:02:03");
                 -> 20102
          mysql> SELECT EXTRACT(MICROSECOND FROM "2003-01-02 10:30:00.00123");
                  -> 123

`FROM_DAYS(N)'
     Given a daynumber `N', returns a `DATE' value:

          mysql> SELECT FROM_DAYS(729669);
                  -> '1997-10-07'

     `FROM_DAYS()' is not intended for use with values that precede the
     advent of the Gregorian calendar (1582), because it doesn't take
     into account the days that were lost when the calendar was changed.

`FROM_UNIXTIME(unix_timestamp)'
`FROM_UNIXTIME(unix_timestamp,format)'
     Returns a representation of the `unix_timestamp' argument as a
     value in `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' or `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' format,
     depending on whether the function is used in a string or numeric
     context:

          mysql> SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(875996580);
                  -> '1997-10-04 22:23:00'
          mysql> SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(875996580) + 0;
                  -> 19971004222300

     If `format' is given, the result is formatted according to the
     `format' string. `format' may contain the same specifiers as those
     listed in the entry for the `DATE_FORMAT()' function:

          mysql> SELECT FROM_UNIXTIME(UNIX_TIMESTAMP(),
              ->                      '%Y %D %M %h:%i:%s %x');
                  -> '2003 6th August 06:22:58 2003'

`GET_FORMAT(DATE | TIME | TIMESTAMP, 'EUR' | 'USA' | 'JIS' | 'ISO' | 'INTERNAL')'
     Returns a format string. This function is useful in combination
     with the `DATE_FORMAT()' and the `STR_TO_DATE()' functions.  The
     three possible values for the first argument and the five possible
     values for the second argument result in 15 possible format
     strings (for the specifiers used, see the table in the
     `DATE_FORMAT()' function description):
     *Function call*                    *Result*
     `GET_FORMAT(DATE,'USA')'           `'%m.%d.%Y''
     `GET_FORMAT(DATE,'JIS')'           `'%Y-%m-%d''
     `GET_FORMAT(DATE,'ISO')'           `'%Y-%m-%d''
     `GET_FORMAT(DATE,'EUR')'           `'%d.%m.%Y''
     `GET_FORMAT(DATE,'INTERNAL')'      `'%Y%m%d''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIMESTAMP,'USA')'      `'%Y-%m-%d-%H.%i.%s''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIMESTAMP,'JIS')'      `'%Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIMESTAMP,'ISO')'      `'%Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIMESTAMP,'EUR')'      `'%Y-%m-%d-%H.%i.%s''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIMESTAMP,'INTERNAL')' `'%Y%m%d%H%i%s''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIME,'USA')'           `'%h:%i:%s %p''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIME,'JIS')'           `'%H:%i:%s''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIME,'ISO')'           `'%H:%i:%s''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIME,'EUR')'           `'%H.%i.%S''
     `GET_FORMAT(TIME,'INTERNAL')'      `'%H%i%s''
     ISO format is ISO 9075, not ISO 8601.
          mysql> SELECT DATE_FORMAT('2003-10-03', GET_FORMAT(DATE, 'EUR')
                  -> '03.10.2003'
          mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('10.31.2003', GET_FORMAT(DATE, 'USA'))
                  -> 2003-10-31
     `GET_FORMAT()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.  See *Note SET
     OPTION::.

`HOUR(time)'
     Returns the hour for `time'. The range of the return value will be
     `0' to `23' for time-of-day values:

          mysql> SELECT HOUR('10:05:03');
                  -> 10

     However, the range of `TIME' values actually is much larger, so
     `HOUR' can return values greater than `23':

          mysql> SELECT HOUR('272:59:59');
                  -> 272

`LAST_DAY(date)'
     Takes a date or datetime value and returns the corresponding value
     for the last day of the month.  Returns `NULL' if the argument is
     invalid.

          mysql> SELECT LAST_DAY('2003-02-05'), LAST_DAY('2004-02-05');
                  -> '2003-02-28', '2004-02-29'
          mysql> SELECT LAST_DAY('2004-01-01 01:01:01');
                  -> '2004-01-31'
          mysql> SELECT LAST_DAY('2003-03-32');
                  -> NULL

     `LAST_DAY()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`LOCALTIME'
`LOCALTIME()'
     `LOCALTIME' and `LOCALTIME()' are synonyms for `NOW()'.

`LOCALTIMESTAMP'
`LOCALTIMESTAMP()'
     `LOCALTIMESTAMP' and `LOCALTIMESTAMP()' are synonyms for `NOW()'.

`MAKEDATE(year,dayofyear)'
     Returns a date, given year and day-of-year values.  `dayofyear'
     must be greater than 0 or the result will `NULL'.

          mysql> SELECT MAKEDATE(2001,31), MAKEDATE(2001,32);
                  -> '2001-01-31', '2001-02-01'
          mysql> SELECT MAKEDATE(2001,365), MAKEDATE(2004,365);
                  -> '2001-12-31', '2004-12-30'
          mysql> SELECT MAKEDATE(2001,0);
                  -> NULL

     `MAKEDATE()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`MAKETIME(hour,minute,second)'
     Returns a time value calculated from the `hour', `minute', and
     `second' arguments.

          mysql> SELECT MAKETIME(12,15,30);
                  -> '12:15:30'

     `MAKETIME()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`MICROSECOND(expr)'
     Returns the microseconds from the time or datetime expression
     `expr' as a number in the range from `0' to `999999'.

          mysql> SELECT MICROSECOND('12:00:00.123456');
                  -> 123456
          mysql> SELECT MICROSECOND('1997-12-31 23:59:59.000010');
                  -> 10

     `MICROSECOND()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`MINUTE(time)'
     Returns the minute for `time', in the range `0' to `59':

          mysql> SELECT MINUTE('98-02-03 10:05:03');
                  -> 5

`MONTH(date)'
     Returns the month for `date', in the range `1' to `12':

          mysql> SELECT MONTH('1998-02-03');
                  -> 2

`MONTHNAME(date)'
     Returns the name of the month for `date':

          mysql> SELECT MONTHNAME('1998-02-05');
                  -> 'February'

`NOW()'
     Returns the current date and time as a value in `'YYYY-MM-DD
     HH:MM:SS'' or `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' format, depending on whether the
     function is used in a string or numeric context:

          mysql> SELECT NOW();
                  -> '1997-12-15 23:50:26'
          mysql> SELECT NOW() + 0;
                  -> 19971215235026

`PERIOD_ADD(P,N)'
     Adds `N' months to period `P' (in the format `YYMM' or `YYYYMM').
     Returns a value in the format `YYYYMM'.

     Note that the period argument `P' is *not* a date value:

          mysql> SELECT PERIOD_ADD(9801,2);
                  -> 199803

`PERIOD_DIFF(P1,P2)'
     Returns the number of months between periods `P1' and `P2'.  `P1'
     and `P2' should be in the format `YYMM' or `YYYYMM'.

     Note that the period arguments `P1' and `P2' are *not* date values:

          mysql> SELECT PERIOD_DIFF(9802,199703);
                  -> 11

`QUARTER(date)'
     Returns the quarter of the year for `date', in the range `1' to
     `4':

          mysql> SELECT QUARTER('98-04-01');
                  -> 2

`SECOND(time)'
     Returns the second for `time', in the range `0' to `59':

          mysql> SELECT SECOND('10:05:03');
                  -> 3

`SEC_TO_TIME(seconds)'
     Returns the `seconds' argument, converted to hours, minutes, and
     seconds, as a value in `'HH:MM:SS'' or `HHMMSS' format, depending
     on whether the function is used in a string or numeric context:

          mysql> SELECT SEC_TO_TIME(2378);
                  -> '00:39:38'
          mysql> SELECT SEC_TO_TIME(2378) + 0;
                  -> 3938

`STR_TO_DATE(str,format)'
     This is the reverse function of the `DATE_FORMAT()' function. It
     takes a string `str', and a format string `format', and returns a
     DATETIME value.  The date, time, or datetime values contained in
     `str' should be given in the format indicated by `format'. For the
     specifiers that can be used in `format', see the table in the
     `DATE_FORMAT()' function description. All other characters are
     just taken verbatim, thus not being interpreted.  If `str'
     contains an illegal date, time, or datetime value, `STR_TO_DATE()'
     returns `NULL'.
          mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('03.10.2003 09.20', '%d.%m.%Y %H.%i')
                  -> 2003-10-03 09:20:00
          mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('10rap', '%crap')
                  -> 0000-10-00 00:00:00
          mysql> SELECT STR_TO_DATE('2003-15-10 00:00:00', '%Y-%m-%d %H:%i:%s')
                  -> NULL
     `STR_TO_DATE()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`SUBDATE(date,INTERVAL expr type)'
`SUBDATE(expr,days)'
     When invoked with the `INTERVAL' form of the second argument,
     `SUBDATE()' is a synonym for `DATE_SUB()'.

          mysql> SELECT DATE_SUB('1998-01-02', INTERVAL 31 DAY);
                  -> '1997-12-02'
          mysql> SELECT SUBDATE('1998-01-02', INTERVAL 31 DAY);
                  -> '1997-12-02'

     As of MySQL 4.1.1, the second syntax is allowed, where `expr' is a
     date or datetime expression and `days' is the number of days to be
     subtracted from `expr'.

          mysql> SELECT SUBDATE('1998-01-02 12:00:00', 31);
                  -> '1997-12-02 12:00:00'

`SUBTIME(expr,expr2)'
     `SUBTIME()' subtracts `expr2' from `expr' and returns the result.
     `expr' is a date or datetime expression, and `expr2' is a time
     expression.

          mysql> SELECT SUBTIME("1997-12-31 23:59:59.999999", "1 1:1:1.000002");
                  -> '1997-12-30 22:58:58.999997'
          mysql> SELECT SUBTIME("01:00:00.999999", "02:00:00.999998");
                  -> '-00:59:59.999999'

     `SUBTIME()' was added in MySQL 4.1.1.

`SYSDATE()'
     `SYSDATE()' is a synonym for `NOW()'.

`TIME(expr)'
     Extracts the time part of the time or datetime expression `expr'.

          mysql> SELECT TIME('2003-12-31 01:02:03');
                  -> '01:02:03'
          mysql> SELECT TIME('2003-12-31 01:02:03.000123');
                  -> '01:02:03.000123'

     `TIME()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`TIMEDIFF(expr,expr2)'
     `TIMEDIFF()' returns the time between the start time `expr' and
     the end time `expr2'.  `expr' and `expr2' are time or
     date-and-time expressions, but both must be of the same type.

          mysql> SELECT TIMEDIFF('2000:01:01 00:00:00', '2000:01:01 00:00:00.000001');
                  -> '-00:00:00.000001'
          mysql> SELECT TIMEDIFF('1997-12-31 23:59:59.000001','1997-12-30 01:01:01.000002');
                  -> '46:58:57.999999'

     `TIMEDIFF()' was added in MySQL 4.1.1.

`TIMESTAMP(expr)'
`TIMESTAMP(expr,expr2)'
     With one argument, returns the date or datetime expression `expr'
     as a datetime value.  With two arguments, adds the time expression
     `expr2' to the date or datetime expression `expr' and returns a
     datetime value.

          mysql> SELECT TIMESTAMP('2003-12-31');
                  -> '2003-12-31 00:00:00'
          mysql> SELECT TIMESTAMP('2003-12-31 12:00:00','12:00:00');
                  -> '2004-01-01 00:00:00'

     `TIMESTAMP()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`TIMESTAMPADD(interval,int_expr,datetime_expr)'
     Adds the integer expression `int_expr' to the date or datetime
     expression `datetime_expr'. The unit for `int_expr' is given by the
     `interval' argument, which should be one of the following values:
     `FRAC_SECOND', `SECOND', `MINUTE', `HOUR', `DAY', `WEEK', `MONTH',
     `QUARTER', or `YEAR'.

     The `interval' value may be specified using one of keywords as
     shown, or with a prefix of `SQL_TSI_'. For example, `DAY' or
     `SQL_TSI_DAY' both are legal.

          mysql> SELECT TIMESTAMPADD(MINUTE,1,'2003-01-02');
                  -> '2003-01-02 00:01:00'
          mysql> SELECT TIMESTAMPADD(WEEK,1,'2003-01-02');
                  -> '2003-01-09'

     `TIMESTAMPADD()' is available as of MySQL 5.0.0.

`TIMESTAMPDIFF(interval,datetime_expr1,datetime_expr2)'
     Returns the integer difference between the date or datetime
     expressions `datetime_expr1' and `datetime_expr2'. The unit for
     the result is given by the `interval' argument. The legal values
     for `interval' are the same as those described in the desription
     of the `TIMESTAMPADD()' function.

          mysql> SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(MONTH,'2003-02-01','2003-05-01');
                  -> 3
          mysql> SELECT TIMESTAMPDIFF(YEAR,'2002-05-01','2001-01-01');
                  -> -1

     `TIMESTAMPDIFF()' is available as of MySQL 5.0.0.

`TIME_FORMAT(time,format)'
     This is used like the `DATE_FORMAT()' function, but the `format'
     string may contain only those format specifiers that handle hours,
     minutes, and seconds.  Other specifiers produce a `NULL' value or
     `0'.

     If the `time' value contains an hour part that is greater than
     `23', the `%H' and `%k' hour format specifiers produce a value
     larger than the usual range of `0..23'. The other hour format
     specifiers produce the hour value modulo 12:

          mysql> SELECT TIME_FORMAT('100:00:00', '%H %k %h %I %l');
                  -> '100 100 04 04 4'

`TIME_TO_SEC(time)'
     Returns the `time' argument, converted to seconds:

          mysql> SELECT TIME_TO_SEC('22:23:00');
                  -> 80580
          mysql> SELECT TIME_TO_SEC('00:39:38');
                  -> 2378

`TO_DAYS(date)'
     Given a date `date', returns a daynumber (the number of days since
     year 0):

          mysql> SELECT TO_DAYS(950501);
                  -> 728779
          mysql> SELECT TO_DAYS('1997-10-07');
                  -> 729669

     `TO_DAYS()' is not intended for use with values that precede the
     advent of the Gregorian calendar (1582), because it doesn't take
     into account the days that were lost when the calendar was changed.

`UNIX_TIMESTAMP()'
`UNIX_TIMESTAMP(date)'
     If called with no argument, returns a Unix timestamp (seconds since
     `'1970-01-01 00:00:00'' GMT) as an unsigned integer. If
     `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()' is called with a `date' argument, it returns
     the value of the argument as seconds since `'1970-01-01 00:00:00''
     GMT.  `date' may be a `DATE' string, a `DATETIME' string, a
     `TIMESTAMP', or a number in the format `YYMMDD' or `YYYYMMDD' in
     local time:

          mysql> SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP();
                  -> 882226357
          mysql> SELECT UNIX_TIMESTAMP('1997-10-04 22:23:00');
                  -> 875996580

     When `UNIX_TIMESTAMP' is used on a `TIMESTAMP' column, the function
     returns the internal timestamp value directly, with no implicit
     "string-to-Unix-timestamp" conversion.  If you pass an
     out-of-range date to `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()', it returns `0', but
     please note that only basic checking is performed (year 1970-2037,
     month 01-12, day 01-31).

     If you want to subtract `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()' columns, you might want
     to cast the result to signed integers. *Note Cast Functions::.

`UTC_DATE'
`UTC_DATE()'
     Returns the current UTC date as a value in `'YYYY-MM-DD'' or
     `YYYYMMDD' format, depending on whether the function is used in a
     string or numeric context:

          mysql> SELECT UTC_DATE(), UTC_DATE() + 0;
                  -> '2003-08-14', 20030814

     `UTC_DATE()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`UTC_TIME'
`UTC_TIME()'
     Returns the current UTC time as a value in `'HH:MM:SS'' or `HHMMSS'
     format, depending on whether the function is used in a string or
     numeric context:

          mysql> SELECT UTC_TIME(), UTC_TIME() + 0;
                  -> '18:07:53', 180753

     `UTC_TIME()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`UTC_TIMESTAMP'
`UTC_TIMESTAMP()'
     Returns the current UTC date and time as a value in `'YYYY-MM-DD
     HH:MM:SS'' or `YYYYMMDDHHMMSS' format, depending on whether the
     function is used in a string or numeric context:

          mysql> SELECT UTC_TIMESTAMP(), UTC_TIMESTAMP() + 0;
                  -> '2003-08-14 18:08:04', 20030814180804

     `UTC_TIMESTAMP()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`WEEK(date [,mode])'
     The function returns the week number for `date'.  The two-argument
     form of `WEEK()' allows you to specify whether the week starts on
     Sunday or Monday and whether the return value should be in the
     range 0-53 or 1-52. When `mode' argument is omitted the value of a
     `default_week_format' server variable (or 0 in MySQL 4.0 or
     earlier) is assumed. *Note SET OPTION::.

     The following table demonstrates how the `mode' argument works:

     *Value* *Meaning*
     0       Week starts on Sunday; return value range is 0 to 53;
             week 1 is the first week that starts in this year
     1       Week starts on Monday; return value range is 0 to 53;
             week 1 is the first week that has more than 3 days in
             this year
     2       Week starts on Sunday; return value range is 1 to 53;
             week 1 is the first week that starts in this year
     3       Week starts on Monday; return value range is 1 to 53;
             week 1 is the first week that has more than 3 days in
             this year
     4       Week starts on Sunday; return value range is 0 to 53;
             week 1 is the first week that has more than 3 days in
             this year
     5       Week starts on Monday; return value range is 0 to 53;
             week 1 is the first week that starts in this year
     6       Week starts on Sunday; return value range is 1 to 53;
             week 1 is the first week that has more than 3 days in
             this year
     7       Week starts on Monday; return value range is 1 to 53;
             week 1 is the first week that starts in this year

     The `mode' value of 3 can be used as of MySQL 4.0.5.  The `mode'
     value of 4 and above can be used as of MySQL 4.0.17.

          mysql> SELECT WEEK('1998-02-20');
                  -> 7
          mysql> SELECT WEEK('1998-02-20',0);
                  -> 7
          mysql> SELECT WEEK('1998-02-20',1);
                  -> 8
          mysql> SELECT WEEK('1998-12-31',1);
                  -> 53

     Note: In Version 4.0, `WEEK(date,0)' was changed to match the
     calendar in the USA.  Before that, `WEEK()' was calculated
     incorrectly for dates in USA. (In effect, `WEEK(date)' and
     `WEEK(date,0)' was incorrect for all cases.)

     Note that if a date falls in the last week of the previous year,
     MySQL will return 0 if you don't use 2, 3, 6, or 7 as the optional
     `mode' argument:

          mysql> SELECT YEAR('2000-01-01'), WEEK('2000-01-01',0);
                  -> 2000, 0

     One might argue that MySQL should return 52 for the `WEEK()'
     function, because the given date actually occurs in the 52nd week
     of 1999.  We decided to return 0 instead as we want the function
     to return "the week number in the given year."  This makes the
     usage of the `WEEK()' function reliable when combined with other
     functions that extract a date part from a date.

     If you would prefer the result to be evaluated with respect to the
     year that contains the first day of the week for the given date,
     you should use 2, 3, 6, or 7 as the optional `mode' argument.

          mysql> SELECT WEEK('2000-01-01',2);
                  -> 52

     Alternatively, use the `YEARWEEK()' function:

          mysql> SELECT YEARWEEK('2000-01-01');
                  -> 199952
          mysql> SELECT MID(YEARWEEK('2000-01-01'),5,2);
                  -> '52'

`WEEKDAY(date)'
     Returns the weekday index for `date' (`0' = Monday, `1' = Tuesday,
     ... `6' = Sunday):

          mysql> SELECT WEEKDAY('1998-02-03 22:23:00');
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT WEEKDAY('1997-11-05');
                  -> 2

`WEEKOFYEAR(date)'
     Returns the calendar week of the date as a number in the range
     from `1' to `53'.

          mysql> SELECT WEEKOFYEAR('1998-02-20');
                  -> 8

     `WEEKOFYEAR()' is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`YEAR(date)'
     Returns the year for `date', in the range `1000' to `9999':

          mysql> SELECT YEAR('98-02-03');
                  -> 1998

`YEARWEEK(date)'
`YEARWEEK(date,start)'
     Returns year and week for a date.  The `start' argument works
     exactly like the `start' argument to `WEEK()'.  Note that the year
     in the result may be different from the year in the date argument
     for the first and the last week of the year:

          mysql> SELECT YEARWEEK('1987-01-01');
                  -> 198653

     Note that the week number is different from what the `WEEK()'
     function would return (`0') for optional arguments `0' or `1', as
     `WEEK()' then returns the week in the context of the given year.

Cast Functions
==============

The `CAST()' and `CONVERT()' functions may be used to take a value of
one type and produce a value of another type.  Their syntax is:

     CAST(expression AS type)
     CONVERT(expression,type)
     CONVERT(expr USING transcoding_name)

The `type' value can be one of the following:
   * `BINARY'

   * `CHAR'

   * `DATE'

   * `DATETIME'

   * `SIGNED {INTEGER}'

   * `TIME'

   * `UNSIGNED {INTEGER}'

`CAST()' and `CONVERT()' are available as of MySQL 4.0.2.  The `CHAR'
conversion type is available as of 4.0.6.  The `USING' form of
`CONVERT()' is available as of 4.1.0.

`CAST()' and `CONVERT(... USING ...)' are SQL-99 syntax.  The
non-`USING' form of `CONVERT()' is ODBC syntax.

The cast functions are useful when you want to create a column with a
specific type in a `CREATE ... SELECT' statement:

     CREATE TABLE new_table SELECT CAST('2000-01-01' AS DATE);

The functions also can be useful for sorting `ENUM' columns in lexical
order. Normally sorting of `ENUM' columns occurs using the internal
numeric values. Casting the values to `CHAR' results in a lexical sort:

     SELECT enum_col FROM tbl_name ORDER BY CAST(enum_col AS CHAR);

`CAST(string AS BINARY)' is the same thing as `BINARY string'.
`CAST(expr AS CHAR)' treats the expression as a string with the default
character set.

*NOTE*: In MysQL 4.0 the `CAST()' to `DATE', `DATETIME', or `TIME' only
marks the column to be a specific type but doesn't change the value of
the column.

In MySQL 4.1.0 the value is converted to the correct column type when
it's sent to the user (this is a feature of how the new protocol in 4.1
sends date information to the client):

     mysql> SELECT CAST(NOW() AS DATE);
            -> 2003-05-26

In later MySQL versions (probably 4.1.2 or 5.0) we will fix that `CAST'
also changes the result if you use it as part of a more complex
expression, like `CONCAT("Date: ",CAST(NOW() AS DATE))'.

You should not use `CAST()' to extract data in different formats but
instead use string functions like `LEFT' or `EXTRACT()'. *Note Date and
time functions::.

To cast a string to a numeric value, you don't normally have to do
anything; just use the string value as it would be a number:

     mysql> SELECT 1+'1';
            -> 2

If you use a number in string context, the number automatically will be
converted to a `BINARY' string.

     mysql> SELECT CONCAT("hello you ",2);
            ->  "hello you 2"

MySQL supports arithmetic with both signed and unsigned 64-bit values.
If you are using numerical operations (like `+') and one of the
operands is `unsigned integer', the result will be unsigned.  You can
override this by using the `SIGNED' and `UNSIGNED' cast operators to
cast the operation to a signed or unsigned 64-bit integer, respectively.

     mysql> SELECT CAST(1-2 AS UNSIGNED)
             -> 18446744073709551615
     mysql> SELECT CAST(CAST(1-2 AS UNSIGNED) AS SIGNED);
             -> -1

Note that if either operand is a floating-point value, the result is a
floating-point value and is not affected by the above rule.  (In this
context, `DECIMAL' values are regarded as floating-point values.)

     mysql> SELECT CAST(1 AS UNSIGNED) - 2.0;
             -> -1.0

If you are using a string in an arithmetic operation, this is converted
to a floating-point number.

The handing of unsigned values was changed in MySQL 4.0 to be able to
support `BIGINT' values properly. If you have some code that you want
to run in both MySQL 4.0 and 3.23 (in which case you probably can't use
the `CAST()' function), you can use the following technique to get a
signed result when subtracting two unsigned integer columns:

     SELECT (unsigned_column_1+0.0)-(unsigned_column_2+0.0);

The idea is that the columns are converted to floating-point values
before the subtraction occurs.

If you get a problem with `UNSIGNED' columns in your old MySQL
application when porting to MySQL 4.0, you can use the
`--sql-mode=NO_UNSIGNED_SUBTRACTION' option when starting `mysqld'.
Note however that as long as you use this, you will not be able to make
efficient use of the `BIGINT UNSIGNED' column type.

`CONVERT()' with `USING' is used to convert data between different
character sets.  In MySQL, transcoding names are the same as the
corresponding character set names.  For example, this statement converts
the string `'abc'' in the server's default character set to the
corresponding string in the `utf8' character set:

     SELECT CONVERT('abc' USING utf8);

Other Functions
===============

Bit Functions
-------------

MySQL uses `BIGINT' (64-bit) arithmetic for bit operations, so these
operators have a maximum range of 64 bits.

`|'
     Bitwise OR
          mysql> SELECT 29 | 15;
                  -> 31

     The result is an unsigned 64-bit integer.

`&'
     Bitwise AND
          mysql> SELECT 29 & 15;
                  -> 13

     The result is an unsigned 64-bit integer.

`^'
     Bitwise XOR
          mysql> SELECT 1 ^ 1;
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT 1 ^ 0;
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT 11 ^ 3;
                  -> 8

     The result is an unsigned 64-bit integer.

     `XOR' was added in version 4.0.2.

`<<'
     Shifts a longlong (`BIGINT') number to the left:
          mysql> SELECT 1 << 2;
                  -> 4

     The result is an unsigned 64-bit integer.

`>>'
     Shifts a longlong (`BIGINT') number to the right:
          mysql> SELECT 4 >> 2;
                  -> 1

     The result is an unsigned 64-bit integer.

`~'
     Invert all bits:
          mysql> SELECT 5 & ~1;
                  -> 4

     The result is an unsigned 64-bit integer.

`BIT_COUNT(N)'
     Returns the number of bits that are set in the argument `N':
          mysql> SELECT BIT_COUNT(29);
                  -> 4

Encryption Functions
--------------------

`AES_ENCRYPT(string,key_string)'
`AES_DECRYPT(string,key_string)'
     These functions allow encryption/decryption of data using the
     official AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithm, previously
     known as Rijndael.  Encoding with a 128-bit key length is used,
     but you can extend it up to 256 bits by modifying the source. We
     chose 128 bits because it is much faster and it is usually secure
     enough.

     The input arguments may be any length. If either argument is
     `NULL', the result of this function is also `NULL'.

     Because AES is a block-level algorithm, padding is used to encode
     uneven length strings and so the result string length may be
     calculated as 16*(trunc(string_length/16)+1).

     If `AES_DECRYPT()' detects invalid data or incorrect padding, it
     returns `NULL'. However, it is possible for `AES_DECRYPT()' to
     return a non-`NULL' value (possibly garbage) if the input data or
     the key is invalid.

     You can use the AES functions to store data in an encrypted form by
     modifying your queries:

          INSERT INTO t VALUES (1,AES_ENCRYPT('text','password'));

     You can get even more security by not transferring the key over the
     connection for each query, which can be accomplished by storing it
     in a server-side variable at connection time. For example:
          SELECT @password:='my password';
          INSERT INTO t VALUES (1,AES_ENCRYPT('text',@password));

     `AES_ENCRYPT()' and `AES_DECRYPT()' were added in version 4.0.2,
     and can be considered the most cryptographically secure encryption
     functions currently available in MySQL.

`DECODE(crypt_str,pass_str)'
     Descrypts the encrypted string `crypt_str' using `pass_str' as the
     password.  `crypt_str' should be a string returned from `ENCODE()'.

`ENCODE(str,pass_str)'
     Encrypt `str' using `pass_str' as the password.  To decrypt the
     result, use `DECODE()'.

     The result is a binary string of the same length as `string'.  If
     you want to save it in a column, use a `BLOB' column type.

`DES_DECRYPT(string_to_decrypt [, key_string])'
     Decrypts a string encrypted with `DES_ENCRYPT()'.

     Note that this function works only if MySQL has been configured
     with SSL support. *Note Secure connections::.

     If no `key_string' argument is given, `DES_DECRYPT()' examines the
     first byte of the encrypted string to determine the DES key number
     that was used to encrypt the original string, and then reads the
     key from the `des-key-file' to decrypt the message.  For this to
     work, the user must have the `SUPER' privilege.

     If you pass this function a `key_string' argument, that string is
     used as the key for decrypting the message.

     If the `string_to_decrypt' doesn't look like an encrypted string,
     MySQL will return the given `string_to_decrypt'.

     On error, this function returns `NULL'.

`DES_ENCRYPT(string_to_encrypt [, (key_number | key_string) ] )'
     Encrypts the string with the given key using the Triple-DES
     algorithm.

     Note that this function works only if MySQL has been configured
     with SSL support. *Note Secure connections::.

     The encryption key to use is chosen the following way:

     *Argument*        *Description*
     Only one           The first key from `des-key-file' is used.
     argument          
     key number         The given key (0-9) from the
                       `des-key-file' is used.
     string             The given `key_string' will be used to
                       crypt `string_to_encrypt'.

     The return string will be a binary string where the first character
     will be `CHAR(128 | key_number)'.

     The 128 is added to make it easier to recognize an encrypted key.
     If you use a string key, `key_number' will be 127.

     On error, this function returns `NULL'.

     The string length for the result will be `new_length= org_length +
     (8-(org_length % 8))+1'.

     The `des-key-file' has the following format:

          key_number des_key_string
          key_number des_key_string

     Each `key_number' must be a number in the range from 0 to 9.
     Lines in the file may be in any order.  `des_key_string' is the
     string that will be used to encrypt the message.  Between the
     number and the key there should be at least one space.  The first
     key is the default key that will be used if you don't specify any
     key argument to `DES_ENCRYPT()'

     You can tell MySQL to read new key values from the key file with
     the `FLUSH DES_KEY_FILE' command.  This requires the `Reload_priv'
     privilege.

     One benefit of having a set of default keys is that it gives
     applications a way to check for the existence of encrypted column
     values, without giving the end user the right to decrypt those
     values.

          mysql> SELECT customer_address FROM customer_table WHERE
                 crypted_credit_card = DES_ENCRYPT("credit_card_number");

`ENCRYPT(str[,salt])'
     Encrypt `str' using the Unix `crypt()' system call. The `salt'
     argument should be a string with two characters.  (As of MySQL
     Version 3.22.16, `salt' may be longer than two characters.)

          mysql> SELECT ENCRYPT("hello");
                  -> 'VxuFAJXVARROc'

     `ENCRYPT()' ignores all but the first 8 characters of `str', at
     least on some systems.  This behavior is determined by the
     implementation of the underlying `crypt()' system call.

     If `crypt()' is not available on your system, `ENCRYPT()' always
     returns `NULL'.  Because of this we recommend that you use `MD5()'
     or `SHA1()' instead; these two functions exist on all platforms.

`MD5(string)'
     Calculates an MD5 128-bit checksum for the string. The value is
     returned as a 32-digit hex number that may, for example, be used
     as a hash key:

          mysql> SELECT MD5("testing");
                  -> 'ae2b1fca515949e5d54fb22b8ed95575'

     This is the "RSA Data Security, Inc. MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm".

`PASSWORD(str)'
`OLD_PASSWORD(str)'
     Calculates a password string from the plaintext password `str'.
     This is the function that is used for encrypting MySQL passwords
     for storage in the `Password' column of the `user' grant table:

          mysql> SELECT PASSWORD('badpwd');
                  -> '7f84554057dd964b'

     `PASSWORD()' encryption is irreversible.

     `PASSWORD()' does not perform password encryption in the same way
     that Unix passwords are encrypted. See `ENCRYPT()'.

     *Note:* The `PASSWORD()' function is used by the authentication
     system in MySQL Server, you should *NOT* use it in your own
     applications.  For that purpose, use `MD5()' or `SHA1()' instead.
     Also see `RFC-2195' for more information about handling passwords
     and authentication securely in your application.

`SHA1(string)'
`SHA(string)'
     Calculates an SHA1 160-bit checksum for the string, as described in
     RFC 3174 (Secure Hash Algorithm). The value is returned as a
     40-digit hex number, or `NULL' in case the input argument was
     `NULL'.  One of the possible uses for this function is as a hash
     key. You can also use it as cryptographically safe function for
     storing passwords.

          mysql> SELECT SHA1("abc");
                  -> 'a9993e364706816aba3e25717850c26c9cd0d89d'

     `SHA1()' was added in version 4.0.2, and can be considered a
     cryptographically more secure equivalent of `MD5()'.  `SHA()' is
     synonym for `SHA1()'.

Information Functions
---------------------

`BENCHMARK(count,expr)'
     The `BENCHMARK()' function executes the expression `expr'
     repeatedly `count' times.  It may be used to time how fast MySQL
     processes the expression.  The result value is always `0'.  The
     intended use is in the `mysql' client, which reports query
     execution times:

          mysql> SELECT BENCHMARK(1000000,ENCODE("hello","goodbye"));
          +----------------------------------------------+
          | BENCHMARK(1000000,ENCODE("hello","goodbye")) |
          +----------------------------------------------+
          |                                            0 |
          +----------------------------------------------+
          1 row in set (4.74 sec)

     The time reported is elapsed time on the client end, not CPU time
     on the server end.  It may be advisable to execute `BENCHMARK()'
     several times, and interpret the result with regard to how heavily
     loaded the server machine is.

`CHARSET(str)'
     Returns the character set of the string argument.

          mysql> SELECT CHARSET(_utf8'abc');
                  -> 'utf8'

     `CHARSET()' was added in version 4.1.0.

`COERCIBILITY(str)'
     Returns the collation coercibility value of the string argument.

          mysql> SELECT COERCIBILITY('abc' COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci);
                  -> 0
          mysql> SELECT COERCIBILITY('abc');
                  -> 3
          mysql> SELECT COERCIBILITY(USER());
                  -> 2

     The return values have the following meanings:

     `0'        Explicit collation
     `1'        No collation
     `2'        Implicit collation
     `3'        Coercible

     Lower values have higher precedence.

     `COERCIBILITY()' was added in version 4.1.1.

`COLLATION(str)'
     Returns the collation for the character set of the string argument.

          mysql> SELECT COLLATION('abc');
                  -> 'latin1_swedish_ci'
          mysql> SELECT COLLATION(_utf8'abc');
                  -> 'utf8_general_ci'

     `COLLATION()' was added in version 4.1.0.

`CONNECTION_ID()'
     Returns the connection ID (thread ID) for the connection.  Every
     connection has its own unique ID:

          mysql> SELECT CONNECTION_ID();
                  -> 23786

`CURRENT_USER()'
     Returns the username and hostname that the current session was
     authenticated as. This value corresponds to the account that is
     used for assessing your access privileges. It may be different
     than the value of `USER()'.

          mysql> SELECT USER();
                  -> 'davida@localhost'
          mysql> SELECT * FROM mysql.user;
                  -> ERROR 1044: Access denied for user: '@localhost' to database 'mysql'
          mysql> SELECT CURRENT_USER();
                  -> '@localhost'

     The example illustrates that although the client specified a
     username of `davida' (as indicated by the value of the `USER()'
     function), the server authenticated the client using an anonymous
     user account (as seen by the empty username part of the
     `CURRENT_USER()' value). One way this might occur is that there is
     no account listed in the grant tables for `davida'.

`DATABASE()'
     Returns the current database name:

          mysql> SELECT DATABASE();
                  -> 'test'

     If there is no current database, `DATABASE()' returns `NULL' as of
     MySQL 4.1.1, and the empty string before that.

`FOUND_ROWS()'
     A `SELECT' statement may include a `LIMIT' clause to restrict the
     number of rows the server returns to the client.  In some cases,
     it is desirable to know how many rows the statement would have
     returned without the `LIMIT', but without running the statement
     again.  To get this row count, include a `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS'
     option in the `SELECT' statement, then invoke `FOUND_ROWS()'
     afterward:

          mysql> SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS * FROM tbl_name
                 WHERE id > 100 LIMIT 10;
          mysql> SELECT FOUND_ROWS();

     The second `SELECT' will return a number indicating how many rows
     the first `SELECT' would have returned had it been written without
     the `LIMIT' clause.  (If the preceding `SELECT' statement does not
     include the `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' option, then `FOUND_ROWS()' may
     return a different result when `LIMIT' is used than when it is
     not.)

     Note that if you are using `SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS ...' MySQL
     has to calculate how many rows are in the full result set.
     However, this is faster than running the query again without
     `LIMIT', because the result set need not be sent to the client.

     `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' and `FOUND_ROWS()' can be useful in
     situations when you want to restrict the number of rows that a
     query returns, but also determine the number of rows in the full
     result set without running the query again. An example is a web
     script that presents a paged display containing links to the pages
     that show other sections of a search result. Using `FOUND_ROWS()'
     allows you to determine how many other pages are needed for the
     rest of the result.

     The use of `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' and `FOUND_ROWS()' is more complex
     for `UNION' queries than for simple `SELECT' statements, because
     `LIMIT' may occur at multiple places in a `UNION'. It may be
     applied to individual `SELECT' statements in the `UNION', or
     global to the `UNION' result as a whole.

     The intent of `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' for `UNION' is that it should
     return the row count that would be returned without a global
     `LIMIT'.  The conditions for use of `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' with
     `UNION' are:

        * The `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' keyword must appear in the first
          `SELECT' of the `UNION'.

        * The value of `FOUND_ROWS()' is exact only if `UNION ALL' is
          used.  If `UNION' without `ALL' is used, duplicate removal
          occurs and the value of `FOUND_ROWS()' is only approximate.

        * If no `LIMIT' is present in the `UNION', `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS'
          is ignored and returns the number of rows in the temporary
          table that is created to process the `UNION'.


     `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' and `FOUND_ROWS()' are available starting at
     MySQL version 4.0.0.

`LAST_INSERT_ID([expr])'
     Returns the last automatically *generated* value that was inserted
     into an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column.

          mysql> SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();
                  -> 195

     The last ID that was generated is maintained in the server on a
     per-connection basis. This means the value the function returns to
     a given client is the most recent `AUTO_INCREMENT' value generated
     by that client. The value cannot be affected by other clients,
     even if they generate `AUTO_INCREMENT' values of their own. This
     behavior ensures that you can retrieve your own ID without concern
     for the activity of other clients, and without the need for locks
     or transactions.

     The value of `LAST_INSERT_ID()' is not changed if you update the
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' column of a row with a non-magic value (that is,
     a value that is not `NULL' and not `0').

     If you insert many rows at the same time with an insert statement,
     `LAST_INSERT_ID()' returns the value for the first inserted row.
     The reason for this is to make it possible to easily reproduce the
     same `INSERT' statement against some other server.

     If `expr' is given as an argument to `LAST_INSERT_ID()', then the
     value of the argument is returned by the function, and is set as
     the next value to be returned by `LAST_INSERT_ID()'.  This can be
     used to simulate sequences:

     First create the table:

          mysql> CREATE TABLE sequence (id INT NOT NULL);
          mysql> INSERT INTO sequence VALUES (0);

     Then the table can be used to generate sequence numbers like this:

          mysql> UPDATE sequence SET id=LAST_INSERT_ID(id+1);

     You can generate sequences without calling `LAST_INSERT_ID()', but
     the utility of using the function this way is that the ID value is
     maintained in the server as the last automatically generated value
     (multi-user safe).  You can retrieve the new ID as you would read
     any normal `AUTO_INCREMENT' value in MySQL. For example,
     `LAST_INSERT_ID()' (without an argument) will return the new ID.
     The C API function `mysql_insert_id()' can also be used to get the
     value.

     Note that `mysql_insert_id()' is only updated after `INSERT' and
     `UPDATE' statements, so you can't use the C API function to
     retrieve the value for `LAST_INSERT_ID(expr)' after executing other
     SQL statements like `SELECT' or `SET'.  *Note `mysql_insert_id()':
     mysql_insert_id.

`SESSION_USER()'
     `SESSION_USER()' is a synonym for `USER()'.

`SYSTEM_USER()'
     `SYSTEM_USER()' is a synonym for `USER()'.

`USER()'
     Returns the current MySQL username and hostname:

          mysql> SELECT USER();
                  -> 'davida@localhost'

     The value indicates the username you specified when connecting to
     the server, and the client host from which you connected.  (Prior
     to MySQL Version 3.22.11, the function value does not include the
     client hostname.)

     You can extract just the username part, regardless of whether the
     value includes a hostname part, like this:

          mysql> SELECT SUBSTRING_INDEX(USER(),'@',1);
                  -> 'davida'

`VERSION()'
     Returns a string indicating the MySQL server version:

          mysql> SELECT VERSION();
                  -> '3.23.13-log'

     Note that if your version ends with `-log' this means that logging
     is enabled.

Miscellaneous Functions
-----------------------

`FORMAT(X,D)'
     Formats the number `X' to a format like `'#,###,###.##'', rounded
     to `D' decimals, and returns the result as a string.  If `D' is
     `0', the result will have no decimal point or fractional part:

          mysql> SELECT FORMAT(12332.123456, 4);
                  -> '12,332.1235'
          mysql> SELECT FORMAT(12332.1,4);
                  -> '12,332.1000'
          mysql> SELECT FORMAT(12332.2,0);
                  -> '12,332'

`GET_LOCK(str,timeout)'
     Tries to obtain a lock with a name given by the string `str', with
     a timeout of `timeout' seconds.  Returns `1' if the lock was
     obtained successfully, `0' if the attempt timed out (for example,
     because another client has already locked the name), or `NULL' if
     an error occurred (such as running out of memory or the thread was
     killed with `mysqladmin kill').  A lock is released when you
     execute `RELEASE_LOCK()', execute a new `GET_LOCK()', or the thread
     terminates (either normally or abnormally).

     This function can be used to implement application locks or to
     simulate record locks.  Names are locked on a server-wide basis.
     If a name has been locked by one client, `GET_LOCK()' blocks any
     request by another client for a lock with the same name. This
     allows clients that agree on a given lock name to use the name to
     perform cooperative advisory locking:

          mysql> SELECT GET_LOCK('lock1',10);
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT IS_FREE_LOCK('lock2');
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT GET_LOCK('lock2',10);
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT RELEASE_LOCK('lock2');
                  -> 1
          mysql> SELECT RELEASE_LOCK('lock1');
                  -> NULL

     Note that the second `RELEASE_LOCK()' call returns `NULL' because
     the lock `'lock1'' was automatically released by the second
     `GET_LOCK()' call.

`INET_ATON(expr)'
     Given the dotted-quad representation of a network address as a
     string, returns an integer that represents the numeric value of
     the address.  Addresses may be 4 or 8 byte addresses:

          mysql> SELECT INET_ATON('209.207.224.40');
                 ->  3520061480

     The generated number is always in network byte order; for example
     the above number is calculated as `209*256^3 + 207*256^2 + 224*256
     +40'.

     As of MySQL 4.1.2, `INET_ATON()' also understands short-form IP
     addresses:

          mysql> SELECT INET_ATON('127.0.0.1'), INET_ATON('127.1');
                  -> 2130706433, 2130706433

`INET_NTOA(expr)'
     Given a numeric network address (4 or 8 byte), returns the
     dotted-quad representation of the address as a string:

          mysql> SELECT INET_NTOA(3520061480);
                 ->  "209.207.224.40"

`IS_FREE_LOCK(str)'
     Checks if the lock named `str' is free to use (that is, not
     locked).  Returns `1' if the lock is free (no one is using the
     lock), `0' if the lock is in use, and `NULL' on errors (such as
     incorrect arguments).

     `IS_FREE_LOCK()' was added in MySQL version 4.0.2.

`IS_USED_LOCK(str)'
     Checks if the lock named `str' is in use (that is, locked).  If
     so, it returns the connection identifier of the client that holds
     the lock.  Otherwise, it returns `NULL'.

     `IS_USED_LOCK()' was added in MySQL version 4.1.0.

`MASTER_POS_WAIT(log_name, log_pos [, timeout])'
     Blocks until the slave reaches (that is, has read and applied all
     updates up to) the specified position in the master log. If master
     information is not initialized, or if the arguments are incorrect,
     returns `NULL'. If the slave is not running, will block and wait
     until it is started and goes to or past the specified position. If
     the slave is already past the specified position, returns
     immediately.

     If `timeout' (new in 4.0.10) is specified, will give up waiting
     when `timeout' seconds have elapsed. `timeout' must be greater
     than 0; a zero or negative `timeout' means no timeout.  The return
     value is the number of log events it had to wait to get to the
     specified position, or `NULL' in case of error, or `-1' if the
     timeout has been exceeded.

     This command is useful for control of master/slave synchronization.

`RELEASE_LOCK(str)'
     Releases the lock named by the string `str' that was obtained with
     `GET_LOCK()'. Returns `1' if the lock was released, `0' if the
     lock wasn't locked by this thread (in which case the lock is not
     released), and `NULL' if the named lock didn't exist.  (The lock
     will not exist if it was never obtained by a call to `GET_LOCK()'
     or if it already has been released.)

     The `DO' statement is convenient to use with `RELEASE_LOCK()'.
     *Note DO::.

Functions and Modifiers for Use with `GROUP BY' Clauses
=======================================================

`GROUP BY' Functions
--------------------

If you use a group function in a statement containing no `GROUP BY'
clause, it is equivalent to grouping on all rows.

`AVG(expr)'
     Returns the average value of `expr':

          mysql> SELECT student_name, AVG(test_score)
              ->        FROM student
              ->        GROUP BY student_name;

`BIT_AND(expr)'
     Returns the bitwise `AND' of all bits in `expr'. The calculation is
     performed with 64-bit (`BIGINT') precision.

     As of MySQL 4.0.17, this function returns 18446744073709551615 if
     there were no matching rows.  (This is an unsigned `BIGINT' value
     with all bits set to 1.)  Before 4.0.17, the function returns -1
     if there were no matching rows.

`BIT_OR(expr)'
     Returns the bitwise `OR' of all bits in `expr'. The calculation is
     performed with 64-bit (`BIGINT') precision.

     This function returns 0 if there were no matching rows.

`BIT_XOR(expr)'
     Returns the bitwise `XOR' of all bits in `expr'. The calculation is
     performed with 64-bit (`BIGINT') precision.

     Function returns 0 if there were no matching rows.

     This function is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`COUNT(expr)'
     Returns a count of the number of non-`NULL' values in the rows
     retrieved by a `SELECT' statement:

          mysql> SELECT student.student_name,COUNT(*)
              ->        FROM student,course
              ->        WHERE student.student_id=course.student_id
              ->        GROUP BY student_name;

     `COUNT(*)' is somewhat different in that it returns a count of the
     number of rows retrieved, whether or not they contain `NULL'
     values.

     `COUNT(*)' is optimized to return very quickly if the `SELECT'
     retrieves from one table, no other columns are retrieved, and
     there is no `WHERE' clause.  For example:

          mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM student;

     This optimization applies only to `MyISAM' and `ISAM' tables only,
     because an exact record count is stored for these table types and
     can be accessed very quickly. For transactional storage engines
     (`InnodB', `BDB'), storing an exact row count is more problematic
     because multiple transactions may be occurring, each of which may
     affect the count.

`COUNT(DISTINCT expr,[expr...])'
     Returns a count of the number of different non-`NULL' values:

          mysql> SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT results) FROM student;

     In MySQL you can get the number of distinct expression
     combinations that don't contain NULL by giving a list of
     expressions.  In SQL-99 you would have to do a concatenation of
     all expressions inside `COUNT(DISTINCT ...)'.

`GROUP_CONCAT(expr)'
     Full syntax:
          GROUP_CONCAT([DISTINCT] expr [,expr ...]
                       [ORDER BY {unsigned_integer | col_name | formula} [ASC | DESC] [,col ...]]
                       [SEPARATOR str_val])
     This function was added in MySQL version 4.1.  It returns a string
     result with the concatenated values from a group:

          mysql> SELECT student_name,
              ->        GROUP_CONCAT(test_score)
              ->        FROM student
              ->        GROUP BY student_name;

     or:

          mysql> SELECT student_name,
              ->        GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT test_score
              ->                     ORDER BY test_score DESC SEPARATOR " ")
              ->        FROM student
              ->        GROUP BY student_name;

     In MySQL you can get the concatenated values of expression
     combinations.  You can eliminate duplicate values by using
     `DISTINCT'.  If you want to sort values in the result you should
     use `ORDER BY' clause.  To sort in reverse order, add the `DESC'
     (descending) keyword to the name of the column you are sorting by
     in the `ORDER BY' clause. The default is ascending order; this may
     be specified explicitly using the `ASC' keyword.  `SEPARATOR' is
     the string value which should be inserted between values of
     result. The default is a comma (`","'). You can remove the
     separator altogether by specifying `SEPARATOR ""'.

     You can set a maximum allowed length with the variable
     `group_concat_max_len' in your configuration.  The syntax to do
     this at runtime is:
          SET [SESSION | GLOBAL] group_concat_max_len = unsigned_integer;
     If a maximum length has been set, the result is truncated to this
     maximum length.

     The `GROUP_CONCAT()' function is an enhanced implementation of the
     basic `LIST()' function supported by Sybase SQL Anywhere.
     `GROUP_CONCAT()' is backward compatible with the extremely limited
     functionality of `LIST()', if only one column and no other options
     are specified. `LIST()' does have a default sorting order.

`MIN(expr)'
`MAX(expr)'
     Returns the minimum or maximum value of `expr'.  `MIN()' and
     `MAX()' may take a string argument; in such cases they return the
     minimum or maximum string value. *Note MySQL indexes::.

          mysql> SELECT student_name, MIN(test_score), MAX(test_score)
              ->        FROM student
              ->        GROUP BY student_name;

     In `MIN()', `MAX()' and other aggregate functions, MySQL currently
     compares `ENUM' and `SET' columns by their string value rather
     than by the string's relative position in the set.  This will be
     rectified.

`STD(expr)'
`STDDEV(expr)'
     Returns the standard deviation of `expr' (the square root of
     `VARIANCE()'. This is an extension to SQL-99. The `STDDEV()' form
     of this function is provided for Oracle compatibility.

`SUM(expr)'
     Returns the sum of `expr'.  Note that if the return set has no
     rows, it returns NULL!

`VARIANCE(expr)'
     Returns the standard variance of `expr' (considering rows as the
     whole population, not as a sample; so it has the number of rows as
     denominator). This is an extension to SQL-99 (available only in
     version 4.1 or later).

`GROUP BY' Modifiers
--------------------

As of MySQL 4.1.1, the `GROUP BY' clause allows a `WITH ROLLUP'
modifier that causes extra rows to be added to the summary output.
These rows represent higher-level (or super-aggregate) summary
operations. `ROLLUP' thus allows you to answer questions at multiple
levels of analysis with a single query. It can be used, for example, to
provide support for OLAP (Online Analytical Processing) operations.

As an illustration, suppose that a table named `sales' has `year',
`country', `product', and `profit' columns for recording sales
profitability:

     CREATE TABLE sales
     (
         year    INT NOT NULL,
         country VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
         product VARCHAR(32) NOT NULL,
         profit  INT
     );

The table's contents can be summarized per year with a simple `GROUP BY'
like this:

     mysql> SELECT year, SUM(profit) FROM sales GROUP BY year;
     +------+-------------+
     | year | SUM(profit) |
     +------+-------------+
     | 2000 |        4525 |
     | 2001 |        3010 |
     +------+-------------+

This output shows the total profit for each year, but if you also want
to determine the total profit summed over all years, you must add up
the individual values yourself or run an additional query.

Or you can use `ROLLUP', which provides both levels of analysis with a
single query.  Adding a `WITH ROLLUP' modifier to the `GROUP BY' clause
causes the query to produce another row that shows the grand total over
all year values:

     mysql> SELECT year, SUM(profit) FROM sales GROUP BY year WITH ROLLUP;
     +------+-------------+
     | year | SUM(profit) |
     +------+-------------+
     | 2000 |        4525 |
     | 2001 |        3010 |
     | NULL |        7535 |
     +------+-------------+

The grand total super-aggregate line is identified by the value `NULL'
in the `year' column.

`ROLLUP' has a more complex effect when there are multiple `GROUP BY'
columns. In this case, each time there is a "break" (change in value)
in any but the last grouping column, the query produces an extra
super-aggregate summary row.

For example, without `ROLLUP', a summary on the `sales' table based on
`year', `country', and `product' might look like this:

     mysql> SELECT year, country, product, SUM(profit)
         -> FROM sales
         -> GROUP BY year, country, product;
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+
     | year | country | product    | SUM(profit) |
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+
     | 2000 | Finland | Computer   |        1500 |
     | 2000 | Finland | Phone      |         100 |
     | 2000 | India   | Calculator |         150 |
     | 2000 | India   | Computer   |        1200 |
     | 2000 | USA     | Calculator |          75 |
     | 2000 | USA     | Computer   |        1500 |
     | 2001 | Finland | Phone      |          10 |
     | 2001 | USA     | Calculator |          50 |
     | 2001 | USA     | Computer   |        2700 |
     | 2001 | USA     | TV         |         250 |
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+

The output indicates summary values only at the year/country/product
level of analysis.  When `ROLLUP' is added, the query produces several
extra rows:

     mysql> SELECT year, country, product, SUM(profit)
         -> FROM sales
         -> GROUP BY year, country, product WITH ROLLUP;
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+
     | year | country | product    | SUM(profit) |
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+
     | 2000 | Finland | Computer   |        1500 |
     | 2000 | Finland | Phone      |         100 |
     | 2000 | Finland | NULL       |        1600 |
     | 2000 | India   | Calculator |         150 |
     | 2000 | India   | Computer   |        1200 |
     | 2000 | India   | NULL       |        1350 |
     | 2000 | USA     | Calculator |          75 |
     | 2000 | USA     | Computer   |        1500 |
     | 2000 | USA     | NULL       |        1575 |
     | 2000 | NULL    | NULL       |        4525 |
     | 2001 | Finland | Phone      |          10 |
     | 2001 | Finland | NULL       |          10 |
     | 2001 | USA     | Calculator |          50 |
     | 2001 | USA     | Computer   |        2700 |
     | 2001 | USA     | TV         |         250 |
     | 2001 | USA     | NULL       |        3000 |
     | 2001 | NULL    | NULL       |        3010 |
     | NULL | NULL    | NULL       |        7535 |
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+

For this query, adding `ROLLUP' causes the output to include summary
information at four levels of analysis, not just one.  Here's how to
interpret the `ROLLUP' output:

   * Following each set of product rows for a given year and country, an
     extra summary row is produced showing the total for all products.
     These rows have the `product' column set to `NULL'.

   * Following each set of rows for a given year, an extra summary row
     is produced showing the total for all countries and products.
     These rows have the `country' and `products' columns set to `NULL'.

   * Finally, following all other rows, an extra summary row is produced
     showing the grand total for all years, countries, and products.
     This row has the `year', `country', and `products' columns set to
     `NULL'.


*Other Considerations When using `ROLLUP'*

The following items list some behaviors specific to the MySQL
implementation of `ROLLUP':

When you use `ROLLUP', you cannot also use an `ORDER BY' clause to sort
the results. (In other words, `ROLLUP' and `ORDER BY' are mutually
exclusive.) However, you still have some control over sort order.
`GROUP BY' in MySQL sorts results, and you can use explicit `ASC' and
`DESC' keywords with columns named in the `GROUP BY' list to specify
sort order for individual columns.  (The higher-level summary rows
added by `ROLLUP' still appear after the rows from which they are
calculated, regardless of the sort order.)

`LIMIT' can be used to restrict the number of rows returned to the
client. `LIMIT' is applied after `ROLLUP', so the limit applies against
the extra rows added by `ROLLUP'. For example:

     mysql> SELECT year, country, product, SUM(profit)
         -> FROM sales
         -> GROUP BY year, country, product WITH ROLLUP
         -> LIMIT 5;
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+
     | year | country | product    | SUM(profit) |
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+
     | 2000 | Finland | Computer   |        1500 |
     | 2000 | Finland | Phone      |         100 |
     | 2000 | Finland | NULL       |        1600 |
     | 2000 | India   | Calculator |         150 |
     | 2000 | India   | Computer   |        1200 |
     +------+---------+------------+-------------+

Note that using `LIMIT' with `ROLLUP' may produce results that are more
difficult to interpret, because you have less context for understanding
the super-aggregate rows.

The `NULL' indicators in each super-aggregate row are produced when the
row is sent to the client.  The server looks at the columns named in
the `GROUP BY' clause following the leftmost one that has changed value.
For any column in the result set with a name that is a lexical match to
any of those names, its value is set to `NULL'.  (If you specify
grouping columns by column number, the server identifies which columns
to set to `NULL' by number.)

Because the `NULL' values in the super-aggregate rows are placed into
the result set at such a late stage in query processing, you cannot
test them as `NULL' values within the query itself.  For example, you
cannot add `HAVING product IS NULL' to the query to eliminate from the
output all but the super-aggregate rows.

On the other hand, the `NULL' values do appear as `NULL' on the client
side and can be tested as such using any MySQL client programming
interface.

`GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields
-----------------------------

MySQL has extended the use of `GROUP BY'. You can use columns or
calculations in the `SELECT' expressions that don't appear in the
`GROUP BY' part. This stands for _any possible value for this group_.
You can use this to get better performance by avoiding sorting and
grouping on unnecessary items.  For example, you don't need to group on
`customer.name' in the following query:

     mysql> SELECT order.custid,customer.name,MAX(payments)
         ->        FROM order,customer
         ->        WHERE order.custid = customer.custid
         ->        GROUP BY order.custid;

In standard SQL, you would have to add `customer.name' to the `GROUP
BY' clause.  In MySQL, the name is redundant if you don't run in ANSI
mode.

*Don't use this feature* if the columns you omit from the `GROUP BY'
part aren't unique in the group!  You will get unpredictable results.

In some cases, you can use `MIN()' and `MAX()' to obtain a specific
column value even if it isn't unique. The following gives the value of
`column' from the row containing the smallest value in the `sort'
column:

     SUBSTR(MIN(CONCAT(RPAD(sort,6,' '),column)),7)

*Note example-Maximum-column-group-row::.

Note that if you are using MySQL Version 3.22 (or earlier) or if you
are trying to follow SQL-99, you can't use expressions in `GROUP BY' or
`ORDER BY' clauses.  You can work around this limitation by using an
alias for the expression:

     mysql> SELECT id,FLOOR(value/100) AS val FROM tbl_name
         ->        GROUP BY id,val ORDER BY val;

In MySQL Version 3.23 you can do:

     mysql> SELECT id,FLOOR(value/100) FROM tbl_name ORDER BY RAND();

SQL Statement Syntax
********************

This chapter describes the syntax for the SQL statements supported in
MySQL.

Data Manipulation Statements
============================

`DELETE' Syntax
---------------

     DELETE [LOW_PRIORITY] [QUICK] [IGNORE] FROM table_name
            [WHERE where_definition]
            [ORDER BY ...]
            [LIMIT row_count]

or:

     DELETE [LOW_PRIORITY] [QUICK] [IGNORE] table_name[.*] [, table_name[.*] ...]
            FROM table-references
            [WHERE where_definition]

or:

     DELETE [LOW_PRIORITY] [QUICK] [IGNORE]
            FROM table_name[.*] [, table_name[.*] ...]
            USING table-references
            [WHERE where_definition]

`DELETE' deletes rows from `table_name' that satisfy the condition
given by `where_definition', and returns the number of records deleted.

If you issue a `DELETE' with no `WHERE' clause, all rows are deleted.
If you do this in `AUTOCOMMIT' mode, this works as `TRUNCATE'. *Note
`TRUNCATE': TRUNCATE.  In MySQL 3.23, `DELETE' without a `WHERE' clause
will return zero as the number of affected records.

If you really want to know how many records are deleted when you are
deleting all rows, and are willing to suffer a speed penalty, you can
use a `DELETE' statement of this form:

     mysql> DELETE FROM table_name WHERE 1>0;

Note that this is much slower than `DELETE FROM table_name' with no
`WHERE' clause, because it deletes rows one at a time.

If you specify the keyword `LOW_PRIORITY', execution of the `DELETE' is
delayed until no other clients are reading from the table.

For MyISAM tables, if you specify the word `QUICK' then the storage
engine will not merge index leaves during delete, which may speed up
certain kind of deletes.

The speed of delete operations may also be affected by factors
discussed in *Note Delete speed::.

Option `IGNORE' causes MySQL to ignore all errors during the process of
deleting rows. Errors encountered during the parsing stage are processed
in the usual manner. Errors that are ignored due to the use of this
option are returned as warnings. This option first appeared in version
4.1.1.

In `MyISAM' tables, deleted records are maintained in a linked list and
subsequent `INSERT' operations reuse old record positions. To reclaim
unused space and reduce file-sizes, use the `OPTIMIZE TABLE' statement
or the `myisamchk' utility to reorganize tables.  `OPTIMIZE TABLE' is
easier, but `myisamchk' is faster.  See *Note `OPTIMIZE TABLE':
OPTIMIZE TABLE and *Note Optimisation::.

The first multiple-table delete format is supported starting from MySQL
4.0.0.  The second multiple-table delete format is supported starting
from MySQL 4.0.2.

The idea is that only matching rows from the tables listed *before* the
`FROM' or before the `USING' clause are deleted. The effect is that you
can delete rows from many tables at the same time and also have
additional tables that are used for searching.

The `.*' after the table names is there just to be compatible with
`Access':

     DELETE t1,t2 FROM t1,t2,t3 WHERE t1.id=t2.id AND t2.id=t3.id

or:

     DELETE FROM t1,t2 USING t1,t2,t3 WHERE t1.id=t2.id AND t2.id=t3.id

In the above case we delete matching rows only from tables `t1' and
`t2'.

The examples show inner joins using the comma operator, but
multiple-table `DELETE' statements can use any type of join allowed in
`SELECT' statements, such as `LEFT JOIN'.

If an `ORDER BY' clause is used (available from MySQL 4.0.0), the rows
will be deleted in that order. This is really useful only in conjunction
with `LIMIT'.  For example:

     DELETE FROM somelog
     WHERE user = 'jcole'
     ORDER BY timestamp
     LIMIT 1

This will delete the oldest entry (by `timestamp') where the row matches
the `WHERE' clause.

The MySQL-specific `LIMIT row_count' option to `DELETE' tells the
server the maximum number of rows to be deleted before control is
returned to the client.  This can be used to ensure that a specific
`DELETE' command doesn't take too much time.  You can simply repeat the
`DELETE' command until the number of affected rows is less than the
`LIMIT' value.

From MySQL 4.0, you can specify multiple tables in the `DELETE'
statement to delete rows from one or more tables depending on a
particular condition in multiple tables. However, you cannot use `ORDER
BY' or `LIMIT' in a multiple-table `DELETE'.

`DO' Syntax
-----------

     DO expression, [expression, ...]

Execute the expression but don't return any results.  This is a
shorthand of `SELECT expression, expression', but has the advantage
that it's slightly faster when you don't care about the result.

This is mainly useful with functions that has side effects, like
`RELEASE_LOCK'.

`HANDLER' Syntax
----------------

     HANDLER tbl_name OPEN [ AS alias ]
     HANDLER tbl_name READ index_name { = | >= | <= | < } (value1,value2,...)
         [ WHERE ... ] [LIMIT ... ]
     HANDLER tbl_name READ index_name { FIRST | NEXT | PREV | LAST }
         [ WHERE ... ] [LIMIT ... ]
     HANDLER tbl_name READ { FIRST | NEXT }
         [ WHERE ... ] [LIMIT ... ]
     HANDLER tbl_name CLOSE

The `HANDLER' statement provides direct access to the `MyISAM' table
storage engine interface.

The first form of `HANDLER' statement opens a table, making it
accessible via subsequent `HANDLER ... READ' statements.  This table
object is not shared by other threads and will not be closed until the
thread calls `HANDLER tbl_name CLOSE' or the thread dies.

The second form fetches one row (or more, specified by `LIMIT' clause)
where the index specified satisfies the given values and the `WHERE'
condition is met.  If you have a multiple-column index, specify the
index column values as a comma-separated list. Either specify values
for all the columns in the index, or specify values for a leftmost
prefix of the index columns. Suppose an index includes three columns
named `col_a', `col_b', and `col_c', in that order.  The `HANDLER'
statement can specify values for all three columns in the index, or for
the columns in a leftmost prefix. For example:

     HANDLER ... index_name = (col_a_val,col_b_val,col_c_val) ...
     HANDLER ... index_name = (col_a_val,col_b_val) ...
     HANDLER ... index_name = (col_a_val) ...

The third form fetches one row (or more, specified by `LIMIT' clause)
from the table in index order, matching `WHERE' condition.

The fourth form (without index specification) fetches one row (or more,
specified by `LIMIT' clause) from the table in natural row order (as
stored in datafile) matching `WHERE' condition. It is faster than
`HANDLER tbl_name READ index_name' when a full table scan is desired.

`HANDLER ... CLOSE' closes a table that was opened with `HANDLER ...
OPEN'.

Note: If you're using `HANDLER' interface for `PRIMARY KEY' you should
remember to quote the keyword PRIMARY with backticks: `HANDLER tbl READ
`PRIMARY` > (...)'

`HANDLER' is a somewhat low-level statement.  For example, it does not
provide consistency.  That is, `HANDLER ... OPEN' does *NOT* take a
snapshot of the table, and does *NOT* lock the table. This means that
after a `HANDLER ... OPEN' is issued, table data can be modified (by
this or any other thread) and these modifications may appear only
partially in `HANDLER ... NEXT' or `HANDLER ... PREV' scans.

The reasons to use this interface instead of normal SQL are:

   * It's faster than `SELECT' because:
        * A designated storage engine is allocated for the thread in
          `HANDLER OPEN'.

        * There is less parsing involved.

        * No optimizer and no query checking overhead.

        * The used table doesn't have to be locked between two handler
          requests.

        * The handler interface doesn't have to provide a consistent
          look of the data (for example, dirty-reads are allowed), so
          the storage engine can do optimizations that SQL doesn't
          normally allow.

   * It makes it much easier to port applications that uses an ISAM like
     interface to MySQL.

   * It allows one to traverse a database in a manner that is not easy
     (in some cases impossible) to do with SQL. The handler interface is
     more natural way to look at data when working with applications
     that provide an interactive user interfaces to the database.

`INSERT' Syntax
---------------

         INSERT [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED] [IGNORE]
             [INTO] tbl_name [(col_name,...)]
             VALUES ((expression | DEFAULT),...),(...),...
             [ ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE col_name=expression, ... ]
     or  INSERT [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED] [IGNORE]
             [INTO] tbl_name [(col_name,...)]
             SELECT ...
     or  INSERT [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED] [IGNORE]
             [INTO] tbl_name
             SET col_name=(expression | DEFAULT), ...
             [ ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE col_name=expression, ... ]

`INSERT' inserts new rows into an existing table.  The `INSERT ...
VALUES' form of the statement inserts rows based on explicitly
specified values.  The `INSERT ... SELECT' form inserts rows selected
from another table or tables.  The `INSERT ... VALUES' form with
multiple value lists is supported in MySQL Version 3.22.5 or later.
The `col_name=expression' syntax is supported in MySQL Version 3.22.10
or later.

`tbl_name' is the table into which rows should be inserted.  The column
name list or the `SET' clause indicates which columns the statement
specifies values for:

   * If you specify no column list for `INSERT ... VALUES' or `INSERT
     ... SELECT', values for all columns in the table must be provided
     in the `VALUES()' list or by the `SELECT'.  If you don't know the
     order of the columns in the table, use `DESCRIBE tbl_name' to find
     out.

   * Any column not explicitly given a value is set to its default
     value.  For example, if you specify a column list that doesn't
     name all the columns in the table, unnamed columns are set to
     their default values.  Default value assignment is described in
     *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

     You can also use the keyword `DEFAULT' to set a column to its
     default value. (New in MySQL 4.0.3.)  This makes it easier to write
     `INSERT' statements that assign values to all but a few columns,
     because it allows you to avoid writing an incomplete `VALUES()'
     list (a list that does not include a value for each column in the
     table).  Otherwise, you would have to write out the list of column
     names corresponding to each value in the `VALUES()' list.

     MySQL always has a default value for all fields. This is something
     that is imposed on MySQL to be able to work with both transactional
     and non-transactional tables.

     Our view is that checking of fields content should be done in the
     application and not in the database server.

   * An `expression' may refer to any column that was set earlier in a
     value list.  For example, you can say this:

          mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (col1,col2) VALUES(15,col1*2);

     But not this:

          mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (col1,col2) VALUES(col2*2,15);

   * If you specify the keyword `DELAYED', the server puts the row or
     rows to be inserted into a buffer, and the client issuing the
     `INSERT DELAYED' statement then may continue on.  If the table is
     busy, the server holds the rows.  When the table becomes free, it
     begins inserting rows, checking periodically to see whether there
     are new read requests for the table. If there are, the delayed row
     queue is suspended until the table becomes free again.

   * If you specify the keyword `LOW_PRIORITY', execution of the
     `INSERT' is delayed until no other clients are reading from the
     table. This includes other clients that began reading while
     existing clients are reading, and while the `INSERT LOW_PRIORITY'
     statement is waiting. It is possible, therefore, for a client that
     issues an `INSERT LOW_PRIORITY' statement to wait for a very long
     time (or even forever) in a read-heavy environment.  (This is in
     contrast to `INSERT DELAYED', which lets the client continue at
     once.)  *Note INSERT DELAYED::.  Note that `LOW_PRIORITY' should
     normally not be used with `MyISAM' tables as this disables
     concurrent inserts. *Note MyISAM::.

   * If you specify the keyword `IGNORE' in an `INSERT' with many rows,
     any rows that duplicate an existing `PRIMARY' or `UNIQUE' key in
     the table are ignored and are not inserted.  If you do not specify
     `IGNORE', the insert is aborted if there is any row that
     duplicates an existing key value.  You can determine with the C
     API function `mysql_info()' how many rows were inserted into the
     table.

   * If you specify `ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE' clause (new in MySQL
     4.1.0), and a row is inserted that would cause a duplicate value
     in a `PRIMARY' or `UNIQUE' key, an `UPDATE' of the old row is
     performed. For example, the command:

          mysql> INSERT INTO table (a,b,c) VALUES (1,2,3)
              -> ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE c=c+1;

     in case of column `a' is declared as `UNIQUE' and already holds
     `1' once, would be identical to the

          mysql> UPDATE table SET c=c+1 WHERE a=1;

     *Note:* If column `b' is unique too, the `UPDATE' command would be
     written as

          mysql> UPDATE table SET c=c+1 WHERE a=1 OR b=2 LIMIT 1;

     and if `a=1 OR b=2' matches several rows, only *one* row will be
     updated! In general, one should try to avoid using `ON DUPLICATE
     KEY' clause on tables with multiple `UNIQUE' keys.

     Since MySQL 4.1.1 one can use function `VALUES(col_name)' to refer
     to the column value in the `INSERT' part of the `INSERT ...
     UPDATE' command - that is the value that would be inserted if
     there would be no duplicate key conflict. This function especially
     useful in multiple-row inserts. Naturally `VALUES()' function is
     only meaningful in `INSERT ... UPDATE' command and returns `NULL'
     otherwise.

     Example:

          mysql> INSERT INTO table (a,b,c) VALUES (1,2,3),(4,5,6)
              -> ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE c=VALUES(a)+VALUES(b);

     The command above is identical to

          mysql> INSERT INTO table (a,b,c) VALUES (1,2,3)
              -> ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE c=3;
          mysql> INSERT INTO table (a,b,c) VALUES (4,5,6)
              -> ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE c=9;

     When one uses `ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE', the `DELAYED' option is
     ignored.

   * If MySQL was configured using the `DONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS'
     option, `INSERT' statements generate an error unless you explicitly
     specify values for all columns that require a non-`NULL' value.
     *Note `configure' options: configure options.

   * You can find the value used for an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column with
     the `mysql_insert_id' function.  *Note `mysql_insert_id()':
     mysql_insert_id.

If you use `INSERT ... SELECT' or an `INSERT ... VALUES' statement with
multiple value lists, you can use the C API function `mysql_info()' to
get information about the query.  The format of the information string
is shown here:

     Records: 100 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0

`Duplicates' indicates the number of rows that couldn't be inserted
because they would duplicate some existing unique index value.
`Warnings' indicates the number of attempts to insert column values that
were problematic in some way. Warnings can occur under any of the
following conditions:

   * Inserting `NULL' into a column that has been declared `NOT NULL'.
     The column is set to the default value appropriate for the column
     type.  This is `0' for numeric types, the empty string (`''') for
     string types, and the "zero" value for date and time types.

   * Setting a numeric column to a value that lies outside the column's
     range.  The value is clipped to the appropriate endpoint of the
     range.

   * Setting a numeric column to a value such as `'10.34 a''.  The
     trailing garbage is stripped and the remaining numeric part is
     inserted.  If the value doesn't make sense as a number at all, the
     column is set to `0'.

   * Inserting a string into a `CHAR', `VARCHAR', `TEXT', or `BLOB'
     column that exceeds the column's maximum length.  The value is
     truncated to the column's maximum length.

   * Inserting a value into a date or time column that is illegal for
     the column type.  The column is set to the appropriate zero value
     for the type.

`INSERT ... SELECT' Syntax
..........................

     INSERT [LOW_PRIORITY] [IGNORE] [INTO] tbl_name [(column list)] SELECT ...

With `INSERT ... SELECT', you can quickly insert many rows into a table
from one or many tables.

     INSERT INTO tblTemp2 (fldID) SELECT tblTemp1.fldOrder_ID FROM tblTemp1 WHERE
     tblTemp1.fldOrder_ID > 100;

The following conditions hold for an `INSERT ... SELECT' statement:

   - Prior to MySQL 4.0.1, `INSERT ... SELECT' implicitly operates in
     `IGNORE' mode.  As of MySQL 4.0.1, you should specify `IGNORE'
     explicitly to ignore records that would cause duplicate-key
     violations.

   - Do not use `DELAYED' with `INSERT ... SELECT'.

   - Prior to MySQL 4.0.14, the target table of the `INSERT' statement
     cannot appear in the `FROM' clause of the `SELECT' part of the
     query.  This limitation is lifted in 4.0.14.

   - `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns work as usual.

   - In C programs, you can use the C API function `mysql_info()' to
     get information about the query. *Note INSERT::.

   - To ensure that the binary log can be used to re-create the
     original tables, MySQL will not allow concurrent inserts during
     `INSERT ... SELECT'.

You can use `REPLACE' instead of `INSERT' to overwrite old rows.
`REPLACE' is the counterpart to `INSERT IGNORE' in the treatment of new
rows that contain unique key values that duplicate old rows: The new
rows are used to replace the old rows rather than being discarded.

`INSERT DELAYED' Syntax
.......................

     INSERT DELAYED ...

The `DELAYED' option for the `INSERT' statement is a MySQL-specific
option that is very useful if you have clients that can't wait for the
`INSERT' to complete.  This is a common problem when you use MySQL for
logging and you also periodically run `SELECT' and `UPDATE' statements
that take a long time to complete.  `DELAYED' was introduced in MySQL
Version 3.22.15.  It is a MySQL extension to SQL-92.

`INSERT DELAYED' works only with `ISAM' and `MyISAM' tables.  Note that
as `MyISAM' tables support concurrent `SELECT' and `INSERT', if there
is no free blocks in the middle of the datafile, you very seldom need
to use `INSERT DELAYED' with `MyISAM'. *Note MyISAM::.

`INSERT DELAYED' should be used only for `INSERT' statements that
specify value lists. This is enforced as of MySQL 4.0.18; the server
ignores `DELAYED' for `INSERT DELAYED ... SELECT' statements.

When you use `INSERT DELAYED', the client will get an OK at once and
the row will be inserted when the table is not in use by any other
thread.

Another major benefit of using `INSERT DELAYED' is that inserts from
many clients are bundled together and written in one block. This is much
faster than doing many separate inserts.

Note that currently the queued rows are only stored in memory until
they are inserted into the table.  This means that if you kill `mysqld'
the hard way (`kill -9') or if `mysqld' dies unexpectedly, any queued
rows that weren't written to disk are lost!

The following describes in detail what happens when you use the
`DELAYED' option to `INSERT' or `REPLACE'.  In this description, the
"thread" is the thread that received an `INSERT DELAYED' command and
"handler" is the thread that handles all `INSERT DELAYED' statements
for a particular table.

   * When a thread executes a `DELAYED' statement for a table, a handler
     thread is created to process all `DELAYED' statements for the
     table, if no such handler already exists.

   * The thread checks whether the handler has acquired a `DELAYED'
     lock already; if not, it tells the handler thread to do so.  The
     `DELAYED' lock can be obtained even if other threads have a `READ'
     or `WRITE' lock on the table.  However, the handler will wait for
     all `ALTER TABLE' locks or `FLUSH TABLES' to ensure that the table
     structure is up to date.

   * The thread executes the `INSERT' statement, but instead of writing
     the row to the table, it puts a copy of the final row into a queue
     that is managed by the handler thread. Any syntax errors are
     noticed by the thread and reported to the client program.

   * The client can't report the number of duplicates or the
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' value for the resulting row; it can't obtain them
     from the server, because the `INSERT' returns before the insert
     operation has been completed.  If you use the C API, the
     `mysql_info()' function doesn't return anything meaningful, for
     the same reason.

   * The binary log is updated by the handler thread when the row is
     inserted into the table.  In case of multiple-row inserts, the
     binary log is updated when the first row is inserted.

   * After every `delayed_insert_limit' rows are written, the handler
     checks whether any `SELECT' statements are still pending.  If so,
     it allows these to execute before continuing.

   * When the handler has no more rows in its queue, the table is
     unlocked.  If no new `INSERT DELAYED' commands are received within
     `delayed_insert_timeout' seconds, the handler terminates.

   * If more than `delayed_queue_size' rows are pending already in a
     specific handler queue, the thread requesting `INSERT DELAYED'
     waits until there is room in the queue.  This is done to ensure
     that the `mysqld' server doesn't use all memory for the delayed
     memory queue.

   * The handler thread will show up in the MySQL process list with
     `delayed_insert' in the `Command' column.  It will be killed if
     you execute a `FLUSH TABLES' command or kill it with `KILL
     thread_id'. However, it will first store all queued rows into the
     table before exiting. During this time it will not accept any new
     `INSERT' commands from another thread. If you execute an `INSERT
     DELAYED' command after this, a new handler thread will be created.

     Note that the above means that `INSERT DELAYED' commands have
     higher priority than normal `INSERT' commands if there is an
     `INSERT DELAYED' handler already running!  Other update commands
     will have to wait until the `INSERT DELAYED' queue is empty,
     someone kills the handler thread (with `KILL thread_id'), or
     someone executes `FLUSH TABLES'.

   * The following status variables provide information about `INSERT
     DELAYED' commands:

     *Variable*           *Meaning*
     `Delayed_insert_threads'Number of handler threads
     `Delayed_writes'     Number of rows written with `INSERT
                          DELAYED'
     `Not_flushed_delayed_rows'Number of rows waiting to be written

     You can view these variables by issuing a `SHOW STATUS' statement
     or by executing a `mysqladmin extended-status' command.

Note that `INSERT DELAYED' is slower than a normal INSERT if the table
is not in use.  There is also the additional overhead for the server to
handle a separate thread for each table on which you use `INSERT
DELAYED'.  This means that you should use `INSERT DELAYED' only when
you are really sure you need it!

`LOAD DATA INFILE' Syntax
-------------------------

     LOAD DATA [LOW_PRIORITY | CONCURRENT] [LOCAL] INFILE 'file_name.txt'
         [REPLACE | IGNORE]
         INTO TABLE tbl_name
         [FIELDS
             [TERMINATED BY '\t']
             [[OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY '']
             [ESCAPED BY '\\' ]
         ]
         [LINES
             [STARTING BY '']
             [TERMINATED BY '\n']
         ]
         [IGNORE number LINES]
         [(col_name,...)]

The `LOAD DATA INFILE' statement reads rows from a text file into a
table at a very high speed.  If the `LOCAL' keyword is specified, it is
interpreted with respect to the client end of the connection. When
`LOCAL' is specified, the file is read by the client program on the
client host and sent to the server.  If `LOCAL' is not specified, the
file must be located on the server host and is read directly by the
server.  (`LOCAL' is available in MySQL Version 3.22.6 or later.)

For security reasons, when reading text files located on the server, the
files must either reside in the database directory or be readable by
all.  Also, to use `LOAD DATA INFILE' on server files, you must have the
`FILE' privilege on the server host.  *Note Privileges provided::.

As of MySQL 3.23.49 and MySQL 4.0.2 (4.0.13 on Windows), `LOCAL' will
work only if your server and your client both have been enabled to
allow it.  For example, if `mysqld' was started with
`--local-infile=0', `LOCAL' will not work.  *Note LOAD DATA LOCAL::.

If you specify the keyword `LOW_PRIORITY', execution of the `LOAD DATA'
statement is delayed until no other clients are reading from the table.

If you specify the keyword `CONCURRENT' with a `MyISAM' table, then
other threads can retrieve data from the table while `LOAD DATA' is
executing. Using this option will affect the performance of `LOAD DATA'
a bit even if no other thread is using the table at the same time.

Using `LOCAL' will be a bit slower than letting the server access the
files directly, because the contents of the file must be sent over the
connection by the client to the server.  On the other hand, you do not
need the `FILE' privilege to load local files.

If you are using MySQL before Version 3.23.24 you can't read from a
FIFO with `LOAD DATA INFILE'.  If you need to read from a FIFO (for
example the output from gunzip), use `LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE' instead.

You can also load datafiles by using the `mysqlimport' utility; it
operates by sending a `LOAD DATA INFILE' command to the server.  The
`--local' option causes `mysqlimport' to read datafiles from the client
host.  You can specify the `--compress' option to get better
performance over slow networks if the client and server support the
compressed protocol.

When locating files on the server host, the server uses the following
rules:

   * If an absolute pathname is given, the server uses the pathname as
     is.

   * If a relative pathname with one or more leading components is
     given, the server searches for the file relative to the server's
     data directory.

   * If a filename with no leading components is given, the server
     looks for the file in the database directory of the current
     database.

Note that these rules mean a file named as `./myfile.txt' is read from
the server's data directory, whereas the same file named as
`myfile.txt' is read from the database directory of the current
database.  For example, the following `LOAD DATA' statement reads the
file `data.txt' from the database directory for `db1' because `db1' is
the current database, even though the statement explicitly loads the
file into a table in the `db2' database:

     mysql> USE db1;
     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE "data.txt" INTO TABLE db2.my_table;

The `REPLACE' and `IGNORE' keywords control handling of input records
that duplicate existing records on unique key values.

If you specify `REPLACE', input rows replace existing rows (in other
words rows that has the same value for a primary or unique index as an
existing row). *Note REPLACE::.

If you specify `IGNORE', input rows that duplicate an existing row on a
unique key value are skipped.  If you don't specify either option, the
behavior depends on whether or not the `LOCAL' keyword is specified.
Without `LOCAL', an error occurs when a duplicate key value is found,
and the rest of the text file is ignored.  With `LOCAL', the default
behavior is the same as if `IGNORE' is specified; this is because the
server has no way to stop transmission of the file in the middle of the
operation.

If you want to ignore foreign key constraints during load you can do
`SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0' before executing `LOAD DATA'.

If you use `LOAD DATA INFILE' on an empty `MyISAM' table, all
non-unique indexes are created in a separate batch (like in `REPAIR').
This normally makes `LOAD DATA INFILE' much faster when you have many
indexes.  Normally this is very fast, but in some extreme cases you can
create the indexes even faster by turning them off with `ALTER TABLE ..
DISABLE KEYS' and use `ALTER TABLE .. ENABLE KEYS' to re-create the
indexes.  *Note Table maintenance::.

`LOAD DATA INFILE' is the complement of `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'.
*Note `SELECT': SELECT.  To write data from a table to a file, use
`SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'.  To read the file back into a table, use
`LOAD DATA INFILE'.  The syntax of the `FIELDS' and `LINES' clauses is
the same for both commands.  Both clauses are optional, but `FIELDS'
must precede `LINES' if both are specified.

If you specify a `FIELDS' clause, each of its subclauses (`TERMINATED
BY', `[OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY', and `ESCAPED BY') is also optional,
except that you must specify at least one of them.

If you don't specify a `FIELDS' clause, the defaults are the same as if
you had written this:

     FIELDS TERMINATED BY '\t' ENCLOSED BY '' ESCAPED BY '\\'

If you don't specify a `LINES' clause, the default is the same as if
you had written this:

     LINES TERMINATED BY '\n'

*Note:* If you have generated the text file on a Windows system you may
have to change the above to: `LINES TERMINATED BY '\r\n'' as Windows
uses two characters as a line terminator. Some programs, like
`wordpad', may use `\r' as a line terminator.

If all the lines you want to read in has a common prefix that you want
to skip, you can use `LINES STARTING BY prefix_string' for this.

In other words, the defaults cause `LOAD DATA INFILE' to act as follows
when reading input:

   * Look for line boundaries at newlines.

   * If `LINES STARTING BY prefix' is used, read until prefix is found
     and start reading at character after prefix.  If line doesn't
     include prefix it will be skipped.

   * Break lines into fields at tabs.

   * Do not expect fields to be enclosed within any quoting characters.

   * Interpret occurrences of tab, newline, or `\' preceded by `\' as
     literal characters that are part of field values.

Conversely, the defaults cause `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' to act as
follows when writing output:

   * Write tabs between fields.

   * Do not enclose fields within any quoting characters.

   * Use `\' to escape instances of tab, newline or `\' that occur
     within field values.

   * Write newlines at the ends of lines.

Note that to write `FIELDS ESCAPED BY '\\'', you must specify two
backslashes for the value to be read as a single backslash.

The `IGNORE number LINES' option can be used to ignore lines at the
start of the file.  For example, you can use `IGNORE 1 LINES' to skip
over an initial header line containing column names:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE "/tmp/file_name" INTO TABLE test IGNORE 1 LINES;

When you use `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' in tandem with `LOAD DATA
INFILE' to write data from a database into a file and then read the
file back into the database later, the field and line handling options
for both commands must match.  Otherwise, `LOAD DATA INFILE' will not
interpret the contents of the file properly.  Suppose you use `SELECT
... INTO OUTFILE' to write a file with fields delimited by commas:

     mysql> SELECT * INTO OUTFILE 'data.txt'
         ->          FIELDS TERMINATED BY ','
         ->          FROM ...;

To read the comma-delimited file back in, the correct statement would
be:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'data.txt' INTO TABLE table2
         ->           FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',';

If instead you tried to read in the file with the statement shown here,
it wouldn't work because it instructs `LOAD DATA INFILE' to look for
tabs between fields:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'data.txt' INTO TABLE table2
         ->           FIELDS TERMINATED BY '\t';

The likely result is that each input line would be interpreted as a
single field.

`LOAD DATA INFILE' can be used to read files obtained from external
sources, too. For example, a file in dBASE format will have fields
separated by commas and enclosed in double quotes.  If lines in the
file are terminated by newlines, the command shown here illustrates the
field and line handling options you would use to load the file:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'data.txt' INTO TABLE tbl_name
         ->           FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' ENCLOSED BY '"'
         ->           LINES TERMINATED BY '\n';

Any of the field or line handling options may specify an empty string
(`''').  If not empty, the `FIELDS [OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY' and
`FIELDS ESCAPED BY' values must be a single character.  The `FIELDS
TERMINATED BY' and `LINES TERMINATED BY' values may be more than one
character.  For example, to write lines that are terminated by carriage
return-linefeed pairs, or to read a file containing such lines, specify
a `LINES TERMINATED BY '\r\n'' clause.

For example, to read a file of jokes, that are separated with a line of
`%%', into an SQL table you can do:

     CREATE TABLE jokes (a INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, joke TEXT
     NOT NULL);
     LOAD DATA INFILE "/tmp/jokes.txt" INTO TABLE jokes FIELDS TERMINATED BY ""
     LINES TERMINATED BY "\n%%\n" (joke);

`FIELDS [OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY' controls quoting of fields.  For
output (`SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'), if you omit the word `OPTIONALLY',
all fields are enclosed by the `ENCLOSED BY' character.  An example of
such output (using a comma as the field delimiter) is shown here:

     "1","a string","100.20"
     "2","a string containing a , comma","102.20"
     "3","a string containing a \" quote","102.20"
     "4","a string containing a \", quote and comma","102.20"

If you specify `OPTIONALLY', the `ENCLOSED BY' character is used only
to enclose `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' fields:

     1,"a string",100.20
     2,"a string containing a , comma",102.20
     3,"a string containing a \" quote",102.20
     4,"a string containing a \", quote and comma",102.20

Note that occurrences of the `ENCLOSED BY' character within a field
value are escaped by prefixing them with the `ESCAPED BY' character.
Also note that if you specify an empty `ESCAPED BY' value, it is
possible to generate output that cannot be read properly by `LOAD DATA
INFILE'. For example, the preceding output just shown would appear as
follows if the escape character is empty.  Observe that the second
field in the fourth line contains a comma following the quote, which
(erroneously) appears to terminate the field:

     1,"a string",100.20
     2,"a string containing a , comma",102.20
     3,"a string containing a " quote",102.20
     4,"a string containing a ", quote and comma",102.20

For input, the `ENCLOSED BY' character, if present, is stripped from
the ends of field values.  (This is true whether `OPTIONALLY' is
specified; `OPTIONALLY' has no effect on input interpretation.)
Occurrences of the `ENCLOSED BY' character preceded by the `ESCAPED BY'
character are interpreted as part of the current field value.

If the field begins with the `ENCLOSED BY' character, instances of that
character are recognized as terminating a field value only if followed
by the field or line `TERMINATED BY' sequence.  To avoid ambiguity,
occurrences of the `ENCLOSED BY' character within a field value can be
doubled and will be interpreted as a single instance of the character.
For example, if `ENCLOSED BY '"'' is specified, quotes are handled as
shown here:

     "The ""BIG"" boss"  -> The "BIG" boss
     The "BIG" boss      -> The "BIG" boss
     The ""BIG"" boss    -> The ""BIG"" boss

`FIELDS ESCAPED BY' controls how to write or read special characters.
If the `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' character is not empty, it is used to prefix
the following characters on output:
   * The `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' character

   * The `FIELDS [OPTIONALLY] ENCLOSED BY' character

   * The first character of the `FIELDS TERMINATED BY' and `LINES
     TERMINATED BY' values

   * ASCII `0' (what is actually written following the escape character
     is ASCII `'0'', not a zero-valued byte)

If the `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' character is empty, no characters are
escaped.  It is probably not a good idea to specify an empty escape
character, particularly if field values in your data contain any of the
characters in the list just given.

For input, if the `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' character is not empty,
occurrences of that character are stripped and the following character
is taken literally as part of a field value.  The exceptions are an
escaped `0' or `N' (for example, `\0' or `\N' if the escape character is
`\').  These sequences are interpreted as ASCII `0' (a zero-valued
byte) and `NULL'.  See below for the rules on `NULL' handling.

For more information about `\'-escape syntax, see *Note Literals::.

In certain cases, field and line handling options interact:

   * If `LINES TERMINATED BY' is an empty string and `FIELDS TERMINATED
     BY' is non-empty, lines are also terminated with `FIELDS
     TERMINATED BY'.

   * If the `FIELDS TERMINATED BY' and `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY' values are
     both empty (`'''), a fixed-row (non-delimited) format is used.
     With fixed-row format, no delimiters are used between fields (but
     you can still have a line terminator). Instead, column values are
     written and read using the "display" widths of the columns.  For
     example, if a column is declared as `INT(7)', values for the
     column are written using 7-character fields.  On input, values for
     the column are obtained by reading 7 characters.

     `LINES TERMINATED BY' is still used to separate lines.  If a line
     doesn't contain all fields, the rest of the fields will be set to
     their default values. If you don't have a line terminator, you
     should set this to `'''.  In this case the text file must contain
     all fields for each row.

     Fixed-row format also affects handling of `NULL' values; see below.
     Note that fixed-size format will not work if you are using a
     multi-byte character set.

Handling of `NULL' values varies, depending on the `FIELDS' and `LINES'
options you use:

   * For the default `FIELDS' and `LINES' values, `NULL' is written as
     `\N' for output and `\N' is read as `NULL' for input (assuming the
     `ESCAPED BY' character is `\').

   * If `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY' is not empty, a field containing the
     literal word `NULL' as its value is read as a `NULL' value (this
     differs from the word `NULL' enclosed within `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY'
     characters, which is read as the string `'NULL'').

   * If `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' is empty, `NULL' is written as the word
     `NULL'.

   * With fixed-row format (which happens when `FIELDS TERMINATED BY'
     and `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY' are both empty), `NULL' is written as an
     empty string.  Note that this causes both `NULL' values and empty
     strings in the table to be indistinguishable when written to the
     file because they are both written as empty strings.  If you need
     to be able to tell the two apart when reading the file back in,
     you should not use fixed-row format.

Some cases are not supported by `LOAD DATA INFILE':
   * Fixed-size rows (`FIELDS TERMINATED BY' and `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY'
     both empty) and `BLOB' or `TEXT' columns.

   * If you specify one separator that is the same as or a prefix of
     another, `LOAD DATA INFILE' won't be able to interpret the input
     properly.  For example, the following `FIELDS' clause would cause
     problems:

          FIELDS TERMINATED BY '"' ENCLOSED BY '"'

   * If `FIELDS ESCAPED BY' is empty, a field value that contains an
     occurrence of `FIELDS ENCLOSED BY' or `LINES TERMINATED BY'
     followed by the `FIELDS TERMINATED BY' value will cause `LOAD DATA
     INFILE' to stop reading a field or line too early.  This happens
     because `LOAD DATA INFILE' cannot properly determine where the
     field or line value ends.

The following example loads all columns of the `persondata' table:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'persondata.txt' INTO TABLE persondata;

No field list is specified, so `LOAD DATA INFILE' expects input rows to
contain a field for each table column.  The default `FIELDS' and
`LINES' values are used.

If you want to load only some of a table's columns, specify a field
list:

     mysql> LOAD DATA INFILE 'persondata.txt'
         ->           INTO TABLE persondata (col1,col2,...);

You must also specify a field list if the order of the fields in the
input file differs from the order of the columns in the table.
Otherwise, MySQL cannot tell how to match up input fields with table
columns.

If a row has too few fields, the columns for which no input field is
present are set to default values.  Default value assignment is
described in *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

An empty field value is interpreted differently than if the field value
is missing:

   * For string types, the column is set to the empty string.

   * For numeric types, the column is set to `0'.

   * For date and time types, the column is set to the appropriate
     "zero" value for the type.  *Note Date and time types::.

Note that these are the same values that result if you assign an empty
string explicitly to a string, numeric, or date or time type explicitly
in an `INSERT' or `UPDATE' statement.

`TIMESTAMP' columns are set to the current date and time only if there
is a `NULL' value for the column (that is, `\N'), or (for the first
`TIMESTAMP' column only) if the `TIMESTAMP' column is omitted from the
field list when a field list is specified.

If an input row has too many fields, the extra fields are ignored and
the number of warnings is incremented.  Note that before MySQL 4.1.1 the
warnings is just a number to indicate that something went wrong.  In
MySQL 4.1.1 you can do `SHOW WARNINGS' to get more information for what
went wrong.

`LOAD DATA INFILE' regards all input as strings, so you can't use
numeric values for `ENUM' or `SET' columns the way you can with
`INSERT' statements.  All `ENUM' and `SET' values must be specified as
strings!

If you are using the C API, you can get information about the query by
calling the API function `mysql_info()' when the `LOAD DATA INFILE'
query finishes.  The format of the information string is shown here:

     Records: 1  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0

Warnings occur under the same circumstances as when values are inserted
via the `INSERT' statement (*note `INSERT': INSERT.), except that `LOAD
DATA INFILE' also generates warnings when there are too few or too many
fields in the input row.  The warnings are not stored anywhere; the
number of warnings can only be used as an indication if everything went
well.

If you get warnings and want to know exactly why you got them, one way
to do this is to use `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' into another file and
compare this to your original input file.

If you need `LOAD DATA' to read from a pipe, you can use the following
trick:

     mkfifo /mysql/db/x/x
     chmod 666 /mysql/db/x/x
     cat < /dev/tcp/10.1.1.12/4711 > /nt/mysql/db/x/x
     mysql -e "LOAD DATA INFILE 'x' INTO TABLE x" x

If you are using a version of MySQL older than 3.23.25 you can only do
the above with `LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE'.

In MySQL 4.1.1 you can use `SHOW WARNINGS' to get a list of the first
`max_error_count' warnings. *Note SHOW WARNINGS::.

For more information about the efficiency of `INSERT' versus `LOAD DATA
INFILE' and speeding up `LOAD DATA INFILE', *Note Insert speed::.

`REPLACE' Syntax
----------------

         REPLACE [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED]
             [INTO] tbl_name [(col_name,...)]
             VALUES (expression,...),(...),...
     or  REPLACE [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED]
             [INTO] tbl_name [(col_name,...)]
             SELECT ...
     or  REPLACE [LOW_PRIORITY | DELAYED]
             [INTO] tbl_name
             SET col_name=expression, col_name=expression,...

`REPLACE' works exactly like `INSERT', except that if an old record in
the table has the same value as a new record on a `UNIQUE' index or
`PRIMARY KEY', the old record is deleted before the new record is
inserted.  *Note `INSERT': INSERT.

In other words, you can't access the values of the old row from a
`REPLACE' statement.  In some old MySQL versions it appeared that you
could do this, but that was a bug that has been corrected.

To be able to use `REPLACE', you must have `INSERT' and `DELETE'
privileges for the table.

When you use a `REPLACE' command, `mysql_affected_rows()' will return 2
if the new row replaced an old row.  This is because one row was
inserted after the duplicate was deleted.

This fact makes it easy to determine whether `REPLACE' added or
replaced a row: check whether the affected-rows value is 1 (added) or 2
(replaced).

Note that unless the table has a `UNIQUE' index or `PRIMARY KEY', using
a `REPLACE' command makes no sense. It becomes equivalent to `INSERT',
because there is no index to be used to determine whether a new row
duplicates another.

Here follows the used algorithm in more detail: (This is also used with
`LOAD DATA ... REPLACE'.)

     - Insert the row into the table
       - While duplicate key error for primary or unique key
         - Revert changed keys
         - Read conflicting row from the table through the duplicate key value
         - Delete conflicting row
         - Try again to insert the original primary key and unique keys in the tree

`SELECT' Syntax
---------------

     SELECT [STRAIGHT_JOIN]
            [SQL_SMALL_RESULT] [SQL_BIG_RESULT] [SQL_BUFFER_RESULT]
            [SQL_CACHE | SQL_NO_CACHE] [SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS] [HIGH_PRIORITY]
            [DISTINCT | DISTINCTROW | ALL]
         select_expression,...
         [INTO {OUTFILE | DUMPFILE} 'file_name' export_options]
         [FROM table_references
           [WHERE where_definition]
           [GROUP BY {unsigned_integer | col_name | formula} [ASC | DESC], ...
             [WITH ROLLUP]]
           [HAVING where_definition]
           [ORDER BY {unsigned_integer | col_name | formula} [ASC | DESC] ,...]
           [LIMIT [offset,] row_count | row_count OFFSET offset]
           [PROCEDURE procedure_name(argument_list)]
           [FOR UPDATE | LOCK IN SHARE MODE]]

`SELECT' is used to retrieve rows selected from one or more tables.
Each `select_expression' indicates a column you want to retrieve.
`SELECT' may also be used to retrieve rows computed without reference to
any table.  For example:

     mysql> SELECT 1 + 1;
             -> 2

All clauses used must be given in exactly the order shown in the syntax
description. For example, a `HAVING' clause must come after any `GROUP
BY' clause and before any `ORDER BY' clause.

   * A `SELECT' expression may be given an alias using `AS alias_name'.
     The alias is used as the expression's column name and can be used
     with `ORDER BY' or `HAVING' clauses.  For example:

          mysql> SELECT CONCAT(last_name,', ',first_name) AS full_name
              FROM mytable ORDER BY full_name;

     The `AS' keyword is optional when aliasing a `SELECT' expression.
     The preceding example could have been written like this:

          mysql> SELECT CONCAT(last_name,', ',first_name) full_name
              FROM mytable ORDER BY full_name;

     Because the `AS' is optional, a subtle problem can occur if you
     forget the comma between two `SELECT' expressions: MySQL will
     interpret the second as an alias name. For example, in the
     following statement, `columnb' is treated as an alias name:

          mysql> SELECT columna columnb FROM mytable;

   * It is not allowed to use a column alias in a `WHERE' clause,
     because the column value may not yet be determined when the
     `WHERE' clause is executed.  *Note Problems with alias::.

   * The `FROM table_references' clause indicates the tables from which
     to retrieve rows. If you name more than one table, you are
     performing a join.  For information on join syntax, see *Note
     `JOIN': JOIN.  For each table specified, you may optionally
     specify an alias.
          table_name [[AS] alias] [[USE INDEX (key_list)] | [IGNORE INDEX (key_list)] | [FORCE INDEX (key_list)]]
     As of MySQL Version 3.23.12, you can give hints about which index
     MySQL should use when retrieving information from a table. This is
     useful if `EXPLAIN' shows that MySQL is using the wrong index from
     the list of possible indexes.  By specifying `USE INDEX
     (key_list)', you can tell MySQL to use only one of the possible
     indexes to find rows in the table.  The alternative syntax `IGNORE
     INDEX (key_list)' can be used to tell MySQL to not use some
     particular index.

     In MySQL 4.0.9 you can also use `FORCE INDEX'. This acts likes
     `USE INDEX (key_list)' but with the addition that a table scan is
     assumed to be VERY expensive.  In other words a table scan will
     only be used if there is no way to use one of the given index to
     find rows in the table.

     `USE/IGNORE/FORCE KEY' are synonyms for `USE/IGNORE/FORCE INDEX'.

     *Note:* `USE/IGNORE/FORCE INDEX' only affects which indexes are
     used when MySQL decides how to find rows in the table and how to
     do the join. It doesn't affect whether an index will be used when
     resolving an `ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY'.

     In MySQL 4.0.14, you can use `SET MAX_SEEKS_FOR_KEY=value' as an
     alternative way to force MySQL to prefer key scans instead of
     table scans.

   * You can refer to a table as `tbl_name' (within the current
     database), or as `dbname.tbl_name' to explicitly specify a
     database.  You can refer to a column as `col_name',
     `tbl_name.col_name', or `db_name.tbl_name.col_name'.  You need not
     specify a `tbl_name' or `db_name.tbl_name' prefix for a column
     reference in a `SELECT' statement unless the reference would be
     ambiguous.  See *Note Legal names::, for examples of ambiguity
     that require the more explicit column reference forms.

   * From version 4.1.0, you are allowed to specify `DUAL' as a dummy
     table name, in situations where no tables are referenced. This is
     purely compatibility feature, some other servers require this
     syntax.

          mysql> SELECT 1 + 1 FROM DUAL;
                  -> 2

   * A table reference may be aliased using `tbl_name [AS] alias_name':

          mysql> SELECT t1.name, t2.salary FROM employee AS t1, info AS t2
              ->        WHERE t1.name = t2.name;
          mysql> SELECT t1.name, t2.salary FROM employee t1, info t2
              ->        WHERE t1.name = t2.name;

   * Columns selected for output may be referred to in `ORDER BY' and
     `GROUP BY' clauses using column names, column aliases, or column
     positions.  Column positions begin with 1:

          mysql> SELECT college, region, seed FROM tournament
              ->        ORDER BY region, seed;
          mysql> SELECT college, region AS r, seed AS s FROM tournament
              ->        ORDER BY r, s;
          mysql> SELECT college, region, seed FROM tournament
              ->        ORDER BY 2, 3;

     To sort in reverse order, add the `DESC' (descending) keyword to
     the name of the column in the `ORDER BY' clause that you are
     sorting by.  The default is ascending order; this may be specified
     explicitly using the `ASC' keyword.

   * In the `WHERE' clause, you can use any of the functions that MySQL
     supports, except for aggregate (summary) functions.  *Note
     Functions::.

   * The `HAVING' clause can refer to any column or alias named in the
     `select_expression'. It is applied nearly last, just before items
     are sent to the client, with no optimization. (`LIMIT' is applied
     after `HAVING'.) Don't use `HAVING' for items that should be in
     the `WHERE' clause.  For example, do not write this:

          mysql> SELECT col_name FROM tbl_name HAVING col_name > 0;

     Write this instead:

          mysql> SELECT col_name FROM tbl_name WHERE col_name > 0;

     In MySQL Version 3.22.5 or later, you can also write queries like
     this:

          mysql> SELECT user,MAX(salary) FROM users
              ->        GROUP BY user HAVING MAX(salary)>10;

     In older MySQL versions, you can write this instead:

          mysql> SELECT user,MAX(salary) AS sum FROM users
              ->        group by user HAVING sum>10;

   * The options `DISTINCT', `DISTINCTROW' and `ALL' specify whether
     duplicate rows should be returned. The default is (`ALL'), all
     matching rows are returned. `DISTINCT' and `DISTINCTROW' are
     synonyms and specify that duplicate rows in the result set should
     be removed.

   * `STRAIGHT_JOIN', `HIGH_PRIORITY', and options beginning with
     `SQL_' are MySQL extensions to SQL-99.

        * `STRAIGHT_JOIN' forces the optimizer to join the tables in
          the order in which they are listed in the `FROM' clause. You
          can use this to speed up a query if the optimizer joins the
          tables in non-optimal order.  *Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN.

        * `HIGH_PRIORITY' will give the `SELECT' higher priority than a
          statement that updates a table.  You should use this only for
          queries that are very fast and must be done at once.  A
          `SELECT HIGH_PRIORITY' query will run if the table is locked
          for read even if there is an update statement that is waiting
          for the table to be free.

        * `SQL_BIG_RESULT' can be used with `GROUP BY' or `DISTINCT' to
          tell the optimizer that the result set will have many rows.
          In this case, MySQL will directly use disk-based temporary
          tables if needed.  MySQL will also, in this case, prefer
          sorting to doing a temporary table with a key on the `GROUP
          BY' elements.

        * `SQL_BUFFER_RESULT' forces the result to be put into a
          temporary table. This helps MySQL free the table locks early
          and helps in cases where it takes a long time to send the
          result set to the client.

        * `SQL_SMALL_RESULT', a MySQL-specific option, can be used with
          `GROUP BY' or `DISTINCT' to tell the optimizer that the
          result set will be small.  In this case, MySQL uses fast
          temporary tables to store the resulting table instead of
          using sorting. In MySQL Version 3.23 this shouldn't normally
          be needed.

        * `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' (version 4.0.0 and up) tells MySQL to
          calculate how many rows there would be in the result set,
          disregarding any `LIMIT' clause.  The number of rows can then
          be retrieved with `SELECT FOUND_ROWS()'.  *Note Miscellaneous
          functions::.

          Please note that in versions prior to 4.1.0 this does not
          work with `LIMIT 0', which is optimized to return instantly
          (resulting in a row count of 0). *Note LIMIT optimisation::.

        * `SQL_CACHE' tells MySQL to store the query result in the
          query cache if you are using `QUERY_CACHE_TYPE=2' (`DEMAND').
          *Note Query Cache::. For a query that uses `UNION' or
          subqueries, this option takes effect to be used in any
          `SELECT' of the query.

        * `SQL_NO_CACHE' tells MySQL not to store the query result in
          the query cache. *Note Query Cache::.  For a query that uses
          `UNION' or subqueries, this option takes effect to be used in
          any `SELECT' of the query.


   * If you use `GROUP BY', the output rows will be sorted according to
     the `GROUP BY' as if you had an `ORDER BY' over all the fields in
     the `GROUP BY'. MySQL has extended the `GROUP BY' clause so that
     you can also specify `ASC' and `DESC' after columns named in the
     clause:

          SELECT a,COUNT(b) FROM test_table GROUP BY a DESC

   * MySQL has extended the use of `GROUP BY' to allow you to select
     fields that are not mentioned in the `GROUP BY' clause.  If you
     are not getting the results you expect from your query, please
     read the `GROUP BY' description.  *Note Group by functions and
     modifiers::.

   * As of MySQL 4.1.1, `GROUP BY' allows a `WITH ROLLUP' modifier.
     *Note `GROUP BY' Modifiers: GROUP-BY-Modifiers.

   * The `LIMIT' clause can be used to constrain the number of rows
     returned by the `SELECT' statement.  `LIMIT' takes one or two
     numeric arguments, which must be integer constants.

     With one argument, the value specifies the number of rows to
     return from the beginning of the result set.  With two arguments,
     the first argument specifies the offset of the first row to
     return, and the second specifies the maximum number of rows to
     return.  The offset of the initial row is 0 (not 1):

     To be compatible with PostgreSQL MySQL also supports the syntax:
     `LIMIT row_count OFFSET offset'.

          mysql> SELECT * FROM table LIMIT 5,10;  # Retrieve rows 6-15

     To retrieve all rows from a certain offset up to the end of the
     result set, you can use some large number for the second parameter:

          mysql> SELECT * FROM table LIMIT 95,18446744073709551615; # Retrieve rows 96-last.

     If one argument is given, it indicates the maximum number of rows
     to return:

          mysql> SELECT * FROM table LIMIT 5;     # Retrieve first 5 rows

     In other words, `LIMIT n' is equivalent to `LIMIT 0,n'.

   * The `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE 'file_name'' form of `SELECT' writes
     the selected rows to a file. The file is created on the server
     host and cannot already exist (among other things, this prevents
     database tables and files such as `/etc/passwd' from being
     destroyed).  You must have the `FILE' privilege on the server host
     to use this form of `SELECT'.

     The `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' statement is intended primarily to
     let you very quickly dump a table on the server machine. If you
     want to create the resulting file on some other host than the
     server host, you can't use `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE'. In that
     case, you should instead use some client program like `mysqldump
     --tab' or `mysql -e "SELECT ..." > outfile' to generate the file.

     `SELECT ...  INTO OUTFILE' is the complement of `LOAD DATA
     INFILE'; the syntax for the `export_options' part of the statement
     consists of the same `FIELDS' and `LINES' clauses that are used
     with the `LOAD DATA INFILE' statement.  *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD
     DATA.

     In the resulting text file, only the following characters are
     escaped by the `ESCAPED BY' character:

        * The `ESCAPED BY' character

        * The first character in `FIELDS TERMINATED BY'

        * The first character in `LINES TERMINATED BY'

     Additionally, `ASCII 0' is converted to `ESCAPED BY' followed by 0
     (`ASCII 48').

     The reason for the above is that you *must* escape any `FIELDS
     TERMINATED BY', `ESCAPED BY', or `LINES TERMINATED BY' characters
     to reliably be able to read the file back. `ASCII 0' is escaped to
     make it easier to view with some pagers.

     As the resulting file doesn't have to conform to the SQL syntax,
     nothing else need be escaped.

     Here follows an example of getting a file in the format used by
     many old programs.

          SELECT a,b,a+b INTO OUTFILE "/tmp/result.text"
          FIELDS TERMINATED BY ',' OPTIONALLY ENCLOSED BY '"'
          LINES TERMINATED BY "\n"
          FROM test_table;

   * If you use `INTO DUMPFILE' instead of `INTO OUTFILE', MySQL will
     write only one row into the file, without any column or line
     terminations and without performing any escape processing.  This
     is useful if you want to store a `BLOB' value in a file.

   * Note that any file created by `INTO OUTFILE' and `INTO DUMPFILE'
     will be writable by all users on the server host!  The reason is
     that the MySQL server can't create a file that is owned by anyone
     else than the user it's running as (you should never run `mysqld'
     as `root').  The file thus must be world-writable so that you can
     manipulate its contents.

   * A `PROCEDURE' clause names a procedure that should process the data
     in the result set.  For an example, see *Note procedure analyse::.

   * If you use `FOR UPDATE' on a storage engine with page or row locks,
     the examined rows are write-locked until the end of the current
     transaction.

`JOIN' Syntax
.............

MySQL supports the following `JOIN' syntaxes for use in `SELECT'
statements:

     table_reference, table_reference
     table_reference [INNER | CROSS] JOIN table_reference [join_condition]
     table_reference STRAIGHT_JOIN table_reference
     table_reference LEFT [OUTER] JOIN table_reference [join_condition]
     table_reference NATURAL [LEFT [OUTER]] JOIN table_reference
     { OJ table_reference LEFT OUTER JOIN table_reference ON conditional_expr }
     table_reference RIGHT [OUTER] JOIN table_reference [join_condition]
     table_reference NATURAL [RIGHT [OUTER]] JOIN table_reference

Where `table_reference' is defined as:
     table_name [[AS] alias] [[USE INDEX (key_list)] | [IGNORE INDEX (key_list)] | [FORCE INDEX (key_list)]]

and `join_condition' is defined as:

     ON conditional_expr |
     USING (column_list)

You should generally not have any conditions in the `ON' part that are
used to restrict which rows you want in the result set, but rather
specify these conditions in the `WHERE' clause. There are exceptions to
this rule.

Note that `INNER JOIN' syntax allows a `join_condition' only from MySQL
3.23.17 on.  The same is true for `JOIN' and `CROSS JOIN' only as of
MySQL 4.0.11.

The last `LEFT OUTER JOIN' syntax shown in the preceding list exists
only for compatibility with ODBC:

   * A table reference may be aliased using `tbl_name AS alias_name' or
     `tbl_name alias_name':

          mysql> SELECT t1.name, t2.salary FROM employee AS t1, info AS t2
              ->        WHERE t1.name = t2.name;

   * The `ON' conditional is any conditional of the form that may be
     used in a `WHERE' clause.

   * If there is no matching record for the right table in the `ON' or
     `USING' part in a `LEFT JOIN', a row with all columns set to
     `NULL' is used for the right table.  You can use this fact to find
     records in a table that have no counterpart in another table:

          mysql> SELECT table1.* FROM table1
              ->        LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.id=table2.id
              ->        WHERE table2.id IS NULL;

     This example finds all rows in `table1' with an `id' value that is
     not present in `table2' (that is, all rows in `table1' with no
     corresponding row in `table2').  This assumes that `table2.id' is
     declared `NOT NULL'. *Note LEFT JOIN optimisation::.

   * The `USING' `(column_list)' clause names a list of columns that
     must exist in both tables. The following two clauses are
     semantically identical:

          a LEFT JOIN b USING (c1,c2,c3)
          a LEFT JOIN b ON a.c1=b.c1 AND a.c2=b.c2 AND a.c3=b.c3

   * The `NATURAL [LEFT] JOIN' of two tables is defined to be
     semantically equivalent to an `INNER JOIN' or a `LEFT JOIN' with a
     `USING' clause that names all columns that exist in both tables.

   * `INNER JOIN' and `,' (comma) are semantically equivalent in the
     absence of a join condition: both will produce a Cartesian product
     between the specified tables (that is, each and every row in the
     first table will be joined onto all rows in the second table).

   * `RIGHT JOIN' works analogously to `LEFT JOIN'.  To keep code
     portable across databases, it's recommended to use `LEFT JOIN'
     instead of `RIGHT JOIN'.

   * `STRAIGHT_JOIN' is identical to `JOIN', except that the left table
     is always read before the right table. This can be used for those
     (few) cases in which the join optimizer puts the tables in the
     wrong order.

   * As of MySQL Version 3.23.12, you can give hints about which index
     MySQL should use when retrieving information from a table. This is
     useful if `EXPLAIN' shows that MySQL is using the wrong index from
     the list of possible indexes.  By specifying `USE INDEX
     (key_list)', you can tell MySQL to use only one of the possible
     indexes to find rows in the table.  The alternative syntax `IGNORE
     INDEX (key_list)' can be used to tell MySQL to not use some
     particular index.

     In MySQL 4.0.9 you can also use `FORCE INDEX'. This acts likes
     `USE INDEX (key_list)' but with the addition that a table scan is
     assumed to be VERY expensive.  In other words a table scan will
     only be used if there is no way to use one of the given index to
     find rows in the table.

     `USE/IGNORE KEY' are synonyms for `USE/IGNORE INDEX'.

*Note:* `USE/IGNORE/FORCE INDEX' only affects which indexes are used
when MySQL decides how to find rows in the table and how to do the
join. It doesn't affect whether an index will be used when resolving an
`ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY'.

Some examples:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM table1,table2 WHERE table1.id=table2.id;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM table1 LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.id=table2.id;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM table1 LEFT JOIN table2 USING (id);
     mysql> SELECT * FROM table1 LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.id=table2.id
         ->          LEFT JOIN table3 ON table2.id=table3.id;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM table1 USE INDEX (key1,key2)
         ->          WHERE key1=1 AND key2=2 AND key3=3;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM table1 IGNORE INDEX (key3)
         ->          WHERE key1=1 AND key2=2 AND key3=3;

*Note `LEFT JOIN' optimisation: LEFT JOIN optimisation.

`UNION' Syntax
..............

     SELECT ...
     UNION [ALL | DISTINCT]
     SELECT ...
       [UNION [ALL | DISTINCT]
        SELECT ...]

`UNION' is implemented in MySQL 4.0.0.

`UNION' is used to combine the result from many `SELECT' statements
into one result set.

The columns listed in the `select_expression' portion of the `SELECT'
should have the same type. The column names used in the first `SELECT'
query will be used as the column names for the results returned.

The `SELECT' commands are normal select commands, but with the following
restrictions:

   * Only the last `SELECT' command can have `INTO OUTFILE'.

If you don't use the keyword `ALL' for the `UNION', all returned rows
will be unique, as if you had done a `DISTINCT' for the total result
set.  If you specify `ALL', you will get all matching rows from all the
used `SELECT' statements.

The `DISTINCT' keyword is an optional word (introduced in MySQL 4.0.17)
that does nothing. But it is required by the SQL standard.

If you want to use an `ORDER BY' for the total `UNION' result, you
should use parentheses:

     (SELECT a FROM table_name WHERE a=10 AND B=1 ORDER BY a LIMIT 10)
     UNION
     (SELECT a FROM table_name WHERE a=11 AND B=2 ORDER BY a LIMIT 10)
     ORDER BY a;

*Note:* You cannot mix `UNION ALL' and `UNION DISTINCT' in the same
query yet.  If you use `ALL' for one `UNION' then it is used for all of
them.

The types and lengths of the columns in the result set of a `UNION'
take into acccount the values retrieved by all the `SELECT' statements.
Before MySQL 4.1.1, a limitation of `UNION' is that only the values from
the first `SELECT' were used to determine result types and lengths.
This could result in value truncation if, for example, the second
`SELECT' retrieved longer values than the first `SELECT':

     mysql> SELECT REPEAT('a',1) UNION SELECT REPEAT('b',10);
     +---------------+
     | REPEAT('a',1) |
     +---------------+
     | a             |
     | b             |
     +---------------+

That limitation has been removed as of MySQL 4.1.1:

     mysql> SELECT REPEAT('a',1) UNION SELECT REPEAT('b',10);
     +---------------+
     | REPEAT('a',1) |
     +---------------+
     | a             |
     | bbbbbbbbbb    |
     +---------------+

Subquery Syntax
---------------

A subquery is a `SELECT' statement inside another statement.  For
example:

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE column1 = (SELECT column1 FROM t2);

In the above example, `SELECT * FROM t1 ...' is the _outer query_ (or
_outer statement_), and `(SELECT column1 FROM t2)' is the _subquery_.
We say that the subquery is _nested_ in the outer query, and in fact
it's possible to nest subqueries within other subqueries, to a great
depth.  A subquery must always be inside parentheses.

Starting with version 4.1, MySQL supports all subquery forms and
operations which the SQL standard requires, as well as a few features
which are MySQL-specific. The main advantages of subqueries are:

   * They allow queries which are _structured_ so that it's possible to
     isolate each part of a statement.

   * They provide alternative ways to perform operations which would
     otherwise require complex joins and unions.

   * They are, in many people's opinion, readable.  Indeed, it was the
     innovation of subqueries which gave people the original idea of
     calling the early `SQL' "Structured Query Language".

With earlier MySQL versions it was necessary to work around or avoid
subqueries, but people starting to write code now will find that
subqueries are a very useful part of the toolkit.

Here is an example statement which shows the major points about subquery
syntax as specified by the SQL standard and supported in MySQL.

     DELETE FROM t1
     WHERE s11 > ANY
      (SELECT COUNT(*) /* no hint */ FROM t2
      WHERE NOT EXISTS
       (SELECT * FROM t3
        WHERE ROW(5*t2.s1,77)=
         (SELECT 50,11*s1 FROM t4 UNION SELECT 50,77 FROM
          (SELECT * FROM t5) AS t5)));

For MySQL versions prior to 4.1, most subqueries can be successfully
rewritten using joins and and other methods.  *Note Rewriting
subqueries::.

The Subquery as Scalar Operand
..............................

In its simplest form (the _scalar_ subquery as opposed to the _row_ or
_table_ subqueries which will be discussed later), a subquery is a
simple operand. Thus you can use it wherever a column value or literal
is legal, and you can expect it to have those characteristics that all
operands have: a data type, a length, an indication whether it can be
`NULL', and so on.  For example:

     CREATE TABLE t1 (s1 INT, s2 CHAR(5) NOT NULL);
     SELECT (SELECT s2 FROM t1);

The subquery in the above `SELECT' has a data type of `CHAR', a length
of 5, a character set and collation equal to the defaults in effect at
`CREATE TABLE' time, and an indication that the value in the column can
be `NULL'. In fact almost all subqueries can be `NULL', because if the
table is empty - as in the example - then the value of the subquery
will be `NULL'.  There are few restrictions.

   * A subquery's outer statement can be any one of: `SELECT',
     `INSERT', `UPDATE', `DELETE', `SET', or `DO'.

   * A subquery can contain any of the keywords or clauses that an
     ordinary `SELECT' can contain: `DISTINCT', `GROUP BY', `ORDER BY',
     `LIMIT', joins, hints, `UNION' constructs, comments, functions,
     and so on.

So, when you see examples in the following sections that contain the
rather Spartan construct `(SELECT column1 FROM t1)', imagine that your
own code will contain much more diverse and complex constructions.

For example, suppose we make two tables:

     CREATE TABLE t1 (s1 INT);
     INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (1);
     CREATE TABLE t2 (s1 INT);
     INSERT INTO t2 VALUES (2);

Then perform a `SELECT':

     SELECT (SELECT s1 FROM t2) FROM t1;

The result will be `2' because there is a row in `t2', with a column
`s1', with a value of 2.

The subquery may be part of an expression. If it is an operand for a
function, don't forget the parentheses.  For example:

     SELECT UPPER((SELECT s1 FROM t1)) FROM t2;

Comparisons Using Subqueries
............................

The most common use of a subquery is in the form:

     <non-subquery operand> <comparison operator> (<subquery>)

Where <comparison operator> is one of:
     = > < >= <= <>

For example:
     ... 'a' = (SELECT column1 FROM t1)

At one time the only legal place for a subquery was on the right side
of a comparison, and you might still find some old DBMSs which insist
on that.

Here is an example of a common-form subquery comparison which you can't
do with a join: find all the values in table `t1' which are equal to a
maximum value in table `t2'.

     SELECT column1 FROM t1
            WHERE column1 = (SELECT MAX(column2) FROM t2);

Here is another example, which again is impossible with a join because
it involves aggregating for one of the tables: find all rows in table
`t1' which contain a value which occurs twice.

     SELECT * FROM t1
            WHERE 2 = (SELECT COUNT(column1) FROM t1);

Subqueries with `ANY', `IN', and `SOME'
.......................................

Syntax:
     <operand> <comparison operator> ANY (<subquery>)
     <operand> IN (<subquery>)
     <operand> <comparison operator> SOME (<subquery>)

The word `ANY', which must follow a comparison operator, means "return
`TRUE' if the comparison is `TRUE' for `ANY' of the rows that the
subquery returns."  For example,

     SELECT s1 FROM t1 WHERE s1 > ANY (SELECT s1 FROM t2);

Suppose that there is a row in table `t1' containing {10}.  The
expression is `TRUE' if table `t2' contains {21,14,7} because there is
a value in `t2' - 7 - which is less than 10.  The expression is `FALSE'
if table `t2' contains {20,10}, or if table `t2' is empty.  The
expression is `UNKNOWN' if table `t2' contains {`NULL',`NULL',`NULL'}.

The word `IN' is an alias for `= ANY'. Thus these two statements are
the same:

     SELECT s1 FROM t1 WHERE s1 = ANY (SELECT s1 FROM t2);
     SELECT s1 FROM t1 WHERE s1 IN    (SELECT s1 FROM t2);

The word `SOME' is an alias for `ANY'. Thus these two statements are
the same:

     SELECT s1 FROM t1 WHERE s1 <> ANY  (SELECT s1 FROM t2);
     SELECT s1 FROM t1 WHERE s1 <> SOME (SELECT s1 FROM t2);

Use of the word `SOME' is rare, but the above example shows why it
might be useful. The English phrase "a is not equal to any b" means, to
most people's ears, "there is no b which is equal to a" - which isn't
what is meant by the SQL syntax. By using `<> SOME' instead, you ensure
that everyone understands the true meaning of the query.

Subqueries with `ALL'
.....................

Syntax:
     <operand> <comparison operator> ALL (<subquery>)

The word `ALL', which must follow a comparison operator, means "return
`TRUE' if the comparison is `TRUE' for `ALL' of the rows that the
subquery returns".  For example,

     SELECT s1 FROM t1 WHERE s1 > ALL (SELECT s1 FROM t2);

Suppose that there is a row in table `t1' containing {10}.  The
expression is `TRUE' if table `t2' contains {-5,0,+5} because all three
values in `t2' are less than 10.  The expression is `FALSE' if table
`t2' contains {12,6,NULL,-100} because there is a single value in table
`t2' - 12 - which is greater than 10.  The expression is `UNKNOWN' if
table `t2' contains {0,NULL,1}.

Finally, if table `t2' is empty, the result is `TRUE'.  You might think
the result should be `UNKNOWN', but sorry, it's `TRUE'. So, rather
oddly,

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE 1 > ALL (SELECT s1 FROM t2);

is `TRUE' when table `t2' is empty, but

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE 1 > (SELECT s1 FROM t2);

is `UNKNOWN' when table `t2' is empty. In addition,

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE 1 > ALL (SELECT MAX(s1) FROM t2);

is `UNKNOWN' when table `t2' is empty.  In general, _tables with NULLs_
and _empty tables_ are _edge cases_ - when writing subquery code,
always consider whether you have taken those two possibilities into
account.

Correlated Subqueries
.....................

A _correlated subquery_ is a subquery which contains a reference to a
column which is also in the outer query.  For example:

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE column1 = ANY
            (SELECT column1 FROM t2 WHERE t2.column2 = t1.column2);

Notice, in the example, that the subquery contains a reference to a
column of `t1', even though the subquery's `FROM' clause doesn't mention
a table `t1'. So MySQL looks outside the subquery, and finds t1 in the
outer query.

Suppose that table `t1' contains a row where `column1 = 5' and `column2
= 6'; meanwhile table `t2' contains a row where `column1 = 5' and
`column2 = 7'. The simple expression `... WHERE column1 = ANY (SELECT
column1 FROM t2)' would be `TRUE', but in this example the `WHERE'
clause within the subquery is `FALSE' (because 7 <> 5), so the subquery
as a whole is `FALSE'.

*Scoping rule:* MySQL evaluates from inside to outside.  For example:

     SELECT column1 FROM t1 AS x
       WHERE x.column1 = (SELECT column1 FROM t2 AS x
         WHERE x.column1 = (SELECT column1 FROM t3 WHERE x.column2 = t3.column1));

In the above, `x.column2' must be a column in table `t2' because
`SELECT column1 FROM t2 AS x ...' renames `t2'. It is not a column in
table `t1' because `SELECT column1 FROM t1 ...' is an outer query which
is _further out_.

For subqueries in `HAVING' or `ORDER BY' clauses, MySQL also looks for
column names in the outer select list.

MySQL's unofficial recommendation is: avoid correlation because it
makes your queries look more complex, and run more slowly.

`EXISTS' and `NOT EXISTS'
.........................

If a subquery returns any values at all, then `EXISTS <subquery>' is
`TRUE', and `NOT EXISTS <subquery>' is `FALSE'.  For example:

     SELECT column1 FROM t1 WHERE EXISTS (SELECT * FROM t2);

Traditionally an `EXISTS' subquery starts with `SELECT *' but it could
begin with `SELECT 5' or `SELECT column1' or anything at all - MySQL
ignores the `SELECT' list in such a subquery, so it doesn't matter.

For the above example, if `t2' contains any rows, even rows with
nothing but `NULL' values, then the `EXISTS' condition is `TRUE'. This
is actually an unlikely example, since almost always a `[NOT] EXISTS'
subquery will contain correlations.  Here are some more realistic
examples.

Example: What kind of store is present in one or more cities?
     SELECT DISTINCT store_type FROM Stores
       WHERE EXISTS (SELECT * FROM Cities_Stores
                     WHERE Cities_Stores.store_type = Stores.store_type);

Example: What kind of store is present in no cities?
     SELECT DISTINCT store_type FROM Stores
       WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT * FROM Cities_Stores
                         WHERE Cities_Stores.store_type = Stores.store_type);

Example: What kind of store is present in all cities?
     SELECT DISTINCT store_type FROM Stores S1
       WHERE NOT EXISTS (
         SELECT * FROM Cities WHERE NOT EXISTS (
           SELECT * FROM Cities_Stores
            WHERE Cities_Stores.city = Cities.city
            AND Cities_Stores.store_type = Stores.store_type));

The last example is a double-nested `NOT EXISTS' query - it has a `NOT
EXISTS' clause within a `NOT EXISTS' clause. Formally, it answers the
question "does a city exist with a store which is not in Stores?". But
it's easier to say that a nested `NOT EXISTS' answers the question "is
x TRUE for all y?".

Row Subqueries
..............

The discussion to this point has been of _column (or scalar)
subqueries_ - subqueries which return a single column value. A _row
subquery_ is a subquery variant that returns a single row value - and
may thus return more than one column value.  Here are two examples:

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE (1,2) = (SELECT column1, column2 FROM t2);
     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE ROW(1,2) = (SELECT column1, column2 FROM t2);

The queries above are both `TRUE' if table `t2' has a row where
`column1 = 1' and `column2 = 2'.

The expression `(1,2)' is sometimes called a _row constructor_ and is
legal in other contexts too. For example

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE (column1,column2) = (1,1);

is equivalent to
     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE column1 = 1 AND column2 = 1;

The normal use of row constructors, though, is for comparisons with
subqueries that return two or more columns. For example, this query
answers the request: "find all rows in table t1 which are duplicated in
table t2":

     SELECT column1,column2,column3
            FROM t1
            WHERE (column1,column2,column3) IN
                  (SELECT column1,column2,column3 FROM t2);

Subqueries in the `FROM' clause
...............................

Subqueries are legal in a `SELECT' statement's `FROM' clause.  The
syntax that you'll actually see is:

     SELECT ... FROM (<subquery>) AS <name> ...

The `AS <name>' clause is mandatory, because any table in a `FROM'
clause must have a name. Any columns in the `<subquery>' select list
must have unique names. You may find this syntax described elsewhere in
this manual, where the term used is "derived tables".

For illustration, assume you have this table:
     CREATE TABLE t1 (s1 INT, s2 CHAR(5), s3 FLOAT);

Here's how to use the _Subqueries in the FROM clause_ feature, using
the example table:

     INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (1,'1',1.0);
     INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (2,'2',2.0);
     SELECT sb1,sb2,sb3
            FROM (SELECT s1 AS sb1, s2 AS sb2, s3*2 AS sb3 FROM t1) AS sb
            WHERE sb1 > 1;

Result: 2, '2', 4.0.

Here's another example: Suppose you want to know the average of the sum
for a grouped table. This won't work:
     SELECT AVG(SUM(column1)) FROM t1 GROUP BY column1;

But this query will provide the desired information:

     SELECT AVG(sum_column1)
            FROM (SELECT SUM(column1) AS sum_column1
                  FROM t1 GROUP BY column1) AS t1;

Notice that the column name used within the subquery `(sum_column1)' is
recognized in the outer query.

At the moment, subqueries in the `FROM' clause cannot be correlated
subqueries.

Subquery Errors
...............

There are some new error returns which apply only to subqueries.  This
section groups them together because reviewing them will help remind
you of some points.

   *      ERROR 1235 (ER_NOT_SUPPORTED_YET)
          SQLSTATE = 42000
          Message = "This version of MySQL doesn't yet support
          'LIMIT & IN/ALL/ANY/SOME subquery'"

     This means that

          SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE s1 IN (SELECT s2 FROM t2 ORDER BY s1 LIMIT 1)

     will not work, but only in some early versions, such as MySQL
     4.1.1.

   *      ERROR 1240 (ER_CARDINALITY_COL)
          SQLSTATE = 21000
          Message = "Operand should contain 1 column(s)"

     This error will occur in cases like this:

          SELECT (SELECT column1, column2 FROM t2) FROM t1;

     It's okay to use a subquery that returns multiple columns, if the
     purpose is comparison. *Note Row subqueries::.  But in other
     contexts the subquery must be a scalar operand.

   *      ERROR 1241 (ER_SUBSELECT_NO_1_ROW)
          SQLSTATE = 21000
          Message = "Subquery returns more than 1 row"

     This error will occur in cases like this:
          SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE column1 = (SELECT column1 FROM t2);

     but only when there is more than one row in `t2'. That means this
     error might occur in code that has been working for years, because
     somebody happened to make a change which affected the number of
     rows that the subquery can return. Remember that if the object is
     to find any number of rows, not just one, then the correct
     statement would look like this:

          SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE column1 = ANY (SELECT column1 FROM t2);

   *      Error 1093 (ER_UPDATE_TABLE_USED)
          SQLSTATE = HY000
          Message = "You can't specify target table 'x' for update in FROM clause"

     This error will occur in cases like this:

          UPDATE t1 SET column2 = (SELECT MAX(column1) FROM t1);

It's okay to use a subquery for assignment within an `UPDATE'
statement, since subqueries are legal in `UPDATE' and in `DELETE'
statements as well as in `SELECT' statements.  However, you cannot use
the same table, in this case table `t1', for both the subquery's `FROM'
clause and the update target.

Usually, failure of the subquery causes the entire statement to fail.

Optimizing Subqueries
.....................

Development is ongoing, so no optimization tip is reliable for the long
term. Some interesting tricks that you might want to play with are:

   * Using subquery clauses which affect the number or order of the
     rows in the subquery, for example

          SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE t1.column1 IN
            (SELECT column1 FROM t2 ORDER BY column1);
          SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE t1.column1 IN
            (SELECT DISTINCT column1 FROM t2);
          SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE EXISTS
            (SELECT * FROM t2 LIMIT 1);

   * Replacing a join with a subquery, for example

          SELECT DISTINCT column1 FROM t1 WHERE t1.column1 IN (
            SELECT column1 FROM t2);

     instead of

          SELECT DISTINCT t1.column1 FROM t1, t2
            WHERE t1.column1 = t2.column1;

   * Moving clauses from outside to inside the subquery, for example:

          SELECT * FROM t1
            WHERE s1 IN (SELECT s1 FROM t1 UNION ALL SELECT s1 FROM t2);

     instead of

          SELECT * FROM t1
            WHERE s1 IN (SELECT s1 FROM t1) OR s1 IN (SELECT s1 FROM t2);

     For another example:

          SELECT (SELECT column1 + 5 FROM t1) FROM t2;

     instead of

          SELECT (SELECT column1 FROM t1) + 5 FROM t2;

   * Using a row subquery instead of a correlated subquery, for example:

          SELECT * FROM t1
            WHERE (column1,column2) IN (SELECT column1,column2 FROM t2);

     instead of

          SELECT * FROM t1
            WHERE EXISTS (SELECT * FROM t2 WHERE t2.column1=t1.column1
            AND t2.column2=t1.column2);

   * Using `NOT (a = ANY (...))' rather than `a <> ALL (...)'.

   * Using `x = ANY (table containing {1,2})' rather than `x=1 OR x=2'.

   * Using `= ANY' rather than `EXISTS'

The above tricks may cause programs to go faster or slower. Using MySQL
facilities like the `BENCHMARK()' function, you can get an idea about
what helps in your own situation. Don't worry too much about
transforming to joins except for compatibility with older versions.

Some optimizations that MySQL itself will make are:

  1. MySQL will execute non-correlated subqueries only once, (use
     `EXPLAIN' to make sure that a given subquery really is
     non-correlated),

  2. MySQL will rewrite `IN'/`ALL'/`ANY'/`SOME' subqueries in an
     attempt to take advantage of the possibility that the select-list
     columns in the subquery are indexed,

  3. MySQL will replace subqueries of the form

          ... IN (SELECT indexed_column FROM single_table ...)

     with an index-lookup function, which `EXPLAIN' will describe as a
     special join type,

  4. MySQL will enhance expressions of the form

          value {ALL|ANY|SOME} {> | < | >= | <=} (non-correlated subquery)

     with an expression involving `MIN' or `MAX' (unless `NULL' values
     or empty sets are involved). For example,

          WHERE 5 > ALL (SELECT x FROM t)

     might be treated as

          WHERE 5 > (SELECT MAX(x) FROM t)


There is a chapter titled "How MySQL Transforms Subqueries" in the
MySQL Internals Manual, which you can find by downloading the MySQL
source package and looking for a file named `internals.texi'.

Rewriting Subqueries for Earlier MySQL Versions
...............................................

Up to version 4.0, only nested queries of the form `INSERT ... SELECT
...' and `REPLACE ... SELECT ...' are supported.  The `IN()' construct
can be used in other contexts.

It is often possible to rewrite a query without a subquery:

     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE id IN (SELECT id FROM t2);

This can be rewritten as:

     SELECT t1.* FROM t1,t2 WHERE t1.id=t2.id;

The queries:
     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE id NOT IN (SELECT id FROM t2);
     SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE NOT EXISTS (SELECT id FROM t2 WHERE t1.id=t2.id);

Can be rewritten as:

     SELECT table1.* FROM table1 LEFT JOIN table2 ON table1.id=table2.id
                                            WHERE table2.id IS NULL;

A `LEFT [OUTER] JOIN' can be faster than an equivalent subquery because
the server might be able to optimize it better - a fact that is not
specific to MySQL Server alone.  Prior to SQL-92, outer joins did not
exist, so subqueries were the only way to do certain things in those
bygone days. Today, MySQL Server and many other modern database systems
offer a whole range of outer joins types.

For more complicated subqueries you can often create temporary tables
to hold the subquery.  In some cases, however, this option will not
work. The most frequently encountered of these cases arises with
`DELETE' statements, for which standard SQL does not support joins
(except in subqueries).  For this situation there are three options
available:

   * The first option is to upgrade to MySQL version 4.1.

   * The second option is to use a procedural programming language
     (such as Perl or PHP) to submit a `SELECT' query to obtain the
     primary keys for the records to be deleted, and then use these
     values to construct the `DELETE' statement (`DELETE FROM ... WHERE
     ... IN (key1, key2, ...)').

   * The third option is to use interactive SQL to construct a set of
     `DELETE' statements automatically, using the MySQL extension
     `CONCAT()' (in lieu of the standard `||' operator).  For example:

          SELECT CONCAT('DELETE FROM tab1 WHERE pkid = ', "'", tab1.pkid, "'", ';')
            FROM tab1, tab2
           WHERE tab1.col1 = tab2.col2;

     You can place this query in a script file and redirect input from
     it to the `mysql' command-line interpreter, piping its output back
     to a second instance of the interpreter:

          shell> mysql --skip-column-names mydb < myscript.sql | mysql mydb

MySQL Server 4.0 supports multiple-table `DELETE' statements that can
be used to efficiently delete rows based on information from one table
or even from many tables at the same time.  Multiple-table `UPDATE'
statements are also supported from version 4.0.

`TRUNCATE' Syntax
-----------------

     TRUNCATE TABLE table_name

In 3.23 `TRUNCATE TABLE' is mapped to `COMMIT; DELETE FROM table_name'.
*Note DELETE::.

`TRUNCATE TABLE' differs from `DELETE FROM ...' in the following ways:

   * Truncate operations drop and re-create the table, which is much
     faster than deleting rows one by one.

   * Truncate operations are not transaction-safe; you will get an
     error if you have an active transaction or an active table lock.

   * The number of deleted rows is not returned.

   * As long as the table definition file `table_name.frm' is valid,
     the table can be re-created this way, even if the data or index
     files have become corrupted.

   * The table handler may not remember the last used `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     value but may start counting from the beginning.  This is true for
     `MyISAM', `ISAM', and `BDB' tables.

`TRUNCATE TABLE' is an Oracle SQL extension.  This statement was added
in MySQL 3.23.28, although from 3.23.28 to 3.23.32, the keyword `TABLE'
must be omitted.

`UPDATE' Syntax
---------------

     UPDATE [LOW_PRIORITY] [IGNORE] tbl_name
         SET col_name1=expr1 [, col_name2=expr2 ...]
         [WHERE where_definition]
         [ORDER BY ...]
         [LIMIT row_count]

or:

     UPDATE [LOW_PRIORITY] [IGNORE] tbl_name [, tbl_name ...]
         SET col_name1=expr1 [, col_name2=expr2 ...]
         [WHERE where_definition]

`UPDATE' updates columns in existing table rows with new values.  The
`SET' clause indicates which columns to modify and the values they
should be given.  The `WHERE' clause, if given, specifies which rows
should be updated.  Otherwise, all rows are updated. If the `ORDER BY'
clause is specified, the rows will be updated in the order that is
specified.

If you specify the keyword `LOW_PRIORITY', execution of the `UPDATE' is
delayed until no other clients are reading from the table.

If you specify the keyword `IGNORE', the update statement will not
abort even if duplicate key errors occur during the update.  Rows that
would cause conflicts will not be updated.

If you access a column from `tbl_name' in an expression, `UPDATE' uses
the current value of the column.  For example, the following statement
sets the `age' column to one more than its current value:

     mysql> UPDATE persondata SET age=age+1;

`UPDATE' assignments are evaluated from left to right.  For example, the
following statement doubles the `age' column, then increments it:

     mysql> UPDATE persondata SET age=age*2, age=age+1;

If you set a column to the value it currently has, MySQL notices this
and doesn't update it.

`UPDATE' returns the number of rows that were actually changed.  In
MySQL Version 3.22 or later, the C API function `mysql_info()' returns
the number of rows that were matched and updated and the number of
warnings that occurred during the `UPDATE'.  If you update a column
that has been declared `NOT NULL' by setting to `NULL', the column is
set to the default value appropriate for the column type and the
warning count is incremented.  The default value is is `0' for numeric
types, the empty string (`''') for string types, and the "zero" value
for date and time types.

Starting from MySQL version 3.23, you can use `LIMIT row_count' to
restrict the scope of the `UPDATE'. A `LIMIT' clause works as follows:

   * Before MySQL 4.0.13, `LIMIT' is a rows-affected restriction.  The
     statement stops as soon as it has changed `row_count' rows that
     satisfy the `WHERE' clause.

   * From 4.0.13 on, `LIMIT' is a rows-matched restriction.  The
     statement stops as soon as it has found `row_count' rows that
     satisfy the `WHERE' clause, whether or not they actually were
     changed.


If an `ORDER BY' clause is used (available from MySQL 4.0.0), the rows
will be updated in that order. This is really useful only in conjunction
with `LIMIT'.

Starting with MySQL Version 4.0.4, you can also perform `UPDATE'
operations that cover multiple tables:

     UPDATE items,month SET items.price=month.price
     WHERE items.id=month.id;

The example shows an inner join using the comma operator, but
multiple-table `UPDATE' statements can use any type of join allowed in
`SELECT' statements, such as `LEFT JOIN'.

Note: You cannot use `ORDER BY' or `LIMIT' with multiple-table `UPDATE'.

Before MySQL 4.0.18 one needed the `UPDATE' privilege for all tables
used in a multi table `UPDATE' (even if they where not updated).  In
MySQL 4.0.18 one need the `SELECT' privilege for any columns that are
only read.

Data Definition Statements
==========================

`ALTER DATABASE' Syntax
-----------------------

     ALTER DATABASE db_name alter_specification [, alter_specification] ....
     
     alter_specification:
         [DEFAULT] CHARACTER SET charset_name
       | [DEFAULT] COLLATE collation_name

`ALTER DATABASE' allows you to change the overall characteristics of a
database.

The `CHARACTER SET' clause changes the database character set.  The
`COLLATE' clause changes the database collation.

Database characteristics are stored in the `db.opt' file in the
database directory.

To use `ALTER DATABASE', you need the `ALTER' privilege on the database.

`ALTER DATABASE' was added in MySQL 4.1.1.

`ALTER TABLE' Syntax
--------------------

     ALTER [IGNORE] TABLE tbl_name alter_specification [, alter_specification] ...
     
     alter_specification:
         ADD [COLUMN] create_definition [FIRST | AFTER column_name ]
       | ADD [COLUMN] (create_definition, create_definition,...)
       | ADD INDEX [index_name] [index_type] (index_col_name,...)
       | ADD [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] PRIMARY KEY [index_type] (index_col_name,...)
       | ADD [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] UNIQUE [index_name] [index_type] (index_col_name,...)
       | ADD FULLTEXT [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
       | ADD [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] FOREIGN KEY [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
                [reference_definition]
       | ALTER [COLUMN] col_name {SET DEFAULT literal | DROP DEFAULT}
       | CHANGE [COLUMN] old_col_name create_definition
                [FIRST | AFTER column_name]
       | MODIFY [COLUMN] create_definition [FIRST | AFTER column_name]
       | DROP [COLUMN] col_name
       | DROP PRIMARY KEY
       | DROP INDEX index_name
       | DISABLE KEYS
       | ENABLE KEYS
       | RENAME [TO] new_tbl_name
       | ORDER BY col
       | CHARACTER SET character_set_name [COLLATE collation_name]
       | table_options

`ALTER TABLE' allows you to change the structure of an existing table.
For example, you can add or delete columns, create or destroy indexes,
change the type of existing columns, or rename columns or the table
itself.  You can also change the comment for the table and type of the
table.  *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

If you use `ALTER TABLE' to change a column specification but `DESCRIBE
tbl_name' indicates that your column was not changed, it is possible
that MySQL ignored your modification for one of the reasons described
in *Note Silent column changes::.  For example, if you try to change a
`VARCHAR' column to `CHAR', MySQL will still use `VARCHAR' if the table
contains other variable-length columns.

`ALTER TABLE' works by making a temporary copy of the original table.
The alteration is performed on the copy, then the original table is
deleted and the new one is renamed. This is done in such a way that all
updates are automatically redirected to the new table without any
failed updates. While `ALTER TABLE' is executing, the original table is
readable by other clients. Updates and writes to the table are stalled
until the new table is ready.

Note that if you use any other option to `ALTER TABLE' than `RENAME',
MySQL will always create a temporary table, even if the data wouldn't
strictly need to be copied (such as when you change the name of a
column). We plan to fix this in the future, but as one doesn't normally
do `ALTER TABLE' that often this isn't that high on our TODO.  For
MyISAM tables, you can speed up the index recreation part (which is the
slowest part of the recreation process) by setting the
`myisam_sort_buffer_size' variable to a high value.

   * To use `ALTER TABLE', you need `ALTER', `INSERT', and `CREATE'
     privileges on the table.

   * `IGNORE' is a MySQL extension to SQL-92.  It controls how `ALTER
     TABLE' works if there are duplicates on unique keys in the new
     table.  If `IGNORE' isn't specified, the copy is aborted and
     rolled back.  If `IGNORE' is specified, then for rows with
     duplicates on a unique key, only the first row is used; the others
     are deleted.

   * You can issue multiple `ADD', `ALTER', `DROP', and `CHANGE'
     clauses in a single `ALTER TABLE' statement. This is a MySQL
     extension to SQL-92, which allows only one of each clause per
     `ALTER TABLE' statement.

   * `CHANGE col_name', `DROP col_name', and `DROP INDEX' are MySQL
     extensions to SQL-92.

   * `MODIFY' is an Oracle extension to `ALTER TABLE'.

   * The optional word `COLUMN' is a pure noise word and can be omitted.

   * If you use `ALTER TABLE tbl_name RENAME TO new_name' without any
     other options, MySQL simply renames the files that correspond to
     the table `tbl_name'.  There is no need to create the temporary
     table.  *Note `RENAME TABLE': RENAME TABLE.

   * `create_definition' clauses use the same syntax for `ADD' and
     `CHANGE' as for `CREATE TABLE'.  Note that this syntax includes
     the column name, not just the column type.  *Note `CREATE TABLE':
     CREATE TABLE.

   * You can rename a column using a `CHANGE old_col_name
     create_definition' clause.  To do so, specify the old and new
     column names and the type that the column currently has.  For
     example, to rename an `INTEGER' column from `a' to `b', you can do
     this:

          mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 CHANGE a b INTEGER;

     If you want to change a column's type but not the name, `CHANGE'
     syntax still requires an old and new column name, even if they are
     the same.  For example:

          mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 CHANGE b b BIGINT NOT NULL;

     However, as of MySQL Version 3.22.16a, you can also use `MODIFY'
     to change a column's type without renaming it:

          mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 MODIFY b BIGINT NOT NULL;

   * If you use `CHANGE' or `MODIFY' to shorten a column for which an
     index exists on part of the column (for instance, if you have an
     index on the first 10 characters of a `VARCHAR' column), you
     cannot make the column shorter than the number of characters that
     are indexed.

   * When you change a column type using `CHANGE' or `MODIFY', MySQL
     tries to convert data to the new type as well as possible.

   * In MySQL Version 3.22 or later, you can use `FIRST' or `ADD ...
     AFTER col_name' to add a column at a specific position within a
     table row. The default is to add the column last.  From MySQL
     Version 4.0.1, you can also use the `FIRST' and `AFTER' keywords
     in `CHANGE' or `MODIFY'.

   * `ALTER COLUMN' specifies a new default value for a column or
     removes the old default value.  If the old default is removed and
     the column can be `NULL', the new default is `NULL'. If the column
     cannot be `NULL', MySQL assigns a default value, as described in
     *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

   * `DROP INDEX' removes an index. This is a MySQL extension to
     SQL-92. *Note DROP INDEX::.

   * If columns are dropped from a table, the columns are also removed
     from any index of which they are a part.  If all columns that make
     up an index are dropped, the index is dropped as well.

   * If a table contains only one column, the column cannot be dropped.
     If what you intend is to remove the table, use `DROP TABLE'
     instead.

   * `DROP PRIMARY KEY' drops the primary index. (Prior to MySQL 4.1.2,
     if no primary index exists, `DROP PRIMARY KEY' drops the first
     `UNIQUE' index in the table.  MySQL marks the first `UNIQUE' key
     as the `PRIMARY KEY' if no `PRIMARY KEY' was specified explicitly.)

     If you add a `UNIQUE INDEX' or `PRIMARY KEY' to a table, this is
     stored before any not `UNIQUE' index so that MySQL can detect
     duplicate keys as early as possible.

   * `ORDER BY' allows you to create the new table with the rows in a
     specific order.  Note that the table will not remain in this order
     after inserts and deletes.  In some cases, it might make sorting
     easier for MySQL if the table is in order by the column that you
     want to order it by later.  This option is mainly useful when you
     know that you are mostly going to query the rows in a certain
     order; by using this option after big changes to the table, you
     might be able to get higher performance.

   * If you use `ALTER TABLE' on a `MyISAM' table, all non-unique
     indexes are created in a separate batch (like in `REPAIR').  This
     should make `ALTER TABLE' much faster when you have many indexes.

   * Since *MySQL 4.0* the above feature can be activated explicitly.
     `ALTER TABLE ... DISABLE KEYS' makes MySQL to stop updating
     non-unique indexes for `MyISAM' table.  `ALTER TABLE ... ENABLE
     KEYS' then should be used to re-create missing indexes. As MySQL
     does it with a special algorithm which is much faster then
     inserting keys one by one, disabling keys could give a
     considerable speedup on bulk inserts.

   * With the C API function `mysql_info()', you can find out how many
     records were copied, and (when `IGNORE' is used) how many records
     were deleted due to duplication of unique key values.

   * The `FOREIGN KEY', `CHECK', and `REFERENCES' clauses don't
     actually do anything, except for InnoDB type tables which support
     `... ADD [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] FOREIGN KEY (...) REFERENCES ...
     (...)' and `... DROP FOREIGN KEY ...'.  *Note InnoDB foreign key
     constraints::.  The syntax for other table types is provided only
     for compatibility, to make it easier to port code from other SQL
     servers and to run applications that create tables with references.
     *Note Differences from ANSI::.

   * `ALTER TABLE' ignores the `DATA DIRECTORY' and `INDEX DIRECTORY'
     table options.

   * If you want to change all CHAR/VARCHAR/TEXT columns to a new
     character set (for example after upgrading from MySQL 4.0.x to
     4.1.1) you can do:

          ALTER TABLE table_name CHARACTER SET character_set_name;

     Note that the following command will change only the `default
     character set' for a table:

          ALTER TABLE table_name DEFAULT CHARACTER SET character_set_name;

     The `default character set' is the character set that is used if
     you don't specify the character set for a new column you add to a
     table (for example with `ALTER TABLE ... ADD column').

Here is an example that shows some of the uses of `ALTER TABLE'.  We
begin with a table `t1' that is created as shown here:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (a INTEGER,b CHAR(10));

To rename the table from `t1' to `t2':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t1 RENAME t2;

To change column `a' from `INTEGER' to `TINYINT NOT NULL' (leaving the
name the same), and to change column `b' from `CHAR(10)' to `CHAR(20)'
as well as renaming it from `b' to `c':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 MODIFY a TINYINT NOT NULL, CHANGE b c CHAR(20);

To add a new `TIMESTAMP' column named `d':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 ADD d TIMESTAMP;

To add an index on column `d', and make column `a' the primary key:

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 ADD INDEX (d), ADD PRIMARY KEY (a);

To remove column `c':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 DROP COLUMN c;

To add a new `AUTO_INCREMENT' integer column named `c':

     mysql> ALTER TABLE t2 ADD c INT UNSIGNED NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
                ADD INDEX (c);

Note that we indexed `c', because `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns must be
indexed, and also that we declare `c' as `NOT NULL', because indexed
columns cannot be `NULL'.

When you add an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column, column values are filled in
with sequence numbers for you automatically.  You can set the first
sequence number by executing `SET INSERT_ID=value' before `ALTER TABLE'
or using the `AUTO_INCREMENT=value' table option.  *Note SET OPTION::.

With MyISAM tables, if you don't change the `AUTO_INCREMENT' column,
the sequence number will not be affected. If you drop an
`AUTO_INCREMENT' column and then add another `AUTO_INCREMENT' column,
the numbers will start from 1 again.

*Note ALTER TABLE problems::.

`CREATE DATABASE' Syntax
------------------------

     CREATE DATABASE [IF NOT EXISTS] db_name
         [create_specification [, create_specification] ...]
     
     create_specification:
         [DEFAULT] CHARACTER SET charset_name
       | [DEFAULT] COLLATE collation_name

`CREATE DATABASE' creates a database with the given name.

Rules for allowable database names are given in *Note Legal names::.
An error occurs if the database already exists and you didn't specify
`IF NOT EXISTS'.

As of MySQL 4.1.1, `create_specification' options may be given.  The
`CHARACTER SET' clause specifies the database character set.  The
`COLLATE' clause specifies the database collation.

Database characteristics are stored in the `db.opt' file in the
database directory.

Databases in MySQL are implemented as directories containing files that
correspond to tables in the database.  Because there are no tables in a
database when it is initially created, the `CREATE DATABASE' statement
only creates a directory under the MySQL data directory.

You can also create databases with `mysqladmin'.  *Note Client-Side
Scripts::.

`CREATE INDEX' Syntax
---------------------

     CREATE [UNIQUE|FULLTEXT] INDEX index_name [index_type]
            ON tbl_name (index_col_name,...)
     
     index_col_name:
             col_name [(length)] [ASC | DESC]

The `CREATE INDEX' statement doesn't do anything in MySQL prior to
Version 3.22.  In Version 3.22 or later, `CREATE INDEX' is mapped to an
`ALTER TABLE' statement to create indexes.  *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER
TABLE.

Normally, you create all indexes on a table at the time the table itself
is created with `CREATE TABLE'.  *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.
`CREATE INDEX' allows you to add indexes to existing tables.

A column list of the form `(col1,col2,...)' creates a multiple-column
index.  Index values are formed by concatenating the values of the given
columns.

For `CHAR' and `VARCHAR' columns, indexes can be created that use only
part of a column, using `col_name(length)' syntax to index the first
`length' bytes of each column value.  (For `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns, a
prefix length is required; `length' may be a value up to 255.) The
statement shown here creates an index using the first 10 characters of
the `name' column:

     mysql> CREATE INDEX part_of_name ON customer (name(10));

Because most names usually differ in the first 10 characters, this
index should not be much slower than an index created from the entire
`name' column.  Also, using partial columns for indexes can make the
index file much smaller, which could save a lot of disk space and might
also speed up `INSERT' operations!

Note that you can add an index on a column that can have `NULL' values
only if you are using MySQL Version 3.23.2 or newer and are using the
`MyISAM', `InnoDB', or `BDB' table type.  You can only add an index on
a `BLOB'/`TEXT' column if you are using MySQL Version 3.23.2 or newer
and are using the `MyISAM' or `BDB' table type, or MySQL Version 4.0.14
or newer and the `InnoDB' table type.  For an index on a `BLOB' or
`TEXT' column, a prefix length must always be specified.

An `index_col_name' specification may end with `ASC' or `DESC'.  These
keywords are allowed for future extensions for specifying ascending or
descending index value storage.  Currently they are parsed but ignored;
index values are always stored in ascending order.

For more information about how MySQL uses indexes, see *Note MySQL
indexes: MySQL indexes.

`FULLTEXT' indexes can index only `CHAR', `VARCHAR', and `TEXT'
columns, and only in `MyISAM' tables. `FULLTEXT' indexes are available
in MySQL Version 3.23.23 and later.  *Note Fulltext Search::.

`CREATE TABLE' Syntax
---------------------

     CREATE [TEMPORARY] TABLE [IF NOT EXISTS] tbl_name [(create_definition,...)]
     [table_options] [select_statement]

or:

     CREATE [TEMPORARY] TABLE [IF NOT EXISTS] tbl_name [(] LIKE old_tbl_name [)];
     
     create_definition:
         col_name type [NOT NULL | NULL] [DEFAULT default_value] [AUTO_INCREMENT]
                 [[PRIMARY] KEY] [COMMENT 'string'] [reference_definition]
       | [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] PRIMARY KEY [index_type] (index_col_name,...)
       | KEY [index_name] [index_type] (index_col_name,...)
       | INDEX [index_name] [index_type] (index_col_name,...)
       | [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] UNIQUE [INDEX] [index_name] [index_type] (index_col_name,...)
       | FULLTEXT [INDEX] [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
       | [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] FOREIGN KEY [index_name] (index_col_name,...)
                 [reference_definition]
       | CHECK (expr)
     
     type:
         TINYINT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | SMALLINT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | MEDIUMINT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | INT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | INTEGER[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | BIGINT[(length)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | REAL[(length,decimals)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | DOUBLE[(length,decimals)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | FLOAT[(length,decimals)] [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | DECIMAL(length,decimals) [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | NUMERIC(length,decimals) [UNSIGNED] [ZEROFILL]
       | CHAR(length) [BINARY | ASCII | UNICODE]
       | VARCHAR(length) [BINARY]
       | DATE
       | TIME
       | TIMESTAMP
       | DATETIME
       | TINYBLOB
       | BLOB
       | MEDIUMBLOB
       | LONGBLOB
       | TINYTEXT
       | TEXT
       | MEDIUMTEXT
       | LONGTEXT
       | ENUM(value1,value2,value3,...)
       | SET(value1,value2,value3,...)
     
     index_col_name:
             col_name [(length)] [ASC | DESC]
     
     reference_definition:
             REFERENCES tbl_name [(index_col_name,...)]
                        [MATCH FULL | MATCH PARTIAL]
                        [ON DELETE reference_option]
                        [ON UPDATE reference_option]
     
     reference_option:
             RESTRICT | CASCADE | SET NULL | NO ACTION | SET DEFAULT
     
     table_options: table_option [table_option] ...
     
     table_option:
         {ENGINE | TYPE} = {BDB | HEAP | ISAM | InnoDB | MERGE | MRG_MYISAM | MYISAM}
       | AUTO_INCREMENT = #
       | AVG_ROW_LENGTH = #
       | CHECKSUM = {0 | 1}
       | COMMENT = 'string'
       | MAX_ROWS = #
       | MIN_ROWS = #
       | PACK_KEYS = {0 | 1 | DEFAULT}
       | PASSWORD = 'string'
       | DELAY_KEY_WRITE = {0 | 1}
       | ROW_FORMAT = { DEFAULT | DYNAMIC | FIXED | COMPRESSED }
       | RAID_TYPE = { 1 | STRIPED | RAID0 } RAID_CHUNKS=#  RAID_CHUNKSIZE=#
       | UNION = (table_name,[table_name...])
       | INSERT_METHOD = { NO | FIRST | LAST }
       | DATA DIRECTORY = 'absolute path to directory'
       | INDEX DIRECTORY = 'absolute path to directory'
       | DEFAULT CHARACTER SET character_set_name [COLLATE collation_name]
     
     select_statement:
         [IGNORE | REPLACE] [AS] SELECT ...     (Some legal select statement)

`CREATE TABLE' creates a table with the given name.  Rules for
allowable table names are given in *Note Legal names::.  By default,
the table is created in the current database.  An error occurs if the
table already exists, if there is no current database, or if the
database does not exist.

In MySQL Version 3.22 or later, the table name can be specified as
`db_name.tbl_name' to create the table in a specific database.  This
works regardless of whether there is a current database.

From MySQL Version 3.23, you can use the `TEMPORARY' keyword when you
create a table. The temporary table is visible only to the current
connection, and will be deleted automatically when the connection is
closed.  This means that two different connections can both use the
same temporary table name without conflicting with each other or with
an existing table of the same name. (The existing table is hidden until
the temporary table is deleted.)  From MySQL 4.0.2 on, you must have
the `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES' privilege to be able to create temporary
tables.

In MySQL Version 3.23 or later, you can use the keywords `IF NOT
EXISTS' so that an error does not occur if the table already exists.
Note that there is no verification that the existing table has a
structure identical to that indicated by the `CREATE TABLE' statement.

From version 4.1.0, the attribute `SERIAL' can be used as an alias for
`BIGINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT UNIQUE'. This is compatibility feature.

As of MySQL 3.23, you can create one table from another by adding a
`SELECT' statement at the end of the `CREATE TABLE' statement:

     CREATE TABLE new_tbl SELECT * FROM orig_tbl;

Indexes are not carried over to the new table, and some conversion of
column types may occur. For example, the `AUTO_INCREMENT' attribute is
not preserved, and `VARCHAR' columns may become `CHAR' columns.

When creating a table with `CREATE ... SELECT', make sure to alias any
function calls or expressions in the query. If you do not, the `CREATE'
statement may fail or result in undesirable column names.

     CREATE TABLE artists_and_works
     SELECT artist.name, COUNT(work.artist_id) AS number_of_works
     FROM artist LEFT JOIN work ON artist.id = work.artist_id
     GROUP BY artist.id;

As of MySQL 4.1, you can explicitly specify the type for a generated
column:

     CREATE TABLE foo (a tinyint not null) SELECT b+1 AS 'a' FROM bar;

In MySQL 4.1, you can also use `LIKE' to create a table based on the
definition of another table, including any column attributes and
indexes the original table has:

     CREATE TABLE new_tbl LIKE orig_tbl;

`CREATE TABLE ... LIKE' does not copy any `DATA DIRECTORY' or `INDEX
DIRECTORY' table options that were specified for the original table.

Each table `tbl_name' is represented by some files in the database
directory. In the case of `MyISAM'-type tables you will get:

*File*         *Purpose*
`tbl_name.frm' Table format
               (definition) file
`tbl_name.MYD' Datafile
`tbl_name.MYI' Index file

For more information on the properties of the various column types, see
*Note Column types:::

   * If neither `NULL' nor `NOT NULL' is specified, the column is
     treated as though `NULL' had been specified.

   * An integer column may have the additional attribute
     `AUTO_INCREMENT'.  When you insert a value of `NULL' (recommended)
     or `0' into an indexed `AUTO_INCREMENT' column, the column is set
     to the next sequence value.  Typically this is `value+1', where
     `value' is the largest value for the column currently in the table.
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' sequences begin with `1'.  *Note
     `mysql_insert_id()': mysql_insert_id.

     As of MySQL 4.1.1, specifying the `NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO' flag for
     the `--sql-mode' server option or the `sql_mode' server variable
     allows you to store `0' in `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns as `0', instead
     of generating a new sequence value.  *Note Server options::.

     If you delete the row containing the maximum value for an
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' column, the value will be reused for an `ISAM' or
     `BDB' table, but not for a `MyISAM' or `InnoDB' table.  If you
     delete all rows in the table with `DELETE FROM table_name'
     (without a `WHERE') in `AUTOCOMMIT' mode, the sequence starts over
     for all table types except `InnoDB'. *Note InnoDB auto-increment
     column::.

     *Note:* There can be only one `AUTO_INCREMENT' column per table,
     it must be indexed and it can't have a `DEFAULT' value.  In MySQL
     Version 3.23, an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column will work properly only
     if it contains only positive values. Inserting a negative number
     is regarded as inserting a very large positive number.  This is
     done to avoid precision problems when numbers "wrap" over from
     positive to negative and also to ensure that one doesn't
     accidentally get an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column that contains 0.

     In `MyISAM' and `BDB' tables you can specify `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     secondary column in a multiple-column key.  *Note
     example-AUTO_INCREMENT::.

     To make MySQL compatible with some ODBC applications, you can find
     the `AUTO_INCREMENT' value for the last inserted row with the
     following query:

          SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE auto_col IS NULL

   * `NULL' values are handled differently for `TIMESTAMP' columns than
     for other column types.  You cannot store a literal `NULL' in a
     `TIMESTAMP' column; setting the column to `NULL' sets it to the
     current date and time.  Because `TIMESTAMP' columns behave this
     way, the `NULL' and `NOT NULL' attributes do not apply in the
     normal way and are ignored if you specify them.

     On the other hand, to make it easier for MySQL clients to use
     `TIMESTAMP' columns, the server reports that such columns may be
     assigned `NULL' values (which is true), even though `TIMESTAMP'
     never actually will contain a `NULL' value.  You can see this when
     you use `DESCRIBE tbl_name' to get a description of your table.

     Note that setting a `TIMESTAMP' column to `0' is not the same as
     setting it to `NULL', because `0' is a valid `TIMESTAMP' value.

   * A `DEFAULT' value must be a constant; it cannot be a function or
     an expression.

     If no `DEFAULT' value is specified for a column, MySQL
     automatically assigns one, as follows.

     If the column may take `NULL' as a value, the default value is
     `NULL'.

     If the column is declared as `NOT NULL', the default value depends
     on the column type:

        - For numeric types other than those declared with the
          `AUTO_INCREMENT' attribute, the default is `0'.  For an
          `AUTO_INCREMENT' column, the default value is the next value
          in the sequence.

        - For date and time types other than `TIMESTAMP', the default
          is the appropriate zero value for the type.  For the first
          `TIMESTAMP' column in a table, the default value is the
          current date and time.  *Note Date and time types::.

        - For string types other than `ENUM', the default value is the
          empty string.  For `ENUM', the default is the first
          enumeration value.

     Default values must be constants. This means, for example, that
     you cannot set the default for a date column to be the value of a
     function such as `NOW()' or `CURRENT_DATE'.

   * A comment for a column may be specified with the `COMMENT' option.
     The comment is displayed by the `SHOW CREATE TABLE' statement, and
     by `SHOW FULL COLUMNS'.  This option is available as of MySQL 4.1.
     (It is allowed but ignored in earlier versions.)

   * `KEY' is normally a synonym for `INDEX'.  From version 4.1, the
     key attribute `PRIMARY KEY' may also be specified as just `KEY'.
     This was implemented for compatibility with other databases.

   * In MySQL, a `UNIQUE' key can have only distinct values. An error
     occurs if you try to add a new row with a key that matches an
     existing row.

   * A `PRIMARY KEY' is a unique `KEY' where all key columns must be
     defined as `NOT NULL'. If they are not explicitly declared as `NOT
     NULL', it will be done implicitly (and quietly).  In MySQL, the
     key is named `PRIMARY'. A table can have only one `PRIMARY KEY'.
     If you don't have a `PRIMARY KEY' and some applications ask for the
     `PRIMARY KEY' in your tables, MySQL will return the first `UNIQUE'
     key, which doesn't have any `NULL' columns, as the `PRIMARY KEY'.

   * A `PRIMARY KEY' can be a multiple-column index.  However, you
     cannot create a multiple-column index using the `PRIMARY KEY' key
     attibute in a column specification.  Doing so will mark only that
     single column as primary.  You must use a separate `PRIMARY
     KEY(index_col_name, ...)' clause.

   * A `UNIQUE' index is one in which all values in the index must be
     distinct. The exception to this is that if a column in the index
     is allowed to contain `NULL' values, it may contain multiple
     `NULL' values.  This exception does not apply to `BDB' tables,
     which allow only a single `NULL'.

   * If the `PRIMARY' or `UNIQUE' key consists of only one column and
     this is of type integer, you can also refer to it as `_rowid' (new
     in Version 3.23.11).

   * If you don't assign a name to an index that is not a `PRIMARY KEY',
     the index will be assigned the same name as the first
     `index_col_name', with an optional suffix (`_2', `_3', `...') to
     make it unique.  You can see index names for a table using `SHOW
     INDEX FROM tbl_name'.  *Note Show database info::.

   * From MySQL 4.1.0 on, some storage engines allow you to specify an
     index type when creating an index.  The syntax for the `index_type'
     specifier is `USING type_name'. The allowable `type_name' values
     supported by different storage engines are shown in the following
     table. Where multiple index types are listed, the first one is the
     default when no `index_type' specifier is given.

     *Storage engine*            *Allowable index types*
     `MyISAM'                    `BTREE'
     `InnoDB'                    `BTREE'
     `MEMORY/HEAP'               `HASH', `BTREE'

     Example:

          CREATE TABLE lookup (id INT, INDEX USING BTREE (id)) ENGINE = MEMORY;

     `TYPE type_name' may be used as a synonym for `USING type_name' to
     specify an index type.  `USING' is the preferred form, however.
     (The preceding index name is not optional with `TYPE', because
     unlike `USING', `TYPE' is not a reserved word and thus is
     interpreted as an index name.)

   * Only the `MyISAM', `InnoDB', and `BDB' table types support indexes
     on columns that can have `NULL' values. In other cases you must
     declare such columns `NOT NULL' or an error results.

   * With `col_name(length)' syntax in an index specification, you can
     create an index that uses only the first `length' bytes of a `CHAR'
     or `VARCHAR' column. This can make the index file much smaller.
     *Note Indexes::.

   * Only the `MyISAM' and (as of MySQL 4.0.14) `InnoDB' table types
     support indexing on `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns.  When putting an
     index on a `BLOB' or `TEXT' column, you _must_ always specify the
     length of the index, up to 255 bytes. For example:
          CREATE TABLE test (blob_col BLOB, INDEX(blob_col(10)));

   * An `index_col_name' specification may end with `ASC' or `DESC'.
     These keywords are allowed for future extensions for specifying
     ascending or descending index value storage.  Currently they are
     parsed but ignored; index values are always stored in ascending
     order.

   * When you use `ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY' with a `TEXT' or `BLOB'
     column, the server sorts values using only the initial number of
     bytes indicated by the `max_sort_length' server variable.  *Note
     `BLOB': BLOB.

   * In MySQL Version 3.23.23 or later, you can also create special
     `FULLTEXT' indexes. They are used for full-text search. Only the
     `MyISAM' table type supports `FULLTEXT' indexes. They can be
     created only from `CHAR', `VARCHAR', and `TEXT' columns.  Indexing
     always happens over the entire column; partial indexing is not
     supported. See *Note Fulltext Search:: for details of operation.

   * In MySQL Version 3.23.44 or later, `InnoDB' tables support
     checking of foreign key constraints. *Note InnoDB::. Note that the
     `FOREIGN KEY' syntax in `InnoDB' is more restrictive than the
     syntax presented above: The columns of the referenced table must
     always be explicitly named.  InnoDB supports both `ON DELETE' and
     `ON UPDATE' actions on foreign keys as of MySQL 3.23.50 and 4.0.8,
     respectively.  See the `InnoDB' manual section for the precise
     syntax.  *Note InnoDB foreign key constraints::.  For other table
     types, MySQL Server does parse the `FOREIGN KEY', `CHECK', and
     `REFERENCES' syntax in `CREATE TABLE' commands, but without
     further action being taken. *Note ANSI diff Foreign Keys::.

   * For `MyISAM' and `ISAM' tables, each `NULL' column takes one bit
     extra, rounded up to the nearest byte.  The maximum record length
     in bytes can be calculated as follows:

          row length = 1
                       + (sum of column lengths)
                       + (number of NULL columns + delete_flag + 7)/8
                       + (number of variable-length columns)

     `delete_flag' is 1 for tables with static record format. Static
     tables use a bit in the row record for a flag that indicates
     whether the row has been deleted.  `delete_flag' is 0 for dynamic
     tables because the flag is stored in the dynamic row header.

     These calculations do not apply for `InnoDB' tables, for which
     storage size is not different for `NULL' columns compared to `NOT
     NULL' columns.

   * The `table_options' and `SELECT' options are only implemented in
     MySQL Version 3.23 and above.

     The `ENGINE' and `TYPE' options specify the storage engine for the
     table.  `ENGINE' was added in MySQL 4.0.18 (for 4.0) and 4.1.2
     (for 4.1).  It is the preferred option name as of those versions,
     and `TYPE' has become deprecated.  `TYPE' will be supported
     throughout the 4.x series, but likely will be removed in MySQL 5.1.

     The `ENGINE' and `TYPE' options take the following values:

     *Storage engine*  *Description*
     `BDB' or          Transaction-safe tables with page locking.
     `BerkeleyDB'      *Note BDB::.
     `HEAP'            The data for this table is only stored in
                       memory. *Note HEAP::.
     `ISAM'            The original storage engine. *Note ISAM::.
     `InnoDB'          Transaction-safe tables with row locking.
                       *Note InnoDB::.
     `MERGE'           A collection of `MyISAM' tables used as one
                       table. *Note MERGE::.
     `MRG_MyISAM'      An alias for `MERGE'.
     `MyISAM'          The new binary portable storage engine that is
                       the replacement for `ISAM'. *Note `MyISAM':
                       MyISAM.
     *Note Table types::.

     If a storage engine is specified and that particular engine is not
     available, MySQL will use `MyISAM' instead.  For example, if a
     table definition includes the `ENGINE=BDB' option but the MySQL
     server does not support `BDB' tables, the table will be created as
     a `MyISAM' table.  This makes it possible to have a replication
     setup where you have transactional tables on the master but tables
     created on the slave are non-transactional (to get more speed).
     In MySQL 4.1.1 you get a warning if the specified table type is
     not honored.

     The other table options are used to optimize the behavior of the
     table. In most cases, you don't have to specify any of them.  The
     options work for all table types unless otherwise indicated:

     *Option*          *Description*
     `AUTO_INCREMENT'  The next `AUTO_INCREMENT' value you want to
                       set for your table (`MyISAM' only; to set the
                       first auto-increment value for an `InnoDB'
                       table, insert a dummy row with a value one
                       less, and delete the dummy row).
     `AVG_ROW_LENGTH'  An approximation of the average row length for
                       your table. You need to set this only for
                       large tables with variable size records.
     `CHECKSUM'        Set this to 1 if you want MySQL to maintain a
                       checksum for all rows. It makes the table a
                       little slower to update but it also makes it
                       easier to find corrupted tables. (`MyISAM'
                       only).
     `COMMENT'         A 60-character comment for your table.
     `MAX_ROWS'        Maximum number of rows you plan to store in
                       the table.
     `MIN_ROWS'        Minimum number of rows you plan to store in
                       the table.
     `PACK_KEYS'       Set this to 1 if you want to have a smaller
                       index.  This usually makes updates slower and
                       reads faster (`MyISAM' and `ISAM' only).
                       Setting this to 0 disables all packing of
                       keys. Setting this to `DEFAULT' (MySQL 4.0)
                       tells the storage engine to only pack long
                       `CHAR'/`VARCHAR' columns.
     `PASSWORD'        Encrypt the `.frm' file with a password.  This
                       option doesn't do anything in the standard
                       MySQL version.
     `DELAY_KEY_WRITE' Set this to 1 if you want to delay key table
                       updates until the table is closed (`MyISAM'
                       only).
     `ROW_FORMAT'      Defines how the rows should be stored.
                       Currently this option works only with `MyISAM'
                       tables, which supports the `DYNAMIC' and
                       `FIXED' row formats. *Note MyISAM table
                       formats::.

     When you use a `MyISAM' table, MySQL uses the product of `MAX_ROWS
     * AVG_ROW_LENGTH' to decide how big the resulting table will be.
     If you don't specify any of the above options, the maximum size
     for a table will be 4G (or 2G if your operating systems only
     supports 2G tables). The reason for this is just to keep down the
     pointer sizes to make the index smaller and faster if you don't
     really need big files.

     If you don't use `PACK_KEYS', the default is to only pack strings,
     not numbers.  If you use `PACK_KEYS=1', numbers will be packed as
     well.

     When packing binary number keys, MySQL will use prefix compression.
     This means that you will get a big benefit from this only if you
     have many numbers that are the same.  Prefix compression means
     that every key needs one extra byte to indicate how many bytes of
     the previous key are the same for the next key (note that the
     pointer to the row is stored in high-byte-first order directly
     after the key, to improve compression).  This means that if you
     have many equal keys on two consecutive rows, all following "same"
     keys will usually only take 2 bytes (including the pointer to the
     row).  Compare this to the ordinary case where the following keys
     will take storage_size_for_key + pointer_size (usually 4).  On the
     other hand, if all keys are totally different, you will use 1 byte
     more per key, if the key isn't a key that can have `NULL' values.
     (In this case the packed key length will be stored in the same
     byte that is used to mark if a key is `NULL'.)

   * As of MySQL 3.23, if you specify a `SELECT' after the `CREATE'
     statement, MySQL will create new fields for all elements in the
     `SELECT'.  For example:

          mysql> CREATE TABLE test (a INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
              ->        PRIMARY KEY (a), KEY(b))
              ->        TYPE=MyISAM SELECT b,c FROM test2;

     This will create a `MyISAM' table with three columns, a, b, and c.
     Notice that the columns from the `SELECT' statement are appended to
     the right side of the table, not overlapped onto it.  Take the
     following example:

          mysql> SELECT * FROM foo;
          +---+
          | n |
          +---+
          | 1 |
          +---+
          
          mysql> CREATE TABLE bar (m INT) SELECT n FROM foo;
          Query OK, 1 row affected (0.02 sec)
          Records: 1  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0
          
          mysql> SELECT * FROM bar;
          +------+---+
          | m    | n |
          +------+---+
          | NULL | 1 |
          +------+---+
          1 row in set (0.00 sec)

     For each row in table `foo', a row is inserted in `bar' with the
     values from `foo' and default values for the new columns.

     `CREATE TABLE ... SELECT' will not automatically create any indexes
     for you.  This is done intentionally to make the command as
     flexible as possible.  If you want to have indexes in the created
     table, you should specify these before the `SELECT' statement:

          mysql> CREATE TABLE bar (UNIQUE (n)) SELECT n FROM foo;

     If any errors occur while copying the data to the table, it will
     automatically be deleted.

     You can precede the `SELECT' by `IGNORE' or `REPLACE' to indicate
     how to handle records that duplicate unique key values.  With
     `IGNORE', new records that duplicate an existing record on a
     unique key value are discarded.  With `REPLACE', new records
     replace records that have the same unique key value.  If neither
     `IGNORE' nor `REPLACE' are specified, duplicate unique key values
     result in an error.

     To ensure that the update log/binary log can be used to re-create
     the original tables, MySQL will not allow concurrent inserts during
     `CREATE TABLE ... SELECT'.

   * The `RAID_TYPE' option will help you to exceed the 2G/4G limit for
     the MyISAM datafile (not the index file) on operating systems that
     don't support big files. Note that this option is not recommended
     for a filesystem that supports big files!

     You can get more speed from the I/O bottleneck by putting `RAID'
     directories on different physical disks. `RAID_TYPE' will work on
     any operating system, as long as you have built MySQL with the
     `--with-raid' option to `configure'.  For now, the only allowed
     `RAID_TYPE' is `STRIPED' (`1' and `RAID0' are aliases for this).

     If you specify `RAID_TYPE=STRIPED' for a `MyISAM' table, `MyISAM'
     will create `RAID_CHUNKS' subdirectories named 00, 01, 02 in the
     database directory.  In each of these directories, `MyISAM' will
     create a `table_name.MYD'.  When writing data to the datafile, the
     `RAID' handler will map the first `RAID_CHUNKSIZE' *1024 bytes to
     the first file, the next `RAID_CHUNKSIZE' *1024 bytes to the next
     file and so on.

   * `UNION' is used when you want to use a collection of identical
     tables as one. This works only with `MERGE' tables.  *Note
     `MERGE': MERGE.

     For the moment, you need to have `SELECT', `UPDATE', and `DELETE'
     privileges on the tables you map to a `MERGE' table.  All mapped
     tables must be in the same database as the `MERGE' table.

   * If you want to insert data in a `MERGE' table, you have to specify
     with `INSERT_METHOD' into which table the row should be inserted.
     `INSERT_METHOD' is an option useful for `MERGE' tables only.
     *Note MERGE::. This option was introduced in MySQL 4.0.0.

   * In the created table the `PRIMARY' key will be placed first,
     followed by all `UNIQUE' keys, and then the normal keys.  This
     helps the MySQL optimizer to prioritize which key to use and also
     more quickly to detect duplicated `UNIQUE' keys.

   * By using `DATA DIRECTORY='directory'' or `INDEX
     DIRECTORY='directory'' you can specify where the storage engine
     should put its datafile and index file.  Note that the directory
     should be a full path to the directory (not a relative path).

     This works only for `MyISAM' tables in `MySQL' 4.0, when you are
     not using the `--skip-symlink' option. Your operating system must
     also have a working, thread-safe `realpath()' call. *Note Symbolic
     links to tables::.

Silent Column Specification Changes
...................................

In some cases, MySQL silently changes a column specification from that
given in a `CREATE TABLE' statement.  (This may also occur with `ALTER
TABLE'.):

   * `VARCHAR' columns with a length less than four are changed to
     `CHAR'.

   * If any column in a table has a variable length, the entire row is
     variable-length as a result.  Therefore, if a table contains any
     variable-length columns (`VARCHAR', `TEXT', or `BLOB'), all `CHAR'
     columns longer than three characters are changed to `VARCHAR'
     columns.  This doesn't affect how you use the columns in any way;
     in MySQL, `VARCHAR' is just a different way to store characters.
     MySQL performs this conversion because it saves space and makes
     table operations faster.  *Note Table types::.

   * From version 4.1.0, if a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' field with a length
     specification greater than 255 is converted to `TEXT'.  This is a
     compatibility feature.

   * `TIMESTAMP' display sizes must be even and in the range from 2 to
     14.  If you specify a display size of 0 or greater than 14, the
     size is coerced to 14.  Odd-valued sizes in the range from 1 to 13
     are coerced to the next higher even number.

   * You cannot store a literal `NULL' in a `TIMESTAMP' column; setting
     it to `NULL' sets it to the current date and time.  Because
     `TIMESTAMP' columns behave this way, the `NULL' and `NOT NULL'
     attributes do not apply in the normal way and are ignored if you
     specify them.  `DESCRIBE tbl_name' always reports that a
     `TIMESTAMP' column may be assigned `NULL' values.

   * MySQL maps certain column types used by other SQL database vendors
     to MySQL types.  *Note Other-vendor column types::.

If you want to see whether MySQL used a column type other than the one
you specified, issue a `DESCRIBE tbl_name' statement after creating or
altering your table.

Certain other column type changes may occur if you compress a table
using `myisampack'. *Note Compressed format::.

`DROP DATABASE' Syntax
----------------------

     DROP DATABASE [IF EXISTS] db_name

`DROP DATABASE' drops all tables in the database and deletes the
database.  If you do a `DROP DATABASE' on a symbolic linked database,
both the link and the original database are deleted. Be _very_ careful
with this statement!

`DROP DATABASE' returns the number of files that were removed from the
database directory.  For `MyISAM' tables, this is three times the
number of tables, because normally each table corresponds to a `.MYD'
file, a `.MYI' file, and a `.frm' file.

The `DROP DATABASE' command removes from the given database directory
all files with the following extensions:

*Ext*   *Ext*   *Ext*   *Ext*
.BAK    .DAT    .HSH    .ISD
.ISM    .ISM    .MRG    .MYD
.MYI    .db     .frm    

All subdirectories that consists of 2 digits (`RAID' directories) are
also removed.

In MySQL Version 3.22 or later, you can use the keywords `IF EXISTS' to
prevent an error from occurring if the database doesn't exist.

You can also drop databases with `mysqladmin'. *Note Client-Side
Scripts::.

`DROP INDEX' Syntax
-------------------

     DROP INDEX index_name ON tbl_name

`DROP INDEX' drops the index named `index_name' from the table
`tbl_name'.  `DROP INDEX' doesn't do anything in MySQL prior to Version
3.22.  In Version 3.22 or later, `DROP INDEX' is mapped to an `ALTER
TABLE' statement to drop the index.  *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

`DROP TABLE' Syntax
-------------------

     DROP [TEMPORARY] TABLE [IF EXISTS] tbl_name [, tbl_name,...] [RESTRICT | CASCADE]

`DROP TABLE' removes one or more tables. All table data and the table
definition are _removed_, so *be careful* with this command!

In MySQL Version 3.22 or later, you can use the keywords `IF EXISTS' to
prevent an error from occurring for tables that don't exist.  In 4.1
one gets a `NOTE' for all not existing tables when using `IF EXISTS'.
*Note SHOW WARNINGS::.

`RESTRICT' and `CASCADE' are allowed to make porting easier.  For the
moment they don't do anything.

*Note:* `DROP TABLE' automatically commits the current active
transaction (except if you are using 4.1 and the `TEMPORARY' key word.

Option `TEMPORARY' is ignored in 4.0.  In 4.1 this option works as
follows:

   * Only drops temporary tables.

   * It doesn't end a running transactions.

   * No access rights is checked.

Using `TEMPORARY' is a good way to ensure that you don't accidently
drop a real table.

`RENAME TABLE' Syntax
---------------------

     RENAME TABLE tbl_name TO new_tbl_name[, tbl_name2 TO new_tbl_name2,...]

The rename is done atomically, which means that no other thread can
access any of the tables while the rename is running. This makes it
possible to replace a table with an empty one :

     CREATE TABLE new_table (...);
     RENAME TABLE old_table TO backup_table, new_table TO old_table;

The rename is done from left to right, which means that if you want to
swap two table names, you have to:

     RENAME TABLE old_table    TO backup_table,
                  new_table    TO old_table,
                  backup_table TO new_table;

As long as two databases are on the same disk you can also rename from
one database to another:

     RENAME TABLE current_db.tbl_name TO other_db.tbl_name;

When you execute `RENAME', you can't have any locked tables or active
transactions.  You must also have the `ALTER' and `DROP' privileges on
the original table, and the `CREATE' and `INSERT' privileges on the new
table.

If MySQL encounters any errors in a multiple-table rename, it will do a
reverse rename for all renamed tables to get everything back to the
original state.

`RENAME TABLE' was added in MySQL 3.23.23.

Basic MySQL User Utility Statements
===================================

`DESCRIBE' Syntax (Get Information About Columns)
-------------------------------------------------

     {DESCRIBE | DESC} tbl_name [col_name | wild]

`DESCRIBE' is a shortcut for `SHOW COLUMNS FROM'.  *Note Show database
info::.

`DESCRIBE' provides information about a table's columns.  `col_name'
may be a column name or a string containing the SQL `%' and `_'
wildcard characters to obtain output only for the columns with names
matching the string. There is no need to enclose the string in quotes.

If the column types are different from what you expect them to be based
on a `CREATE TABLE' statement, note that MySQL sometimes changes column
types.  *Note Silent column changes::.

This statement is provided for Oracle compatibility.

The `SHOW' statement provides similar information.  *Note `SHOW': SHOW.

`USE' Syntax
------------

     USE db_name

The `USE db_name' statement tells MySQL to use the `db_name' database
as the default database for subsequent queries.  The database remains
current until the end of the session or until another `USE' statement
is issued:

     mysql> USE db1;
     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM mytable;      # selects from db1.mytable
     mysql> USE db2;
     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM mytable;      # selects from db2.mytable

Making a particular database current by means of the `USE' statement
does not preclude you from accessing tables in other databases.  The
following example accesses the `author' table from the `db1' database
and the `editor' table from the `db2' database:

     mysql> USE db1;
     mysql> SELECT author_name,editor_name FROM author,db2.editor
         ->        WHERE author.editor_id = db2.editor.editor_id;

The `USE' statement is provided for Sybase compatibility.

MySQL Transactional and Locking Statements
==========================================

`START TRANSACTION', `COMMIT', and `ROLLBACK' Syntax
----------------------------------------------------

By default, MySQL runs in autocommit mode. This means that as soon as
you execute a statement that updates (modifies) a table, MySQL will
store the update on disk.

If you are using transaction-safe tables (like `InnoDB' or `BDB'), you
can put MySQL into non-autocommit mode with the following command:

     SET AUTOCOMMIT=0

After disabling autocommit mode by setting the `AUTOCOMMIT' variable to
zero, you must use `COMMIT' to store your changes to disk or `ROLLBACK'
if you want to ignore the changes you have made since the beginning of
your transaction.

If you want to disable autocommit mode for a single series of
statements, you can use the `START TRANSACTION' statement: :

     START TRANSACTION;
     SELECT @A:=SUM(salary) FROM table1 WHERE type=1;
     UPDATE table2 SET summmary=@A WHERE type=1;
     COMMIT;

`BEGIN' and `BEGIN WORK' can be used instead of `START TRANSACTION' to
initiate a transaction.  `START TRANSACTION' was added in MySQL 4.0.11.
This is SQL-99 syntax and is the recommended way to start an ad-hoc
transaction.  `BEGIN' and `BEGIN WORK' are available from MySQL 3.23.17
and 3.23.19, respectively.

Note that if you are not using transaction-safe tables, any changes
will be stored at once, regardless of the status of autocommit mode.

If you issue a `ROLLBACK' statement after updating a non-transactional
table, you will get an error (`ER_WARNING_NOT_COMPLETE_ROLLBACK') as a
warning.  All transaction-safe tables will be restored, but any
non-transaction-safe table will not change.

If you are using `START TRANSACTION' or `SET AUTOCOMMIT=0', you should
use the MySQL binary log for backups instead of the older update log.
Transactions are stored in the binary log in one chunk, upon `COMMIT',
to ensure that transactions that are rolled back are not stored.  *Note
Binary log::.

You can change the isolation level for transactions with `SET
TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL'.  *Note SET TRANSACTION::.

Statements That Cannot Be Rolled Back
-------------------------------------

Some statements cannot be rolled back.  In general, these include data
definition language (DDL) statements, such as those that create or drop
databases, or those that create, drop, or alter tables.

You may wish to design your transactions not to include such statements.
If you issue a statement that cannot be rolled back early in a
transaction, and then another statement later fails, the full effect of
the transaction cannot be rolled back by issuing a `ROLLBACK' statement.

Statements That Cause an Implicit Commit
----------------------------------------

The following commands implicitly end a transaction (as if you had done
a `COMMIT' before executing the command):

*Command*          *Command*          *Command*
`ALTER TABLE'      `BEGIN'            `CREATE INDEX'
`DROP DATABASE'    `DROP INDEX'       `DROP TABLE'
`LOAD MASTER       `LOCK TABLES'      `RENAME TABLE'
DATA'                                 
`SET               `START             `TRUNCATE'
AUTOCOMMIT=1'      TRANSACTION'       

`UNLOCK TABLES' also ends a transaction if any tables currently are
locked.  Prior to MySQL 4.0.13, `CREATE TABLE' ends a transaction if
the binary update log is enabled.

Transactions cannot be nested. This is a consequence of the implicit
`COMMIT' performed for any current transaction when you issue a `START
TRANSACTION' statement or one of its synonyms.

`SAVEPOINT' and `ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT' Syntax
----------------------------------------------

Starting from MySQL 4.0.14 and 4.1.1, `InnoDB' supports the SQL commands
`SAVEPOINT' and `ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT'.

     SAVEPOINT identifier

This statement sets a named transaction savepoint whose name is
`identifier'.  If the current transaction already has a savepoint with
the same name, the old savepoint is deleted and a new one is set.

     ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT identifier

This statement rolls back a transaction to the named savepoint.
Modifications that this transaction made to rows after the savepoint
was set are undone in the rollback, but `InnoDB' does *not* release the
row locks that were stored in memory after the savepoint.  (Note that
for a new inserted row, the lock information is carried by the
transaction ID stored in the row; the lock is not separately stored in
memory. In this case, the row lock is released in the undo.)
Savepoints that were set at a later time than the named savepoint are
deleted.

If the command returns the following error, it means that no savepoint
with the specified name  exists:

     ERROR 1181: Got error 153 during ROLLBACK

All savepoints of the current transaction are deleted if you execute a
`COMMIT', or a `ROLLBACK' that does not name a savepoint.

`LOCK TABLES' and `UNLOCK TABLES' Syntax
----------------------------------------

     LOCK TABLES tbl_name [AS alias] {READ [LOCAL] | [LOW_PRIORITY] WRITE}
                 [, tbl_name [AS alias] {READ [LOCAL] | [LOW_PRIORITY] WRITE} ...]
     ...
     UNLOCK TABLES

`LOCK TABLES' locks tables for the current thread.  `UNLOCK TABLES'
releases any locks held by the current thread.  All tables that are
locked by the current thread are implicitly unlocked when the thread
issues another `LOCK TABLES', or when the connection to the server is
closed.

To use `LOCK TABLES' in MySQL 4.0.2, you need the global `LOCK TABLES'
privilege and a `SELECT' privilege on the involved tables. In MySQL
3.23 you need to have `SELECT', `insert', `DELETE' and `UPDATE'
privileges for the tables.

The main reasons to use `LOCK TABLES' are for emulating transactions or
getting more speed when updating tables.  This is explained in more
detail later.

If a thread obtains a `READ' lock on a table, that thread (and all other
threads) can only read from the table. If a thread obtains a `WRITE'
lock on a table, only the thread holding the lock can read from or
write to the table.  Other threads are blocked.

The difference between `READ LOCAL' and `READ' is that `READ LOCAL'
allows non-conflicting `INSERT' statements to execute while the lock is
held.  However, this can't be used if you are going to manipulate the
database files outside MySQL while you hold the lock.

When you use `LOCK TABLES', you must lock all tables that you are going
to use and you must use the same alias that you are going to use in
your queries!  If you are using a table multiple times in a query (with
aliases), you must get a lock for each alias!

`WRITE' locks normally have higher priority than `READ' locks, to
ensure that updates are processed as soon as possible. This means that
if one thread obtains a `READ' lock and then another thread requests a
`WRITE' lock, subsequent `READ' lock requests will wait until the
`WRITE' thread has gotten the lock and released it.  You can use
`LOW_PRIORITY WRITE' locks to allow other threads to obtain `READ'
locks while the thread is waiting for the `WRITE' lock. You should use
`LOW_PRIORITY WRITE' locks only if you are sure that there will
eventually be a time when no threads will have a `READ' lock.

`LOCK TABLES' works as follows:
  1. Sort all tables to be locked in a internally defined order (from
     the user standpoint, the order is undefined).

  2. If a table is locked with a read and a write lock, put the write
     lock before the read lock.

  3. Lock one table at a time until the thread gets all locks.

This policy ensures that table locking is deadlock free. There are,
however, other things you need to be aware of with this schema:

If you are using a `LOW_PRIORITY WRITE' lock for a table, it means only
that MySQL will wait for this particlar lock until there is no threads
that want a `READ' lock.  When the thread has gotten the `WRITE' lock
and is waiting to get the lock for the next table in the lock table
list, all other threads will wait for the `WRITE' lock to be released.
If this becomes a serious problem with your application, you should
consider converting some of your tables to transaction-safe tables.

You can safely kill a thread that is waiting for a table lock with
`KILL'.  *Note KILL::.

Note that you should *not* lock any tables that you are using with
`INSERT DELAYED'. This is because, in this case, the `INSERT' is done
by a separate thread.

Normally, you don't have to lock tables, because all single `UPDATE'
statements are atomic; no other thread can interfere with any other
currently executing SQL statement. There are a few cases when you would
like to lock tables anyway:

   * If you are going to run many operations on a bunch of tables, it's
     much faster to lock the tables you are going to use.  The downside
     is that no thread can update a `READ'-locked table (including the
     one holding the lock) and no thread can read a `WRITE'-locked
     table other than the one holding the lock.

     The reason some things are faster under `LOCK TABLES' is that
     MySQL will not flush the key cache for the locked tables until
     `UNLOCK TABLES' is called (normally the key cache is flushed after
     each SQL statement). This speeds up inserting, updating, or
     deleting on `MyISAM' tables.

   * If you are using a storage engine in MySQL that doesn't support
     transactions, you must use `LOCK TABLES' if you want to ensure that
     no other thread comes between a `SELECT' and an `UPDATE'. The
     example shown here requires `LOCK TABLES' to execute safely:

          mysql> LOCK TABLES trans READ, customer WRITE;
          mysql> SELECT SUM(value) FROM trans WHERE customer_id=some_id;
          mysql> UPDATE customer SET total_value=sum_from_previous_statement
              ->        WHERE customer_id=some_id;
          mysql> UNLOCK TABLES;

     Without `LOCK TABLES', there is a chance that another thread might
     insert a new row in the `trans' table between execution of the
     `SELECT' and `UPDATE' statements.

By using incremental updates (`UPDATE customer SET
value=value+new_value') or the `LAST_INSERT_ID()' function, you can
avoid using `LOCK TABLES' in many cases.

You can also solve some cases by using the user-level lock functions
`GET_LOCK()' and `RELEASE_LOCK()'.  These locks are saved in a hash
table in the server and implemented with `pthread_mutex_lock()' and
`pthread_mutex_unlock()' for high speed.  *Note Miscellaneous
functions::.

See *Note Internal locking::, for more information on locking policy.

You can lock all tables in all databases with read locks with the
`FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK' command. *Note FLUSH::. This is very
convenient way to get backups if you have a filesystem, such as Veritas,
that can take snapshots in time.

*NOTE*: `LOCK TABLES' is not transaction-safe and will implicitly
commit any active transactions before attempting to lock the tables.

`SET TRANSACTION' Syntax
------------------------

     SET [GLOBAL | SESSION] TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL
     { READ UNCOMMITTED | READ COMMITTED | REPEATABLE READ | SERIALIZABLE }

Sets the transaction isolation level for the global, whole session, or
the next transaction.

The default behavior is to set the isolation level for the next (not
started) transaction.  If you use the `GLOBAL' keyword, the statement
sets the default transaction level globally for all new connections
created from that point on (but not existing connections).  You need
the `SUPER' privilege to do this.  Using the `SESSION' keyword sets the
default transaction level for all future transactions performed on the
current connection.

For description of each `InnoDB' transaction isolation level, see *Note
InnoDB transaction isolation::.  InnoDB supports each of these levels
from MySQL 4.0.5 on. The default level is `REPEATABLE READ'.

You can set the default global isolation level for `mysqld' with
`--transaction-isolation=...'. *Note Server options::.

Database Administration Statements
==================================

Account Management Statements
-----------------------------

`GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax
...........................

     GRANT priv_type [(column_list)] [, priv_type [(column_list)] ...]
         ON {tbl_name | * | *.* | db_name.*}
         TO user_name [IDENTIFIED BY [PASSWORD] 'password']
             [, user_name [IDENTIFIED BY [PASSWORD] 'password'] ...]
         [REQUIRE
             NONE |
             [{SSL| X509}]
             [CIPHER cipher [AND]]
             [ISSUER issuer [AND]]
             [SUBJECT subject]]
         [WITH [GRANT OPTION | MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR # |
                               MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR # |
                               MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR #]]

     REVOKE priv_type [(column_list)] [, priv_type [(column_list)] ...]
         ON {tbl_name | * | *.* | db_name.*}
         FROM user_name [, user_name ...]
     
     REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES,GRANT FROM user_name [, user_name ...]

`GRANT' and `REVOKE' are implemented in MySQL Version 3.22.11 or later.
For earlier MySQL versions, these statements do nothing.

The `GRANT' and `REVOKE' statements allow system administrators to
create users and grant and revoke rights to MySQL users at four
privilege levels:

*Global level*
     Global privileges apply to all databases on a given server. These
     privileges are stored in the `mysql.user' table.  `GRANT ALL ON
     *.*' and `REVOKE ALL ON *.*' will grant and revoke only global
     privileges.

*Database level*
     Database privileges apply to all tables in a given database. These
     privileges are stored in the `mysql.db' and `mysql.host' tables.
     `GRANT ALL ON db.*' and `REVOKE ALL ON db.*' will grant and revoke
     only database privileges.

*Table level*
     Table privileges apply to all columns in a given table. These
     privileges are stored in the `mysql.tables_priv' table.  `GRANT
     ALL ON db.table' and `REVOKE ALL ON db.table' will grant and
     revoke only table privileges.

*Column level*
     Column privileges apply to single columns in a given table. These
     privileges are stored in the `mysql.columns_priv' table.  When
     using `REVOKE' you must specify the same columns that were granted.

To make it easy to revoke all privileges for a user, MySQL 4.1.1 has
added the syntax:

     REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES,GRANT FROM user_name [, user_name ...]

This will drop all database, table and column level privileges for the
user.

For the `GRANT' and `REVOKE' statements, `priv_type' may be specified
as any of the following:

`ALL [PRIVILEGES]'     Sets all simple privileges except `WITH GRANT
                       OPTION'
`ALTER'                Allows usage of `ALTER TABLE'
`CREATE'               Allows usage of `CREATE TABLE'
`CREATE TEMPORARY      Allows usage of `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE'
TABLES'                
`DELETE'               Allows usage of `DELETE'
`DROP'                 Allows usage of `DROP TABLE'.
`EXECUTE'              Allows the user to run stored procedures (MySQL
                       5.0)
`FILE'                 Allows usage of `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' and
                       `LOAD DATA INFILE'.
`INDEX'                Allows usage of `CREATE INDEX' and `DROP INDEX'
`INSERT'               Allows usage of `INSERT'
`LOCK TABLES'          Allows usage of `LOCK TABLES' on tables for which
                       one has the `SELECT' privilege.
`PROCESS'              Allows usage of `SHOW FULL PROCESSLIST'
`REFERENCES'           For the future
`RELOAD'               Allows usage of `FLUSH'
`REPLICATION CLIENT'   Gives the right to the user to ask where the
                       slaves/masters are.
`REPLICATION SLAVE'    Needed for the replication slaves (to read
                       binlogs from master).
`SELECT'               Allows usage of `SELECT'
`SHOW DATABASES'       `SHOW DATABASES' shows all databases.
`SHUTDOWN'             Allows usage of `mysqladmin shutdown'
`SUPER'                Allows one connect (once) even if max_connections
                       is reached and execute commands `CHANGE MASTER',
                       `KILL thread', `mysqladmin debug', `PURGE MASTER
                       LOGS' and `SET GLOBAL'
`UPDATE'               Allows usage of `UPDATE'
`USAGE'                Synonym for "no privileges."
`GRANT OPTION'         Synonym for `WITH GRANT OPTION'

`USAGE' can be used when you want to create a user that has no
privileges.

The privileges `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES', `EXECUTE', `LOCK TABLES',
`REPLICATION ...', `SHOW DATABASES' and `SUPER' are new for in version
4.0.2.  To use these new privileges after upgrading to 4.0.2, you have
to run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script.  *Note
Upgrading-grant-tables::.

In older MySQL versions, the `PROCESS' privilege gives the same rights
as the new `SUPER' privilege.

To revoke the `GRANT' privilege from a user, use a `priv_type' value of
`GRANT OPTION':

     mysql> REVOKE GRANT OPTION ON ... FROM ...;

The only `priv_type' values you can specify for a table are `SELECT',
`INSERT', `UPDATE', `DELETE', `CREATE', `DROP', `GRANT OPTION',
`INDEX', and `ALTER'.

The only `priv_type' values you can specify for a column (that is, when
you use a `column_list' clause) are `SELECT', `INSERT', and `UPDATE'.

MySQL allows you to create database level privileges even if the
database doesn't exist, to make it easy to prepare for database usage.
Currently MySQL does however not allow one to create table level grants
if the table doesn't exist. MySQL will not automatically revoke any
privileges even if you drop a table or drop a database.

You can set global privileges by using `ON *.*' syntax.  You can set
database privileges by using `ON db_name.*' syntax. If you specify `ON
*' and you have a current database, you will set the privileges for
that database.  (*Warning:* If you specify `ON *' and you *don't* have
a current database, you will affect the global privileges!)

*Please note*: the `_' and `%' wildcards are allowed when specifying
database names in `GRANT' statements that grant privileges at the
global or database levels. This means that if you wish to use for
instance a `_' character as part of a database name, you should specify
it as `\_' in the `GRANT' command, to prevent the user from being able
to access additional databases matching the wildcard pattern, for
example, `GRANT ... ON `foo\_bar`.* TO ...'.

In order to accommodate granting rights to users from arbitrary hosts,
MySQL supports specifying the `user_name' value in the form
`user@host'.  If you want to specify a `user' string containing special
characters (such as `-'), or a `host' string containing special
characters or wildcard characters (such as `%'), you can quote the
username or hostname (for example, `'test-user'@'test-hostname'').

You can specify wildcards in the hostname.  For example,
`user@'%.loc.gov'' applies to `user' for any host in the `loc.gov'
domain, and `user@'144.155.166.%'' applies to `user' for any host in
the `144.155.166' class C subnet.

The simple form `user' is a synonym for `user@"%"'.

MySQL doesn't support wildcards in usernames.  Anonymous users are
defined by inserting entries with `User=''' into the `mysql.user' table
or creating a user with an empty name with the `GRANT' command.

*Note:* If you allow anonymous users to connect to the MySQL server,
you should also grant privileges to all local users as `user@localhost'
because otherwise the anonymous user entry for the local host in the
`mysql.user' table will be used when the user tries to log into the
MySQL server from the local machine!

You can verify if this applies to you by executing this query:

     mysql> SELECT Host,User FROM mysql.user WHERE User='';

For the moment, `GRANT' only supports host, table, database, and column
names up to 60 characters long. A username can be up to 16 characters.

The privileges for a table or column are formed from the logical OR of
the privileges at each of the four privilege levels.  For example, if
the `mysql.user' table specifies that a user has a global `SELECT'
privilege, this can't be denied by an entry at the database, table, or
column level.

The privileges for a column can be calculated as follows:

     global privileges
     OR (database privileges AND host privileges)
     OR table privileges
     OR column privileges

In most cases, you grant rights to a user at only one of the privilege
levels, so life isn't normally as complicated as above. The details of
the privilege-checking procedure are presented in *Note Privilege
system::.

If you grant privileges for a user/hostname combination that does not
exist in the `mysql.user' table, an entry is added and remains there
until deleted with a `DELETE' command.  In other words, `GRANT' may
create `user' table entries, but `REVOKE' will not remove them; you
must do that explicitly using `DELETE'.

In MySQL Version 3.22.12 or later, if a new user is created or if you
have global grant privileges, the user's password will be set to the
password specified by the `IDENTIFIED BY' clause, if one is given.  If
the user already had a password, it is replaced by the new one.

If you don't want to send the password in clear text you can use the
`PASSWORD' option followed by a scrambled password from SQL function
`PASSWORD()' or the C API function `make_scrambled_password(char *to,
const char *password)'.

*Warning:* If you create a new user but do not specify an `IDENTIFIED
BY' clause, the user has no password.  This is insecure.

Passwords can also be set with the `SET PASSWORD' command.  *Note
`SET': SET OPTION.

If you grant privileges for a database, an entry in the `mysql.db'
table is created if needed. When all privileges for the database have
been removed with `REVOKE', this entry is deleted.

If a user doesn't have any privileges on a table, the table is not
displayed when the user requests a list of tables (for example, with a
`SHOW TABLES' statement). The same is true for `SHOW DATABASES'.

The `WITH GRANT OPTION' clause gives the user the ability to give to
other users any privileges the user has at the specified privilege
level.  You should be careful to whom you give the `GRANT' privilege,
as two users with different privileges may be able to join privileges!

`MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR #', `MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR #' and
`MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR #' are new in MySQL version 4.0.2.  These
options limit the number of queries/updates and logins the user can do
during one hour. If `#' is 0 (default), then this means that there are
no limitations for that user. *Note User resources::.  Note: To specify
any of these options for an existing user without adding other
additional privileges, use `GRANT USAGE ON *.* ... WITH MAX_...'.

You cannot grant another user a privilege you don't have yourself; the
`GRANT' privilege allows you to give away only those privileges you
possess.

Be aware that when you grant a user the `GRANT' privilege at a
particular privilege level, any privileges the user already possesses
(or is given in the future!) at that level are also grantable by that
user.  Suppose you grant a user the `INSERT' privilege on a database.
If you then grant the `SELECT' privilege on the database and specify
`WITH GRANT OPTION', the user can give away not only the `SELECT'
privilege, but also `INSERT'.  If you then grant the `UPDATE' privilege
to the user on the database, the user can give away the `INSERT',
`SELECT' and `UPDATE'.

You should not grant `ALTER' privileges to a normal user.  If you do
that, the user can try to subvert the privilege system by renaming
tables!

Note that if you are using table or column privileges for even one
user, the server examines table and column privileges for all users and
this will slow down MySQL a bit.

When `mysqld' starts, all privileges are read into memory.  Database,
table, and column privileges take effect at once, and user-level
privileges take effect the next time the user connects.  Modifications
to the grant tables that you perform using `GRANT' or `REVOKE' are
noticed by the server immediately.  If you modify the grant tables
manually (using `INSERT', `UPDATE', etc.), you should execute a `FLUSH
PRIVILEGES' statement or run `mysqladmin flush-privileges' to tell the
server to reload the grant tables.  *Note Privilege changes::.

The biggest differences between the SQL standard and MySQL versions of
`GRANT' are:

   * In MySQL privileges are given for a username + hostname combination
     and not only for a username.

   * SQL-99 doesn't have global or database-level privileges, nor does
     it support all the privilege types that MySQL supports.  MySQL
     doesn't support the SQL-99 `TRIGGER' or `UNDER' privileges.

   * SQL-99 privileges are structured in a hierarchal manner. If you
     remove an user, all privileges the user has granted are revoked. In
     MySQL the granted privileges are not automatically revoked, but
     you have to revoke these yourself if needed.

   * In MySQL, if you have the `INSERT' privilege on only some of the
     columns in a table, you can execute `INSERT' statements on the
     table; the columns for which you don't have the `INSERT' privilege
     will be set to their default values. SQL-99 requires you to have
     the `INSERT' privilege on all columns.

   * With SQL99, when you drop a table, all privileges for the table
     are revoked.  With SQL-99, when you revoke a privilege, all
     privileges that were granted based on the privilege are also
     revoked. In MySQL, privileges can be dropped only with explicit
     `REVOKE' commands or by manipulating the MySQL grant tables.

For a description of using `REQUIRE', see *Note Secure connections::.

Table Maintenance Statements
----------------------------

`ANALYZE TABLE' Syntax
......................

     ANALYZE [LOCAL | NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG] TABLE tbl_name[,tbl_name...]

Analyze and store the key distribution for the table.  During the
analysis, the table is locked with a read lock.  This works on `MyISAM'
and `BDB' tables.

This is equivalent to running `myisamchk -a' on the table.

MySQL uses the stored key distribution to decide in which order tables
should be joined when you perform a join on something other than a
constant.

The command returns a table with the following columns:

*Column*    *Value*
Table       Table name
Op          Always `analyze'
Msg_type    One of `status', `error',
            `info', or `warning'
Msg_text    The message

You can check the stored key distribution with the `SHOW INDEX' command.
*Note Show database info::.

If the table hasn't changed since the last `ANALYZE TABLE' command, the
table will not be analyzed again.

Before MySQL 4.1.1, `ANALYZE' commands are not written to the binary
log. Since MySQL 4.1.1 they are written to the binary log unless the
optional `NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG' keyword (or its alias `LOCAL') was used.

`BACKUP TABLE' Syntax
.....................

     BACKUP TABLE tbl_name[,tbl_name...] TO '/path/to/backup/directory'

Note: This statement is deprecated. We are working on a better
replacement for it that will provide online backup capabilities.  In
the meantime, the `mysqlhotcopy' script can be used instead.

Copies to the backup directory the minimum number of table files needed
to restore the table, after flushing any buffered changes to disk.
Currently works only for `MyISAM' tables.  For `MyISAM' tables, copies
`.frm' (definition)  and `.MYD' (data) files. The index file can be
rebuilt from those two files.

Before using this command, please see *Note Backup::.

During the backup, a read lock will be held for each table, one at time,
as they are being backed up. If you want to back up several tables as a
snapshot, you must first issue `LOCK TABLES' to obtain a read lock for
each table in the group.

The command returns a table with the following columns:

*Column*    *Value*
Table       Table name
Op          Always `backup'
Msg_type    One of `status', `error',
            `info', or `warning'
Msg_text    The message

Note that `BACKUP TABLE' is only available in MySQL version 3.23.25 and
later.

`CHECK TABLE' Syntax
....................

     CHECK TABLE tbl_name[,tbl_name...] [option [option...]]
     
     option = QUICK | FAST | MEDIUM | EXTENDED | CHANGED

`CHECK TABLE' works only on `MyISAM' and `InnoDB' tables. On `MyISAM'
tables, it's the same thing as running `myisamchk --medium-check
table_name' on the table.

If you don't specify any option, `MEDIUM' is used.

Checks the table or tables for errors. For `MyISAM' tables, the key
statistics are updated. The command returns a table with the following
columns:

*Column*    *Value*
Table       Table name
Op          Always `check'
Msg_type    One of `status', `error',
            `info', or `warning'
Msg_text    The message

Note that the statement might produce many rows of information for each
checked table.  The last row will be of `Msg_type status' and should
normally be `OK'.  If you don't get `OK', or `Table is already up to
date' you should normally run a repair of the table. *Note Table
maintenance::. `Table is already up to date' means that the storage
manager for the table indicated that there was no need to check the
table.

The different check types are as follows:

*Type*      *Meaning*
`QUICK'     Don't scan the rows to check for incorrect links.
`FAST'      Only check tables that haven't been closed properly.
`CHANGED'   Only check tables that have been changed since the last
            check or haven't been closed properly.
`MEDIUM'    Scan rows to verify that deleted links are okay. This also
            calculates a key checksum for the rows and verifies this
            with a calculated checksum for the keys.
`EXTENDED'  Do a full key lookup for all keys for each row.  This
            ensures that the table is 100% consistent, but will take a
            long time!

For dynamically sized `MyISAM' tables, a started check will always do a
`MEDIUM' check. For statically sized rows, we skip the row scan for
`QUICK' and `FAST' because the rows are very seldom corrupted.

You can combine check options, as in the following example, which does
a quick check on the table to see whether it was closed properly:

     CHECK TABLE test_table FAST QUICK;

*Note:* In some cases, `CHECK TABLE' will change the table!  This
happens if the table is marked as 'corrupted' or 'not closed properly'
but `CHECK TABLE' didn't find any problems in the table.  In this case,
`CHECK TABLE' will mark the table as okay.

If a table is corrupted, it's most likely that the problem is in the
indexes and not in the data part.  All of the above check types checks
the indexes thoroughly and should thus find most errors.

If you just want to check a table that you assume is okay, you should
use no check options or the `QUICK' option. The latter should be used
when you are in a hurry and can take the very small risk that `QUICK'
didn't find an error in the datafile. (In most cases MySQL should find,
under normal usage, any error in the datafile.  If this happens then
the table will be marked as 'corrupted', in which case the table can't
be used until it's repaired.)

`FAST' and `CHANGED' are mostly intended to be used from a script (for
example to be executed from `cron') if you want to check your table
from time to time. In most cases, `FAST' is to be preferred over
`CHANGED'.  (The only case when it isn't is when you suspect that you
have found a bug in the `MyISAM' code.)

`EXTENDED' is to be used only after you have run a normal check but
still get strange errors from a table when MySQL tries to update a row
or find a row by key. (This is very unlikely if a normal check has
succeeded!)

Some problems reported by `CHECK TABLE' can't be corrected
automatically:

   * `Found row where the auto_increment column has the value 0'.

     This means that you have a row in the table where the
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' index column contains the value 0.  (It's
     possible to create a row where the `AUTO_INCREMENT' column is 0 by
     explicitly setting the column to 0 with an `UPDATE' statement.)

     This isn't an error in itself, but could cause trouble if you
     decide to dump the table and restore it or do an `ALTER TABLE' on
     the table. In this case, the `AUTO_INCREMENT' column will change
     value according to the rules of `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns, which
     could cause problems such as a duplicate key error.

     To get rid of the warning, just execute an `UPDATE' statement to
     set the column to some other value than 0.

`CHECKSUM TABLE' Syntax
.......................

     CHECKSUM TABLE tbl_name[,tbl_name ...] [ QUICK | EXTENDED ]

Reports a table checksum. If `QUICK' is specified, live table checksum
is reported, or `NULL' if the table does not support live checksum.
This is very fast.  In `EXTENDED' mode the whole table is read row by
row and the checksum is calculated. This can be very slow for large
tables. By default - with neither `QUICK' nor `EXTENDED' - MySQL
returns live checksum if the table support it and scans the table
otherwise.

This statement is implemented in MySQL 4.1.1.

`OPTIMIZE TABLE' Syntax
.......................

     OPTIMIZE [LOCAL | NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG] TABLE tbl_name[,tbl_name]...

`OPTIMIZE TABLE' should be used if you have deleted a large part of a
table or if you have made many changes to a table with variable-length
rows (tables that have `VARCHAR', `BLOB', or `TEXT' columns).  Deleted
records are maintained in a linked list and subsequent `INSERT'
operations reuse old record positions. You can use `OPTIMIZE TABLE' to
reclaim the unused space and to defragment the datafile.

In most setups you don't have to run `OPTIMIZE TABLE' at all.  Even if
you do a lot of updates to variable length rows it's not likely that
you need to do this more than once a month/week and only on certain
tables.

For the moment, `OPTIMIZE TABLE' works only on `MyISAM' and `BDB'
tables. For `BDB' tables, `OPTIMIZE TABLE' is currently mapped to
`ANALYZE TABLE'.  *Note `ANALYZE TABLE': ANALYZE TABLE.

You can get `OPTIMIZE TABLE' to work on other table types by starting
`mysqld' with `--skip-new' or `--safe-mode', but in this case `OPTIMIZE
TABLE' is just mapped to `ALTER TABLE'.

`OPTIMIZE TABLE' works the following way:
   * If the table has deleted or split rows, repair the table.

   * If the index pages are not sorted, sort them.

   * If the statistics are not up to date (and the repair couldn't be
     done by sorting the index), update them.

Note that the table is locked during the time `OPTIMIZE TABLE' is
running!

Before MySQL 4.1.1, `OPTIMIZE' commands are not written to the binary
log. Since MySQL 4.1.1 they are written to the binary log unless the
optional `NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG' keyword (or its alias `LOCAL') was used.

`REPAIR TABLE' Syntax
.....................

     REPAIR [LOCAL | NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG] TABLE tbl_name[,tbl_name...] [QUICK] [EXTENDED] [USE_FRM]

`REPAIR TABLE' works only on `MyISAM' tables and is the same as running
`myisamchk -r table_name' on the table.

Normally you should never have to run this command, but if disaster
strikes, you are very likely to get back all your data from a MyISAM
table with `REPAIR TABLE'. If your tables get corrupted often, you
should try to find the reason for it, to eliminate the need to use
`REPAIR TABLE'.  *Note Crashing::. *Note MyISAM table problems::.

`REPAIR TABLE' repairs a possibly corrupted table. The command returns a
table with the following columns:

*Column*    *Value*
Table       Table name
Op          Always `repair'
Msg_type    One of `status', `error',
            `info', or `warning'
Msg_text    The message

Note that the statement might produce many rows of information for each
repaired table.  The last one row will be of `Msg_type status' and
should normally be `OK'.  If you don't get `OK', you should try
repairing the table with `myisamchk --safe-recover', because `REPAIR
TABLE' does not yet implement all the options of `myisamchk'. In the
near future, we will make it more flexible.

If `QUICK' is given, `REPAIR TABLE' tries to repair only the index tree.

If you use `EXTENDED', MySQL creates the index row by row instead of
creating one index at a time with sorting; this might be better than
sorting on fixed-length keys if you have long `CHAR' keys that compress
very well.  This type of repair is like that done by `myisamchk
--safe-recover'.

As of `MySQL' 4.0.2, there is a `USE_FRM' mode for `REPAIR'.  Use it if
the `.MYI' file is missing or if its header is corrupted.  In this mode
MySQL will re-create the table, using information from the `.frm' file.
This kind of repair cannot be done with `myisamchk'.

*Warning:* If `mysqld' dies during a `REPAIR TABLE', it's essential
that you do at once another `REPAIR' on the table before executing any
other commands on it. (It's always good to start by making a backup).
In the worst case you can have a new clean index file without
information about the datafile and when the next command you do may
overwrite the datafile.  This is not a likely, but possible scenario.

Before MySQL 4.1.1, `REPAIR' commands are not written to the binary
log. Since MySQL 4.1.1 they are written to the binary log unless the
optional `NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG' keyword (or its alias `LOCAL') was used.

`RESTORE TABLE' Syntax
......................

     RESTORE TABLE tbl_name[,tbl_name...] FROM '/path/to/backup/directory'

Restores the table or tables from the backup that was made with `BACKUP
TABLE'. Existing tables will not be overwritten; if you try to restore
over an existing table, you will get an error. Restoring will take
longer than backing up due to the need to rebuild the index. The more
keys you have, the longer it will take. Just as `BACKUP TABLE',
`RESTORE TABLE' currently works only for `MyISAM' tables.

The command returns a table with the following columns:

*Column*    *Value*
Table       Table name
Op          Always `restore'
Msg_type    One of `status', `error',
            `info', or `warning'
Msg_text    The message

`SHOW' Syntax
-------------

        SHOW DATABASES [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW [OPEN] TABLES [FROM db_name] [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW [FULL] COLUMNS FROM tbl_name [FROM db_name] [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW INDEX FROM tbl_name [FROM db_name]
     or SHOW TABLE STATUS [FROM db_name] [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW STATUS [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW VARIABLES [LIKE wild]
     or SHOW [BDB] LOGS
     or SHOW [FULL] PROCESSLIST
     or SHOW GRANTS FOR user
     or SHOW CREATE TABLE table_name
     or SHOW MASTER STATUS
     or SHOW MASTER LOGS
     or SHOW SLAVE STATUS
     or SHOW WARNINGS [LIMIT row_count]
     or SHOW ERRORS [LIMIT row_count]
     or SHOW TABLE TYPES

`SHOW' provides information about databases, tables, columns, or status
information about the server. If the `LIKE wild' part is used, the
`wild' string can be a string that uses the SQL `%' and `_' wildcard
characters.

Note that there are other forms of the `SHOW' statement that provide
information about replication master and slave servers. They are
described in *Note Replication SQL::.

Retrieving Information about Database, Tables, Columns, and Indexes
...................................................................

You can use `db_name.tbl_name' as an alternative to the `tbl_name FROM
db_name' syntax.  These two statements are equivalent:

     mysql> SHOW INDEX FROM mytable FROM mydb;
     mysql> SHOW INDEX FROM mydb.mytable;

`SHOW DATABASES' lists the databases on the MySQL server host.  You can
also get this list using the `mysqlshow' command line tool.  In version
4.0.2 you will see only those databases for which you have some kind of
privilege, if you don't have the global `SHOW DATABASES' privilege.

`SHOW TABLES' lists the tables in a given database.  You can also get
this list using the `mysqlshow db_name' command.

*Note:* If a user doesn't have any privileges for a table, the table
will not show up in the output from `SHOW TABLES' or `mysqlshow
db_name'.

`SHOW OPEN TABLES' lists the tables that are currently open in the
table cache. *Note Table cache::.  The `Comment' field tells how many
times the table is `cached' and `in_use'.

`SHOW COLUMNS' lists the columns in a given table.  If you specify the
`FULL' option, you will also get the privileges you have for each
column.  If the column types are different from what you expect them to
be based on a `CREATE TABLE' statement, note that MySQL sometimes
changes column types.  *Note Silent column changes::.  As of MySQL 4.1,
the `FULL' keyword also causes any per-column comments to be displayed.

The `DESCRIBE' statement provides information similar to `SHOW COLUMNS'.
*Note `DESCRIBE': DESCRIBE.

`SHOW FIELDS' is a synonym for `SHOW COLUMNS', and `SHOW KEYS' is a
synonym for `SHOW INDEX'.  You can also list a table's columns or
indexes with `mysqlshow db_name tbl_name' or `mysqlshow -k db_name
tbl_name'.

`SHOW INDEX' returns the index information in a format that closely
resembles the `SQLStatistics' call in ODBC. The following columns are
returned:

*Column*    *Meaning*
`Table'     Name of the table.
`Non_unique'0 if the index can't contain
            duplicates, 1 if it can.
`Key_name'  Name of the index.
`Seq_in_index'Column sequence number in index,
                                          starting
            with 1.
`Column_name'Column name.
`Collation' How the column is sorted in the index.
            In MySQL, this can have values
                                        `A'
            (Ascending) or `NULL' (Not
                                    sorted).
`Cardinality'Number of unique values in the index.
            This is updated by running
                                    `myisamchk -a'.
`Sub_part'  Number of indexed characters if the
            column is only partly indexed.
                                         `NULL' if
            the entire column is indexed.
`Packed'    Indicates how the key is packed.
            `NULL' if it is not.
`Null'      Contains `YES' if the column may
            contain `NULL'.
`Index_type'Index method used.
`Comment'   Various remarks.  For now, it tells in
            MySQL < 4.0.2 whether or not index is
            `FULLTEXT'.

Note that as the `Cardinality' is counted based on statistics stored as
integers, it's not necessarily accurate for small tables.

The `Packed' and `Comments' columns were added in MySQL 3.23.0.  The
`Null' and `Index_type' columns were added in MySQL 4.0.2.

`SHOW TABLE STATUS'
...................

     SHOW TABLE STATUS [FROM db_name] [LIKE wild]

`SHOW TABLE STATUS' (new in Version 3.23) works likes `SHOW TABLE', but
provides a lot of information about each table. You can also get this
list using the `mysqlshow --status db_name' command.  The following
columns are returned:

*Column*       *Meaning*
`Name'         Name of the table.
`Type'         Type of table. *Note Table types::.
`Row_format'   The row storage format (Fixed, Dynamic, or
               Compressed).
`Rows'         Number of rows.
`Avg_row_length'Average row length.
`Data_length'  Length of the datafile.
`Max_data_length'Max length of the datafile.  For fixed row
               formats, this is the max number of rows in the
               table.  For dynamic row formats, this is the
               total number of data bytes that can be stored in
               the table, given the data pointer size used.
`Index_length' Length of the index file.
`Data_free'    Number of allocated but not used bytes.
`Auto_increment'Next autoincrement value.
`Create_time'  When the table was created.
`Update_time'  When the datafile was last updated.
`Check_time'   When the table was last checked.
`Collation'    Table's character set and collation. (new 4.1.1)
`Checksum'     Live checksum value (if any). (new in 4.1.1)
`Create_options'Extra options used with `CREATE TABLE'.
`Comment'      The comment used when creating the table (or some
               information why MySQL couldn't access the table
               information).

`InnoDB' tables will report the free space in the tablespace in the
table comment.

`SHOW STATUS'
.............

`SHOW STATUS' provides server status information (like `mysqladmin
extended-status'). The output resembles that shown here, though the
format and numbers probably differ:

     +--------------------------+------------+
     | Variable_name            | Value      |
     +--------------------------+------------+
     | Aborted_clients          | 0          |
     | Aborted_connects         | 0          |
     | Bytes_received           | 155372598  |
     | Bytes_sent               | 1176560426 |
     | Connections              | 30023      |
     | Created_tmp_disk_tables  | 0          |
     | Created_tmp_tables       | 8340       |
     | Created_tmp_files        | 60         |
     | Delayed_insert_threads   | 0          |
     | Delayed_writes           | 0          |
     | Delayed_errors           | 0          |
     | Flush_commands           | 1          |
     | Handler_delete           | 462604     |
     | Handler_read_first       | 105881     |
     | Handler_read_key         | 27820558   |
     | Handler_read_next        | 390681754  |
     | Handler_read_prev        | 6022500    |
     | Handler_read_rnd         | 30546748   |
     | Handler_read_rnd_next    | 246216530  |
     | Handler_update           | 16945404   |
     | Handler_write            | 60356676   |
     | Key_blocks_used          | 14955      |
     | Key_read_requests        | 96854827   |
     | Key_reads                | 162040     |
     | Key_write_requests       | 7589728    |
     | Key_writes               | 3813196    |
     | Max_used_connections     | 0          |
     | Not_flushed_key_blocks   | 0          |
     | Not_flushed_delayed_rows | 0          |
     | Open_tables              | 1          |
     | Open_files               | 2          |
     | Open_streams             | 0          |
     | Opened_tables            | 44600      |
     | Questions                | 2026873    |
     | Select_full_join         | 0          |
     | Select_full_range_join   | 0          |
     | Select_range             | 99646      |
     | Select_range_check       | 0          |
     | Select_scan              | 30802      |
     | Slave_running            | OFF        |
     | Slave_open_temp_tables   | 0          |
     | Slow_launch_threads      | 0          |
     | Slow_queries             | 0          |
     | Sort_merge_passes        | 30         |
     | Sort_range               | 500        |
     | Sort_rows                | 30296250   |
     | Sort_scan                | 4650       |
     | Table_locks_immediate    | 1920382    |
     | Table_locks_waited       | 0          |
     | Threads_cached           | 0          |
     | Threads_created          | 30022      |
     | Threads_connected        | 1          |
     | Threads_running          | 1          |
     | Uptime                   | 80380      |
     +--------------------------+------------+

The status variables listed above have the following meaning:

*Variable*             *Meaning*
`Aborted_clients'      Number of connections aborted because the client
                       died without closing the connection properly.
                       *Note Communication errors::.
`Aborted_connects'     Number of tries to connect to the MySQL server
                       that failed. *Note Communication errors::.
`Bytes_received'       Number of bytes received from all clients.
`Bytes_sent'           Number of bytes sent to all clients.
`Com_xxx'              Number of times each xxx command has been
                       executed.
`Connections'          Number of connection attempts to the MySQL server.
`Created_tmp_disk_tables'Number of implicit temporary tables on disk
                       created while executing statements.
`Created_tmp_tables'   Number of implicit temporary tables in memory
                       created while executing statements.
`Created_tmp_files'    How many temporary files `mysqld' has created.
`Delayed_insert_threads'Number of delayed insert handler threads in use.
`Delayed_writes'       Number of rows written with `INSERT DELAYED'.
`Delayed_errors'       Number of rows written with `INSERT DELAYED' for
                       which some error occurred (probably `duplicate
                       key').
`Flush_commands'       Number of executed `FLUSH' commands.
`Handler_commit'       Number of internal `COMMIT' commands.
`Handler_delete'       Number of times a row was deleted from a table.
`Handler_read_first'   Number of times the first entry was read from an
                       index.  If this is high, it suggests that the
                       server is doing a lot of full index scans, for
                       example, `SELECT col1 FROM foo', assuming that
                       col1 is indexed.
`Handler_read_key'     Number of requests to read a row based on a key.
                       If this is high, it is a good indication that
                       your queries and tables are properly indexed.
`Handler_read_next'    Number of requests to read next row in key order.
                       This will be incremented if you are querying an
                       index column with a range constraint. This also
                       will be incremented if you are doing an index
                       scan.
`Handler_read_prev'    Number of requests to read previous row in key
                       order.  This is mainly used to optimize `ORDER BY
                       ... DESC'.
`Handler_read_rnd'     Number of requests to read a row based on a fixed
                       position.  This will be high if you are doing a
                       lot of queries that require sorting of the result.
`Handler_read_rnd_next'Number of requests to read the next row in the
                       datafile.  This will be high if you are doing a
                       lot of table scans. Generally this suggests that
                       your tables are not properly indexed or that your
                       queries are not written to take advantage of the
                       indexes you have.
`Handler_rollback'     Number of internal `ROLLBACK' commands.
`Handler_update'       Number of requests to update a row in a table.
`Handler_write'        Number of requests to insert a row in a table.
`Key_blocks_used'      The number of used blocks in the key cache.  You
                       can use this value to determine how much of the
                       key cache is in use.  See the discussion of
                       `key_buffer_size' in  *Note `SHOW VARIABLES':
                       SHOW VARIABLES.
`Key_read_requests'    The number of requests to read a key block from
                       the cache.
`Key_reads'            The number of physical reads of a key block from
                       disk.
`Key_write_requests'   The number of requests to write a key block to
                       the cache.
`Key_writes'           The number of physical writes of a key block to
                       disk.
`Max_used_connections' The maximum number of connections in use
                       simultaneously.
`Not_flushed_key_blocks'Keys blocks in the key cache that has changed but
                       hasn't yet been flushed to disk.
`Not_flushed_delayed_rows'Number of rows waiting to be written in `INSERT
                       DELAY' queues.
`Open_tables'          Number of tables that are open.
`Open_files'           Number of files that are open.
`Open_streams'         Number of streams that are open (used mainly for
                       logging).
`Opened_tables'        Number of tables that have been opened.
`Rpl_status'           Status of failsafe replication. (Not yet in use).
`Select_full_join'     Number of joins without keys (If this is not 0,
                       you should carefully check the indexes of your
                       tables).
`Select_full_range_join'Number of joins where we used a range search on
                       reference table.
`Select_range'         Number of joins where we used ranges on the first
                       table. (It's normally not critical even if this
                       is big.)
`Select_scan'          Number of joins where we did a full scan of the
                       first table.
`Select_range_check'   Number of joins without keys where we check for
                       key usage after each row (If this is not 0, you
                       should carefully check the indexes of your
                       tables).
`Questions'            Number of queries sent to the server.
`Slave_open_temp_tables'Number of temporary tables currently open by the
                       slave thread
`Slave_running'        Is `ON' if this is a slave that is connected to a
                       master.
`Slow_launch_threads'  Number of threads that have taken more than
                       `slow_launch_time' to create.
`Slow_queries'         Number of queries that have taken more than
                       `long_query_time' seconds. *Note Slow query log::.
`Sort_merge_passes'    Number of merges passes the sort algoritm have
                       had to do. If this value is large you should
                       consider increasing `sort_buffer'.
`Sort_range'           Number of sorts that were done with ranges.
`Sort_rows'            Number of sorted rows.
`Sort_scan'            Number of sorts that were done by scanning the
                       table.
`ssl_xxx'              Variables used by SSL; Not yet implemented.
`Table_locks_immediate'Number of times a table lock was acquired
                       immediately. Available after 3.23.33.
`Table_locks_waited'   Number of times a table lock could not be
                       acquired immediately and a wait was needed. If
                       this is high, and you have performance problems,
                       you should first optimize your queries, and then
                       either split your table or tables or use
                       replication. Available after 3.23.33.
`Threads_cached'       Number of threads in the thread cache.
`Threads_connected'    Number of currently open connections.
`Threads_created'      Number of threads created to handle connections.
`Threads_running'      Number of threads that are not sleeping.
`Uptime'               How many seconds the server has been up.

Some comments about the above:

   * If `Opened_tables' is big, then your `table_cache' variable is
     probably too small.

   * If `Key_reads' is big, then your `key_buffer_size' variable is
     probably too small.  The *cache miss rate* can be calculated with
     `Key_reads'/`Key_read_requests'.

   * If `Handler_read_rnd' is big, then you probably have a lot of
     queries that require MySQL to scan whole tables or you have joins
     that don't use keys properly.

   * If `Threads_created' is big, you may want to increase the
     `thread_cache_size' variable.  The cache hit rate can be calculated
     with `Threads_created'/`Connections'.

   * If `Created_tmp_disk_tables' is big, you may want to increase the
     `tmp_table_size' variable to get the temporary tables memory-based
     instead of disk based.

`SHOW VARIABLES'
................

     SHOW [GLOBAL | SESSION] VARIABLES [LIKE wild]

`SHOW VARIABLES' shows the values of some MySQL system variables.  The
options `GLOBAL' and `SESSION' are new in MySQL 4.0.3.  With `GLOBAL',
you will get the variables that will be used for new connections to
MySQL. With `SESSION', you will get the values that are in effect for
the current connection. If you are not using either option, `SESSION'
is used.

If the default values are unsuitable, you can set most of these
variables using command-line options when `mysqld' starts.  *Note
Server options::. It is also possible to change most variables with the
`SET' statement.  *Note `SET': SET OPTION.

The output from `SHOW VARIABLES' resembles that shown in the following
list, though the format and numbers may differ somewhat.  You can also
get this information using the `mysqladmin variables' command.

     +---------------------------------+------------------------------+
     | Variable_name                   | Value                        |
     +---------------------------------+------------------------------|
     | back_log                        | 50                           |
     | basedir                         | /usr/local/mysql             |
     | bdb_cache_size                  | 8388572                      |
     | bdb_log_buffer_size             | 32768                        |
     | bdb_home                        | /usr/local/mysql             |
     | bdb_max_lock                    | 10000                        |
     | bdb_logdir                      |                              |
     | bdb_shared_data                 | OFF                          |
     | bdb_tmpdir                      | /tmp/                        |
     | bdb_version                     | Sleepycat Software: ...      |
     | binlog_cache_size               | 32768                        |
     | bulk_insert_buffer_size         | 8388608                      |
     | character_set                   | latin1                       |
     | character_sets                  | latin1 big5 czech euc_kr     |
     | concurrent_insert               | ON                           |
     | connect_timeout                 | 5                            |
     | convert_character_set           |                              |
     | datadir                         | /usr/local/mysql/data/       |
     | delay_key_write                 | ON                           |
     | delayed_insert_limit            | 100                          |
     | delayed_insert_timeout          | 300                          |
     | delayed_queue_size              | 1000                         |
     | flush                           | OFF                          |
     | flush_time                      | 0                            |
     | ft_boolean_syntax               | + -><()~*:""&|               |
     | ft_min_word_len                 | 4                            |
     | ft_max_word_len                 | 84                           |
     | ft_query_expansion_limit        | 20                           |
     | ft_stopword_file                | (built-in)                   |
     | have_bdb                        | YES                          |
     | have_innodb                     | YES                          |
     | have_isam                       | YES                          |
     | have_raid                       | NO                           |
     | have_symlink                    | DISABLED                     |
     | have_openssl                    | YES                          |
     | have_query_cache                | YES                          |
     | init_file                       |                              |
     | innodb_additional_mem_pool_size | 1048576                      |
     | innodb_buffer_pool_size         | 8388608                      |
     | innodb_data_file_path           | ibdata1:10M:autoextend       |
     | innodb_data_home_dir            |                              |
     | innodb_file_io_threads          | 4                            |
     | innodb_force_recovery           | 0                            |
     | innodb_thread_concurrency       | 8                            |
     | innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit  | 1                            |
     | innodb_fast_shutdown            | ON                           |
     | innodb_flush_method             |                              |
     | innodb_lock_wait_timeout        | 50                           |
     | innodb_log_arch_dir             |                              |
     | innodb_log_archive              | OFF                          |
     | innodb_log_buffer_size          | 1048576                      |
     | innodb_log_file_size            | 5242880                      |
     | innodb_log_files_in_group       | 2                            |
     | innodb_log_group_home_dir       | ./                           |
     | innodb_mirrored_log_groups      | 1                            |
     | interactive_timeout             | 28800                        |
     | join_buffer_size                | 131072                       |
     | key_buffer_size                 | 16773120                     |
     | key_cache_block_size            | 1024                         |
     | key_cache_division_limit        | 100                          |
     | key_cache_age_threshold         | 300                          |
     | language                        | /usr/local/mysql/share/...   |
     | large_files_support             | ON                           |
     | local_infile                    | ON                           |
     | locked_in_memory                | OFF                          |
     | log                             | OFF                          |
     | log_update                      | OFF                          |
     | log_bin                         | OFF                          |
     | log_slave_updates               | OFF                          |
     | log_slow_queries                | OFF                          |
     | log_warnings                    | OFF                          |
     | long_query_time                 | 10                           |
     | low_priority_updates            | OFF                          |
     | lower_case_table_names          | 0                            |
     | max_allowed_packet              | 1047552                      |
     | max_binlog_cache_size           | 4294967295                   |
     | max_binlog_size                 | 1073741824                   |
     | max_connections                 | 100                          |
     | max_connect_errors              | 10                           |
     | max_delayed_threads             | 20                           |
     | max_heap_table_size             | 16777216                     |
     | max_join_size                   | 4294967295                   |
     | max_relay_log_size              | 0                            |
     | max_sort_length                 | 1024                         |
     | max_user_connections            | 0                            |
     | max_tmp_tables                  | 32                           |
     | max_write_lock_count            | 4294967295                   |
     | myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size | 268435456                    |
     | myisam_repair_threads           | 1                            |
     | myisam_max_sort_file_size       | 2147483647                   |
     | myisam_recover_options          | force                        |
     | myisam_sort_buffer_size         | 8388608                      |
     | net_buffer_length               | 16384                        |
     | net_read_timeout                | 30                           |
     | net_retry_count                 | 10                           |
     | net_write_timeout               | 60                           |
     | open_files_limit                | 1024                         |
     | pid_file                        | /usr/local/mysql/name.pid    |
     | port                            | 3306                         |
     | protocol_version                | 10                           |
     | query_cache_limit               | 1048576                      |
     | query_cache_size                | 0                            |
     | query_cache_type                | ON                           |
     | read_buffer_size                | 131072                       |
     | read_rnd_buffer_size            | 262144                       |
     | rpl_recovery_rank               | 0                            |
     | safe_show_database              | OFF                          |
     | server_id                       | 0                            |
     | slave_net_timeout               | 3600                         |
     | skip_external_locking           | ON                           |
     | skip_networking                 | OFF                          |
     | skip_show_database              | OFF                          |
     | slow_launch_time                | 2                            |
     | socket                          | /tmp/mysql.sock              |
     | sort_buffer_size                | 2097116                      |
     | sql_mode                        |                              |
     | table_cache                     | 64                           |
     | table_type                      | MYISAM                       |
     | thread_cache_size               | 3                            |
     | thread_stack                    | 131072                       |
     | tx_isolation                    | READ-COMMITTED               |
     | timezone                        | EEST                         |
     | tmp_table_size                  | 33554432                     |
     | tmpdir                          | /tmp/:/mnt/hd2/tmp/          |
     | version                         | 4.0.4-beta                   |
     | wait_timeout                    | 28800                        |
     +---------------------------------+------------------------------+

Each option is described here. Values for buffer sizes, lengths, and
stack sizes are given in bytes.  You can specify values with a suffix
of `K' or `M' to indicate kilobytes or megabytes. For example, `16M'
indicates 16 megabytes.  The case of suffix letters does not matter;
`16M' and `16m' are equivalent:

   * `ansi_mode'.  Is `ON' if `mysqld' was started with `--ansi'.
     *Note ANSI mode::.

   * `back_log' The number of outstanding connection requests MySQL can
     have. This comes into play when the main MySQL thread gets *very*
     many connection requests in a very short time. It then takes some
     time (although very little) for the main thread to check the
     connection and start a new thread. The `back_log' value indicates
     how many requests can be stacked during this short time before
     MySQL momentarily stops answering new requests. You need to
     increase this only if you expect a large number of connections in
     a short period of time.

     In other words, this value is the size of the listen queue for
     incoming TCP/IP connections.  Your operating system has its own
     limit on the size of this queue.  The manual page for the Unix
     `listen(2)' system call should have more details.  Check your OS
     documentation for the maximum value for this variable.  Attempting
     to set `back_log' higher than your operating system limit will be
     ineffective.

   * `basedir' The value of the `--basedir' option.

   * `bdb_cache_size' The buffer that is allocated to cache index and
     rows for `BDB' tables.  If you don't use `BDB' tables, you should
     start `mysqld' with `--skip-bdb' to not waste memory for this
     cache.

   * `bdb_log_buffer_size' The buffer that is allocated to cache index
     and rows for `BDB' tables.  If you don't use `BDB' tables, you
     should set this to 0 or start `mysqld' with `--skip-bdb' to not
     waste memory for this cache.

   * `bdb_home' The base directory for `BDB' tables.  This should be
     the same directory you use for `--datadir'.

   * `bdb_max_lock' The maximum number of locks (10,000 by default) you
     can have active on a BDB table. You should increase this if you
     get errors of type `bdb: Lock table is out of available locks' or
     `Got error 12 from ...' when you have do long transactions or when
     `mysqld' has to examine a lot of rows to calculate the query.

   * `bdb_logdir' The value of the `--bdb-logdir' option.

   * `bdb_shared_data' Is `ON' if you are using `--bdb-shared-data'.

   * `bdb_tmpdir' The value of the `--bdb-tmpdir' option.

   * `binlog_cache_size'.  The size of the cache to hold the SQL
     statements for the binary log during a transaction.  If you often
     use big, multiple-statement transactions you can increase this to
     get more performance. *Note COMMIT::.

   * `bulk_insert_buffer_size' MyISAM uses special tree-like cache to
     make bulk inserts (that is, `INSERT ... SELECT', `INSERT ...
     VALUES (...), (...), ...', and `LOAD DATA INFILE') faster. This
     variable limits the size of the cache tree in bytes per thread.
     Setting it to 0 will disable this optimization.  *Note:* This
     cache is used only when adding data to a non-empty table.  Default
     value is 8 MB.  This option used to be named
     `myisam_bulk_insert_tree_size'.

   * `character_set' The default character set.

   * `character_sets' The supported character sets.

   * `concurrent_inserts' If `ON' (the default), MySQL will allow you
     to use `INSERT' on `MyISAM' tables at the same time as you run
     `SELECT' queries on them.  You can turn this option off by
     starting `mysqld' with `--safe' or `--skip-new'.

   * `connect_timeout' The number of seconds the `mysqld' server is
     waiting for a connect packet before responding with `Bad
     handshake'.

   * `datadir' The value of the `--datadir' option.

   * `delay_key_write' Option for MyISAM tables. Can have one of the
     following values:

     OFF                  All `CREATE TABLE ... DELAYED_KEY_WRITE' are
                          ignored.
     ON                   (default)  MySQL will honor the
                          `DELAY_KEY_WRITE' option for `CREATE TABLE'.
     ALL                  All new opened tables are treated as if they
                          were created with the `DELAY_KEY_WRITE' option.

     If `DELAY_KEY_WRITE' is enabled this means that the key buffer for
     tables with this option will not get flushed on every index
     update, but only when a table is closed.  This will speed up
     writes on keys a lot, but you should add automatic checking of all
     tables with `myisamchk --fast --force' if you use this.

   * `delayed_insert_limit' After inserting `delayed_insert_limit'
     rows, the `INSERT DELAYED' handler will check if there are any
     `SELECT' statements pending. If so, it allows these to execute
     before continuing.

   * `delayed_insert_timeout' How long a `INSERT DELAYED' thread should
     wait for `INSERT' statements before terminating.

   * `delayed_queue_size' What size queue (in rows) should be allocated
     for handling `INSERT DELAYED'.  If the queue becomes full, any
     client that does `INSERT DELAYED' will wait until there is room in
     the queue again.

   * `flush' This is `ON' if you have started MySQL with the `--flush'
     option.

   * `flush_time' If this is set to a non-zero value, then every
     `flush_time' seconds all tables will be closed (to free up
     resources and sync unflushed data to disk). We only recommend this
     option on Windows 9x/Me, or on systems where you have very little
     resources.

   * `ft_boolean_syntax' List of operators supported by `MATCH ...
     AGAINST(... IN BOOLEAN MODE)'.  *Note Fulltext Search::.

   * `ft_min_word_len' The minimum length of the word to be included in
     a `FULLTEXT' index.  *Note: `FULLTEXT' indexes must be rebuilt
     after changing this variable.* This variable is available as of
     MySQL 4.0.

   * `ft_max_word_len' The maximum length of the word to be included in
     a `FULLTEXT' index.  *Note: `FULLTEXT' indexes must be rebuilt
     after changing this variable.* This variable is available as of
     MySQL 4.0.

   * `ft_query_expansion_limit' Number of top matches to use for query
     expansion (in `MATCH ... AGAINST (... WITH QUERY EXPANSION)'.
     This variable is available as of MySQL 4.1.1.

   * `ft_stopword_file' The file from which to read the list of
     stopwords for full-text searches.  All the words from the file
     will be used; comments are *not* honored.  By default, built-in
     list of stopwords is used (as defined in `myisam/ft_static.c').
     Setting this parameter to an empty string (`""') will disable
     stopword filtering.  *Note: `FULLTEXT' indexes must be rebuilt
     after changing this variable.* This variable is available as of
     MySQL 4.0.10.

   * `have_innodb' `YES' if `mysqld' supports InnoDB tables. `DISABLED'
     if `--skip-innodb' is used.

   * `have_bdb' `YES' if `mysqld' supports Berkeley DB tables.
     `DISABLED' if `--skip-bdb' is used.

   * `have_raid' `YES' if `mysqld' supports the `RAID' option.

   * `have_openssl' `YES' if `mysqld' supports SSL (encryption) on the
     client/server protocol.

   * `init_connect' A string to be executed by the server for each
     client that connects.  The string consists of one or more SQL
     statements. To specify multiple statements, separate them by
     semicolon characters.  This variable was added in MySQL 4.1.2.

     For example, each client begins by default with auto-commit mode
     enabled.  There is no global server variable to specify that
     auto-commit should be disabled by default, but `init_connect' can
     be used to achieve the same effect:

          SET GLOBAL init_connect='SET AUTOCOMMIT=0';

     This variable may also be set on the command line or in an option
     file.  To set the variable as just shown using an option file,
     include these lines:

          [mysqld]
          init_connect='SET AUTOCOMMIT=0'

   * `init_file' The name of the file specified with the `--init-file'
     option when you start the server.  This is a file of SQL
     statements you want the server to execute when it starts.

   * `init_slave' This variable is similar to `init_connect', but is a
     string to be executed by a slave server each time the SQL thread
     starts.  The format of the string is the same as for the
     `init_connect' variable.  This variable was added in MySQL 4.1.2.

   * `interactive_timeout' The number of seconds the server waits for
     activity on an interactive connection before closing it.  An
     interactive client is defined as a client that uses the
     `CLIENT_INTERACTIVE' option to `mysql_real_connect()'.  See also
     `wait_timeout'.

   * `join_buffer_size' The size of the buffer that is used for full
     joins (joins that do not use indexes).  The buffer is allocated
     one time for each full join between two tables. Increase this
     value to get a faster full join when adding indexes is not
     possible. (Normally the best way to get fast joins is to add
     indexes.)

   * `key_buffer_size' Index blocks are buffered and are shared by all
     threads.  `key_buffer_size' is the size of the buffer used for
     index blocks.

     Increase this to get better index handling (for all reads and
     multiple writes) to as much as you can afford; 64M on a 256M
     machine that mainly runs MySQL is quite common.  However, if you
     make this too large (for instance more than 50% of your total
     memory) your system might start to page and become extremely slow.
     Remember that because MySQL does not cache data reads, you will
     have to leave some room for the OS filesystem cache.

     You can check the performance of the key buffer by issuing a `SHOW
     STATUS' statement and examining the variables `Key_read_requests',
     `Key_reads', `Key_write_requests', and `Key_writes'.  The
     `Key_reads/Key_read_request' ratio should normally be < 0.01.  The
     `Key_write/Key_write_requests' is usually near 1 if you are using
     mostly updates/deletes but might be much smaller if you tend to do
     updates that affect many at the same time or if you are using
     `DELAY_KEY_WRITE'. *Note `SHOW': SHOW.

     To get even more speed when writing many rows at the same time, use
     `LOCK TABLES'.  *Note `LOCK TABLES': LOCK TABLES.

     The fraction of the key buffer in use can be determined using
     `key_buffer_size' in conjunction with the `Key_blocks_used' status
     variable and the blocksize.  Before MySQL 4.1.1, key cache blocks
     are 1024 bytes, so the fraction of the key buffer in use is:

          (Key_blocks_used * 1024) / key_buffer_size

     From 4.1.1 on, the buffer block size is available from the
     `key_cache_block_size' server variable. The fraction of the buffer
     in use is:

          (Key_blocks_used * key_cache_block_size) / key_buffer_size

     *Note MyISAM key cache::.

   * `key_cache_age_threshold' This value controls the demotion of
     buffers from the hot sub-chain of a key cache to the warm
     sub-chain.  Lower values cause demotion to happen more quickly.
     The minimum value is 100.  The default value is 300.  This
     variable was added in MySQL 4.1.1.  *Note MyISAM key cache::.

   * `key_cache_block_size' The size in bytes of blocks in the key
     buffer.  The default value is 1024.  This variable was added in
     MySQL 4.1.1.  *Note MyISAM key cache::.

   * `key_cache_division_limit' The division point between the hot and
     warm sub-chains of the key cache buffer chain. The value is the
     percentage of the buffer chain to use for the warm sub-chain.
     Allowable values range from 1 to 100.  The default value is 100.
     This variable was added in MySQL 4.1.1.  *Note MyISAM key cache::.

   * `language' The language used for error messages.

   * `large_file_support' If `mysqld' was compiled with options for big
     file support.

   * `locked_in_memory' If `mysqld' was locked in memory with
     `--memlock'

   * `log' If logging of all queries is enabled.

   * `log_update' If the update log is enabled.

   * `log_bin' If the binary log is enabled.

   * `log_slave_updates' If the updates from the slave should be logged.

   * `long_query_time' If a query takes longer than this (in seconds),
     the `Slow_queries' counter will be incremented. If you are using
     `--log-slow-queries', the query will be logged to the slow query
     log file. This value is measured in real time, not CPU time, so a
     query that may be under the threshold on a lightly loaded system
     may be above the threshold on a heavily loaded one.  *Note Slow
     query log::.

   * `lower_case_table_names' If set to 1 table names are stored in
     lowercase on disk and table name comparisons will not be case
     sensitive.  If set to 2 (new in 4.0.18) then table names will be
     stored as given but compared in lower case.  From version 4.0.2,
     this option also applies to database names.  From 4.1.1 this
     option also applies to table aliases.  Note that you should NOT
     set this to 0 if you are running MYSQL on a system that does not
     have case sensitive filenames (such as Windows or Mac OS X).  New
     in 4.0.18:  If this value is 0 and the `datadir' is not case
     sensitive, MySQL automaticallys set `lower_case_table_names' to 1.
     *Note Name case sensitivity::.

   * `max_allowed_packet' The maximum size of one packet. The message
     buffer is initialized to `net_buffer_length' bytes, but can grow
     up to `max_allowed_packet' bytes when needed.  This value by
     default is small, to catch big (possibly wrong) packets.  You must
     increase this value if you are using big `BLOB' columns. It should
     be as big as the biggest `BLOB' you want to use.  The protocol
     limits for `max_allowed_packet' is 16M in MySQL 3.23 and 1G in
     MySQL 4.0.

   * `max_binlog_cache_size' If a multiple-statement transaction
     requires more than this amount of memory, one will get the error
     "Multi-statement transaction required more than
     'max_binlog_cache_size' bytes of storage".

   * `max_binlog_size' Available after 3.23.33. If a write to the
     binary (replication) log exceeds the given value, rotate the logs.
     You cannot set it to less than 4096 bytes (1024 in MySQL versions
     older than 4.0.14), or more than 1 GB. Default is 1 GB. Note if
     you are using transactions: a transaction is written in one chunk
     to the binary log, hence it is never split between several binary
     logs. Therefore, if you have big transactions, you may see binlogs
     bigger than `max_binlog_size'. If `max_relay_log_size' (available
     starting from MySQL 4.0.14) is 0, then `max_binlog_size' will
     apply to relay logs as well.

   * `max_connections' The number of simultaneous clients allowed.
     Increasing this value increases the number of file descriptors
     that `mysqld' requires.  See below for comments on file descriptor
     limits. *Note Too many connections::.

   * `max_connect_errors' If there is more than this number of
     interrupted connections from a host this host will be blocked from
     further connections.  You can unblock a host with the command
     `FLUSH HOSTS'.

   * `max_delayed_threads' Don't start more than this number of threads
     to handle `INSERT DELAYED' statements.  If you try to insert data
     into a new table after all `INSERT DELAYED' threads are in use,
     the row will be inserted as if the `DELAYED' attribute wasn't
     specified. If you set this to 0, MySQL will never create a
     max_delayed thread.

   * `max_heap_table_size' This variable sets the maximum size to which
     subsequently created `HEAP' tables are allowed to grow.  The value
     of the variable is used to calculate a `HEAP' table's `MAX_ROWS'
     value.  Setting this variable has no effect on any existing `HEAP'
     table, unless the table is re-created with a statement such as
     `CREATE TABLE' or `TRUNCATE TABLE', or altered with `ALTER TABLE'.

   * `max_join_size' Joins that are probably going to read more than
     `max_join_size' records return an error. Set this value if your
     users tend to perform joins that lack a `WHERE' clause, that take
     a long time, and that return millions of rows.

   * `max_relay_log_size' Available starting from 4.0.14. If a write to
     the relay log (a kind of log used by replication slaves, *note
     Replication Implementation Details::) exceeds the given value,
     rotate the relay log.  This variable enables you to put different
     size constraints on relay logs and binary logs.  However, setting
     the variable to 0 will make MySQL use `max_binlog_size' for both
     binary logs and relay logs.  You have to set `max_relay_log_size'
     to 0 or more than 4096, and less than 1 GB. Default is 0.

   * `max_seeks_for_key' Limit assumed max number of seeks when looking
     up rows based on a key.  The MySQL optimizer will assume that when
     searching after matching rows in a table through scanning a key,
     we will not cause more than this number of key seeks independent
     of the cardinality of the key.  By setting this to a low value
     (100 ?) you can force MySQL to prefer keys instead of table scans.

   * `max_sort_length' The number of bytes to use when sorting `BLOB'
     or `TEXT' values. Only the first `max_sort_length' bytes of each
     value are used; the rest are ignored.

   * `max_user_connections' The maximum number of active connections
     for a single user (0 = no limit).

   * `max_tmp_tables' (This option doesn't yet do anything.)  Maximum
     number of temporary tables a client can keep open at the same time.

   * `max_write_lock_count' After this many write locks, allow some
     read locks to run in between.

   * `myisam_recover_options' The value of the `--myisam-recover'
     option.

   * `myisam_sort_buffer_size' The buffer that is allocated when
     sorting the index when doing a `REPAIR' or when creating indexes
     with `CREATE INDEX' or `ALTER TABLE'.

   * `myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size'.  If the temporary file used for
     fast index creation would be bigger than using the key cache by
     the amount specified here, then prefer the key cache method.  This
     is mainly used to force long character keys in large tables to use
     the slower key cache method to create the index.  *Note* that this
     parameter is given in megabytes before 4.0.3 and in bytes
     beginning with this version.

   * `myisam_repair_threads'.  If this value is greater than one,
     MyISAM table indexes during `Repair by sorting' process will be
     created in parallel - each index in its own thread. *Note:*
     Multi-threaded repair is still *alpha* quality code.

   * `myisam_max_sort_file_size' The maximum size of the temporary file
     MySQL is allowed to use while recreating the index (during
     `REPAIR', `ALTER TABLE' or `LOAD DATA INFILE'.  If the file-size
     would be bigger than this, the index will be created through the
     key cache (which is slower).  *Note* that this parameter is given
     in megabytes before 4.0.3 and in bytes beginning with this version.

   * `net_buffer_length' The communication buffer is reset to this size
     between queries. This should not normally be changed, but if you
     have very little memory, you can set it to the expected size of a
     query.  (That is, the expected length of SQL statements sent by
     clients.  If statements exceed this length, the buffer is
     automatically enlarged, up to `max_allowed_packet' bytes.)

   * `net_read_timeout' Number of seconds to wait for more data from a
     connection before aborting the read.  Note that when we don't
     expect data from a connection, the timeout is defined by
     `write_timeout'. See also `slave_net_timeout'.

   * `net_retry_count' If a read on a communication port is
     interrupted, retry this many times before giving up.  This value
     should be quite high on `FreeBSD' as internal interrupts are sent
     to all threads.

   * `net_write_timeout' Number of seconds to wait for a block to be
     written to a connection before aborting the write.

   * `open_files_limit' Number of files the system allows mysqld to
     open.  This is the real value given for the system and may be
     different from the value you gave mysqld as a startup parameter.
     This is 0 on systems where MySQL can't change the number of open
     files.

   * `pid_file' The value of the `--pid-file' option.

   * `port' The value of the `--port' option.

   * `protocol_version' The protocol version used by the MySQL server.

   * `query_alloc_block_size' Size of memory allocation blocks that are
     allocated for objects created during query parsing and execution.
     If you have problem with memory fragmentation, it may help to
     increase this a bit.  This variable was added in MySQL 4.0.16.

   * `query_cache_limit' Don't cache results that are bigger than this.
     (Default 1M).

   * `query_cache_size' The memory allocated to store results from old
     queries.  If this is 0, the query cache is disabled (default).

   * `query_cache_type' This may be set (only numeric) to
     *Value**Alias*   *Comment*
     0      OFF       Don't cache or retrieve results.
     1      ON        Cache all results except `SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE
                      ...' queries.
     2      DEMAND    Cache only `SELECT SQL_CACHE ...' queries.

   * `query_prealloc_size' Size of the persistent buffer used for query
     parsing and execution.  This buffer is not freed between queries.
     If you are running complex queries, a larger `query_prealloc_size'
     value may be helpful in improving performance, because it can
     reduce the need for the server to perform memory allocation during
     query execution operations.  This variable was added in MySQL
     4.0.16.

   * `range_alloc_block_size' The size of blocks that are allocated
     when doing range optimization.  This variable was added in MySQL
     4.0.16.

   * `read_buffer_size' Each thread that does a sequential scan
     allocates a buffer of this size for each table it scans. If you do
     many sequential scans, you might want to increase this value.
     This option used to be named `record_buffer'.

   * `read_rnd_buffer_size' When reading rows in sorted order after a
     sort, the rows are read through this buffer to avoid disk seeks.
     Can improve `ORDER BY' by a lot if set to a high value.  As this
     is a thread-specific variable, one should not set this big
     globally, but just change this when running some specific big
     queries.  This option used to be named `record_rnd_buffer'.

   * `safe_show_database' Don't show databases for which the user
     doesn't have any database or table privileges. This can improve
     security if you're concerned about people being able to see what
     databases other users have. See also `skip_show_database'.

     If the MySQL server has been started with the `--secure-auth'
     option, it will block all all connections from users with
     passwords stored in old (pre-4.1) format. In that case, the value
     of the variable is `ON', otherwise it is `OFF'. Note, that the
     server start will fail with an error if this option has been
     enabled and the privilege tables are in pre-4.1 format.  When used
     as a client-side option, the client will refuse connecting to a
     server if the server requires passwords in old format for this
     user/host combination. You should enable this option if you want
     to prevent all usage of passwords in old format (and hence
     insecure communication over the network).  Available as of MySQL
     4.1.1.

   * `server_id' The value of the `--server-id' option.

   * `skip_locking' Is OFF if `mysqld' uses external locking.

   * `skip_networking' Is ON if we only allow local (socket)
     connections.

   * `skip_show_database' This prevents people from doing `SHOW
     DATABASES' if they don't have the `PROCESS' privilege. This can
     improve security if you're concerned about people being able to
     see what databases other users have. See also `safe_show_database'.

   * `slave_net_timeout' Number of seconds to wait for more data from a
     master/slave connection before aborting the read.

   * `slow_launch_time' If creating the thread takes longer than this
     value (in seconds), the `Slow_launch_threads' counter will be
     incremented.

   * `socket' The Unix socket used by the server.

   * `sort_buffer_size' Each thread that needs to do a sort allocates a
     buffer of this size. Increase this value for faster `ORDER BY' or
     `GROUP BY' operations.  *Note Temporary files::.

   * `sql_mode' The current SQL mode.  *Note SQL mode::.

   * `table_cache' The number of open tables for all threads.
     Increasing this value increases the number of file descriptors
     that `mysqld' requires.  You can check if you need to increase the
     table cache by checking the `Opened_tables' variable.  *Note
     `Opened_tables': SHOW STATUS.  If this variable is big and you
     don't do `FLUSH TABLES' a lot (which just forces all tables to be
     closed and reopenend), then you should increase the value of this
     variable.

     For more information about the table cache, see *Note Table
     cache::.

   * `table_type' The default table type.

   * `thread_cache_size' How many threads we should keep in a cache for
     reuse.  When a client disconnects, the client's threads are put in
     the cache if there aren't more than `thread_cache_size' threads
     from before.  All new threads are first taken from the cache, and
     only when the cache is empty is a new thread created.  This
     variable can be increased to improve performance if you have a lot
     of new connections. (Normally this doesn't give a notable
     performance improvement if you have a good thread implementation.)
     By examing the difference between the `Connections' and
     `Threads_created' status variables (*note `SHOW STATUS': SHOW
     STATUS. for details) you can see how efficient thread cache is.

   * `thread_concurrency' On Solaris, `mysqld' will call
     `thr_setconcurrency()' with this value.  `thr_setconcurrency()'
     permits the application to give the threads system a hint for the
     desired number of threads that should be run at the same time.

   * `thread_stack' The stack size for each thread.  Many of the limits
     detected by the `crash-me' test are dependent on this value. The
     default is large enough for normal operation.  *Note MySQL
     Benchmarks::.

   * `timezone' The time zone for the server.  This is set from the
     `TZ' environment variable when `mysqld' is started.  This can also
     be given as a `--timezone' argument to `mysqld_safe'. *Note
     Timezone problems::.

   * `tmp_table_size' If an in-memory temporary table exceeds this
     size, MySQL automaticallys convert it to an on-disk `MyISAM' table.
     Increase the value of `tmp_table_size' if you do many advanced
     `GROUP BY' queries and you have lots of memory.

   * `tmpdir' The directory used for temporary files and temporary
     tables.  Starting from MySQL 4.1, it can be set to a list of paths
     separated by colon `:' (semicolon `;' on Windows). They will be
     used in round-robin fashion. This feature can be used to spread
     load between several physical disks.  It is possible to set
     `tmpdir' to point to a memory-based filesystem, except if the
     MySQL server is a slave. If it is a slave, it needs some of its
     temporary files (for replication of temporary tables or of `LOAD
     DATA INFILE') to survive a machine's reboot, so a memory-based
     `tmpdir' which is cleared when the machine reboots is not
     suitable; a disk-based `tmpdir' is necessary.

   * `transaction_alloc_block_size' Size of memory allocation blocks
     that are allocated for storing queries that are part of a
     transaction that are to be stored in the binary log when doing a
     commit.  This variable was added in MySQL 4.0.16.

   * `transaction_prealloc_size' Persistent buffer for
     `transaction_alloc_blocks' that is not freed between queries. By
     making this big enough to fit all queries in a common transaction
     you can avoid a lot of `malloc()' calls.  This variable was added
     in MySQL 4.0.16.

   * `version' The version number for the server.

   * `wait_timeout' The number of seconds the server waits for activity
     on a not interactive connection before closing it.

     On thread startup `SESSION.WAIT_TIMEOUT' is initialized from
     `GLOBAL.WAIT_TIMEOUT' or `GLOBAL.INTERACTIVE_TIMEOUT' depending on
     the type of client (as defined by the `CLIENT_INTERACTIVE' connect
     option). See also `interactive_timeout'.

The manual section that describes tuning MySQL contains some
information of how to tune the above variables. *Note Server
parameters::.

`SHOW [BDB] LOGS'
.................

`SHOW LOGS' shows you status information about existing log files.  It
currently only displays information about Berkeley DB log files, so an
alias for it (available as of MySQL 4.1.1) is `SHOW BDB LOGS'.

   * `File' shows the full path to the log file

   * `Type' shows the type of the log file (`BDB' for Berkeley DB log
     files)

   * `Status' shows the status of the log file (`FREE' if the file can
     be removed, or `IN USE' if the file is needed by the transaction
     subsystem)

`SHOW PROCESSLIST'
..................

`SHOW [FULL] PROCESSLIST' shows you which threads are running.  You can
also get this information using the `mysqladmin processlist' command.
If you have the `SUPER' privilege, you can see all threads.  Otherwise,
you can see only your own threads.  *Note `KILL': KILL.  If you don't
use the `FULL' option, only the first 100 characters of each query are
shown.

Starting from 4.0.12, MySQL reports the hostname for TCP/IP connections
in `hostname:client_port' format to make it easier to find out which
client is doing what.

This command is very useful if you get the 'too many connections' error
message and want to find out what's going on. MySQL reserves one extra
connection for a client with the `SUPER' privilege to ensure that you
should always be able to log in and check the system (assuming you are
not giving this privilege to all your users).

Some states commonly seen in `mysqladmin processlist'

   * `Checking table' The thread is performing [automatic] checking of
     the table.

   * `Closing tables' Means that the thread is flushing the changed
     table data to disk and closing the used tables. This should be a
     fast operation.  If not, then you should check that you don't have
     a full disk or that the disk is not in very heavy use.

   * `Connect Out' Slave connecting to master.

   * `Copying to tmp table on disk' The temporary result set was larger
     than `tmp_table_size' and the thread is now changing the in
     memory-based temporary table to a disk based one to save memory.

   * `Creating tmp table' The thread is creating a temporary table to
     hold a part of the result for the query.

   * `deleting from main table' When executing the first part of a
     multiple-table delete and we are only deleting from the first
     table.

   * `deleting from reference tables' When executing the second part of
     a multiple-table delete and we are deleting the matched rows from
     the other tables.

   * `Flushing tables' The thread is executing `FLUSH TABLES' and is
     waiting for all threads to close their tables.

   * `Killed' Someone has sent a kill to the thread and it should abort
     next time it checks the kill flag.  The flag is checked in each
     major loop in MySQL, but in some cases it may still take a short
     time for the thread to die.  If the thread is locked by some other
     thread, the kill will take effect as soon as the other thread
     releases its lock.

   * `Sending data' The thread is processing rows for a `SELECT'
     statement and is also sending data to the client.

   * `Sorting for group' The thread is doing a sort to satisfy a `GROUP
     BY'.

   * `Sorting for order' The thread is doing a sort to satisfy a `ORDER
     BY'.

   * `Opening tables' This simply means that the thread is trying to
     open a table. This is should be very fast procedure, unless
     something prevents opening. For example an `ALTER TABLE' or a
     `LOCK TABLE' can prevent opening a table until the command is
     finished.

   * `Removing duplicates' The query was using `SELECT DISTINCT' in
     such a way that MySQL couldn't optimize that distinct away at an
     early stage. Because of this MySQL has to do an extra stage to
     remove all duplicated rows before sending the result to the client.

   * `Reopen table' The thread got a lock for the table, but noticed
     after getting the lock that the underlying table structure
     changed. It has freed the lock, closed the table and is now trying
     to reopen it.

   * `Repair by sorting' The repair code is using sorting to create
     indexes.

   * `Repair with keycache' The repair code is using creating keys one
     by one through the key cache.  This is much slower than `Repair by
     sorting'.

   * `Searching rows for update' The thread is doing a first phase to
     find all matching rows before updating them.  This has to be done
     if the `UPDATE' is changing the index that is used to find the
     involved rows.

   * `Sleeping' The thread is wating for the client to send a new
     command to it.

   * `System lock' The thread is waiting for getting to get a external
     system lock for the table. If you are not using multiple mysqld
     servers that are accessing the same tables, you can disable system
     locks with the `--skip-external-locking' option.

   * `Upgrading lock' The `INSERT DELAYED' handler is trying to get a
     lock for the table to insert rows.

   * `Updating' The thread is searching for rows to update and updating
     them.

   * `User Lock' The thread is waiting on a `GET_LOCK()'.

   * `Waiting for tables' The thread got a notification that the
     underlying structure for a table has changed and it needs to
     reopen the table to get the new structure.  To be able to reopen
     the table it must however wait until all other threads have closed
     the table in question.

     This notification happens if another thread has used `FLUSH TABLES'
     or one of the following commands on the table in question: `FLUSH
     TABLES table_name', `ALTER TABLE', `RENAME TABLE', `REPAIR TABLE',
     `ANALYZE TABLE' or `OPTIMIZE TABLE'.

   * `waiting for handler insert' The `INSERT DELAYED' handler has
     processed all inserts and are waiting to get new ones.

Most states are very quick operations. If threads last in any of these
states for many seconds, there may be a problem around that needs to be
investigated.

There are some other states that are not mentioned previously, but most
of these are useful only to find bugs in `mysqld'.

`SHOW GRANTS'
.............

`SHOW GRANTS FOR user' lists the grant commands that must be issued to
duplicate the grants for a user.

     mysql> SHOW GRANTS FOR root@localhost;
     +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | Grants for root@localhost                                           |
     +---------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'root'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION |
     +---------------------------------------------------------------------+

To list grants for the current session, you can find out what user the
session was authenticated as by selecting the value of the
`CURRENT_USER()' function (new in version 4.0.6).  Then use that value
in the `SHOW GRANTS' statement.  *Note `CURRENT_USER()': Miscellaneous
functions.

`SHOW CREATE TABLE'
...................

Shows a `CREATE TABLE' statement that will create the given table:

     mysql> SHOW CREATE TABLE t\G
     *************************** 1. row ***************************
            Table: t
     Create Table: CREATE TABLE t (
       id INT(11) default NULL auto_increment,
       s char(60) default NULL,
       PRIMARY KEY (id)
     ) TYPE=MyISAM

`SHOW CREATE TABLE' quotes table and column names according to the
value of the `SQL_QUOTE_SHOW_CREATE' option.  *Note `SET
SQL_QUOTE_SHOW_CREATE': SET OPTION.

`SHOW WARNINGS | ERRORS'
........................

     SHOW WARNINGS [LIMIT row_count]
     SHOW ERRORS [LIMIT row_count]

This command is implemented in MySQL 4.1.0.

It shows the errors, warnings and notes that one got for the last
command.  The errors/warnings are reset for each new command that uses
a table.

The MySQL server sends back the total number of warnings and errors you
got for the last commend; This can be retrieved by calling
`mysql_warning_count()'.

Up to `max_error_count' messages are stored (Global and thread specific
variable).

You can retrieve the number of errors from `@error_count' and warnings
from `@warning_count'.

`SHOW WARNINGS' shows all errors, warnings and notes you got for the
last command while `SHOW ERRORS' only shows you the errors.

     mysql> DROP TABLE IF EXISTS no_such_table;
     mysql> SHOW WARNINGS;
     
     +-------+------+-------------------------------+
     | Level | Code | Message                       |
     +-------+------+-------------------------------+
     | Note  | 1051 | Unknown table 'no_such_table' |
     +-------+------+-------------------------------+

Note that in MySQL 4.1.0 we have just added the frame work for warnings
and not many MySQL command do yet generate warnings.  4.1.1 supports all
kind of warnings for `LOAD DATA INFILE' and DML statements such as
`INSERT', `UPDATE' and `ALTER' commands.

For example, here is a simple case which produces conversion warnings
for a insert statement.

     mysql> create table t1(a tinyint NOT NULL, b char(4));
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> insert into t1 values(10,'mysql'),(NULL,'test'),(300,'open source');
     Query OK, 3 rows affected, 4 warnings (0.15 sec)
     Records: 3  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 4
     
     mysql> show warnings;
     +---------+------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
     | Level   | Code | Message                                                       |
     +---------+------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
     | Warning | 1263 | Data truncated for column 'b' at row 1                        |
     | Warning | 1261 | Data truncated, NULL supplied to NOT NULL column 'a' at row 2 |
     | Warning | 1262 | Data truncated, out of range for column 'a' at row 3          |
     | Warning | 1263 | Data truncated for column 'b' at row 3                        |
     +---------+------+---------------------------------------------------------------+
     4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Maximum number of warnings can be specified using the server variable
`'max_error_count'', `SET max_error_count=[count]'; By default it is
64. In case to disable warnings, simply reset this variable to '0'. In
case if `max_error_count' is 0, then still the warning count represents
how many warnings have occurred, but none of the messages are stored.

For example, consider the following `ALTER' table statement for the
above example, which returns only one warning message even though total
warnings occurred is 3 when you set max_error_count=1.

     mysql> show variables like 'max_error_count';
     +-----------------+-------+
     | Variable_name   | Value |
     +-----------------+-------+
     | max_error_count | 64    |
     +-----------------+-------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> set max_error_count=1;
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> alter table t1 modify b char;
     Query OK, 3 rows affected, 3 warnings (0.00 sec)
     Records: 3  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 3
     
     mysql> show warnings;
     +---------+------+----------------------------------------+
     | Level   | Code | Message                                |
     +---------+------+----------------------------------------+
     | Warning | 1263 | Data truncated for column 'b' at row 1 |
     +---------+------+----------------------------------------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql>

`SHOW TABLE TYPES'
..................

     SHOW TABLE TYPES

This command is implemented in MySQL 4.1.0.

`SHOW TABLE TYPES' shows you status information about the table types.
This is particulary useful for checking if a table type is supported;
or to see what is the default table type is.

     mysql> SHOW TABLE TYPES;
     
     +--------+---------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
     | Type   | Support | Comment                                                   |
     +--------+---------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
     | MyISAM | DEFAULT | Default type from 3.23 with great performance             |
     | HEAP   | YES     | Hash based, stored in memory, useful for temporary tables |
     | MERGE  | YES     | Collection of identical MyISAM tables                     |
     | ISAM   | YES     | Obsolete table type; Is replaced by MyISAM                |
     | InnoDB | YES     | Supports transactions, row-level locking and foreign keys |
     | BDB    | NO      | Supports transactions and page-level locking              |
     +--------+---------+-----------------------------------------------------------+
     6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The 'Support' option `DEFAULT' indicates whether the particular table
type is supported, and which is the default type. If the server is
started with `--default-table-type=InnoDB', then the InnoDB 'Support'
field will have the value `DEFAULT'.

`SHOW PRIVILEGES'
.................

     SHOW PRIVILEGES

This command is implemented in MySQL 4.1.0.

`SHOW PRIVILEGES' shows the list of system privileges that the
underlying MySQL server supports.

     mysql> show privileges;
     +------------+-------------------------
     -+-------------------------------------------------------+
     | Privilege  | Context                  | Comment                                               |
     +------------+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
     | Select     | Tables                   | To retrieve rows from table                           |
     | Insert     | Tables                   | To insert data into tables                            |
     | Update     | Tables                   | To update existing rows                               |
     | Delete     | Tables                   | To delete existing rows                               |
     | Index      | Tables                   | To create or drop indexes                             |
     | Alter      | Tables                   | To alter the table                                    |
     | Create     | Databases,Tables,Indexes | To create new databases and tables                    |
     | Drop       | Databases,Tables         | To drop databases and tables                          |
     | Grant      | Databases,Tables         | To give to other users those privileges you possess   |
     | References | Databases,Tables         | To have references on tables                          |
     | Reload     | Server Admin             | To reload or refresh tables, logs and privileges      |
     | Shutdown   | Server Admin             | To shutdown the server                                |
     | Process    | Server Admin             | To view the plain text of currently executing queries |
     | File       | File access on server    | To read and write files on the server                 |
     +------------+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------+
     14 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Other Administrative Statements
-------------------------------

`CACHE INDEX' Syntax
....................

     CACHE INDEX
       table_index_list [, table_index_list] ...
       IN key_cache_name
     
     table_index_list:
       table_name
         [[INDEX] (index_name[, index_name] ...)]

The `CACHE INDEX' statement assigns table indexes to a specific key
cache. It is used only for `MyISAM' tables.

The following statement assigns indexes from the tables `t1', `t2', and
`t3' to the key cache named `hot_cache':

     mysql> CACHE INDEX t1, t2, t3 IN hot_cache;
     +---------+--------------------+----------+----------+
     | Table   | Op                 | Msg_type | Msg_text |
     +---------+--------------------+----------+----------+
     | test.t1 | assign_to_keycache | status   | OK       |
     | test.t2 | assign_to_keycache | status   | OK       |
     | test.t3 | assign_to_keycache | status   | OK       |
     +---------+--------------------+----------+----------+

The syntax of `CACHE INDEX' allows you to specify that only particular
indexes from a table should be assigned to the cache.  However, the
current implementation assigns all the table's indexes to the cache, so
there is no reason to specify anything other than the table name.

The key cache referred to in a `CACHE INDEX' statement can be created
by setting its size with a parameter setting statement or in the server
parameter settings. For example:

     mysql> SET GLOBAL keycache1.key_buffer_size=128*1024;

Key cache parameters can be accessed as members of a structured system
variable.  *Note Structured System Variables::.

A key cache must exist before you can assign indexes to it:

mysql> CACHE INDEX t1 in non_existent_cache; ERROR 1283 (HY000):
Unknown key cache 'non_existent_cache'

By default, table indexes are assigned to the main (default) key cache
created at the server start-up. When a key cache is destroyed, all
indexes assigned to it become assigned to the default key cache again.

Index assignment affects the server globally: If one client assigns an
index to a given cache, this cache is used for all queries involving
the index, no matter what client issues the queries.

`CACHE INDEX' was added in MySQL 4.1.1.

`FLUSH' Syntax
..............

     FLUSH [LOCAL | NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG] flush_option [,flush_option] ...

You should use the `FLUSH' command if you want to clear some of the
internal caches MySQL uses.  To execute `FLUSH', you must have the
`RELOAD' privilege.

`flush_option' can be any of the following:

*Option*           *Description*
`HOSTS'            Empties the host cache tables.  You should flush the
                   host tables if some of your hosts change IP number or
                   if you get the error message `Host ... is blocked'.
                   When more than `max_connect_errors' errors occur in a
                   row for a given host while connection to the MySQL
                   server, MySQL assumes something is wrong and blocks
                   the host from further connection requests.  Flushing
                   the host tables allows the host to attempt to connect
                   again. *Note Blocked host::. You can start `mysqld'
                   with `-O max_connect_errors=999999999' to avoid this
                   error message.
`DES_KEY_FILE'     Reloads the DES keys from the file that was specified
                   with the `--des-key-file' option at server startup
                   time.
`LOGS'             Closes and reopens all log files.  If you have
                   specified an update log file or a binary log file
                   without an extension, the extension number of the log
                   file will be incremented by one relative to the
                   previous file. If you have used an extension in the
                   file name, MySQL will close and reopen the update log
                   file.  *Note Update log::. This is the same thing as
                   sending the `SIGHUP' signal to the `mysqld' server.
`PRIVILEGES'       Reloads the privileges from the grant tables in the
                   `mysql' database.
`QUERY CACHE'      Defragment the query cache to better utilize its
                   memory.  This command will not remove any queries
                   from the cache, unlike `RESET QUERY CACHE'.
`TABLES'           Closes all open tables and force all tables in use to
                   be closed. This also flushes the query cache.
`[TABLE | TABLES]  Flushes only the given tables.
tbl_name           
[,tbl_name...]'    
`TABLES WITH READ  Closes all open tables and locks all tables for all
LOCK'              databases with a read lock until you execute `UNLOCK
                   TABLES'. This is very convenient way to get backups
                   if you have a filesystem, like Veritas, that can take
                   snapshots in time.
`STATUS'           Resets most status variables to zero. This is
                   something you should use only when debugging a query.
                   *Note Bug reports::.
`USER_RESOURCES'   Resets all user resources to zero. This will enable
                   blocked users to log in again. *Note User resources::.

Before MySQL 4.1.1, `FLUSH' commands are not written to the binary log.
Since MySQL 4.1.1 they are written to the binary log unless the
optional `NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG' keyword (or its alias `LOCAL') was used,
or unless the command contained one of these arguments: `LOGS',
`MASTER', `SLAVE', `TABLES WITH READ LOCK', because any of these
arguments may cause problems if replicated to a slave.

You can also access some of the commands shown above with the
`mysqladmin' utility, using the `flush-hosts', `flush-logs',
`flush-privileges', `flush-status' or `flush-tables' commands.

Take also a look at the `RESET' command used with replication.  *Note
`RESET': RESET.

`KILL' Syntax
.............

     KILL thread_id
     KILL CONNECTION thread_id
     KILL QUERY thread_id

Each connection to `mysqld' runs in a separate thread.  You can see
which threads are running with the `SHOW PROCESSLIST' command and kill
a thread with the `KILL thread_id' command.

As of MySQL 5.0.0, `KILL' allows the optional `CONNECTION' or `QUERY'
modifiers:

   * `KILL CONNECTION' is the same as `KILL' with no modifier: It
     terminates the connection associated with the given `thread_id'.

   * `KILL QUERY' terminates the statement that the connection is
     executing, but leaves the connection intact.


If you have the `PROCESS' privilege, you can see all threads.  If you
have the `SUPER' privilege, you can kill all threads and statements.
Otherwise, you can only see and kill your own threads and statements.

You can also use the `mysqladmin processlist' and `mysqladmin kill'
commands to examine and kill threads.

_Note:_ You currently cannot use `KILL' with the Embedded MySQL Server
library, because the embedded server merely runs inside the threads of
the host application, it does not create connection threads of its own.

When you do a `KILL', a thread-specific `kill flag' is set for the
thread.

In most cases it may take some time for the thread to die, as the kill
flag is only checked at specific intervals.

   * In `SELECT', `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' loops, the flag is checked
     after reading a block of rows. If the kill flag is set, the
     statement is aborted.

   * When doing an `ALTER TABLE' the kill flag is checked before each
     block of rows are read from the original table. If the kill flag
     was set the command is aborted and the temporary table is deleted.

   * When doing an `UPDATE' or `DELETE', the kill flag is checked after
     each block read and after each updated or deleted row. If the kill
     flag is set, the statement is aborted.  Note that if you are not
     using transactions, the changes will not be rolled back!

   * `GET_LOCK()' will abort with `NULL'.

   * An `INSERT DELAYED' thread will quickly flush all rows it has in
     memory and die.

   * If the thread is in the table lock handler (state: `Locked'), the
     table lock will be quickly aborted.

   * If the thread is waiting for free disk space in a `write' call, the
     write is aborted with an disk full error message.

`LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE' Syntax
..............................

     LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE
       table_index_list [, table_index_list] ...
     
     table_index_list:
       table_name
         [[INDEX] (index_name[, index_name] ...)]
         [IGNORE LEAVES]

The `LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE' statement preloads a table index into the
key cache to which it has been assigned by an explicit `CACHE INDEX'
statement, or into the default key cache otherwise.  `LOAD INDEX INTO
CACHE' is used only for `MyISAM' tables.

The `IGNORE LEAVES' modifier causes only blocks for the non-leaf nodes
of the index to be preloaded.

The following statement preloads nodes (index blocks) of indexes of the
tables `t1' and `t2':

     mysql> LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE t1, t2 IGNORE LEAVES;
     +---------+--------------+----------+----------+
     | Table   | Op           | Msg_type | Msg_text |
     +---------+--------------+----------+----------+
     | test.t1 | preload_keys | status   | OK       |
     | test.t2 | preload_keys | status   | OK       |
     +---------+--------------+----------+----------+

This statement preloads all index blocks from `t1'. It preloads only
blocks for the non-leaf nodes from `t2'.

The syntax of `LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE' allows you to specify that only
particular indexes from a table should be preloaded.  However, the
current implementation preloads all the table's indexes into the cache,
so there is no reason to specify anything other than the table name.

`LOAD INDEX INTO CACHE' was added in MySQL 4.1.1.

`PURGE MASTER LOGS' Syntax
..........................

     PURGE {MASTER|BINARY} LOGS TO binlog_name
     PURGE {MASTER|BINARY} LOGS BEFORE date

This statement is used to delete all binary logs strictly prior to the
specified binlog or date. *Note Replication Master SQL::.

`PURGE BINARY LOGS' is available as a synonym for `PURGE MASTER LOGS'
as of MySQL 4.1.1.

`RESET' Syntax
..............

     RESET reset_option [,reset_option] ...

The `RESET' statement is used to clear things. It also acts as a
stronger version of the `FLUSH' command.  *Note `FLUSH': FLUSH.

To execute `RESET', you must have the `RELOAD' privilege.

*Option*           *Description*
`MASTER'           Deletes all binary logs listed in the index file,
                   resetting the binlog index file to be empty.
                   Previously named `FLUSH MASTER'.  *Note Replication
                   Master SQL::.
`SLAVE'            Makes the slave forget its replication position in
                   the master binlogs.  Previously named `FLUSH SLAVE'.
                   *Note Replication Slave SQL::.
`QUERY CACHE'      Removes all query results from the query cache.

Replication Statements
======================

This section describes replication-related SQL statements.  One group
of statements is used for controlling master servers.  The other is
used for controlling slave servers.

SQL Statements for Controlling Master Servers
---------------------------------------------

Replication can be controlled through the SQL interface. This section
discusses statements for managing master replication servers.  *Note
Replication Slave SQL:: discusses statements for managing slave servers.

`PURGE MASTER LOGS'
...................

     PURGE {MASTER|BINARY} LOGS TO 'log_name'
     PURGE {MASTER|BINARY} LOGS BEFORE 'date'

Deletes all the binary logs listed in the log index that are strictly
prior to the specified log or date.  The logs also are removed from
this list recorded in the log index file, so that the given log now
becomes the first.

Example:

     PURGE MASTER LOGS TO 'mysql-bin.010';
     PURGE MASTER LOGS BEFORE '2003-04-02 22:46:26';

The `BEFORE' variant is available in MySQL 4.1; its date argument can
be in `'YYYY-MM-DD hh:mm:ss'' format.  `MASTER' and `BINARY' are
synonyms, though `BINARY' can be used only as of MySQL 4.1.1.

If you have an active slave that is currently reading one of the logs
you are trying to delete, this command does nothing and fails with an
error.  However, if you have a dormant slave, and happen to purge one of
the logs it wants to read, the slave will be unable to replicate once it
comes up.  The command is safe to run while slaves are replicating. You
do not need to stop them.

You must first check all the slaves with `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' to see
which log they are reading, then do a listing of the logs on the master
with `SHOW MASTER LOGS', find the earliest log among all the slaves (if
all the slaves are up to date, this will be the last log on the list),
backup all the logs you are about to delete (optional) and purge up to
the target log.

`RESET MASTER'
..............

     RESET MASTER

Deletes all binary logs listed in the index file, resetting the binlog
index file to be empty.

This statement was named `FLUSH MASTER' before MySQL 3.23.26.

`SET SQL_LOG_BIN'
.................

     SET SQL_LOG_BIN = {0|1}

Disables or enables binary logging for the current connection
(`SQL_LOG_BIN' is a session variable) if the client connects using an
account that has the `SUPER' privilege.  The statement is ignored if
the client does not have that privilege.

`SHOW BINLOG EVENTS'
....................

     SHOW BINLOG EVENTS [ IN 'log_name' ] [ FROM pos ] [ LIMIT [offset,] row_count ]

Shows the events in the binary log.  If you do not specify
`'log_name'', the first binary log will be displayed.

This statement is available as of MySQL 4.0

`SHOW MASTER STATUS'
....................

     SHOW MASTER STATUS

Provides status information on the binlog of the master.

`SHOW MASTER LOGS'
..................

     SHOW MASTER LOGS

Lists the binary logs on the master. You should use this command before
using `PURGE MASTER LOGS' to find out how far you should go.

`SHOW SLAVE HOSTS'
..................

     SHOW SLAVE HOSTS

Displays a list of slaves currently registered with the master.  Note
that slaves not started with the `--report-host=slave_name' option will
not be visible in that list.

SQL Statements for Controlling Slave Servers
--------------------------------------------

Replication can be controlled through the SQL interface. This section
discusses statements for managing slave replication servers.  *Note
Replication Master SQL:: discusses statements for managing master
servers.

`CHANGE MASTER TO'
..................

     CHANGE MASTER TO master_def [, master_def] ...
     
     master_def =
           MASTER_HOST = 'host_name'
         | MASTER_USER = 'user_name'
         | MASTER_PASSWORD = 'password'
         | MASTER_PORT = port_num
         | MASTER_CONNECT_RETRY = count
         | MASTER_LOG_FILE = 'master_log_name'
         | MASTER_LOG_POS = master_log_pos
         | RELAY_LOG_FILE = 'relay_log_name'
         | RELAY_LOG_POS = relay_log_pos
         | MASTER_SSL = {0|1}
         | MASTER_SSL_CA = 'ca_file_name'
         | MASTER_SSL_CAPATH = 'ca_directory_name'
         | MASTER_SSL_CERT = 'cert_file_name'
         | MASTER_SSL_KEY = 'key_file_name'
         | MASTER_SSL_CIPHER = 'cipher_list'

Changes the parameters that the slave server uses for connecting to and
communicating with the master server.  The possible `master_def' values
are shown above.

The relay log options (`RELAY_LOG_FILE' and `RELAY_LOG_POS') are
available beginning with MySQL 4.0.

The SSL options (`MASTER_SSL', `MASTER_SSL_CA', `MASTER_SSL_CAPATH',
`MASTER_SSL_CERT', `MASTER_SSL_KEY', and `MASTER_SSL_CIPHER') are
available beginning with MySQL 4.1.1.  You can change these options
even on slaves that are compiled without SSL support. They will be
saved to the `master.info' file but ignored until you use a server that
has SSL support enabled.

For example:

     mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO
         ->     MASTER_HOST='master2.mycompany.com',
         ->     MASTER_USER='replication',
         ->     MASTER_PASSWORD='bigs3cret',
         ->     MASTER_PORT=3306,
         ->     MASTER_LOG_FILE='master2-bin.001',
         ->     MASTER_LOG_POS=4,
         ->     MASTER_CONNECT_RETRY=10;
     mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO
         ->     RELAY_LOG_FILE='slave-relay-bin.006',
         ->     RELAY_LOG_POS=4025;

`MASTER_USER', `MASTER_PASSWORD', `MASTER_SSL', `MASTER_SSL_CA',
`MASTER_SSL_CAPATH', `MASTER_SSL_CERT', `MASTER_SSL_KEY', and
`MASTER_SSL_CIPHER' are information for the slave to be able to connect
to its master. If you don't specify some of these informations, the
non-specified informations will keep their old value. For example, if
the password to connect to your MySQL master has changed, you just need
to issue
     mysql> STOP SLAVE; -- if replication was running
     mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_PASSWORD='new3cret';
     mysql> START SLAVE; -- if you want to restart replication
to tell the slave about the new password; no need to specify the
information which did not change (host, port, user etc).

`MASTER_HOST', `MASTER_PORT' are the hostname or IP adress of the
master host, and its TCP port. Note that if `MASTER_HOST' is equal to
`localhost', then, like in other parts of MySQL, the port may be
ignored (if Unix socket files can be used for example).

If you specify `MASTER_HOST' or `MASTER_PORT', the slave will assume
that the master server is different than before (even if you specify a
host or port value value that is the same as the current value.) In
this case, the old values of master binlog name and position are
considered no longer applicable, so if you do not specify
`MASTER_LOG_FILE' and `MASTER_LOG_POS' in the command,
`MASTER_LOG_FILE=''' and `MASTER_LOG_POS=4' are silently appended to it.

`MASTER_LOG_FILE' and `MASTER_LOG_POS' are the coordinates at which the
slave I/O thread should begin reading from the master the next time the
thread starts.  If you specify any of them, you can't specify
`RELAY_LOG_FILE' or `RELAY_LOG_POS'.  If none of `MASTER_LOG_FILE' and
`MASTER_LOG_POS' was specified, then the last coordinates of the *slave
SQL thread* before `CHANGE MASTER' was issued, are used. This ensures
that replication has no discontinuity, even if the slave SQL thread was
late compared to the slave I/O thread, when you just want to change,
say, the password to use. This safe behavior was introduced starting
from MySQL 4.0.17 and 4.1.1. (Before these versions, the used
coordinates were the last coordinates of the slave I/O thread before
`CHANGE MASTER' was issued, which caused the SQL thread to sometimes
lose some events from the master, thus breaking replication.)

`CHANGE MASTER' *deletes all relay logs* (and starts a new one), unless
you specified `RELAY_LOG_FILE' or `RELAY_LOG_POS' (in that case relay
logs will be kept; since MySQL 4.1.1 the `RELAY_LOG_PURGE' global
variable will silently be set to 0).  `CHANGE MASTER TO' updates
`master.info' and `relay-log.info'.

`CHANGE MASTER' is useful for setting up a slave when you have the
snapshot of the master and have recorded the log and the offset on the
master that the snapshot corresponds to. You can run  `CHANGE MASTER TO
MASTER_LOG_FILE='log_name_on_master',
MASTER_LOG_POS=log_offset_on_master' on the slave after restoring the
snapshot.

The first example above (`CHANGE MASTER TO
MASTER_HOST='master2.mycompany.com' etc') changes the master and
master's binlog coordinates. This is when you want the slave to
replicate the master.  The second example, less frequently used, is
when the slave has relay logs which, for some reason, you want the
slave to execute again; to do this the master needn't be reachable, you
just have to do `CHANGE MASTER TO' and start the SQL thread (`START
SLAVE SQL_THREAD').  You can even use this out of a replication setup,
on a standalone, slave-of-nobody server, to recover after a crash.
Suppose your server has crashed and you have restored a backup.  You
want to replay the server's own binlogs (not relay logs, but regular
binary logs), supposedly named `myhost-bin.*'. First make a backup copy
of these binlogs in some safe place, in case you don't exactly follow
the procedure below and accidentally have the server purge the binlogs.
If using MySQL 4.1.1 or newer, do `SET GLOBAL RELAY_LOG_PURGE=0' for
additional safety.  Then start the server without `log-bin', with a new
(different from before) server ID, with `relay-log=myhost-bin' (to make
the server believe that these regular binlogs are relay logs) and
`skip-slave-start', then issue these statements:

     mysql> CHANGE MASTER TO
         ->     RELAY_LOG_FILE='myhost-bin.153',
         ->     RELAY_LOG_POS=410,
         ->     MASTER_HOST='some_dummy_string';
     mysql> START SLAVE SQL_THREAD;

Then the server will read and execute its own binlogs, thus achieving
crash recovery.  Once the recovery is finished, run `STOP SLAVE',
shutdown the server, delete `master.info' and `relay-log.info', and
restart the server with its original options.  For the moment,
specifying `MASTER_HOST' (even with a dummy value) is compulsory to
make the server think it is a slave, and giving the server a new,
different from before, server ID is also compulsory otherwise the
server will see events with its ID and think it is in a circular
replication setup and skip the events, which is unwanted. In the future
we plan to add options to get rid of these small constraints.

`LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'
.......................

     LOAD DATA FROM MASTER

Takes a snapshot of the master and copies it to the slave.  Updates the
values of `MASTER_LOG_FILE' and `MASTER_LOG_POS' so that the slave will
start replicating from the correct position. Will honor table and
database exclusion rules specified with `replicate-*' options.

Use of this statement is subject to the following conditions:

   * It works only with `MyISAM' tables.

   * It acquires a global read lock on the master while taking the
     snapshot, which prevents updates on the master during the load
     operation.


In the future, it is planned to make this statement work with `InnoDB'
tables and to remove the need for global read lock by using the
non-blocking online backup feature.

If you are loading big tables, you may have to increase the values of
`net_read_timeout' and `net_write_timeout' on both your master and
slave.  See *Note `SHOW VARIABLES': SHOW VARIABLES.

Note that `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' does *NOT* copy any tables from the
`mysql' database.  This is to make it easy to have different users and
privileges on the master and the slave.

This statement requires that the replication account that is used to
connect to the master have `RELOAD' and `SUPER' privileges on the
master, `SELECT' privileges on all master's tables you want to load. All
master's tables on which the user has no `SELECT' privilege will be
ignored by `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'; this is because the master will
hide them to the user: `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' calls `SHOW DATABASES'
to know the master databases to load, but `SHOW DATABASES' returns only
databases on which the user has some privilege.  See *Note Show
database info::.  On the slave's side, the user which issues `LOAD DATA
FROM MASTER' should have grants to drop and create the involved
databases and tables.

`LOAD TABLE tbl_name FROM MASTER'
.................................

     LOAD TABLE tbl_name FROM MASTER

Downloads a copy of the table from master to the slave. This statement
is implemented mainly for debugging of `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'.
Requires that the account used for connecting to the master server have
`RELOAD' and `SUPER' privileges on the master, and `SELECT' on the
master table to load.  On the slave's side, the user which issues `LOAD
TABLE FROM MASTER' should have grants to drop and create the table.
Please read the timeout notes in the description of `LOAD DATA FROM
MASTER' above; they apply here, too. Please also read the limitations
of `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' above, they apply too (for example, `LOAD
TABLE FROM MASTER' works only for `MyISAM' tables).

`MASTER_POS_WAIT()'
...................

     SELECT MASTER_POS_WAIT('master_log_file', master_log_pos)

This is a function, not a command. It is used to ensure that the slave
has reached (read and executed up to) a given position in the master's
binlog.  See *Note Miscellaneous functions:: for a full description.

`RESET SLAVE'
.............

     RESET SLAVE

Makes the slave forget its replication position in the master's binlogs.
This statement is meant to be used for a clean start: it deletes the
`master.info' and `relay-log.info' files, all the relay logs, and
starts a new relay log.  *Note:* All relay logs are deleted, even if
they had not been totally executed by the slave SQL thread.  (This is a
condition likely to exist on a replication slave that is highly loaded,
or if you have issued a `STOP SLAVE' statement.)  Connection
information stored in the `master.info' file is immediately reset to
the values specified in the corresponding startup options, if they were
specified.  This information includes values such as master host,
master port, master user, and master password.  If the slave SQL thread
was in the middle of replicating temporary tables when it was stopped,
and `RESET SLAVE' is issued, these replicated temporary tables are
deleted on the slave.

This statement was named `FLUSH SLAVE' before MySQL 3.23.26.

`SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER'
...................................

     SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER = n

Skip the next `n' events from the master. This is useful for recovering
from replication stops caused by a statement.

This statement is valid only when the slave thread is not running.
Otherwise, it produces an error.

Before MySQL 4.0, omit the `GLOBAL' keyword from the statement.

`SHOW SLAVE STATUS'
...................

     SHOW SLAVE STATUS

Provides status information on essential parameters of the slave
threads. If you issue this statement using the `mysql' client, you can
use a `\G' statement terminator rather than semicolon to get a more
readable vertical layout:

     mysql> SHOW SLAVE STATUS\G
     *************************** 1. row ***************************
            Slave_IO_State: Waiting for master to send event
               Master_Host: localhost
               Master_User: root
               Master_Port: 3306
             Connect_Retry: 3
           Master_Log_File: gbichot-bin.005
       Read_Master_Log_Pos: 79
            Relay_Log_File: gbichot-relay-bin.005
             Relay_Log_Pos: 548
     Relay_Master_Log_File: gbichot-bin.005
          Slave_IO_Running: Yes
         Slave_SQL_Running: Yes
           Replicate_Do_DB:
       Replicate_Ignore_DB:
                Last_Errno: 0
                Last_Error:
              Skip_Counter: 0
       Exec_Master_Log_Pos: 79
           Relay_Log_Space: 552
           Until_Condition: None
            Until_Log_File:
             Until_Log_Pos: 0
        Master_SSL_Allowed: No
        Master_SSL_CA_File:
        Master_SSL_CA_Path:
           Master_SSL_Cert:
         Master_SSL_Cipher:
            Master_SSL_Key:
     Seconds_Behind_Master: 8

Depending on your version of MySQL, you may not see all the fields just
shown. In particular, several fields are present only as of MySQL 4.1.1.

The fields displayed by `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' have the following meanings:

`Slave_IO_State'
     A copy of the `State' column of the output of `SHOW PROCESSLIST'
     for the slave I/O thread; will tell you if this thread is trying
     to connect to the master, waiting for events from the master,
     reconnecting to the master, etc. Possible states are listed in
     *Note Replication Implementation Details::. Looking at this column
     is necessary because, for example, the thread can be running but
     unsuccessfully trying to connect to the master: only this column
     will make you aware of the connection problem.  On the opposite,
     the state of the SQL thread is not copied, because things are
     simpler for this thread: if it's running, there is no problem; if
     it's not, you will find the error in the `Last_Error' column
     (described below).

     This field is present beginning with MySQL 4.1.1.

`Master_Host'
     The current master host.

`Master_User'
     The current user used to connect to the master.

`Master_Port'
     The current master port.

`Connect_Retry'
     The current value of `master-connect-retry'.

`Master_Log_File'
     The name of the master's binlog file from which the I/O thread is
     currently reading.

`Read_Master_Log_Pos'
     The position which the I/O thread has read up to in this master's
     binlog.

`Relay_Log_File'
     The name of the relay log file from which the SQL thread is
     currently reading and executing.

`Relay_Log_Pos'
     The position which the SQL thread has read and executed up to in
     this relay log.

`Relay_Master_Log_File'
     The name of the master's binlog file that contains the last event
     executed by the SQL thread.

`Slave_IO_Running'
     Tells whether or not the I/O thread is started.

`Slave_SQL_Running'
     Tells whether or not the SQL thread is started.

`Replicate_Do_DB, Replicate_Ignore_DB'
     The lists of the databases that were specified with the
     `--replicate-do-db' and `--replicate-ignore-db' options, if any

`Replicate_Do_Table, Replicate_Ignore_Table, Replicate_Wild_Do_Table, Replicate_Wild_Ignore_Table'
     The lists of tables that were specified with the
     `--replicate-do-table', `--replicate-ignore-table',
     `--replicate-wild-do-table', and `--replicate-wild-ignore_table'
     options, if any

     These fields are present beginning with MySQL 4.1.1.

`Last_Errno'
     The error number returned by the most recently executed query.  A
     value of 0 means "no error".

`Last_Error'
     The error message returned by the most recently executed query.
     For example:

          Last_Errno: 1051
          Last_Error: error 'Unknown table 'z'' on query 'drop table z'

     The message indicates that the table `z' existed on the master and
     was dropped there, but it did not exist on the slave, so `DROP
     TABLE' failed on the slave.  (This might occur if you forgot to
     copy the table to the slave when setting up replication.)

     The empty string means "no error".  If the `Last_Error' value is
     not empty, it will also appear as a message in the slave's error
     log.

`Skip_Counter'
     The last used value for `SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER'.

`Exec_Master_Log_Pos'
     The position in the master's binlog (`Relay_Master_Log_File') of
     the last event executed by the SQL thread.
     ((`Relay_Master_Log_File',`Exec_Master_Log_Pos') in the master's
     binlog corresponds to (`Relay_Log_File',`Relay_Log_Pos') in the
     relay log).

`Relay_Log_Space'
     The total combined size of all existing relay logs.

`Until_Condition, Until_Log_File, Until_Log_Pos'
     The values specified in the `UNTIL' clause of the `START SLAVE'
     statement.

     `Until_Condition' has these values:

        * `None' if no `UNTIL' clause was specified

        * `Master' if the slave is reading until a given position in
          the master's binlogs

        * `Relay' if the slave is reading until a given position in its
          relay logs

     `Until_Log_File' and `Until_Log_Pos' indicate the log filename and
     position values that define the point at which the SQL thread will
     stop executing.

     These fields are present beginning with MySQL 4.1.1.

`Master_SSL_Allowed, Master_SSL_CA_File, Master_SSL_CA_Path, Master_SSL_Cert, Master_SSL_Cipher, Master_SSL_Key'
     These fields show the The SSL parameters used by the slave to
     connect to the master, if any.

     `Master_SSL_Allowed' has these values:

        * `Yes' if an SSL connection to the master is allowed

        * `No' if an SSL connection to the master is not allowed

        * `Ignored' if an SSL connection is allowed by the slave server
          does not have SSL support enabled

     The values of the other fields correspond to the values of the
     `--master-ca', `--master-capath', `--master-cert',
     `--master-cipher', and `--master-key' options.

     These fields are present beginning with MySQL 4.1.1.

`Seconds_Behind_Master'
     The number of seconds that have elapsed since the timestamp of the
     last master's event executed by the slave SQL thread. Will be
     `NULL' when no event has been executed yet, or after `CHANGE
     MASTER' and `RESET SLAVE'. This column can be used to know how
     "late" your slave is. It will work even though your master and
     slave don't have identical clocks.

     This field is present beginning with MySQL 4.1.1.

`START SLAVE'
.............

     START SLAVE [thread_name [, thread_name] ... ]
     START SLAVE [SQL_THREAD] UNTIL
         MASTER_LOG_FILE = 'log_name', MASTER_LOG_POS = log_pos
     START SLAVE [SQL_THREAD] UNTIL
         RELAY_LOG_FILE = 'log_name', RELAY_LOG_POS = log_pos
     
     thread_name = IO_THREAD | SQL_THREAD

`START SLAVE' with no options starts both of the slave threads.  The
I/O thread reads queries from the master server and stores them in the
relay log.  The SQL thread reads the relay log and executes the queries.
Note that if `START SLAVE' succeeds in starting the slave threads it
will return without any error. But even in that case it might be that
slave threads start and then later stop (because they don't manage to
connect to the master or read his binlogs or any other problem). `START
SLAVE' will not warn you about this. You must check your slave's error
log for error messages generated by the slave threads, or check that
these are running fine with `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'.

`START SLAVE' requires the `SUPER' privilege.

As of MySQL 4.0.2, you can add `IO_THREAD' or `SQL_THREAD' options to
the statement to name which of the threads to start.

As of MySQL 4.1.1, an `UNTIL' clause may be added to specify that the
slave should start until the SQL thread reaches a given point in the
master binlogs or in the slave relay logs. When the SQL thread reaches
that point, it stops.  If the `SQL_THREAD' option is specified in the
statement, it starts only the SQL thread.  Otherwise, it starts both
slave threads.  If the SQL thread is already running, the `UNTIL'
clause is ignored and a warning is issued.

With an `UNTIL' clause, you must specify both a log filename and
position. Do not mix master and relay log options.

Any `UNTIL' condition is reset by a subsequent `STOP SLAVE' statement,
or a `START SLAVE' statement that includes no `UNTIL' clause, or a
server restart.

The `UNTIL' clause can be useful for debugging replication, or to cause
replication to proceed until just before the point where you want to
avoid having the slave replicated a statement. For example, if an unwise
`DROP TABLE' statement was executed on the master, you can use `UNTIL'
to tell the slave to execute up to that point but no farther.  To find
what the event is, use `mysqlbinlog' with the master logs or relay
logs, or by using a `SHOW BINLOG EVENTS' statement.

If you are using `UNTIL' to have the slave process replicated queries in
sections, it is recommended that you start the slave with the
`--skip-slave-start' option to prevent the SQL thread from running when
the slave starts.  It's probably best to use this option in an option
file rather than on the command line, so that an unexpected server
restart does not cause it to be forgotten.

The `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' statement includes output fields that display
the current values of the `UNTIL' condition.

This command is called `SLAVE START' before MySQL 4.0.5.  For the
moment, `SLAVE START' is still accepted for backward compatibility, but
is deprecated.

`STOP SLAVE'
............

     STOP SLAVE [thread_name [, thread_name] ... ]
     
     thread_name = IO_THREAD | SQL_THREAD

Stops the slave threads.  `STOP SLAVE' requires the `SUPER' privilege.

Like `START SLAVE', this statement may be used with the `IO_THREAD' and
`SQL_THREAD' options to name the thread or threads to stop.

This command is called `SLAVE STOP' before MySQL 4.0.5.  For the
moment, `SLAVE STOP' is still accepted for backward compatibility, but
is deprecated.

MySQL Full-text Search
======================

     MATCH (col1,col2,...) AGAINST (expr [IN BOOLEAN MODE | WITH QUERY EXPANSION] )

As of Version 3.23.23, MySQL has support for full-text indexing and
searching.  Full-text indexes in MySQL are an index of type `FULLTEXT'.
`FULLTEXT' indexes are used with `MyISAM' tables only and can be
created from `CHAR', `VARCHAR', or `TEXT' columns at `CREATE TABLE'
time or added later with `ALTER TABLE' or `CREATE INDEX'.  For large
datasets, it will be much faster to load your data into a table that
has no `FULLTEXT' index, then create the index with `ALTER TABLE' (or
`CREATE INDEX').  Loading data into a table that already has a
`FULLTEXT' index could be significantly slower.

Full-text searching is performed with the `MATCH()' function.

     mysql> CREATE TABLE articles (
         ->   id INT UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY,
         ->   title VARCHAR(200),
         ->   body TEXT,
         ->   FULLTEXT (title,body)
         -> );
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> INSERT INTO articles VALUES
         -> (NULL,'MySQL Tutorial', 'DBMS stands for DataBase ...'),
         -> (NULL,'How To Use MySQL Efficiently', 'After you went through a ...'),
         -> (NULL,'Optimizing MySQL','In this tutorial we will show ...'),
         -> (NULL,'1001 MySQL Tricks','1. Never run mysqld as root. 2. ...'),
         -> (NULL,'MySQL vs. YourSQL', 'In the following database comparison ...'),
         -> (NULL,'MySQL Security', 'When configured properly, MySQL ...');
     Query OK, 6 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     Records: 6  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0
     
     mysql> SELECT * FROM articles
         ->          WHERE MATCH (title,body) AGAINST ('database');
     +----+-------------------+------------------------------------------+
     | id | title             | body                                     |
     +----+-------------------+------------------------------------------+
     |  5 | MySQL vs. YourSQL | In the following database comparison ... |
     |  1 | MySQL Tutorial    | DBMS stands for DataBase ...             |
     +----+-------------------+------------------------------------------+
     2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The `MATCH()' function performs a natural language search for a string
against a text collection (a set of one or more columns included in a
`FULLTEXT' index).  The search string is given as the argument to
`AGAINST()'.  The search is performed in case-insensitive fashion.  For
every row in the table, `MATCH()' returns a relevance value, that is, a
similarity measure between the search string and the text in that row
in the columns named in the `MATCH()' list.

When `MATCH()' is used in a `WHERE' clause (see example above) the rows
returned are automatically sorted with highest relevance first.
Relevance values are non-negative floating-point numbers.  Zero
relevance means no similarity.  Relevance is computed based on the
number of words in the row, the number of unique words in that row, the
total number of words in the collection, and the number of documents
(rows) that contain a particular word.

It is also possible to perform a boolean mode search.  This is explained
later in the section.

The preceding example is a basic illustration showing how to use the
`MATCH()' function. Rows are returned in order of decreasing relevance.

The next example shows how to retrieve the relevance values explicitly.
As neither `WHERE' nor `ORDER BY' clauses are present, returned rows
are not ordered.

     mysql> SELECT id,MATCH (title,body) AGAINST ('Tutorial') FROM articles;
     +----+-----------------------------------------+
     | id | MATCH (title,body) AGAINST ('Tutorial') |
     +----+-----------------------------------------+
     |  1 |                        0.64840710366884 |
     |  2 |                                       0 |
     |  3 |                        0.66266459031789 |
     |  4 |                                       0 |
     |  5 |                                       0 |
     |  6 |                                       0 |
     +----+-----------------------------------------+
     6 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The following example is more complex.  The query returns the relevance
and still sorts the rows in order of decreasing relevance. To achieve
this result, you should specify `MATCH()' twice. This will cause no
additional overhead, because the MySQL optimizer will notice that the
two `MATCH()' calls are identical and invoke the full-text search code
only once.

     mysql> SELECT id, body, MATCH (title,body) AGAINST
         -> ('Security implications of running MySQL as root') AS score
         -> FROM articles WHERE MATCH (title,body) AGAINST
         -> ('Security implications of running MySQL as root');
     +----+-------------------------------------+-----------------+
     | id | body                                | score           |
     +----+-------------------------------------+-----------------+
     |  4 | 1. Never run mysqld as root. 2. ... | 1.5055546709332 |
     |  6 | When configured properly, MySQL ... |   1.31140957288 |
     +----+-------------------------------------+-----------------+
     2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

As of Version 4.1.1, full-text search supports query expansion (in
particular, its variant "blind query expansion"). It is generally
useful when a search phrase is too short, which often means that the
user is relying on implied knowledge that the full-text search engine
usually lacks. For example, a user searching for "database" may really
mean that "MySQL", "Oracle", "DB2", and "RDBMS" all are phrases that
should match "databases" and should be returned, too. This is implied
knowledge.  Blind query expansion (also known as automatic relevance
feedback) works by performing the search twice, where the search phrase
for the second search is the original search phrase concatenated with
the few top found documents from the first search.  Thus, if one of
these documents contained the word "databases" and the word "MySQL",
then the second search will find the documents that contain the word
"MySQL" but not "database".  Another example could be searching for
books by Georges Simenon about Maigret, when a user is not sure how to
spell "Maigret". Then, searching for "Megre and the reluctant
witnesses" will find only "Maigret and the Reluctant Witnesses" without
query expansion, but all books with the word "Maigret" on the second
pass of a search with query expansion.  Note: Because blind query
expansion tends to increase noise significantly, by returning
non-relevant documents, it's only meaningful to use when a search
phrase is rather short.

MySQL uses a very simple parser to split text into words.  A "word" is
any sequence of characters consisting of letters, digits, `'', and `_'.
Any "word" that is present in the stopword list or is just too short
is ignored.  The default minimum length of words that will be found by
full-text searches is four characters. This can be changed as described
in *Note Fulltext Fine-tuning::.

Every correct word in the collection and in the query is weighted
according to its significance in the query or collection.  This way, a
word that is present in many documents will have lower weight (and may
even have a zero weight), because it has lower semantic value in this
particular collection.  Otherwise, if the word is rare, it will receive
a higher weight.  The weights of the words are then combined to compute
the relevance of the row.

Such a technique works best with large collections (in fact, it was
carefully tuned this way).  For very small tables, word distribution
does not reflect adequately their semantic value, and this model may
sometimes produce bizarre results.

     mysql> SELECT * FROM articles WHERE MATCH (title,body) AGAINST ('MySQL');
     Empty set (0.00 sec)

The search for the word `MySQL' produces no results in the above
example, because that word is present in more than half the rows.  As
such, it is effectively treated as a stopword (that is, a word with
zero semantic value).  This is the most desirable behavior -- a natural
language query should not return every second row from a 1 GB table.

A word that matches half of rows in a table is less likely to locate
relevant documents.  In fact, it will most likely find plenty of
irrelevant documents.  We all know this happens far too often when we
are trying to find something on the Internet with a search engine.  It
is with this reasoning that such rows have been assigned a low semantic
value in *this particular dataset*.

As of Version 4.0.1, MySQL can also perform boolean full-text searches
using the `IN BOOLEAN MODE' modifier.

     mysql> SELECT * FROM articles WHERE MATCH (title,body)
         ->     AGAINST ('+MySQL -YourSQL' IN BOOLEAN MODE);
     +----+------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
     | id | title                        | body                                |
     +----+------------------------------+-------------------------------------+
     |  1 | MySQL Tutorial               | DBMS stands for DataBase ...        |
     |  2 | How To Use MySQL Efficiently | After you went through a ...        |
     |  3 | Optimizing MySQL             | In this tutorial we will show ...   |
     |  4 | 1001 MySQL Tricks            | 1. Never run mysqld as root. 2. ... |
     |  6 | MySQL Security               | When configured properly, MySQL ... |
     +----+------------------------------+-------------------------------------+

This query retrieved all the rows that contain the word `MySQL' (note:
the 50% threshold is not used), but that do *not* contain the word
`YourSQL'.  Note that a boolean mode search does not automatically sort
rows in order of decreasing relevance.  You can see this from result of
the preceding query, where the row with the highest relevance (the one
that contains `MySQL' twice) is listed last, not first.  A boolean
full-text search can also work even without a `FULLTEXT' index,
although it would be *slow*.

The boolean full-text search capability supports the following
operators:

`+'
     A leading plus sign indicates that this word *must be* present in
     every row returned.

`-'
     A leading minus sign indicates that this word *must not be*
     present in any row returned.

`'
     By default (when neither plus nor minus is specified) the word is
     optional, but the rows that contain it will be rated higher. This
     mimicks the behavior of `MATCH() ... AGAINST()' without the `IN
     BOOLEAN MODE' modifier.

`< >'
     These two operators are used to change a word's contribution to the
     relevance value that is assigned to a row.  The `<' operator
     decreases the contribution and the `>' operator increases it.  See
     the example below.

`( )'
     Parentheses are used to group words into subexpressions.

`~'
     A leading tilde acts as a negation operator, causing the word's
     contribution to the row relevance to be negative. It's useful for
     marking noise words. A row that contains such a word will be rated
     lower than others, but will not be excluded altogether, as it
     would be with the `-' operator.

`*'
     An asterisk is the truncation operator. Unlike the other
     operators, it should be *appended* to the word, not prepended.

`"'
     The phrase, that is enclosed in double quotes `"', matches only
     rows that contain this phrase *literally, as it was typed*.

And here are some examples:

`apple banana'
     find rows that contain at least one of these words.

`+apple +juice'
     ... both words.

`+apple macintosh'
     ... word "apple", but rank it higher if it also contain
     "macintosh".

`+apple -macintosh'
     ... word "apple" but not "macintosh".

`+apple +(>turnover <strudel)'
     ... "apple" and "turnover", or "apple" and "strudel" (in any
     order), but rank "apple pie" higher than "apple strudel".

`apple*'
     ... "apple", "apples", "applesauce", and "applet".

`"some words"'
     ... "some words of wisdom", but not "some noise words".

Full-text Restrictions
----------------------

   * Full-text searches are supported for `MyISAM' tables only.

   * Full-text searches cannot be used with UCS-2 (but it works with
     UTF8 as of MySQL 4.1.1).

   * All parameters to the `MATCH()' function must be columns from the
     same table that is part of the same `FULLTEXT' index, unless the
     `MATCH()' is `IN BOOLEAN MODE'.

   * All columns in the `FULLTEXT' index must have the same character
     set.

   * The `MATCH()' column list must exactly match the column list in
     some `FULLTEXT' index definition for the table, unless this
     `MATCH()' is `IN BOOLEAN MODE'.

   * The argument to `AGAINST()' must be a constant string.

Fine-tuning MySQL Full-text Search
----------------------------------

Unfortunately, full-text search has few user-tunable parameters yet,
although adding some is very high on the TODO. If you have a MySQL
source distribution (*note Installing source::), you can exert more
control over full-text searching behavior.

Note that full-text search was carefully tuned for the best searching
effectiveness.  Modifying the default behavior will, in most cases,
only make the search results worse.  Do not alter the MySQL sources
unless you know what you are doing!

The full-text variables described in the following list must be set at
server startup time. You cannot modify them dynamically while the
server is running.

   * The minimum length of words to be indexed is defined by the MySQL
     variable `ft_min_word_len'.  *Note `ft_min_word_len': SHOW
     VARIABLES.  (This variable is only available from MySQL version
     4.0.)  The default value is four characters.  Change it to the
     value you prefer, and rebuild your `FULLTEXT' indexes.  For
     example, if you want three-character words to be searchable, you
     can set this variable by putting the following lines in an option
     file:

          [mysqld]
          ft_min_word_len=3

     Then restart the server and rebuild your `FULLTEXT' indexes.

   * The stopword list can be loaded from the file specified by the
     `ft_stopword_file' variable.  *Note `ft_stopword_file': SHOW
     VARIABLES.  Rebuild your `FULLTEXT' indexes after modifying the
     stopword list.  (This variable is only available from MySQL
     version 4.0.10 and onwards)

   * The 50% threshold is determined by the particular weighting scheme
     chosen.  To disable it, change the following line in
     `myisam/ftdefs.h':
          #define GWS_IN_USE GWS_PROB
     To:
          #define GWS_IN_USE GWS_FREQ
     Then recompile MySQL.  There is no need to rebuild the indexes in
     this case.  *Note:* By doing this you *severely* decrease MySQL's
     ability to provide adequate relevance values for the `MATCH()'
     function.  If you really need to search for such common words, it
     would be better to search using `IN BOOLEAN MODE' instead, which
     does not observe the 50% threshold.

   * Sometimes the search engine maintainer would like to change the
     operators used for boolean full-text searches. These are defined
     by the `ft_boolean_syntax' variable.  *Note `ft_boolean_syntax':
     SHOW VARIABLES.  Still, this variable is read-only; its value is
     set in `myisam/ft_static.c'.


For full-text changes that require you to rebuild your `FULLTEXT'
indexes, the easiest way to do so for a `MyISAM' table is to use the
following statement, which rebuilds the index file:

     mysql> REPAIR TABLE tbl_name QUICK;

Full-text Search TODO
---------------------

   * Make all operations with `FULLTEXT' index *faster*.

   * Proximity operators

   * Support for "always-index words". They could be any strings the
     user wants to treat as words, examples are "C++", "AS/400",
     "TCP/IP", etc.

   * Support for full-text search in `MERGE' tables.

   * Support for UCS-2.

   * Make stopword list to depend of the language of the data.

   * Stemming (dependent of the language of the data).

   * Generic user-suppliable UDF preparser.

   * Make the model more flexible (by adding some adjustable parameters
     to `FULLTEXT' in `CREATE/ALTER TABLE').

MySQL Query Cache
=================

From version 4.0.1, `MySQL server' features a `Query Cache'.  When in
use, the query cache stores the text of a `SELECT' query together with
the corresponding result that was sent to the client.  If an identical
query is later received, the server will retrieve the results from the
query cache rather than parsing and executing the same query again.

*NOTE:* The query cache does not return stale data. When data is
modified, any relevant entries in the query cache are flushed.

The query cache is extremely useful in an environment where (some)
tables don't change very often and you have a lot of identical queries.
This is a typical situation for many web servers that use a lot of
dynamic content.

Below is some performance data for the query cache. (These results were
generated by running the MySQL benchmark suite on a Linux Alpha 2 x 500
MHz with 2 GB RAM and a 64 MB query cache):

   * If all of the queries you're performing are simple (such as
     selecting a row from a table with one row); but still differ so
     that the queries can not be cached, the overhead for having the
     query cache active is 13%.  This could be regarded as the worst
     case scenario. However, in real life, queries are much more
     complicated than our simple example so the overhead is normally
     significantly lower.

   * Searches after one row in a one row table is 238% faster.  This
     can be regarded as close to the minimum speedup to be expected for
     a query that is cached.

   * If you want to disable the query cache code set
     `query_cache_size=0'.  By disabling the query cache code there is
     no noticeable overhead.  (query cache can be excluded from code
     with help of configure option `--without-query-cache')

How the Query Cache Operates
----------------------------

Queries are compared before parsing, thus

     SELECT * FROM tbl_name

and

     Select * from tbl_name

are regarded as different queries for query cache, so queries need to
be exactly the same (byte for byte) to be seen as identical.  In
addition, a query may be seen as different if for instance one client
is using a new communication protocol format or another character set
than another client.

Queries that uses different databases, uses different protocol versions
or the uses different default character sets are considered different
queries and cached separately.

The cache does work for `SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS ...' and `SELECT
FOUND_ROWS() ...' type queries because the number of found rows is also
stored in the cache.

If query result was returned from query cache then status variable
`Com_select' will not be increased, but `Qcache_hits' will be.  *Note
Query Cache Status and Maintenance::.

If a table changes (`INSERT', `UPDATE', `DELETE', `TRUNCATE', `ALTER'
or `DROP TABLE|DATABASE'), then all cached queries that used this table
(possibly through a `MRG_MyISAM' table!) become invalid and are removed
from the cache.

Transactional `InnoDB' tables that have been changed will be invalidated
when a `COMMIT' is performed.

In MySQL 4.0, the query cache is disabled inside of transactions (it
does not return results). Beginning with MySQL 4.1.1, the query cache
will also work inside of transactions when using `InnoDB' tables (it
will use the table version number to detect if the data is still
current or not).

Before MySQL 5.0, a query that begins with a leading comment might be
cached, but could not be fetched from the cache. This problem is fixed
in MySQL 5.0.

A query cannot be cached if it contains one of the functions:
*Function*               *Function*               *Function*
`User-Defined Functions' `CONNECTION_ID'          `FOUND_ROWS'
`GET_LOCK'               `RELEASE_LOCK'           `LOAD_FILE'
`MASTER_POS_WAIT'        `NOW'                    `SYSDATE'
`CURRENT_TIMESTAMP'      `CURDATE'                `CURRENT_DATE'
`CURTIME'                `CURRENT_TIME'           `DATABASE'
`ENCRYPT' (with one      `LAST_INSERT_ID'         `RAND'
parameter)                                        
`UNIX_TIMESTAMP'         `USER'                   `BENCHMARK'
(without parameters)                              

Nor can a query be cached if it contains user variables, references the
mysql system database, is of the form `SELECT ... IN SHARE MODE',
`SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE ...', `SELECT ... INTO DUMPFILE ...' or of the
form `SELECT * FROM AUTOINCREMENT_FIELD IS NULL' (to retrieve last
insert ID - ODBC work around).

However, `FOUND_ROWS()' will return the correct value, even if the
preceding query was fetched from the cache.

In case a query does not use any tables, or uses temporary tables, or
if the user has a column privilege for any of the involved tables, that
query will not be cached.

Before a query is fetched from the query cache, MySQL will check that
the user has SELECT privilege to all the involved databases and tables.
If this is not the case, the cached result will not be used.

Query Cache Configuration
-------------------------

The query cache adds a few `MySQL' system variables for `mysqld' which
may be set in a configuration file, on the command-line when starting
`mysqld'.

   * `query_cache_limit' Don't cache results that are bigger than this.
     (Default 1M).

   * `query_cache_min_res_unit'

     This variable is present from version 4.1.

     The result of a query (the data that is also sent to the client)
     is stored in the query cache during result retrieval. Therefore
     the data is usually not handled in one big chunk. The query cache
     allocates blocks for storing this data on demand, so when one
     block is filled, a new block is allocated.  Because memory
     allocation operation is costly (time wise), the query cache
     allocates blocks with a minimum size of `query_cache_min_res_unit'.
     When a query is executed, the last result block is trimmed to the
     actual data size, so that unused memory is freed.
        * The default value of `query_cache_min_res_unit' is 4 KB which
          should be adequate for most cases.

        * If you have a lot of queries with small results, the default
          block size may lead to memory fragmentation (indicated by a
          large number of free blocks (`Qcache_free_blocks'), which can
          cause the query cache to have to delete queries from the
          cache due to lack of memory (`Qcache_lowmem_prunes')). In
          this case you should decrease `query_cache_min_res_unit'.

        * If you mostly have queres with big results (see
          `Qcache_total_blocks' and `Qcache_queries_in_cache'), you can
          increase performance by increasing
          `query_cache_min_res_unit'. However, be careful to not make
          it to large (see the previous point).

   * `query_cache_size' The amount of memory (specified in bytes)
     allocated to store results from old queries. If this is 0, the
     query cache is disabled (default).

   * `query_cache_type' This may be set (only numeric) to
     *Option**Description*
     0       (OFF, don't cache or retrieve results)
     1       (ON, cache all results except `SELECT
             SQL_NO_CACHE ...' queries)
     2       (DEMAND, cache only `SELECT SQL_CACHE ...'
             queries)

Inside a thread (connection), the behavior of the query cache can be
changed from the default. The syntax is as follows:

`QUERY_CACHE_TYPE = OFF | ON | DEMAND' `QUERY_CACHE_TYPE = 0   | 1  | 2'

*Option*       *Description*
0 or OFF       Don't cache or retrieve results
1 or ON        Cache all results except `SELECT SQL_NO_CACHE
               ...' queries
2 or DEMAND    Cache only `SELECT SQL_CACHE ...' queries

Query Cache Options in `SELECT'
-------------------------------

There are two possible query cache related parameters that may be
specified in a `SELECT' query:

*Option*       *Description*
`SQL_CACHE'    If `QUERY_CACHE_TYPE' is `DEMAND', allow the query to be
               cached.   If `QUERY_CACHE_TYPE' is `ON', this is the
               default.   If `QUERY_CACHE_TYPE' is `OFF', do nothing.
`SQL_NO_CACHE' Make this query non-cachable, don't allow this query to
               be stored in the cache.

Query Cache Status and Maintenance
----------------------------------

With the `FLUSH QUERY CACHE' command you can defragment the query cache
to better utilize its memory. This command will not remove any queries
from the cache.  `FLUSH TABLES' also flushes the query cache.

The `RESET QUERY CACHE' command removes all query results from the
query cache.  You can check whether the query cache is present in your
MySQL version:

     mysql> SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'have_query_cache';
     +------------------+-------+
     | Variable_name    | Value |
     +------------------+-------+
     | have_query_cache | YES   |
     +------------------+-------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

You can monitor query cache performance in `SHOW STATUS':

*Variable*             *Description*
`Qcache_queries_in_cache'Number of queries registered in the
                       cache.
`Qcache_inserts'       Number of queries added to the
                       cache.
`Qcache_hits'          Number of cache hits.
`Qcache_lowmem_prunes' Number of queries that were deleted
                       from cache because of low memory.
`Qcache_not_cached'    Number of non-cached queries  (not
                       cachable, or due to
                       `QUERY_CACHE_TYPE').
`Qcache_free_memory'   Amount of free memory for query
                       cache.
`Qcache_free_blocks'   Number of free memory blocks in
                       query cache.
`Qcache_total_blocks'  Total number of blocks in query
                       cache.

Total number of queries = `Qcache_inserts' + `Qcache_hits' +
`Qcache_not_cached'.

The query cache uses variable length blocks, so `Qcache_total_blocks'
and `Qcache_free_blocks' may indicate query cache memory fragmentation.
After `FLUSH QUERY CACHE' only a single (big) free block remains.

Note: Every query needs a minimum of two blocks (one for the query text
and one or more for the query results). Also, every table that is used
by a query needs one block, but if two or more queries use same table
only one block needs to be allocated.

You can use the `Qcache_lowmem_prunes' status variable to tune the query
cache size. It counts the number of queries that have been removed from
the cache to free up memory for caching new queries. The query cache
uses a `least recently used' (`LRU') strategy to decide which queries to
remove from the cache.

MySQL Table Types
*****************

As of MySQL Version 3.23.6, you can choose between three basic table
formats (`ISAM', `HEAP' and `MyISAM').  Newer versions of MySQL support
additional table types (`InnoDB', or `BDB'), depending on how you
compile it. A database may contain tables of different types.

When you create a new table, you can tell MySQL what type of table to
create.  The default table type is usually `MyISAM'.

MySQL will always create a `.frm' file to hold the table and column
definitions. The table's index and data will be stored in one or more
other files, depending on the table type.

If you try to use a table type that is not compiled-in or activated,
MySQL will instead create a table of type `MyISAM'.  This behavior is
convenient when you want to copy tables between MySQL servers that
support different table types. (Perhaps your master server supports
transactional storage engines for increased safety, while the slave
servers use only non-transactional storage engines for greater speed.)

This automatic change of table types can be confusing for new MySQL
users.  We plan to fix this by introducing warnings in the new
client/server protocol in version 4.1 and generating a warning when a
table type is automatically changed.

You can convert tables between different types with the `ALTER TABLE'
statement. *Note `ALTER TABLE': ALTER TABLE.

Note that MySQL supports two different kinds of tables:
transaction-safe tables (`InnoDB' and `BDB') and not transaction-safe
tables (`HEAP', `ISAM', `MERGE', and `MyISAM').

Advantages of transaction-safe tables (TST):

   * Safer. Even if MySQL crashes or you get hardware problems, you can
     get your data back, either by automatic recovery or from a backup
     + the transaction log.

   * You can combine many statements and accept these all in one go with
     the `COMMIT' command.

   * You can execute `ROLLBACK' to ignore your changes (if you are not
     running in auto-commit mode).

   * If an update fails, all your changes will be restored. (With NTST
     tables all changes that have taken place are permanent)

   * Can provide better concurrency if the table gets many updates
     concurrently with reads.

Note that to use `InnoDB' tables you have to use at least the
`innodb_data_file_path' startup option. *Note InnoDB start::.

Advantages of not transaction-safe tables (NTST):

   * Much faster as there is no transaction overhead.

   * Will use less disk space as there is no overhead of transactions.

   * Will use less memory to do updates.

You can combine TST and NTST tables in the same statements to get the
best of both worlds.

`MyISAM' Tables
===============

`MyISAM' is the default table type in MySQL Version 3.23. It's based on
the `ISAM' code and has a lot of useful extensions.

The index is stored in a file with the `.MYI' (MYIndex) extension, and
the data is stored in a file with the `.MYD' (MYData) extension.  You
can check/repair `MyISAM' tables with the `myisamchk' utility. *Note
Crash recovery::. You can compress `MyISAM' tables with `myisampack' to
take up much less space.  *Note `myisampack': myisampack.

The following is new in `MyISAM':

   * There is a flag in the `MyISAM' file that indicates whether the
     table was closed correctly.  If `mysqld' is started with
     `--myisam-recover', `MyISAM' tables are automatically checked
     and/or repaired on open if the table wasn't closed properly.

   * You can `INSERT' new rows in a table that doesn't have free blocks
     in the middle of the datafile, at the same time other threads are
     reading from the table (concurrent insert).  A free block can come
     from an update of a dynamic length row with much data to a row
     with less data or when deleting rows. When all free blocks are
     used up, all future inserts will be concurrent again.

   * Support for big files (63-bit) on filesystems/operating systems
     that support big files.

   * All data is stored with the low byte first. This makes the data
     machine and OS independent. The only requirement for binary
     portability is that the machine uses two's-complement signed
     integers (as every machine for the last 20 years has) and IEEE
     floating-point format (also totally dominant among mainstream
     machines). The only area of machines that may not support binary
     compatibility are embedded systems (because they sometimes have
     peculiar processors).

     There is no big speed penalty in storing data low byte first; the
     bytes in a table row is normally unaligned and it doesn't take
     that much more power to read an unaligned byte in order than in
     reverse order.  The actual fetch-column-value code is also not
     time critical compared to other code.

   * All number keys are stored with high byte first to give better
     index compression.

   * Internal handling of one `AUTO_INCREMENT' column. `MyISAM' will
     automatically update this on `INSERT/UPDATE'. The `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     value can be reset with `myisamchk'. This will make
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns faster (at least 10%) and old numbers
     will not be reused as with the old `ISAM'. Note that when an
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' is defined on the end of a multi-part-key the old
     behavior is still present.

   * When inserted in sorted order (as when you are using an
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' column) the key tree will be split so that the
     high node only contains one key. This will improve the space
     utilization in the key tree.

   * `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns can be indexed.

   * `NULL' values are allowed in indexed columns.  This takes 0-1
     bytes/key.

   * Maximum key length is 500 bytes by default (can be changed by
     recompiling).  In cases of keys longer than 250 bytes, a bigger key
     block size than the default of 1024 bytes is used for this key.

   * Maximum number of keys/table is 32 as default. This can be
     enlarged to 64 without having to recompile `myisamchk'.

   * `myisamchk' will mark tables as checked if one runs it with
     `--update-state'. `myisamchk --fast' will check only those tables
     that don't have this mark.

   * `myisamchk -a' stores statistics for key parts (and not only for
     whole keys as in `ISAM').

   * Dynamic size rows will now be much less fragmented when mixing
     deletes with updates and inserts.  This is done by automatically
     combining adjacent deleted blocks and by extending blocks if the
     next block is deleted.

   * `myisampack' can pack `BLOB' and `VARCHAR' columns.

   * You can use put the datafile and index file on different
     directories to get more speed (with the `DATA/INDEX
     DIRECTORY="path"' option to `CREATE TABLE'). *Note CREATE TABLE::.

`MyISAM' also supports the following things, which MySQL will be able
to use in the near future:

   * Support for a true `VARCHAR' type; a `VARCHAR' column starts with
     a length stored in 2 bytes.

   * Tables with `VARCHAR' may have fixed or dynamic record length.

   * `VARCHAR' and `CHAR' may be up to 64K.  All key segments have
     their own language definition. This will enable MySQL to have
     different language definitions per column.

   * A hashed computed index can be used for `UNIQUE'. This will allow
     you to have `UNIQUE' on any combination of columns in a table. (You
     can't search on a `UNIQUE' computed index, however.)

Note that index files are usually much smaller with `MyISAM' than with
`ISAM'. This means that `MyISAM' will normally use less system
resources than `ISAM', but will need more CPU time when inserting data
into a compressed index.

The following options to `mysqld' can be used to change the behavior of
`MyISAM' tables. *Note SHOW VARIABLES::.

*Option*                      *Description*
`--myisam-recover=#'          Automatic recovery of crashed tables.
`-O                           Buffer used when recovering tables.
myisam_sort_buffer_size=#'    
`--delay-key-write=ALL'       Don't flush key buffers between writes for
                              any MyISAM table
`-O                           Used to help MySQL to decide when to use
myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size=#'the slow but safe key cache index create
                              method. *Note* that this parameter is
                              given in megabytes before 4.0.3 and in
                              bytes beginning with this version.
`-O                           Don't use the fast sort index method to
myisam_max_sort_file_size=#'  created index if the temporary file would
                              get bigger than this.  *Note* that this
                              parameter is given in megabytes before
                              4.0.3 and in bytes beginning with this
                              version.
`-O                           Size of tree cache used in bulk insert
bulk_insert_buffer_size=#'    optimization. *Note* that this is a limit
                              *per thread*!

The automatic recovery is activated if you start `mysqld' with
`--myisam-recover=#'. *Note Server options::.  On open, the table is
checked if it's marked as crashed or if the open count variable for the
table is not 0 and you are running with `--skip-external-locking'.  If
either of the above is true the following happens.

   * The table is checked for errors.

   * If we found an error, try to do a fast repair (with sorting and
     without re-creating the datafile) of the table.

   * If the repair fails because of an error in the datafile (for
     example a duplicate key error), we try again, but this time we
     re-create the datafile.

   * If the repair fails, retry once more with the old repair option
     method (write row by row without sorting) which should be able to
     repair any type of error with little disk requirements..

If the recover wouldn't be able to recover all rows from a previous
completed statement and you didn't specify `FORCE' as an option to
`myisam-recover', then the automatic repair will abort with an error
message in the error file:

     Error: Couldn't repair table: test.g00pages

If you in this case had used the `FORCE' option you would instead have
got a warning in the error file:

     Warning: Found 344 of 354 rows when repairing ./test/g00pages

Note that if you run automatic recovery with the `BACKUP' option, you
should have a `cron' script that automatically moves file with names
like `tablename-datetime.BAK' from the database directories to a backup
media.

*Note Server options::.

Space Needed for Keys
---------------------

MySQL can support different index types, but the normal type is ISAM or
MyISAM.  These use a B-tree index, and you can roughly calculate the
size for the index file as `(key_length+4)/0.67', summed over all keys.
(This is for the worst case when all keys are inserted in sorted order
and we don't have any compressed keys.)

String indexes are space compressed. If the first index part is a
string, it will also be prefix compressed.  Space compression makes the
index file smaller than the above figures if the string column has a lot
of trailing space or is a `VARCHAR' column that is not always used to
the full length. Prefix compression is used on keys that start with a
string.  Prefix compression helps if there are many strings with an
identical prefix.

In `MyISAM' tables, you can also prefix compress numbers by specifying
`PACK_KEYS=1' when you create the table.  This helps when you have many
integer keys that have an identical prefix when the numbers are stored
high-byte first.

`MyISAM' Table Formats
----------------------

`MyISAM' supports 3 different table types. Two of them are chosen
automatically depending on the type of columns you are using. The third,
compressed tables, can only be created with the `myisampack' tool.

When you `CREATE' or `ALTER' a table that doesn't have `BLOB' values,
you can force the table format to `DYNAMIC' or `FIXED' with the
`ROW_FORMAT=#' table option.  In the future you will be able to
compress/decompress tables by specifying `ROW_FORMAT=compressed |
default' to `ALTER TABLE'.  *Note CREATE TABLE::.

Static (Fixed-length) Table Characteristics
...........................................

This is the default format. It's used when the table contains no
`VARCHAR', `BLOB', or `TEXT' columns.

This format is the simplest and most secure format. It is also the
fastest of the on-disk formats. The speed comes from the easy way data
can be found on disk. When looking up something with an index and static
format it is very simple. Just multiply the row number by the row
length.

Also, when scanning a table it is very easy to read a constant number of
records with each disk read.

The security is evidenced if your computer crashes when writing to a
fixed-size MyISAM file, in which case `myisamchk' can easily figure out
where each row starts and ends. So it can usually reclaim all records
except the partially written one. Note that in MySQL all indexes can
always be reconstructed:

   * All `CHAR', `NUMERIC', and `DECIMAL' columns are space-padded to
     the column width.

   * Very quick.

   * Easy to cache.

   * Easy to reconstruct after a crash, because records are located in
     fixed positions.

   * Doesn't have to be reorganized (with `myisamchk') unless a huge
     number of records are deleted and you want to return free disk
     space to the operating system.

   * Usually requires more disk space than dynamic tables.

Dynamic Table Characteristics
.............................

This format is used if the table contains any `VARCHAR', `BLOB', or
`TEXT' columns or if the table was created with `ROW_FORMAT=dynamic'.

This format is a little more complex because each row has to have a
header that says how long it is. One record can also end up at more
than one location when it is made longer at an update.

You can use `OPTIMIZE table' or `myisamchk' to defragment a table. If
you have static data that you access/change a lot in the same table as
some `VARCHAR' or `BLOB' columns, it might be a good idea to move the
dynamic columns to other tables just to avoid fragmentation:

   * All string columns are dynamic (except those with a length less
     than 4).

   * Each record is preceded by a bitmap indicating which columns are
     empty (`''') for string columns, or zero for numeric columns.
     (This isn't the same as columns containing `NULL' values.) If a
     string column has a length of zero after removal of trailing
     spaces, or a numeric column has a value of zero, it is marked in
     the bit map and not saved to disk.  Non-empty strings are saved as
     a length byte plus the string contents.

   * Usually takes much less disk space than fixed-length tables.

   * Each record uses only as much space as is required. If a record
     becomes larger, it is split into as many pieces as are required.
     This results in record fragmentation.

   * If you update a row with information that extends the row length,
     the row will be fragmented.  In this case, you may have to run
     `myisamchk -r' from time to time to get better performance.  Use
     `myisamchk -ei tbl_name' for some statistics.

   * Not as easy to reconstruct after a crash, because a record may be
     fragmented into many pieces and a link (fragment) may be missing.

   * The expected row length for dynamic sized records is:

          3
          + (number of columns + 7) / 8
          + (number of char columns)
          + packed size of numeric columns
          + length of strings
          + (number of NULL columns + 7) / 8

     There is a penalty of 6 bytes for each link. A dynamic record is
     linked whenever an update causes an enlargement of the record.
     Each new link will be at least 20 bytes, so the next enlargement
     will probably go in the same link.  If not, there will be another
     link. You may check how many links there are with `myisamchk -ed'.
     All links may be removed with `myisamchk -r'.

Compressed Table Characteristics
................................

This is a read-only type that is generated with the optional
`myisampack' tool (`pack_isam' for `ISAM' tables):

   * All MySQL distributions, even those that existed before MySQL went
     `GPL', can read tables that were compressed with `myisampack'.

   * Compressed tables take very little disk space. This minimises disk
     usage, which is very nice when using slow disks (such as CD-ROMs).

   * Each record is compressed separately (very little access
     overhead).  The header for a record is fixed (1-3 bytes) depending
     on the biggest record in the table.  Each column is compressed
     differently. Some of the compression types are:
        - There is usually a different Huffman table for each column.

        - Suffix space compression.

        - Prefix space compression.

        - Numbers with value `0' are stored using 1 bit.

        - If values in an integer column have a small range, the column
          is stored using the smallest possible type. For example, a
          `BIGINT' column (8 bytes) may be stored as a `TINYINT' column
          (1 byte) if all values are in the range `0' to `255'.

        - If a column has only a small set of possible values, the
          column type is converted to `ENUM'.

        - A column may use a combination of the above compressions.

   * Can handle fixed- or dynamic-length records.

   * Can be uncompressed with `myisamchk'.

`MyISAM' Table Problems
-----------------------

The file format that MySQL uses to store data has been extensively
tested, but there are always circumstances that may cause database
tables to become corrupted.

Corrupted `MyISAM' Tables
.........................

Even if the MyISAM table format is very reliable (all changes to a table
is written before the SQL statements returns) , you can still get
corrupted tables if some of the following things happens:

   * The `mysqld' process being killed in the middle of a write.

   * Unexpected shutdown of the computer (for example, if the computer
     is turned off).

   * A hardware error.

   * You are using an external program (such as `myisamchk') on a live
     table.

   * A software bug in the MySQL or MyISAM code.

Typial typical symptoms for a corrupt table is:

   * You get the error `Incorrect key file for table: '...'. Try to
     repair it' while selecting data from the table.

   * Queries doesn't find rows in the table or returns incomplete data.

You can check if a table is ok with the command `CHECK TABLE'. *Note
CHECK TABLE::.

You can repair a corrupted table with `REPAIR TABLE'. *Note REPAIR
TABLE::.  You can also repair a table, when `mysqld' is not running with
the `myisamchk' command. `myisamchk syntax'.

If your tables get corrupted a lot you should try to find the reason for
this! *Note Crashing::.

In this case the most important thing to know is if the table got
corrupted if the `mysqld' died (one can easily verify this by checking
if there is a recent row `restarted mysqld' in the mysqld error file).
If this isn't the case, then you should try to make a test case of
this.  *Note Reproduceable test case::.

Clients is using or hasn't closed the table properly
....................................................

Each `MyISAM' `.MYI' file has in the header a counter that can be used
to check if a table has been closed properly.

If you get the following warning from `CHECK TABLE' or `myisamchk':

     # clients is using or hasn't closed the table properly

this means that this counter has come out of sync.  This doesn't mean
that the table is corrupted, but means that you should at least do a
check on the table to verify that it's okay.

The counter works as follows:

   * The first time a table is updated in MySQL, a counter in the
     header of the index files is incremented.

   * The counter is not changed during further updates.

   * When the last instance of a table is closed (because of a `FLUSH'
     or because there isn't room in the table cache) the counter is
     decremented if the table has been updated at any point.

   * When you repair the table or check the table and it was okay, the
     counter is reset to 0.

   * To avoid problems with interaction with other processes that may
     do a check on the table, the counter is not decremented on close
     if it was 0.

In other words, the only ways this can go out of sync are:

   * The `MyISAM' tables are copied without a `LOCK' and `FLUSH TABLES'.

   * MySQL has crashed between an update and the final close.  (Note
     that the table may still be okay, as MySQL always issues writes
     for everything between each statement.)

   * Someone has done a `myisamchk --recover' or `myisamchk
     --update-state'on a table that was in use by `mysqld'.

   * Many `mysqld' servers are using the table and one has done a
     `REPAIR' or `CHECK' of the table while it was in use by another
     server.  In this setup the `CHECK' is safe to do (even if you will
     get the warning from other servers), but `REPAIR' should be
     avoided as it currently replaces the datafile with a new one, which
     is not signaled to the other servers.

`MERGE' Tables
==============

`MERGE' tables were introduced in MySQL Version 3.23.25. The code is
now reasonably stable.

A `MERGE' table (also known as a `MRG_MyISAM' table) is a collection of
identical `MyISAM' tables that can be used as one.  You can only
`SELECT', `DELETE', and `UPDATE' from the collection of tables.  If you
`DROP' the `MERGE' table, you are only dropping the `MERGE'
specification.

Note that `DELETE FROM merge_table' used without a `WHERE' will clear
only the mapping for the table, not delete everything in the mapped
tables. (We plan to fix this in 4.1).

With identical tables we mean that all tables are created with identical
column and key information.  You can't merge tables in which the
columns are packed differently, doesn't have exactly the same columns,
or have the keys in different order.  However, some of the tables can be
compressed with `myisampack'.  *Note `myisampack': myisampack.

When you create a `MERGE' table, you will get a `.frm' table definition
file and a `.MRG' table list file.  The `.MRG' just contains a list of
the index files (`.MYI' files) that should be used as one.  Before
4.1.1 all used tables had to be in the same database as the `MERGE'
table itself.

For the moment, you need to have `SELECT', `UPDATE', and `DELETE'
privileges on the tables you map to a `MERGE' table.

`MERGE' tables can help you solve the following problems:

   * Easily manage a set of log tables. For example, you can put data
     from different months into separate files, compress some of them
     with `myisampack', and then create a `MERGE' to use these as one.

   * Give you more speed. You can split a big read-only table based on
     some criteria and then put the different table part on different
     disks.  A `MERGE' table on this could be much faster than using
     the big table. (You can also use a RAID to get the same kind of
     benefits.)

   * Do more efficient searches. If you know exactly what you are
     looking after, you can search in just one of the split tables for
     some queries and use a `MERGE' table for others.  You can even
     have many different `MERGE' tables active, with possible
     overlapping files.

   * More efficient repairs. It's easier to repair the individual files
     that are mapped to a `MERGE' file than trying to repair a really
     big file.

   * Instant mapping of many files as one. A `MERGE' table uses the
     index of the individual tables. It doesn't need to maintain an
     index of its one.  This makes `MERGE' table collections VERY fast
     to make or remap.  Note that you must specify the key definitions
     when you create a `MERGE' table!.

   * If you have a set of tables that you join to a big table on demand
     or batch, you should instead create a `MERGE' table on them on
     demand.  This is much faster and will save a lot of disk space.

   * Go around the file-size limit for the operating system.

   * You can create an alias/synonym for a table by just using `MERGE'
     over one table. There shouldn't be any really notable performance
     impacts of doing this (only a couple of indirect calls and
     `memcpy()' calls for each read).

The disadvantages with `MERGE' tables are:

   * You can only use identical `MyISAM' tables for a `MERGE' table.

   * `REPLACE' doesn't work.

   * `MERGE' tables uses more file descriptors. If you are using a
     `MERGE' table that maps over 10 tables and 10 users are using
     this, you are using 10*10 + 10 file descriptors.  (10 datafiles
     for 10 users and 10 shared index files.)

   * Key reads are slower. When you do a read on a key, the `MERGE'
     storage engine will need to issue a read on all underlying tables
     to check which one most closely matches the given key.  If you
     then do a "read-next" then the `MERGE' storage engine will need to
     search the read buffers to find the next key. Only when one key
     buffer is used up, the storage engine will need to read the next
     key block. This makes `MERGE' keys much slower on `eq_ref'
     searches, but not much slower on `ref' searches.  *Note EXPLAIN::.

   * You can't do `DROP TABLE', `ALTER TABLE', `DELETE FROM table_name'
     without a `WHERE' clause, `REPAIR TABLE', `TRUNCATE TABLE',
     `OPTIMIZE TABLE', or `ANALYZE TABLE' on any of the table that is
     mapped by a `MERGE' table that is "open".  If you do this, the
     `MERGE' table may still refer to the original table and you will
     get unexpected results. The easiest way to get around this
     deficiency is to issue the `FLUSH TABLES' command, ensuring no
     `MERGE' tables remain "open".

When you create a `MERGE' table you have to specify with
`UNION=(list-of-tables)' which tables you want to use as one.
Optionally you can specify with `INSERT_METHOD' if you want insert for
the `MERGE' table to happen in the first or last table in the `UNION'
list. If you don't specify `INSERT_METHOD' or specify `NO', then all
`INSERT' commands on the `MERGE' table will return an error.

The following example shows you how to use `MERGE' tables:

     CREATE TABLE t1 (a INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, message CHAR(20));
     CREATE TABLE t2 (a INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, message CHAR(20));
     INSERT INTO t1 (message) VALUES ("Testing"),("table"),("t1");
     INSERT INTO t2 (message) VALUES ("Testing"),("table"),("t2");
     CREATE TABLE total (a INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, message CHAR(20), KEY(a))
                  TYPE=MERGE UNION=(t1,t2) INSERT_METHOD=LAST;
     SELECT * FROM total;

Note that we didn't create a `UNIQUE' or `PRIMARY KEY' in the `total'
table as the key isn't going to be unique in the `total' table.

Note that you can also manipulate the `.MRG' file directly from the
outside of the MySQL server:

     shell> cd /mysql-data-directory/current-database
     shell> ls -1 t1.MYI t2.MYI > total.MRG
     shell> mysqladmin flush-tables

Now you can do things like:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM total;
     +---+---------+
     | a | message |
     +---+---------+
     | 1 | Testing |
     | 2 | table   |
     | 3 | t1      |
     | 1 | Testing |
     | 2 | table   |
     | 3 | t2      |
     +---+---------+

Note that the `a' column, though declared as `PRIMARY KEY', is not
really unique, as `MERGE' table cannot enforce uniqueness over a set of
underlying `MyISAM' tables.

To remap a `MERGE' table you can do one of the following:

   * `DROP' the table and re-create it

   * Use `ALTER TABLE table_name UNION=(...)'

   * Change the `.MRG' file and issue a `FLUSH TABLE' on the `MERGE'
     table and all underlying tables to force the storage engine to
     read the new definition file.

If you use `ALTER TABLE' to change a `MERGE' table to another table
type, the mapping to the underlying tables is lost. Instead, the rows
from the underlying `MyISAM' tables are copied into the altered table,
which then is assigned the new type.

`MERGE' Table Problems
----------------------

The following are the known problems with `MERGE' tables:

   * A `MERGE' table cannot maintain `UNIQUE' constraints over the
     whole table.  When you do `INSERT', the data goes into the first or
     last table (according to `INSERT_METHOD=xxx') and this `MyISAM'
     table ensures that the data are unique, but it knows nothing about
     others `MyISAM' tables.

   * `DELETE FROM merge_table' used without a `WHERE' will clear only
     the mapping for the table, not delete everything in the mapped
     tables.

   * `RENAME TABLE' on a table used in an active `MERGE' table may
     corrupt the table.  This will be fixed in MySQL 4.1.x.

   * Creation of a table of type `MERGE' doesn't check if the underlying
     tables are of compatible types or if they exists.  MySQL will do a
     quick check if the record length is equal between mapped tables
     when the `MERGE' table is used, but this is not a fullproof check.

     If you use `MERGE' tables in this fashion, you are very likely to
     run into strange problems.

   * If you use `ALTER TABLE' to first add an `UNIQUE' index to a table
     used in a `MERGE' table and then use `ALTER TABLE' to add a normal
     index on the `MERGE' table, the key order will be different for
     the tables if there was an old non-unique key in the table. This
     is because `ALTER TABLE' puts `UNIQUE' keys before normal keys to
     be able to detect duplicate keys as early as possible.

   * `DROP TABLE' on a table that is in use by a `MERGE' table will not
     work on Windows because the `MERGE' storage engine does the table
     mapping hidden from the upper layer of MySQL.  Because Windows
     doesn't allow you to drop files that are open, you first must
     flush all `MERGE' tables (with `FLUSH TABLES') or drop the `MERGE'
     table before dropping the table.  We will fix this at the same
     time we introduce views.

`HEAP' Tables
=============

`HEAP' tables use hashed indexes and are stored in memory.  This makes
them very fast, but if MySQL crashes you will lose all data stored in
them.  `HEAP' is very useful for temporary tables!

The MySQL internal `HEAP' tables use 100% dynamic hashing without
overflow areas. There is no extra space needed for free lists.  `HEAP'
tables also don't have problems with delete + inserts, which normally
is common with hashed tables:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE test TYPE=HEAP SELECT ip,SUM(downloads) AS down
         ->                   FROM log_table GROUP BY ip;
     mysql> SELECT COUNT(ip),AVG(down) FROM test;
     mysql> DROP TABLE test;

Here are some things you should consider when you use `HEAP' tables:

   * You should always use specify `MAX_ROWS' in the `CREATE' statement
     to ensure that you accidentally do not use all memory.

   * Indexes will be used only with `=' and `<=>' (but are VERY fast).

   * `HEAP' tables can use only whole keys to search for a row; compare
     this to `MyISAM' tables where any prefix of the key can be used to
     find rows.

   * `HEAP' tables use a fixed record length format.

   * `HEAP' doesn't support `BLOB'/`TEXT' columns.

   * `HEAP' doesn't support `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns.

   * Prior to MySQL 4.0.2, `HEAP' doesn't support an index on a `NULL'
     column.

   * You can have non-unique keys in a `HEAP' table (this isn't common
     for hashed tables).

   * `HEAP' tables are shared between all clients (just like any other
     table).

   * You can't search for the next entry in order (that is, to use the
     index to do an `ORDER BY').

   * Data for `HEAP' tables are allocated in small blocks. The tables
     are 100% dynamic (on inserting). No overflow areas and no extra key
     space are needed.  Deleted rows are put in a linked list and are
     reused when you insert new data into the table.

   * You need enough extra memory for all `HEAP' tables that you want
     to use at the same time.

   * To free memory, you should execute `DELETE FROM heap_table',
     `TRUNCATE heap_table' or `DROP TABLE heap_table'.

   * MySQL cannot find out approximately how many rows there are
     between two values (this is used by the range optimizer to decide
     which index to use).  This may affect some queries if you change a
     `MyISAM' table to a `HEAP' table.

   * To ensure that you accidentally don't do anything foolish, you
     can't create `HEAP' tables bigger than `max_heap_table_size'.

   * If you have a hash index on a `HEAP' table with a high degree of
     key duplication (many index entries containing the same value),
     updates to the table that affect key values and all deletes will
     be significantly slower.  The degree of slowdown is proportional
     to the degree of duplication (or, inversely proportional to the
     index cardinality).  As of 4.1, MySQL supports `BTREE' indexes on
     `HEAP' tables, which you can use to avoid this problem.

   * If you want to populate the `HEAP' table when the MySQL server
     starts, you can use the `init-file' option for this (*note Server
     options::) (into the file you will for example put a `LOAD DATA
     INFILE' or `INSERT...SELECT' to load the table from some
     persistent storage location).

   * With replication: after the master is shutdown and restarted, the
     `HEAP' table is empty on master; the slave is not aware of this
     emptiness, so will still return out-of-date content if you issue a
     `SELECT' on the table.  But (starting from MySQL 4.0.18) when the
     `HEAP' table is used on master for the first time since master's
     startup, a `DELETE FROM' statement will be automatically written
     to the master's binary log, thus syncing the slave. Note that even
     with this, between the master's restart and the first use of the
     table on master, the slave still has out-of-date data in the
     table. But if you use the `init-file' option to populate the
     `HEAP' table on the master at startup, it ensures that the failing
     time interval is zero.

The memory needed for one row in a `HEAP' table is:

     SUM_OVER_ALL_KEYS(max_length_of_key + sizeof(char*) * 2)
     + ALIGN(length_of_row+1, sizeof(char*))

`sizeof(char*)' is 4 on 32-bit machines and 8 on 64-bit machines.

`InnoDB' Tables
===============

InnoDB Tables Overview
----------------------

`InnoDB' provides MySQL with a transaction-safe (`ACID' compliant)
storage engine with commit, rollback, and crash recovery capabilities.
InnoDB does locking on row level and also provides an Oracle-style
consistent non-locking read in `SELECT' statements. These features
increase multiuser concurrency and performance. There is no need for
lock escalation in `InnoDB', because row level locks in InnoDB fit in
very small space.  `InnoDB' is the first storage manager in MySQL to
support `FOREIGN KEY' constraints.

`InnoDB' has been designed for maximum performance when processing
large data volumes. Its CPU efficiency is probably not matched by any
other disk-based relational database engine.

`InnoDB' is used in production at numerous large database sites
requiring high performance.  The famous Internet news site Slashdot.org
runs on `InnoDB'. Mytrix, Inc. stores over 1 TB of data in `InnoDB',
and another site handles an average load of 800 inserts/updates per
second in `InnoDB'.

Technically, `InnoDB' is a complete database backend placed under MySQL.
`InnoDB' has its own buffer pool for caching data and indexes in main
memory. `InnoDB' stores its tables and indexes in a tablespace, which
may consist of several files (or raw disk partitions).  This is
different from, for example, `MyISAM' tables where each table is stored
as a separate file.  `InnoDB' tables can be of any size even on
operating systems where file-size is limited to 2 GB.

You can find the latest information about `InnoDB' at
`http://www.innodb.com/'. The most up-to-date version of the `InnoDB'
manual is always placed there.

`InnoDB' is published under the same GNU `GPL' License Version 2 (of
June 1991) as MySQL. If you distribute MySQL/InnoDB, and your
application does not satisfy the restrictions of the GPL license, you
have to buy a commercial *MySQL Pro* license from
`https://order.mysql.com/?sub=pg&pg_no=1'.

InnoDB in MySQL Version 3.23
----------------------------

From MySQL version 4.0, `InnoDB' is enabled by default.  The following
information only applies to the 3.23 series.

InnoDB tables are included in the MySQL source distribution starting
from 3.23.34a and are activated in the MySQL -Max binary of the 3.23
series.  For Windows, the MySQL-Max binaries are included in the
standard distribution.

If you have downloaded a binary version of MySQL that includes support
for InnoDB, simply follow the instructions of the MySQL manual for
installing a binary version of MySQL. If you already have MySQL-3.23
installed, then the simplest way to install MySQL -Max is to replace
the server executable `mysqld' with the corresponding executable in the
-Max distribution.  MySQL and MySQL -Max differ only in the server
executable.  *Note Installing binary::.  *Note `mysqld-max': mysqld-max.

To compile MySQL with InnoDB support, download MySQL-3.23.34a or newer
version from `http://www.mysql.com/' and configure MySQL with the
`--with-innodb' option. See the MySQL manual about installing a MySQL
source distribution.  *Note Installing source::.

     cd /path/to/source/of/mysql-3.23.37
     ./configure --with-innodb

To use InnoDB tables in MySQL-Max-3.23 you *must* specify configuration
parameters in the `[mysqld]' section of the configuration file
`my.cnf', or on Windows optionally in `my.ini'.

At the minimum, in 3.23 you must specify `innodb_data_file_path' where
you specify the names and the sizes of datafiles. If you do not mention
`innodb_data_home_dir' in `my.cnf' the default is to create these files
to the `datadir' of MySQL.  If you specify `innodb_data_home_dir' as an
empty string, then you can give absolute paths to your datafiles in
`innodb_data_file_path'.

The minimal way to modify it is to add to the `[mysqld]' section the
line

     innodb_data_file_path=ibdata:30M

but to get good performance it is best that you specify options as
recommended. *Note InnoDB start::.

InnoDB Startup Options
----------------------

To enable `InnoDB' tables in MySQL version 3.23, see *Note InnoDB in
MySQL 3.23::.

In MySQL-4.0 you are not required to do anything specific to enable
`InnoDB' tables.

The default behavior in MySQL-4.0 and MySQL-4.1 is to create an
auto-extending 10 MB file `ibdata1' in the `datadir' of MySQL and two 5
MB `ib_logfile' log files to the `datadir'.  (In MySQL-4.0.0 and 4.0.1
the datafile is 64 MB and not auto-extending.)

*Note:* To get good performance you *should* explicitly set the InnoDB
parameters listed in the following examples.

If you don't want to use `InnoDB' tables, you can add the `skip-innodb'
option to your MySQL option file.

Starting from versions 3.23.50 and 4.0.2, `InnoDB' allows the last
datafile on the `innodb_data_file_path' line to be specified as
*auto-extending*. The syntax for `innodb_data_file_path' is then the
following:
     pathtodatafile:sizespecification;pathtodatafile:sizespecification;...
     ...  ;pathtodatafile:sizespecification[:autoextend[:max:sizespecification]]
If you specify the last datafile with the `autoextend' option, `InnoDB'
will extend the last datafile if it runs out of free space in the
tablespace. The increment is 8 MB at a time. An example:
     innodb_data_home_dir =
     innodb_data_file_path = /ibdata/ibdata1:100M:autoextend
instructs `InnoDB' to create just a single datafile whose initial size
is 100 MB and which is extended in 8 MB blocks when space runs out.  If
the disk becomes full you may want to add another datafile to another
disk, for example. Then you have to look at the size of `ibdata1',
round the size downward to the closest multiple of 1024 * 1024 bytes (=
1 MB), and specify the rounded size of `ibdata1' explicitly in
`innodb_data_file_path'.  After that you can add another datafile:
     innodb_data_home_dir =
     innodb_data_file_path = /ibdata/ibdata1:988M;/disk2/ibdata2:50M:autoextend
Be cautious on filesystems where the maximum file-size is 2 GB.  InnoDB
is not aware of the OS maximum file-size. On those filesystems you
might want to specify the max size for the datafile:
     innodb_data_home_dir =
     innodb_data_file_path = /ibdata/ibdata1:100M:autoextend:max:2000M

*A simple `my.cnf' example.* Suppose you have a computer with 128 MB
RAM and one hard disk. Below is an example of possible configuration
parameters in `my.cnf' or `my.ini' for InnoDB. We assume you are running
MySQL-Max-3.23.50 or later, or MySQL-4.0.2 or later.  This example
suits most users, both on Unix and Windows, who do not want to
distribute InnoDB datafiles and log files on several disks. This
creates an auto-extending datafile `ibdata1' and two InnoDB log files
`ib_logfile0' and `ib_logfile1' to the `datadir' of MySQL (typically
`/mysql/data').  Also the small archived InnoDB log file
`ib_arch_log_0000000000' ends up in the `datadir'.

     [mysqld]
     # You can write your other MySQL server options here
     # ...
     #                                  Datafile(s) must be able to
     #                                  hold your data and indexes.
     #                                  Make sure you have enough
     #                                  free disk space.
     innodb_data_file_path = ibdata1:10M:autoextend
     #                                  Set buffer pool size to
     #                                  50 - 80 % of your computer's
     #                                  memory
     set-variable = innodb_buffer_pool_size=70M
     set-variable = innodb_additional_mem_pool_size=10M
     #                                  Set the log file size to about
     #                                  25 % of the buffer pool size
     set-variable = innodb_log_file_size=20M
     set-variable = innodb_log_buffer_size=8M
     #                                  Set ..flush_log_at_trx_commit
     #                                  to 0 if you can afford losing
     #                                  some last transactions
     innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=1

*Check that the MySQL server has the rights to create files* in
`datadir'.

Note that datafiles must be < 2 GB in some file systems!  The combined
size of the log files must be < 4 GB. The combined size of datafiles
must be >= 10 MB.

When you for the first time create an InnoDB database, it is best that
you start the MySQL server from the command prompt.  Then InnoDB will
print the information about the database creation to the screen, and
you see what is happening.  See below next section what the printout
should look like.  For example, in Windows you can start
`mysqld-max.exe' with:

     your-path-to-mysqld\mysqld-max --console

*Where to put `my.cnf' or `my.ini' in Windows?* The rules for Windows
are the following:
   * Only one of `my.cnf' or `my.ini' should be created.

   * The `my.cnf' file should be placed in the root directory of the
     drive `C:'.

   * The `my.ini' file should be placed in the WINDIR directory, e.g,
     `C:\WINDOWS' or `C:\WINNT'. You can use the `SET' command of
     MS-DOS to print the value of WINDIR.

   * If your PC uses a boot loader where the `C:' drive is not the boot
     drive, then your only option is to use the `my.ini' file.

*Where to specify options in Unix?* On Unix `mysqld' reads options from
the following files, if they exist, in the following order:
   * `/etc/my.cnf'  Global options.

   * `COMPILATION_DATADIR/my.cnf'  Server-specific options.

   * `defaults-extra-file'  The file specified with
     `--defaults-extra-file=...'.

   * `~/.my.cnf' User-specific options.
`COMPILATION_DATADIR' is the MySQL data directory which was specified
as a `./configure' option when `mysqld' was compiled (typically
`/usr/local/mysql/data' for a binary installation or `/usr/local/var'
for a source installation).

If you are not sure from where `mysqld' reads its `my.cnf' or `my.ini',
you can give the path as the first command-line option to the server:
`mysqld --defaults-file=your_path_to_my_cnf'.

InnoDB forms the directory path to a datafile by textually catenating
`innodb_data_home_dir' to a datafile name or path in
`innodb_data_file_path', adding a possible slash or backslash in
between if needed. If the keyword `innodb_data_home_dir' is not
mentioned in `my.cnf' at all, the default for it is the 'dot' directory
`./' which means the `datadir' of MySQL.

*An advanced `my.cnf' example.* Suppose you have a Linux computer with
2 GB RAM and three 60 GB hard disks (at directory paths `/', `/dr2' and
`/dr3'). Below is an example of possible configuration parameters in
`my.cnf' for InnoDB.

*Note that InnoDB does not create directories: you have to create them
yourself.* Use the Unix or MS-DOS `mkdir' command to create the data
and log group home directories.

     [mysqld]
     # You can write your other MySQL server options here
     # ...
     innodb_data_home_dir =
     #                                  Datafiles must be able to
     #                                  hold your data and indexes
     innodb_data_file_path = /ibdata/ibdata1:2000M;/dr2/ibdata/ibdata2:2000M:autoextend
     #                                  Set buffer pool size to
     #                                  50 - 80 % of your computer's
     #                                  memory, but make sure on Linux
     #                                  x86 total memory usage is
     #                                  < 2 GB
     set-variable = innodb_buffer_pool_size=1G
     set-variable = innodb_additional_mem_pool_size=20M
     innodb_log_group_home_dir = /dr3/iblogs
     #                                  .._log_arch_dir must be the same
     #                                  as .._log_group_home_dir
     innodb_log_arch_dir = /dr3/iblogs
     set-variable = innodb_log_files_in_group=3
     #                                  Set the log file size to about
     #                                  15 % of the buffer pool size
     set-variable = innodb_log_file_size=150M
     set-variable = innodb_log_buffer_size=8M
     #                                  Set ..flush_log_at_trx_commit to
     #                                  0 if you can afford losing
     #                                  some last transactions
     innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=1
     set-variable = innodb_lock_wait_timeout=50
     #innodb_flush_method=fdatasync
     #set-variable = innodb_thread_concurrency=5

Note that we have placed the two datafiles on different disks.  InnoDB
will fill the tablespace formed by the datafiles from bottom up. In
some cases it will improve the performance of the database if all data
is not placed on the same physical disk. Putting log files on a
different disk from data is very often beneficial for performance.  You
can also use *raw disk partitions* (raw devices) as datafiles. In some
Unixes they speed up I/O. See the manual section on InnoDB file space
management about how to specify them in `my.cnf'.

*Warning:* On Linux x86 you must be careful you *do not set memory usage
too high*. glibc will allow the process heap to grow over thread stacks,
which will crash your server. It is a risk if the value of
     innodb_buffer_pool_size + key_buffer +
     max_connections * (sort_buffer + read_buffer_size) + max_connections * 2 MB
is close to 2 GB or exceeds 2 GB. Each thread will use a stack (often 2
MB, but in MySQL AB binaries only 256 KB) and in the worst case also
`sort_buffer + read_buffer_size' additional memory.

*How to tune other `mysqld' server parameters?* Typical values which
suit most users are:
     skip-locking
     set-variable = max_connections=200
     set-variable = read_buffer_size=1M
     set-variable = sort_buffer=1M
     #                                  Set key_buffer to 5 - 50%
     #                                  of your RAM depending on how
     #                                  much you use MyISAM tables, but
     #                                  keep key_buffer + InnoDB
     #                                  buffer pool size < 80% of
     #                                  your RAM
     set-variable = key_buffer=...

Note that some parameters are given using the numeric `my.cnf'
parameter format: `set-variable = innodb... = 123', others (string and
boolean parameters) with another format: `innodb_... = ... '.

The meanings of the configuration parameters are the following:

*Option*                  *Description*
`innodb_file_per_table'    Available starting from 4.1.1. This option
                          makes InnoDB to store each created table into
                          its own `.ibd' file. See the section about
                          multiple tablespaces.
`innodb_open_files'        Available starting from 4.1.1. This is
                          relevant only if you use multiple tablespaces
                          in InnoDB. This specifies the maximum how many
                          `.ibd' files InnoDB can keep open at one time.
                          The minimum value for this is 10. The default
                          is 300. Numeric `my.cnf' parameter format.
`innodb_data_home_dir'     The common part of the directory path for all
                          InnoDB datafiles.  If you do not mentioned
                          this option in `my.cnf' the default is the
                          `datadir' of MySQL.  You can specify this also
                          as an empty string, in which case you can use
                          absolute file paths in `innodb_data_file_path'.
`innodb_data_file_path'    Paths to individual datafiles and their
                          sizes. The full directory path to each
                          datafile is acquired by concatenating
                          innodb_data_home_dir to the paths specified
                          here. The file sizes are specified in
                          megabytes, hence the 'M' after the size
                          specification above.  InnoDB also understands
                          the abbreviation 'G', 1 G meaning 1024 MB.
                          Starting from 3.23.44 you can set the
                          file-size bigger than 4 GB on those operating
                          systems which support big files.  On some
                          operating systems files must be < 2 GB.  If
                          you do not specify `innodb_data_file_path',
                          the default behavior starting from 4.0 is to
                          create a 10 MB auto-extending datafile
                          `ibdata1'.  The sum of the sizes of the files
                          must be at least 10 MB.
`innodb_mirrored_log_groups' Number of identical copies of log groups we
                          keep for the database. Currently this should
                          be set to 1.
`innodb_log_group_home_dir' Directory path to InnoDB log files.  If you
                          do not mentioned this option in `my.cnf' the
                          default is the `datadir' of MySQL.
`innodb_log_files_in_group' Number of log files in the log group. InnoDB
                          writes to the files in a circular fashion.
                          Value 2 is recommended here. The default is 2.
`innodb_log_file_size'     Size of each log file in a log group in
                          megabytes. Sensible values range from 1M to
                          1/n-th of the size of the buffer pool
                          specified below, where n is the number of log
                          files in the group. The larger the value, the
                          less checkpoint flush activity is needed in
                          the buffer pool, saving disk I/O. But larger
                          log files also mean that recovery will be
                          slower in case of a crash. The combined size
                          of log files must be less than 4 GB on 32-bit
                          computers.  The default is 5M.
`innodb_log_buffer_size'   The size of the buffer which InnoDB uses to
                          write log to the log files on disk.  Sensible
                          values range from 1M to 8M.  A big log buffer
                          allows large transactions to run without a need
                          to write the log to disk until the transaction
                          commit. Thus, if you have big transactions,
                          making the log buffer big will save disk I/O.
`innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit' Normally you set this to 1, meaning that at a
                          transaction commit, the log is flushed to
                          disk, and the modifications made by the
                          transaction become permanent, and survive a
                          database crash. If you are willing to
                          compromise this safety, and you are running
                          small transactions, you may set this to 0 or 2
                          to reduce disk I/O to the logs. Value 0 means
                          that the log is only written to the log file
                          and the log file flushed to disk approximately
                          once per second. Value 2 means the log is
                          written to the log file at each commit, but
                          the log file is only flushed to disk
                          approximately once per second. The default
                          value is 1 starting from MySQL-4.0.13;
                          previously it was 0.
`innodb_log_arch_dir'      The directory where fully written log files
                          would be archived if we used log archiving.
                          The value of this parameter should currently
                          be set the same as `innodb_log_group_home_dir'.
`innodb_log_archive'       This value should currently be set to 0.  As
                          recovery from a backup is done by MySQL using
                          its own log files, there is currently no need
                          to archive InnoDB log files.
`innodb_buffer_pool_size'  The size of the memory buffer InnoDB uses to
                          cache data and indexes of its tables.  The
                          larger you set this, the less disk I/O is
                          needed to access data in tables. On a
                          dedicated database server you may set this
                          parameter up to 80% of the machine physical
                          memory size. Do not set it too large, though,
                          because competition of the physical memory
                          might cause paging in the operating system.
`innodb_buffer_pool_awe_mem_mb' Size of the buffer pool in MB, if it is
                          placed in the AWE memory of 32-bit Windows.
                          Available starting from 4.1.0 and only
                          relevant in 32-bit Windows. If your 32-bit
                          Windows operating system supports > 4 GB
                          memory, so-called Address Windowing
                          Extensions, you can allocate the InnoDB buffer
                          pool into the AWE physical memory using this
                          parameter. The maximum possible value for this
                          is 64000.  If this parameter is specified,
                          then innodb_buffer_pool_size is the window in
                          the 32-bit address space of mysqld where
                          InnoDB maps that AWE memory. A good value for
                          innodb_buffer_pool_size is then 500M.
`innodb_additional_mem_pool_size' Size of a memory pool InnoDB uses to store
                          data dictionary information and other internal
                          data structures. A sensible value for this
                          might be 2M, but the more tables you have in
                          your application the more you will need to
                          allocate here. If InnoDB runs out of memory in
                          this pool, it will start to allocate memory
                          from the operating system, and write warning
                          messages to the MySQL error log.
`innodb_file_io_threads'   Number of file I/O threads in InnoDB.
                          Normally, this should be 4, but on Windows
                          disk I/O may benefit from a larger number.
`innodb_lock_wait_timeout' Timeout in seconds an InnoDB transaction may
                          wait for a lock before being rolled back.
                          InnoDB automatically detects transaction
                          deadlocks in its own lock table and rolls back
                          the transaction. If you use the `LOCK TABLES'
                          command, or other transaction-safe storage
                          engines than InnoDB in the same transaction,
                          then a deadlock may arise which InnoDB cannot
                          notice. In cases like this the timeout is
                          useful to resolve the situation.
`innodb_flush_method'      (Available from 3.23.40 up.)  The default
                          value for this is `fdatasync'.  Another option
                          is `O_DSYNC'.
`innodb_force_recovery'    Warning: This option should be defined only
                          in an emergency situation when you want to
                          dump your tables from a corrupt database!
                          Possible values are 1 - 6. See below at
                          section 'Forcing recovery' about the meanings
                          of the values.  As a safety measure InnoDB
                          prevents a user from modifying data when this
                          option is > 0.  This option is available
                          starting from version 3.23.44.

Creating InnoDB Tablespace
--------------------------

Suppose you have installed MySQL and have edited `my.cnf' so that it
contains the necessary InnoDB configuration parameters.  Before
starting MySQL you should check that the directories you have specified
for InnoDB datafiles and log files exist and that you have access
rights to those directories. InnoDB cannot create directories, only
files. Check also you have enough disk space for the data and log files.

When you now start MySQL, InnoDB will start creating your datafiles and
log files. InnoDB will print something like the following:

     ~/mysqlm/sql > mysqld
     InnoDB: The first specified datafile /home/heikki/data/ibdata1
     did not exist:
     InnoDB: a new database to be created!
     InnoDB: Setting file /home/heikki/data/ibdata1 size to 134217728
     InnoDB: Database physically writes the file full: wait...
     InnoDB: datafile /home/heikki/data/ibdata2 did not exist:
     new to be created
     InnoDB: Setting file /home/heikki/data/ibdata2 size to 262144000
     InnoDB: Database physically writes the file full: wait...
     InnoDB: Log file /home/heikki/data/logs/ib_logfile0 did not exist:
     new to be created
     InnoDB: Setting log file /home/heikki/data/logs/ib_logfile0 size to 5242880
     InnoDB: Log file /home/heikki/data/logs/ib_logfile1 did not exist:
     new to be created
     InnoDB: Setting log file /home/heikki/data/logs/ib_logfile1 size to 5242880
     InnoDB: Log file /home/heikki/data/logs/ib_logfile2 did not exist:
     new to be created
     InnoDB: Setting log file /home/heikki/data/logs/ib_logfile2 size to 5242880
     InnoDB: Started
     mysqld: ready for connections

A new InnoDB database has now been created. You can connect to the MySQL
server with the usual MySQL client programs like `mysql'.  When you
shut down the MySQL server with `mysqladmin shutdown', InnoDB output
will be like the following:

     010321 18:33:34  mysqld: Normal shutdown
     010321 18:33:34  mysqld: Shutdown Complete
     InnoDB: Starting shutdown...
     InnoDB: Shutdown completed

You can now look at the datafiles and logs directories and you will see
the files created. The log directory will also contain a small file
named `ib_arch_log_0000000000'. That file resulted from the database
creation, after which InnoDB switched off log archiving.  When MySQL is
again started, the output will be like the following:

     ~/mysqlm/sql > mysqld
     InnoDB: Started
     mysqld: ready for connections

If Something Goes Wrong in Database Creation
............................................

If InnoDB prints an operating system error in a file operation, usually
the problem is one of the following:

   * You did not create InnoDB data or log directories.

   * `mysqld' does not have the rights to create files in those
     directories.

   * `mysqld' does not read the right `my.cnf' or `my.ini' file, and
     consequently does not see the options you specified.

   * The disk is full or a disk quota is exceeded.

   * You have created a subdirectory whose name is equal to a datafile
     you specified.

   * There is a syntax error in `innodb_data_home_dir' or
     `innodb_data_file_path'.

If something goes wrong in an InnoDB database creation, you should
delete all files created by InnoDB. This means all datafiles, all log
files, the small archived log file, and in the case you already did
create some InnoDB tables, delete also the corresponding `.frm' files
for these tables from the MySQL database directories. Then you can try
the InnoDB database creation again.

Creating InnoDB Tables
----------------------

Suppose you have started the MySQL client with the command `mysql test'.
To create a table in the InnoDB format you must specify `TYPE = InnoDB'
in the table creation SQL command:

     CREATE TABLE CUSTOMER (A INT, B CHAR (20), INDEX (A)) TYPE = InnoDB;

This SQL command will create a table and an index on column `A' into
the InnoDB tablespace consisting of the datafiles you specified in
`my.cnf'. In addition MySQL will create a file `CUSTOMER.frm' to the
MySQL database directory `test'.  Internally, InnoDB will add to its
own data dictionary an entry for table `'test/CUSTOMER''. Thus you can
create a table of the same name `CUSTOMER' in another database of
MySQL, and the table names will not collide inside InnoDB.

You can query the amount of free space in the InnoDB tablespace by
issuing the table status command of MySQL for any table you have
created with `TYPE = InnoDB'. Then the amount of free space in the
tablespace appears in the table comment section in the output of
`SHOW'. An example:

     SHOW TABLE STATUS FROM test LIKE 'CUSTOMER'

Note that the statistics `SHOW' gives about InnoDB tables are only
approximate: they are used in SQL optimization. Table and index
reserved sizes in bytes are accurate, though.

Converting MyISAM Tables to InnoDB
..................................

InnoDB does not have a special optimization for separate index creation.
Therefore it does not pay to export and import the table and create
indexes afterwards.  The fastest way to alter a table to InnoDB is to
do the inserts directly to an InnoDB table, that is, use `ALTER TABLE
... TYPE=INNODB', or create an empty InnoDB table with identical
definitions and insert the rows with `INSERT INTO ... SELECT * FROM
...'.

To get better control over the insertion process, it may be good to
insert big tables in pieces:

     INSERT INTO newtable SELECT * FROM oldtable
        WHERE yourkey > something AND yourkey <= somethingelse;

After all data has been inserted you can rename the tables.

During the conversion of big tables you should set the InnoDB buffer
pool size big to reduce disk I/O. Not bigger than 80% of the physical
memory, though.  You should set InnoDB log files big, and also the log
buffer large.

Make sure you do not run out of tablespace: InnoDB tables take a lot
more space than MyISAM tables. If an `ALTER TABLE' runs out of space,
it will start a rollback, and that can take hours if it is disk-bound.
In inserts InnoDB uses the insert buffer to merge secondary index
records to indexes in batches. That saves a lot of disk I/O. In
rollback no such mechanism is used, and the rollback can take 30 times
longer than the insertion.

In the case of a runaway rollback, if you do not have valuable data in
your database, it is better that you kill the database process and
delete all InnoDB datafiles and log files and all InnoDB table `.frm'
files, and start your job again, rather than wait for millions of disk
I/Os to complete.

`FOREIGN KEY' Constraints
.........................

Starting from version 3.23.43b InnoDB features foreign key constraints.
InnoDB is the first MySQL table type which allows you to define foreign
key constraints to guard the integrity of your data.

The syntax of a foreign key constraint definition in InnoDB:
     [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] FOREIGN KEY (index_col_name, ...)
                       REFERENCES table_name (index_col_name, ...)
                       [ON DELETE {CASCADE | SET NULL | NO ACTION
                                   | RESTRICT}]
                       [ON UPDATE {CASCADE | SET NULL | NO ACTION
                                   | RESTRICT}]
Both tables have to be InnoDB type, *in the table there must be an
INDEX where the foreign key columns are listed as the FIRST columns in
the same order,* and *in the referenced table there must be an INDEX
where the referenced columns are listed as the FIRST columns in the
same order.* InnoDB does not auto-create indexes on foreign keys or
referenced keys: you have to create them explicitly. The indexes are
needed for foreign key checks to be fast and not require a table scan.

Corresponding columns in the foreign key and the referenced key must
have similar internal datatypes inside InnoDB so that they can be
compared without a type conversion.  The *size and the signedness of
integer types has to be the same*.  The length of string types need not
be the same.  If you specify a `SET NULL' action, make sure you have
*not declared the columns in the child table* `NOT NULL'.

If MySQL gives the error number 1005 from a `CREATE TABLE' statement,
and the error message string refers to errno 150, then the table
creation failed because a foreign key constraint was not correctly
formed.  Similarly, if an `ALTER TABLE' fails and it refers to errno
150, that means a foreign key definition would be incorrectly formed
for the altered table. Starting from version 4.0.13, you can use `SHOW
INNODB STATUS' to look at a detailed explanation of the latest InnoDB
foreign key error in the server.

Starting from version 3.23.50, InnoDB does not check foreign key
constraints on those foreign key or referenced key values which contain
a NULL column.

*A deviation from SQL standards:* if in the parent table there are
several rows which have the same referenced key value, then InnoDB acts
in foreign key checks like the other parent rows with the same key
value would not exist. For example, if you have defined a `RESTRICT'
type constraint, and there is a child row with several parent rows,
InnoDB does not allow the deletion of any of those parent rows.

Starting from version 3.23.50, you can also associate the `ON DELETE
CASCADE' or `ON DELETE SET NULL' clause with the foreign key
constraint. Corresponding `ON UPDATE' options are available starting
from 4.0.8. If `ON DELETE CASCADE' is specified, and a row in the
parent table is deleted, then InnoDB automatically deletes also all
those rows in the child table whose foreign key values are equal to the
referenced key value in the parent row. If `ON DELETE SET NULL' is
specified, the child rows are automatically updated so that the columns
in the foreign key are set to the SQL `NULL' value.

*A deviation from SQL standards:* if `ON UPDATE CASCADE' or `ON UPDATE
SET NULL' recurses to update the SAME TABLE it has already updated
during the cascade, it acts like `RESTRICT'. This is to prevent
infinite loops resulting from cascaded updates. A self-referential `ON
DELETE SET NULL', on the other hand, works starting from 4.0.13.  A
self-referential `ON DELETE CASCADE' has always worked.

An example:
     CREATE TABLE parent(id INT NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (id)) TYPE=INNODB;
     CREATE TABLE child(id INT, parent_id INT, INDEX par_ind (parent_id),
                  FOREIGN KEY (parent_id) REFERENCES parent(id)
                  ON DELETE SET NULL
     ) TYPE=INNODB;

A complex example:
     CREATE TABLE product (category INT NOT NULL, id INT NOT NULL,
                           price DECIMAL,
                           PRIMARY KEY(category, id)) TYPE=INNODB;
     CREATE TABLE customer (id INT NOT NULL,
                           PRIMARY KEY (id)) TYPE=INNODB;
     CREATE TABLE product_order (no INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
                           product_category INT NOT NULL,
                           product_id INT NOT NULL,
                           customer_id INT NOT NULL,
                           PRIMARY KEY(no),
                           INDEX (product_category, product_id),
                           FOREIGN KEY (product_category, product_id)
                             REFERENCES product(category, id)
                             ON UPDATE CASCADE ON DELETE RESTRICT,
                           INDEX (customer_id),
                           FOREIGN KEY (customer_id)
                             REFERENCES customer(id)) TYPE=INNODB;

Starting from version 3.23.50, InnoDB allows you to add a new foreign
key constraint to a table through
     ALTER TABLE yourtablename
     ADD [CONSTRAINT [symbol]] FOREIGN KEY (...) REFERENCES anothertablename(...)
     [on_delete_and_on_update_actions]
*Remember to create the required indexes first*, though.

Starting from version 4.0.13, InnoDB supports
     ALTER TABLE yourtablename DROP FOREIGN KEY internally_generated_foreign_key_id
You have to use `SHOW CREATE TABLE' to determine the internally
generated foreign key ID when you want to drop a foreign key.

In InnoDB versions < 3.23.50 `ALTER TABLE' or `CREATE INDEX' should not
be used in connection with tables which have foreign key constraints or
which are referenced in foreign key constraints: Any `ALTER TABLE'
removes all foreign key constraints defined for the table. You should
not use `ALTER TABLE' to the referenced table either, but use `DROP
TABLE' and `CREATE TABLE' to modify the schema. When MySQL does an
`ALTER TABLE' it may internally use `RENAME TABLE', and that will
confuse the foreign key costraints which refer to the table.  A `CREATE
INDEX' statement is in MySQL processed as an `ALTER TABLE', and these
restrictions apply also to it.

When doing foreign key checks, InnoDB sets shared row level locks on
child or parent records it has to look at.  InnoDB checks foreign key
constraints immediately: the check is not deferred to transaction
commit.

If you want to ignore foreign key constraints during, for example for a
`LOAD DATA' operation, you can do `SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0'.

To make it easier to reload dump files for tables that have foreign key
relationships, `mysqldump' includes a statement in the dump output to
set `FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS' to 0. This avoids problems with tables having
to be reloaded in a particular order when the dump is reloaded.
`mysqldump' includes this statement as of MySQL 4.1.1. For earlier
versions, you can disable the variable manually within `mysql' when
loading the dump file like this:

     mysql> SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS = 0;
     mysql> SOURCE dump_file_name;
     mysql> SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS = 1;

InnoDB allows you to drop any table even though that would break the
foreign key constraints which reference the table. When you drop a
table the constraints which were defined in its create statement are
also dropped.

If you re-create a table which was dropped, it has to have a definition
which conforms to the foreign key constraints referencing it. It must
have the right column names and types, and it must have indexes on the
referenced keys, as stated above.  If these are not satisfied, MySQL
returns error number 1005 and refers to errno 150 in the error message
string.

Starting from version 3.23.50 InnoDB returns the foreign key
definitions of a table when you call
     SHOW CREATE TABLE yourtablename
Then also `mysqldump' produces correct definitions of tables to the
dump file, and does not forget about the foreign keys.

You can also list the foreign key constraints for a table `T' with
     SHOW TABLE STATUS FROM yourdatabasename LIKE 'T'
The foreign key constraints are listed in the table comment of the
output.

Multiple tablespaces - putting each table into its own .ibd file
................................................................

*IMPORTANT NOTE: if you upgrade to InnoDB-4.1.1 or higher, it is
difficult to downgrade back to 4.0 or 4.1.0! That is because earlier
versions of InnoDB are not aware of multiple tablespaces.* If you need
to downgrade to 4.0, you have to take table dumps and re-create the
whole InnoDB tablespace. If you have not created new InnoDB tables
under >= 4.1.1, and need to downgrade quickly, you can also do a direct
downgrade to the MySQL version 4.0.18, or later in the 4.0 series.
Before doing the direct downgrade to 4.0.xx, you have to end all
connections to >= 4.1.1, and let `mysqld' to run purge and the insert
buffer merge to completion, so that `SHOW INNODB STATUS' shows the Main
thread in the state `waiting for server activity'. Then you can shut
down `mysqld' and start 4.0.18 or later in the 4.0 series.  A direct
downgrade is not recommended, however, because it is not extensively
tested.

Starting from MySQL-4.1.1, you can now store each InnoDB table and its
indexes into its own file. This feature is called multiple tablespaces,
because then each table is stored into its own tablespace.

You can enable this feature by putting the line
     innodb_file_per_table
in the `[mysqld]' section of `my.cnf'. Then InnoDB stores each table
into its own file `tablename.ibd' in the database directory where the
table belongs. This is like MyISAM does, but MyISAM divides the table
into a data file `tablename.MYD' and the index file `tablename.MYI'.
For InnoDB, both the data and the indexes are in the `.ibd' file.

If you remove the line `innodb_file_per_table' from `my.cnf', then
InnoDB creates tables inside the `ibdata' files again. The old tables
you had in the `ibdata' files before an upgrade to >= 4.1.1 remain
there, they are not converted into `.ibd' files.

InnoDB always needs the system tablespace, `.ibd' files are not enough.
The system tablespace consists of the familiar `ibdata' files. InnoDB
puts there its internal data dictionary and undo logs.

*You CANNOT FREELY MOVE .ibd files around*, like you can MyISAM tables.
This is because the table definition is stored in the InnoDB system
tablespace, and also because InnoDB must preserve the consistency of
transaction id's and log sequence numbers.

You can move an `.ibd' file and the associated table from a database to
another (within the same MySQL/InnoDB installation) with the familiar
`RENAME' command:
     RENAME TABLE olddatabasename.tablename TO newdatabasename.tablename;

If you have a clean backup of an `.ibd' file taken from the SAME
MySQL/InnoDB installation, you can restore it to an InnoDB database with
the commands:
     ALTER TABLE tablename DISCARD TABLESPACE; /* CAUTION: deletes the current .ibd file! */
     <put the backup .ibd file to the proper place>
     ALTER TABLE tablename IMPORT TABLESPACE;
Clean in this context means:
   * There are no uncommitted modifications by transactions in the
     `.ibd' file.

   * There are no unmerged insert buffer entries to the `.ibd' file.

   * Purge has removed all delete-marked index records from the `.ibd'
     file.

   * `mysqld' has flushed all modified pages of the `.ibd' file from
     the buffer pool to the file.

You can make such a clean backup `.ibd' file with the following method.
   * Stop all activity from the `mysqld' server and commit all
     transactions.

   * Wait that `SHOW INNODB STATUS\G' shows that there are no active
     transactions in the database, and the main thread of InnoDB is
     `Waiting for server activity'. Then you can take a copy of the
     `.ibd' file.

Another (non-free) method to make such a clean `.ibd' file is to
   * Use InnoDB Hot Backup to backup the InnoDB installation.

   * Start a second `mysqld' server on the backup and let it clean up
     the `.ibd' files in the backup.

It is in the TODO to allow moving clean `.ibd' files also to another
MySQL/InnoDB installation. That requires resetting of trx id's and log
sequence numbers in the `.ibd' file.

Adding and Removing InnoDB Data and Log Files
---------------------------------------------

From version 3.23.50 and 4.0.2 you can specify the last InnoDB datafile
to `autoextend'. Alternatively, you can increase to your tablespace by
specifying an additional datafile. To do this you have to shut down the
MySQL server, edit the `my.cnf' file adding a new datafile to the *end*
of `innodb_data_file_path', and then start the MySQL server again.

Currently you cannot remove a datafile from InnoDB. To decrease the
size of your database you have to use `mysqldump' to dump all your
tables, create a new database, and import your tables to the new
database.

If you want to change the number or the size of your InnoDB log files,
you have to shut down MySQL and make sure that it shuts down without
errors.  Then copy the old log files into a safe place just in case
something went wrong in the shutdown and you will need them to recover
the database. Delete then the old log files from the log file directory,
edit `my.cnf', and start MySQL again. InnoDB will tell you at the
startup that it is creating new log files.

Backing up and Recovering an InnoDB Database
--------------------------------------------

The key to safe database management is taking regular backups.

InnoDB Hot Backup is an online backup tool you can use to backup your
InnoDB database while it is running. InnoDB Hot Backup does not require
you to shut down your database and it does not set any locks or disturb
your normal database processing. InnoDB Hot Backup is a non-free
additional tool which is not included in the standard MySQL
distribution. See the InnoDB Hot Backup homepage
`http://www.innodb.com/manual.php' for detailed information and
screenshots.

If you are able to shut down your MySQL server, then to take a 'binary'
backup of your database you have to do the following:

   * Shut down your MySQL database and make sure it shuts down without
     errors.

   * Copy all your datafiles into a safe place.

   * Copy all your InnoDB log files to a safe place.

   * Copy your `my.cnf' configuration file or files to a safe place.

   * Copy all the `.frm' files for your InnoDB tables into a safe place.

In addition to taking the binary backups described above, you should
also regularly take dumps of your tables with `mysqldump'. The reason
to this is that a binary file may be corrupted without you noticing it.
Dumped tables are stored into text files which are human-readable and
much simpler than database binary files. Seeing table corruption from
dumped files is easier, and since their format is simpler, the chance
for serious data corruption in them is smaller.

A good idea is to take the dumps at the same time you take a binary
backup of your database. You have to shut out all clients from your
database to get a consistent snapshot of all your tables into your
dumps. Then you can take the binary backup, and you will then have a
consistent snapshot of your database in two formats.

To be able to recover your InnoDB database to the present from the
binary backup described above, you have to run your MySQL database with
the general logging and log archiving of MySQL switched on. Here by the
general logging we mean the logging mechanism of the MySQL server which
is independent of InnoDB logs.

To recover from a crash of your MySQL server process, the only thing
you have to do is to restart it. InnoDB will automatically check the
logs and perform a roll-forward of the database to the present.  InnoDB
will automatically roll back uncommitted transactions which were
present at the time of the crash. During recovery, InnoDB will print
out something like the following:

     ~/mysqlm/sql > mysqld
     InnoDB: Database was not shut down normally.
     InnoDB: Starting recovery from log files...
     InnoDB: Starting log scan based on checkpoint at
     InnoDB: log sequence number 0 13674004
     InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 13739520
     InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 13805056
     InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 13870592
     InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 13936128
     ...
     InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 20555264
     InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 20620800
     InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 20664692
     InnoDB: 1 uncommitted transaction(s) which must be rolled back
     InnoDB: Starting rollback of uncommitted transactions
     InnoDB: Rolling back trx no 16745
     InnoDB: Rolling back of trx no 16745 completed
     InnoDB: Rollback of uncommitted transactions completed
     InnoDB: Starting an apply batch of log records to the database...
     InnoDB: Apply batch completed
     InnoDB: Started
     mysqld: ready for connections

If your database gets corrupted or your disk fails, you have to do the
recovery from a backup. In the case of corruption, you should first
find a backup which is not corrupted. From a backup do the recovery
from the general log files of MySQL according to instructions in the
MySQL manual.

Forcing recovery
................

If there is database page corruption, you may want to dump your tables
from the database with `SELECT INTO OUTFILE', and usually most of the
data is intact and correct. But the corruption may cause `SELECT * FROM
table', or InnoDB background operations to crash or assert, or even the
InnoDB roll-forward recovery to crash. Starting from the InnoDB version
3.23.44, there is a `my.cnf' option with which you can force InnoDB to
start up, and you can also prevent background operations from running,
so that you will be able to dump your tables. For example, you can set
     set-variable = innodb_force_recovery = 4
in `my.cnf'.

The alternatives for `innodb_force_recovery' follow.  The database must
not otherwise be used with these options!  As a safety measure InnoDB
prevents a user from doing `INSERT', `UPDATE', or `DELETE' when this
option is > 0.

Starting from version 3.23.53 and 4.0.4, you are allowed to `DROP' or
`CREATE' a table even if forced recovery is used. If you know that a
certain table is causing a crash in rollback, you can drop it.  You can
use this also to stop a runaway rollback caused by a failing mass
import or `ALTER TABLE'.  You can kill the mysqld process and use the
`my.cnf' option `innodb_force_recovery=3' to bring your database up
without the rollback.  Then `DROP' the table which is causing the
runaway rollback.

A bigger number below means that all precautions of lower numbers are
included. If you are able to dump your tables with an option at most 4,
then you are relatively safe that only some data on corrupt individual
pages is lost. Option 6 is more dramatic, because database pages are
left in an obsolete state, which in turn may introduce more corruption
into B-trees and other database structures.

   * 1 (SRV_FORCE_IGNORE_CORRUPT) let the server run even if it detects
     a                                 corrupt page; try to make
                             `SELECT * FROM table'
                jump over corrupt index records and pages,
                        which helps in dumping tables;

   * 2 (SRV_FORCE_NO_BACKGROUND) prevent the main thread from
                          running: if a crash would occur
                       in purge, this prevents it;

   * 3 (SRV_FORCE_NO_TRX_UNDO) do not run transaction rollbacks
                            after recovery;

   * 4 (SRV_FORCE_NO_IBUF_MERGE) prevent also insert buffer merge
     operations:                                 if they would cause a
     crash, better                                 not do them; do not
     calculate table statistics;

   * 5 (SRV_FORCE_NO_UNDO_LOG_SCAN) do not look at undo logs when
                              starting the database: InnoDB will
                              treat even incomplete transactions
                              as committed;

   * 6 (SRV_FORCE_NO_LOG_REDO)   do not do the log roll-forward
                            in connection with recovery.

Checkpoints
...........

InnoDB implements a checkpoint mechanism called a fuzzy checkpoint.
InnoDB will flush modified database pages from the buffer pool in small
batches, there is no need to flush the buffer pool in one single batch,
which would in practice stop processing of user SQL statements for a
while.

In crash recovery InnoDB looks for a checkpoint label written to the
log files. It knows that all modifications to the database before the
label are already present on the disk image of the database.  Then
InnoDB scans the log files forward from the place of the checkpoint
applying the logged modifications to the database.

InnoDB writes to the log files in a circular fashion.  All committed
modifications which make the database pages in the buffer pool
different from the images on disk must be available in the log files in
case InnoDB has to do a recovery. This means that when InnoDB starts to
reuse a log file in the circular fashion, it has to make sure that the
database page images on disk already contain the modifications logged
in the log file InnoDB is going to reuse. In other words, InnoDB has to
make a checkpoint and often this involves flushing of modified database
pages to disk.

The above explains why making your log files very big may save disk I/O
in checkpointing. It can make sense to set the total size of the log
files as big as the buffer pool or even bigger.  The drawback in big
log files is that crash recovery can last longer because there will be
more log to apply to the database.

Moving an InnoDB Database to Another Machine
--------------------------------------------

On Windows InnoDB stores the database names and table names internally
always in lowercase. To move databases in a binary format from Unix to
Windows or from Windows to Unix you should have all table and database
names in lowercase. A convenient way to accomplish this is to add on
Unix the line
     set-variable=lower_case_table_names=1
to the `[mysqld]' section of your `my.cnf' before you start creating
your tables. On Windows the setting 1 is the default.

InnoDB data and log files are binary-compatible on all platforms if the
floating-point number format on the machines is the same.  You can move
an InnoDB database simply by copying all the relevant files, which we
already listed in the previous section on backing up a database. If the
floating-point formats on the machines are different but you have not
used `FLOAT' or `DOUBLE' datatypes in your tables then the procedure is
the same: just copy the relevant files. If the formats are different
and your tables contain floating-point data, you have to use `mysqldump'
and `mysqlimport' to move those tables.

A performance tip is to switch off auto-commit mode when you import
data into your database, assuming your tablespace has enough space for
the big rollback segment the big import transaction will generate.  Do
the commit only after importing a whole table or a segment of a table.

InnoDB Transaction Model and Locking
------------------------------------

In the `InnoDB' transaction model the goal has been to combine the best
properties of a multi-versioning database to traditional two-phase
locking.  InnoDB does locking on row level and runs queries by default
as non-locking consistent reads, in the style of Oracle.  The lock
table in `InnoDB' is stored so space-efficiently that lock escalation
is not needed: typically several users are allowed to lock every row in
the database, or any random subset of the rows, without `InnoDB'
running out of memory.

In `InnoDB' all user activity happens inside transactions. If the
autocommit mode is used in MySQL, then each SQL statement forms a
single transaction.  MySQL always starts a new connection with the
autocommit mode switched on.

If the autocommit mode is switched off with `SET AUTOCOMMIT = 0', then
we can think that a user always has a transaction open. If he issues
the SQL `COMMIT' or `ROLLBACK' statement, it ends the current
transaction, and a new one starts. Both statements will release all
`InnoDB' locks that were set during the current transaction. A `COMMIT'
means that the changes made in the current transaction are made
permanent and become visible to other users. A `ROLLBACK' statement, on
the other hand, cancels all modifications made by the current
transaction.

If the connection has `AUTOCOMMIT = 1', then the user can still perform
a multiple-statement transaction by starting it with `START
TRANSACTION' or `BEGIN' and ending it with `COMMIT' or `ROLLBACK'.

InnoDB and `SET ... TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL ...'
....................................................

In terms of the SQL-92 transaction isolation levels, the `InnoDB'
default is `REPEATABLE READ'.  Starting from version 4.0.5, `InnoDB'
offers all 4 different transaction isolation levels described by the
SQL-92 standard.  You can set the default isolation level for all
connections in the `[mysqld]' section of `my.cnf':

     transaction-isolation = {READ-UNCOMMITTED | READ-COMMITTED
                              | REPEATABLE-READ | SERIALIZABLE}

A user can change the isolation level of a single session or all new
incoming connections with the `SET TRANSACTION' statement. Its syntax
is as follows:

     SET [SESSION | GLOBAL] TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL
                            {READ UNCOMMITTED | READ COMMITTED
                             | REPEATABLE READ | SERIALIZABLE}

Note that there are no hyphens in level names in the SQL syntax.

The default behavior is to set the isolation level for the next (not
started) transaction.  If you use the `GLOBAL' keyword, the statement
sets the default transaction level globally for all new connections
created from that point on (but not existing connections).  You need
the `SUPER' privilege to do this.  Using the `SESSION' keyword sets the
default transaction level for all future transactions performed on the
current connection.  Any client is free to change the session isolation
level (even in the middle of a transaction), or the isolation level for
the next transaction.  In versions earlier than 3.23.50, `SET
TRANSACTION' had no effect on `InnoDB' tables. In versions < 4.0.5 only
`REPEATABLE READ' and `SERIALIZABLE' were available.

You can query the global and session transaction isolation levels with:
     SELECT @@global.tx_isolation;
     SELECT @@tx_isolation;

In row level locking `InnoDB' uses so-called next-key locking.  That
means that besides index records, `InnoDB' can also lock the "gap"
before an index record to block insertions by other users immediately
before the index record. A next-key lock means a lock which locks an
index record and the gap before it.  A gap lock means a lock which only
locks a gap before some index record.

A detailed description of each isolation level in `InnoDB':

   * `READ UNCOMMITTED' This is also called "dirty read": non-locking
     `SELECT' statements are performed so that we do not look at a
     possible earlier version of a record; thus they are not
     'consistent' reads under this isolation level; otherwise this
     level works like `READ COMMITTED'.

   * `READ COMMITTED' Somewhat Oracle-like isolation level.  All
     `SELECT ... FOR UPDATE' and `SELECT ... LOCK IN SHARE MODE'
     statements only lock the index records, *not* the gaps before
     them, and thus allow free inserting of new records next to locked
     records.  `UPDATE' and `DELETE' which use a unique index with a
     unique search condition, only lock the index record found, not the
     gap before it.  But still in range type `UPDATE' and `DELETE',
     `InnoDB' must set next-key or gap locks and block insertions by
     other users to the gaps covered by the range. This is necessary
     since "phantom rows" have to be blocked for MySQL replication and
     recovery to work.  *Consistent reads* behave as in Oracle: each
     consistent read, even within the same transaction, sets and reads
     its own fresh snapshot.

   * `REPEATABLE READ' This is the default isolation level of `InnoDB'.
     `SELECT ... FOR UPDATE', `SELECT ... LOCK IN SHARE MODE',
     `UPDATE', and `DELETE' which use a unique index with a unique
     search condition, only lock the index record found, not the gap
     before it.  Otherwise these operations employ next-key locking,
     locking the index range scanned with next-key or gap locks, and
     block new insertions by other users.  In *consistent reads* there
     is an important difference from the previous isolation level: in
     this level all consistent reads within the same transaction read
     the same snapshot established by the first read. This convention
     means that if you issue several plain `SELECT' statements within
     the same transaction, these `SELECT' statements are consistent
     also with respect to each other.

   * `SERIALIZABLE' This level is like the previous one, but all plain
     `SELECT' statements are implicitly converted to `SELECT ... LOCK
     IN SHARE MODE'.

Consistent Non-Locking Read
...........................

A consistent read means that InnoDB uses its multi-versioning to
present to a query a snapshot of the database at a point in time.  The
query will see the changes made by exactly those transactions that
committed before that point of time, and no changes made by later or
uncommitted transactions. The exception to this rule is that the query
will see the changes made by the transaction itself which issues the
query.

If you are running with the default `REPEATABLE READ' isolation level,
then all consistent reads within the same transaction read the snapshot
established by the first such read in that transaction. You can get a
fresher snapshot for your queries by committing the current transaction
and after that issuing new queries.

Consistent read is the default mode in which InnoDB processes `SELECT'
statements in `READ COMMITTED' and `REPEATABLE READ' isolation levels.
A consistent read does not set any locks on the tables it accesses, and
therefore other users are free to modify those tables at the same time
a consistent read is being performed on the table.

Locking Reads `SELECT ... FOR UPDATE' and `SELECT ... LOCK IN SHARE MODE'
.........................................................................

A consistent read is not convenient in some circumstances.  Suppose you
want to add a new row into your table `CHILD', and make sure that the
child already has a parent in table `PARENT'.

Suppose you use a consistent read to read the table `PARENT' and indeed
see the parent of the child in the table. Can you now safely add the
child row to table `CHILD'? No, because it may happen that meanwhile
some other user has deleted the parent row from the table `PARENT', and
you are not aware of that.

The solution is to perform the `SELECT' in a locking mode, `LOCK IN
SHARE MODE'.

     SELECT * FROM PARENT WHERE NAME = 'Jones' LOCK IN SHARE MODE;

Performing a read in share mode means that we read the latest available
data, and set a shared mode lock on the rows we read.  If the latest
data belongs to a yet uncommitted transaction of another user, we will
wait until that transaction commits.  A shared mode lock prevents
others from updating or deleting the row we have read. After we see
that the above query returns the parent `'Jones'', we can safely add
his child to table `CHILD', and commit our transaction.  This example
shows how to implement referential integrity in your application code.

Let us look at another example: we have an integer counter field in a
table `CHILD_CODES' which we use to assign a unique identifier to each
child we add to table `CHILD'.  Obviously, using a consistent read or a
shared mode read to read the present value of the counter is not a good
idea, since then two users of the database may see the same value for
the counter, and we will get a duplicate key error when we add the two
children with the same identifier to the table.

In this case there are two good ways to implement the reading and
incrementing of the counter: (1) update the counter first by
incrementing it by 1 and only after that read it, or (2) read the
counter first with a lock mode `FOR UPDATE', and increment after that:

     SELECT COUNTER_FIELD FROM CHILD_CODES FOR UPDATE;
     UPDATE CHILD_CODES SET COUNTER_FIELD = COUNTER_FIELD + 1;

A `SELECT ... FOR UPDATE' will read the latest available data setting
exclusive locks on each row it reads.  Thus it sets the same locks a
searched SQL `UPDATE' would set on the rows.

Next-key Locking: Avoiding the Phantom Problem
..............................................

In row level locking InnoDB uses an algorithm called next-key locking.
InnoDB does the row level locking so that when it searches or scans an
index of a table, it sets shared or exclusive locks on the index
records it encounters. Thus the row level locks are more precisely
called index record locks.

The locks InnoDB sets on index records also affect the 'gap' before
that index record. If a user has a shared or exclusive lock on record R
in an index, then another user cannot insert a new index record
immediately before R in the index order.  This locking of gaps is done
to prevent the so-called phantom problem. Suppose I want to read and
lock all children with identifier bigger than 100 from table `CHILD',
and update some field in the selected rows.

     SELECT * FROM CHILD WHERE ID > 100 FOR UPDATE;

Suppose there is an index on table `CHILD' on column `ID'. Our query
will scan that index starting from the first record where `ID' is
bigger than 100.  Now, if the locks set on the index records would not
lock out inserts made in the gaps, a new child might meanwhile be
inserted to the table. If now I in my transaction execute

     SELECT * FROM CHILD WHERE ID > 100 FOR UPDATE;

again, I will see a new child in the result set the query returns.
This is against the isolation principle of transactions: a transaction
should be able to run so that the data it has read does not change
during the transaction. If we regard a set of rows as a data item, then
the new 'phantom' child would break this isolation principle.

When InnoDB scans an index it can also lock the gap after the last
record in the index. Just that happens in the previous example: the
locks set by InnoDB will prevent any insert to the table where `ID'
would be bigger than 100.

You can use next-key locking to implement a uniqueness check in your
application: if you read your data in share mode and do not see a
duplicate for a row you are going to insert, then you can safely insert
your row and know that the next-key lock set on the successor of your
row during the read will prevent anyone meanwhile inserting a duplicate
for your row. Thus the next-key locking allows you to 'lock' the
non-existence of something in your table.

Locks Set by Different SQL Statements in `InnoDB'
.................................................

   * `SELECT ... FROM ...': this is a consistent read, reading a
     snapshot of the database and setting no locks.

   * `SELECT ... FROM ... LOCK IN SHARE MODE': sets shared next-key
     locks on all index records the read encounters.

   * `SELECT ... FROM ... FOR UPDATE': sets exclusive next-key locks on
     all index records the read encounters.

   * `INSERT INTO ... VALUES (...)': sets an exclusive lock on the
     inserted row; note that this lock is not a next-key lock and does
     not prevent other users from inserting to the gap before the
     inserted row. If a duplicate key error occurs, sets a shared lock
     on the duplicate index record.

   * `INSERT INTO T SELECT ... FROM S WHERE ...' sets an exclusive
     (non-next-key) lock on each row inserted into `T'. Does the search
     on `S' as a consistent read, but sets shared next-key locks on `S'
     if the MySQL logging is on. `InnoDB' has to set locks in the
     latter case because in roll-forward recovery from a backup every
     SQL statement has to be executed in exactly the same way as it was
     done originally.

   * `CREATE TABLE ... SELECT ...' performs the `SELECT' as a
     consistent read or with shared locks, like in the previous item.

   * `REPLACE' is done like an insert if there is no collision on a
     unique key. Otherwise, an exclusive next-key lock is placed on the
     row which has to be updated.

   * `UPDATE ... SET ... WHERE ...': sets an exclusive next-key lock on
     every record the search encounters.

   * `DELETE FROM ... WHERE ...': sets an exclusive next-key lock on
     every record the search encounters.

   * If a `FOREIGN KEY' constraint is defined on a table, any insert,
     update, or delete which requires checking of the constraint
     condition sets shared record level locks on the records it looks
     at to check the constraint. Also in the case where the constraint
     fails, `InnoDB' sets these locks.

   * `LOCK TABLES ... ': sets table locks. In the implementation the
     MySQL layer of code sets these locks. The automatic deadlock
     detection of `InnoDB' cannot detect deadlocks where such table
     locks are involved: see the following section.  Also, since MySQL
     does know about row level locks, it is possible that you get a
     table lock on a table where another user currently has row level
     locks. But that does not put transaction integrity into danger.
     *Note InnoDB restrictions::.

Deadlock Detection and Rollback
...............................

`InnoDB' automatically detects a deadlock of transactions and rolls
back a transaction or transactions to prevent the deadlock. Starting
from version 4.0.5, `InnoDB' will try to pick small transactions to roll
back. The size of a transaction is determined by the number of rows it
has inserted, updated, or deleted. Previous to 4.0.5, `InnoDB' always
rolled back the transaction whose lock request was the last one to
build a deadlock, that is, a cycle in the waits-for graph of
transactions.

`InnoDB' cannot detect deadlocks where a lock set by a MySQL `LOCK
TABLES' statement is involved, or if a lock set in another storage
engine than `InnoDB' is involved. You have to resolve these situations
using `innodb_lock_wait_timeout' set in `my.cnf'.

When `InnoDB' performs a complete rollback of a transaction, all the
locks of the transaction are released. However, if just a single SQL
statement is rolled back as a result of an error, some of the locks set
by the SQL statement may be preserved. This is because `InnoDB' stores
row locks in a format where it cannot afterwards know which was set by
which SQL statement.

An Example of How the Consistent Read Works in `InnoDB'
.......................................................

Suppose you are running on the default `REPEATABLE READ' isolation
level.  When you issue a consistent read, that is, an ordinary `SELECT'
statement, `InnoDB' will give your transaction a timepoint according to
which your query sees the database. Thus, if transaction B deletes a
row and commits after your timepoint was assigned, then you will not
see the row deleted. Similarly with inserts and updates.

You can advance your timepoint by committing your transaction and then
doing another `SELECT'.

This is called multi-versioned concurrency control.

                       User A                 User B
     
                   SET AUTOCOMMIT=0;      SET AUTOCOMMIT=0;
     time
     |             SELECT * FROM t;
     |             empty set
     |                                    INSERT INTO t VALUES (1, 2);
     |
     v             SELECT * FROM t;
                   empty set
                                          COMMIT;
     
                   SELECT * FROM t;
                   empty set;
     
                   COMMIT;
     
                   SELECT * FROM t;
                   ---------------------
                   |    1    |    2    |
                   ---------------------

Thus user A sees the row inserted by B only when B has committed the
insert, and A has committed his own transaction so that the timepoint
is advanced past the commit of B.

If you want to see the "freshest" state of the database, you should use
a locking read:

     SELECT * FROM t LOCK IN SHARE MODE;

How to Cope With Deadlocks
..........................

Deadlocks are a classic problem in transactional databases, but they
are not dangerous, unless they are so frequent that you cannot run
certain transactions at all. Normally you have to write your
applications so that they are always prepared to re-issue a transaction
if it gets rolled back because of a deadlock.

`InnoDB' uses automatic row level locking. You can get deadlocks even
in the case of transactions which just insert or delete a single row.
That is because these operations are not really 'atomic': they
automatically set locks on the (possibly several) index records of the
row inserted/deleted.

You can cope with deadlocks and reduce the number of them with the
following tricks:

   * Use `SHOW INNODB STATUS' in MySQL versions >= 3.23.52 and >= 4.0.3
     to determine the cause of the latest deadlock. That can help you
     to tune your application to avoid deadlocks.

   * Always be prepared to re-issue a transaction if it fails in a
     deadlock. Deadlocks are not dangerous. Just try again.

   * Commit your transactions often. Small transactions are less prone
     to collide.

   * If you are using locking reads `SELECT ... FOR UPDATE' or `...
     LOCK IN SHARE MODE', try using a lower isolation level `READ
     COMMITTED'.

   * Access your tables and rows in a fixed order. Then transactions
     will form nice queues, and do not deadlock.

   * Add well-chosen indexes to your tables. Then your queries need to
     scan fewer index records and consequently set fewer locks.  Use
     `EXPLAIN SELECT' to determine that MySQL picks appropriate indexes
     for your queries.

   * Use less locking: if you can afford a `SELECT' to return data from
     an old snapshot, do not add the clause `FOR UPDATE' or `LOCK IN
     SHARE MODE' to it. Using `READ COMMITTED' isolation level is good
     here, because each consistent read within the same transaction
     reads from its own fresh snapshot.

   * If nothing helps, serialize your transactions with table level
     locks: `LOCK TABLES t1 WRITE, t2 READ, ... ; [do something with
     tables t1 and t2 here]; UNLOCK TABLES'.  Table level locks make
     you transactions to queue nicely, and deadlocks are avoided. Note
     that `LOCK TABLES' implicitly starts a transaction, just like the
     command `BEGIN', and `UNLOCK TABLES' implicitly ends the
     transaction in a `COMMIT'.

   * Another solution to serialize transactions is to create an
     auxiliary 'semaphore' table where there is just a single row. Each
     transaction updates that row before accessing other tables. In
     that way all transactions happen in a serial fashion. Note that
     then also the `InnoDB' instant deadlock detection algorithm works,
     because the serializing lock is a row level lock.  In MySQL table
     level locks we have to resort to the timeout method to resolve a
     deadlock.

Performance Tuning Tips
-----------------------

  1. If the Unix `top' or the Windows `Task Manager' shows that the CPU
     usage percentage with your workload is less than 70%, your
     workload is probably disk-bound. Maybe you are making too many
     transaction commits, or the buffer pool is too small.  Making the
     buffer pool bigger can help, but do not set it bigger than 80% of
     physical memory.

  2. Wrap several modifications into one transaction. `InnoDB' must
     flush the log to disk at each transaction commit, if that
     transaction made modifications to the database. Since the rotation
     speed of a disk is typically at most 167 revolutions/second, that
     constrains the number of commits to the same 167/second if the
     disk does not fool the operating system.

  3. If you can afford the loss of some latest committed transactions,
     you can set the `my.cnf' parameter `innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit'
     to 0. `InnoDB' tries to flush the log once per second anyway,
     though the flush is not guaranteed.

  4. Make your log files big, even as big as the buffer pool. When
     `InnoDB' has written the log files full, it has to write the
     modified contents of the buffer pool to disk in a checkpoint.
     Small log files will cause many unnecessary disk writes. The
     drawback in big log files is that recovery time will be longer.

  5. Also the log buffer should be quite big, say 8 MB.

  6. (Relevant from 3.23.39 up.)  In some versions of Linux and Unix,
     flushing files to disk with the Unix `fdatasync' and other similar
     methods is surprisingly slow.  The default method `InnoDB' uses is
     the `fdatasync' function.  If you are not satisfied with the
     database write performance, you may try setting
     `innodb_flush_method' in `my.cnf' to `O_DSYNC', though `O_DSYNC'
     seems to be slower on most systems.

  7. In importing data to `InnoDB', make sure that MySQL does not have
     `autocommit=1' on. Then every insert requires a log flush to disk.
     Put before your plain SQL import file line

          SET AUTOCOMMIT=0;

     and after it

          COMMIT;

     If you use the `mysqldump' option `--opt', you will get dump files
     which are fast to import also to an `InnoDB' table, even without
     wrapping them to the above `SET AUTOCOMMIT=0; ... COMMIT;'
     wrappers.

  8. Beware of big rollbacks of mass inserts: `InnoDB' uses the insert
     buffer to save disk I/O in inserts, but in a corresponding
     rollback no such mechanism is used. A disk-bound rollback can take
     30 times the time of the corresponding insert. Killing the
     database process will not help because the rollback will start
     again at the database startup. The only way to get rid of a
     runaway rollback is to increase the buffer pool so that the
     rollback becomes CPU-bound and runs fast, or delete the whole
     `InnoDB' database.

  9. Beware also of other big disk-bound operations.  Use `DROP TABLE'
     or `TRUNCATE' (from MySQL-4.0 up) to empty a table, not `DELETE
     FROM yourtable'.

 10. Use the multi-line `INSERT' to reduce communication overhead
     between the client and the server if you need to insert many rows:

          INSERT INTO yourtable VALUES (1, 2), (5, 5);

     This tip is valid for inserts into any table type, not just
     `InnoDB'.


`SHOW INNODB STATUS' and the `InnoDB' Monitors
..............................................

Starting from version 3.23.42, `InnoDB' includes InnoDB Monitors that
print information about the `InnoDB' internal state.  Starting from
versions 3.23.52 and 4.0.3 you can use the SQL command `SHOW INNODB
STATUS' to fetch the output of the standard InnoDB Monitor to the SQL
client.  The information is useful in performance tuning. If you are
using the `mysql' interactive SQL client, the output is more readable
if you replace the usual semicolon statement terminator by `\G':
     SHOW INNODB STATUS\G

Another way to use InnoDB Monitors is to let them continuosly write
data to the standard output of the server `mysqld' (note: the MySQL
client will not print anything).  When switched on, `InnoDB' Monitors
print data about once every 15 seconds. If you run `mysqld' as a daemon
then this output is usually directed to the `.err' log in the MySQL
`datadir'.  This data is useful in performance tuning.  On Windows you
must start `mysqld-max' from an MS-DOS prompt with the `--console'
option if you want to direct the output to the MS-DOS prompt window.

There is a separate `innodb_lock_monitor' which prints the same
information as `innodb_monitor' plus information on locks set by each
transaction.

The printed information includes data on:
   * lock waits of a transactions,

   * semaphore waits of threads,

   * pending file I/O requests,

   * buffer pool statistics, and

   * purge and insert buffer merge activity of the main thread of
     `InnoDB'.

You can start InnoDB Monitor through the following SQL command:

     CREATE TABLE innodb_monitor(a INT) type = innodb;

and stop it by

     DROP TABLE innodb_monitor;

The `CREATE TABLE' syntax is just a way to pass a command to the
`InnoDB' engine through the MySQL SQL parser: the created table is not
relevant at all for InnoDB Monitor. If you shut down the database when
the monitor is running, and you want to start the monitor again, you
have to drop the table before you can issue a new `CREATE TABLE' to
start the monitor.  This syntax may change in a future release.

A sample output of the InnoDB Monitor:

     ================================
     010809 18:45:06 INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
     ================================
     --------------------------
     LOCKS HELD BY TRANSACTIONS
     --------------------------
     LOCK INFO:
     Number of locks in the record hash table 1294
     LOCKS FOR TRANSACTION ID 0 579342744
     TABLE LOCK table test/mytable trx id 0 582333343 lock_mode IX
     
     RECORD LOCKS space id 0 page no 12758 n bits 104 table test/mytable index
     PRIMARY trx id 0 582333343 lock_mode X
     Record lock, heap no 2 PHYSICAL RECORD: n_fields 74; 1-byte offs FALSE;
     info bits 0
      0: len 4; hex 0001a801; asc ;; 1: len 6; hex 000022b5b39f; asc ";;
      2: len 7; hex 000002001e03ec; asc ;; 3: len 4; hex 00000001;
     ...
     -----------------------------------------------
     CURRENT SEMAPHORES RESERVED AND SEMAPHORE WAITS
     -----------------------------------------------
     SYNC INFO:
     Sorry, cannot give mutex list info in non-debug version!
     Sorry, cannot give rw-lock list info in non-debug version!
     -----------------------------------------------------
     SYNC ARRAY INFO: reservation count 6041054, signal count 2913432
     4a239430 waited for by thread 49627477 op. S-LOCK file NOT KNOWN line 0
     Mut ex 0 sp 5530989 r 62038708 sys 2155035;
     rws 0 8257574 8025336; rwx 0 1121090 1848344
     -----------------------------------------------------
     CURRENT PENDING FILE I/O'S
     --------------------------
     Pending normal aio reads:
     Reserved slot, messages 40157658 4a4a40b8
     Reserved slot, messages 40157658 4a477e28
     ...
     Reserved slot, messages 40157658 4a4424a8
     Reserved slot, messages 40157658 4a39ea38
     Total of 36 reserved aio slots
     Pending aio writes:
     Total of 0 reserved aio slots
     Pending insert buffer aio reads:
     Total of 0 reserved aio slots
     Pending log writes or reads:
     Reserved slot, messages 40158c98 40157f98
     Total of 1 reserved aio slots
     Pending synchronous reads or writes:
     Total of 0 reserved aio slots
     -----------
     BUFFER POOL
     -----------
     LRU list length 8034
     Free list length 0
     Flush list length 999
     Buffer pool size in pages 8192
     Pending reads 39
     Pending writes: LRU 0, flush list 0, single page 0
     Pages read 31383918, created 51310, written 2985115
     ----------------------------
     END OF INNODB MONITOR OUTPUT
     ============================
     010809 18:45:22 InnoDB starts purge
     010809 18:45:22 InnoDB purged 0 pages

Some notes on the output:

   * If the section LOCKS HELD BY TRANSACTIONS reports lock waits, then
     your application may have lock contention. The output can also
     help to trace reasons for transaction deadlocks.

   * Section SYNC INFO will report reserved semaphores if you compile
     InnoDB with `UNIV_SYNC_DEBUG' defined in `univ.i'.

   * Section SYNC ARRAY INFO reports threads waiting for a semaphore
     and statistics on how many times threads have needed a spin or a
     wait on a mutex or a rw-lock semaphore. A large number of threads
     waiting for semaphores may be a result of disk I/O, or contention
     problems inside InnoDB. Contention can be due to heavy parallelism
     of queries, or problems in operating system thread scheduling.

   * Section CURRENT PENDING FILE I/O'S lists pending file I/O
     requests. A large number of these indicates that the workload is
     disk I/O-bound.

   * Section BUFFER POOL gives you statistics on pages read and
     written. You can calculate from these numbers how many datafile
     I/Os your queries are currently doing.

Implementation of Multi-versioning
----------------------------------

Since InnoDB is a multi-versioned database, it must keep information of
old versions of rows in the tablespace. This information is stored in a
data structure we call a rollback segment after an analogous data
structure in Oracle.

InnoDB internally adds two fields to each row stored in the database.
A 6-byte field tells the transaction identifier for the last
transaction which inserted or updated the row. Also a deletion is
internally treated as an update where a special bit in the row is set
to mark it as deleted. Each row also contains a 7-byte field called the
roll pointer. The roll pointer points to an undo log record written to
the rollback segment. If the row was updated, then the undo log record
contains the information necessary to rebuild the content of the row
before it was updated.

InnoDB uses the information in the rollback segment to perform the undo
operations needed in a transaction rollback. It also uses the
information to build earlier versions of a row for a consistent read.

Undo logs in the rollback segment are divided into insert and update
undo logs. Insert undo logs are only needed in transaction rollback and
can be discarded as soon as the transaction commits. Update undo logs
are used also in consistent reads, and they can be discarded only after
there is no transaction present for which InnoDB has assigned a
snapshot that in a consistent read could need the information in the
update undo log to build an earlier version of a database row.

You must remember to commit your transactions regularly, also those
transactions which only issue consistent reads.  Otherwise InnoDB
cannot discard data from the update undo logs, and the rollback segment
may grow too big, filling up your tablespace.

The physical size of an undo log record in the rollback segment is
typically smaller than the corresponding inserted or updated row. You
can use this information to calculate the space need for your rollback
segment.

In our multi-versioning scheme a row is not physically removed from the
database immediately when you delete it with an SQL statement.  Only
when InnoDB can discard the update undo log record written for the
deletion, it can also physically remove the corresponding row and its
index records from the database. This removal operation is called a
purge, and it is quite fast, usually taking the same order of time as
the SQL statement which did the deletion.

Table and Index Structures
--------------------------

MySQL stores its data dictionary information of tables in `.frm' files
in database directories. But every InnoDB type table also has its own
entry in InnoDB internal data dictionaries inside the tablespace. When
MySQL drops a table or a database, it has to delete both a `.frm' file
or files, and the corresponding entries inside the InnoDB data
dictionary.  This is the reason why you cannot move InnoDB tables
between databases simply by moving the `.frm' files, and why `DROP
DATABASE' did not work for InnoDB type tables in MySQL versions <=
3.23.43.

Every InnoDB table has a special index called the clustered index where
the data of the rows is stored. If you define a `PRIMARY KEY' on your
table, then the index of the primary key will be the clustered index.

If you do not define a primary key for your table, InnoDB will
internally generate a clustered index where the rows are ordered by the
row ID that InnoDB assigns to the rows in such a table. The row ID is a
6-byte field which monotonically increases as new rows are inserted.
Thus the rows ordered by the row ID will be physically in the insertion
order.

Accessing a row through the clustered index is fast, because the row
data will be on the same page where the index search leads us. In many
databases the data is traditionally stored on a different page from the
index record. If a table is large, the clustered index architecture
often saves a disk I/O when compared to the traditional solution.

The records in non-clustered indexes (we also call them secondary
indexes), in InnoDB contain the primary key value for the row. InnoDB
uses this primary key value to search for the row from the clustered
index. Note that if the primary key is long, the secondary indexes will
use more space.

Physical Structure of an Index
..............................

All indexes in InnoDB are B-trees where the index records are stored in
the leaf pages of the tree. The default size of an index page is 16 KB.
When new records are inserted, InnoDB tries to leave 1 / 16 of the page
free for future insertions and updates of the index records.

If index records are inserted in a sequential (ascending or descending)
order, the resulting index pages will be about 15/16 full.  If records
are inserted in a random order, then the pages will be 1/2 - 15/16
full. If the fillfactor of an index page drops below 1/2, InnoDB will
try to contract the index tree to free the page.

Insert Buffering
................

It is a common situation in a database application that the primary key
is a unique identifier and new rows are inserted in the ascending order
of the primary key. Thus the insertions to the clustered index do not
require random reads from a disk.

On the other hand, secondary indexes are usually non-unique and
insertions happen in a relatively random order into secondary indexes.
This would cause a lot of random disk I/Os without a special mechanism
used in InnoDB.

If an index record should be inserted to a non-unique secondary index,
InnoDB checks if the secondary index page is already in the buffer
pool. If that is the case, InnoDB will do the insertion directly to the
index page. But, if the index page is not found from the buffer pool,
InnoDB inserts the record to a special insert buffer structure.  The
insert buffer is kept so small that it entirely fits in the buffer
pool, and insertions can be made to it very fast.

The insert buffer is periodically merged to the secondary index trees
in the database. Often we can merge several insertions on the same page
in of the index tree, and hence save disk I/Os.  It has been measured
that the insert buffer can speed up insertions to a table up to 15
times.

Adaptive Hash Indexes
.....................

If a database fits almost entirely in main memory, then the fastest way
to perform queries on it is to use hash indexes. InnoDB has an
automatic mechanism which monitors index searches made to the indexes
defined for a table, and if InnoDB notices that queries could benefit
from building of a hash index, such an index is automatically built.

But note that the hash index is always built based on an existing
B-tree index on the table. InnoDB can build a hash index on a prefix of
any length of the key defined for the B-tree, depending on what search
pattern InnoDB observes on the B-tree index.  A hash index can be
partial: it is not required that the whole B-tree index is cached in
the buffer pool. InnoDB will build hash indexes on demand to those
pages of the index which are often accessed.

In a sense, through the adaptive hash index mechanism InnoDB adapts
itself to ample main memory, coming closer to the architecture of main
memory databases.

Physical Record Structure
.........................

   * Each index record in InnoDB contains a header of 6 bytes. The
     header is used to link consecutive records together, and also in
     the row level locking.

   * Records in the clustered index contain fields for all user-defined
     columns. In addition, there is a 6-byte field for the transaction
     id and a 7-byte field for the roll pointer.

   * If the user has not defined a primary key for a table, then each
     clustered index record contains also a 6-byte row ID field.

   * Each secondary index record contains also all the fields defined
     for the clustered index key.

   * A record contains also a pointer to each field of the record.  If
     the total length of the fields in a record is < 128 bytes, then
     the pointer is 1 byte, else 2 bytes.

How an `AUTO_INCREMENT' Column Works in InnoDB
..............................................

After a database startup, when a user first does an insert to a table
`T' where an auto-increment column has been defined, and the user does
not provide an explicit value for the column, then InnoDB executes
`SELECT MAX(auto-inc-column) FROM T', and assigns that value incremented
by one to the column and the auto-increment counter of the table.  We
say that the auto-increment counter for table `T' has been initialized.

InnoDB follows the same procedure in initializing the auto-increment
counter for a freshly created table.

Note that if the user specifies in an insert the value 0 to the
auto-increment column, then InnoDB treats the row like the value would
not have been specified.

After the auto-increment counter has been initialized, if a user inserts
a row where he explicitly specifies the column value, and the value is
bigger than the current counter value, then the counter is set to the
specified column value. If the user does not explicitly specify a
value, then InnoDB increments the counter by one and assigns its new
value to the column.

The auto-increment mechanism, when assigning values from the counter,
bypasses locking and transaction handling. Therefore you may also get
gaps in the number sequence if you roll back transactions which have
got numbers from the counter.

The behavior of auto-increment is not defined if a user gives a negative
value to the column or if the value becomes bigger than the maximum
integer that can be stored in the specified integer type.

File Space Management and Disk I/O
----------------------------------

Disk I/O
........

In disk I/O InnoDB uses asynchronous I/O. On Windows NT it uses the
native asynchronous I/O provided by the operating system.  On Unix,
InnoDB uses simulated asynchronous I/O built into InnoDB: InnoDB
creates a number of I/O threads to take care of I/O operations, such as
read-ahead. In a future version we will add support for simulated aio
on Windows NT and native aio on those versions of Unix which have one.

On Windows NT InnoDB uses non-buffered I/O. That means that the disk
pages InnoDB reads or writes are not buffered in the operating system
file cache. This saves some memory bandwidth.

Starting from 3.23.41 InnoDB uses a novel file flush technique called
doublewrite.  It adds safety to crash recovery after an operating
system crash or a power outage, and improves performance on most Unix
flavors by reducing the need for fsync operations.

Doublewrite means that InnoDB before writing pages to a datafile first
writes them to a contiguous tablespace area called the doublewrite
buffer. Only after the write and the flush to the doublewrite buffer
has completed, InnoDB writes the pages to their proper positions in the
datafile. If the operating system crashes in the middle of a page
write, InnoDB will in recovery find a good copy of the page from the
doublewrite buffer.

Starting from 3.23.41 you can also use a raw disk partition as a
datafile, though this has not been tested yet. When you create a new
datafile you have to put the keyword `newraw' immediately after the
datafile size in `innodb_data_file_path'. The partition must be at
least as large as the size that you specify. Note that 1M in InnoDB is
1024 x 1024 bytes, while in disk specifications 1 MB usually means 1000
000 bytes.

     innodb_data_file_path=/dev/hdd1:5Gnewraw;/dev/hdd2:2Gnewraw

When you start the database again you *must* change the keyword to
`raw'. Otherwise, InnoDB will write over your partition!

     innodb_data_file_path=/dev/hdd1:5Graw;/dev/hdd2:2Graw

By using a raw disk you can on some versions of Unix perform unbuffered
I/O.

When you use raw disk partitions, make sure they have permissions that
allow read and write access to the account used for running the MySQL
server.

There are two read-ahead heuristics in InnoDB: sequential read-ahead
and random read-ahead. In sequential read-ahead InnoDB notices that the
access pattern to a segment in the tablespace is sequential.  Then
InnoDB will post in advance a batch of reads of database pages to the
I/O system. In random read-ahead InnoDB notices that some area in a
tablespace seems to be in the process of being fully read into the
buffer pool. Then InnoDB posts the remaining reads to the I/O system.

File Space Management
.....................

The datafiles you define in the configuration file form the tablespace
of InnoDB. The files are simply catenated to form the tablespace, there
is no striping in use.  Currently you cannot define where in the
tablespace your tables will be allocated. However, in a newly created
tablespace, InnoDB will allocate space starting from the low end.

The tablespace consists of database pages whose default size is 16 KB.
The pages are grouped into extents of 64 consecutive pages. The 'files'
inside a tablespace are called segments in InnoDB. The name of the
rollback segment is somewhat misleading because it actually contains
many segments in the tablespace.

For each index in InnoDB we allocate two segments: one is for non-leaf
nodes of the B-tree, the other is for the leaf nodes. The idea here is
to achieve better sequentiality for the leaf nodes, which contain the
data.

When a segment grows inside the tablespace, InnoDB allocates the first
32 pages to it individually. After that InnoDB starts to allocate whole
extents to the segment.  InnoDB can add to a large segment up to 4
extents at a time to ensure good sequentiality of data.

Some pages in the tablespace contain bitmaps of other pages, and
therefore a few extents in an InnoDB tablespace cannot be allocated to
segments as a whole, but only as individual pages.

When you issue a query `SHOW TABLE STATUS FROM ... LIKE ...' to ask for
available free space in the tablespace, InnoDB will report the extents
which are definitely free in the tablespace.  InnoDB always reserves
some extents for clean-up and other internal purposes; these reserved
extents are not included in the free space.

When you delete data from a table, InnoDB will contract the
corresponding B-tree indexes. It depends on the pattern of deletes if
that frees individual pages or extents to the tablespace, so that the
freed space is available for other users. Dropping a table or deleting
all rows from it is guaranteed to release the space to other users, but
remember that deleted rows can be physically removed only in a purge
operation after they are no longer needed in transaction rollback or
consistent read.

Defragmenting a Table
.....................

If there are random insertions or deletions in the indexes of a table,
the indexes may become fragmented. By fragmentation we mean that the
physical ordering of the index pages on the disk is not close to the
alphabetical ordering of the records on the pages, or that there are
many unused pages in the 64-page blocks which were allocated to the
index.

It can speed up index scans if you periodically use `mysqldump' to dump
the table to a text file, drop the table, and reload it from the dump.
Another way to do the defragmenting is to perform a 'null' alter table
operation `ALTER TABLE tablename TYPE=InnoDB'.  That makes `MySQL' to
rebuild the table.

If the insertions to an index are always ascending and records are
deleted only from the end, then the file space management algorithm of
InnoDB guarantees that fragmentation in the index will not occur.

Error Handling
--------------

The error handling in InnoDB is not always the same as specified in the
SQL standard. According to SQL-99, any error during an SQL statement
should cause the rollback of that statement. InnoDB sometimes rolls
back only part of the statement, or the whole transaction.  The
following list specifies the error handling of InnoDB.

   * If you run out of file space in the tablespace, you will get the
     MySQL `'Table is full'' error and InnoDB rolls back the SQL
     statement.

   * A transaction deadlock or a timeout in a lock wait make InnoDB to
     roll back the whole transaction.

   * A duplicate key error only rolls back the insert of that
     particular row, even in a statement like `INSERT INTO ... SELECT
     ...'.  This will probably change so that the SQL statement will be
     rolled back if you have not specified the `IGNORE' option in your
     statement.

   * A 'row too long' error rolls back the SQL statement.

   * Other errors are mostly detected by the MySQL layer of code, and
     they roll back the corresponding SQL statement.

Restrictions on InnoDB Tables
-----------------------------

   * InnoDB tables do not support full-text indexes.

   * In Windows, InnoDB stores the database names and table names
     internally always in lowercase. To move databases in a binary
     format from Unix to Windows or from Windows to Unix you should
     have all table and database names in lowercase.

   * `TRUNCATE table_name' doesn't reset any `AUTO_INCREMENT' counters.

   * *Warning:* Do *NOT* convert MySQL system tables from MyISAM TO
     InnoDB tables!  This is not supported; if you do this MySQL will
     not restart until you restore the old system tables from a backup
     or re-generate them with the `mysql_install_db' script.

   * `SHOW TABLE STATUS' does not give accurate statistics on InnoDB
     tables, except for the physical size reserved by the table.  The
     row count is only a rough estimate used in SQL optimization.

   * If you try to create a unique index on a prefix of a column you
     will get an error:

          CREATE TABLE T (A CHAR(20), B INT, UNIQUE (A(5))) TYPE = InnoDB;

     If you create a non-unique index on a prefix of a column, InnoDB
     will create an index over the whole column.

   * `INSERT DELAYED' is not supported for InnoDB tables.

   * The MySQL `LOCK TABLES' operation does not know of InnoDB row
     level locks set in already completed SQL statements: this means
     that you can get a table lock on a table even if there still exist
     transactions of other users which have row level locks on the same
     table. Thus your operations on the table may have to wait if they
     collide with these locks of other users. Also a deadlock is
     possible. However, this does not endanger transaction integrity,
     because the row level locks set by InnoDB will always take care of
     the integrity.  Also, a table lock prevents other transactions
     from acquiring more row level locks (in a conflicting lock mode)
     on the table.

   * A table cannot contain more than 1000 columns.

   * `DELETE FROM TABLE' does not regenerate the table but instead
     deletes all rows, one by one, which is not that fast. In future
     versions of MySQL you can use `TRUNCATE' which is fast.

   * The default database page size in InnoDB is 16 KB. By recompiling
     the code one can set it from 8 KB to 64 KB.  The maximun row
     length is slightly less than half of a database page in versions
     <= 3.23.40 of InnoDB. Starting from source release 3.23.41 BLOB and
     TEXT columns are allowed to be < 4 GB, the total row length must
     also be < 4 GB. InnoDB does not store fields whose size is <= 128
     bytes on separate pages. After InnoDB has modified the row by
     storing long fields on separate pages, the remaining length of the
     row must be less than half a database page. The maximun key length
     is 7000 bytes.

   * On some operating systems datafiles must be < 2 GB. The combined
     size of log files must be < 4 GB.

   * The maximum tablespace size is 4 billion database pages. This is
     also the maximum size for a table. The minimum tablespace size is
     10 MB.

   * When you restart the MySQL server, InnoDB may reuse an old value
     for an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column.

   * You cannot set the first `AUTO_INCREMENT' column value in InnoDB
     with `CREATE TABLE ... AUTO_INCREMENT=...' (or `ALTER TABLE ...').
     To set the value insert a dummy row with a value one less, and
     delete that dummy row.

InnoDB Change History
---------------------

MySQL/InnoDB-5.0.0, December 24, 2003
.....................................

   * *IMPORTANT NOTE: if you upgrade to InnoDB-4.1.1 or higher, you
     cannot downgrade to a version lower than 4.1.1 any more! That is
     because earlier versions of InnoDB are not aware of multiple
     tablespaces.*

   * InnoDB in 5.0.0 is essentially the same as InnoDB-4.1.1 with the
     bug fixes of InnoDB-4.0.17 included.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.17, December 17, 2003
......................................

   * Fixed a bug: if you created a column prefix secondary index and
     updated it so that the last characters in the column prefix were
     spaces, InnoDB would assert in `row0upd.c', line 713. The same
     assertion failed if you updated a column in an ordinary secondary
     index so that the new value was alphabetically equivalent, but had
     a different length. This could happen, for example, in the UTF8
     character set if you updated a letter to its accented or umlaut
     form.

   * Fixed a bug: InnoDB could think that a secondary index record was
     not locked though it had been updated to an alphabetically
     equivalent value, e.g., 'abc' -> 'aBc'.

   * Fixed a bug: if you updated a secondary index column to an
     alphabetically equivalent value, and rolled back your update,
     InnoDB failed to restore the field in the secondary index to its
     original value.

   * There are still several outstanding non-critical bugs reported in
     the MySQL bugs database. Their fixing has been delayed, because
     resources were allocated to the 4.1.1 release.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.1.1, December 4, 2003
....................................

   * *IMPORTANT NOTE: if you upgrade to InnoDB-4.1.1 or higher, you
     cannot downgrade to a version lower than 4.1.1 any more! That is
     because earlier versions of InnoDB are not aware of multiple
     tablespaces.*

   * Multiple tablespaces now available for InnoDB. You can store each
     InnoDB type table and its indexes into a separate `.ibd' file into
     a MySQL database directory, into the same directory where the
     `.frm' file is stored.

   * The MySQL query cache now works for InnoDB tables also if
     `AUTOCOMMIT=0', or the statements are enclosed inside `BEGIN ...
     COMMIT'.

   * Reduced InnoDB memory consumption by a few megabytes if one sets
     the buffer pool size < 8 MB.

   * You can use raw disk partitions also in Windows.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.16, October 22, 2003
.....................................

   * Fixed a bug: in contrary to what was said in the manual, in a
     locking read InnoDB set two record locks if a unique exact match
     search condition was used on a multi-column unique key. For a
     single column unique key it worked right.

   * Fixed a bug: if one used the rename trick `#sql... -> rsql...' to
     recover a temporary table, InnoDB asserted in
     `row_mysql_lock_data_dictionary()'.

   * There are several outstanding non-critical bugs reported in the
     MySQL bugs database. Their fixing has been delayed, because
     resources are allocated to the upcoming 4.1.1 release.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.58, September 15, 2003
........................................

   * Fixed a bug: InnoDB could make the index page directory corrupt in
     the first B-tree page splits after `mysqld' startup. A symptom
     would be an assertion failure in `page0page.c', in function
     `page_dir_find_slot()'.

   * Fixed a bug: InnoDB could in rare cases return an extraneous row
     if a rollback, purge, and a `SELECT' coincided.

   * Fixed a possible hang over the `btr0sea.c' latch if `SELECT' was
     used inside `LOCK TABLES'.

   * Fixed a bug: if a single `DELETE' statement first managed to delete
     some rows and then failed in a `FOREIGN KEY' error or a `Table is
     full' error, MySQL did not roll back the whole SQL statement as it
     should.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.15, September 10, 2003
.......................................

   * Fixed a bug: if you updated a row so that the 8000 byte maximum
     length (without `BLOB' and `TEXT') was exceeded, InnoDB simply
     removed the record from the clustered index. In a similar insert,
     InnoDB would leak reserved file space extents, which would only be
     freed at the next mysqld startup.

   * Fixed a bug: if you used big `BLOB' values, and your log files were
     relatively small, InnoDB could in a big `BLOB' operation
     temporarily write over the log produced after the latest
     checkpoint. If InnoDB would crash at that moment, then the crash
     recovery would fail, because InnoDB would not be able to scan the
     log even up to the latest checkpoint. Starting from this version,
     InnoDB tries to ensure the latest checkpoint is young enough. If
     that is not possible, InnoDB prints a warning to the `.err' log of
     MySQL and advises you to make the log files bigger.

   * Fixed a bug: setting `innodb_fast_shutdown=0' had no effect.

   * Fixed a bug introduced in 4.0.13: if a `CREATE TABLE' ended in a
     comment, that could cause a memory overrun.

   * Fixed a bug: If InnoDB printed `Operating system error number .. in
     a file operation' to the `.err' log in Windows, the error number
     explanation was wrong. Workaround: look at section 13.2 of
     http://www.innodb.com/ibman.php about Windows error numbers.

   * Fixed a bug: If you created a column prefix `PRIMARY KEY' like in
     `t(a CHAR(200), PRIMARY KEY (a(10)))' on a fixed-length `CHAR'
     column, InnoDB would crash even in a simple `SELECT'. C`CHECK
     TABLE' would report the table as corrupt, also in the case where
     the created key was not `PRIMARY'.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.14, July 22, 2003
..................................

   bullet InnoDB now supports the `SAVEPOINT' and `ROLLBACK TO
     SAVEPOINT' SQL statements. See
     http://www.innodb.com/ibman.php#Savepoints for the syntax.

   bullet You can now create column prefix keys like in `CREATE TABLE t
     (a BLOB, INDEX (a(10)))'.

   bullet You can also use `O_DIRECT' as the `innodb_flush_method' on
     the latest versions of Linux and FreeBSD. Beware of possible bugs
     in those operating systems, though.

   bullet Fixed the checksum calculation of data pages. Previously most
     OS file system corruption went unnoticed. Note that if you
     downgrade from version >= 4.0.14 to an earlier version < 4.0.14
     then in the first startup(s) InnoDB will print warnings:
          InnoDB: Warning: An inconsistent page in the doublewrite buffer
          InnoDB: space id 2552202359 page number 8245, 127'th page in dblwr buf.
     but that is not dangerous and can be ignored.

   bullet Modified the buffer pool replacement algorithm so that it
     tries to flush modified pages if there are no replaceable pages in
     the last 10 % of the LRU list. This can reduce disk i/o if the
     workload is a mixture of reads and writes.

   bullet The buffer pool checkpoint flush algorithm now tries to flush
     also close neighbors of the page at the end of the flush list.
     This can speed up database shutdown, and can also speed up disk
     writes if InnoDB log files are very small compared to the buffer
     pool size.

   bullet In 4.0.13 we made `SHOW INNODB STATUS' to print detailed info
     on the latest `UNIQUE KEY' error, but storing that info could slow
     down `REPLACE' significantly. We no longer store or print the info.

   bullet Fixed a bug: `SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0' was not replicated
     properly in the MySQL replication. The fix will not be backported
     to 3.23.

   bullet Fixed a bug: the parameter `innodb_max_dirty_pages_pct'
     forgot to take into account the free pages in the buffer pool.
     This could lead to excessive flushing even though there were lots
     of free pages in the buffer pool. Workaround: `SET GLOBAL
     innodb_max_dirty_pages_pct = 100'.

   bullet Fixed a bug: if there were big index scans then a file read
     request could starve and InnoDB could assert because of a very
     long semaphore wait.

   bullet Fixed a bug: if `AUTOCOMMIT=1' then inside `LOCK TABLES' MySQL
     failed to do the commit after an updating SQL statement if
     binlogging was not on, and for `SELECT' statements did not commit
     regardless of binlogging state.

   bullet Fixed a bug: InnoDB could make the index page directory
     corrupt in the first B-tree page splits after a mysqld startup. A
     symptom would be an assertion in page0page.c, in function
     page_dir_find_slot().

   bullet Fixed a bug: if in a `FOREIGN KEY' with an `UPDATE CASCADE'
     clause the parent column was of a different internal storage length
     than the child column, then a cascaded update would make the column
     length wrong in the child table and corrupt the child table.
     Because of MySQL's 'silent column specification changes' a
     fixed-length `CHAR' column can change internally to a `VARCHAR'
     and cause this error.

   bullet Fixed a bug: if a non-`latin1' character set was used and if
     in a `FOREIGN KEY' the parent column was of a different internal
     storage length than the child column, then all inserts to the
     child table would fail in a foreign key error.

   bullet Fixed a bug: InnoDB could complain that it cannot find the
     clustered index record, or in rare cases return an extraneous row
     if a rollback, purge, and a `SELECT' coincided.

   bullet Fixed a possible hang over the btr0sea.c latch if `SELECT'
     was used inside `LOCK TABLES'.

   bullet Fixed a bug: contrary to what the release note of 4.0.13
     said, the group commit still did not work if the MySQL binlogging
     was on.

   bullet Fixed a bug: os_event_wait() did not work properly in Unix,
     which might have caused starvation in various log operations.

   bullet Fixed a bug: if a single `DELETE' statement first managed to
     delete some rows and then failed in a `FOREIGN KEY' error or a
     'Table is full error', MySQL did not roll back the whole SQL
     statement as it should, and also wrote the failed statement to the
     binlog, reporting there a non-zero error_code.

   bullet Fixed a bug: the maximum allowed number of columns in a table
     is 1000, but InnoDB did not check that limit in `CREATE TABLE',
     and a subsequent `INSERT' or `SELECT' from that table could cause
     an assertion.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.57, June 20, 2003
...................................

   bullet Changed the default value of `innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit'
     from 0 to 1. If you have not specified it explicitly in your
     `my.cnf', and your application runs much slower with this new
     release, it is because the value 1 causes a log flush to disk at
     each transaction commit.

   bullet Fixed a bug: InnoDB forgot to call pthread_mutex_destroy()
     when a table was dropped. That could cause memory leakage on
     FreeBSD and other non-Linux Unixes.

   bullet Fixed a bug: MySQL could erroneously return 'Empty set' if
     InnoDB estimated an index range size to 0 records though the range
     was not empty; MySQL also failed to do the next-key locking in the
     case of an empty index range.

   bullet Fixed a bug: `GROUP BY' and `DISTINCT' could treat NULL values
     inequal.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.13, May 20, 2003
.................................

   bullet `InnoDB' now supports `ALTER TABLE DROP FOREIGN KEY'. You
     have to use `SHOW CREATE TABLE' to find the internally generated
     foreign key ID when you want to drop a foreign key.

   bullet `SHOW INNODB STATUS' now prints detailed information of the
     latest detected `FOREIGN KEY' and `UNIQUE KEY' errors. If you do
     not understand why `InnoDB' gives the error 150 from a `CREATE
     TABLE', you can use this statement to study the reason.

   bullet `ANALYZE TABLE' now works also for `InnoDB' type tables. It
     makes 10 random dives to each of the index trees and updates index
     cardinality estimates accordingly. Note that since it is only an
     estimate, repeated runs of `ANALYZE TABLE' may produce different
     numbers. MySQL uses index cardinality estimates only in join
     optimization. If some join is not optimized in the right way, you
     may try using `ANALYZE TABLE'.

   bullet `InnoDB' group commit capability now works also when MySQL
     binlogging is switched on. There have to be > 2 client threads for
     the group commit to become active.

   bullet Changed the default value of `innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit'
     from 0 to 1. If you have not specified it explicitly in your
     `my.cnf', and your application runs much slower with this new
     release, it is because the value 1 causes a log flush to disk at
     each transaction commit.

   bullet Added a new global settable MySQL system variable
     `innodb_max_dirty_pages_pct'. It is an integer in the range 0 -
     100.  The default is 90. The main thread in `InnoDB' tries to
     flush pages from the buffer pool so that at most this many
     percents are not yet flushed at any time.

   bullet If `innodb_force_recovery=6', do not let `InnoDB' do repair
     of corrupt pages based on the doublewrite buffer.

   bullet `InnoDB' start-up now happens faster because it does not set
     the memory in the buffer pool to zero.

   bullet Fixed a bug: The `InnoDB' parser for `FOREIGN KEY'
     definitions was confused by the keywords 'foreign key' inside
     MySQL comments.

   bullet Fixed a bug: If you dropped a table to which there was a
     `FOREIGN KEY' reference, and later created the same table with
     non-matching column types, `InnoDB' could assert in `dict0load.c',
     in function `dict_load_table()'.

   bullet Fixed a bug: `GROUP BY' and `DISTINCT' could treat `NULL'
     values as not equal.  MySQL also failed to do the next-key locking
     in the case of an empty index range.

   bullet Fixed a bug: Do not commit the current transaction when a
     MyISAM table is updated; this also makes `CREATE TABLE' not to
     commit an `InnoDB' transaction, even when binlogging is enabled.

   bullet Fixed a bug: We did not allow `ON DELETE SET NULL' to modify
     the same table where the delete was made; we can allow it because
     that cannot produce infinite loops in cascaded operations.

   bullet Fixed a bug: Allow `HANDLER PREV' and `NEXT' also after
     positioning the cursor with a unique search on the primary key.

   bullet Fixed a bug: If `MIN()' or `MAX()' resulted in a deadlock or
     a lock wait timeout, MySQL did not return an error, but returned
     `NULL' as the function value.

   bullet Fixed a bug: `InnoDB' forgot to call
     `pthread_mutex_destroy()' when a table was dropped. That could
     cause memory leakage on FreeBSD and other non-Linux Unix systems.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.1.0, April 3, 2003
.................................

   * `InnoDB' now supports up to 64 GB of buffer pool memory in a
     Windows 32-bit Intel computer. This is possible because `InnoDB'
     can use the AWE extension of Windows to address memory over the 4
     GB limit of a 32-bit process. A new startup variable
     `innodb_buffer_pool_awe_mem_mb' enables AWE and sets the size of
     the buffer pool in megabytes.

   * Reduced the size of buffer headers and the lock table. `InnoDB'
     uses 2 % less memory.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.56, March 17, 2003
....................................

   * Fixed a major bug in InnoDB query optimization: queries of type
     SELECT ... WHERE indexcolumn < x and SELECT ... WHERE indexcolumn
     > x could cause a table scan even if the selectivity would have
     been very good.

   * Fixed a potential bug if MySQL calls store_lock with TL_IGNORE in
     the middle of a query.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.12, March 18, 2003
...................................

   * In crash recovery InnoDB now prints the progress in percents of a
     transaction rollback.

   * Fixed a bug/feature: if your application program used
     mysql_use_result(), and used >= 2 connections to send SQL queries,
     it could deadlock on the adaptive hash S-latch in btr0sea.c. Now
     mysqld releases the S-latch whenever it passes data from a SELECT
     to the client.

   * Fixed a bug: MySQL could erroneously return 'Empty set' if InnoDB
     estimated an index range size to 0 records though the range was
     not empty; MySQL also failed to do the next-key locking in the
     case of an empty index range.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.11, February 25, 2003
......................................

   * Fixed a bug introduced in 4.0.10: SELECT ... FROM ... ORDER BY ...
     DESC could hang in an infinite loop.

   * An outstanding bug: SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0 is not replicated
     properly in the MySQL replication.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.10, February 4, 2003
.....................................

   * In INSERT INTO t1 SELECT ... FROM t2 WHERE ... MySQL previously
     set a table level read lock on t2. This lock is now removed.

   * Increased SHOW INNODB STATUS max printed length to 200 KB.

   * Fixed a major bug in InnoDB query optimization: queries of type
     SELECT ... WHERE indexcolumn < x and SELECT ... WHERE indexcolumn
     > x could cause a table scan even if the selectivity would have
     been very good.

   * Fixed a bug: purge could cause a hang in a BLOB table where the
     primary key index tree was of height 1. Symptom: semaphore waits
     caused by an X-latch set in btr_free_externally_stored_field().

   * Fixed a bug: using InnoDB HANDLER commands on a fresh handle
     crashed mysqld in ha_innobase::change_active_index().

   * Fixed a bug: if MySQL estimated a query in the middle of a SELECT
     statement, InnoDB could hang on the adaptive hash index latch in
     btr0sea.c.

   * Fixed a bug: InnoDB could report table corruption and assert in
     page_dir_find_owner_slot() if an adaptive hash index search
     coincided with purge or an insert.

   * Fixed a bug: some file system snapshot tool in Windows 2000 could
     cause an InnoDB file write to fail with error 33
     ERROR_LOCK_VIOLATION.  In synchronous writes InnoDB now retries
     the write 100 times at 1 second intervals.

   * Fixed a bug: REPLACE INTO t1 SELECT ... did not work if t1 has an
     auto-inc column.

   * An outstanding bug: SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0 is not replicated
     properly in the MySQL replication.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.55, January 24, 2003
......................................

   * In INSERT INTO t1 SELECT ... FROM t2 WHERE ... MySQL previously set
     a table level read lock on t2. This lock is now removed.

   * Fixed a bug: if the combined size of InnoDB log files was >= 2 GB
     in a 32-bit computer, InnoDB would write log in a wrong position.
     That could make crash recovery and InnoDB Hot Backup to fail in
     log scan.

   * Fixed a bug: index cursor restoration could theoretically fail.

   * Fixed a bug: an assertion in btr0sea.c, in function
     btr_search_info_update_slow could theoretically fail in a race of
     3 threads.

   * Fixed a bug: purge could cause a hang in a BLOB table where the
     primary key index tree was of height 1. Symptom: semaphore waits
     caused by an X-latch set in btr_free_externally_stored_field().

   * Fixed a bug: if MySQL estimated a query in the middle of a SELECT
     statement, InnoDB could hang on the adaptive hash index latch in
     btr0sea.c.

   * Fixed a bug: InnoDB could report table corruption and assert in
     page_dir_find_owner_slot() if an adaptive hash index search
     coincided with purge or an insert.

   * Fixed a bug: some file system snapshot tool in Windows 2000 could
     cause an InnoDB file write to fail with error 33
     ERROR_LOCK_VIOLATION.  In synchronous writes InnoDB now retries
     the write 100 times at 1 second intervals.

   * An outstanding bug: SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0 is not replicated
     properly in the MySQL replication. The fix will appear in 4.0.11
     and will probably not be backported to 3.23.

   * Fixed bug in InnoDB page0cur.c in function
     page_cur_search_with_match which caused InnoDB to remain on the
     same page forever.  This bug is evident only in tables with more
     than one page.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.9, January 14, 2003
....................................

   * Removed the warning message: 'InnoDB: Out of memory in additional
     memory pool.'

   * Fixed a bug: if the combined size of InnoDB log files was >= 2 GB
     in a 32-bit computer, InnoDB would write log in a wrong position.
     That could make crash recovery and InnoDB Hot Backup to fail.

   * Fixed a bug: index cursor restoration could theoretically fail.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.8, January 7, 2003
...................................

   * InnoDB now supports also FOREIGN KEY (...) REFERENCES ...(...)
     [ON UPDATE CASCADE | ON UPDATE SET NULL | ON UPDATE RESTRICT | ON
     UPDATE NO ACTION].

   * Tables and indexes now reserve 4 % less space in the tablespace.
     Also existing tables reserve less space. By upgrading to 4.0.8 you
     will see more free space in "InnoDB free" in SHOW TABLE STATUS.

   * Fixed bugs: updating the PRIMARY KEY of a row would generate a
     foreign key error on all FOREIGN KEYs which referenced secondary
     keys of the row to be updated. Also, if a referencing FOREIGN KEY
     constraint only referenced the first columns in an index, and
     there were more columns in that index, updating the additional
     columns generated a foreign key error.

   * Fixed a bug: if an index contains some column twice, and that
     column is updated, the table will become corrupt. From now on
     InnoDB prevents creation of such indexes.

   * Fixed a bug: removed superfluous error 149 and 150 printouts from
     the .err log when a locking SELECT caused a deadlock or a lock
     wait timeout.

   * Fixed a bug: an assertion in btr0sea.c, in function
     btr_search_info_update_slow could theoretically fail in a race of
     3 threads.

   * Fixed a bug: one could not switch a session transaction isolation
     level back to REPEATABLE READ after setting it to something else.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.7, December 26, 2002
.....................................

   * InnoDB in 4.0.7 is essentially the same as in 4.0.6.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.6, December 19, 2002
.....................................

   * Since innodb_log_arch_dir has no relevance under MySQL, there is
     no need to specify it any more in my.cnf.

   * LOAD DATA INFILE in AUTOCOMMIT=1 mode no longer does implicit
     commits for each 1 MB of written binlog.

   * Fixed a bug introduced in 4.0.4: LOCK TABLES ... READ LOCAL should
     not set row locks on the rows read. This caused deadlocks and lock
     wait timeouts in mysqldump.

   * Fixed two bugs introduced in 4.0.4: in AUTO_INCREMENT, REPLACE
     could cause the counter to be left 1 too low.  A deadlock or a
     lock wait timeout could cause the same problem.

   * Fixed a bug: TRUNCATE on a TEMPORARY table crashed InnoDB.

   * Fixed a bug introduced in 4.0.5: if binlogging was not switched on,
     INSERT INTO ... SELECT ... or CREATE TABLE ... SELECT ... could
     cause InnoDB to hang on a semaphore created in btr0sea.c, line 128.
     Workaround: switch binlogging on.

   * Fixed a bug: in replication issuing SLAVE STOP in the middle of a
     multiple-statement transaction could cause that SLAVE START would
     only perform a part of the transaction. A similar error could occur
     if the slave crashed and was restarted.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.54, December 12, 2002
.......................................

   * Fixed a bug: the InnoDB range estimator greatly exaggerated the
     size of a short index range if the paths to the endpoints of the
     range in the index tree happened to branch already in the root.
     This could cause unnecessary table scans in SQL queries.

   * Fixed a bug: ORDER BY could fail if you had not created a primary
     key to a table, but had defined several indexes of which at least
     one was a UNIQUE index with all its columns declared as NOT NULL.

   * Fixed a bug: a lock wait timeout in connection with ON DELETE
     CASCADE could cause corruption in indexes.

   * Fixed a bug: if a SELECT was done with a unique key from a primary
     index, and the search matched to a delete-marked record, InnoDB
     could erroneously return the NEXT record.

   * Fixed a bug introduced in 3.23.53: LOCK TABLES ... READ LOCAL
     should not set row locks on the rows read. This caused deadlocks
     and lock wait timeouts in mysqldump.

   * Fixed a bug: if an index contains some column twice, and that
     column is updated, the table will become corrupt. From now on
     InnoDB prevents creation of such indexes.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.5, November 18, 2002
.....................................

   * InnoDB now supports also transaction isolation levels READ
     COMMITTED and READ UNCOMMITTED. READ COMMITTED more closely
     emulates Oracle and makes porting of applications from Oracle to
     MySQL easier.

   * Deadlock resolution is now selective: we try to pick as victims
     transactions with less modified or inserted rows.

   * FOREIGN KEY definitions are now aware of the
     lower_case_table_names setting in my.cnf.

   * SHOW CREATE TABLE does not output the database name to a FOREIGN
     KEY definition if the referred table is in the same database as
     the table.

   * InnoDB does a consistency check to most index pages before writing
     them to a datafile.

   * If you set innodb_force_recovery > 0, InnoDB tries to jump over
     corrupt index records and pages when doing SELECT * FROM table.
     This helps in dumping.

   * InnoDB now again uses asynchronous unbuffered I/O in Windows 2000
     and XP; only unbuffered simulated async I/O in NT, 95/98/ME.

   * Fixed a bug: the InnoDB range estimator greatly exaggerated the
     size of a short index range if the paths to the endpoints of the
     range in the index tree happened to branch already in the root.
     This could cause unnecessary table scans in SQL queries.  The fix
     will also be backported to 3.23.54.

   * Fixed a bug present in 3.23.52, 4.0.3, 4.0.4: InnoDB startup could
     take very long or even crash on some Windows 95/98/ME computers.

   * Fixed a bug: the AUTO-INC lock was held to the end of the
     transaction if it was granted after a lock wait. This could cause
     unnecessary deadlocks.

   * Fixed a bug: if SHOW INNODB STATUS, innodb_monitor, or
     innodb_lock_monitor had to print several hundred transactions in
     one report, and the output became truncated, InnoDB would hang,
     printing to the error log many waits for a mutex created at
     srv0srv.c, line 1621.

   * Fixed a bug: SHOW INNODB STATUS on Unix always reported average
     file read size as 0 bytes.

   * Fixed a potential bug in 4.0.4: InnoDB now does ORDER BY ... DESC
     like MyISAM.

   * Fixed a bug: DROP TABLE could cause crash or a hang if there was a
     rollback concurrently running on the table. The fix will be
     backported to 3.23 only if this appears a real problem for users.

   * Fixed a bug: ORDER BY could fail if you had not created a primary
     key to a table, but had defined several indexes of which at least
     one was a UNIQUE index with all its columns declared as NOT NULL.

   * Fixed a bug: a lock wait timeout in connection with ON DELETE
     CASCADE could cause corruption in indexes.

   * Fixed a bug: if a SELECT was done with a unique key from a primary
     index, and the search matched to a delete-marked record, InnoDB
     could return the NEXT record.

   * Outstanding bugs: in 4.0.4 two bugs were introduced to
     AUTO_INCREMENT. REPLACE can cause the counter to be left 1 too
     low. A deadlock or a lock wait timeout can cause the same problem.
     These will be fixed in 4.0.6.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.53, October 9, 2002
.....................................

   * We again use unbuffered disk I/O to datafiles in Windows.  Windows
     XP and Windows 2000 read performance seems to be very poor with
     normal I/O.

   * Tuned range estimator so that index range scans are preferred over
     full index scans.

   * Allow dropping and creating a table even if innodb_force_recovery
     is set. One can use this to drop a table which would cause a crash
     in rollback or purge, or if a failed table import causes a runaway
     rollback in recovery.

   * Fixed a bug present in 3.23.52, 4.0.3, 4.0.4: InnoDB startup could
     take very long or even crash on some Windows 95/98/ME computers.

   * Fixed a bug: fast shutdown (which is the default) sometimes was
     slowed down by purge and insert buffer merge.

   * Fixed a bug: doing a big SELECT from a table where no rows were
     visible in a consistent read could cause a very long (> 600
     seconds) semaphore wait in btr0cur.c line 310.

   * Fixed a bug: the AUTO-INC lock was held to the end of the
     transaction if it was granted after a lock wait.  This could cause
     unnecessary deadlocks.

   * Fixed a bug: if you created a temporary table inside LOCK TABLES,
     and used that temporary table, that caused an assertion failure in
     ha_innobase.cc.

   * Fixed a bug: if SHOW INNODB STATUS, innodb_monitor, or
     innodb_lock_monitor had to print several hundred transactions in
     one report, and the output became truncated, InnoDB would hang,
     printing to the error log many waits for a mutex created at
     srv0srv.c, line 1621.

   * Fixed a bug: SHOW INNODB STATUS on Unix always reported average
     file read size as 0 bytes.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.4, October 2, 2002
...................................

   * We again use unbuffered disk I/O in Windows. Windows XP and
     Windows 2000 read performance seems to be very poor with normal
     I/O.

   * Increased the max key length of InnoDB tables from 500 to 1024
     bytes.

   * Increased the table comment field in SHOW TABLE STATUS so that up
     to 16000 characters of foreign key definitions can be printed
     there.

   * The auto-increment counter is no longer incremented if an insert
     of a row immediately fails in an error.

   * Allow dropping and creating a table even if innodb_force_recovery
     is set. One can use this to drop a table which would cause a crash
     in rollback or purge, or if a failed table import causes a runaway
     rollback in recovery.

   * Fixed a bug: Using ORDER BY primarykey DESC in 4.0.3 causes an
     assertion failure in btr0pcur.c, line 203.

   * Fixed a bug: fast shutdown (which is the default) sometimes was
     slowed down by purge and insert buffer merge.

   * Fixed a bug: doing a big SELECT from a table where no rows were
     visible in a consistent read could cause a very long (> 600
     seconds) semaphore wait in btr0cur.c line 310.

   * Fixed a bug: if the MySQL query cache was used, it did not get
     invalidated by a modification done by ON DELETE CASCADE or ...SET
     NULL.

   * Fixed a bug: if you created a temporary table inside LOCK TABLES,
     and used that temporary table, that caused an assertion failure in
     ha_innodb.cc.

   * Fixed a bug: if you set innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit to 1, SHOW
     VARIABLES would show its value as 16 million.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.3, August 28, 2002
...................................

   * Removed unnecessary deadlocks when inserts have to wait for a
     locking read, update, or delete to release its next-key lock.

   * The MySQL `HANDLER' SQL commands now work also for `InnoDB' type
     tables. `InnoDB' does the `HANDLER' reads always as consistent
     reads. `HANDLER' is a direct access path to read individual
     indexes of tables. In some cases `HANDLER' can be used as a
     substitute of server-side cursors.

   * Fixed a bug in 4.0.2: even a simple insert could crash the AIX
     version.

   * Fixed a bug: if you used in a table name characters whose code is
     > 127, in DROP TABLE InnoDB could assert on line 155 of pars0sym.c.

   * Compilation from source now provides a working version both on
     HP-UX-11 and HP-UX-10.20. The source of 4.0.2 worked only on 11,
     and the source of 3.23.52 only on 10.20.

   * Fixed a bug: if compiled on 64-bit Solaris, InnoDB produced a bus
     error at startup.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.52, August 16, 2002
.....................................

   * The feature set of 3.23 will be frozen from this version on. New
     features will go the 4.0 branch, and only bug fixes will be made
     to the 3.23 branch.

   * Many CPU-bound join queries now run faster. On Windows also many
     other CPU-bound queries run faster.

   * A new SQL command SHOW INNODB STATUS returns the output of the
     InnoDB Monitor to the client. The InnoDB Monitor now prints
     detailed information on the latest detected deadlock.

   * InnoDB made the SQL query optimizer to avoid too much index-only
     range scans and choose full table scans instead. This is now fixed.

   * `BEGIN' and `COMMIT' are now added in the binlog around
     transactions.  The MySQL replication now respects transaction
     borders: a user will no longer see half transactions in
     replication slaves.

   * A replication slave now prints in crash recovery the last master
     binlog position it was able to recover to.

   * A new setting innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=2 makes InnoDB to
     write the log to the operating system file cache at each commit.
     This is almost as fast as the setting
     innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=0, and the setting 2 also has the
     nice feature that in a crash where the operating system does not
     crash, no committed transaction is lost.  If the operating system
     crashes or there is a power outage, then the setting 2 is no safer
     than the setting 0.

   * Added checksum fields to log blocks.

   * SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0 helps in importing tables in an arbitrary
     order which does not respect the foreign key rules.

   * SET UNIQUE_CHECKS=0 speeds up table imports into InnoDB if you
     have UNIQUE constraints on secondary indexes.  This flag should be
     used only if you are certain that the input records contain no
     UNIQUE constraint violations.

   * SHOW TABLE STATUS now lists also possible ON DELETE CASCADE or ON
     DELETE SET NULL in the comment field of the table.

   * When CHECK TABLE is run on any InnoDB type table, it now checks
     also the adaptive hash index for all tables.

   * If you defined ON DELETE CASCADE or SET NULL and updated the
     referenced key in the parent row, InnoDB deleted or updated the
     child row. This is now changed to conform to SQL-92: you get the
     error 'Cannot delete parent row'.

   * Improved the auto-increment algorithm: now the first insert or
     SHOW TABLE STATUS initializes the auto-increment counter for the
     table.  This removes almost all surprising deadlocks caused by
     SHOW TABLE STATUS.

   * Aligned some buffers used in reading and writing to datafiles.
     This allows using unbuffered raw devices as datafiles in Linux.

   * Fixed a bug: If you updated the primary key of a table so that
     only the case of characters changed, that could cause assertion
     failures, mostly in page0page.ic line 515.

   * Fixed a bug: If you delete or update a row referenced in a foreign
     key constraint and the foreign key check has to wait for a lock,
     then the check may report an erroneous result. This affects also
     the ON DELETE... operation.

   * Fixed a bug: A deadlock or a lock wait timeout error in InnoDB
     causes InnoDB to roll back the whole transaction, but MySQL could
     still write the earlier SQL statements to the binlog, even though
     InnoDB rolled them back. This could, for example, cause replicated
     databases to get out-of-sync.

   * Fixed a bug: If the database happened to crash in the middle of a
     commit, then the recovery might leak tablespace pages.

   * Fixed a bug: If you specified a non-latin1 character set in my.cnf,
     then, in contrary to what is stated in the manual, in a foreign key
     constraint a string type column had to have the same length
     specification in the referencing table and the referenced table.

   * Fixed a bug: DROP TABLE or DROP DATABASE could fail if there
     simultaneously was a CREATE TABLE running.

   * Fixed a bug: If you configured the buffer pool bigger than 2 GB in
     a 32-bit computer, InnoDB would assert in buf0buf.ic line 214.

   * Fixed a bug: on 64-bit computers updating rows which contained the
     SQL NULL in some column could cause the undo log and the ordinary
     log to become corrupt.

   * Fixed a bug: innodb_log_monitor caused a hang if it suppressed
     lock prints for a page.

   * Fixed a bug: in the HP-UX-10.20 version mutexes would leak and
     cause race conditions and crashes in any part of InnoDB code.

   * Fixed a bug: if you ran in the AUTOCOMMIT mode, executed a SELECT,
     and immediately after that a RENAME TABLE, then RENAME would fail
     and MySQL would complain about error 1192.

   * Fixed a bug: if compiled on 64-bit Solaris, InnoDB produced a bus
     error at startup.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.2, July 10, 2002
.................................

   * InnoDB is essentially the same as InnoDB-3.23.51.

   * If no innodb_data_file_path is specified, InnoDB at the database
     creation now creates a 10 MB auto-extending datafile ibdata1 to
     the datadir of MySQL. In 4.0.1 the file was 64 MB and not
     auto-extending.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.51, June 12, 2002
...................................

   * Fixed a bug: a join could result in a seg fault in copying of a
     BLOB or TEXT column if some of the BLOB or TEXT columns in the
     table contained SQL NULL values.

   * Fixed a bug: if you added self-referential foreign key constraints
     with ON DELETE CASCADE to tables and a row deletion caused InnoDB
     to attempt the deletion of the same row twice because of a
     cascading delete, then you got an assertion failure.

   * Fixed a bug: if you use MySQL 'user level locks' and close a
     connection, then InnoDB may assert in ha_innobase.cc, line 302.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.50, April 23, 2002
....................................

   * InnoDB now supports an auto-extending last datafile. You do not
     need to preallocate the whole datafile at the database startup.

   * Made several changes to facilitate the use of the InnoDB Hot Backup
     tool. It is a separate non-free tool you can use to take online
     backups of your database without shutting down the server or
     setting any locks.

   * If you want to run the InnoDB Hot Backup tool on an auto-extending
     datafile you have to upgrade it to version ibbackup-0.35.

   * The log scan phase in crash recovery will now run much faster.

   * Starting from this server version, the hot backup tool truncates
     unused ends in the backup InnoDB datafiles.

   * To allow the hot backup tool to work, on Windows we no longer use
     unbuffered I/O or native async I/O; instead we use the same
     simulated async I/O as on Unix.

   * You can now define the ON DELETE CASCADE or ON DELETE SET NULL
     clause on foreign keys.

   * FOREIGN KEY constraints now survive ALTER TABLE and CREATE INDEX.

   * We suppress the FOREIGN KEY check if any of the column values in
     the foreign key or referenced key to be checked is the SQL NULL.
     This is compatible with Oracle, for example.

   * SHOW CREATE TABLE now lists also foreign key constraints. Also
     mysqldump no longer forgets about foreign keys in table
     definitions.

   * You can now add a new foreign key constraint with ALTER TABLE ...
     ADD CONSTRAINT FOREIGN KEY (...) REFERENCES ... (...).

   * FOREIGN KEY definitions now allow backquotes around table and
     column names.

   * MySQL command SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL ...  has now the
     following effect on InnoDB tables: if a transaction is defined as
     SERIALIZABLE then InnoDB conceptually adds LOCK IN SHARE MODE to
     all consistent reads. If a transaction is defined to have any other
     isolation level, then InnoDB obeys its default locking strategy
     which is REPEATABLE READ.

   * SHOW TABLE STATUS no longer sets an x-lock at the end of an
     auto-increment index if the auto-increment counter has already
     been initialized. This removes in almost all cases the surprising
     deadlocks caused by SHOW TABLE STATUS.

   * Fixed a bug: in a CREATE TABLE statement the string 'foreign'
     followed by a non-space character confused the FOREIGN KEY parser
     and caused table creation to fail with errno 150.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.49, February 17, 2002
.......................................

   * Fixed a bug: if you called DROP DATABASE for a database on which
     there simultaneously were running queries, the MySQL server could
     crash or hang. Crashes fixed, but a full fix has to wait some
     changes in the MySQL layer of code.

   * Fixed a bug: on Windows one had to put the database name in
     lowercase for `DROP DATABASE' to work. Fixed in 3.23.49: case no
     longer matters on Windows. On Unix, the database name remains case
     sensitive.

   * Fixed a bug: if one defined a non-latin1 character set as the
     default character set, then definition of foreign key constraints
     could fail in an assertion failure in dict0crea.c, reporting an
     internal error 17.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.48, February 9, 2002
......................................

   * Tuned the SQL optimizer to favor more often index searches over
     table scans.

   * Fixed a performance problem when several large SELECT queries are
     run concurrently on a multiprocessor Linux computer.  Large
     CPU-bound SELECT queries will now also generally run faster on all
     platforms.

   * If MySQL binlogging is used, InnoDB now prints after crash
     recovery the latest MySQL binlog file name and the position in
     that file (= byte offset) InnoDB was able to recover to. This is
     useful, for example, when resynchronizing a master and a slave
     database in replication.

   * Added better error messages to help in installation problems.

   * One can now recover also MySQL temporary tables which have become
     orphaned inside the InnoDB tablespace.

   * InnoDB now prevents a FOREIGN KEY declaration where the signedness
     is not the same in the referencing and referenced integer columns.

   * Fixed a bug: calling SHOW CREATE TABLE or SHOW TABLE STATUS could
     cause memory corruption and make mysqld to crash.  Especially at
     risk was mysqldump, because it calls frequently SHOW CREATE TABLE.

   * Fixed a bug: if on Unix you did an ALTER TABLE to an InnoDB table
     and simultaneously did queries to it, mysqld could crash with an
     assertion failure in row0row.c, line 474.

   * Fixed a bug: if inserts to several tables containing an auto-inc
     column were wrapped inside one LOCK TABLES, InnoDB asserted in
     lock0lock.c.

   * In 3.23.47 we allowed several NULLS in a UNIQUE secondary index.
     But CHECK TABLE was not relaxed: it reports the table as corrupt.
     CHECK TABLE no longer complains in this situation.

   * Fixed a bug: on Sparc and other high-endian processors SHOW
     VARIABLES showed innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit and other
     boolean-valued startup parameters always OFF even if they were
     switched on.

   * Fixed a bug: if you ran mysqld-max-nt as a service on Windows
     NT/2000, the service shutdown did not always wait long enough for
     the InnoDB shutdown to finish.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.47, December 28, 2001
.......................................

   * Recovery happens now faster, especially in a lightly loaded system,
     because background checkpointing has been made more frequent.

   * InnoDB allows now several similar key values in a UNIQUE secondary
     index if those values contain SQL NULLs. Thus the convention is
     now the same as in MyISAM tables.

   * InnoDB gives a better row count estimate for a table which
     contains BLOBs.

   * In a FOREIGN KEY constraint InnoDB is now case-insensitive to
     column names, and in Windows also to table names.

   * InnoDB allows a FOREIGN KEY column of CHAR type to refer to a
     column of VARCHAR type, and vice versa. MySQL silently changes the
     type of some columns between CHAR and VARCHAR, and these silent
     changes do not hinder FOREIGN KEY declaration any more.

   * Recovery has been made more resilient to corruption of log files.

   * Unnecessary statistics calculation has been removed from queries
     which generate a temporary table. Some ORDER BY and DISTINCT
     queries will now run much faster.

   * MySQL now knows that the table scan of an InnoDB table is done
     through the primary key. This will save a sort in some ORDER BY
     queries.

   * The maximum key length of InnoDB tables is again restricted to 500
     bytes.  The MySQL interpreter is not able to handle longer keys.

   * The default value of innodb_lock_wait_timeout was changed from
     infinite to 50 seconds, the default value of
     innodb_file_io_threads from 9 to 4.

MySQL/InnoDB-4.0.1, December 23, 2001
.....................................

   * InnoDB is the same as in 3.23.47.

   * In 4.0.0 the MySQL interpreter did not know the syntax LOCK IN
     SHARE MODE. This has been fixed.

   * In 4.0.0 multiple-table delete did not work for transactional
     tables.  This has been fixed.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.46, November 30, 2001
.......................................

   * This is the same as 3.23.45.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.45, November 23, 2001
.......................................

   * This is a bugfix release.

   * In versions 3.23.42-.44 when creating a table on Windows you have
     to use lowercase letters in the database name to be able to access
     the table. Fixed in 3.23.45.

   * InnoDB now flushes stdout and stderr every 10 seconds: if these
     are redirected to files, the file contents can be better viewed
     with an editor.

   * Fixed an assertion failure in .44, in trx0trx.c, line 178 when you
     drop a table which has the .frm file but does not exist inside
     InnoDB.

   * Fixed a bug in the insert buffer.  The insert buffer tree could
     get into an inconsistent state, causing a crash, and also crashing
     the recovery. This bug could appear especially in large table
     imports or alterations.

   * Fixed a bug in recovery: InnoDB could go into an infinite loop
     constantly printing a warning message that it cannot find free
     blocks from the buffer pool.

   * Fixed a bug: when you created a temporary table of the InnoDB
     type, and then used ALTER TABLE to it, the MySQL server could
     crash.

   * Prevented creation of MySQL system tables 'mysql.user',
     'mysql.host', or 'mysql.db', in the InnoDB type.

   * Fixed a bug which can cause an assertion failure in 3.23.44 in
     srv0srv.c, line 1728.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.44, November 2, 2001
......................................

   * You can define foreign key constraints on InnoDB tables. An
     example: FOREIGN KEY (col1) REFERENCES table2(col2).

   * You can create > 4 GB datafiles in those file systems that allow
     it.

   * Improved InnoDB monitors, including a new innodb_table_monitor
     which allows you to print the contents of the InnoDB internal data
     dictionary.

   * DROP DATABASE will now work also for InnoDB tables.

   * Accent characters in the default character set latin1 will be
     ordered according to the MySQL ordering.<br> NOTE: if you are
     using latin1 and have inserted characters whose code is > 127 to
     an indexed CHAR column, you should run CHECK TABLE on your table
     when you upgrade to 3.23.43, and drop and reimport the table if
     CHECK TABLE reports an error!

   * InnoDB will calculate better table cardinality estimates.

   * Change in deadlock resolution: in .43 a deadlock rolls back only
     the SQL statement, in .44 it will roll back the whole transaction.

   * Deadlock, lock wait timeout, and foreign key constraint violations
     (no parent row, child rows exist) now return native MySQL error
     codes 1213, 1205, 1216, 1217, respectively.

   * A new my.cnf parameter innodb_thread_concurrency helps in
     performance tuning in high concurrency environments.

   * A new my.cnf option innodb_force_recovery will help you in dumping
     tables from a corrupted database.

   * A new my.cnf option innodb_fast_shutdown will speed up shutdown.
     Normally InnoDB does a full purge and an insert buffer merge at
     shutdown.

   * Raised maximum key length to 7000 bytes from a previous limit of
     500 bytes.

   * Fixed a bug in replication of auto-inc columns with multiline
     inserts.

   * Fixed a bug when the case of letters changes in an update of an
     indexed secondary column.

   * Fixed a hang when there are > 24 datafiles.

   * Fixed a crash when MAX(col) is selected from an empty table, and
     col is a not the first column in a multi-column index.

   * Fixed a bug in purge which could cause crashes.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.43, October 4, 2001
.....................................

   * This is essentially the same as InnoDB-3.23.42.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.42, September 9, 2001
.......................................

   * Fixed a bug which corrupted the table if the primary key of a >
     8000-byte row was updated.

   * There are now 3 types of InnoDB Monitors: innodb_monitor,
     innodb_lock_monitor, and innodb_tablespace_monitor.
     innodb_monitor now prints also buffer pool hit rate and the total
     number of rows inserted, updated, deleted, read.

   * Fixed a bug in RENAME TABLE.

   * Fixed a bug in replication with an auto-increment column.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.41, August 13, 2001
.....................................

   * Support for < 4 GB rows. The previous limit was 8000 bytes.

   * Use the doublewrite file flush method.

   * Raw disk partitions supported as datafiles.

   * InnoDB Monitor.

   * Several hang bugs fixed and an `ORDER BY' bug ('Sort aborted')
     fixed.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.40, July 16, 2001
...................................

   * Only a few rare bugs fixed.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.39, June 13, 2001
...................................

   * `CHECK TABLE' now works for `InnoDB' tables.

   * A new `my.cnf' parameter `innodb_unix_file_flush_method'
     introduced. It can be used to tune disk write performance.

   * An auto-increment column now gets new values past the transaction
     mechanism. This saves CPU time and eliminates transaction
     deadlocks in new value assignment.

   * Several bug fixes, most notably the rollback bug in 3.23.38.

MySQL/InnoDB-3.23.38, May 12, 2001
..................................

   * The new syntax `SELECT ... LOCK IN SHARE MODE' is introduced.

   * `InnoDB' now calls `fsync()' after every disk write and calculates
     a checksum for every database page it writes or reads, which will
     reveal disk defects.

   * Several bug fixes.

`InnoDB' Contact Information
----------------------------

Contact information of Innobase Oy, producer of the `InnoDB' engine.
Web site: `http://www.innodb.com/'.  Email: <sales@innodb.com>

     phone: 358-9-6969 3250 (office) 358-40-5617367 (mobile)
     Innobase Oy Inc.
     World Trade Center Helsinki
     Aleksanterinkatu 17
     P.O.Box 800
     00101 Helsinki
     Finland

`BDB' or `BerkeleyDB' Tables
============================

Overview of `BDB' Tables
------------------------

BerkeleyDB, available at `http://www.sleepycat.com/' has provided MySQL
with a transactional storage engine. Support for this storage engine is
included in the MySQL source distribution starting from version 3.23.34
and is activated in the MySQL-Max binary. This storage engine is
typically called `BDB' for short.

`BDB' tables may have a greater chance of surviving crashes and are also
capable of `COMMIT' and `ROLLBACK' operations on transactions.  The
MySQL source distribution comes with a `BDB' distribution that has a
couple of small patches to make it work more smoothly with MySQL.  You
can't use a non-patched `BDB' version with MySQL.

We at MySQL AB are working in close cooperation with Sleepycat to keep
the quality of the MySQL/BDB interface high.

When it comes to supporting `BDB' tables, we are committed to help our
users to locate the problem and help creating a reproducible test case
for any problems involving `BDB' tables.  Any such test case will be
forwarded to Sleepycat who in turn will help us find and fix the
problem.  As this is a two-stage operation, any problems with `BDB'
tables may take a little longer for us to fix than for other storage
engines.  However, as the BerkeleyDB code itself has been used by many
other applications than MySQL, we don't envision any big problems with
this.  *Note Support::.

Installing `BDB'
----------------

If you have downloaded a binary version of MySQL that includes support
for BerkeleyDB, simply follow the instructions for installing a binary
version of MySQL.  *Note Installing binary::.  *Note `mysqld-max':
mysqld-max.

To compile MySQL with Berkeley DB support, download MySQL Version
3.23.34 or newer and configure `MySQL' with the `--with-berkeley-db'
option.  *Note Installing source::.

     cd /path/to/source/of/mysql-3.23.34
     ./configure --with-berkeley-db

Please refer to the manual provided with the `BDB' distribution for
more updated information.

Even though Berkeley DB is in itself very tested and reliable, the
MySQL interface is still considered gamma quality.  We are actively
improving and optimizing it to make it stable very soon.

`BDB' Startup Options
---------------------

If you are running with `AUTOCOMMIT=0' then your changes in `BDB'
tables will not be updated until you execute `COMMIT'.  Instead of
commit you can execute `ROLLBACK' to forget your changes. *Note
COMMIT::.

If you are running with `AUTOCOMMIT=1' (the default), your changes will
be committed immediately.  You can start an extended transaction with
the `BEGIN WORK' SQL command, after which your changes will not be
committed until you execute `COMMIT' (or decide to `ROLLBACK' the
changes).

The following options to `mysqld' can be used to change the behavior of
`BDB' tables:

*Option*           *Description*
`--bdb-home=directory'Base directory for `BDB' tables.  This
                   should be the same directory you use
                   for `--datadir'.
`--bdb-lock-detect=#'Berkeley lock detection method. One of
                   (`DEFAULT', `OLDEST', `RANDOM', or
                   `YOUNGEST').
`--bdb-logdir=directory'Berkeley DB log file directory.
`--bdb-no-sync'    Don't synchronously flush logs.
`--bdb-no-recover' Don't start Berkeley DB in recover mode.
`--bdb-shared-data'Start Berkeley DB in multi-process mode
                   (Don't use `DB_PRIVATE' when
                   initializing Berkeley DB)
`--bdb-tmpdir=directory'Berkeley DB temporary file directory.
`--skip-bdb'       Disable usage of `BDB' tables.
`-O                Set the maximum number of locks
bdb_max_lock=1000' possible. *Note `bdb_max_lock': SHOW
                   VARIABLES.

If you use `--skip-bdb', MySQL will not initialize the Berkeley DB
library and this will save a lot of memory.  You cannot use `BDB'
tables if you are using this option.  If you try to create a `BDB'
table, MySQL will instead create a `MyISAM' table.

Normally you should start `mysqld' without `--bdb-no-recover' if you
intend to use `BDB' tables.  This may, however, give you problems when
you try to start `mysqld' if the `BDB' log files are corrupted. *Note
Starting server::.

With `bdb_max_lock' you can specify the maximum number of locks (10000
by default) you can have active on a `BDB' table. You should increase
this if you get errors of type `bdb: Lock table is out of available
locks' or `Got error 12 from ...'  when you have do long transactions
or when `mysqld' has to examine a lot of rows to calculate the query.

You may also want to change `binlog_cache_size' and
`max_binlog_cache_size' if you are using big multi-line transactions.
*Note `COMMIT': COMMIT.

Characteristics of `BDB' Tables
-------------------------------

   * To be able to rollback transactions, the `BDB' storage engine
     maintains log files.  For maximum performance you should place
     these on another disk than your databases by using the
     `--bdb-logdir' option.

   * MySQL performs a checkpoint each time a new `BDB' log file is
     started, and removes any log files that are not needed for current
     transactions.  One can also run `FLUSH LOGS' at any time to
     checkpoint the Berkeley DB tables.

     For disaster recovery, one should use table backups plus MySQL's
     binary log. *Note Backup::.

     *Warning:* If you delete old log files that are in use, `BDB' will
     not be able to do recovery at all and you may lose data if
     something goes wrong.

   * MySQL requires a `PRIMARY KEY' in each `BDB' table to be able to
     refer to previously read rows. If you don't create one, MySQL will
     create an maintain a hidden `PRIMARY KEY' for you.  The hidden key
     has a length of 5 bytes and is incremented for each insert attempt.

   * If all columns you access in a `BDB' table are part of the same
     index or part of the primary key, then MySQL can execute the query
     without having to access the actual row.  In a `MyISAM' table the
     above holds only if the columns are part of the same index.

   * The `PRIMARY KEY' will be faster than any other key, as the
     `PRIMARY KEY' is stored together with the row data.  As the other
     keys are stored as the key data + the `PRIMARY KEY', it's
     important to keep the `PRIMARY KEY' as short as possible to save
     disk and get better speed.

   * `LOCK TABLES' works on `BDB' tables as with other tables.  If you
     don't use `LOCK TABLE', MySQL will issue an internal
     multiple-write lock on the table to ensure that the table will be
     properly locked if another thread issues a table lock.

   * Internal locking in `BDB' tables is done on page level.

   * `SELECT COUNT(*) FROM table_name' is slow as `BDB' tables doesn't
     maintain a count of the number of rows in the table.

   * Sequential scanning is slower than with `MyISAM' tables as the
     data in `BDB' tables stored in B-trees and not in a separate
     datafile.

   * The application must always be prepared to handle cases where any
     change of a `BDB' table may make an automatic rollback and any
     read may fail with a deadlock error.

   * Keys are not prefix or suffix-compressed like keys in `MyISAM'
     tables. In other words, the key information will take a little more
     space in `BDB' tables compared to `MyISAM' tables.

   * There are often holes in the `BDB' table to allow you to insert
     new rows in the middle of the key tree.  This makes `BDB' tables
     somewhat larger than `MyISAM' tables.

   * The optimizer needs to know an approximation of the number of rows
     in the table.  MySQL solves this by counting inserts and
     maintaining this in a separate segment in each `BDB' table.  If
     you don't issue a lot of `DELETE' or `ROLLBACK' statements, this
     number should be accurate enough for the MySQL optimizer, but as
     MySQL only stores the number on close, it may be incorrect if
     MySQL dies unexpectedly. It should not be fatal even if this
     number is not 100% correct.  One can update the number of rows by
     executing `ANALYZE TABLE' or `OPTIMIZE TABLE'. *Note ANALYZE
     TABLE:: . *Note OPTIMIZE TABLE::.

   * If you get full disk with a `BDB' table, you will get an error
     (probably error 28) and the transaction should roll back.  This is
     in contrast with `MyISAM' and `ISAM' tables where `mysqld' will
     wait for enough free disk before continuing.

Things We Need to Fix for `BDB' in the Near Future
--------------------------------------------------

   * It's very slow to open many `BDB' tables at the same time. If you
     are going to use `BDB' tables, you should not have a very big
     table cache (like >256) and you should use `--no-auto-rehash' with
     the `mysql' client.  We plan to partly fix this in 4.0.

   * `SHOW TABLE STATUS' doesn't yet provide that much information for
     `BDB' tables.

   * Optimize performance.

   * Change to not use page locks at all when we are scanning tables.

Operating Systems Supported by `BDB'
------------------------------------

Currently we know that the `BDB' storage engine works with the following
operating systems:

   * Linux 2.x Intel

   * Sun Solaris (SPARC and x86)

   * FreeBSD 4.x/5.x (x86, sparc64)

   * IBM AIX 4.3.x

   * SCO OpenServer

   * SCO UnixWare 7.1.x

It doesn't work with the following operating systems:

   * Linux 2.x Alpha

   * Linux 2.x AMD64

   * Linux 2.x IA64

   * Linux 2.x s390

   * Max OS X

Note: The above list is not complete; we will update it as we receive
more information.

If you build MySQL with support for `BDB' tables and get the following
error in the log file when you start `mysqld':

     bdb: architecture lacks fast mutexes: applications cannot be threaded
     Can't init databases

This means that `BDB' tables are not supported for your architecture.
In this case you must rebuild MySQL without `BDB' table support.

Restrictions on `BDB' Tables
----------------------------

Here follows the restrictions you have when using `BDB' tables:

   * `BDB' tables store in the `.db' file the path to the file as it was
     created.  (This was done to be able to detect locks in a
     multi-user environment that supports symlinks).

     The effect of this is that `BDB' tables are not movable between
     directories!

   * When taking backups of `BDB' tables, you have to either use
     `mysqldump' or take a backup of all `table_name.db' files and the
     `BDB' log files.  The `BDB' log files are the files in the base
     data directory named `log.XXXXXXXXXX' (ten digits); The `BDB'
     storage engine stores unfinished transactions in the log files and
     requires these logs to be present when `mysqld' starts.

Errors That May Occur When Using `BDB' Tables
---------------------------------------------

   * If you get the following error in the `hostname.err log' when
     starting `mysqld':

          bdb:  Ignoring log file: .../log.XXXXXXXXXX: unsupported log version #
     it means that the new `BDB' version doesn't support the old log
     file format.  In this case you have to delete all `BDB' logs from
     your database directory (the files with names that have the format
     `log.XXXXXXXXXX') and restart `mysqld'.  We would also recommend
     you to do a `mysqldump --opt' of your old `BDB' tables, delete the
     old tables, and restore the dump.

   * If you are not running in auto-commit mode and delete a table that
     is referenced in another transaction, you may get the following
     error messages in your MySQL error log:

          001119 23:43:56  bdb:  Missing log fileid entry
          001119 23:43:56  bdb:  txn_abort: Log undo failed for LSN:
                                 1 3644744: Invalid

     This is not fatal but we don't recommend that you delete tables if
     you are not in auto-commit mode, until this problem is fixed (the
     fix is not trivial).

`ISAM' Tables
=============

The deprecated `ISAM' table type will disappear in MySQL version 5.0.
In MySQL 4.1 it's included in the source but not compiled anymore.
`MyISAM' is a better implementation of this table handler and you should
convert all `ISAM' tables to `MySAM' tables as soon as possible.

`ISAM' uses a `B-tree' index. The index is stored in a file with the
`.ISM' extension, and the data is stored in a file with the `.ISD'
extension.  You can check/repair `ISAM' tables with the `isamchk'
utility.  *Note Crash recovery::.

`ISAM' has the following features/properties:

   * Compressed and fixed-length keys

   * Fixed and dynamic record length

   * 16 keys with 16 key parts/key

   * Max key length 256 (default)

   * Data is stored in machine format; this is fast, but is machine/OS
     dependent.

Most of the things true for `MyISAM' tables are also true for `ISAM'
tables. *Note `MyISAM' tables: MyISAM. The major differences compared
to `MyISAM' tables are:

   * `ISAM' tables are not binary portable across OS/Platforms.

   * Can't handle tables > 4G.

   * Only support prefix compression on strings.

   * Smaller key limits.

   * Dynamic tables get more fragmented.

   * Tables are compressed with `pack_isam' rather than with
     `myisampack'.

If you want to convert an `ISAM' table to a `MyISAM' table so that you
can use utilities such as `mysqlcheck', use an `ALTER TABLE' statement:

     mysql> ALTER TABLE tbl_name TYPE = MYISAM;

The embedded MySQL versions doesn't support `ISAM' tables.

Introduction to MaxDB
*********************

MaxDB is an enterprise level database. MaxDB is the new name of a
database management system formerly called SAP DB.

History of MaxDB
================

The  history of SAP DB goes back to the early 1980s when it was
developed as a commercial product (Adabas). The database has changed
names several times since then. When SAP AG, a Walldorf, Germany, based
company, took over the development of that database system, it was
called SAP DB.

SAP developed that database system to serve as a storage system for all
heavy-duty SAP applications, namely R/3. SAP DB was meant to provide an
alternative to third-party database systems like Oracle, Microsoft SQL
Server, or DB2 by IBM. In October 2000, SAP AG released SAP DB under
the GNU GPL license (*note GPL license::), thus making it open source
software. In October 2003, more than 2,000 customers of SAP AG were
using SAP DB as their main database system, and more than another 2,000
customers were using it as a separate database system besides their
main database, as part of the APO/LiveCache solution.

In May 2003, a technology partnership was formed between MySQL AB and
SAP AG. That partnership entitles MySQL AB to further develop SAP DB,
rename it, and sell commercial licenses of the renamed SAP DB to
customers who do not want to be bound to the restrictions imposed to
them when using that database system under the GNU GPL (*note GPL
license::). In August 2003, SAP DB was renamed to MaxDB by MySQL AB.

Licensing and Support
=====================

MaxDB can be used under the same licenses available for the other
products distributed by MySQL AB (*Note MySQL licenses::). Thus, MaxDB
will be available under the GNU General Public License (*Note GPL
license::), and a commercial license (*Note Licensing and Support::).

MySQL will offer MaxDB support to non-SAP customers.

The first rebranded version will be MaxDB 7.5.00 that will be released
in late 2003.

Basic Concepts of MaxDB
=======================

MaxDB operates as a client/server product. It was developed to meet the
demands of installations processing a high volume of online
transactions. Both online backup and expansion of the database are
supported. Microsoft Clustered Server is supported directly for
multiple server implementations; other failover solutions must be
scripted manually. Database management tools are provided in both
Windows and browser-based implementations.

Feature Differences between MaxDB and MySQL
===========================================

The following list provides a short summary of the main differences
between MaxDB and MySQL; it is not complete.

   * MaxDB runs as a client/server system. MySQL can run as a
     client/server system or as an embedded system.

   * MaxDB might not run on all platforms supported by MySQL. For
     example, MaxDB does not run on IBM's OS/2.

   * MaxDB uses a proprietary network protocol for client/server
     communication, while MySQL uses either TCP/IP (with or without SSL
     encryption), sockets (under Unix-like systems), or named pipes
     (under Windows NT-family systems).

   * MaxDB supports stored procedures. For MySQL, stored procedures are
     implemented in version 5.0. MaxDB also supports programming of
     triggers through an SQL extension, which is scheduled for MySQL
     5.1. MaxDB contains a debugger for stored procedure languages, can
     cascade nested triggers, and supports multiple triggers per action
     and row.

   * MaxDB is distributed containing user interfaces that are
     text-based, graphical, or web-based. MySQL is distributed with
     text-based user interfaces only; a graphical user interface (MySQL
     Control Center) is shipped separately from the main distributions.
     Web-based user interfaces for MySQL are offered by third parties.

   * MaxDB supports a number of programming interfaces also supported
     by MySQL. However, MaxDB does not support RDO, ADO, or .NET, all
     of which are supported by MySQL. MaxDB supports embedded SQL only
     with C/C++.

   * MaxDB contains administrative features that MySQL does not have:
     Job scheduling by time, event, and alert, and sending messages to
     a database administrator on alert thresholds.

Interoperability Features between MaxDB and MySQL
=================================================

The following features will be included in MaxDB versions to be
released shortly after the first 7.5.00 version. These features will
allow interoperation between MaxDB and MySQL:

   * There will be a MySQL proxy enabling one to connect to MaxDB using
     the MySQL protocol. This makes it possible to use MySQL client
     programs for MaxDB, like the `mysql' command-line user interface,
     the `mysqldump' dump utility, or the `mysqlimport' import program.
     Using `mysqldump', one can easily dump data from one database
     system and export (or even pipe) those data to the other database
     system.

   *  Replication between MySQL and MaxDB will be supported in both
     directions. That is, either MySQL or MaxDB can be used as the
     master replication server. The long-range plan is to converge and
     extend the replication syntax so that both database systems
     understand the same syntax.  *Note Replication Intro::.

MaxDB-related Links
===================

The main page for information about MaxDB is
`http://www.mysql.com/maxdb'. Eventually, all information available at
`http://www.sapdb.org' will be moved there.

Reserved Words in MaxDB
=======================

Like MySQL, MaxDB has a number of reserved words that have special
meanings.  Normally, they cannot be used as names of identifiers, such
as database or table names. The following table lists reserved words in
MaxDB, indicates the context in which those words are used, and
indicates whether or not they have counterparts in MySQL. If such a
counterpart exists, the meaning in MySQL might be identical, or
differing in some aspects. The main purpose is to list in which
respects MaxDB differs from MySQL; therefore, this list is not complete.

For the list of reserved words in MySQL, see *Note Reserved words::.

*Reserved in   *Context of usage in   *MySQL counterpart*
MaxDB*         MaxDB*                 
`@'            May prefix             Not allowed
               identifier, like       
               "@table"               
`ADDDATE()'    SQL function           `ADDDATE()'; new in MySQL version
                                      4.1.1
`ADDTIME()'    SQL function           `ADDTIME()'; new in MySQL version
                                      4.1.1
`ALPHA'        SQL function           Nothing comparable
`ARRAY'        Data type              Not implemented
`ASCII()'      SQL function           `ASCII()', but implemented with a
                                      different meaning
`AUTOCOMMIT'   Transactions; `ON' by  Transactions; `OFF' by default
               default                
`BOOLEAN'      Column types;          `BOOLEAN' was added in MySQL
               `BOOLEAN' accepts as   version 4.1.0; it is a synonym for
               values only `TRUE',    `BOOL' which is mapped to
               `FALSE', and `NULL'    `TINYINT(1)'. It accepts integer
                                      values in the same range as
                                      `TINYINT' as well as `NULL'. `TRUE'
                                      and `FALSE' can be used as aliases
                                      for `1' and `0'.
`CHECK'        `CHECK TABLE'          `CHECK TABLE'; similar, but not
                                      identical usage
`COLUMN'       Column types           `COLUMN'; noise word
`CHAR()'       SQL function           `CHAR()'; identical syntax;
                                      similar, not identical usage
`COMMIT'       Implicit commits of    Implicit commits of transactions
               transactions happen    happen when data definition queries
               when data definition   are being issued, but also with a
               queries are being      number of other queries
               issued                 
`COSH()'       SQL function           Nothing comparable
`COT()'        SQL function           `COT()'; identical syntax and
                                      implementation
`CREATE'       SQL, data definition   `CREATE'
               language               
`DATABASE'     SQL function           `DATABASE()'; `DATABASE' is used in
                                      a different context, for example
                                      `CREATE DATABASE'
`DATE()'       SQL function           `CURRENT_DATE'
`DATEDIFF()'   SQL function           `DATEDIFF()'; new in MySQL version
                                      4.1.1
`DAY()'        SQL function           Nothing comparable
`DAYOFWEEK()'  SQL function           `DAYOFWEEK()'; the first day (`1')
                                      by default is Monday in MaxDB, and
                                      Sunday in MySQL
`DISTINCT'     SQL functions `AVG',   `DISTINCT'; but used in a different
               `MAX', `MIN', `SUM'    context: `SELECT DISTINCT'
`DROP'         inter alia in `DROP    `DROP INDEX'; similar, but not
               INDEX'                 identical usage
`EBCDIC()'     SQL function           Nothing comparable
`EXPAND()'     SQL function           Nothing comparable
`EXPLAIN'      Optimization           `EXPLAIN'; similar, but not
                                      identical usage
`FIXED()'      SQL function           Nothing comparable
`FLOAT()'      SQL function           Nothing comparable
`HEX()'        SQL function           `HEX()'; similar, but not identical
                                      usage
`INDEX()'      SQL function           `INSTR()' or `LOCATE()'; similar,
                                      but not identical syntaxes and
                                      meanings
`INDEX'        `USE INDEX', `IGNORE   `USE INDEX', `IGNORE INDEX' and
               INDEX' and similar     similar hints are being used in the
               hints are being used   `FROM' clause of a `SELECT' query,
               right after `SELECT',  like in `SELECT ... FROM ... USE
               like `SELECT ... USE   INDEX'
               INDEX'                 
`INITCAP()'    SQL function           Nothing comparable
`LENGTH()'     SQL function           `LENGTH()'; identical syntax, but
                                      slightly different implementation
`LFILL()'      SQL function           Nothing comparable
`LIKE'         Comparisons            `LIKE'; but the extended `LIKE'
                                      MaxDB provides rather resembles the
                                      MySQL `REGEX'
`LIKE'         MaxDB supports "%",    MySQL supports "%", and "_" as
wildcards      "_",                   wildcards in a `LIKE' comparison
               "ctrl+underline",      
               "ctrl+up arrow", "*",  
               and "?" as wildcards   
               in a `LIKE' comparison 
`LPAD()'       SQL function           `LPAD()'; slightly different
                                      implementation
`LTRIM()'      SQL function           `LTRIM()'; slightly different
                                      implementation
`MAKEDATE()'   SQL function           `MAKEDATE()'; new in MySQL version
                                      4.1.1
`MAKETIME()'   SQL function           `MAKETIME()'; new in MySQL version
                                      4.1.1
`MAPCHAR()'    SQL function           Nothing comparable
`MICROSECOND()'SQL function           `MICROSECOND()'; new in MySQL
                                      version 4.1.1
`NOROUND()'    SQL function           Nothing comparable
`NULL'         Column types;          `NULL'; MaxDB supports special
               comparisons            `NULL' values that are returned by
                                      arithmetic operations that lead to
                                      an overflow or a division by zero;
                                      MySQL does not support such special
                                      values
`PI'           SQL function           `PI()'; identical syntax and
                                      implementation, but parantheses are
                                      mandatory
`REF'          Data type              Nothing comparable
`RFILL()'      SQL function           Nothing comparable
`ROWNO'        Predicate in `WHERE'   Similar to `LIMIT' clause
               clause                 
`RPAD()'       SQL function           `RPAD()'; slightly different
                                      implementation
`RTRIM()'      SQL function           `RTRIM()'; slightly different
                                      implementation
`SEQUENCE'     `CREATE SEQUENCE',     `AUTO_INCREMENT'; similar concept,
               `DROP SEQUENCE'        but differing implementation
`SINH()'       SQL function           Nothing comparable
`SOUNDS()'     SQL function           `SOUNDEX()'; slightly different
                                      syntax
`STATISTICS'   `UPDATE STATISTICS'    `ANALYZE'; similar concept, but
                                      differing implementation
`SUBSTR()'     SQL function           `SUBSTRING()'; slightly different
                                      implementation
`SUBTIME()'    SQL function           `SUBTIME()'; new in MySQL version
                                      4.1.1
`SYNONYM'      Data definition        Nothing comparable
               language: `CREATE      
               [PUBLIC] SYNONYM',     
               `RENAME SYNONYM',      
               `DROP SYNONYM'         
`TANH()'       SQL function           Nothing comparable
`TIME()'       SQL function           `CURRENT_TIME'
`TIMEDIFF()'   SQL function           `TIMEDIFF()'; new in MySQL version
                                      4.1.1
`TIMESTAMP()'  SQL function           `TIMESTAMP()'; new in MySQL version
                                      4.1.1
`TIMESTAMP()'  SQL function           Nothing comparable
as argument                           
to                                    
`DAYOFMONTH()'                        
and                                   
`DAYOFYEAR()'                         
`TIMEZONE()'   SQL function           Nothing comparable
`TRANSACTION()'Returns the ID of the  Nothing comparable
               current transaction    
`TRANSLATE()'  SQL function           `REPLACE()'; identical syntax and
                                      implementation
`TRIM()'       SQL function           `TRIM()'; slightly different
                                      implementation
`TRUNC()'      SQL function           `TRUNCATE()'; slightly different
                                      syntax and implementation
`USE'          `mysql' commandline    `USE'
               user interface command 
`USER'         SQL function           `USER()'; identical syntax, but
                                      slightly different implementation,
                                      and parantheses are mandatory
`UTC_DIFF()'   SQL function           `UTC_DATE()'; provides a means to
                                      calculate the result of
                                      `UTC_DIFF()'
`VALUE()'      SQL function, alias    `COALESCE()'; identical syntax and
               for `COALESCE()'       implementation
`VARIANCE()'   SQL function           Nothing comparable
`WEEKOFYEAR()' SQL function           `WEEKOFYEAR()'; new in MySQL
                                      version 4.1.1

Functions
=========

Column Types
============

National Character Sets and Unicode
***********************************

Improved handling of character sets is one of the features added to
MySQL in Version 4.1. This chapter explains:

   * What are character sets and collations

   * The multi-level default system

   * New syntax in MySQL 4.1

   * Affected functions and operations

   * The meaning of each individual character set and collation


The features described here are as implemented in MySQL 4.1.1.  (MySQL
4.1.0 has some but not all of these features, and some of them are
implemented differently.)

Character set support currently is included in the `MySISAM' and
`MEMORY' (`HEAP') storage engines.  The `InnoDB' storage engine does
not yet include it.  `ISAM' does not; there are no plans to do so.

Character Sets and Collations in General
========================================

A *character set* is a set of symbols and encodings. A *collation* is a
set of rules for comparing characters in a character set. Let's make
the distinction clear with an example of an imaginary character set.

Suppose we had an alphabet with four letters: `A', `B', `a', `b'. We
give each letter a number: `A' = 0, `B' = 1, `a' = 2, `c' = 3. The
letter `A' is a symbol, the number 0 is the *encoding* for `A', and the
combination of all four letters and their encodings is a *character
set*.

Now, suppose we want to compare two string values, `A' and `B'.  The
simplest way to do this is to look at the encodings -- 0 for `A' and 1
for `B' -- and because 0 is less than 1, we say `A' is less than `B'.
Now, what we've just done is apply a collation to our character set.
The collation is a set of rules (only one rule in this case): "compare
the encodings". We call this simplest of all possible collations a
*binary* collation.

But what if we want to say that the lowercase and uppercase letters are
equivalent? Then we would have at least two rules: (1) treat the
lowercase letters `a' and `b' as equivalent to `A' and `B'; (2) then
compare the encodings. We call this a *case insensitive* collation.
It's a little more complex than a binary collation.

In real life, most character sets have many characters: not just `A'
and `B' but whole alphabets, sometimes multiple alphabets or eastern
writing systems with thousands of characters, along with many special
symbols and punctuation marks. Also in real life, most collations have
many rules: not just case insensitivity but also accent insensitivity
(an "accent" is a mark attached to a character as in German `O"') and
multiple-character mappings (such as the rule that `O"' = `OE' in one
of the two German collations).

MySQL 4.1 can do these things for you:

   * Store strings using a variety of character sets

   * Compare strings using a variety of collations

   * Mix strings with different character sets or collations in the
     same server, the same database, or even the same table

   * Allow specification of character set and collation at any level


In these respects, not only is MySQL 4.1 far more flexible than MySQL
4.0, it also is far ahead of other DBMSs. However, to use the new
features effectively, you will need to learn what character sets and
collations are available, how to change their defaults, and what the
various string operators do with them.

Character Sets and Collations in MySQL
======================================

A character set always has at least one collation. It may have several
collations.

For example, character set `latin1' ("ISO-8859-1 West European") has
the following collations:

*Collation*                   *Meaning*
`latin1_bin'                  Binary according to `latin1' encoding
`latin1_danish_ci'            Danish/Norwegian
`latin1_german1_ci'           German DIN-1
`latin1_german2_ci'           German DIN-2
`latin1_spanish_ci'           Modern Spanish
`latin1_swedish_ci'           Swedish/Finnish
`latin1_general_ci'           Multilingual

Notes:

   * Two different character sets can't have the same collation.

   * Each character set has one collation that is the _default
     collation_. For example, the default collation for `latin1' is
     `latin1_swedish_ci'.


Notice that there is a convention for collation names: They start with
the name of the character set they are associated with, they usually
include a language name, and they end with `_ci' (case insensitive),
`_cs' (case sensitive), or `_bin' (binary).

Determining the Default Character Set and Collation
===================================================

There are default settings for character sets and collations at four
levels: server, database, table, connection. The following description
may appear complex, but it's been found in practice that multi-level
defaulting leads to natural and obvious results.

Server Character Set and Collation
----------------------------------

The MySQL Server has a server character set and a server collation,
which may not be null.

MySQL determines the server character set and server collation thus:

   * According to the option settings in effect when the server starts.


At this level, the decision is simple. The server character set and
collation depend on the options that you use when you start `mysqld'.
You can use `--default-character-set=character_set_name' for the
character set, and along with it you can add
`--default-collation=collation_name' for the collation. If you don't
specify a character set, that is the same as saying
`--default-character-set=latin1'. If you specify only a character set
(for instance, `latin1') but not a collation, that is the same as
saying `--default-charset=latin1' `--collation=latin1_swedish_ci'
because `latin1_swedish_ci' is the default collation for `latin1'.
Therefore the following three commands all have the same effect:

     shell> mysqld
     shell> mysqld --default-character-set=latin1
     shell> mysqld --default-character-set=latin1
                --default-collation=latin1_swedish_ci

One way to change the settings is by recompiling. If you want to change
the default server character set and collation when building from
sources, use: `--with-character-set' and `--with-collation' as
arguments for `configure'. For example:

     shell> ./configure --with-character-set=latin1

or:

     shell> ./configure --with-character-set=latin1
                --with-collation=latin1_german1_ci

Both `mysqld' and `configure' check that the character set/collation
combination is valid. Each program displays an error message and
terminates if the combination is not valid.

Database Character Set and Collation
------------------------------------

Every database has a database character set and a database collation,
which may not be null. The `CREATE DATABASE' and `ALTER DATABASE'
commands now have optional clauses for specifying the database
character set and collation:

     CREATE DATABASE db_name
        [DEFAULT CHARACTER SET character_set_name [COLLATE collation_name]]
     
     ALTER DATABASE db_name
         [DEFAULT CHARACTER SET character_set_name [COLLATE collation_name]]

Example:

     CREATE DATABASE db_name
        DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;

MySQL chooses the database character set and database collation thus:

   * If both `CHARACTER SET X' and `COLLATE Y' were specified, then
     character set `X' and collation `Y'.

   * If `CHARACTER SET X' was specified without `COLLATE', then
     character set `X' and its default collation.

   * Otherwise, the server character set and server collation.


MySQL's `CREATE DATABASE ... DEFAULT CHARACTER SET ...' syntax is
analogous to the standard-SQL `CREATE SCHEMA ... CHARACTER SET ...'
syntax. Because of this, it is possible to create databases with
different character sets and collations, on the same MySQL server.

The database character set and collation are used as default values if
the table character set and collation are not specified in `CREATE
TABLE' statements. They have no other purpose.

Table Character Set and Collation
---------------------------------

Every table has a table character set and a table collation, which may
not be null. The `CREATE TABLE' and `ALTER TABLE' statements now have
optional clauses for specifying the table character set and collation:

     CREATE TABLE table_name ( column_list )
        [DEFAULT CHARACTER SET character_set_name [COLLATE collation_name]]
     
     ALTER TABLE table_name
        [DEFAULT CHARACTER SET character_set_name] [COLLATE collation_name]

Example:

     CREATE TABLE t1 ( ... ) DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_danish_ci;

MySQL chooses the table character set and collation thus:

   * If both `CHARACTER SET X' and `COLLATE Y' were specified, then
     character set `X' and collation `Y'.

   * If `CHARACTER SET X' was specified without `COLLATE', then
     character set `X' and its default collation.

   * Otherwise, the database character set and collation.


The table character set and collation are used as default values, if
the column character set and collation are not specified in individual
column definitions. The table character set and collation are MySQL
extensions; there are no such things in standard SQL.

Column Character Set and Collation
----------------------------------

Every "character" column (that is, a column of type `CHAR', `VARCHAR',
or `TEXT') has a column character set and a column collation, which may
not be null. Column definition syntax now has optional clauses for
specifying the column character set and collation:

     column_name {CHAR | VARCHAR | TEXT} (column_length)
         [CHARACTER SET character_set_name [COLLATE collation_name]]

Example:

     CREATE TABLE Table1
     (
        column1 VARCHAR(5) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_german1_ci
     );

MySQL chooses the column character set and collation thus:

   * If both `CHARACTER SET X' and `COLLATE Y' were specified, then
     character set `X' and collation `Y'.

   * If `CHARACTER SET X' was specified without `COLLATE', then
     character set `X' and its default collation.

   * Otherwise, the table character set and collation.


The `CHARACTER SET' and `COLLATE' clauses are standard SQL.

Examples of Character Set and Collation Assignment
--------------------------------------------------

The following examples show how MySQL determines default character set
and collation values.

Example 1: Table + Column Definition
....................................

     CREATE TABLE t1
     (
       c1 CHAR(10) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_german1_ci
     ) DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin2 COLLATE latin2_bin;

Here you have a column with a `latin1' character set and a
`latin1_german1_ci' collation. The definition is explicit, so that's
straightforward. Notice that there's no problem storing a `latin1'
column in a `latin2' table.

Example 2: Table + Column Definition
....................................

     CREATE TABLE t1
     (
        c1 CHAR(10) CHARACTER SET latin1
     ) DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_danish_ci;

This time we have a column with a `latin1' character set and a default
collation. Now, although it might seem natural, the default collation
is not taken from the table level. Instead, because the default
collation for `latin1' is always `latin1_swedish_ci', column `c1' will
have a collation of `latin1_swedish_ci' (not `latin1_danish_ci').

Example 3: Table + Column Definition
....................................

     CREATE TABLE t1
     (
        c1 CHAR(10)
     ) DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_danish_ci;

We have a column with a default character set and a default collation.
In this circumstance, MySQL looks up to the table level for inspiration
in determining the column character set and collation. So the character
set for column `c1' is `latin1' and its collation is `latin1_danish_ci'.

Example 4: Database + Table + Column Definition
...............................................

     CREATE DATABASE d1 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin2 COLLATE latin2_czech_ci;
     USE d1;
     CREATE TABLE t1
     (
        c1 CHAR(10)
     );

We create a column without specifying its character set and collation.
We're also not specifying a character set and a collation at the table
level. In this circumstance, MySQL looks up to the database level for
inspiration. (The database's settings become the table's settings, and
thereafter become the column's setting.) So the character set for
column `c1' is `latin2' and its collation is `latin2_czech_ci'.

Connection Character Sets and Collations
----------------------------------------

Every connection has connection character sets and connection
collations, which may not be null. There are actually two connection
character sets, which we will call "connection/literals" and
"connection/results" when it is necessary to distinguish them.

Consider what a "connection" is: It's what you make when you connect to
the server. The client sends SQL statements, such as queries, over the
connection to the server. The server sends responses, such as result
sets, over the connection back to the client. This leads to several
questions, such as: (a) what character set is the query in when it
leaves the client? (b) what character set should the server translate a
query to after receiving it? (c) what character set should the server
translate to before shipping result sets or error messages back to the
client? You can fine-tune the setting for these things, or you can
depend on the defaults (in which case, you can skip this section).

There are two statements that affect the connection character sets:

     SET NAMES 'character_set_name'
     SET CHARACTER SET character_set_name

`SET NAMES' indicates what is in the SQL statement that the client
sends. Thus, `SET NAMES 'cp1251'' tells the server "future incoming
messages from this client will be in character set `cp1251'" and the
server is free to translate to its own character set, if appropriate.

`SET CHARACTER SET' indicates what is in the SQL statement that the
client sends, and also what is in the result set that the server sends
back to the client. Thus, `SET CHARACTER SET' includes `SET NAMES', and
also specifies what character set the column values will have if, for
example, you use a `SELECT' statement.

EXAMPLE: Suppose that `column1' is defined as `CHAR(5) CHARACTER SET
latin2'.  If you do not say `SET CHARACTER SET', then for `SELECT
column1 FROM t' the server will send back all the values for `column1'
using character set `latin2'. If on the other hand you say `SET
CHARACTER SET latin1' then the server will, just before sending back,
convert the `latin2' values to `latin1'. Such conversion is slow and
may be lossy.

When you execute `SET NAMES' or `SET CHARACTER SET', you are also
changing the "connection collation". However, the connection collation
exists for consistency only. Usually its value doesn't matter.

With the `mysql' client, it is not necessary to execute `SET NAMES'
every time you start up. You can add the `--default-character-set'
option setting to your `mysql' statement line, or in your option file.
For example, the following option file setting will change the
connection character set each time you run `mysql':

     [mysql]
     default-character-set=character_set_name

Character String Literal Character Set and Collation
----------------------------------------------------

Every character string literal has a character set and a collation,
which may not be null.

A character string literal may have an optional character set
introducer and `COLLATE' clause:

     [_character_set_name]'string' [COLLATE collation_name]

Examples:
     SELECT 'string';
     SELECT _latin1'string';
     SELECT _latin1'string' COLLATE latin1_danish_ci;

The simple statement `SELECT 'string'' uses the connection/literal
character set.

The `_character_set_name' expression is formally called an
_introducer_. It tells the parser, "the string that is about to follow
is in character set `X'."  Because this has confused people in the
past, we emphasize that an introducer does not cause any conversion, it
is strictly a signal that does not change the string's value. An
introducer is also legal before standard hex literal and numeric hex
literal notation (`x'literal'' and `0xnnnn'), and before `?' (parameter
substitution when using prepared statements within a programming
language interface).

Examples:

     SELECT _latin1 x'AABBCC';
     SELECT _latin1 0xAABBCC;
     SELECT _latin1 ?;

MySQL determines a literal's character set and collation thus:

   * If both `_X' and `COLLATE Y' were specified then the literal
     character set is `X' and the literal collation is `Y'

   * If `_X' is specified but `COLLATE' is not specified, then the
     literal character set is `X' and the literal collation is `X''s
     default collation

   * Otherwise, the connection/literals character set and collation.


Examples:

   * A string with `latin1' character set and `latin1_german1_ci'
     collation:

          SELECT _latin1'Mu"ller' COLLATE latin1_german1_ci;

   * A string with `latin1' character set and its default collation,
     that is, `latin1_swedish_ci':

          SELECT _latin1'Mu"ller';

   * A string with the connection/literals character set and collation:

          SELECT 'Mu"ller';


Character set introducers and the `COLLATE' clause are implemented
according to standard-SQL specifications.

`COLLATE' Clause in Various Parts of an SQL Query
-------------------------------------------------

With the `COLLATE' clause you can override whatever the default
collation is for a comparison. `COLLATE' may be used in various parts
of SQL queries.  Here are some examples:

   * With `ORDER BY':

          SELECT k
          FROM t1
          ORDER BY k COLLATE latin1_german2_ci;

   * With `AS':

          SELECT k COLLATE latin1_german2_ci AS k1
          FROM t1
          ORDER BY k1;

   * With `GROUP BY':

          SELECT k
          FROM t1
          GROUP BY k COLLATE latin1_german2_ci;

   * With aggregate functions:

          SELECT MAX(k COLLATE latin1_german2_ci)
          FROM t1;

   * With `DISTINCT':

          SELECT DISTINCT k COLLATE latin1_german2_ci
          FROM t1;

   * With `WHERE':

          SELECT *
          FROM t1
          WHERE _latin1 'Mu"ller' COLLATE latin1_german2_ci = k;

   * With `HAVING':

          SELECT k
          FROM t1
          GROUP BY k
          HAVING k = _latin1 'Mu"ller' COLLATE latin1_german2_ci;


`COLLATE' Clause Precedence
---------------------------

The `COLLATE' clause has high precedence (higher than ||), so the
expression

     x || y COLLATE z

is equivalent to:
     x || (y COLLATE z)

`BINARY' Operator
-----------------

The `BINARY' operator is a shorthand for a `COLLATE' clause. For
example, `BINARY 'x'' is equivalent to `'x' COLLATE y', where `y' is the
name of an appropriate binary collation. For example, assuming that
column `a' is of character set `latin1', these two queries have the
same effect:

     SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BY BINARY a;
     SELECT * FROM t1 ORDER BY a COLLATE latin1_bin;

Note: Every character set has a binary collation.

Some Special Cases Where the Collation Determination is Tricky
--------------------------------------------------------------

In the great majority of queries, it is obvious what collation MySQL
uses to resolve a comparison operation. For example, in the following
cases it should be clear that the collation will be "the column
collation of column `x'":

     SELECT x FROM T ORDER BY x;
     SELECT x FROM T WHERE x = x;
     SELECT DISTINCT x FROM T;

However, when multiple operands are involved, there can be ambiguity.
For example:

     SELECT x FROM T WHERE x = 'Y';

Should this query use the collation of the column `x', or of the string
literal `'Y''?

Standard SQL resolves such questions using what used to be called
"coercibility" rules. The essence is: Because `x' and `'Y'' both have
collations, whose collation takes precedence? It's complex, but these
rules would take care of most situations:

   * An explicit `COLLATE' clause has a coercibility of 0.  (Not
     coercible at all.)

   * A concatenation of two strings with different collations has a
     coercibility of 1.

   * A column's collation has a coercibility of 2.

   * A literal's collation has a coercibility of 3.


Those rules resolve ambiguities thus:

   * Use the collation with the lowest coercibility value.

   * If both sides have the same coercibility, then it's an error if
     the collations aren't the same.


Examples:

`column1 = 'A''                      Use collation of `column1'
`column1 = 'A' COLLATE x'            Use collation of `'A''
`column1 COLLATE x = 'A' COLLATE y'  Error

The `COERCIBILITY()' function can be used to determine the coercibility
of a string expression:

     mysql> SELECT COERCIBILITY('A' COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci);
             -> 0
     mysql> SELECT COERCIBILITY('A');
             -> 3

*Note Information functions::.

Collations Must Be for the Right Character Set
----------------------------------------------

Recall that each character set has one or more collations, and each
collation is associated with one and only one character set. Therefore,
the following statement causes an error message because the
`latin2_bin' collation is not legal with the `latin1' character set:

     mysql> SELECT _latin1 'x' COLLATE latin2_bin;
     ERROR 1251: COLLATION 'latin2_bin' is not valid
     for CHARACTER SET 'latin1'

An example of the Effect of Collation
-------------------------------------

Suppose column `X' in table `T' has these `latin1' column values:

     Muffler
     Mu"ller
     MX Systems
     MySQL

And suppose that the column values are retrieved using the following
statement:

     SELECT X FROM T ORDER BY X COLLATE collation_name;

The resulting order of the values for different collations is shown in
this table:

`latin1_swedish_ci'      `latin1_german1_ci'      `latin1_german2_ci'
Muffler                  Muffler                  Mu"ller
MX Systems               Mu"ller                  Muffler
Mu"ller                  MX Systems               MX Systems
MySQL                    MySQL                    MySQL

The table is an example that shows what the effect would be if we used
different collations in an `ORDER BY' clause. The character that's
causing the trouble in this example is the U with two dots over it,
which the Germans call U-umlaut, but we'll call it U-diaeresis.

The first column shows the result of the `SELECT' using the
Swedish/Finnish collating rule, which says that U-diaeresis sorts with
Y.

The second column shows the result of the `SELECT' using the German
DIN-1 rule, which says that U-diaeresis sorts with U.

The third column shows the result of the `SELECT' using the German
DIN-2 rule, which says that U-diaeresis sorts with UE.

Three different collations, three different results. That's what MySQL
is here to handle. By using the appropriate collation, you can choose
the sort order you want.

Operations Affected by Character Set Support
============================================

This section describes operations that take character set information
into account now.

Result Strings
--------------

MySQL has many operators and functions that return a string.  This
section answers the question: What is the character set and collation
of such a string?

For simple functions that take a string input and return a string
result as output, the output's character set and collation are the same
as the principal input's. For example, `UPPER(X)' returns a string
whose character string and collation are the same as that of `X'.  The
same applies for: `INSTR()', `LCASE()', `LOWER()', `LTRIM()', `MID()',
`REPEAT()', `REPLACE()', `REVERSE()', `RIGHT()', `RPAD()', `RTRIM()',
`SOUNDEX()', `SUBSTRING()', `TRIM()', `UCASE()', `UPPER()'.  (Also
note: the `REPLACE()' function, unlike all other functions, ignores the
collation of the string input and performs a case-insensitive
comparison every time.)

For operations that combine multiple string inputs and return a single
string output, SQL-99's "aggregation rules" apply.  They are:

   * If explicit `COLLATE X' occurs, then use `X'

   * If explicit `COLLATE X' and `COLLATE Y' occur, then error

   * Otherwise, if all collations are `X', then use `X'

   * Otherwise, the result has no collation


For example, with `CASE ... WHEN a THEN b WHEN b THEN c COLLATE X END',
the resultant collation is `X'. The same applies for: `CONCAT()',
`GREATEST()', `IF()', `LEAST()', `CASE', `UNION', `||', `ELT()'.

For operations that convert to character data, the result string's
character set and collation are in the connection/literals character
set and have the connection/literals collation.  This applies for:
`CHAR()', `CAST()', `CONV()', `FORMAT()'.  `HEX()', `SPACE()'.

`CONVERT()'
-----------

`CONVERT()' provides a way to convert data between different character
sets. The syntax is:

     CONVERT(expr USING transcoding_name)

In MySQL, transcoding names are the same as the corresponding character
set names.

Examples:

     SELECT CONVERT(_latin1'Mu"ller' USING utf8);
     INSERT INTO utf8table (utf8column)
        SELECT CONVERT(latin1field USING utf8) FROM latin1table;

`CONVERT(... USING ...)' is implemented according to the SQL-99
specification.

`CAST()'
--------

You may also use `CAST()' to convert a string to a different character
set. The new format is:

     CAST ( character_string AS character_data_type
         CHARACTER SET character_set_name )

Example:

     SELECT CAST(_latin1'test' AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8);

You may not use a `COLLATE' clause inside a `CAST()', but you may use
it outside, that is, `CAST(... COLLATE ...)' is illegal but `CAST(...)
COLLATE ...' is legal.

Example:

     SELECT CAST(_latin1'test' AS CHAR CHARACTER SET utf8) COLLATE utf8_bin;

If you use `CAST()' without specifying `CHARACTER SET', then the
resulting character set and collation are the connection/literal
character set and its default collation. If you use `CAST()' with
`CHARACTER SET X', then the resulting character set is `X' and the
resulting collation is `X''s default collation.

`SHOW CHARACTER SET'
--------------------

The `SHOW CHARACTER SET' command shows all available character sets.
It takes an optional `LIKE' clause that indicates which character set
names to match.

For example:

     mysql> SHOW CHARACTER SET LIKE 'latin%';
     +---------+-----------------------------+-------------------+--------+
     | Charset | Description                 | Default collation | Maxlen |
     +---------+-----------------------------+-------------------+--------+
     | latin1  | ISO 8859-1 West European    | latin1_swedish_ci |      1 |
     | latin2  | ISO 8859-2 Central European | latin2_general_ci |      1 |
     | latin5  | ISO 8859-9 Turkish          | latin5_turkish_ci |      1 |
     | latin7  | ISO 8859-13 Baltic          | latin7_general_ci |      1 |
     +---------+-----------------------------+-------------------+--------+
     4 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Notes about the preceding listing:

   * The `Maxlen' column shows the maximum number of bytes used to
     store one character.


`SHOW COLLATION'
----------------

The output from `SHOW COLLATION' includes all available character sets.
It takes an optional `LIKE' clause that indicates which collation names
to match.

     mysql> SHOW COLLATION LIKE 'latin1%';
     +-------------------+---------+----+---------+----------+---------+
     | Collation         | Charset | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
     +-------------------+---------+----+---------+----------+---------+
     | latin1_german1_ci | latin1  |  5 |         |          |       0 |
     | latin1_swedish_ci | latin1  |  8 | Yes     | Yes      |       0 |
     | latin1_danish_ci  | latin1  | 15 |         |          |       0 |
     | latin1_german2_ci | latin1  | 31 |         | Yes      |       2 |
     | latin1_bin        | latin1  | 47 |         | Yes      |       0 |
     | latin1_general_ci | latin1  | 48 |         |          |       0 |
     | latin1_general_cs | latin1  | 49 |         |          |       0 |
     | latin1_spanish_ci | latin1  | 94 |         |          |       0 |
     +-------------------+---------+----+---------+----------+---------+
     7 rows in set (0.00 sec)

The `Default' column indicates whether a collation is the default for
its character set.  `Compiled' indicates whether or not the character
set is compiled into the server.  `Sortlen' is related to the amount of
memory required to sort strings expressed in the character set.

`SHOW CREATE DATABASE'
----------------------

The following query shows a `CREATE DATABASE' statement that will
create the given database. The result includes all database options.
`DEFAULT CHARACTER SET' and `COLLATE' are supported. All database
options are stored in a text file that can be found in the database
directory.

     mysql> SHOW CREATE DATABASE a;
     +----------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | Database | Create Database
     |
     +----------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | a        | CREATE DATABASE `a` /*!40100 DEFAULT CHARACTER SET macce
     COLLATE macce_ci_ai */ |
     +----------+---------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

`SHOW FULL COLUMNS'
-------------------

The `SHOW COLUMNS' statement now displays the collations of a table's
columns, when invoked as `SHOW FULL COLUMNS'.  Columns with `CHAR',
`VARCHAR', or `TEXT' datatypes have non-`NULL' collations. Numeric and
other non-character types have `NULL' collations. For example:

     mysql> SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM a;
     +-------+---------+-------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | Field | Type    | Collation         | Null | Key | Default | Extra |
     +-------+---------+-------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     | a     | char(1) | latin1_swedish_ci | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     | b     | int(11) | NULL              | YES  |     | NULL    |       |
     +-------+---------+-------------------+------+-----+---------+-------+
     2 rows in set (0.02 sec)

The character set is not part of the display.

Unicode Support
===============

There are two new (as of MySQL version 4.1) character sets for storing
Unicode data: `ucs2' (the UCS-2 Unicode character set) and `utf8' (the
UTF8 encoding of the Unicode character set).

   * In UCS-2 (binary Unicode representation) every character is
     represented by a two-byte Unicode code with the most significant
     byte first. For example: "LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A" has the code
     0x0041 and it's stored as a two byte sequence: 0x00 0x41. "CYRILLIC
     SMALL LETTER YERU" (Unicode 0x044B) is stored as a two byte
     sequence: 0x04 0x4B. For Unicode characters and their codes please
     refer to the Unicode Home Page (http://www.unicode.org/).

     Temporary restriction: UCS-2 can't (yet) be used as a client
     character set. That means that `SET NAMES 'ucs2'' will not work.

   * The UTF8 character set (transform Unicode representation) is an
     alternative way to store Unicode data. It is implemented according
     to RFC2279. The idea of the UTF8 character set is that various
     Unicode characters fit into byte sequences of different lengths.

        * Basic Latin letters, digits, and punctuation signs use one
          byte.

        * Most European and Middle East script letters fit into a
          two-byte sequence: extended Latin letters (with tilde,
          macron, acute, grave and other accents), Cyrillic, Greek,
          Armenian, Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, and others.

        * Korean, Chinese and Japanese ideographs use three-byte
          sequences.

        * Currently, MySQL UTF8 support does not include four-byte
          sequences.


     Tip: To save space with UTF8, use `VARCHAR' instead of `CHAR'.
     Otherwise, MySQL has to reserve 30 bytes for a `CHAR(10) CHARACTER
     SET utf8' column, because that's the maximum possible length.


UTF8 for Metadata
=================

The metadata is the data about the data. Anything that describes the
database, as opposed to being the contents of the database, is
metadata. Thus column names, database names, user names, version names,
and most of the string results from `SHOW', are metadata.

All metadata must be in the same character set. (Otherwise, `SHOW'
wouldn't work properly because different rows in the same column would
be in different character sets.) On the other hand, metadata must
include all characters in all languages. (Otherwise, users wouldn't be
able to name columns and tables in their own languages.) In order to
allow for both of these objectives, MySQL stores metadata in a Unicode
character set, namely UTF8. This will not cause any disruption if you
never use accented characters. But if you do, you should be aware that
metadata is in UTF8.

This means that `USER()' (and its synonyms, `SESSION_USER()' and
`SYSTEM_USER()'), `CURRENT_USER()', and `VERSION()' functions will have
the UTF8 character set by default.

This does NOT mean that the headers of columns and the results of
`DESCRIBE' functions will be in the UTF8 character set by default.
(When you say `SELECT column1 FROM t' the name `column1' itself will be
returned from the server to the client in the client's character set as
determined by the `SET NAMES' statement.)

If you want the server to pass metadata results back in a non-UTF8
character set, then use `SET CHARACTER SET' to force the server to
convert (*note Charset-connection::), or set the client to do the
conversion. It is always more efficient to set the client to do the
conversion, but this option will not be available for many clients
until late in the MySQL 4.x product cycle.

If you are just using, for example, the `USER()' function for
comparison or assignment within a single statement ... don't worry.
MySQL will do some automatic conversion for you.

     SELECT * FROM Table1 WHERE USER() = latin1_column;

This will work, because the contents of `latin1_column' are
automatically converted to UTF8 before the comparison.

     INSERT INTO Table1 (latin1_column) SELECT USER();

This will work, becaues the contents of `USER()' are automatically
converted to `latin1' before the assignment.  Automatic conversion is
not fully implemented yet, but should work correctly in a later version.

Although automatic conversion is not in the SQL standard, the SQL
standard document does say that every character set is (in terms of
supported characters) a "subset" of Unicode. Since it is a well-known
principle that "what applies to a superset can apply to a subset," we
believe that a collation for Unicode can apply for comparisons with
non-Unicode strings.

Compatibility with Other DBMSs
==============================

For SAP DB compatibility these two statements are the same:
     CREATE TABLE t1 (f1 CHAR(n) UNICODE);
     CREATE TABLE t1 (f1 CHAR(n) CHARACTER SET ucs2);

New Character Set Configuration File format
===========================================

In MySQL 4.1, character set configuration is stored in XML files, one
file per character set. (In previous versions, this information was
stored in `.conf' files.)

National Character Set
======================

In MySQL-4.x and earlier, `NCHAR' and `CHAR' were synonymous. ANSI
defines `NCHAR' or `NATIONAL CHAR' as a way to define that a `CHAR'
column should use some predefined character set. MySQL uses `utf8' as
that predefined character set. For example, these column type
declarations are equivalent:

     CHAR(10) CHARACTER SET utf8
     NATIONAL CHARACTER(10)
     NCHAR(10)

As are these:

     VARCHAR(10) CHARACTER SET utf8
     NATIONAL VARCHAR(10)
     NCHAR VARCHAR(10)
     NATIONAL CHARACTER VARYING(10)
     NATIONAL CHAR VARYING(10)

You can use `N'literal'' to create a string in national character set.

These two statements are equivalent:

     SELECT N'some text';
     SELECT _utf8'some text';

Upgrading from MySQL 4.0
========================

Now, what about upgrading from older versions of MySQL? MySQL 4.1 is
almost upward compatible with MySQL 4.0 and earlier for the simple
reason that almost all of the features are new, so there's nothing in
earlier versions to conflict with. However, there are some differences
and a few things to be aware of.

Most important: The "MySQL 4.0 character set" has the properties of
both "MySQL 4.1 character sets" and "MySQL 4.1 collations." You will
have to unlearn this. Henceforth we will not bundle character set /
collation properties in the same conglomerate object.

There is a special treatment of national character sets in MySQL 4.1.
`NCHAR' is not the same as `CHAR', and `N'...'' literals are not the
same as `'...'' literals.

Finally, there is a different file format for storing information about
character sets and collations. Make sure you have reinstalled the
`/share/mysql/charsets/' directory containing the new configuration
files.

If you want to start `mysqld' from a 4.1.x distribution with data
created by MySQL 4.0, you should start the server with the same
character set and collation. In this case you won't need to reindex
your data.

There are two ways to do so:

     shell> ./configure --with-character-set=... --with-collation=...
     shell> ./mysqld --default-character-set=... --default-collation=...

If you used `mysql' with, for example, the MySQL 4.0 `danish' character
set, you should now use the `latin1' character set and the
`latin1_danish_ci' collation:

     shell> ./configure --with-character-set=latin1
                --with-collation=latin1_danish_ci
     shell> ./mysqld --default-character-set=latin1
                --default-collation=latin1_danish_ci

Use the table shown in the next section to find old 4.0 character set
names and their 4.1 character set/collation pair equivalents.

4.0 Character Sets and Corresponding 4.1 Character Set/Collation Pairs
----------------------------------------------------------------------

*ID*    *4.0 Character     *4.1 Character     *4.1 Collation*
        Set*               Set*               
1       `big5'             `big5'             `big5_chinese_ci'
2       `czech'            `latin2'           `latin2_czech_ci'
3       `dec8'             `dec8'             `dec8_swedish_ci'
4       `dos'              `cp850'            `cp850_general_ci'
5       `german1'          `latin1'           `latin1_german1_ci'
6       `hp8'              `hp8'              `hp8_english_ci'
7       `koi8_ru'          `koi8r'            `koi8r_general_ci'
8       `latin1'           `latin1'           `latin1_swedish_ci'
9       `latin2'           `latin2'           `latin2_general_ci'
10      `swe7'             `swe7'             `swe7_swedish_ci'
11      `usa7'             `ascii'            `ascii_general_ci'
12      `ujis'             `ujis'             `ujis_japanese_ci'
13      `sjis'             `sjis'             `sjis_japanese_ci'
14      `cp1251'           `cp1251'           `cp1251_bulgarian_ci'
15      `danish'           `latin1'           `latin1_danish_ci'
16      `hebrew'           `hebrew'           `hebrew_general_ci'
17      `win1251'          `(removed)'        `(removed)'
18      `tis620'           `tis620'           `tis620_thai_ci'
19      `euc_kr'           `euckr'            `euckr_korean_ci'
20      `estonia'          `latin7'           `latin7_estonian_ci'
21      `hungarian'        `latin2'           `latin2_hungarian_ci'
22      `koi8_ukr'         `koi8u'            `koi8u_ukrainian_ci'
23      `win1251ukr'       `cp1251'           `cp1251_ukrainian_ci'
24      `gb2312'           `gb2312'           `gb2312_chinese_ci'
25      `greek'            `greek'            `greek_general_ci'
26      `win1250'          `cp1250'           `cp1250_general_ci'
27      `croat'            `latin2'           `latin2_croatian_ci'
28      `gbk'              `gbk'              `gbk_chinese_ci'
29      `cp1257'           `cp1257'           `cp1257_lithuanian_ci'
30      `latin5'           `latin5'           `latin5_turkish_ci'
31      `latin1_de'        `latin1'           `latin1_german2_ci'

The Character Sets and Collations that MySQL Supports
=====================================================

Here is an annotated list of character sets and collations that MySQL
supports. Because options and installation settings differ, some sites
will not have all items in the list, and some sites will have items
that are not on the list because defining new character sets or
collations is straightforward.

MySQL supports 70+ collations for 30+ character sets.

     mysql> SHOW CHARACTER SET;
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     | Charset  | Description                 | Default collation   | Maxlen |
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     | big5     | Big5 Traditional Chinese    | big5_chinese_ci     |      2 |
     | dec8     | DEC West European           | dec8_swedish_ci     |      1 |
     | cp850    | DOS West European           | cp850_general_ci    |      1 |
     | hp8      | HP West European            | hp8_english_ci      |      1 |
     | koi8r    | KOI8-R Relcom Russian       | koi8r_general_ci    |      1 |
     | latin1   | ISO 8859-1 West European    | latin1_swedish_ci   |      1 |
     | latin2   | ISO 8859-2 Central European | latin2_general_ci   |      1 |
     | swe7     | 7bit Swedish                | swe7_swedish_ci     |      1 |
     | ascii    | US ASCII                    | ascii_general_ci    |      1 |
     | ujis     | EUC-JP Japanese             | ujis_japanese_ci    |      3 |
     | sjis     | Shift-JIS Japanese          | sjis_japanese_ci    |      2 |
     | cp1251   | Windows Cyrillic            | cp1251_bulgarian_ci |      1 |
     | hebrew   | ISO 8859-8 Hebrew           | hebrew_general_ci   |      1 |
     | tis620   | TIS620 Thai                 | tis620_thai_ci      |      1 |
     | euckr    | EUC-KR Korean               | euckr_korean_ci     |      2 |
     | koi8u    | KOI8-U Ukrainian            | koi8u_general_ci    |      1 |
     | gb2312   | GB2312 Simplified Chinese   | gb2312_chinese_ci   |      2 |
     | greek    | ISO 8859-7 Greek            | greek_general_ci    |      1 |
     | cp1250   | Windows Central European    | cp1250_general_ci   |      1 |
     | gbk      | GBK Simplified Chinese      | gbk_chinese_ci      |      2 |
     | latin5   | ISO 8859-9 Turkish          | latin5_turkish_ci   |      1 |
     | armscii8 | ARMSCII-8 Armenian          | armscii8_general_ci |      1 |
     | utf8     | UTF-8 Unicode               | utf8_general_ci     |      3 |
     | ucs2     | UCS-2 Unicode               | ucs2_general_ci     |      2 |
     | cp866    | DOS Russian                 | cp866_general_ci    |      1 |
     | keybcs2  | DOS Kamenicky Czech-Slovak  | keybcs2_general_ci  |      1 |
     | macce    | Mac Central European        | macce_general_ci    |      1 |
     | macroman | Mac West European           | macroman_general_ci |      1 |
     | cp852    | DOS Central European        | cp852_general_ci    |      1 |
     | latin7   | ISO 8859-13 Baltic          | latin7_general_ci   |      1 |
     | cp1256   | Windows Arabic              | cp1256_general_ci   |      1 |
     | cp1257   | Windows Baltic              | cp1257_general_ci   |      1 |
     | binary   | Binary pseudo charset       | binary              |      1 |
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     33 rows in set (0.01 sec)

NB: ALL CHARACTER SETS HAVE A BINARY COLLATION. WE HAVE NOT INCLUDED
THE BINARY COLLATION IN ALL THE DESCRIPTIONS THAT FOLLOW.

The Unicode Character Sets
--------------------------

There are our two Unicode character sets. You can store texts in about
650 languages using these character sets. We have not added a large
number of collations for these two new sets yet, but that will be
happening soon. Now they have default case-insensitive
accent-insensitive collations, plus the binary collation.
     +---------+-----------------+-------------------+--------+
     | Charset | Description     | Default collation | Maxlen |
     +---------+-----------------+-------------------+--------+
     | utf8    | UTF-8 Unicode   | utf8_general_ci   |      3 |
     | ucs2    | UCS-2 Unicode   | ucs2_general_ci   |      2 |
     +---------+-----------------+-------------------+--------+

Platform Specific Character Sets
--------------------------------

     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     | Charset  | Description                 | Default collation   | Maxlen |
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     | dec8     | DEC West European           | dec8_swedish_ci     |      1 |
     | hp8      | HP West European            | hp8_english_ci      |      1 |
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+

Character Sets for South Europe and Middle East
-----------------------------------------------

     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     | Charset  | Description                 | Default collation   | Maxlen |
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     | armscii8 | ARMSCII-8 Armenian          | armscii8_general_ci |      1 |
     | cp1256   | Windows Arabic              | cp1256_general_ci   |      1 |
     | hebrew   | ISO 8859-8 Hebrew           | hebrew_general_ci   |      1 |
     | greek    | ISO 8859-7 Greek            | greek_general_ci    |      1 |
     | latin5   | ISO 8859-9 Turkish          | latin5_turkish_ci   |      1 |
     | geostd8  | Georgian                    | geostd8_general_ci  |      1 |
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+

The Asian Character Sets
------------------------

The Asian character sets that we support include Chinese, Japanese,
Korean, and Thai. These can be complicated. For example, the Chinese
sets have to allow for thousands of different characters.
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     | Charset  | Description                 | Default collation   | Maxlen |
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+
     | big5     | Big5 Traditional Chinese    | big5_chinese_ci     |      2 |
     | gb2312   | GB2312 Simplified Chinese   | gb2312_chinese_ci   |      2 |
     | gbk      | GBK Simplified Chinese      | gbk_chinese_ci      |      2 |
     | euckr    | EUC-KR Korean               | euckr_korean_ci     |      2 |
     | ujis     | EUC-JP Japanese             | ujis_japanese_ci    |      3 |
     | sjis     | Shift-JIS Japanese          | sjis_japanese_ci    |      2 |
     | tis620   | TIS620 Thai                 | tis620_thai_ci      |      1 |
     +----------+-----------------------------+---------------------+--------+

The Baltic Character Sets
-------------------------

The Baltic character sets cover Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian
languages. There are two Baltic character sets currently supported:

   * `latin7' (ISO 8859-13 Baltic):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | latin7_estonian_cs   | latin7   | 20 |         |          |       0 |
          | latin7_general_ci    | latin7   | 41 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | latin7_general_cs    | latin7   | 42 |         |          |       0 |
          | latin7_bin           | latin7   | 79 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `cp1257' (Windows Baltic):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | cp1257_lithuanian_ci | cp1257   | 29 |         |          |       0 |
          | cp1257_bin           | cp1257   | 58 |         |          |       0 |
          | cp1257_general_ci    | cp1257   | 59 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+


The Cyrillic Character Sets
---------------------------

Here are the Cyrillic character sets and collations for use with
Belarusian, Bulgarian, Russian, Ukrainian languages.

   * `cp1251' (Windows Cyrillic):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | cp1251_bulgarian_ci  | cp1251   | 14 |         |          |       0 |
          | cp1251_ukrainian_ci  | cp1251   | 23 |         |          |       0 |
          | cp1251_bin           | cp1251   | 50 |         |          |       0 |
          | cp1251_general_ci    | cp1251   | 51 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | cp1251_general_cs    | cp1251   | 52 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `cp866' (DOS Russian):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | cp866_general_ci     | cp866    | 36 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | cp866_bin            | cp866    | 68 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `koi8r' (KOI8-R Relcom Russian, primarily used in Russia on Unix):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | koi8r_general_ci     | koi8r    |  7 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | koi8r_bin            | koi8r    | 74 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `koi8u' (KOI8-U Ukrainian, primarily used in Ukraine on Unix):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | koi8u_general_ci     | koi8u    | 22 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | koi8u_bin            | koi8u    | 75 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+


The Central European Character Sets
-----------------------------------

We have some support for character sets used in The Czech Republic,
Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, and Poland.

   * `cp1250' (Windows Central European):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | cp1250_general_ci    | cp1250   | 26 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | cp1250_czech_ci      | cp1250   | 34 |         | Yes      |       2 |
          | cp1250_bin           | cp1250   | 66 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `cp852' (DOS Central European):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | cp852_general_ci     | cp852    | 40 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | cp852_bin            | cp852    | 81 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `macce' (Mac Central European):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | macce_general_ci     | macce    | 38 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | macce_bin            | macce    | 43 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `latin2' (ISO 8859-2 Central European):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | latin2_czech_ci      | latin2   |  2 |         | Yes      |       4 |
          | latin2_general_ci    | latin2   |  9 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | latin2_hungarian_ci  | latin2   | 21 |         |          |       0 |
          | latin2_croatian_ci   | latin2   | 27 |         |          |       0 |
          | latin2_bin           | latin2   | 77 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `keybcs2' (DOS Kamenicky Czech-Slovak):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | keybcs2_general_ci   | keybcs2  | 37 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | keybcs2_bin          | keybcs2  | 73 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+


The West European Character Sets
--------------------------------

West European Character Sets cover most West European languages, such
as French, Spanish, Catalan, Basque, Portuguese, Italian, Albanian,
Dutch, German, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Faroese, Icelandic,
Irish, Scottish, and English.

   * `latin1' (ISO 8859-1 West European):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | latin1_german1_ci    | latin1   |  5 |         |          |       0 |
          | latin1_swedish_ci    | latin1   |  8 | Yes     | Yes      |       0 |
          | latin1_danish_ci     | latin1   | 15 |         |          |       0 |
          | latin1_german2_ci    | latin1   | 31 |         | Yes      |       2 |
          | latin1_bin           | latin1   | 47 |         | Yes      |       0 |
          | latin1_general_ci    | latin1   | 48 |         |          |       0 |
          | latin1_general_cs    | latin1   | 49 |         |          |       0 |
          | latin1_spanish_ci    | latin1   | 94 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

     The `latin1_swedish_ci' collation is the default that probably is
     used by the majority of MySQL customers. It is constantly stated
     that this is based on the Swedish/Finnish collation rules, but you
     will find Swedes and Finns who disagree with that statement.

     The `latin1_german1_ci' and `latin1_german2_ci' collations are
     based on the DIN-1 and DIN-2 standards, where DIN stands for
     Deutsches Institut fu"r Normung (that is, the German answer to
     ANSI).  DIN-1 is called the dictionary collation and DIN-2 is
     called the phone-book collation.

        * `latin1_german1_ci' (dictionary) rules:

               `A"' = `A', `O"' = `O', `U"' = `U', `ss' = `s'

        * `latin1_german2_ci' (phone-book) rules:

               `A"' = `AE', `O"' = `OE', `U"' = `UE', `ss' = `ss'


     In the `latin1_spanish_ci' collation, `N~' (N-tilde) is a separate
     letter between `N' and `O'.

   * `macroman' (Mac West European):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | macroman_general_ci  | macroman | 39 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | macroman_bin         | macroman | 53 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+

   * `cp850' (DOS West European):
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | Collation            | Charset  | Id | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+
          | cp850_general_ci     | cp850    |  4 | Yes     |          |       0 |
          | cp850_bin            | cp850    | 80 |         |          |       0 |
          +----------------------+----------+----+---------+----------+---------+


Spatial Extensions in MySQL
***************************

MySQL 4.1 introduces spatial extensions to allow the generation,
storage, and analysis of geographic features.  Currently, these
features are available for MyISAM tables only.

This chapter covers the following topics:

   * The basis of these spatial extensions in the OpenGIS geometry model

   * Data formats for representing spatial data

   * How to use spatial data in MySQL

   * Use of indexing for spatial data

   * MySQL differences from the OpenGIS specification


Introduction
============

MySQL implements spatial extensions following the specification of the
`Open GIS Consortium' (OGC). This is an international consortium of
more than 250 companies, agencies, and universities participating in
the development of publicly available conceptual solutions that can be
useful with all kinds of applications that manage spatial data.  The
OGC maintains a web site at `http://www.opengis.org/'.

In 1997, the Open GIS Consortium published the `OpenGIS (R) Simple
Features Specifications For SQL', a document that proposes several
conceptual ways for extending an SQL RDBMS to support spatial data.
This specification is available from the Open GIS web site at
<http://www.opengis.org/docs/99-049.pdf>.  It contains additional
information relevant to this chapter.

MySQL implements a subset of the *SQL with Geometry Types* environment
proposed by OGC.  This term refers to an SQL environment that has been
extended with a set of geometry types. A geometry-valued SQL column is
implemented as a column that has a geometry type. The specifications
describe a set of SQL geometry types, as well as functions on those
types to create and analyze geometry values.

A *geographic feature* is anything in the world that has a location.  A
feature can be:

   * An entity. For example, a mountain, a pond, a city.

   * A space. For example, a postcode area, the tropics.

   * A definable location. For example, a crossroad, as a particular
     place where two streets intersect.

You can also find documents that use the term *geospatial feature* to
refer to geographic features.

*Geometry* is another word that denotes a geographic feature.
Originally the word *geometry* means measurement of the earth.  Another
meaning comes from cartography, referring to the geometric features
that cartographers use to map the world.

This chapter uses all of these terms synonymously: *geographic
feature*, *geospatial feature*, *feature*, or *geometry*.  The term
most commonly used here is *geometry*.

Let's define a *geometry* as _a point or an aggregate of points
representing anything in the world that has a location_.

The OpenGIS Geometry Model
==========================

The set of geometry types proposed by OGC's *SQL with Geometry Types*
environment is based on the *OpenGIS Geometry Model*. In this model,
each geometric object has the following general properties:

   * It is associated with a Spatial Reference System, which describes
     the coordinate space in which the object is defined.

   * It belongs to some geometry class.

The Geometry Class Hierarchy
----------------------------

The geometry classes define a hierarchy as follows:

   * `Geometry' (non-instantiable)
        * `Point' (instantiable)

        * `Curve' (non-instantiable)
             * `LineString' (instantiable)
                  * `Line'

                  * `LinearRing'


        * `Surface' (non-instantiable)
             * `Polygon' (instantiable)

        * `GeometryCollection' (instantiable)
             * `MultiPoint' (instantiable)

             * `MultiCurve' (non-instantiable)
                  * `MultiLineString' (instantiable)


             * `MultiSurface' (non-instantiable)
                  * `MultiPolygon' (instantiable)



It is not possible to create objects in non-instantiable classes.  It
is possible to create objects in instantiable classes.  All classes
have properties, and instantiable classes may also have assertions
(rules that define valid class instances).

`Geometry' is the base class. It's an abstract class.  The instantiable
subclasses of `Geometry' are restricted to zero-, one-, and
two-dimensional geometric objects that exist in two-dimensional
coordinate space. All instantiable geometry classes are defined so that
valid instances of a geometry class are topologically closed (that is,
all defined geometries include their boundary).

The base `Geometry' class has subclasses for `Point', `Curve',
`Surface' and `GeometryCollection':

   * `Point' represents zero-dimensional objects.

   * `Curve' represents one-dimensional objects, and has subclass
     `LineString', with sub-subclasses `Line' and `LinearRing'.

   * `Surface' is designed for two-dimensional objects and has subclass
     `Polygon'.

   * `GeometryCollection' has specialized zero-, one-, and
     two-dimensional collection classes named `MultiPoint',
     `MultiLineString', and `MultiPolygon' for modelling geometries
     corresponding to collections of `Points', `LineStrings', and
     `Polygons', respectively.  `MultiCurve' and `MultiSurface' are
     introduced as abstract superclasses that generalize the collection
     interfaces to handle `Curves' and `Surfaces'.


`Geometry', `Curve', `Surface', `MultiCurve', and `MultiSurface' are
defined as non-instantiable classes.  They define a common set of
methods for their subclasses and are included for extensibility.

`Point', `LineString', `Polygon', `GeometryCollection', `MultiPoint',
`MultiLineString', and `MultiPolygon' are instantiable classes.

Class `Geometry'
----------------

`Geometry' is the root class of the hierarchy.  It is a
non-instantiable class but has a number of properties that are common to
all geometry values created from any of the `Geometry' subclasses.
These properties are described in the following list.  (Particular
subclasses have their own specific properties, described later.)

Geometry properties
-------------------

A geometry value has the following properties:

   * Its *type*.  Each geometry belongs to one of the instantiable
     classes in the hierarchy.

   * Its *SRID*, or Spatial Reference Identifier. This value identifies
     the geometry's associated Spatial Reference System that describes
     the coordinate space in which the geometry object is defined.

   * Its *coordinates* in its Spatial Reference System, represented as
     double-precision (8-byte) numbers. All non-empty geometries
     include at least one pair of (X,Y) coordinates. Empty geometries
     contain no coordinates.

     Coordinates are related to the SRID.  For example, in different
     coordinate systems, the distance between two objects may differ
     even when objects have the same coordinates, because the distance
     on the *planar* coordinate system and the distance on the
     *geocentric* system (coordinates on the Earth's surface) are
     different things.

   * Its *interior*, *boundary*, and *exterior*.  Every geometry
     occupies some position in space. The exterior of a geometry is all
     space not occupied by the geometry. The interior is the space
     occupied by the geometry. The boundary is the interface between
     the geometry's interior and exterior.

   * Its *MBR* (Minimum Bounding Rectangle), or Envelope.  This is the
     bounding geometry, formed by the minimum and maximum (X,Y)
     coordinates:

          ((MINX MINY, MAXX MINY, MAXX MAXY, MINX MAXY, MINX MINY))

   * The quality of being *simple* or *non-simple*.  Geometry values of
     types (`LineString', `MultiPoint', `MultiLineString') are either
     simple or non-simple. Each type determines its own assertions for
     being simple or non-simple.

   * The quality of being *closed* or *not closed*.  Geometry values of
     types (`LineString', `MultiString') are either closed or not
     closed. Each type determines its own assertions for being closed
     or not closed.

   * The quality of being *empty* or *not empty* A geometry is empty if
     it does not have any points.  Exterior, interior and boundary of
     an empty geometry are not defined (that is, they are represented
     by a `NULL' value).  An empty geometry is defined to be always
     simple and has an area of 0.

   * Its *dimension*. A geometry can have a dimension of -1, 0, 1, or 2:

        * -1 for empty geometry.

        * 0 for geometry with no length and no area.

        * 1 for geometry with non-zero length and zero area.

        * 2 for geometry with non-zero area.


     `Point' objects have a dimension of zero.  `LineString' objects
     have a dimension of 1. `Polygon' objects have a dimension of 2.
     The dimensions of `MultiPoint', `MultiLineString', and
     `MultiPolygon' objects are the same as the dimensions of the
     elements they consist of.


Class `Point'
-------------

A `Point' is a geometry that represents a single location in coordinate
space.

`Point' Examples
----------------

   * Imagine a large-scale map of the world with many cities.  A point
     could represent each city.

   * On a city map, a Point could represent a bus stop.

`Point' Properties
------------------

   * X-coordinate value.

   * Y-coordinate value.

   * `Point' is defined as a zero-dimensional geometry.

   * The boundary of a `Point' is the empty set.

Class `Curve'
-------------

A `Curve' is a one-dimensional geometry, usually represented by a
sequence of points. Particular subclasses of `Curve' define the type of
interpolation between points. `Curve' is a non-instantiable class.

`Curve' Properties
------------------

   * A `Curve' has the coordinates of its points.

   * A `Curve' is defined as a one-dimensional geometry.

   * A `Curve' is simple if it does not pass through the same point
     twice.

   * A `Curve' is closed if its start point is equal to its end point.

   * The boundary of a closed `Curve' is empty.

   * The boundary of a non-closed `Curve' consists of its two end
     points.

   * A `Curve' that is simple and closed is a `LinearRing'.


Class `LineString'
------------------

A `LineString' is a `Curve' with linear interpolation between points.

`LineString' Examples
---------------------

   * On a world map, `LineString' objects could represent rivers.

   * In a city map, `LineString' objects could represent streets.


`LineString' Properties
-----------------------

   * A `LineString' has coordinates of segments, defined by each
     consecutive pair of points.

   * A `LineString' is a `Line' if it consists of exactly two points.

   * A `LineString' is a `LinearRing' if it's both closed and simple.


Class `Surface'
---------------

A `Surface' is a two-dimensional geometry. It is a non-instantiable
class. Its only instantiable subclass is `Polygon'.

`Surface' Properties
--------------------

   * A `Surface' is defined as a two-dimensional geometry.

   * The OpenGIS specification defines a simple `Surface' as a geometry
     that consists of a single "patch" that is associated with a single
     exterior boundary and zero or more interior boundaries.

   * The boundary of a simple `Surface' is the set of closed curves
     corresponding to its exterior and interior boundaries.


Class `Polygon'
---------------

A `Polygon' is a planar `Surface' representing a multisided geometry.
It is defined by a single exterior boundary and zero or more interior
boundaries, where each interior boundary defines a hole in the
`Polygon'.

`Polygon' Examples
------------------

   * On a region map, `Polygon' objects could represent forests,
     districts, etc.


`Polygon' Assertions
--------------------

   * The boundary of a `Polygon' consists of a set of `LinearRing'
     objects (that is, `LineString' objects that are both simple and
     closed) that make up its exterior and interior boundaries.

   * A `Polygon' has no rings which cross. The rings in the boundary of
     a `Polygon' may intersect at a `Point', but only as a tangent.

   * A `Polygon' has no lines, spikes, or punctures.

   * A `Polygon' has an interior which is a connected point set.

   * A `Polygon' may have holes.  The exterior of a `Polygon' with
     holes is not connected.  Each hole defines a connected component
     of the exterior.


The above assertions make a `Polygon' a simple geometry.

Class `GeometryCollection'
--------------------------

A `GeometryCollection' is a geometry that is a collection of one or more
geometries of any class.

All the elements in a `GeometryCollection' must be in the same Spatial
Reference System (that is, in the same coordinate system).  There are
no other constraints on the elements of a `GeometryCollection',
although the subclasses of `GeometryCollection' described in the
following sections may restrict membership. Retrictions may be based on:

   * Element type (for example, a `MultiPoint' may contain only `Point'
     elements)

   * Dimension

   * Constraints on the degree of spatial overlap between elements


Class `MultiPoint'
------------------

A `MultiPoint' is a geometry collection composed of `Point' elements.
The points are not connected or ordered in any way.

`MultiPoint' Examples
---------------------

   * On a world map, a `Multipoint' could represent a chain of small
     islands.

   * On a city map, a `Multipoint' could represent the outlets for a
     ticket office.


`MultiPoint' Properties
-----------------------

   * A `MultiPoint' is a zero-dimensional geometry.

   * A `MultiPoint' is simple if no two of its `Point' values are equal
     (have identical coordinate values).

   * A `MultiPoint''s boundary is the empty set.


Class `MultiCurve'
------------------

A `MultiCurve' is a geometry collection composed of `Curve' elements.
`MultiCurve' is a non-instantiable class.

`MultiCurve' Properties
-----------------------

   * A `MultiCurve' is a one-dimensional geometry.

   * A `MultiCurve' is simple if and only if all of its elements are
     simple, the only intersections between any two elements occur at
     points that are on the boundaries of both elements.

   * A `MultiCurve' boundary is obtained by applying the "mod 2 union
     rule" (also known as the odd-even rule): A point is in the
     boundary of a `MultiCurve' if it is in the boundaries of an odd
     number of `MultiCurve' elements.

   * A `MultiCurve' is closed if all of its elements are closed.

   * A closed `MultiCurve''s boundary is always empty.


Class `MultiLineString'
-----------------------

A `MultiLineString' is a `MultiCurve' geometry collection composed of
`LineString' elements.

`MultiLineString' Examples
--------------------------

   * On a region map, a `MultiLineString' could represent a river
     system or a highway system.


Class `MultiSurface'
--------------------

A `MultiSurface' is a geometry collection composed of surface elements.
`MultiSurface' is a non-instantiable class. Its only instantiable
subclass is `MultiPolygon'.

`MultiSurface' Assertions
-------------------------

   * Two `MultiSurface' surfaces have no interiors which intersect.

   * Two `MultiSurface' elements have boundries which intersect at most
     at a finite number of points.


Class `MultiPolygon'
--------------------

A `MultiPolygon' is a `MultiSurface' object composed of `Polygon'
elements.

`MultiPolygon' Examples
-----------------------

   * On a region map, a `MultiPolygon' could represent a system of
     lakes.


`MultiPolygon' Assertions
-------------------------

   * A `MultiPolygon' has no two `Polygon' elements with interiors that
     intersect.

   * A `MultiPolygon' has no two `Polygon' elements that cross
     (crossing is also forbidden by the previous assertion), or that
     touch at an infinite number of points.

   * A `MultiPolygon' may not have cut lines, spikes or punctures. A
     `MultiPolygon' is a regular, closed point set.

   * A `MultiPolygon' which has more than one `Polygon' has an interior
     which is not connected. The number of connected components of the
     interior of a `MultiPolygon' is equal to the number of `Polygon'
     values in the `MultiPolygon'.


`MultiPolygon' Properties
-------------------------

   * A `MultiPolygon' is a two-dimensional geometry.

   * A `MultiPolygon' boundary is a set of closed curves (`LineString'
     values) corresponding to the boundaries of its `Polygon' elements.

   * Each `Curve' in the boundary of the `MultiPolygon' is in the
     boundary of exactly one `Polygon' element.

   * Every `Curve' in the boundary of an `Polygon' element is in the
     boundary of the `MultiPolygon'.


Supported Spatial Data Formats
==============================

This section describes the standard spatial data formats that are used
to represent geometry objects in queries.  They are:

   * Well-Known Text (WKT) format

   * Well-Known Binary (WKB) format


Internally, MySQL stores geometry values in a format that is not
identical to either WKT or WKB format.

Well-Known Text (WKT) Format
----------------------------

The Well-Known Text (WKT) representation of Geometry is designed to
exchange geometry data in ASCII form.

Examples of WKT representations of geometry objects are:

   * A `Point':

          POINT(15 20)

     Note that point coordinates are specified with no separating comma.

   * A `LineString' with four points:

          LINESTRING(0 0, 10 10, 20 25, 50 60)

   * A `Polygon' with one exterior ring and one interior ring:

          POLYGON((0 0,10 0,10 10,0 10,0 0),(5 5,7 5,7 7,5 7, 5 5))

   * A `MultiPoint' with three `Point' values:

          MULTIPOINT(0 0, 20 20, 60 60)

   * A `MultiLineString' with two `LineString' values:

          MULTILINESTRING((10 10, 20 20), (15 15, 30 15))

   * A `MultiPolygon' with two `Polygon' values:

          MULTIPOLYGON(((0 0,10 0,10 10,0 10,0 0)),((5 5,7 5,7 7,5 7, 5 5)))

   * A `GeometryCollection' consisting of two `Point' values and one
     `LineString':

          GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(10 10), POINT(30 30), LINESTRING(15 15, 20 20))


A Backus-Naur grammar that specifies the formal production rules for
writing WKT values may be found in the OGC specification document
referenced near the beginning of this chapter.

Well-Known Binary (WKB) Format
------------------------------

The Well-Known Binary (WKB) representation for geometric values is
defined by the OpenGIS specifications.  It is also defined in the ISO
"SQL/MM Part 3: Spatial" standard.

WKB is used to exchange geometry data as binary streams represented by
`BLOB' values containing geometric WKB information.

WKB uses 1-byte unsigned integers, 4-byte unsigned integers, and 8-byte
double-precision numbers (IEEE 754 format). A byte is 8 bits.

For example, a WKB value that corresponds to `POINT(1 1)' consists of
this sequence of 21 bytes (each represented here by two hex digits):

     0101000000000000000000F03F000000000000F03F

The sequence may be broken down into these components:

     Byte order : 01
     WKB type   : 01000000
     X          : 000000000000F03F
     Y          : 000000000000F03F

Component representation is as follows:

   * The byte order may be either 0 or 1 to indicate little-endian or
     big-endian storage. The little-endian and big-endian byte orders
     are also known as Network Data Representation (NDR) and External
     Data Representation (XDR), respectively.

   * The WKB type is a code that indicates the geometry type. Values
     from 1 through 7 indicate `Point', `LineString', `Polygon',
     `MultiPoint', `MultiLineString', `MultiPolygon', and
     `GeometryCollection'.

   * A `Point' value has X and Y coordinates, each represented as a
     double-precision value.


WKB values for more complex geometry values are represented by more
complex data structures, as detailed in the OpenGIS specification.

Creating a Spatially Enabled MySQL Database
===========================================

This section describes the datatypes you can use for representing
spatial data in MySQL, and the functions available for creating and
retrieving spatial values.

MySQL Spatial Datatypes
-----------------------

MySQL has datatypes that correspond to OpenGIS classes.  Some of these
types hold single geometry values:

   * `GEOMETRY'

   * `POINT'

   * `LINESTRING'

   * `POLYGON'

`GEOMETRY' can store geometry values of any type.  The other
single-value types, `POINT' and `LINESTRING' and `POLYGON', restrict
their values to a particular geometry type.

The other datatypes hold collections of values:

   * `MULTIPOINT'

   * `MULTILINESTRING'

   * `MULTIPOLYGON'

   * `GEOMETRYCOLLECTION'

`GEOMETRYCOLLECTION' can store a collection of objects of any type. The
other collection types, `MULTIPOINT' and `MULTILINESTRING' and
`MULTIPOLYGON' and `GEOMETRYCOLLECTION', restrict collection members to
those having a particular geometry type.

Creating Spatial Values
-----------------------

This section describes how to create spatial values using Well-Known
Text and Well-Known Binary functions that are defined in the OpenGIS
standard, and using MySQL-specific functions.

Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions
............................................

MySQL provides a number of functions that take as input parameters a
Well-Known Text representation (and, optionally, a spatial reference
system identifier (SRID)), and return the corresponding geometry.

`GeomFromText()' accepts a WKT of any geometry type as its first
argument.  An implementation also provides type-specific construction
functions for construction of geometry values of each geometry type.

`GeomFromText(wkt[,srid])'
`GeometryFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a geometry value of any type using its WKT
     representation and SRID.

`PointFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a `POINT' value using its WKT representation and SRID.

`LineFromText(wkt[,srid])'
`LineStringFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a `LINESTRING' value using its WKT representation and
     SRID.

`PolyFromText(wkt[,srid])'
`PolygonFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a `POLYGON' value using its WKT representation and SRID.

`MPointFromText(wkt[,srid])'
`MultiPointFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a `MULTIPOINT' value using its WKT representation and
     SRID.

`MLineFromText(wkt[,srid])'
`MultiLineStringFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a `MULTILINESTRING' value using its WKT representation
     and SRID.

`MPolyFromText(wkt[,srid])'
`MultiPolygonFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a `MULTIPOLYGON' value using its WKT representation and
     SRID.

`GeomCollFromText(wkt[,srid])'
`GeometryCollectionFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a `GEOMETRYCOLLECTION' value using its WKT
     representation and SRID.

The OpenGIS specification also describes optional functions for
constructing `Polygon' or `MultiPolygon' values based on the WKT
representation of a collection of rings or closed `LineString' values.
These values may intersect.  MySQL does not implement these functions:

`BdPolyFromText(wkt,srid)'
     Constructs a `Polygon' value from a `MultiLineString' value in WKT
     format containing an arbitrary collection of closed `LineString'
     values.

`BdMPolyFromText(wkt,srid)'
     Constructs a `MultiPolygon' value from a `MultiLineString' value
     in WKT format containing an arbitrary collection of closed
     `LineString' values.

Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions
............................................

MySQL provides a number of functions that take as input parameters a
`BLOB' containing a Well-Known Binary representation (and, optionally,
a spatial reference system identifier (SRID)), and return the
corresponding geometry.

`GeomFromWKT()' accepts a WKB of any geometry type as its first
argument.  An implementation also provides type-specific construction
functions for construction of geometry values of each geometry type.

`GeomFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
`GeometryFromWKB(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a geometry value of any type using its WKB
     representation and SRID.

`PointFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
     Constructs a `POINT' value using its WKB representation and SRID.

`LineFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
`LineStringFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
     Constructs a `LINESTRING' value using its WKB representation and
     SRID.

`PolyFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
`PolygonFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
     Constructs a `POLYGON' value using its WKB representation and SRID.

`MPointFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
`MultiPointFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
     Constructs a `MULTIPOINT' value using its WKB representation and
     SRID.

`MLineFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
`MultiLineStringFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
     Constructs a `MULTILINESTRING' value using its WKB representation
     and SRID.

`MPolyFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
`MultiPolygonFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
     Constructs a `MULTIPOLYGON' value using its WKB representation and
     SRID.

`GeomCollFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
`GeometryCollectionFromWKB(wkt[,srid])'
     Constructs a `GEOMETRYCOLLECTION' value using its WKB
     representation and SRID.

The OpenGIS specification also describes optional functions for
constructing `Polygon' or `MultiPolygon' values based on the WKB
representation of a collection of rings or closed `LineString' values.
These values may intersect.  MySQL does not implement these functions:

`BdPolyFromWKB(wkb,srid)'
     Constructs a `Polygon' value from a `MultiLineString' value in WKB
     format containing an arbitrary collection of closed `LineString'
     values.

`BdMPolyFromWKB(wkb,srid)'
     Constructs a `MultiPolygon' value from a `MultiLineString' value
     in WKB format containing an arbitrary collection of closed
     `LineString' values.

Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions
.......................................................

*Note:* MySQL does not implement the functions listed in this section.

MySQL provides a set of useful functions for creating geometry WKB
representations. The functions described in this section are MySQL
extensions to the OpenGIS specifications. The results of these
functions are `BLOB' values containing WKB representations of geometry
values with no SRID.  The results of these functions can be substituted
as the first argument for any function in the `GeomFromWKB()' function
family.

`Point(x,y)'
     Constructs a WKB `Point' using its coordinates.

`MultiPoint(pt1,pt2,...)'
     Constructs a WKB `MultiPoint' value using WKB `Point' arguments.
     If any argument is not a `WKBPoint', the return value is `NULL'.

`LineString(pt1,pt2,...)'
     Constructs a WKB `LineString' value from a number of WKB `Point'
     arguments.  If any argument is not a WKB `Point', the return value
     is `NULL'.  If the number of `Point' arguments is less than two,
     the return value is `NULL'.

`MultiLineString(ls1,ls2,...)'
     Constructs a WKB `MultiLineString' value using using WBK
     `LineString' arguments.  If any argument is not a `LineString',
     the return value is `NULL'.

`Polygon(ls1,ls2,...)'
     Constructs a WKB `Polygon' value from a number of WKB `LineString'
     arguments. If any argument does not represent the WKB of a
     `LinearRing' (that is, not a closed and simple `LineString') the
     return value is `NULL'.

`MultiPolygon(poly1,poly2,...)'
     Constructs a WKB `MultiPolygon' value from a set of WKB `Polygon'
     arguments.  If any argument is not a WKB `Polygon', the rerurn
     value is `NULL'.

`GeometryCollection(g1,g2,...)'
     Constucts a WKB `GeometryCollection'. If any argument is not a
     well-formed WKB representation of a geometry, the return value is
     `NULL'.

Creating Spatial Columns
------------------------

MySQL provides a standard way of creating spatial columns for geometry
types, for example, with `CREATE TABLE' or `ALTER TABLE'.  Currently,
spatial columns are supported only for `MyISAM' tables.

   * Use the `CREATE TABLE' statement to create a table with a spatial
     column:

          mysql> CREATE TABLE geom (g GEOMETRY);
          Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)

   * Use the `ALTER TABLE' statement to add or drop a spatial column to
     or from an existing table:

          mysql> ALTER TABLE geom ADD pt POINT;
          Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
          Records: 0  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0
          mysql> ALTER TABLE geom DROP pt;
          Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
          Records: 0  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0


Populating Spatial Columns
--------------------------

After you have created spatial columns, you can populate them with
spatial data.

Values should be stored in internal geometry format, but you can
convert them to that format from either Well-Known Text (WKT) or
Well-Known Binary (WKB) format. The following examples demonstrate how
to insert geometry values into a table by converting WKT values into
internal geometry format.

You can perform the conversion directly in the `INSERT' statement:

     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)'));
     
     SET @g = 'POINT(1 1)';
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText(@g));

Or you can perform the conversion prior to the `INSERT':

     SET @g = GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)');
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (@g);

The following examples insert more complex geometries into the table:

     SET @g = 'LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2)';
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText(@g));
     
     SET @g = 'POLYGON((0 0,10 0,10 10,0 10,0 0),(5 5,7 5,7 7,5 7, 5 5))';
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText(@g));
     
     SET @g = 'GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(1 1),LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2,3 3,4 4))';
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromText(@g));

The preceding examples all use `GeomFromText()' to create geometry
values.  You can also use type-specific functions:

     SET @g = 'POINT(1 1)';
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (PointFromText(@g));
     
     SET @g = 'LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2)';
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (LineStringFromText(@g));
     
     SET @g = 'POLYGON((0 0,10 0,10 10,0 10,0 0),(5 5,7 5,7 7,5 7, 5 5))';
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (PolygonFromText(@g));
     
     SET @g = 'GEOMETRYCOLLECTION(POINT(1 1),LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2,3 3,4 4))';
     INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomCollFromText(@g));

Note that if a client application program wants to use WKB
representations of geometry values, it is responsible for sending
correctly formed WKB in queries to the server. However, there are
several ways of satisfying this requirement. For example:

   * Inserting a `POINT(1 1)' value with hex literal syntax:
          mysql> INSERT INTO geom VALUES
              -> (GeomFromWKB(0x0101000000000000000000F03F000000000000F03F));

   * An ODBC application can send a WKB representation, binding it to a
     placeholder using an argument of `BLOB' type:
          INSERT INTO geom VALUES (GeomFromWKB(?))

     Other programming interfaces may support a similar placeholder
     mechanism.

   * In a C program, you can escape a binary value using
     `mysql_real_escape_string()' and include the result in a query
     string that is sent to the server.  *Note
     `mysql_real_escape_string()': mysql_real_escape_string.


Fetching Spatial Data
---------------------

Geometry values stored in a table can be fetched in internal format.
You can also convert them into WKT or WKB format.

Fetching Spatial Data in Internal Format
........................................

Fetching geometry values using internal format can be useful in
table-to-table transfers:

     CREATE TABLE geom2 (g GEOMETRY) SELECT g FROM geom;

Fetching Spatial Data in WKT Format
...................................

The `AsText()' function converts a geometry from internal format into a
WKT string.

     mysql> SELECT AsText(g) FROM geom;
     +-------------------------+
     | AsText(p1)              |
     +-------------------------+
     | POINT(1 1)              |
     | LINESTRING(0 0,1 1,2 2) |
     +-------------------------+

Fetching Spatial Data in WKB Format
...................................

The `AsBinary()' function converts a geometry from internal format into
a `BLOB' containing the WKB value.

     SELECT AsBinary(g) FROM geom;

Analyzing Spatial Information
=============================

After populating spatial columns with values, you are ready to query
and analyze them.  MySQL provides a set of functions to perform various
operations on spatial data. These functions can be grouped into four
major categories according to the type of operation they perform:

   * Functions that convert geometries between various formats

   * Functions that provide access to qualitative or quantitative
     properties of a geometry

   * Functions that describe relations between two geometries

   * Functions that create new geometries from existing ones


Spatial analysis functions can be used in many contexts, such as:

   * Any interactive SQL program, like `mysql' or `MySQLCC'

   * Application programs written in any language that supports a MySQL
     client API


Geometry Format Conversion Functions
------------------------------------

MySQL supports the following functions for converting geometry values
between internal format and either WKT or WKB format:

`GeomFromText(wkt[,srid])'
     Converts a string value from its WKT representation into internal
     geometry format and returns the result.  A number of type-specific
     functions are also supported, such as `PointFromText()' and
     `LineFromText()'; see *Note GIS WKT Functions::.

`GeomFromWKB(wkb[,srid])'
     Converts a binary value from its WKB representation into internal
     geometry format and returns the result.  A number of type-specific
     functions are also supported, such as `PointFromWKB()' and
     `LineFromWKB()'; see *Note GIS WKB Functions::.

`AsText(g)'
     Converts a value in internal geometry format to its WKT
     representation and returns the string result.

          mysql> SET @g = 'LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)';
          mysql> SELECT AsText(GeomFromText(@g));
          +--------------------------+
          | AsText(GeomFromText(@G)) |
          +--------------------------+
          | LINESTRING(1 1,2 2,3 3)  |
          +--------------------------+

`AsBinary(g)'
     Converts a value in internal geometry format to its WKB
     representation and returns the binary result.

`Geometry' Functions
--------------------

Each function that belongs to this group takes a geometry value as its
argument and returns some quantitive or qualitive property of the
geometry. Some functions restrict their argument type. Such functions
return `NULL' if the argument is of an incorrect geometry type.  For
example, `Area()' returns `NULL' if the object type is neither
`Polygon' nor `MultiPolygon'.

General Geometry Functions
..........................

The functions listed in this ssection do not restrict their argument and
accept a geometry value of any type.

`GeometryType(g)'
     Returns as a string the name of the geometry type of which the
     geometry instance `g' is a member.  The name will correspond to
     one of the instantiable `Geometry' subclasses.

          mysql> SELECT GeometryType(GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)'));
          +------------------------------------------+
          | GeometryType(GeomFromText('POINT(1 1)')) |
          +------------------------------------------+
          | POINT                                    |
          +------------------------------------------+

`Dimension(g)'
     Returns the inherent dimension of the geometry value `g'. The
     result can be -1, 0, 1, or 2. (The meaning of these values is
     given in *Note GIS class geometry::.)

          mysql> SELECT Dimension(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)'));
          +------------------------------------------------+
          | Dimension(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)')) |
          +------------------------------------------------+
          |                                              1 |
          +------------------------------------------------+

`SRID(g)'
     Returns an integer indicating the Spatial Reference System ID for
     the geometry value `g'.

          mysql> SELECT SRID(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)',101));
          +-----------------------------------------------+
          | SRID(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)',101)) |
          +-----------------------------------------------+
          |                                           101 |
          +-----------------------------------------------+

`Envelope(g)'
     Returns the Minimum Bounding Rectangle (MBR) for the geometry
     value `g'.  The result is returned as a polygon value.

          mysql> SELECT AsText(Envelope(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)')));
          +-------------------------------------------------------+
          | AsText(Envelope(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2)'))) |
          +-------------------------------------------------------+
          | POLYGON((1 1,2 1,2 2,1 2,1 1))                        |
          +-------------------------------------------------------+

     The polygon is defined by the corner points of the bounding box:

          POLYGON((MINX MINY, MAXX MINY, MAXX MAXY, MINX MAXY, MINX MINY))

The OpenGIS specification also defines the following functions, which
MySQL does not implement:

`Boundary(g)'
     Returns a geometry that is the closure of the combinatorial
     boundary of the geometry value `g'.

`IsEmpty(g)'
     Returns 1 if the geometry value `g' is the empty geometry, 0 if it
     is not empty, and -1 if the argument is `NULL'.  If the geometry
     is empty, it represents the empty point set.

`IsSimple(g)'
     Currently, this function is a placeholder and should not be used.
     If implemented, its behavior will be as described in the next
     paragraph.

     Returns 1 if the geometry value `g' has no anomalous geometric
     points, such as self intersection or self tangency. `IsSimple()'
     returns 0 if the argument is not simple, and -1 if it is `NULL'.

     The description of each instantiable geometric class given earlier
     in the chapter includes the specific conditions that cause an
     instance of that class to be classified as not simple.

`Point' Functions
.................

A `Point' consists of X and Y coordinates, which may be obtained using
the following functions:

`X(p)'
     Returns the X-coordinate value for the point `p' as a
     double-precision number.
          mysql> SELECT X(GeomFromText('Point(56.7 53.34)'));
          +--------------------------------------+
          | X(GeomFromText('Point(56.7 53.34)')) |
          +--------------------------------------+
          |                                 56.7 |
          +--------------------------------------+

`Y(p)'
     Returns the Y-coordinate value for the point `p' as a
     double-precision number.
          mysql> SELECT Y(GeomFromText('Point(56.7 53.34)'));
          +--------------------------------------+
          | Y(GeomFromText('Point(56.7 53.34)')) |
          +--------------------------------------+
          |                                53.34 |
          +--------------------------------------+

`LineString' Functions
......................

A `LineString' consists of `Point' values. You can extract particular
points of a `LineString', count the number of points that it contains,
or obtain its length.

`EndPoint(ls)'
     Returns the `Point' that is the end point of the `LineString' value
     `ls'.

          mysql> SELECT AsText(EndPoint(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')));
          +------------------------------------------------------------+
          | AsText(EndPoint(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')))  |
          +------------------------------------------------------------+
          | POINT(3 3)                                                 |
          +------------------------------------------------------------+

`GLength(ls)'
     Returns as a double-precision number the length of the `LineString'
     value `ls' in its associated spatial reference.

          mysql> SELECT GLength(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'));
          +--------------------------------------------------+
          | GLength(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')) |
          +--------------------------------------------------+
          |                                  2.8284271247462 |
          +--------------------------------------------------+

`IsClosed(ls)'
     Returns 1 if the `LineString' value `ls' is closed (that is, its
     `StartPoint()' and `EndPoint()' values are the same).  Returns 0
     if `ls' is not closed, and -1 if it is `NULL'.

          mysql> SELECT IsClosed(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'));
          +---------------------------------------------------+
          | IsClosed(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')) |
          +---------------------------------------------------+
          |                                                 0 |
          +---------------------------------------------------+

`NumPoints(ls)'
     Returns the number of points in the `LineString' value `ls'.

          mysql> SELECT NumPoints(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'));
          +----------------------------------------------------+
          | NumPoints(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')) |
          +----------------------------------------------------+
          |                                                  3 |
          +----------------------------------------------------+

`PointN(ls,n)'
     Returns the `n'-th point in the `Linestring' value `ls'.  Point
     numbers begin at 1.

          mysql> SELECT AsText(PointN(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'),2));
          +-----------------------------------------------------------+
          | AsText(PointN(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'),2)) |
          +-----------------------------------------------------------+
          | POINT(2 2)                                                |
          +-----------------------------------------------------------+

`StartPoint(ls)'
     Returns the `Point' that is the start point of the `LineString'
     value `ls'.

          mysql> SELECT AsText(StartPoint(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)')));
          +-------------------------------------------------------------+
          | AsText(StartPoint(GeomFromText('LineString(1 1,2 2,3 3)'))) |
          +-------------------------------------------------------------+
          | POINT(1 1)                                                  |
          +-------------------------------------------------------------+

The OpenGIS specification also defines the following function, which
MySQL does not implement:

`IsRing(ls)'
     Returns 1 if the `LineString' value `ls' is closed (that is, its
     `StartPoint()' and `EndPoint()' values are the same) and is simple
     (does not pass through the same point more than once).  Returns 0
     if `ls' is not a ring, and -1 if it is `NULL'.

`MultiLineString' Functions
...........................

`GLength(mls)'
     Returns as a double-precision number the length of the
     `MultiLineString' value `mls'. The length of `mls' is equal to the
     sum of the lengths of its elements.

          mysql> SELECT GLength(GeomFromText('MultiLineString((1 1,2 2,3 3),(4 4,5 5))'));
          +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | GLength(GeomFromText('MultiLineString((1 1,2 2,3 3),(4 4,5 5))')) |
          +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
          |                                                   4.2426406871193 |
          +-------------------------------------------------------------------+

`IsClosed(mls)'
     Returns 1 if the `MultiLineString' value `mls' is closed (that is,
     the `StartPoint()' and `EndPoint()' values are the same for each
     `LineString' in `mls').  Returns 0 if `mls' is not closed, and -1
     if it is `NULL'.

          mysql> SELECT IsClosed(GeomFromText('MultiLineString((1 1,2 2,3 3),(4 4,5 5))'));
          +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | IsClosed(GeomFromText('MultiLineString((1 1,2 2,3 3),(4 4,5 5))')) |
          +--------------------------------------------------------------------+
          |                                                                  0 |
          +--------------------------------------------------------------------+

`Polygon' Functions
...................

`Area(poly)'
     Returns as a double-precision number the area of the `Polygon'
     value `poly', as measured in its spatial reference system.

          mysql> SELECT Area(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'));
          +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | Area(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))')) |
          +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          |                                                                          8 |
          +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+

`NumInteriorRings(poly)'
     Returns the number of interior rings in the `Polygon' value `poly'.
          mysql> SELECT NumInteriorRings(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'));
          +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | NumInteriorRings(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))')) |
          +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          |                                                                                      1 |
          +----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

`ExteriorRing(poly)'
     Returns the exterior ring of the `Polygon' value `poly' as a
     `LineString'.
          mysql> SELECT AsText(ExteriorRing(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))')));
          +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | AsText(ExteriorRing(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'))) |
          +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | LINESTRING(0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0)                                                            |
          +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

`InteriorRingN(poly,n)'
     Returns the `n'-th interior ring for the `Polygon' value `poly' as
     a `LineString'.  Ring numbers begin at 1.
          mysql> SELECT AsText(InteriorRingN(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'),1));
          +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | AsText(InteriorRingN(GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1))'),1)) |
          +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | LINESTRING(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1)                                                               |
          +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

`MultiPolygon' Functions
........................

`Area(mpoly)'
     Returns as a double-precision number the area of the `MultiPolygon'
     value `mpoly', as measured in its spatial reference system.

          mysql> SELECT Area(GeomFromText('MultiPolygon(((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1)))'));
          +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | Area(GeomFromText('MultiPolygon(((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0),(1 1,1 2,2 2,2 1,1 1)))')) |
          +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          |                                                                                 8 |
          +-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

The OpenGIS specification also defines the following functions, which
MySQL does not implement:

`Centroid(mpoly)'
     Returns the mathematical centroid for the `MultiPolygon' value
     `mpoly' as a `Point'.  The result is not guaranteed to be on the
     `MultiPolygon'.

`PointOnSurface(mpoly)'
     Returns a `Point' value that is guaranteed to be on the
     `MultiPolygon' value `mpoly'.

`GeometryCollection' Functions
..............................

`NumGeometries(gc)'
     Returns the number of geometries in the `GeometryCollection' value
     `gc'.

          mysql> SELECT NumGeometries(GeomFromText('GeometryCollection(Point(1 1),LineString(2 2, 3 3))'));
          +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | NumGeometries(GeomFromText('GeometryCollection(Point(1 1),LineString(2 2, 3 3))')) |
          +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          |                                                                                  2 |
          +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

`GeometryN(gc,n)'
     Returns the `n'-th geometry in the `GeometryCollection' value
     `gc'.  Geometry numbers begin at 1.

          mysql> SELECT AsText(GeometryN(GeomFromText('GeometryCollection(Point(1 1),LineString(2 2, 3 3))'),1));
          +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | AsText(GeometryN(GeomFromText('GeometryCollection(Point(1 1),LineString(2 2, 3 3))'),1)) |
          +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
          | POINT(1 1)                                                                               |
          +------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Functions That Create New Geometries from Existing Ones
-------------------------------------------------------

Geometry Functions That Produce New Geometries
..............................................

In the section *Note Geometry property functions::, we've already
discussed some functions that can construct new geometries from the
existing ones:

   * `Envelope(g)'

   * `StartPoint(ls)'

   * `EndPoint(ls)'

   * `PointN(ls,n)'

   * `ExteriorRing(poly)'

   * `InteriorRingN(poly,n)'

   * `GeometryN(gc,n)'

Spatial Operators
.................

OpenGIS proposes a number of other functions that can produce
geometries. They are designed to implement Spatial Operators.

These functions are not implemented in MySQL.  They may appear in
future releases.

`Intersection(g1,g2)'
     Returns a geometry that represents the point set intersection of
     the geometry values `g1' with `g2'.

`Union(g1,g2)'
     Returns a geometry that represents the point set union of the
     geometry values `g1' and `g2'.

`Difference(g1,g2)'
     Returns a geometry that represents the point set difference of the
     geometry value `g1' with `g2'.

`SymDifference(g1,g2)'
     Returns a geometry that represents the point set symmetric
     difference of the geometry value `g1' with `g2'.

`Buffer(g,d)'
     Returns a geometry that represents all points whose distance from
     the geometry value `g' is less than or equal to a distance of `d'.

`ConvexHull(g)'
     Returns a geometry that represents the convex hull of the geometry
     value `g'.

Functions for Testing Spatial Relations Between Geometric Objects
-----------------------------------------------------------------

The functions described in these sections take two geometries as input
parameters and return a qualitive or quantitive relation between them.

Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)
--------------------------------------------------------

MySQL provides some functions that can test relations between mininal
bounding rectangles of two geometries `g1' and `g2'.  They include:

`MBRContains(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not the Minimum Bounding
     Rectangle of `g1' contains the Minimum Bounding Rectangle of `g2'.

          mysql> SET @g1 = GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0))');
          mysql> SET @g2 = GeomFromText('Point(1 1)');
          mysql> SELECT MBRContains(@g1,@g2), MBRContains(@g2,@g1);
          ----------------------+----------------------+
          | MBRContains(@g1,@g2) | MBRContains(@g2,@g1) |
          +----------------------+----------------------+
          |                    1 |                    0 |
          +----------------------+----------------------+

`MBRWithin(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not the Minimum Bounding
     Rectangle of `g1' is within the Minimum Bounding Rectangle of `g2'.

          mysql> SET @g1 = GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 3,3 3,3 0,0 0))');
          mysql> SET @g2 = GeomFromText('Polygon((0 0,0 5,5 5,5 0,0 0))');
          mysql> SELECT MBRWithin(@g1,@g2), MBRWithin(@g2,@g1);
          +--------------------+--------------------+
          | MBRWithin(@g1,@g2) | MBRWithin(@g2,@g1) |
          +--------------------+--------------------+
          |                  1 |                  0 |
          +--------------------+--------------------+

`MBRDisjoint(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not the Minimum Bounding
     Rectangles of the two geometries `g1' and `g2' are disjoint (do
     not intersect).

`MBREquals(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not the Minimum Bounding
     Rectangles of the two geometries `g1' and `g2' are the same.

`MBRIntersects(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not the Minimum Bounding
     Rectangles of the two geometries `g1' and `g2' intersect.

`MBROverlaps(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not the Minimum Bounding
     Rectangles of the two geometries `g1' and `g2' overlap.

`MBRTouches(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not the Minimum Bounding
     Rectangles of the two geometries `g1' and `g2' touch.

Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries
------------------------------------------------------------

The OpenGIS specification defines the following functions, which MySQL
does not implement. They may appear in future releases.  If
implemented, they will provide full support for spatial analysis, not
just MBR-based support.

The functions operate on two geometry values `g1' and `g2'.

`Contains(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not `g1' completely contains
     `g2'.

`Crosses(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 if `g1' spatially crosses `g2'.  Returns `NULL' if `g1'
     is a `Polygon' or a `MultiPolygon', or if `g2' is a `Point' or a
     `MultiPoint'.  Otherwise, returns 0.

     The term *spatially crosses* denotes a spatial relation between
     two given geometries that has the following properties:

        * The two geometries intersect

        * Their intersection results in a geometry that has a dimension
          that is one less than the maximum dimension of the two given
          geometries

        * Their intersection is not equal to either of the two given
          geometries


`Disjoint(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not `g1' is spatially
     disjoint from (does not intersect) `g2'.

`Equals(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not `g1' is spatially equal
     to `g2'.

`Intersects(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not `g1' spatially intersects
     `g2'.

`Overlaps(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not `g1' spatially overlaps
     `g2'.  The term `spatially overlaps' is used if two geometries
     intersect and their intersection results in a geometry of the same
     dimension but not equal to either of the given geometries.

`Touches(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not `g1' spatially touches
     `g2'. Two geometries *spatially touch* if the interiors of the
     geometries do not intersect, but the boundary of one of the
     geometries intersects either the boundary or the interior of the
     other.

`Within(g1,g2)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not `g1' is spatially within
     `g2'.

`Distance(g1,g2)'
     Returns as a double-precision number the shortest distance between
     any two points in the two geometries.

`Related(g1,g2,pattern_matrix)'
     Returns 1 or 0 to indicate whether or not the spatial relationship
     specified by `pattern_matrix' exists between `g1' and `g2'.
     Returns -1 if the arguments are `NULL'.  The pattern matrix is a
     string. Its specification will be noted here if this function is
     implemented.

Optimizing Spatial Analysis
===========================

Search operations in non-spatial databases can be optimized using
indexes. This is true for spatial databases as well.  With the help of
a great variety of multi-dimensional indexing methods that have already
been designed, it's possible to optimize spatial searches. The most
typical of these are:

   * Point queries that search for all objects that contain a given
     point

   * Region queries that search for all objects that overlap a given
     region


MySQL uses *R-Trees with quadratic splitting* to index spatial columns.
A spatial index is built using the MBR of a geometry.  For most
geometries, the MBR is a minimum rectangle that surrounds the
geometries. For a horizontal or a vertical linestring, the MBR is a
rectangle degenerated into the linestring.  For a point, the MBR is a
rectangle degenerated into the point.

Creating Spatial Indexes
------------------------

MySQL can create spatial indexes using syntax similar to that for
creating regular indexes, but extended with the `SPATIAL' keyword.
Spatial columns that are indexed currently must be declared `NOT NULL'.
The following examples demonstrate how to create spatial indexes.

   * With `CREATE TABLE':

          mysql> CREATE TABLE geom (g GEOMETRY NOT NULL, SPATIAL INDEX(g));

   * With `ALTER TABLE':

          mysql> ALTER TABLE geom ADD SPATIAL INDEX(g);

   * With `CREATE INDEX':

          mysql> CREATE SPATIAL INDEX sp_index ON geom (g);


To drop spatial indexes, use `ALTER TABLE' or `DROP INDEX':

   * With `ALTER TABLE':

          mysql> ALTER TABLE geom DROP INDEX g;

   * With `DROP INDEX':

          mysql> DROP INDEX sp_index ON geom;


Example: Suppose that a table `geom' contains more than 32000
geometries, which are stored in the column `g' of type `GEOMETRY'.  The
table also has an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column `fid' for storing object ID
values.

     mysql> SHOW FIELDS FROM geom;
     +-------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
     | Field | Type     | Null | Key | Default | Extra          |
     +-------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
     | fid   | int(11)  |      | PRI | NULL    | auto_increment |
     | g     | geometry |      |     |         |                |
     +-------+----------+------+-----+---------+----------------+
     2 rows in set (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) FROM geom;
     +----------+
     | count(*) |
     +----------+
     |    32376 |
     +----------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

To add a spatial index on the column `g', use this statement:
     mysql> ALTER TABLE geom ADD SPATIAL INDEX(g);
     Query OK, 32376 rows affected (4.05 sec)
     Records: 32376  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0

Using a Spatial Index
---------------------

The optimizer investigates whether available spatial indexes can be
involved in the search for queries that use a function such as
`MBRContains()' or `MBRWithin()' in the `WHERE' clause.  For example,
let's say we want to find all objects that are in the given rectangle:

     mysql> SELECT fid,AsText(g) FROM geom WHERE
     mysql> MBRContains(GeomFromText('Polygon((30000 15000,31000 15000,31000 16000,30000 16000,30000 15000))'),g);
     +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | fid | AsText(g)                                                                   |
     +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     |  21 | LINESTRING(30350.4 15828.8,30350.6 15845,30333.8 15845,30333.8 15828.8)     |
     |  22 | LINESTRING(30350.6 15871.4,30350.6 15887.8,30334 15887.8,30334 15871.4)     |
     |  23 | LINESTRING(30350.6 15914.2,30350.6 15930.4,30334 15930.4,30334 15914.2)     |
     |  24 | LINESTRING(30290.2 15823,30290.2 15839.4,30273.4 15839.4,30273.4 15823)     |
     |  25 | LINESTRING(30291.4 15866.2,30291.6 15882.4,30274.8 15882.4,30274.8 15866.2) |
     |  26 | LINESTRING(30291.6 15918.2,30291.6 15934.4,30275 15934.4,30275 15918.2)     |
     | 249 | LINESTRING(30337.8 15938.6,30337.8 15946.8,30320.4 15946.8,30320.4 15938.4) |
     |   1 | LINESTRING(30250.4 15129.2,30248.8 15138.4,30238.2 15136.4,30240 15127.2)   |
     |   2 | LINESTRING(30220.2 15122.8,30217.2 15137.8,30207.6 15136,30210.4 15121)     |
     |   3 | LINESTRING(30179 15114.4,30176.6 15129.4,30167 15128,30169 15113)           |
     |   4 | LINESTRING(30155.2 15121.4,30140.4 15118.6,30142 15109,30157 15111.6)       |
     |   5 | LINESTRING(30192.4 15085,30177.6 15082.2,30179.2 15072.4,30194.2 15075.2)   |
     |   6 | LINESTRING(30244 15087,30229 15086.2,30229.4 15076.4,30244.6 15077)         |
     |   7 | LINESTRING(30200.6 15059.4,30185.6 15058.6,30186 15048.8,30201.2 15049.4)   |
     |  10 | LINESTRING(30179.6 15017.8,30181 15002.8,30190.8 15003.6,30189.6 15019)     |
     |  11 | LINESTRING(30154.2 15000.4,30168.6 15004.8,30166 15014.2,30151.2 15009.8)   |
     |  13 | LINESTRING(30105 15065.8,30108.4 15050.8,30118 15053,30114.6 15067.8)       |
     | 154 | LINESTRING(30276.2 15143.8,30261.4 15141,30263 15131.4,30278 15134)         |
     | 155 | LINESTRING(30269.8 15084,30269.4 15093.4,30258.6 15093,30259 15083.4)       |
     | 157 | LINESTRING(30128.2 15011,30113.2 15010.2,30113.6 15000.4,30128.8 15001)     |
     +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     20 rows in set (0.00 sec)

Now let's check the way this query is executed, using `EXPLAIN':
     mysql> EXPLAIN SELECT fid,AsText(g) FROM geom WHERE
     mysql> MBRContains(GeomFromText('Polygon((30000 15000,31000 15000,31000 16000,30000 16000,30000 15000))'),g);
     +----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------------+
     | id | select_type | table | type  | possible_keys | key  | key_len | ref  | rows | Extra       |
     +----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------------+
     |  1 | SIMPLE      | geom  | range | g             | g    |      32 | NULL |   50 | Using where |
     +----+-------------+-------+-------+---------------+------+---------+------+------+-------------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Now let's check what would happen if we didn't have a spatial index:
     mysql> EXPLAIN SELECT fid,AsText(g) FROM g IGNORE INDEX (g) WHERE
     mysql> MBRContains(GeomFromText('Polygon((30000 15000,31000 15000,31000 16000,30000 16000,30000 15000))'),g);
     +----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+-------+-------------+
     | id | select_type | table | type | possible_keys | key  | key_len | ref  | rows  | Extra       |
     +----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+-------+-------------+
     |  1 | SIMPLE      | geom  | ALL  | NULL          | NULL |    NULL | NULL | 32376 | Using where |
     +----+-------------+-------+------+---------------+------+---------+------+-------+-------------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Let's execute the above query, ignoring the spatial key we have:

     mysql> SELECT fid,AsText(g) FROM geom IGNORE INDEX (g) WHERE
     mysql> MBRContains(GeomFromText('Polygon((30000 15000,31000 15000,31000 16000,30000 16000,30000 15000))'),g);
     +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     | fid | AsText(g)                                                                   |
     +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     |   1 | LINESTRING(30250.4 15129.2,30248.8 15138.4,30238.2 15136.4,30240 15127.2)   |
     |   2 | LINESTRING(30220.2 15122.8,30217.2 15137.8,30207.6 15136,30210.4 15121)     |
     |   3 | LINESTRING(30179 15114.4,30176.6 15129.4,30167 15128,30169 15113)           |
     |   4 | LINESTRING(30155.2 15121.4,30140.4 15118.6,30142 15109,30157 15111.6)       |
     |   5 | LINESTRING(30192.4 15085,30177.6 15082.2,30179.2 15072.4,30194.2 15075.2)   |
     |   6 | LINESTRING(30244 15087,30229 15086.2,30229.4 15076.4,30244.6 15077)         |
     |   7 | LINESTRING(30200.6 15059.4,30185.6 15058.6,30186 15048.8,30201.2 15049.4)   |
     |  10 | LINESTRING(30179.6 15017.8,30181 15002.8,30190.8 15003.6,30189.6 15019)     |
     |  11 | LINESTRING(30154.2 15000.4,30168.6 15004.8,30166 15014.2,30151.2 15009.8)   |
     |  13 | LINESTRING(30105 15065.8,30108.4 15050.8,30118 15053,30114.6 15067.8)       |
     |  21 | LINESTRING(30350.4 15828.8,30350.6 15845,30333.8 15845,30333.8 15828.8)     |
     |  22 | LINESTRING(30350.6 15871.4,30350.6 15887.8,30334 15887.8,30334 15871.4)     |
     |  23 | LINESTRING(30350.6 15914.2,30350.6 15930.4,30334 15930.4,30334 15914.2)     |
     |  24 | LINESTRING(30290.2 15823,30290.2 15839.4,30273.4 15839.4,30273.4 15823)     |
     |  25 | LINESTRING(30291.4 15866.2,30291.6 15882.4,30274.8 15882.4,30274.8 15866.2) |
     |  26 | LINESTRING(30291.6 15918.2,30291.6 15934.4,30275 15934.4,30275 15918.2)     |
     | 154 | LINESTRING(30276.2 15143.8,30261.4 15141,30263 15131.4,30278 15134)         |
     | 155 | LINESTRING(30269.8 15084,30269.4 15093.4,30258.6 15093,30259 15083.4)       |
     | 157 | LINESTRING(30128.2 15011,30113.2 15010.2,30113.6 15000.4,30128.8 15001)     |
     | 249 | LINESTRING(30337.8 15938.6,30337.8 15946.8,30320.4 15946.8,30320.4 15938.4) |
     +-----+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
     20 rows in set (0.46 sec)

When the index is not used, the execution time for this query rises from
0.00 seconds to 0.46 seconds.

In future releases, spatial indexes may also be used for optimizing
other functions.  *Note Functions for testing spatial relations between
geometric objects::.

MySQL Conformance and Compatibility
===================================

GIS Features That Are Not Yet Implemented
-----------------------------------------

Additional Metadata Views
     OpenGIS specifications propose several additional metadata views.
     For example, a system view named `GEOMETRY_COLUMNS' contains a
     description of geometry columns, one row for each geometry column
     in the database.

The OpenGIS function `Length()' on `LineString' and `MultiLineString' currently should be called in MySQL as `GLength()'
     The problem is that there is an existing SQL function `Length()'
     which calculates the length of string values, and sometimes it's
     not possible to distinguish whether the function is called in a
     textual or spatial context. We need either to solve this somehow,
     or decide on another function name.

Stored Procedures and Functions
*******************************

Stored procedures and functions are a new feature in MySQL version 5.0.
A stored procedure is a set of SQL commands that can be stored in the
server.  Once this has been done, clients don't need to keep re-issuing
the individual commands but can refer to the stored procedure instead.

Stored procedures can provide improved performance as less information
needs to be sent between the server and the client. The trade-off is
that this does increase the load on the database server system, as more
of the work is done on the server side and less on the client
(application) side. And often, there are multiple client machines (such
as web servers) but only one or a few database servers.

Stored procedures also allow you to have libraries of functions in the
database server. However, modern application languages already allow
such design internally with for instance classes, and using these
client application language features is beneficial for the programmer
even outside the scope of database use.

Situations where using stored procedures makes sense:
   * When multiple client applications are written in different
     languages or work on different platforms, but need to perform the
     same database operations.

   * When security is paramount. Banks, for instance, use stored
     procedures for all common operations. This provides a consistent
     and secure environment, and procedures can ensure that each
     operation is properly logged.  In such a setup, applications and
     users would not get any access to the database tables directly,
     but may only execute specific stored procedures.

MySQL follows the SQL:2003 syntax for stored procedures, which is also
used by IBM's DB2. Compatibility support for other stored procedure
languages (PL/SQL, T-SQL) may be added later.

The MySQL implementation of stored procedures is still in progress. All
syntax described in this chapter is supported and any limitations and
extensions are documented where appropriate.

Stored procedures require the `proc' table in the `mysql' database.
This table is created during the MySQL 5.0 installation procedure.  If
you are upgrading to MySQL 5.0 from an earlier version, be sure to
update your grant tables to make sure the `proc' table exists.  *Note
Upgrading-grant-tables::.

Stored Procedure Syntax
=======================

Stored procedures and functions are routines that are created with
`CREATE PROCEDURE' and `CREATE FUNCTION' statements.  A procedure is
invoked using a `CALL' statement, and can only pass back values using
output variables.  Functions may return a scalar value and can be
called from inside a statement just like any other function (that is,
by invoking the function's name).  Stored routines may call other
stored routines. A routine is either a procedure or a function.

At present, MySQL only preserves context for the default database. That
is, if you say `USE dbname' within a procedure, the original default
database is restored upon routine exit.  A routine inherits the default
database from the caller, so generally routines should either issue a
`USE dbname' statement, or specify all tables with an explicit database
reference, e.g. `dbname.tablename'.

MySQL supports the very useful extension that allows the use of regular
`SELECT' statements (that is, without using cursors or local variables)
inside a stored procedure. The result set of such a query is simply sent
directly to the client.  Multiple `SELECT' statements generate multiple
result sets, so the client must use a MySQL client library that
supports multiple result sets. This means the client must use a client
library from a version of MySQL at least as recent as 4.1.

This following section describes the syntax used to create, alter,
drop, and query stored procedures and functions.

Maintaining Stored Procedures
-----------------------------

`CREATE PROCEDURE' and `CREATE FUNCTION'
........................................

     CREATE PROCEDURE sp_name ([parameter[,...]])
     [characteristic ...] routine_body
     
     CREATE FUNCTION sp_name ([parameter[,...]])
     [RETURNS type]
     [characteristic ...] routine_body
     
     parameter:
       [ IN | OUT | INOUT ] param_name type
     
     type:
       Any valid MySQL data type
     
     characteristic:
         LANGUAGE SQL
       | [NOT] DETERMINISTIC
       | SQL SECURITY {DEFINER | INVOKER}
       | COMMENT string
     
     routine_body:
       Valid SQL procedure statement(s)

The `RETURNS' clause may be specified for a only `FUNCTION'.  It is
used to indicate the return type of the function, and the function body
must contain a `RETURN value' statement.

The parameter list enclosed within parentheses must always be present.
If there are no parameters, an empty parameter list of `()' should be
used.  Each parameter is an `IN' parameter by default. To specify
otherwise for a parameter, use the keyword `OUT' or `INOUT' before the
parameter name. Specifying `IN', `OUT', or `INOUT' is only valid for a
`PROCEDURE'.

The `CREATE FUNCTION' statement is used in earlier versions of MySQL to
support UDFs (User Defined Functions).  *Note Adding functions::.  UDFs
continue to be supported, even with the existence of stored functions.
A UDF can be regarded as an external stored function.  However, do note
that stored functions share their namespace with `UDF's.

A framework for external stored procedures will be introduced in the
near future. This will allow you to write stored procedures in
languages other than SQL.  Most likely, one of the first languages to
be supported will be PHP, as the core PHP engine is small, thread-safe,
and can easily be embedded. As the framework will be public, it is
expected that many other languages will also be supported.

A function is considered "deterministic" if it always returns the same
result for the same input parameters, and "not deterministic" otherwise.
Currently, the `DETERMINISTIC' characteristic is accepted, but not yet
used by the optimizer.

The `SQL SECURITY' characteristic can be used to specify whether the
routine should be executed using the permissions of the user who creates
the routine, or the user who invokes it.  The default value is
`DEFINER'.  This feature is new in SQL:2003.

MySQL does not yet use the `GRANT EXECUTE' privilege. So for now, if a
procedure `p1()' mentions table `t1', the caller must have privileges
on table `t1' in order to call procedure `p1()' successfully.

MySQL stores the `sql_mode' settings in effect at the time a routine is
created, and will always execute routines with these settings in force.

The `COMMENT' clause is a MySQL extension, and may be used to describe
the stored procedure. This information is displayed by the `SHOW CREATE
PROCEDURE' and `SHOW CREATE FUNCTION' statements.

MySQL allows routines to contain DDL statements (such as `CREATE' and
`DROP') and SQL transaction statements (such as `COMMIT'). This is not
required by the standard and is therefore implementation-specific.

*NOTE:* Currently, stored `FUNCTION's may not contain references to
tables.  Please note that this includes some `SET' statements, but
excludes some `SELECT' statements.  This limitation will be lifted as
soon as possible.

The following is an example of a simple stored procedure that uses an
`OUT' parameter.  The example uses the `mysql' client `delimiter'
command to change the statement delimiter prior to defining the
procedure.  This allows the `;' delimiter used in the procedure body to
be passed through to the server rather than being interpreted by
`mysql' itself.

     mysql> delimiter |
     
     mysql> CREATE PROCEDURE simpleproc (OUT param1 INT)
         -> BEGIN
         ->   SELECT COUNT(*) INTO param1 FROM t;
         -> END
         -> |
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> CALL simpleproc(@a)|
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> SELECT @a|
     +------+
     | @a   |
     +------+
     | 3    |
     +------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

The following is an example of a function that takes a parameter,
performs an operation using an SQL function, and returns the result:

     mysql> delimiter |
     
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION hello (s CHAR(20)) RETURNS CHAR(50)
         -> RETURN CONCAT('Hello, ',s,'!');
         -> |
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> SELECT hello('world')|
     +----------------+
     | hello('world') |
     +----------------+
     | Hello, world!  |
     +----------------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

`ALTER PROCEDURE' and `ALTER FUNCTION'
......................................

     ALTER {PROCEDURE | FUNCTION} sp_name [characteristic ...]
     
     characteristic:
         NAME newname
       | SQL SECURITY {DEFINER | INVOKER}
       | COMMENT string

This command can be used to rename a stored procedure or function, and
to change its characteristics. More than one change may be specified in
an `ALTER PROCEDURE' or `ALTER FUNCTION' statement.

`DROP PROCEDURE' and `DROP FUNCTION'
....................................

     DROP {PROCEDURE | FUNCTION} [IF EXISTS] sp_name

This command is used to delete a stored procedure or function. That is,
the specified routine is removed from the server.

The `IF EXISTS' clause is a MySQL extension.  It prevents an error from
occurring if the procedure or function does not exist. A warning is
produced that can be viewed with `SHOW WARNINGS'.

`SHOW CREATE PROCEDURE' and `SHOW CREATE FUNCTION'
..................................................

     SHOW CREATE {PROCEDURE | FUNCTION} sp_name

This command is a MySQL extension. Similar to `SHOW CREATE TABLE', it
returns the exact string that can be used to re-create the named
routine.

`SHOW PROCEDURE STATUS' and `SHOW FUNCTION STATUS'
--------------------------------------------------

     SHOW {PROCEDURE | FUNCTION} STATUS [LIKE pattern]

This command is a MySQL extension. It returns characteristics of
routines, such as the name, type, creator, creation and modification
dates. If no pattern is specified, the information for all stored
procedures or all stored functions is listed, depending on which
statement you use.

`CALL'
------

     CALL sp_name([parameter[,...]])

The `CALL' command is used to invoke a routine that was defined
previously with `CREATE PROCEDURE'.

`BEGIN ... END' Compound Statement
----------------------------------

     [begin_label:] BEGIN
      statement(s)
     END [end_label]

Stored routines may contain multiple statements, using a `BEGIN ...
END' compound statement.

`begin_label' and `end_label' must be the same, if both are specified.

Please note that the optional `[NOT] ATOMIC' clause is not yet
supported. This means that no transactional savepoint is set at the
start of the instruction block and the `BEGIN' clause used in this
context has no effect on the current transaction.

Multiple statements requires that a client is able to send query strings
containing `;'. This is handled in the mysql command-line client with
the `delimiter' command. Changing the `;' end-of-query delimiter (for
example, to `|') allows `;' to be used in a routine body.

`DECLARE' Statement
-------------------

The `DECLARE' statement is used to define various items local to a
routine: local variables (*note Variables in Stored Procedures::),
conditions and handlers (*note Conditions and Handlers::) and cursors
(*note Cursors::).  `SIGNAL' and `RESIGNAL' statements are not
currently supported.

`DECLARE' may only be used inside a `BEGIN ... END' compound statement
and must be at its start, before any other statements.

Variables in Stored Procedures
------------------------------

You may declare and use variables within a routine.

`DECLARE' Local Variables
.........................

     DECLARE var_name[,...] type [DEFAULT value]

This command is used to declare local variables. The scope of a
variable is within the `BEGIN ... END' block.

Variable `SET' Statement
........................

     SET variable = expression [,...]

The `SET' statement in stored procedures is an extended version of the
general `SET' command. Referenced variables may be ones declared inside
a routine, or global server variables.

The `SET' statement in stored procedures is implemented as part of the
pre-existing `SET' syntax. This allows an extended syntax of `SET a=x,
b=y, ...' where different variable types (locally declared variables,
server variables, and global and session server variables) can be
mixed. This also allows combinations of local variables and some options
that only make sense for global/system variables; in that case the
options are accepted but ignored.

`SELECT ... INTO' Statement
...........................

     SELECT column[,...] INTO variable[,...] table_expression

This `SELECT' syntax stores selected columns directly into variables.
Therefore, only a single row may be retrieved. This statement is also
extremely useful when used in combination with cursors.

     SELECT id,data INTO x,y FROM test.t1 LIMIT 1;

Conditions and Handlers
-----------------------

Certain conditions may require specific handling. These conditions can
relate to errors, as well as general flow control inside a routine.

`DECLARE' Conditions
....................

     DECLARE condition_name CONDITION FOR condition_value
     
     condition_value:
         SQLSTATE [VALUE] sqlstate_value
       | mysql_error_code

This statement specifies conditions that will need specific handling.
It associates a name with a specified error condition. The name can
subsequently be used in a `DECLARE HANDLER' statement. *Note DECLARE
Handlers::.

In addition to SQLSTATE values, MySQL error codes are also supported.

`DECLARE' Handlers
..................

     DECLARE handler_type HANDLER FOR condition_value[,...] sp_statement
     
     handler_type:
         CONTINUE
       | EXIT
       | UNDO
     
     condition_value:
         SQLSTATE [VALUE] sqlstate_value
       | condition_name
       | SQLWARNING
       | NOT FOUND
       | SQLEXCEPTION
       | mysql_error_code

This statement specifies handlers that each may deal with one or more
conditions. If one of these conditions occurs, the specified statement
is executed.

For a `CONTINUE' handler, execution of the current routine continues
after execution of the handler statement. For an `EXIT' handler,
execution of the current routine is terminated. The `UNDO'
`handler_type' is not yet supported. `UNDO' currently behaves like
`CONTINUE'.

     `SQLWARNING' is shorthand for all SQLSTATE codes that begin with
     01.

     `NOT FOUND' is shorthand for all SQLSTATE codes that begin with 02.

     `EXCEPTION' is shorthand for all SQLSTATE codes not caught by
     `SQLWARNING' or `NOT FOUND'.

In addition to SQLSTATE values, MySQL error codes are also supported.

For example:

     mysql> CREATE TABLE test.t (s1 int,primary key (s1));
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> delimiter |
     
     mysql> CREATE PROCEDURE handlerdemo ()
         -> BEGIN
         ->   DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR '23000' SET @x2 = 1;
         ->   set @x = 1;
         ->   INSERT INTO test.t VALUES (1);
         ->   set @x = 2;
         ->   INSERT INTO test.t VALUES (1);
         ->   SET @x = 3;
         -> END;
         -> |
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> CALL handlerdemo()|
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> SELECT @x|
         +------+
         | @x   |
         +------+
         | 3    |
         +------+
         1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Notice that `@x' is 3, which shows that MySQL executed to the end of
the procedure. If the line `DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR '23000' SET
@x2 = 1;' had not been present, MySQL would have taken the default
(`EXIT') path after the second `INSERT' failed due to the `PRIMARY KEY'
constraint, and `SELECT @x' would have returned 2.

Cursors
-------

Simple cursors are supported inside stored procedures and functions.
The syntax is as in embedded SQL.  Cursors are currently asensitive,
read-only, and non-scrolling.  Asensitive means that the server may or
may not make a copy of its result table.

For example:

     CREATE PROCEDURE curdemo()
     BEGIN
       DECLARE done INT DEFAULT 0;
       DECLARE CONTINUE HANDLER FOR SQLSTATE '02000' SET done = 1;
       DECLARE cur1 CURSOR FOR SELECT id,data FROM test.t1;
       DECLARE cur2 CURSOR FOR SELECT i FROM test.t2;
       DECLARE a CHAR(16);
       DECLARE b,c INT;
     
       OPEN cur1;
       OPEN cur2;
     
       REPEAT
         FETCH cur1 INTO a, b;
         FETCH cur2 INTO c;
         IF NOT done THEN
            IF b < c THEN
               INSERT INTO test.t3 VALUES (a,b);
            ELSE
               INSERT INTO test.t3 VALUES (a,c);
            END IF;
         END IF;
       UNTIL done END REPEAT;
     
       CLOSE cur1;
       CLOSE cur2;
     END

Declaring Cursors
.................

     DECLARE cursor_name CURSOR FOR sql_statement

Multiple cursors may be defined in a routine, but each must have a
unique name.

Cursor `OPEN' Statement
.......................

     OPEN cursor_name

This statement opens a previously declared cursor.

Cursor `FETCH' Statement
........................

     FETCH cursor_name

This statement fetches the next row (if a row exists) using the
specified open cursor, and advances the cursor pointer.

Cursor `CLOSE' Statement
........................

     CLOSE cursor_name

This statement closes a previously opened cursor.

Flow Control Constructs
-----------------------

The `IF', `CASE', `LOOP', `WHILE', `ITERATE', and `LEAVE' constructs
are fully implemented.

These constructs may each contain either a single statement, or a block
of statements using the `BEGIN ... END' compound statement. Constructs
may be nested.

`FOR' loops are not currently supported.

`IF' Statement
..............

     IF search_condition THEN statement(s)
     [ELSEIF search_condition THEN statement(s)]
     ...
     [ELSE statement(s)]
     END IF

`IF' implements a basic conditional construct. If the
`search_condition' evaluates to true, the corresponding SQL statement is
executed. If no `search_condition' matches, the statement in the `ELSE'
clause is executed.

Please note that there is also an `IF()' function.  *Note Control flow
functions::.

`CASE' Statement
................

     CASE case_value
       WHEN when_value THEN statement
       [WHEN when_value THEN statement ...]
       [ELSE statement]
     END CASE

or

     CASE
       WHEN search_condition THEN statement
       [WHEN search_condition THEN statement ...]
       [ELSE statement]
     END CASE

`CASE' implements a complex conditional construct. If a
`search_condition' evaluates to true, the corresponding SQL statement
is executed. If no search condition matches, the statement in the
`ELSE' clause is executed.

Please note that the syntax of a `CASE' statement inside a stored
procedure differs slightly from that of the SQL `CASE' expression. The
`CASE' statement can not have an `ELSE NULL' clause, and the construct
is terminated with `END CASE' instead of `END'.  *Note Control flow
functions::.

`LOOP' Statement
................

     [begin_label:] LOOP
       statement(s)
     END LOOP [end_label]

`LOOP' implements a simple loop construct, enabling repeated execution
of a particular statement or group of statements. The statements within
the loop are repeated until the loop is exited, usually this is
accomplished with a `LEAVE' statement.

`begin_label' and `end_label' must be the same, if both are specified.

`LEAVE' Statement
.................

     LEAVE label

This statement is used to exit any flow control construct.

`ITERATE' Statement
...................

     ITERATE label

`ITERATE' can only appear within `LOOP', `REPEAT', and `WHILE'
statements. `ITERATE' means "do the loop iteration again."

For example:

     CREATE PROCEDURE doiterate(p1 INT)
     BEGIN
       label1: LOOP
         SET p1 = p1 + 1;
         IF p1 < 10 THEN ITERATE label1; END IF;
         LEAVE label1;
       END LOOP label1;
       SET @x = p1;
     END

`REPEAT' Statement
..................

     [begin_label:] REPEAT
       statement(s)
     UNTIL search_condition
     END REPEAT [end_label]

The statements within a `REPEAT' statement are repeated until the
`search_condition' is true.

`begin_label' and `end_label' must be the same, if both are specified.

For example:

     mysql> delimiter |
     
     mysql> CREATE PROCEDURE dorepeat(p1 INT)
         -> BEGIN
         ->   SET @x = 0;
         ->   REPEAT SET @x = @x + 1; UNTIL @x > p1 END REPEAT;
         -> END
         -> |
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> CALL dorepeat(1000)|
     Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
     
     mysql> SELECT @x|
     +------+
     | @x   |
     +------+
     | 1001 |
     +------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

`WHILE' Statement
.................

     [begin_label:] WHILE search_condition DO
       statement(s)
     END WHILE [end_label]

The statements within a `WHILE' statement are repeated as long as the
`search_condition' is true.

`begin_label' and `end_label' must be the same, if both are specified.

For example:

     CREATE PROCEDURE dowhile()
     BEGIN
       DECLARE v1 INT DEFAULT 5;
     
       WHILE v1 > 0 DO
         ...
         SET v1 = v1 - 1;
       END WHILE;
     END

MySQL APIs
**********

This chapter describes the APIs available for MySQL, where to get them,
and how to use them.  The C API is the most extensively covered, as it
was developed by the MySQL team, and is the basis for most of the other
APIs.

MySQL C API
===========

The C API code is distributed with MySQL. It is included in the
`mysqlclient' library and allows C programs to access a database.

Many of the clients in the MySQL source distribution are written in C.
If you are looking for examples that demonstrate how to use the C API,
take a look at these clients. You can find these in the `clients'
directory in the MySQL source distribution.

Most of the other client APIs (all except Connector/J) use the
`mysqlclient' library to communicate with the MySQL server. This means
that, for example, you can take advantage of many of the same
environment variables that are used by other client programs, because
they are referenced from the library.  See *Note Client-Side Scripts::,
for a list of these variables.

The client has a maximum communication buffer size. The size of the
buffer that is allocated initially (16K bytes) is automatically
increased up to the maximum size (the maximum is 16M). Because buffer
sizes are increased only as demand warrants, simply increasing the
default maximum limit does not in itself cause more resources to be
used. This size check is mostly a check for erroneous queries and
communication packets.

The communication buffer must be large enough to contain a single SQL
statement (for client-to-server traffic) and one row of returned data
(for server-to-client traffic).  Each thread's communication buffer is
dynamically enlarged to handle any query or row up to the maximum
limit.  For example, if you have `BLOB' values that contain up to 16M
of data, you must have a communication buffer limit of at least 16M (in
both server and client).  The client's default maximum is 16M, but the
default maximum in the server is 1M.  You can increase this by changing
the value of the `max_allowed_packet' parameter when the server is
started.  *Note Server parameters::.

The MySQL server shrinks each communication buffer to
`net_buffer_length' bytes after each query.  For clients, the size of
the buffer associated with a connection is not decreased until the
connection is closed, at which time client memory is reclaimed.

For programming with threads, see *Note Threaded clients::.  For
creating a stand-alone application which includes the "server" and
"client" in the same program (and does not communicate with an external
MySQL server), see *Note libmysqld::.

C API Datatypes
---------------

`MYSQL'
     This structure represents a handle to one database connection. It
     is used for almost all MySQL functions.

`MYSQL_RES'
     This structure represents the result of a query that returns rows
     (`SELECT', `SHOW', `DESCRIBE', `EXPLAIN').  The information
     returned from a query is called the _result set_ in the remainder
     of this section.

`MYSQL_ROW'
     This is a type-safe representation of one row of data. It is
     currently implemented as an array of counted byte strings.  (You
     cannot treat these as null-terminated strings if field values may
     contain binary data, because such values may contain null bytes
     internally.)  Rows are obtained by calling `mysql_fetch_row()'.

`MYSQL_FIELD'
     This structure contains information about a field, such as the
     field's name, type, and size. Its members are described in more
     detail here.  You may obtain the `MYSQL_FIELD' structures for each
     field by calling `mysql_fetch_field()' repeatedly.  Field values
     are not part of this structure; they are contained in a
     `MYSQL_ROW' structure.

`MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET'
     This is a type-safe representation of an offset into a MySQL field
     list.  (Used by `mysql_field_seek()'.)  Offsets are field numbers
     within a row, beginning at zero.

`my_ulonglong'
     The type used for the number of rows and for
     `mysql_affected_rows()', `mysql_num_rows()', and
     `mysql_insert_id()'. This type provides a range of `0' to
     `1.84e19'.

     On some systems, attempting to print a value of type `my_ulonglong'
     will not work.  To print such a value, convert it to `unsigned
     long' and use a `%lu' print format.  Example:
          printf ("Number of rows: %lu\n", (unsigned long) mysql_num_rows(result));

The `MYSQL_FIELD' structure contains the members listed here:

`char * name'
     The name of the field, as a null-terminated string.

`char * table'
     The name of the table containing this field, if it isn't a
     calculated field.  For calculated fields, the `table' value is an
     empty string.

`char * def'
     The default value of this field, as a null-terminated string.
     This is set only if you use `mysql_list_fields()'.

`enum enum_field_types type'
     The type of the field.  The `type' value may be one of the
     following:

     *Type value*            *Type description*
     `FIELD_TYPE_TINY'       `TINYINT' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_SHORT'      `SMALLINT' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_LONG'       `INTEGER' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_INT24'      `MEDIUMINT' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_LONGLONG'   `BIGINT' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_DECIMAL'    `DECIMAL' or `NUMERIC' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_FLOAT'      `FLOAT' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_DOUBLE'     `DOUBLE' or `REAL' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_TIMESTAMP'  `TIMESTAMP' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_DATE'       `DATE' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_TIME'       `TIME' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_DATETIME'   `DATETIME' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_YEAR'       `YEAR' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_STRING'     `CHAR' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_VAR_STRING' `VARCHAR' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_BLOB'       `BLOB' or `TEXT' field (use
                             `max_length' to determine the
                             maximum length)
     `FIELD_TYPE_SET'        `SET' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_ENUM'       `ENUM' field
     `FIELD_TYPE_NULL'       `NULL'-type field
     `FIELD_TYPE_CHAR'       Deprecated; use `FIELD_TYPE_TINY'
                             instead

     You can use the `IS_NUM()' macro to test whether a field has a
     numeric type.  Pass the `type' value to `IS_NUM()' and it will
     evaluate to TRUE if the field is numeric:

          if (IS_NUM(field->type))
              printf("Field is numeric\n");

`unsigned int length'
     The width of the field, as specified in the table definition.

`unsigned int max_length'
     The maximum width of the field for the result set (the length of
     the longest field value for the rows actually in the result set).
     If you use `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_list_fields()', this
     contains the maximum length for the field.  If you use
     `mysql_use_result()', the value of this variable is zero.

`unsigned int flags'
     Different bit-flags for the field.  The `flags' value may have zero
     or more of the following bits set:

     *Flag value*            *Flag description*
     `NOT_NULL_FLAG'         Field can't be `NULL'
     `PRI_KEY_FLAG'          Field is part of a primary key
     `UNIQUE_KEY_FLAG'       Field is part of a unique key
     `MULTIPLE_KEY_FLAG'     Field is part of a non-unique key
     `UNSIGNED_FLAG'         Field has the `UNSIGNED' attribute
     `ZEROFILL_FLAG'         Field has the `ZEROFILL' attribute
     `BINARY_FLAG'           Field has the `BINARY' attribute
     `AUTO_INCREMENT_FLAG'   Field has the `AUTO_INCREMENT'
                             attribute
     `ENUM_FLAG'             Field is an `ENUM' (deprecated)
     `SET_FLAG'              Field is a `SET' (deprecated)
     `BLOB_FLAG'             Field is a `BLOB' or `TEXT'
                             (deprecated)
     `TIMESTAMP_FLAG'        Field is a `TIMESTAMP' (deprecated)

     Use of the `BLOB_FLAG', `ENUM_FLAG', `SET_FLAG', and
     `TIMESTAMP_FLAG' flags is deprecated because they indicate the
     type of a field rather than an attribute of its type.  It is
     preferable to test `field->type' against `FIELD_TYPE_BLOB',
     `FIELD_TYPE_ENUM', `FIELD_TYPE_SET', or `FIELD_TYPE_TIMESTAMP'
     instead.

     The following example illustrates a typical use of the `flags'
     value:

          if (field->flags & NOT_NULL_FLAG)
              printf("Field can't be null\n");

     You may use the following convenience macros to determine the
     boolean status of the `flags' value:

     *Flag status*     *Description*
     `IS_NOT_NULL(flags)'True if this field is defined as
                       `NOT NULL'
     `IS_PRI_KEY(flags)'True if this field is a primary key
     `IS_BLOB(flags)'  True if this field is a `BLOB' or
                       `TEXT' (deprecated; test
                       `field->type' instead)

`unsigned int decimals'
     The number of decimals for numeric fields.

C API Function Overview
-----------------------

The functions available in the C API are summarized here and described
in greater detail in a later section.  *Note C API functions::.

*Function*              *Description*
*mysql_affected_rows()*  Returns the number of rows
                        changed/deleted/inserted by the last `UPDATE',
                        `DELETE', or `INSERT' query.
*mysql_change_user()*    Changes user and database on an open connection.
*mysql_character_set_name()* Returns the name of the default character set
                        for the connection.
*mysql_close()*          Closes a server connection.
*mysql_connect()*        Connects to a MySQL server. This function is
                        deprecated; use `mysql_real_connect()' instead.
*mysql_create_db()*      Creates a database. This function is
                        deprecated; use the SQL command `CREATE
                        DATABASE' instead.
*mysql_data_seek()*      Seeks to an arbitrary row number in a query
                        result set.
*mysql_debug()*          Does a `DBUG_PUSH' with the given string.
*mysql_drop_db()*        Drops a database. This function is deprecated;
                        use the SQL command `DROP DATABASE' instead.
*mysql_dump_debug_info()* Makes the server write debug information to the
                        log.
*mysql_eof()*            Determines whether the last row of a result set
                        has been read.  This function is deprecated;
                        `mysql_errno()' or `mysql_error()' may be used
                        instead.
*mysql_errno()*          Returns the error number for the most recently
                        invoked MySQL function.
*mysql_error()*          Returns the error message for the most recently
                        invoked MySQL function.
*mysql_escape_string()*  Escapes special characters in a string for use
                        in an SQL statement.
*mysql_fetch_field()*    Returns the type of the next table field.
*mysql_fetch_field_direct()* Returns the type of a table field, given a
                        field number.
*mysql_fetch_fields()*   Returns an array of all field structures.
*mysql_fetch_lengths()*  Returns the lengths of all columns in the
                        current row.
*mysql_fetch_row()*      Fetches the next row from the result set.
*mysql_field_seek()*     Puts the column cursor on a specified column.
*mysql_field_count()*    Returns the number of result columns for the
                        most recent query.
*mysql_field_tell()*     Returns the position of the field cursor used
                        for the last `mysql_fetch_field()'.
*mysql_free_result()*    Frees memory used by a result set.
*mysql_get_client_info()* Returns client version information as a string.
*mysql_get_client_version()* Returns client version information as an
                        integer.
*mysql_get_host_info()*  Returns a string describing the connection.
*mysql_get_server_version()* Returns version number of server as an integer
                        (new in 4.1).
*mysql_get_proto_info()* Returns the protocol version used by the
                        connection.
*mysql_get_server_info()* Returns the server version number.
*mysql_info()*           Returns information about the most recently
                        executed query.
*mysql_init()*           Gets or initializes a `MYSQL' structure.
*mysql_insert_id()*      Returns the ID generated for an
                        `AUTO_INCREMENT' column by the previous query.
*mysql_kill()*           Kills a given thread.
*mysql_list_dbs()*       Returns database names matching a simple
                        regular expression.
*mysql_list_fields()*    Returns field names matching a simple regular
                        expression.
*mysql_list_processes()* Returns a list of the current server threads.
*mysql_list_tables()*    Returns table names matching a simple regular
                        expression.
*mysql_num_fields()*     Returns the number of columns in a result set.
*mysql_num_rows()*       Returns the number of rows in a result set.
*mysql_options()*        Sets connect options for `mysql_connect()'.
*mysql_ping()*           Checks whether the connection to the server is
                        working, reconnecting as necessary.
*mysql_query()*          Executes an SQL query specified as a
                        null-terminated string.
*mysql_real_connect()*   Connects to a MySQL server.
*mysql_real_escape_string()* Escapes special characters in a string for use
                        in an SQL statement, taking into account the
                        current charset of the connection.
*mysql_real_query()*     Executes an SQL query specified as a counted
                        string.
*mysql_reload()*         Tells the server to reload the grant tables.
*mysql_row_seek()*       Seeks to a row offset in a result set, using
                        value returned from `mysql_row_tell()'.
*mysql_row_tell()*       Returns the row cursor position.
*mysql_select_db()*      Selects a database.
*mysql_set_server_option()* Sets an option for the connection (like
                        `multi-statements').
*mysql_sqlstate()*       Returns the SQLSTATE error code for the last
                        error.
*mysql_shutdown()*       Shuts down the database server.
*mysql_stat()*           Returns the server status as a string.
*mysql_store_result()*   Retrieves a complete result set to the client.
*mysql_thread_id()*      Returns the current thread ID.
*mysql_thread_safe()*    Returns 1 if the clients are compiled as
                        thread-safe.
*mysql_use_result()*     Initiates a row-by-row result set retrieval.
*mysql_warning_count()*  Returns the warning count for the previous SQL
                        statement.
*mysql_commit()*         Commits the transaction (new in 4.1).
*mysql_rollback()*       Rolls back the transaction (new in 4.1).
*mysql_autocommit()*     Toggles autocommit mode on/off (new in 4.1).
*mysql_more_results()*   Checks whether any more results exist (new in
                        4.1).
*mysql_next_result()*    Returns/Initiates the next result in
                        multi-query executions (new in 4.1).

To connect to the server, call `mysql_init()' to initialize a
connection handler, then call `mysql_real_connect()' with that handler
(along with other information such as the hostname, username, and
password).  Upon connection, `mysql_real_connect()' sets the
`reconnect' flag (part of the MYSQL structure) to a value of `1'. This
flag indicates, in the event that a query cannot be performed because
of a lost connection, to try reconnecting to the server before giving
up.  When you are done with the connection, call `mysql_close()' to
terminate it.

While a connection is active, the client may send SQL queries to the
server using `mysql_query()' or `mysql_real_query()'.  The difference
between the two is that `mysql_query()' expects the query to be
specified as a null-terminated string whereas `mysql_real_query()'
expects a counted string.  If the string contains binary data (which may
include null bytes), you must use `mysql_real_query()'.

For each non-`SELECT' query (for example, `INSERT', `UPDATE',
`DELETE'), you can find out how many rows were changed (affected) by
calling `mysql_affected_rows()'.

For `SELECT' queries, you retrieve the selected rows as a result set.
(Note that some statements are `SELECT'-like in that they return rows.
These include `SHOW', `DESCRIBE', and `EXPLAIN'.  They should be
treated the same way as `SELECT' statements.)

There are two ways for a client to process result sets.  One way is to
retrieve the entire result set all at once by calling
`mysql_store_result()'.  This function acquires from the server all the
rows returned by the query and stores them in the client.  The second
way is for the client to initiate a row-by-row result set retrieval by
calling `mysql_use_result()'.  This function initializes the retrieval,
but does not actually get any rows from the server.

In both cases, you access rows by calling `mysql_fetch_row()'.  With
`mysql_store_result()', `mysql_fetch_row()' accesses rows that have
already been fetched from the server.  With `mysql_use_result()',
`mysql_fetch_row()' actually retrieves the row from the server.
Information about the size of the data in each row is available by
calling `mysql_fetch_lengths()'.

After you are done with a result set, call `mysql_free_result()' to
free the memory used for it.

The two retrieval mechanisms are complementary.  Client programs should
choose the approach that is most appropriate for their requirements.
In practice, clients tend to use `mysql_store_result()' more commonly.

An advantage of `mysql_store_result()' is that because the rows have all
been fetched to the client, you not only can access rows sequentially,
you can move back and forth in the result set using `mysql_data_seek()'
or `mysql_row_seek()' to change the current row position within the
result set.  You can also find out how many rows there are by calling
`mysql_num_rows()'.  On the other hand, the memory requirements for
`mysql_store_result()' may be very high for large result sets and you
are more likely to encounter out-of-memory conditions.

An advantage of `mysql_use_result()' is that the client requires less
memory for the result set because it maintains only one row at a time
(and because there is less allocation overhead, `mysql_use_result()'
can be faster).  Disadvantages are that you must process each row
quickly to avoid tying up the server, you don't have random access to
rows within the result set (you can only access rows sequentially), and
you don't know how many rows are in the result set until you have
retrieved them all.  Furthermore, you *must* retrieve all the rows even
if you determine in mid-retrieval that you've found the information you
were looking for.

The API makes it possible for clients to respond appropriately to
queries (retrieving rows only as necessary) without knowing whether or
not the query is a `SELECT'.  You can do this by calling
`mysql_store_result()' after each `mysql_query()' (or
`mysql_real_query()').  If the result set call succeeds, the query was
a `SELECT' and you can read the rows.  If the result set call fails,
call `mysql_field_count()' to determine whether a result was actually
to be expected.  If `mysql_field_count()' returns zero, the query
returned no data (indicating that it was an `INSERT', `UPDATE',
`DELETE', etc.), and was not expected to return rows.  If
`mysql_field_count()' is non-zero, the query should have returned rows,
but didn't.  This indicates that the query was a `SELECT' that failed.
See the description for `mysql_field_count()' for an example of how
this can be done.

Both `mysql_store_result()' and `mysql_use_result()' allow you to
obtain information about the fields that make up the result set (the
number of fields, their names and types, etc.).  You can access field
information sequentially within the row by calling
`mysql_fetch_field()' repeatedly, or by field number within the row by
calling `mysql_fetch_field_direct()'.  The current field cursor
position may be changed by calling `mysql_field_seek()'.  Setting the
field cursor affects subsequent calls to `mysql_fetch_field()'.  You
can also get information for fields all at once by calling
`mysql_fetch_fields()'.

For detecting and reporting errors, MySQL provides access to error
information by means of the `mysql_errno()' and `mysql_error()'
functions.  These return the error code or error message for the most
recently invoked function that can succeed or fail, allowing you to
determine when an error occurred and what it was.

C API Function Descriptions
---------------------------

In the descriptions here, a parameter or return value of `NULL' means
`NULL' in the sense of the C programming language, not a MySQL `NULL'
value.

Functions that return a value generally return a pointer or an integer.
Unless specified otherwise, functions returning a pointer return a
non-`NULL' value to indicate success or a `NULL' value to indicate an
error, and functions returning an integer return zero to indicate
success or non-zero to indicate an error.  Note that "non-zero" means
just that.  Unless the function description says otherwise, do not test
against a value other than zero:

     if (result)                   /* correct */
         ... error ...
     
     if (result < 0)               /* incorrect */
         ... error ...
     
     if (result == -1)             /* incorrect */
         ... error ...

When a function returns an error, the *Errors* subsection of the
function description lists the possible types of errors.  You can find
out which of these occurred by calling `mysql_errno()'.  A string
representation of the error may be obtained by calling `mysql_error()'.

`mysql_affected_rows()'
.......................

`my_ulonglong mysql_affected_rows(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the number of rows changed by the last `UPDATE', deleted by the
last `DELETE' or inserted by the last `INSERT' statement. May be called
immediately after `mysql_query()' for `UPDATE', `DELETE', or `INSERT'
statements.  For `SELECT' statements, `mysql_affected_rows()' works like
`mysql_num_rows()'.

Return Values
.............

An integer greater than zero indicates the number of rows affected or
retrieved.  Zero indicates that no records where updated for an
`UPDATE' statement, no rows matched the `WHERE' clause in the query or
that no query has yet been executed.  -1 indicates that the query
returned an error or that, for a `SELECT' query,
`mysql_affected_rows()' was called prior to calling
`mysql_store_result()'. Because `mysql_affected_rows()' returns an
unsigned value, you can check for -1 by comparing the return value to
`(my_ulonglong)-1' (or to `(my_ulonglong)~0', which is equivalent).

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     mysql_query(&mysql,"UPDATE products SET cost=cost*1.25 WHERE group=10");
     printf("%ld products updated",(long) mysql_affected_rows(&mysql));

If one specifies the flag `CLIENT_FOUND_ROWS' when connecting to
`mysqld', `mysql_affected_rows()' will return the number of rows
matched by the `WHERE' statement for `UPDATE' statements.

Note that when one uses a `REPLACE' command, `mysql_affected_rows()'
will return 2 if the new row replaced and old row.  This is because in
this case one row was inserted after the duplicate was deleted.

`mysql_change_user()'
.....................

`my_bool mysql_change_user(MYSQL *mysql, const char *user, const char
*password, const char *db)'

Description
...........

Changes the user and causes the database specified by `db' to become
the default (current) database on the connection specified by `mysql'.
In subsequent queries, this database is the default for table
references that do not include an explicit database specifier.

This function was introduced in MySQL Version 3.23.3.

`mysql_change_user()' fails unless the connected user can be
authenticated or if he doesn't have permission to use the database.  In
this case the user and database are not changed

The `db' parameter may be set to `NULL' if you don't want to have a
default database.

Starting from MySQL 4.0.6 this command will always `ROLLBACK' any
active transactions, close all temporary tables, unlock all locked
tables and reset the state as if one had done a new connect.  This will
happen even if the user didn't change.

Return Values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

The same that you can get from `mysql_real_connect()'.

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`ER_UNKNOWN_COM_ERROR'
     The MySQL server doesn't implement this command (probably an old
     server).

`ER_ACCESS_DENIED_ERROR'
     The user or password was wrong.

`ER_BAD_DB_ERROR'
     The database didn't exist.

`ER_DBACCESS_DENIED_ERROR'
     The user did not have access rights to the database.

`ER_WRONG_DB_NAME'
     The database name was too long.

Example
.......

     if (mysql_change_user(&mysql, "user", "password", "new_database"))
     {
        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to change user.  Error: %s\n",
                mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

`mysql_character_set_name()'
............................

`const char *mysql_character_set_name(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the default character set for the current connection.

Return Values
.............

The default character set

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_close()'
...............

`void mysql_close(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Closes a previously opened connection.  `mysql_close()' also deallocates
the connection handle pointed to by `mysql' if the handle was allocated
automatically by `mysql_init()' or `mysql_connect()'.

Return Values
.............

None.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_connect()'
.................

`MYSQL *mysql_connect(MYSQL *mysql, const char *host, const char *user,
const char *passwd)'

Description
...........

This function is deprecated.  It is preferable to use
`mysql_real_connect()' instead.

`mysql_connect()' attempts to establish a connection to a MySQL
database engine running on `host'.  `mysql_connect()' must complete
successfully before you can execute any of the other API functions,
with the exception of `mysql_get_client_info()'.

The meanings of the parameters are the same as for the corresponding
parameters for `mysql_real_connect()' with the difference that the
connection parameter may be `NULL'. In this case the C API allocates
memory for the connection structure automatically and frees it when you
call `mysql_close()'. The disadvantage of this approach is that you
can't retrieve an error message if the connection fails.  (To get error
information from `mysql_errno()' or `mysql_error()', you must provide a
valid `MYSQL' pointer.)

Return Values
.............

Same as for `mysql_real_connect()'.

Errors
......

Same as for `mysql_real_connect()'.

`mysql_create_db()'
...................

`int mysql_create_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)'

Description
...........

Creates the database named by the `db' parameter.

This function is deprecated.  It is preferable to use `mysql_query()'
to issue an SQL `CREATE DATABASE' statement instead.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the database was created successfully. Non-zero if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

     if(mysql_create_db(&mysql, "my_database"))
     {
        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create new database.  Error: %s\n",
                mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

`mysql_data_seek()'
...................

`void mysql_data_seek(MYSQL_RES *result, my_ulonglong offset)'

Description
...........

Seeks to an arbitrary row in a query result set.  The `offset' value is
a row number and should be in the range from `0' to
`mysql_num_rows(stmt)-1'.

This function requires that the result set structure contains the
entire result of the query, so `mysql_data_seek()' may be used only in
conjunction with `mysql_store_result()', not with `mysql_use_result()'.

Return Values
.............

None.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_debug()'
...............

`void mysql_debug(const char *debug)'

Description
...........

Does a `DBUG_PUSH' with the given string. `mysql_debug()' uses the Fred
Fish debug library. To use this function, you must compile the client
library to support debugging.  *Note Debugging server::. *Note
Debugging client::.

Return Values
.............

None.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

The call shown here causes the client library to generate a trace file
in `/tmp/client.trace' on the client machine:

     mysql_debug("d:t:O,/tmp/client.trace");

`mysql_drop_db()'
.................

`int mysql_drop_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)'

Description
...........

Drops the database named by the `db' parameter.

This function is deprecated.  It is preferable to use `mysql_query()'
to issue an SQL `DROP DATABASE' statement instead.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the database was dropped successfully. Non-zero if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

     if(mysql_drop_db(&mysql, "my_database"))
       fprintf(stderr, "Failed to drop the database: Error: %s\n",
               mysql_error(&mysql));

`mysql_dump_debug_info()'
.........................

`int mysql_dump_debug_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Instructs the server to write some debug information to the log. For
this to work, the connected user must have the `SUPER' privilege.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the command was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_eof()'
.............

`my_bool mysql_eof(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

This function is deprecated.  `mysql_errno()' or `mysql_error()' may be
used instead.

`mysql_eof()' determines whether the last row of a result set has been
read.

If you acquire a result set from a successful call to
`mysql_store_result()', the client receives the entire set in one
operation.  In this case, a `NULL' return from `mysql_fetch_row()'
always means the end of the result set has been reached and it is
unnecessary to call `mysql_eof()'.  When used with
`mysql_store_result()', `mysql_eof()' will always return true.

On the other hand, if you use `mysql_use_result()' to initiate a result
set retrieval, the rows of the set are obtained from the server one by
one as you call `mysql_fetch_row()' repeatedly.  Because an error may
occur on the connection during this process, a `NULL' return value from
`mysql_fetch_row()' does not necessarily mean the end of the result set
was reached normally.  In this case, you can use `mysql_eof()' to
determine what happened.  `mysql_eof()' returns a non-zero value if the
end of the result set was reached and zero if an error occurred.

Historically, `mysql_eof()' predates the standard MySQL error functions
`mysql_errno()' and `mysql_error()'.  Because those error functions
provide the same information, their use is preferred over
`mysql_eof()', which is now deprecated.  (In fact, they provide more
information, because `mysql_eof()' returns only a boolean value whereas
the error functions indicate a reason for the error when one occurs.)

Return Values
.............

Zero if no error occurred. Non-zero if the end of the result set has
been reached.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

The following example shows how you might use `mysql_eof()':

     mysql_query(&mysql,"SELECT * FROM some_table");
     result = mysql_use_result(&mysql);
     while((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
     {
         // do something with data
     }
     if(!mysql_eof(result))  // mysql_fetch_row() failed due to an error
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

However, you can achieve the same effect with the standard MySQL error
functions:

     mysql_query(&mysql,"SELECT * FROM some_table");
     result = mysql_use_result(&mysql);
     while((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
     {
         // do something with data
     }
     if(mysql_errno(&mysql))  // mysql_fetch_row() failed due to an error
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

`mysql_errno()'
...............

`unsigned int mysql_errno(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

For the connection specified by `mysql', `mysql_errno()' returns the
error code for the most recently invoked API function that can succeed
or fail.  A return value of zero means that no error occurred. Client
error message numbers are listed in the MySQL `errmsg.h' header file.
Server error message numbers are listed in `mysqld_error.h'. In the
MySQL source distribution you can find a complete list of error
messages and error numbers in the file `Docs/mysqld_error.txt'.  The
server error codes also are listed at *Note Error-returns::.

Note that some functions like `mysql_fetch_row()' don't set
`mysql_errno()' if they succeed.

A rule of thumb is that all functions that have to ask the server for
information will reset `mysql_errno()' if they succeed.

Return Values
.............

An error code value for the last mysql_xxx call, if it failed.  zero
means no error occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_error()'
...............

`const char *mysql_error(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

For the connection specified by `mysql', `mysql_error()' returns a
null-terminated string containing the error message for the most
recently invoked API function that failed. If a function didn't fail,
the return value of `mysql_error()' may be the previous error or an
empty string to indicate no error.

A rule of thumb is that all functions that have to ask the server for
information will reset `mysql_error()' if they succeed.

For functions that resets `mysql_errno', the following two tests are
equivalent:

     if(mysql_errno(&mysql))
     {
         // an error occurred
     }
     
     if(mysql_error(&mysql)[0] != '\0')
     {
         // an error occurred
     }

The language of the client error messages may be changed by recompiling
the MySQL client library. Currently you can choose error messages in
several different languages.  *Note Languages::.

Return Values
.............

A null-terminated character string that describes the error.  An empty
string if no error occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_escape_string()'
.......................

You should use `mysql_real_escape_string()' instead!

This function is identical to `mysql_real_escape_string()' except that
`mysql_real_escape_string()' takes a connection handler as its first
argument and escapes the string according to the current character set.
`mysql_escape_string()' does not take a connection argument and does
not respect the current charset setting.

`mysql_fetch_field()'
.....................

`MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_field(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the definition of one column of a result set as a `MYSQL_FIELD'
structure. Call this function repeatedly to retrieve information about
all columns in the result set.  `mysql_fetch_field()' returns `NULL'
when no more fields are left.

`mysql_fetch_field()' is reset to return information about the first
field each time you execute a new `SELECT' query.  The field returned by
`mysql_fetch_field()' is also affected by calls to `mysql_field_seek()'.

If you've called `mysql_query()' to perform a `SELECT' on a table but
have not called `mysql_store_result()', MySQL returns the default blob
length (8K bytes) if you call `mysql_fetch_field()' to ask for the
length of a `BLOB' field.  (The 8K size is chosen because MySQL doesn't
know the maximum length for the `BLOB'. This should be made
configurable sometime.) Once you've retrieved the result set,
`field->max_length' contains the length of the largest value for this
column in the specific query.

Return Values
.............

The `MYSQL_FIELD' structure for the current column. `NULL' if no
columns are left.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_FIELD *field;
     
     while((field = mysql_fetch_field(result)))
     {
         printf("field name %s\n", field->name);
     }

`mysql_fetch_fields()'
......................

`MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_fields(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns an array of all `MYSQL_FIELD' structures for a result set.
Each structure provides the field definition for one column of the
result set.

Return Values
.............

An array of `MYSQL_FIELD' structures for all columns of a result set.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int i;
     MYSQL_FIELD *fields;
     
     num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
     fields = mysql_fetch_fields(result);
     for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
     {
        printf("Field %u is %s\n", i, fields[i].name);
     }

`mysql_fetch_field_direct()'
............................

`MYSQL_FIELD *mysql_fetch_field_direct(MYSQL_RES *result, unsigned int
fieldnr)'

Description
...........

Given a field number `fieldnr' for a column within a result set, returns
that column's field definition as a `MYSQL_FIELD' structure. You may use
this function to retrieve the definition for an arbitrary column.  The
value of `fieldnr' should be in the range from 0 to
`mysql_num_fields(result)-1'.

Return Values
.............

The `MYSQL_FIELD' structure for the specified column.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int i;
     MYSQL_FIELD *field;
     
     num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
     for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
     {
         field = mysql_fetch_field_direct(result, i);
         printf("Field %u is %s\n", i, field->name);
     }

`mysql_fetch_lengths()'
.......................

`unsigned long *mysql_fetch_lengths(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the lengths of the columns of the current row within a result
set.  If you plan to copy field values, this length information is also
useful for optimization, because you can avoid calling `strlen()'.  In
addition, if the result set contains binary data, you *must* use this
function to determine the size of the data, because `strlen()' returns
incorrect results for any field containing null characters.

The length for empty columns and for columns containing `NULL' values is
zero.  To see how to distinguish these two cases, see the description
for `mysql_fetch_row()'.

Return Values
.............

An array of unsigned long integers representing the size of each column
(not including any terminating null characters).  `NULL' if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`mysql_fetch_lengths()' is valid only for the current row of the result
set.  It returns `NULL' if you call it before calling
`mysql_fetch_row()' or after retrieving all rows in the result.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_ROW row;
     unsigned long *lengths;
     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int i;
     
     row = mysql_fetch_row(result);
     if (row)
     {
         num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
         lengths = mysql_fetch_lengths(result);
         for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
         {
              printf("Column %u is %lu bytes in length.\n", i, lengths[i]);
         }
     }

`mysql_fetch_row()'
...................

`MYSQL_ROW mysql_fetch_row(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Retrieves the next row of a result set. When used after
`mysql_store_result()', `mysql_fetch_row()' returns `NULL' when there
are no more rows to retrieve.  When used after `mysql_use_result()',
`mysql_fetch_row()' returns `NULL' when there are no more rows to
retrieve or if an error occurred.

The number of values in the row is given by `mysql_num_fields(result)'.
If `row' holds the return value from a call to `mysql_fetch_row()',
pointers to the values are accessed as `row[0]' to
`row[mysql_num_fields(result)-1]'.  `NULL' values in the row are
indicated by `NULL' pointers.

The lengths of the field values in the row may be obtained by calling
`mysql_fetch_lengths()'.  Empty fields and fields containing `NULL'
both have length 0; you can distinguish these by checking the pointer
for the field value.  If the pointer is `NULL', the field is `NULL';
otherwise, the field is empty.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL_ROW' structure for the next row.  `NULL' if there are no more
rows to retrieve or if an error occurred.

Errors
......

Note that error is not reset between calls to `mysql_fetch_row()'

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_ROW row;
     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int i;
     
     num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
     while ((row = mysql_fetch_row(result)))
     {
        unsigned long *lengths;
        lengths = mysql_fetch_lengths(result);
        for(i = 0; i < num_fields; i++)
        {
            printf("[%.*s] ", (int) lengths[i], row[i] ? row[i] : "NULL");
        }
        printf("\n");
     }

`mysql_field_count()'
.....................

`unsigned int mysql_field_count(MYSQL *mysql)'

If you are using a version of MySQL earlier than Version 3.22.24, you
should use `unsigned int mysql_num_fields(MYSQL *mysql)' instead.

Description
...........

Returns the number of columns for the most recent query on the
connection.

The normal use of this function is when `mysql_store_result()' returned
`NULL' (and thus you have no result set pointer).  In this case, you
can call `mysql_field_count()' to determine whether
`mysql_store_result()' should have produced a non-empty result.  This
allows the client program to take proper action without knowing whether
the query was a `SELECT' (or `SELECT'-like) statement.  The example
shown here illustrates how this may be done.

*Note `NULL mysql_store_result()': NULL mysql_store_result.

Return Values
.............

An unsigned integer representing the number of fields in a result set.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_RES *result;
     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int num_rows;
     
     if (mysql_query(&mysql,query_string))
     {
         // error
     }
     else // query succeeded, process any data returned by it
     {
         result = mysql_store_result(&mysql);
         if (result)  // there are rows
         {
             num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
             // retrieve rows, then call mysql_free_result(result)
         }
         else  // mysql_store_result() returned nothing; should it have?
         {
             if(mysql_field_count(&mysql) == 0)
             {
                 // query does not return data
                 // (it was not a SELECT)
                 num_rows = mysql_affected_rows(&mysql);
             }
             else // mysql_store_result() should have returned data
             {
                 fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
             }
         }
     }

An alternative is to replace the `mysql_field_count(&mysql)' call with
`mysql_errno(&mysql)'.  In this case, you are checking directly for an
error from `mysql_store_result()' rather than inferring from the value
of `mysql_field_count()' whether the statement was a `SELECT'.

`mysql_field_seek()'
....................

`MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET mysql_field_seek(MYSQL_RES *result,
MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET offset)'

Description
...........

Sets the field cursor to the given offset.   The next call to
`mysql_fetch_field()' will retrieve the field definition of the column
associated with that offset.

To seek to the beginning of a row, pass an `offset' value of zero.

Return Values
.............

The previous value of the field cursor.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_field_tell()'
....................

`MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET mysql_field_tell(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the position of the field cursor used for the last
`mysql_fetch_field()'. This value can be used as an argument to
`mysql_field_seek()'.

Return Values
.............

The current offset of the field cursor.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_free_result()'
.....................

`void mysql_free_result(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Frees the memory allocated for a result set by `mysql_store_result()',
`mysql_use_result()', `mysql_list_dbs()', etc.  When you are done with
a result set, you must free the memory it uses by calling
`mysql_free_result()'.

Do not attempt to access a result set after freeing it.

Return Values
.............

None.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_client_info()'
.........................

`char *mysql_get_client_info(void)'

Description
...........

Returns a string that represents the client library version.

Return Values
.............

A character string that represents the MySQL client library version.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_client_version()'
............................

`unsigned long mysql_get_client_version(void)'

Description
...........

Returns an integer that represents the client library version.  The
value has the format `XYYZZ' where `X' is the major version, `YY' is
the release level, and `ZZ' is the version number within the release
level. For example, a value of `40102' represents a client library
version of `4.1.2'.

Return Values
.............

An integer that represents the MySQL client library version.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_host_info()'
.......................

`char *mysql_get_host_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a string describing the type of connection in use, including the
server hostname.

Return Values
.............

A character string representing the server hostname and the connection
type.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_proto_info()'
........................

`unsigned int mysql_get_proto_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the protocol version used by current connection.

Return Values
.............

An unsigned integer representing the protocol version used by the
current connection.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_server_info()'
.........................

`char *mysql_get_server_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a string that represents the server version number.

Return Values
.............

A character string that represents the server version number.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_get_server_version()'
............................

`unsigned long mysql_get_server_version(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns version number of server as an integer (new in 4.1).

Return Values
.............

A number that represents the MySQL server version in format:

main_version*10000 + minor_version *100 + sub_version

For example, 4.1.0 is returned as 40100.

This is useful to quickly determine the version of the server in a
client program to know if some capability exits.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_info()'
..............

`char *mysql_info(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Retrieves a string providing information about the most recently
executed query, but only for the statements listed here.  For other
statements, `mysql_info()' returns `NULL'.  The format of the string
varies depending on the type of query, as described here.  The numbers
are illustrative only; the string will contain values appropriate for
the query.

`INSERT INTO ... SELECT ...'
     String format: `Records: 100 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0'

`INSERT INTO ... VALUES (...),(...),(...)...'
     String format: `Records: 3  Duplicates: 0  Warnings: 0'

`LOAD DATA INFILE ...'
     String format: `Records: 1 Deleted: 0 Skipped: 0 Warnings: 0'

`ALTER TABLE'
     String format: `Records: 3 Duplicates: 0 Warnings: 0'

`UPDATE'
     String format: `Rows matched: 40 Changed: 40 Warnings: 0'

Note that `mysql_info()' returns a non-`NULL' value for `INSERT ...
VALUES' only for the multiple-row form of the statement (that is, only
if multiple value lists are specified).

Return Values
.............

A character string representing additional information about the most
recently executed query.  `NULL' if no information is available for the
query.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_init()'
..............

`MYSQL *mysql_init(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Allocates or initializes a `MYSQL' object suitable for
`mysql_real_connect()'.  If `mysql' is a `NULL' pointer, the function
allocates, initializes, and returns a new object.  Otherwise, the
object is initialized and the address of the object is returned.  If
`mysql_init()' allocates a new object, it will be freed when
`mysql_close()' is called to close the connection.

Return Values
.............

An initialized `MYSQL*' handle.  `NULL' if there was insufficient
memory to allocate a new object.

Errors
......

In case of insufficient memory, `NULL' is returned.

`mysql_insert_id()'
...................

`my_ulonglong mysql_insert_id(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the value generated for an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column by the
previous `INSERT' or `UPDATE' query.  Use this function after you have
performed an `INSERT' query into a table that contains an
`AUTO_INCREMENT' field.

Note that `mysql_insert_id()' returns `0' if the previous query does
not use an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.  If you need to save the value for
later, be sure to call `mysql_insert_id()' immediately after the query
that generates the value.

If the previous query returned an error, the value of
`mysql_insert_id()' is undefined.

`mysql_insert_id()' is updated after:

   * `INSERT' statements that sets or generates an `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     value.  In case of multi-row `INSERT' statement
     `mysql_insert_id()' returns the *FIRST* generated `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     value or the `LAST' set `AUTO_INCREMENT' value if there was no
     generated value.

   * `UPDATE' statements that generate an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.

   * `INSERT' or `UPDATE' statements that set a column value to
     `LAST_INSERT_ID(expr)'.

*Note Miscellaneous functions::.

Also note that the value of the SQL `LAST_INSERT_ID()' function always
contains the most recently generated `AUTO_INCREMENT' value, and is not
reset between queries because the value of that function is maintained
in the server.  Another difference is that `LAST_INSERT_ID()' is not
updated if you set an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column to a specific value.

The reason for the difference between `LAST_INSERT_ID()' and
`mysql_insert_id()' is that `LAST_INSERT_ID()' is made easy to use in
scripts while `mysql_insert_id()' tries to provide a little more exact
information of what happens to the auto_increment column.

Return Values
.............

The value of the `AUTO_INCREMENT' field that was updated by the previous
query.  Returns zero if there was no previous query on the connection
or if the query did not update an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_kill()'
..............

`int mysql_kill(MYSQL *mysql, unsigned long pid)'

Description
...........

Asks the server to kill the thread specified by `pid'.

Return Values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_list_dbs()'
..................

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_dbs(MYSQL *mysql, const char *wild)'

Description
...........

Returns a result set consisting of database names on the server that
match the simple regular expression specified by the `wild' parameter.
`wild' may contain the wildcard characters `%' or `_', or may be a
`NULL' pointer to match all databases.  Calling `mysql_list_dbs()' is
similar to executing the query `SHOW databases [LIKE wild]'.

You must free the result set with `mysql_free_result()'.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result set for success.  `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_list_fields()'
.....................

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_fields(MYSQL *mysql, const char *table, const
char *wild)'

Description
...........

Returns a result set consisting of field names in the given table that
match the simple regular expression specified by the `wild' parameter.
`wild' may contain the wildcard characters `%' or `_', or may be a
`NULL' pointer to match all fields.  Calling `mysql_list_fields()' is
similar to executing the query `SHOW COLUMNS FROM tbl_name [LIKE wild]'.

Note that it's recommended that you use `SHOW COLUMNS FROM tbl_name'
instead of `mysql_list_fields()'.

You must free the result set with `mysql_free_result()'.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result set for success.  `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_list_processes()'
........................

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_processes(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a result set describing the current server threads.  This is
the same kind of information as that reported by `mysqladmin
processlist' or a `SHOW PROCESSLIST' query.

You must free the result set with `mysql_free_result()'.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result set for success.  `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_list_tables()'
.....................

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_list_tables(MYSQL *mysql, const char *wild)'

Description
...........

Returns a result set consisting of table names in the current database
that match the simple regular expression specified by the `wild'
parameter.  `wild' may contain the wildcard characters `%' or `_', or
may be a `NULL' pointer to match all tables.  Calling
`mysql_list_tables()' is similar to executing the query `SHOW tables
[LIKE wild]'.

You must free the result set with `mysql_free_result()'.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result set for success.  `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_num_fields()'
....................

`unsigned int mysql_num_fields(MYSQL_RES *result)'

or:

`unsigned int mysql_num_fields(MYSQL *mysql)'

The second form doesn't work on MySQL Version 3.22.24 or newer.  To
pass a `MYSQL*' argument, you must use `unsigned int
mysql_field_count(MYSQL *mysql)' instead.

Description
...........

Returns the number of columns in a result set.

Note that you can get the number of columns either from a pointer to a
result set or to a connection handle.  You would use the connection
handle if `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_use_result()' returned
`NULL' (and thus you have no result set pointer).  In this case, you can
call `mysql_field_count()' to determine whether `mysql_store_result()'
should have produced a non-empty result.  This allows the client
program to take proper action without knowing whether or not the query
was a `SELECT' (or `SELECT'-like) statement.  The example shown here
illustrates how this may be done.

*Note `NULL mysql_store_result()': NULL mysql_store_result.

Return Values
.............

An unsigned integer representing the number of fields in a result set.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

     MYSQL_RES *result;
     unsigned int num_fields;
     unsigned int num_rows;
     
     if (mysql_query(&mysql,query_string))
     {
         // error
     }
     else // query succeeded, process any data returned by it
     {
         result = mysql_store_result(&mysql);
         if (result)  // there are rows
         {
             num_fields = mysql_num_fields(result);
             // retrieve rows, then call mysql_free_result(result)
         }
         else  // mysql_store_result() returned nothing; should it have?
         {
             if (mysql_errno(&mysql))
             {
                fprintf(stderr, "Error: %s\n", mysql_error(&mysql));
             }
             else if (mysql_field_count(&mysql) == 0)
             {
                 // query does not return data
                 // (it was not a SELECT)
                 num_rows = mysql_affected_rows(&mysql);
             }
         }
     }

An alternative (if you know that your query should have returned a
result set) is to replace the `mysql_errno(&mysql)' call with a check if
`mysql_field_count(&mysql)' is = 0.  This will happen only if something
went wrong.

`mysql_num_rows()'
..................

`my_ulonglong mysql_num_rows(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the number of rows in the result set.

The use of `mysql_num_rows()' depends on whether you use
`mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_use_result()' to return the result
set.  If you use `mysql_store_result()', `mysql_num_rows()' may be
called immediately.  If you use `mysql_use_result()',
`mysql_num_rows()' will not return the correct value until all the rows
in the result set have been retrieved.

Return Values
.............

The number of rows in the result set.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_options()'
.................

`int mysql_options(MYSQL *mysql, enum mysql_option option, const char
*arg)'

Description
...........

Can be used to set extra connect options and affect behavior for a
connection.  This function may be called multiple times to set several
options.

`mysql_options()' should be called after `mysql_init()' and before
`mysql_connect()' or `mysql_real_connect()'.

The `option' argument is the option that you want to set; the `arg'
argument is the value for the option. If the option is an integer, then
`arg' should point to the value of the integer.

Possible options values:

*Option*                       *Argument      *Function*
                               type*          
`MYSQL_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT'    `unsigned int  Connect timeout in seconds.
                               *'             
`MYSQL_OPT_READ_TIMEOUT'       `unsigned int  Timeout for reads from
                               *'             server (works currently
                                              only on Windows on TCP/IP
                                              connections)
`MYSQL_OPT_WRITE_TIMEOUT'      `unsigned int  Timeout for writes to
                               *'             server (works currently
                                              only on Windows on TCP/IP
                                              connections)
`MYSQL_OPT_COMPRESS'           Not used       Use the compressed
                                              client/server protocol.
`MYSQL_OPT_LOCAL_INFILE'       optional       If no pointer is given or
                               pointer to     if pointer points to an
                               uint           `unsigned int != 0' the
                                              command `LOAD LOCAL
                                              INFILE' is enabled.
`MYSQL_OPT_NAMED_PIPE'         Not used       Use named pipes to connect
                                              to a MySQL server on NT.
`MYSQL_INIT_COMMAND'           `char *'       Command to execute when
                                              connecting to the MySQL
                                              server. Will automatically
                                              be re-executed when
                                              reconnecting.
`MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE'      `char *'       Read options from the
                                              named option file instead
                                              of from `my.cnf'.
`MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP'     `char *'       Read options from the
                                              named group from `my.cnf'
                                              or the file specified with
                                              `MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE'.
`MYSQL_OPT_PROTOCOL'           `unsigned int  Type of protocol to use.
                               *'             Should be one of the enum
                                              values of
                                              `mysql_protocol_type'
                                              defined in `mysql.h'.
`MYSQL_SHARED_MEMORY_BASE_NAME'`char*'        Named of of chared memory
                                              object for communication
                                              to server. Should be same
                                              as the option
                                              `-shared-memory-base-name'
                                              used for the mysqld server
                                              you want's to connect to.

Note that the group `client' is always read if you use
`MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE' or `MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP'.

The specified group in the option file may contain the following
options:

*Option*           *Description*
`connect-timeout'  Connect timeout in seconds. On Linux this
                   timeout is also used for waiting for the
                   first answer from the server.
`compress'         Use the compressed client/server protocol.
`database'         Connect to this database if no database
                   was specified in the connect command.
`debug'            Debug options.
`disable-local-infile'Disable use of `LOAD DATA LOCAL'.
`host'             Default hostname.
`init-command'     Command to execute when connecting to
                   MySQL server. Will automatically be
                   re-executed when reconnecting.
`interactive-timeout'Same as specifying `CLIENT_INTERACTIVE' to
                   `mysql_real_connect()'. *Note
                   mysql_real_connect::.
`local-infile[=(0|1)]'If no argument or argument != 0 then
                   enable use of `LOAD DATA LOCAL'.
`max_allowed_packet'Max size of packet client can read from
                   server.
`password'         Default password.
`pipe'             Use named pipes to connect to a MySQL
                   server on NT.
`protocol=(TCP |   Which protocol to use when connecting to
SOCKET | PIPE |    server (New in 4.1)
MEMORY)'           
`port'             Default port number.
`return-found-rows'Tell `mysql_info()' to return found rows
                   instead of updated rows when using
                   `UPDATE'.
`shared-memory-base-name=name'Shared memory name to use to connect to
                   server (default is "MySQL"). New in MySQL
                   4.1.
`socket'           Default socket number.
`user'             Default user.

Note that `timeout' has been replaced by `connect-timeout', but
`timeout' will still work for a while.

For more information about option files, see *Note Option files::.

Return Values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if you used an unknown option.

Example
.......

     MYSQL mysql;
     
     mysql_init(&mysql);
     mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_OPT_COMPRESS,0);
     mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP,"odbc");
     if (!mysql_real_connect(&mysql,"host","user","passwd","database",0,NULL,0))
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to connect to database: Error: %s\n",
               mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

The above requests the client to use the compressed client/server
protocol and read the additional options from the `odbc' section in the
`my.cnf' file.

`mysql_ping()'
..............

`int mysql_ping(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Checks whether the connection to the server is working. If it has gone
down, an automatic reconnection is attempted.

This function can be used by clients that remain idle for a long while,
to check whether the server has closed the connection and reconnect if
necessary.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the server is alive. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_query()'
...............

`int mysql_query(MYSQL *mysql, const char *query)'

Description
...........

Executes the SQL query pointed to by the null-terminated string `query'.
The query must consist of a single SQL statement.  You should not add a
terminating semicolon (`;') or `\g' to the statement.

`mysql_query()' cannot be used for queries that contain binary data; you
should use `mysql_real_query()' instead.  (Binary data may contain the
`\0' character, which `mysql_query()' interprets as the end of the
query string.)

If you want to know if the query should return a result set or not, you
can use `mysql_field_count()' to check for this.  *Note
`mysql_field_count()': mysql_field_count.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the query was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_real_connect()'
......................

`MYSQL *mysql_real_connect(MYSQL *mysql, const char *host,
   const char *user, const char *passwd, const char *db,
  unsigned int port, const char *unix_socket,
unsigned long client_flag)'

Description
...........

`mysql_real_connect()' attempts to establish a connection to a MySQL
database engine running on `host'.  `mysql_real_connect()' must
complete successfully before you can execute any of the other API
functions, with the exception of `mysql_get_client_info()'.

The parameters are specified as follows:

   * The first parameter should be the address of an existing `MYSQL'
     structure.  Before calling `mysql_real_connect()' you must call
     `mysql_init()' to initialize the `MYSQL' structure. You can change
     a lot of connect options with the `mysql_options()' call.  *Note
     `mysql_options()': mysql_options.

   * The value of `host' may be either a hostname or an IP address.  If
     `host' is `NULL' or the string `"localhost"', a connection to the
     local host is assumed. If the OS supports sockets (Unix) or named
     pipes (Windows), they are used instead of TCP/IP to connect to the
     server.

   * The `user' parameter contains the user's MySQL login ID.  If
     `user' is `NULL' or the empty string `""', the current user is
     assumed.  Under Unix, this is the current login name.  Under
     Windows ODBC, the current username must be specified explicitly.
     *Note ODBC administrator::.

   * The `passwd' parameter contains the password for `user'.  If
     `passwd' is `NULL', only entries in the `user' table for the user
     that have a blank (empty) password field will be checked for a
     match. This allows the database administrator to set up the MySQL
     privilege system in such a way that users get different privileges
     depending on whether or not they have specified a password.

     Note: Do not attempt to encrypt the password before calling
     `mysql_real_connect()'; password encryption is handled
     automatically by the client API.

   * `db' is the database name.  If `db' is not `NULL', the connection
     will set the default database to this value.

   * If `port' is not 0, the value will be used as the port number for
     the TCP/IP connection.  Note that the `host' parameter determines
     the type of the connection.

   * If `unix_socket' is not `NULL', the string specifies the socket or
     named pipe that should be used.  Note that the `host' parameter
     determines the type of the connection.

   * The value of `client_flag' is usually 0, but can be set to a
     combination of the following flags in very special circumstances:

     *Flag name*          *Flag description*
     `CLIENT_COMPRESS'    Use compression protocol.
     `CLIENT_FOUND_ROWS'  Return the number of found (matched) rows,
                          not the number of affected rows.
     `CLIENT_IGNORE_SPACE'Allow spaces after function names. Makes
                          all functions names reserved words.
     `CLIENT_INTERACTIVE' Allow `interactive_timeout' seconds
                          (instead of `wait_timeout' seconds) of
                          inactivity before closing the connection.
                          The client's session `wait_timeout'
                          variable will be set to the value of the
                          session `interactive_timeout' variable.
     `CLIENT_LOCAL_FILES' Enable `LOAD DATA LOCAL' handling.
     `CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS'Tell the server that the client may send
                          multi-row-queries (separated with `;'). If
                          this flag is not set, multi-row-queries are
                          disabled. New in 4.1.
     `CLIENT_MULTI_RESULTS'Tell the server that the client can handle
                          multiple-result sets from multi-queries or
                          stored procedures.  This is automatically
                          set if `CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS' is set.
                          New in 4.1.
     `CLIENT_NO_SCHEMA'   Don't allow the `db_name.tbl_name.col_name'
                          syntax.  This is for ODBC. It causes the
                          parser to generate an error if you use that
                          syntax, which is useful for trapping bugs
                          in some ODBC programs.
     `CLIENT_ODBC'        The client is an ODBC client. This changes
                          `mysqld' to be more ODBC-friendly.
     `CLIENT_SSL'         Use SSL (encrypted protocol). This option
                          should not be set by application programs;
                          it is set internally in the client library.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL*' connection handle if the connection was successful, `NULL'
if the connection was unsuccessful.  For a successful connection, the
return value is the same as the value of the first parameter.

Errors
......

`CR_CONN_HOST_ERROR'
     Failed to connect to the MySQL server.

`CR_CONNECTION_ERROR'
     Failed to connect to the local MySQL server.

`CR_IPSOCK_ERROR'
     Failed to create an IP socket.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SOCKET_CREATE_ERROR'
     Failed to create a Unix socket.

`CR_UNKNOWN_HOST'
     Failed to find the IP address for the hostname.

`CR_VERSION_ERROR'
     A protocol mismatch resulted from attempting to connect to a
     server with a client library that uses a different protocol
     version.  This can happen if you use a very old client library to
     connect to a new server that wasn't started with the
     `--old-protocol' option.

`CR_NAMEDPIPEOPEN_ERROR'
     Failed to create a named pipe on Windows.

`CR_NAMEDPIPEWAIT_ERROR'
     Failed to wait for a named pipe on Windows.

`CR_NAMEDPIPESETSTATE_ERROR'
     Failed to get a pipe handler on Windows.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     If `connect_timeout' > 0 and it took longer than `connect_timeout'
     seconds to connect to the server or if the server died while
     executing the `init-command'.

Example
.......

     MYSQL mysql;
     
     mysql_init(&mysql);
     mysql_options(&mysql,MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP,"your_prog_name");
     if (!mysql_real_connect(&mysql,"host","user","passwd","database",0,NULL,0))
     {
         fprintf(stderr, "Failed to connect to database: Error: %s\n",
               mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

By using `mysql_options()' the MySQL library will read the `[client]'
and `[your_prog_name]' sections in the `my.cnf' file which will ensure
that your program will work, even if someone has set up MySQL in some
non-standard way.

Note that upon connection, `mysql_real_connect()' sets the `reconnect'
flag (part of the `MYSQL' structure) to a value of `1'. This flag
indicates, in the event that a query cannot be performed because of a
lost connection, to try reconnecting to the server before giving up.

`mysql_real_escape_string()'
............................

`unsigned long mysql_real_escape_string(MYSQL *mysql, char *to, const
char *from, unsigned long length)'

Description
...........

This function is used to create a legal SQL string that you can use in a
SQL statement. *Note String syntax::.

The string in `from' is encoded to an escaped SQL string, taking into
account the current character set of the connection. The result is
placed in `to' and a terminating null byte is appended.  Characters
encoded are `NUL' (ASCII 0), `\n', `\r', `\', `'', `"', and Control-Z
(*note Literals::).  (Strictly speaking, MySQL requires only that
backslash and the quote character used to quote the string in the query
be escaped.  This function quotes the other characters to make them
easier to read in log files.)

The string pointed to by `from' must be `length' bytes long.  You must
allocate the `to' buffer to be at least `length*2+1' bytes long.  (In
the worst case, each character may need to be encoded as using two
bytes, and you need room for the terminating null byte.)  When
`mysql_real_escape_string()' returns, the contents of `to' will be a
null-terminated string.  The return value is the length of the encoded
string, not including the terminating null character.

Example
.......

     char query[1000],*end;
     
     end = strmov(query,"INSERT INTO test_table values(");
     *end++ = '\'';
     end += mysql_real_escape_string(&mysql, end,"What's this",11);
     *end++ = '\'';
     *end++ = ',';
     *end++ = '\'';
     end += mysql_real_escape_string(&mysql, end,"binary data: \0\r\n",16);
     *end++ = '\'';
     *end++ = ')';
     
     if (mysql_real_query(&mysql,query,(unsigned int) (end - query)))
     {
        fprintf(stderr, "Failed to insert row, Error: %s\n",
                mysql_error(&mysql));
     }

The `strmov()' function used in the example is included in the
`mysqlclient' library and works like `strcpy()' but returns a pointer
to the terminating null of the first parameter.

Return Values
.............

The length of the value placed into `to', not including the terminating
null character.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_real_query()'
....................

`int mysql_real_query(MYSQL *mysql, const char *query, unsigned long
length)'

Description
...........

Executes the SQL query pointed to by `query', which should be a string
`length' bytes long.  The query must consist of a single SQL statement.
You should not add a terminating semicolon (`;') or `\g' to the
statement.

You *must* use `mysql_real_query()' rather than `mysql_query()' for
queries that contain binary data, because binary data may contain the
`\0' character.  In addition, `mysql_real_query()' is faster than
`mysql_query()' because it does not call `strlen()' on the query string.

If you want to know if the query should return a result set or not, you
can use `mysql_field_count()' to check for this.  *Note
`mysql_field_count()': mysql_field_count.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the query was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_reload()'
................

`int mysql_reload(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Asks the MySQL server to reload the grant tables. The connected user
must have the `RELOAD' privilege.

This function is deprecated.  It is preferable to use `mysql_query()'
to issue an SQL `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' statement instead.

Return Values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_row_seek()'
..................

`MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET mysql_row_seek(MYSQL_RES *result, MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET
offset)'

Description
...........

Sets the row cursor to an arbitrary row in a query result set.  The
`offset' value is a row offset that should be a value returned from
`mysql_row_tell()' or from `mysql_row_seek()'.  This value is not a row
number; if you want to seek to a row within a result set by number, use
`mysql_data_seek()' instead.

This function requires that the result set structure contains the
entire result of the query, so `mysql_row_seek()' may be used only in
conjunction with `mysql_store_result()', not with `mysql_use_result()'.

Return Values
.............

The previous value of the row cursor.  This value may be passed to a
subsequent call to `mysql_row_seek()'.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_row_tell()'
..................

`MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET mysql_row_tell(MYSQL_RES *result)'

Description
...........

Returns the current position of the row cursor for the last
`mysql_fetch_row()'. This value can be used as an argument to
`mysql_row_seek()'.

You should use `mysql_row_tell()' only after `mysql_store_result()',
not after `mysql_use_result()'.

Return Values
.............

The current offset of the row cursor.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_select_db()'
...................

`int mysql_select_db(MYSQL *mysql, const char *db)'

Description
...........

Causes the database specified by `db' to become the default (current)
database on the connection specified by `mysql'.  In subsequent queries,
this database is the default for table references that do not include an
explicit database specifier.

`mysql_select_db()' fails unless the connected user can be authenticated
as having permission to use the database.

Return Values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_set_server_option()'
...........................

`int mysql_set_server_option(MYSQL *mysql, enum enum_mysql_set_option
option)'

Description
...........

Enables or disables an option for the connection. `option' can have one
of the following values:

MYSQL_OPTION_MULTI_STATEMENTS_ONEnable multi statement support.
MYSQL_OPTION_MULTI_STATEMENTS_OFFDisable multi statement support.

Return Values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`ER_UNKNOWN_COM_ERROR'
     The server didn't support `mysql_set_server_option()' (which is the
     case that the server is older than 4.1.1) or the server didn't
     support the option one tried to set.

`mysql_shutdown()'
..................

`int mysql_shutdown(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Asks the database server to shut down. The connected user must have
`SHUTDOWN' privileges.

Return Values
.............

Zero for success.  Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_sqlstate()'
..................

`const char *mysql_sqlstate(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a null-terminated string containing the SQLSTATE error code for
the last error.  The error code consists of five characters.  `'00000''
means "no error".  The values are specified by ANSI SQL and ODBC.  For
a list of possible values, see *Note Error-returns::.

Note that not all MySQL errors are yet mapped to SQLSTATE's.  The value
`'HY000'' (general error) is used for unmapped errors.

This function was added to MySQL 4.1.1.

Return Values
.............

A null-terminated character string containing the SQLSTATE error code.

See Also
........

*Note mysql_errno::.  *Note mysql_error::.  *Note mysql_stmt_sqlstate::.

`mysql_ssl_set()'
.................

`int mysql_ssl_set(MYSQL *mysql, const char *key,
const char *cert, const char *ca,                  const char *capath,
const char *cipher)'

Description
...........

`mysql_ssl_set()' is used for establishing secure connections using
SSL. It must be called before `mysql_real_connect()'.

`mysql_ssl_set()' does nothing unless OpenSSL support is enabled in the
client library.

`mysql' is the connection handler returned from `mysql_init()'.  The
other parameters are specified as follows:

   * `key' is the pathname to the key file.

   * `cert' is the pathname to the certificate file.

   * `ca' is the pathname to the certificate authority file.

   * `capath' is the pathname to a directory that contains trusted SSL
     CA certificates in pem format.

   * `cipher' is a list of allowable ciphers to use for SSL encryption.


Any unused SSL parameters may be given as `NULL'.

Return Values
.............

This function always returns `0'. If SSL setup is incorrect,
`mysql_real_connect()' will return an error when you attempt to connect.

`mysql_stat()'
..............

`char *mysql_stat(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns a character string containing information similar to that
provided by the `mysqladmin status' command.  This includes uptime in
seconds and the number of running threads, questions, reloads, and open
tables.

Return Values
.............

A character string describing the server status. `NULL' if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_store_result()'
......................

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_store_result(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

You must call `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_use_result()' for every
query that successfully retrieves data (`SELECT', `SHOW', `DESCRIBE',
`EXPLAIN').

You don't have to call `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_use_result()'
for other queries, but it will not do any harm or cause any notable
performance if you call `mysql_store_result()' in all cases.  You can
detect if the query didn't have a result set by checking if
`mysql_store_result()' returns 0 (more about this later one).

If you want to know if the query should return a result set or not, you
can use `mysql_field_count()' to check for this.  *Note
`mysql_field_count()': mysql_field_count.

`mysql_store_result()' reads the entire result of a query to the client,
allocates a `MYSQL_RES' structure, and places the result into this
structure.

`mysql_store_result()' returns a null pointer if the query didn't return
a result set (if the query was, for example, an `INSERT' statement).

`mysql_store_result()' also returns a null pointer if reading of the
result set failed. You can check if an error occurred by checking if
`mysql_error()' returns a non-empty string, if `mysql_errno()' returns
non-zero, or if `mysql_field_count()' returns zero.

An empty result set is returned if there are no rows returned.  (An
empty result set differs from a null pointer as a return value.)

Once you have called `mysql_store_result()' and got a result back that
isn't a null pointer, you may call `mysql_num_rows()' to find out how
many rows are in the result set.

You can call `mysql_fetch_row()' to fetch rows from the result set, or
`mysql_row_seek()' and `mysql_row_tell()' to obtain or set the current
row position within the result set.

You must call `mysql_free_result()' once you are done with the result
set.

*Note `NULL mysql_store_result()': NULL mysql_store_result.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result structure with the results. `NULL' if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`mysql_store_result()' resets `mysql_error' and `mysql_errno' if it
succeeds.

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_thread_id()'
...................

`unsigned long mysql_thread_id(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the thread ID of the current connection.  This value can be
used as an argument to `mysql_kill()' to kill the thread.

If the connection is lost and you reconnect with `mysql_ping()', the
thread ID will change.  This means you should not get the thread ID and
store it for later. You should get it when you need it.

Return Values
.............

The thread ID of the current connection.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_use_result()'
....................

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_use_result(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

You must call `mysql_store_result()' or `mysql_use_result()' for every
query that successfully retrieves data (`SELECT', `SHOW', `DESCRIBE',
`EXPLAIN').

`mysql_use_result()' initiates a result set retrieval but does not
actually read the result set into the client like `mysql_store_result()'
does.  Instead, each row must be retrieved individually by making calls
to `mysql_fetch_row()'.  This reads the result of a query directly from
the server without storing it in a temporary table or local buffer,
which is somewhat faster and uses much less memory than
`mysql_store_result()'.  The client will allocate memory only for the
current row and a communication buffer that may grow up to
`max_allowed_packet' bytes.

On the other hand, you shouldn't use `mysql_use_result()' if you are
doing a lot of processing for each row on the client side, or if the
output is sent to a screen on which the user may type a `^S' (stop
scroll).  This will tie up the server and prevent other threads from
updating any tables from which the data is being fetched.

When using `mysql_use_result()', you must execute `mysql_fetch_row()'
until a `NULL' value is returned, otherwise, the unfetched rows will be
returned as part of the result set for your next query. The C API will
give the error `Commands out of sync; you can't run this command now'
if you forget to do this!

You may not use `mysql_data_seek()', `mysql_row_seek()',
`mysql_row_tell()', `mysql_num_rows()', or `mysql_affected_rows()' with
a result returned from `mysql_use_result()', nor may you issue other
queries until the `mysql_use_result()' has finished.  (However, after
you have fetched all the rows, `mysql_num_rows()' will accurately
return the number of rows fetched.)

You must call `mysql_free_result()' once you are done with the result
set.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result structure. `NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`mysql_use_result()' resets `mysql_error' and `mysql_errno' if it
succeeds.

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`mysql_warning_count()'
.......................

`unsigned int mysql_warning_count(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns the number of warnings generated during execution of the
previous SQL statement.  Available from MySQL 4.1.

Return Values
.............

The warning count.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_commit()'
................

`my_bool mysql_commit(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Commits the current transaction.  Available from MySQL 4.1.

Return Values
.............

Zero if successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_rollback()'
..................

`my_bool mysql_rollback(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Rolls back the current transaction.  Available from MySQL 4.1.

Return Values
.............

Zero if successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_autocommit()'
....................

`my_bool mysql_autocommit(MYSQL *mysql, my_bool mode)'

Description
...........

Sets autocommit mode on if `mode' is 1, off if `mode' is 0.  Available
from MySQL 4.1.

Return Values
.............

Zero if successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_more_results()'
......................

`my_bool mysql_more_results(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

Returns true if more results exist from the currently executed query,
and the application must call `mysql_next_result()' to fetch the
results.  Available from MySQL 4.1.

Return Values
.............

`TRUE' (1) if more results exist. `FALSE' (0) if no more results exist.

Note that in most cases one instead call `mysql_next_result()' to test
if more result exists and initiate the next result set if it existed.

*Note C API multiple queries::.  *Note mysql_next_result::.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_next_result()'
.....................

`int mysql_next_result(MYSQL *mysql)'

Description
...........

If more query results exist, `mysql_next_result()' reads the next query
results and returns the status back to application.  Available from
MySQL 4.1.

Note that you must call `mysql_free_result()' for the preceding query
if it returned a result set.

After calling `mysql_next_result()' the state of the connection is as
if you had called `mysql_real_query()' for the next query.  This means
that you can now call `mysql_store_result()', `mysql_warning_count()',
`mysql_affected_rows()' ... on the connection.

If `mysql_next_result()' returns an error, no other statements will be
executed and there is no more results to fetch.

*Note C API multiple queries::.

Return Values
.............

0 if successful and there was more results -1   if no more results > 0
if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order. For example if you
     didn't call `mysql_use_result()' for a previous result set.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

C API Prepared Statements
-------------------------

As of MySQL 4.1, the client/server protocol provides for the use of
prepared statements. This capability uses the `MYSQL_STMT' statement
handler data structure.  Prepared execution is an efficient way to
execute a statement more than once. The statement is first parsed to
prepare it for execution. Then it is executed one or more times at a
later time, using the statement handle returned by the prepare function.

Prepared execution is faster than direct execution for statements
executed more than once, primarly because the query is parsed only
once. In the case of direct execution, the query is parsed every time
it is executed. Prepared execution also can provide a reduction of
network traffic because for each execution of the prepared statement,
it is necessary only to send the data for the parameters.

Another advantage of prepared statements is that it uses a binary
protocol that makes data transfer between client and server more
efficient.  Prepared statements also can support input and output
binding for multiple query execution.

C API Prepared Statement Datatypes
----------------------------------

*Note:* The API for prepared statements is still subject to revision.
This information is provided for early adopters, but please be aware
that the API may change.

Prepared statements mainly use the `MYSQL_STMT' and `MYSQL_BIND' data
structures. A third structure, `MYSQL_TIME', is used to transfer
temporal data.

`MYSQL_STMT'
     This structure represents a prepared statement.  A statement is
     prepared by calling `mysql_prepare()', which returns a statement
     handle, that is, a pointer to a `MYSQL_STMT'.  The handle is used
     for all subsequent statement-related functions.

     The `MYSQL_STMT' structure has no members that are for application
     use.

     Multiple statement handles can be associated with a single
     connection.  The limit on the number of handles depends on the
     available system resources.

`MYSQL_BIND'
     This structure is used both for query input (data values sent to
     the server) and output (result values returned from the server).
     For input, it is used with `mysql_bind_param()' to bind parameter
     data values to buffers for use by `mysql_execute()'. For output,
     it is used with `mysql_bind_result()' to bind result set buffers
     for use in fetching rows with `mysql_fetch()'.

     The `MYSQL_BIND' structure contains the following members for use
     by application programs.  Each is used both for input and for
     output, though sometimes for different purposes depending on the
     direction of data transfer.

    `enum enum_field_types buffer_type'
          The type of the buffer. The allowable `buffer_type' values
          are listed later in this section. For input, `buffer_type'
          indicates what type of value you are binding to a query
          parameter. For output, it indicates what type of value you
          expect to receive in a result buffer.

    `void *buffer'
          For input, this is a pointer to the buffer in which a query
          parameter's data value is stored. For output, it is a pointer
          to the buffer in which to return a result set column value.
          For numeric column types, `buffer' should point to a variable
          of the proper C type.  (If you are associating the variable
          with a column that has the `UNSIGNED' attribute, the variable
          should be an `unsigned' C type.)  For date and time column
          types, `buffer' should point to a `MYSQL_TIME' structure.
          For character and binary string column types, `buffer' should
          point to a character buffer.

    `unsigned long buffer_length'
          The actual size of `*buffer' in bytes. This indicates the
          maximum amount of data that can be stored in the buffer. For
          character and binary C data, the `buffer_length' value
          specifies the length of `*buffer' when used with
          `mysql_bind_param()', or the maximum number of data bytes
          that can be fetched into the buffer when used with
          `mysql_bind_result()'.

    `unsigned long *length'
          A pointer to an `unsigned long' variable that indicates the
          actual number of bytes of data stored in `*buffer'.  `length'
          is used for character or binary C data.  For input parameter
          data binding, `length' points to an `unsigned long' variable
          that indicates the length of the parameter value stored in
          `*buffer'; this is used by `mysql_execute()'.  If `length' is
          a null pointer, the protocol assumes that all character and
          binary data are null-terminated.  For output value binding,
          `mysql_fetch()' places the length of the column value that is
          returned into the variable that `length' points to.

          `length' is ignored for numeric and temporal datatypes
          because the length of the data value is determined by the
          `buffer_type' value.

    `my_bool *is_null'
          This member points to a `my_bool' variable that is true if a
          value is `NULL', false if it is not `NULL'. For input, set
          `*is_null' to true to indicate that you are passing a `NULL'
          value as a query parameter. For output, this value will be
          set to true after you fetch a row if the result value
          returned from the query is `NULL'.

`MYSQL_TIME'
     This structure is used to send and receive `DATE', `TIME',
     `DATETIME', and `TIMESTAMP' data directly to and from the server.
     This is done by setting the `buffer_type' member of a `MYSQL_BIND'
     structure to one of the temporal types, and setting the `buffer'
     member to point to a `MYSQL_TIME' structure.

     The `MYSQL_TIME' structure contains the following members:

    `unsigned int year'
          The year.

    `unsigned int month'
          The month of the year.

    `unsigned int day'
          The day of the month.

    `unsigned int hour'
          The hour of the day.

    `unsigned int minute'
          The minute of the hour.

    `unsigned int second'
          The second of the minute.

    `my_bool neg'
          A boolean flag to indicate whether the time is negative.

    `unsigned long second_part'
          The fractional part of the second.  This member currently is
          unused.

     Only those parts of a `MYSQL_TIME' structure that apply to a given
     type of temporal value are used: The `year', `month', and `day'
     elements are used for `DATE', `DATETIME', and `TIMESTAMP' values.
     The `hour', `minute', and `second' elements are used for `TIME',
     `DATETIME', and `TIMESTAMP' values.  *Note C API date handling::.

The following table shows the allowable values that may be specified in
the `buffer_type' member of `MYSQL_BIND' structures.  The table also
shows those SQL types that correspond most closely to each
`buffer_type' value, and, for numeric and temporal types, the
corresponding C type.

`buffer_type' *Value*    *SQL Type*               *C Type*
`MYSQL_TYPE_TINY'        `TINYINT'                `char'
`MYSQL_TYPE_SHORT'       `SMALLINT'               `short int'
`MYSQL_TYPE_LONG'        `INT'                    `long int'
`MYSQL_TYPE_LONGLONG'    `BIGINT'                 `long long int'
`MYSQL_TYPE_FLOAT'       `FLOAT'                  `float'
`MYSQL_TYPE_DOUBLE'      `DOUBLE'                 `double'
`MYSQL_TYPE_TIME'        `TIME'                   `MYSQL_TIME'
`MYSQL_TYPE_DATE'        `DATE'                   `MYSQL_TIME'
`MYSQL_TYPE_DATETIME'    `DATETIME'               `MYSQL_TIME'
`MYSQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP'   `TIMESTAMP'              `MYSQL_TIME'
`MYSQL_TYPE_STRING'      `CHAR'                   
`MYSQL_TYPE_VAR_STRING'  `VARCHAR'                
`MYSQL_TYPE_TINY_BLOB'   `TINYBLOB/TINYTEXT'      
`MYSQL_TYPE_BLOB'        `BLOB/TEXT'              
`MYSQL_TYPE_MEDIUM_BLOB' `MEDIUMBLOB/MEDIUMTEXT'  
`MYSQL_TYPE_LONG_BLOB'   `LONGBLOB/LONGTEXT'      

Implicit type conversion may be performed in both directions.

C API Prepared Statement Function Overview
------------------------------------------

*Note:* The API for prepared statements is still subject to revision.
This information is provided for early adopters, but please be aware
that the API may change.

The functions available for prepared statement processing are
summarized here and described in greater detail in a later section.
*Note C API Prepared statement functions::.

*Function*              *Description*
*mysql_bind_param()*     Associates application data buffers with the
                        parameter markers in a prepared SQL statement.
*mysql_bind_result()*    Associates application data buffers with
                        columns in the result set.
*mysql_execute()*        Executes the prepared statement.
*mysql_fetch()*          Fetches the next row of data from the result
                        set and returns data for all bound columns.
*mysql_fetch_column()*   Fetch data for one column of the current row of
                        the result set.
*mysql_get_metadata()*   Returns prepared statement metadata in the form
                        of a result set.
*mysql_param_count()*    Returns the number of parameters in a prepared
                        SQL statement.
*mysql_param_result()*   Return parameter metadata in the form of a
                        result set.
*mysql_prepare()*        Prepares an SQL string for execution.
*mysql_send_long_data()* Sends long data in chunks to server.
*mysql_stmt_affected_rows()* Returns the number of rows changes, deleted, or
                        inserted by the last `UPDATE', `DELETE', or
                        `INSERT' query.
*mysql_stmt_close()*     Frees memory used by prepared statement.
*mysql_stmt_data_seek()* Seeks to an arbitrary row number in a statement
                        result set.
*mysql_stmt_errno()*     Returns the error number for the last statement
                        execution.
*mysql_stmt_error()*     Returns the error message for the last
                        statement execution.
*mysql_stmt_free_result()* Free the resources allocated to the statement
                        handle.
*mysql_stmt_num_rows()*  Returns total rows from the statement buffered
                        result set.
*mysql_stmt_reset()*     Reset the statement buffers in the server.
*mysql_stmt_row_seek()*  Seeks to a row offset in a statement result
                        set, using value returned from
                        `mysql_stmt_row_tell()'.
*mysql_stmt_row_tell()*  Returns the statement row cursor position.
*mysql_stmt_sqlstate()*  Returns the SQLSTATE error code for the last
                        statement execution.
*mysql_stmt_store_result()* Retrieves the complete result set to the client.

Call `mysql_prepare()' to prepare and initialize the statement handle,
`mysql_bind_param()' to supply the parameter data, and
`mysql_execute()' to execute the query. You can repeat the
`mysql_execute()' by changing parameter values in the respective
buffers supplied through `mysql_bind_param()'.

If the query is a `SELECT' statement or any other query that produces a
result set, `mysql_prepare()' will also return the result set metadata
information in the form of a `MYSQL_RES ' result set through
`mysql_get_metadata()'.

You can supply the result buffers using `mysql_bind_result()', so that
the `mysql_fetch()' will automatically return data to these buffers.
This is row-by-row fetching.

You can also send the text or binary data in chunks to server using
`mysql_send_long_data()', by specifying the option `is_long_data=1' or
`length=MYSQL_LONG_DATA' or `-2' in the `MYSQL_BIND' structure supplied
with `mysql_bind_param()'.

When statement execution has been completed, the statement handle must
be closed using `mysql_stmt_close()' so that all resources associated
with it can be freed.

If you obtained a `SELECT' statement's result set metadata by calling
`mysql_get_metadata()', you should also free it using
`mysql_free_result()'.

Execution Steps
...............

To prepare and execute a statement, an application follows these steps:

  1. Call `mysql_prepare()' and pass it a string containing the SQL
     statement. For a successful prepare operation, `mysql_prepare()'
     returns a valid statement handle to the application.

  2. If the query produces a result set, call `mysql_get_metadata()' to
     obtain the result set metadata.  This metadata is itself in the
     form of result set, albeit a separate one from the one that
     contains the rows returned by the query. The metadata result set
     indicates how many columns are in the result and contains
     information about each column.

  3. Set the values of any parameters using `mysql_bind_param()'. All
     parameters must be set. Otherwise, query execution will return an
     error or produce unexpected results.

  4. Call `mysql_execute()' to execute the statement.

  5. If the query produces a result set, bind the data buffers to use
     for retrieving the row values by calling `mysql_bind_result()'.

  6. Fetch the data into the buffers row by row by calling
     `mysql_fetch()' repeatedly until no more rows are found.

  7. Repeat steps 3 through 6 as necessary, by changing the parameter
     values and re-executing the statement.


When `mysql_prepare()' is called, the MySQL client/server protocol
performs these actions:

   * The server parses the query and sends the OK status back to the
     client by assigning a statement ID. It also sends total number of
     parameters, a column count, and its meta information if it is a
     result set oriented query. All syntax and semantics of the query
     are checked by the server during this call.

   * The client uses this statement ID for the further operations, so
     that the server can identify the statement from among its pool of
     statements. The client also allocates a statement handle with this
     ID and returns the handle to the application.

When `mysql_execute()' is called, the MySQL client/server protocol
performs these actions:

   * The client uses the statement handle and sends the parameter data
     to the server.

   * The server identifies the statement using the ID provided by the
     client, replaces the parameter markers with the newly supplied
     data, and executes the query. If the query produces a result set,
     the server sends the data back to the client. Otherwise, it sends
     an OK status and total number of rows changed, deleted, or
     inserted.

When `mysql_fetch()' is called, the MySQL client/server protocol
performs these actions:

   * The client reads the data from the packet row by row and places it
     into the application data buffers by doing the necessary
     conversions. If the application buffer type is same as that of the
     field type returned from the server, the conversions are
     straightforward.

You can get the statement error code, error message, and SQLSTATE value
using `mysql_stmt_errno()', `mysql_stmt_error()', and
`mysql_stmt_sqlstate()', respectively.

C API Prepared Statement Function Descriptions
----------------------------------------------

To prepare and execute queries, use the following functions.

`mysql_bind_param()'
....................

`my_bool mysql_bind_param(MYSQL_STMT *stmt, MYSQL_BIND *bind)'

Description
...........

`mysql_bind_param()' is used to bind data for the parameter markers in
the SQL statement that was passed to `mysql_prepare()'. It uses
`MYSQL_BIND' structures to supply the data. `bind' is the address of an
array of `MYSQL_BIND' structures.  The client library expects the array
to contain an element for each `?' parameter marker that is present in
the query.

Suppose you prepare the following statment:

     INSERT INTO mytbl VALUES(?,?,?)

When you bind the parameters, the array of `MYSQL_BIND' structures must
contain three elements, and can be declared like this:

     MYSQL_BIND bind[3];

The members of each `MYSQL_BIND' element that should be set are
described in *Note C API Prepared statement datatypes::.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the bind was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_NO_PREPARE_STMT'
     No prepared statement exists.

`CR_NO_PARAMETERS_EXISTS'
     No parameters exist to bind.

`CR_INVALID_BUFFER_USE'
     Indicates if the bind is to supply the long data in chunks and if
     the buffer type is non string or binary.

`CR_UNSUPPORTED_PARAM_TYPE'
     The conversion is not supported. Possibly the `buffer_type' value
     is illegal or is not one of the supported types.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

For the usage of `mysql_bind_param()', refer to the Example from *Note
`mysql_execute()': mysql_execute.

`mysql_bind_result()'
.....................

`my_bool mysql_bind_result(MYSQL_STMT *stmt, MYSQL_BIND *bind)'

Description
...........

`mysql_bind_result()' is used to associate (bind) columns in the result
set to data buffers and length buffers. When `mysql_fetch()' is called
to fetch data, the MySQL client/server protocol places the data for the
bound columns into the specified buffers.

Note that all columns must be bound to buffers prior to calling
`mysql_fetch()'.  `bind' is the address of an array of `MYSQL_BIND'
structures.  The client library expects the array to contain an element
for each column of the result set.  Otherwise, `mysql_fetch()' simply
ignores the data fetch. Also, the buffers should be large enough to
hold the data values, because the protocol doesn't return data values
in chunks.

A column can be bound or rebound at any time, even after a result set
has been partially retrieved.  The new binding takes effect the next
time `mysql_fetch()' is called. Suppose an application binds the
columns in a result set and calls `mysql_fetch()'. The client/server
protocol returns data in the bound buffers. Then suppose the application
binds the columns to a different set of buffers. The protocol does not
place data into the newly bound buffers until the next call to
`mysql_fetch()' occurs.

To bind a column, an application calls `mysql_bind_result()' and passes
the type, address, and the address of the length buffer.  The members
of each `MYSQL_BIND' element that should be set are described in *Note
C API Prepared statement datatypes::.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the bind was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_NO_PREPARE_STMT'
     No prepared statement exists.

`CR_UNSUPPORTED_PARAM_TYPE'
     The conversion is not supported. Possibly the `buffer_type' value
     is illegal or is not one of the supported types.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

For the usage of `mysql_bind_result()', refer to the Example from *Note
`mysql_fetch()': mysql_fetch.

`mysql_execute()'
.................

`int mysql_execute(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

`mysql_execute()' executes the prepared query associated with the
statement handle. The currently bound parameter marker values are sent
to server during this call, and the server replaces the markers with
this newly supplied data.

If the statement is an `UPDATE', `DELETE', or `INSERT', the total
number of changed, deleted, or inserted rows can be found by calling
`mysql_stmt_affected_rows()'. If this is a result set query such as
`SELECT', you must call `mysql_fetch()' to fetch the data prior to
calling any other functions that result in query processing. For more
information on how to fetch the results, refer to *Note
`mysql_fetch()': mysql_fetch.

Return Values
.............

Zero if execution was successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.  The
error code and message can be obtained by calling `mysql_stmt_errno()'
and `mysql_stmt_error()'.

Errors
......

`CR_NO_PREPARE_QUERY'
     No query prepared prior to execution.

`CR_ALL_PARAMS_NOT_BOUND'
     Not all parameter data is supplied.

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

The following example demonstrates how to create and populate a table
using `mysql_prepare()', `mysql_param_count()', `mysql_bind_param()',
`mysql_execute()', and `mysql_stmt_affected_rows()'. The `mysql'
variable is assumed to be a valid connection handle.

     #define STRING_SIZE 50
     
     #define DROP_SAMPLE_TABLE "DROP TABLE IF EXISTS test_table"
     #define CREATE_SAMPLE_TABLE "CREATE TABLE test_table(col1 INT,\
                                                      col2 VARCHAR(40),\
                                                      col3 SMALLINT,\
                                                      col4 TIMESTAMP)"
     #define INSERT_SAMPLE "INSERT INTO test_table(col1,col2,col3) VALUES(?,?,?)"
     
     MYSQL_STMT    *stmt;
     MYSQL_BIND    bind[3];
     my_ulonglong  affected_rows;
     int           param_count;
     short         small_data;
     int           int_data;
     char          str_data[STRING_SIZE];
     unsigned long str_length;
     my_bool       is_null;
     
     if (mysql_query(mysql, DROP_SAMPLE_TABLE))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " DROP TABLE failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_error(mysql));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     if (mysql_query(mysql, CREATE_SAMPLE_TABLE))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " CREATE TABLE failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_error(mysql));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Prepare an INSERT query with 3 parameters */
     /* (the TIMESTAMP column is not named; it will */
     /* be set to the current date and time) */
     stmt = mysql_prepare(mysql, INSERT_SAMPLE, strlen(INSERT_SAMPLE));
     if (!stmt)
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_prepare(), INSERT failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_error(mysql));
       exit(0);
     }
     fprintf(stdout, " prepare, INSERT successful\n");
     
     /* Get the parameter count from the statement */
     param_count= mysql_param_count(stmt);
     fprintf(stdout, " total parameters in INSERT: %d\n", param_count);
     
     if (param_count != 3) /* validate parameter count */
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " invalid parameter count returned by MySQL\n");
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Bind the data for all 3 parameters */
     
     /* INTEGER PARAM */
     /* This is a number type, so there is no need to specify buffer_length */
     bind[0].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_LONG;
     bind[0].buffer= (char *)&int_data;
     bind[0].is_null= 0;
     bind[0].length= 0;
     
     /* STRING PARAM */
     bind[1].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_VAR_STRING;
     bind[1].buffer= (char *)str_data;
     bind[1].buffer_length= STRING_SIZE;
     bind[1].is_null= 0;
     bind[1].length= &str_length;
     
     /* SMALLINT PARAM */
     bind[2].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_SHORT;
     bind[2].buffer= (char *)&small_data;
     bind[2].is_null= &is_null;
     bind[2].length= 0;
     
     /* Bind the buffers */
     if (mysql_bind_param(stmt, bind))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_bind_param() failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Specify the data values for the first row */
     int_data= 10;             /* integer */
     strncpy(str_data, "MySQL", STRING_SIZE); /* string  */
     str_length= strlen(str_data);
     
     /* INSERT SMALLINT data as NULL */
     is_null= 1;
     
     /* Execute the INSERT statement - 1*/
     if (mysql_execute(stmt))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_execute(), 1 failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Get the total number of affected rows */
     affected_rows= mysql_stmt_affected_rows(stmt);
     fprintf(stdout, " total affected rows(insert 1): %ld\n", affected_rows);
     
     if (affected_rows != 1) /* validate affected rows */
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " invalid affected rows by MySQL\n");
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Specify data values for second row, then re-execute the statement */
     int_data= 1000;
     strncpy(str_data, "The most popular open source database", STRING_SIZE);
     str_length= strlen(str_data);
     small_data= 1000;         /* smallint */
     is_null= 0;               /* reset */
     
     /* Execute the INSERT statement - 2*/
     if (mysql_execute(stmt))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_execute, 2 failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Get the total rows affected */
     affected_rows= mysql_stmt_affected_rows(stmt);
     fprintf(stdout, " total affected rows(insert 2): %ld\n", affected_rows);
     
     if (affected_rows != 1) /* validate affected rows */
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " invalid affected rows by MySQL\n");
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Close the statement */
     if (mysql_stmt_close(stmt))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " failed while closing the statement\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }

*Note:* For complete examples on the use of prepared statement
functions, refer to the file `tests/client_test.c'.  This file can be
obtained from a MySQL source distribution or from the BitKeeper source
repository.

`mysql_fetch()'
...............

`int mysql_fetch(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

`mysql_fetch()' returns the next row in the result set. It can be
called only while the result set exists, that is, after a call to
`mysql_execute()' that creates a result set or after
`mysql_stmt_store_result()', which is called after `mysql_execute()' to
buffer the entire result set.

`mysql_fetch()' returns row data using the buffers bound by
`mysql_bind_result()'. It returns the data in those buffers for all the
columns in the current row set and the lengths are returned to the
`length' pointer.

Note that all columns must be bound by the application before calling
`mysql_fetch()'.

If a fetched data value is a `NULL' value, the `*is_null' value of the
corresponding `MYSQL_BIND' structure contains TRUE (1). Otherwise, the
data and its length are returned in the `*buffer' and `*length'
elements based on the buffer type specified by the application. Each
numeric and temporal type has a fixed length, as listed in the
following table.  The length of the string types depends on the length
of the actual data value, as indicated by `data_length'.

*Type*                        *Length*
`MYSQL_TYPE_TINY'             1
`MYSQL_TYPE_SHORT'            2
`MYSQL_TYPE_LONG'             4
`MYSQL_TYPE_LONGLONG'         8
`MYSQL_TYPE_FLOAT'            4
`MYSQL_TYPE_DOUBLE'           8
`MYSQL_TYPE_TIME'             `sizeof(MYSQL_TIME)'
`MYSQL_TYPE_DATE'             `sizeof(MYSQL_TIME)'
`MYSQL_TYPE_DATETIME'         `sizeof(MYSQL_TIME)'
`MYSQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP'        `sizeof(MYSQL_TIME)'
`MYSQL_TYPE_STRING'           `data length'
`MYSQL_TYPE_VAR_STRING'       `data_length'
`MYSQL_TYPE_TINY_BLOB'        `data_length'
`MYSQL_TYPE_BLOB'             `data_length'
`MYSQL_TYPE_MEDIUM_BLOB'      `data_length'
`MYSQL_TYPE_LONG_BLOB'        `data_length'

Return Values
.............

*Return Value*         *Description*
0                      Successful, the data has been fetched to
                       application data buffers.
1                      Error occurred. Error code and message can be
                       obtained by calling `mysql_stmt_errno()' and
                       `mysql_stmt_error()'.
`MYSQL_NO_DATA'        No more rows/data exists

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

`CR_UNSUPPORTED_PARAM_TYPE'
     The buffer type is `MYSQL_TYPE_DATE', `MYSQL_TYPE_TIME',
     `MYSQL_TYPE_DATETIME', or `MYSQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP', but the datatype
     is not `DATE', `TIME', `DATETIME', or `TIMESTAMP'.

`'
     All other unsupported conversion errors are returned from
     `mysql_bind_result()'.

Example
.......

The following example demonstrates how to fetch data from a table using
`mysql_get_metadata()', `mysql_bind_result()', and `mysql_fetch()'.
(This example expects to retrieve the two rows inserted by the example
shown in *Note `mysql_execute()': mysql_execute.)  The `mysql' variable
is assumed to be a valid connection handle.

     #define STRING_SIZE 50
     
     #define SELECT_SAMPLE "SELECT col1, col2, col3, col4 FROM test_table"
     
     MYSQL_STMT    *stmt;
     MYSQL_BIND    bind[4];
     MYSQL_RES     *prepare_meta_result;
     MYSQL_TIME    ts;
     unsigned long length[4];
     int           param_count, column_count, row_count;
     short         small_data;
     int           int_data;
     char          str_data[STRING_SIZE];
     my_bool       is_null[4];
     
     /* Prepare a SELECT query to fetch data from test_table */
     stmt = mysql_prepare(mysql, SELECT_SAMPLE, strlen(SELECT_SAMPLE));
     if (!stmt)
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_prepare(), SELECT failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_error(mysql));
       exit(0);
     }
     fprintf(stdout, " prepare, SELECT successful\n");
     
     /* Get the parameter count from the statement */
     param_count= mysql_param_count(stmt);
     fprintf(stdout, " total parameters in SELECT: %d\n", param_count);
     
     if (param_count != 0) /* validate parameter count */
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " invalid parameter count returned by MySQL\n");
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Fetch result set meta information */
     prepare_meta_result = mysql_get_metadata(stmt);
     if (!prepare_meta_result)
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_get_metadata(), returned no meta information\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Get total columns in the query */
     column_count= mysql_num_fields(prepare_meta_result);
     fprintf(stdout, " total columns in SELECT statement: %d\n", column_count);
     
     if (column_count != 4) /* validate column count */
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " invalid column count returned by MySQL\n");
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Execute the SELECT query */
     if (mysql_execute(stmt))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_execute(), failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Bind the result buffers for all 4 columns before fetching them */
     
     /* INTEGER COLUMN */
     bind[0].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_LONG;
     bind[0].buffer= (char *)&int_data;
     bind[0].is_null= &is_null[0];
     bind[0].length= &length[0];
     
     /* STRING COLUMN */
     bind[1].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_VAR_STRING;
     bind[1].buffer= (char *)str_data;
     bind[1].buffer_length= STRING_SIZE;
     bind[1].is_null= &is_null[1];
     bind[1].length= &length[1];
     
     /* SMALLINT COLUMN */
     bind[2].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_SHORT;
     bind[2].buffer= (char *)&small_data;
     bind[2].is_null= &is_null[2];
     bind[2].length= &length[2];
     
     /* TIMESTAMP COLUMN */
     bind[3].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP;
     bind[3].buffer= (char *)&ts;
     bind[3].is_null= &is_null[3];
     bind[3].length= &length[3];
     
     /* Bind the result buffers */
     if (mysql_bind_result(stmt, bind))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_bind_result() failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Now buffer all results to client */
     if (mysql_stmt_store_result(stmt))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " mysql_stmt_store_result() failed\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Fetch all rows */
     row_count= 0;
     fprintf(stdout, "Fetching results ...\n");
     while (!mysql_fetch(stmt))
     {
       row_count++;
       fprintf(stdout, "  row %d\n", row_count);
     
       /* column 1 */
       fprintf(stdout, "   column1 (integer)  : ");
       if (is_null[0])
         fprintf(stdout, " NULL\n");
       else
         fprintf(stdout, " %d(%ld)\n", int_data, length[0]);
     
       /* column 2 */
       fprintf(stdout, "   column2 (string)   : ");
       if (is_null[1])
         fprintf(stdout, " NULL\n");
       else
         fprintf(stdout, " %s(%ld)\n", str_data, length[1]);
     
       /* column 3 */
       fprintf(stdout, "   column3 (smallint) : ");
       if (is_null[2])
         fprintf(stdout, " NULL\n");
       else
         fprintf(stdout, " %d(%ld)\n", small_data, length[2]);
     
       /* column 4 */
       fprintf(stdout, "   column4 (timestamp): ");
       if (is_null[3])
         fprintf(stdout, " NULL\n");
       else
         fprintf(stdout, " %04d-%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d (%ld)\n",
                                                    ts.year, ts.month, ts.day,
                                                    ts.hour, ts.minute, ts.second,
                                                    length[3]);
       fprintf(stdout, "\n");
     }
     
     /* Validate rows fetched */
     fprintf(stdout, " total rows fetched: %d\n", row_count);
     if (row_count != 2)
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " MySQL failed to return all rows\n");
       exit(0);
     }
     
     /* Free the prepared result metadata */
     mysql_free_result(prepare_meta_result);
     
     
     /* Close the statement */
     if (mysql_stmt_close(stmt))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, " failed while closing the statement\n");
       fprintf(stderr, " %s\n", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }

`mysql_fetch_column()'
......................

`int mysql_fetch_column(MYSQL_STMT *stmt, MYSQL_BIND *bind, unsigned
int column, unsigned long offset)'

To be added.

Description
...........

Return Values
.............

Errors
......

`mysql_get_metadata()'
......................

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_get_metadata(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

If a statement passed to `mysql_prepare()' is one that produces a result
set, `mysql_get_metadata()' returns the result set metadata in the form
of a pointer to a `MYSQL_RES' structure that can be used to process the
meta information such as total number of fields and individual field
information. This result set pointer can be passed as an argument to
any of the field-based API functions that process result set metadata,
such as:

   * `mysql_num_fields()'

   * `mysql_fetch_field()'

   * `mysql_fetch_field_direct()'

   * `mysql_fetch_fields()'

   * `mysql_field_count()'

   * `mysql_field_seek()'

   * `mysql_field_tell()'

   * `mysql_free_result()'

The result set structure should be freed when you are done with it,
which you can do by passing it to `mysql_free_result()'. This is similar
to the way you free a result set obtained from a call to
`mysql_store_result()'.

The result set returned by `mysql_get_metadata()' contains only
metadata. It does not contain any row results. The rows are obtained by
using the statement handle with `mysql_fetch()'.

Return Values
.............

A `MYSQL_RES' result structure. `NULL' if no meta information exists
for the prepared query.

Errors
......

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

For the usage of `mysql_get_metadata()', refer to the Example from
*Note `mysql_fetch()': mysql_fetch.

`mysql_param_count()'
.....................

`unsigned long mysql_param_count(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

Returns the number of parameter markers present in the prepared
statement.

Return Values
.............

An unsigned long integer representing the number of parameters in a
statement.

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

For the usage of `mysql_param_count()', refer to the Example from *Note
`mysql_execute()': mysql_execute.

`mysql_param_result()'
......................

`MYSQL_RES *mysql_param_result(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

To be added.

Description
...........

Return Values
.............

Errors
......

`mysql_prepare()'
.................

`MYSQL_STMT * mysql_prepare(MYSQL *mysql, const char *query, unsigned
long length)'

Description
...........

Prepares the SQL query pointed to by the null-terminated string
`query', and returns a statement handle to be used for further
operations on the statement. The query must consist of a single SQL
statement. You should not add a terminating semicolon (`;') or `\g' to
the statement.

The application can include one or more parameter markers in the SQL
statement by embedding question mark (`?') characters into the SQL
string at the appropriate positions.

The markers are legal only in certain places in SQL statements. For
example, they are allowed in the `VALUES()' list of an `INSERT'
statement (to specify column values for a row), or in a comparison with
a column in a `WHERE' clause to specify a comparison value.  However,
they are not allowed for identifiers (such as table or column names),
in the select list that names the columns to be returned by a `SELECT'
statement), or to specify both operands of a binary operator such as
the `=' equal sign.  The latter restriction is necessary because it
would be impossible to determine the parameter type. In general,
parameters are legal only in Data Manipulation Languange (DML)
statements, and not in Data Defination Language (DDL) statements.

The parameter markers must be bound to application variables using
`mysql_bind_param()' before executing the statement.

Return Values
.............

A pointer to a `MYSQL_STMT' structure if the prepare was successful.
`NULL' if an error occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

If the prepare is not successful (that is, `mysql_prepare()' returns
`NULL'), the error message can be obtained by calling `mysql_error()'.

Example
.......

For the usage of `mysql_prepare()', refer to the Example from *Note
`mysql_execute()': mysql_execute.

`mysql_send_long_data()'
........................

`my_bool mysql_send_long_data(MYSQL_STMT *stmt, unsigned int
parameter_number, const char *data, unsigned long length)'

Description
...........

Allows an application to send parameter data to the server in pieces
(or "chunks").  This function can be called multiple times to send the
parts of a character or binary data value for a column, which must be
one of the `TEXT' or `BLOB' datatypes.

`parameter_number' indicates which parameter to associate the data with.
Parameters are numbered beginning with 0.  `data' is a pointer to a
buffer containing data to be sent, and `length' indicates the number of
bytes in the buffer.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the data is sent successfully to server. Non-zero if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_INVALID_PARAMETER_NO'
     Invalid parameter number.

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

The following example demonstrates how to send the data for a `TEXT'
column in chunks.  It inserts the data value `'MySQL - The most popular
open source database'' into the `text_column' column.  The `mysql'
variable is assumed to be a valid connection handle.

     #define INSERT_QUERY "INSERT INTO test_long_data(text_column) VALUES(?)"
     
     MYSQL_BIND bind[1];
     long       length;
     
     if (!mysql_prepare(mysql, INSERT_QUERY, strlen(INSERT_QUERY))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, "\n prepare failed");
       fprintf(stderr, "\n %s", mysql_error(mysql));
       exit(0);
     }
      memset(bind, 0, sizeof(bind));
      bind[0].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_STRING;
      bind[0].length= &length;
      bind[0].is_null= 0;
     
     /* Bind the buffers */
     if (mysql_bind_param(stmt, bind))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, "\n param bind failed");
       fprintf(stderr, "\n %s", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
      /* Supply data in chunks to server */
      if (!mysql_send_long_data(stmt,0,"MySQL",5))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, "\n send_long_data failed");
       fprintf(stderr, "\n %s", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
      /* Supply the next piece of data */
      if (mysql_send_long_data(stmt,0," - The most popular open source database",40))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, "\n send_long_data failed");
       fprintf(stderr, "\n %s", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }
     
      /* Now, execute the query */
      if (mysql_execute(stmt))
     {
       fprintf(stderr, "\n mysql_execute failed");
       fprintf(stderr, "\n %s", mysql_stmt_error(stmt));
       exit(0);
     }

`mysql_stmt_affected_rows()'
............................

`my_ulonglong mysql_stmt_affected_rows(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

Returns the total number of rows changed, deleted, or inserted by the
last executed statement. May be called immediatlely after
`mysql_execute()' for `UPDATE', `DELETE', or `INSERT' statements. For
`SELECT' statements, `mysql_stmt_affected_rows()' works like
`mysql_num_rows()'.

Return Values
.............

An integer greater than zero indicates the number of rows affected or
retrieved. Zero indicates that no records were updated for an `UPDATE'
statement, no rows matched the `WHERE' clause in the query, or that no
query has yet been executed. -1 indicates that the query returned an
error or that, for a `SELECT' query, `mysql_stmt_affected_rows()' was
called prior to calling `mysql_stmt_store_result()'.  Because
`mysql_stmt_affected_rows()' returns an unsigned value, you can check
for -1 by comparing the return value to `(my_ulonglong)-1' (or to
`(my_ulonglong)~0', which is equivalent).

Errors
......

None.

Example
.......

For the usage of `mysql_stmt_affected_rows()', refer to the Example
from *Note `mysql_execute()': mysql_execute.

`mysql_stmt_close()'
....................

`my_bool mysql_stmt_close(MYSQL_STMT *)'

Description
...........

Closes the prepared statement. `mysql_stmt_close()' also deallocates
the statement handle pointed to by `stmt'.

If the current statement has pending or unread results, this function
cancels them so that the next query can be executed.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the statement was freed successfully. Non-zero if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

Example
.......

For the usage of `mysql_stmt_close()', refer to the Example from *Note
`mysql_execute()': mysql_execute.

`mysql_stmt_data_seek()'
........................

`void mysql_stmt_data_seek(MYSQL_STMT *stmt, my_ulonglong offset)'

Description
...........

Seeks to an arbitrary row in a statement result set.  The `offset'
value is a row number and should be in the range from `0' to
`mysql_stmt_num_rows(stmt)-1'.

This function requires that the statement result set structure contains
the entire result of the last executed query, so
`mysql_stmt_data_seek()' may be used only in conjunction with
`mysql_stmt_store_result()'.

Return Values
.............

None.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_stmt_errno()'
....................

`unsigned int mysql_stmt_errno(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

For the statement specified by `stmt', `mysql_stmt_errno()' returns the
error code for the most recently invoked statement API function that
can succeed or fail. A return value of zero means that no error
occurred.  Client error message numbers are listed in the MySQL
`errmsg.h' header file.  Server error message numbers are listed in
`mysqld_error.h'. In the MySQL source distribution you can find a
complete list of error messages and error numbers in the file
`Docs/mysqld_error.txt'.  The server error codes also are listed at
*Note Error-returns::.

Return Values
.............

An error code value. Zero if no error occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_stmt_error()'
....................

`const char *mysql_stmt_error(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

For the statement specified by `stmt', `mysql_stmt_error()' returns a
null-terminated string containing the error message for the most
recently invoked statement API function that can succeed or fail. An
empty string (`""') is returned if no error occurred. This means the
following two tests are equivalent:


     if (mysql_stmt_errno(stmt))
     {
       // an error occurred
     }
     
     if (mysql_stmt_error(stmt)[0])
     {
       // an error occurred
     }

The language of the client error messages may be changed by recompiling
the MySQL client library. Currently you can choose error messages in
several different languages.

Return Values
.............

A character string that describes the error. An empty string if no error
occurred.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_stmt_free_result()'
..........................

`my_bool mysql_stmt_free_result(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

To be added.

Description
...........

Return Values
.............

Errors
......

`mysql_stmt_num_rows()'
.......................

`my_ulonglong mysql_stmt_num_rows(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

Returns the number of rows in the result set.

The use of `mysql_stmt_num_rows()' depends on whether or not you used
`mysql_stmt_store_result()' to buffer the entire result set in the
statement handle.

If you use `mysql_stmt_store_result()', `mysql_stmt_num_rows()' may be
called immediately.

Return Values
.............

The number of rows in the result set.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_stmt_reset()'
....................

`my_bool mysql_stmt_reset(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

To be added.

Description
...........

Return Values
.............

Errors
......

`mysql_stmt_row_seek()'
.......................

`MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET mysql_stmt_row_seek(MYSQL_STMT *stmt,
MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET offset)'

Description
...........

Sets the row cursor to an arbitrary row in a statement result set.  The
`offset' value is a row offset that should be a value returned from
`mysql_stmt_row_tell()' or from `mysql_stmt_row_seek()'.  This value is
not a row number; if you want to seek to a row within a result set by
number, use `mysql_stmt_data_seek()' instead.

This function requires that the result set structure contains the entire
result of the query, so `mysql_stmt_row_seek()' may be used only in
conjunction with `mysql_stmt_store_result()'.

Return Values
.............

The previous value of the row cursor.  This value may be passed to a
subsequent call to `mysql_stmt_row_seek()'.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_stmt_row_tell()'
.......................

`MYSQL_ROW_OFFSET mysql_stmt_row_tell(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

Returns the current position of the row cursor for the last
`mysql_fetch()'. This value can be used as an argument to
`mysql_stmt_row_seek()'.

You should use `mysql_stmt_row_tell()' only after
`mysql_stmt_store_result()'.

Return Values
.............

The current offset of the row cursor.

Errors
......

None.

`mysql_stmt_sqlstate()'
.......................

`const char *mysql_stmt_sqlstate(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

For the statement specified by `stmt', `mysql_stmt_sqlstate()' returns
a null-terminated string containing the SQLSTATE error code for the
most recently invoked prepared statement API function that can succeed
or fail.  The error code consists of five characters.  `"00000"' means
"no error".  The values are specified by ANSI SQL and ODBC.  For a list
of possible values, see *Note Error-returns::.

Note that not all MySQL errors are yet mapped to SQLSTATE's.  The value
`"HY000"' (general error) is used for unmapped errors.

This function was added to MySQL 4.1.1.

Return Values
.............

A null-terminated character string containing the SQLSTATE error code.

`mysql_stmt_store_result()'
...........................

`int mysql_stmt_store_result(MYSQL_STMT *stmt)'

Description
...........

You must call `mysql_stmt_store_result()' for every query that
successfully produces a result set (`SELECT', `SHOW', `DESCRIBE',
`EXPLAIN'), and only if you want to buffer the complete result set by
the client, so that the subsequent `mysql_fetch()' call returns
buffered data.

It is unnecessary to call `mysql_stmt_store_result()' for other
queries, but if you do, it will not harm or cause any notable
performance in all cases. You can detect whether the query produced a
result set by checking if `mysql_get_metadata()' returns `NULL'. For
more information, refer to *Note `mysql_get_metadata()':
mysql_get_metadata.

Return Values
.............

Zero if the results are buffered successfully.  Non-zero if an error
occurred.

Errors
......

`CR_COMMANDS_OUT_OF_SYNC'
     Commands were executed in an improper order.

`CR_OUT_OF_MEMORY'
     Out of memory.

`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'
     The MySQL server has gone away.

`CR_SERVER_LOST'
     The connection to the server was lost during the query.

`CR_UNKNOWN_ERROR'
     An unknown error occurred.

C API Handling of Multiple Query Execution
------------------------------------------

From version 4.1, MySQL supports the execution of multiple statements
specified in a single query string. To use this capability with a given
connection, you must specify the `CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS' option in
the flags parameter of `mysql_real_connect()' when opening the
connection.  You can also set this for a connection by calling
`mysql_set_server_option(MYSQL_OPTION_MULTI_STATEMENTS_ON)'

By default, `mysql_query()' and `mysql_real_query()' return only the
first query status and the subsequent queries status can be processed
using `mysql_more_results()' and `mysql_next_result()'.


     /* Connect to server with option CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS */
     mysql_real_connect(..., CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS);
     
     /* Now execute multiple queries */
     mysql_query(mysql,"DROP TABLE IF EXISTS test_table;\
                        CREATE TABLE test_table(id INT);\
                        INSERT INTO test_table VALUES(10);\
                        UPDATE test_table SET id=20 WHERE id=10;\
                        SELECT * FROM test_table;\
                        DROP TABLE test_table";
     do
     {
       /* Process all results */
       ...
       printf("total affected rows: %lld", mysql_affected_rows(mysql));
       ...
       if (!(result= mysql_store_result(mysql)))
       {
          printf(stderr, "Got fatal error processing query\n");
          exit(1);
       }
       process_result_set(result);	/* client function */
       mysql_free_result(result);
     } while (!mysql_next_result(mysql));

C API Handling of Date and Time Values
--------------------------------------

The new binary protocol available in MySQL 4.1 and above allows you to
send and receive date and time values (`DATE', `TIME', `DATETIME', and
`TIMESTAMP'), using the `MYSQL_TIME' structure. The members of this
structure are described in *Note C API Prepared statement datatypes::.

To send temporal data values, you create a prepared statement with
`mysql_prepare()'. Then, before calling `mysql_execute()' to execute
the statement, use the following procedure to set up each temporal
parameter:

  1. In the `MYSQL_BIND' structure associated with the data value, set
     the `buffer_type' member to the type that indicates what kind of
     temporal value you're sending. For `DATE', `TIME', `DATETIME', or
     `TIMESTAMP' values, set `buffer_type' to `MYSQL_TYPE_DATE',
     `MYSQL_TYPE_TIME', `MYSQL_TYPE_DATETIME', or
     `MYSQL_TYPE_TIMESTAMP', respectively.

  2. Set the `buffer' member of the `MYSQL_BIND' structure to the
     address of the `MYSQL_TIME' structure in which you will pass the
     temporal value.

  3. Fill in the members of the `MYSQL_TIME' structure that are
     appropriate for the type of temporal value you're passing.

Use `mysql_bind_param()' to bind the parameter data to the statement.
Then you can call `mysql_execute()'.

To retrieve temporal values, the procedure is similar, except that you
set the `buffer_type' member to the type of value you expect to
receive, and the `buffer' member to the address of a `MYSQL_TIME'
structure into which the returned value should be placed.  Use
`mysql_bind_results()' to bind the buffers to the statement after
calling `mysql_execute()' and before fetching the results.

Here is a simple example that inserts `DATE', `TIME', and `TIMESTAMP'
data.  The `mysql' variable is assumed to be a valid connection handle.


     MYSQL_TIME  ts;
     MYSQL_BIND  bind[3];
     MYSQL_STMT  *stmt;
     
       strmov(query, "INSERT INTO test_table(date_field, time_field,
                                             timestamp_field) VALUES(?,?,?");
     
       stmt= mysql_prepare(mysql, query, strlen(query)));
     
       /* setup input buffers for all 3 parameters */
       bind[0].buffer_type= MYSQL_TYPE_DATE;
       bind[0].buffer= (char *)&ts;
       bind[0].is_null= 0;
       bind[0].length= 0;
       ..
       bind[1]= bind[2]= bind[0];
       ..
     
       mysql_bind_param(stmt, bind);
     
       /* supply the data to be sent is the ts structure */
       ts.year= 2002;
       ts.month= 02;
       ts.day= 03;
     
       ts.hour= 10;
       ts.minute= 45;
       ts.second= 20;
     
       mysql_execute(stmt);
       ..

C API Threaded Function Descriptions
------------------------------------

You need to use the following functions when you want to create a
threaded client. *Note Threaded clients::.

`my_init()'
...........

`void my_init(void)'

Description
...........

This function needs to be called once in the program before calling any
MySQL function.  This initializes some global variables that MySQL
needs.  If you are using a thread-safe client library, this will also
call `mysql_thread_init()' for this thread.

This is automatically called by `mysql_init()', `mysql_server_init()'
and `mysql_connect()'.

Return Values
.............

None.

`mysql_thread_init()'
.....................

`my_bool mysql_thread_init(void)'

Description
...........

This function needs to be called for each created thread to initialize
thread-specific variables.

This is automatically called by `my_init()' and `mysql_connect()'.

Return Values
.............

Zero if successful. Non-zero if an error occurred.

`mysql_thread_end()'
....................

`void mysql_thread_end(void)'

Description
...........

This function needs to be called before calling `pthread_exit()' to
free memory allocated by `mysql_thread_init()'.

Note that this function *is not invoked automatically* by the client
library.  It must be called explicitly to avoid a memory leak.

Return Values
.............

None.

`mysql_thread_safe()'
.....................

`unsigned int mysql_thread_safe(void)'

Description
...........

This function indicates whether the client is compiled as thread-safe.

Return Values
.............

1 is the client is thread-safe, 0 otherwise.

C API Embedded Server Function Descriptions
-------------------------------------------

You must use the following functions if you want to allow your
application to be linked against the embedded MySQL server library.
*Note libmysqld::.

If the program is linked with `-lmysqlclient' instead of `-lmysqld',
these functions do nothing.  This makes it possible to choose between
using the embedded MySQL server and a stand-alone server without
modifying any code.

`mysql_server_init()'
.....................

`int mysql_server_init(int argc, char **argv, char **groups)'

Description
...........

This function *must* be called once in the program using the embedded
server before calling any other MySQL function.  It starts the server
and initializes any subsystems (`mysys', `InnoDB', etc.)  that the
server uses.  If this function is not called, the program will crash.
If you are using the DBUG package that comes with MySQL, you should
call this after you have called `MY_INIT()'.

The `argc' and `argv' arguments are analogous to the arguments to
`main()'.  The first element of `argv' is ignored (it typically
contains the program name).  For convenience, `argc' may be `0' (zero)
if there are no command-line arguments for the server.
`mysql_server_init()' makes a copy of the arguments so it's safe to
destroy `argv' or `groups' after the call.

The `NULL'-terminated list of strings in `groups' selects which groups
in the option files will be active.  *Note Option files::.  For
convenience, `groups' may be `NULL', in which case the `[server]' and
`[emedded]' groups will be active.

Example
.......

     #include <mysql.h>
     #include <stdlib.h>
     
     static char *server_args[] = {
       "this_program",       /* this string is not used */
       "--datadir=.",
       "--key_buffer_size=32M"
     };
     static char *server_groups[] = {
       "embedded",
       "server",
       "this_program_SERVER",
       (char *)NULL
     };
     
     int main(void) {
       if (mysql_server_init(sizeof(server_args) / sizeof(char *),
                             server_args, server_groups))
         exit(1);
     
       /* Use any MySQL API functions here */
     
       mysql_server_end();
     
       return EXIT_SUCCESS;
     }

Return Values
.............

0 if okay, 1 if an error occurred.

`mysql_server_end()'
....................

`void mysql_server_end(void)'

Description
...........

This function *must* be called once in the program after all other
MySQL functions.  It shuts down the embedded server.

Return Values
.............

None.

Common questions and problems when using the C API
--------------------------------------------------

Why `mysql_store_result()' Sometimes Returns `NULL' After `mysql_query()' Returns Success
.........................................................................................

It is possible for `mysql_store_result()' to return `NULL' following a
successful call to `mysql_query()'.  When this happens, it means one of
the following conditions occurred:

   * There was a `malloc()' failure (for example, if the result set was
     too large).

   * The data couldn't be read (an error occurred on the connection).

   * The query returned no data (for example, it was an `INSERT',
     `UPDATE', or `DELETE').

You can always check whether the statement should have produced a
non-empty result by calling `mysql_field_count()'.  If
`mysql_field_count()' returns zero, the result is empty and the last
query was a statement that does not return values (for example, an
`INSERT' or a `DELETE').  If `mysql_field_count()' returns a non-zero
value, the statement should have produced a non-empty result.  See the
description of the `mysql_field_count()' function for an example.

You can test for an error by calling `mysql_error()' or `mysql_errno()'.

What Results You Can Get from a Query
.....................................

In addition to the result set returned by a query, you can also get the
following information:

   * `mysql_affected_rows()' returns the number of rows affected by the
     last query when doing an `INSERT', `UPDATE', or `DELETE'. An
     exception is that if `DELETE' is used without a `WHERE' clause, the
     table is re-created empty, which is much faster! In this case,
     `mysql_affected_rows()' returns zero for the number of records
     affected.

   * `mysql_num_rows()' returns the number of rows in a result set.
     With `mysql_store_result()', `mysql_num_rows()' may be called as
     soon as `mysql_store_result()' returns.  With `mysql_use_result()',
     `mysql_num_rows()' may be called only after you have fetched all
     the rows with `mysql_fetch_row()'.

   * `mysql_insert_id()' returns the ID generated by the last query
     that inserted a row into a table with an `AUTO_INCREMENT' index.
     *Note `mysql_insert_id()': mysql_insert_id.

   * Some queries (`LOAD DATA INFILE ...', `INSERT INTO ... SELECT
     ...', `UPDATE') return additional information.  The result is
     returned by `mysql_info()'.  See the description for `mysql_info()'
     for the format of the string that it returns.  `mysql_info()'
     returns a `NULL' pointer if there is no additional information.

How to Get the Unique ID for the Last Inserted Row
..................................................

If you insert a record in a table containing a column that has the
`AUTO_INCREMENT' attribute, you can get the most recently generated ID
by calling the `mysql_insert_id()' function.

You can also retrieve the ID by using the `LAST_INSERT_ID()' function in
a query string that you pass to `mysql_query()'.

You can check if an `AUTO_INCREMENT' index is used by executing the
following code. This also checks if the query was an `INSERT' with an
`AUTO_INCREMENT' index:

     if (mysql_error(&mysql)[0] == 0 &&
         mysql_num_fields(result) == 0 &&
         mysql_insert_id(&mysql) != 0)
     {
         used_id = mysql_insert_id(&mysql);
     }

The most recently generated ID is maintained in the server on a
per-connection basis.  It will not be changed by another client. It
will not even be changed if you update another `AUTO_INCREMENT' column
with a non-magic value (that is, a value that is not `NULL' and not
`0').

If you want to use the ID that was generated for one table and insert
it into a second table, you can use SQL statements like this:

     INSERT INTO foo (auto,text)
         VALUES(NULL,'text');              # generate ID by inserting NULL
     INSERT INTO foo2 (id,text)
         VALUES(LAST_INSERT_ID(),'text');  # use ID in second table

Problems Linking with the C API
...............................

When linking with the C API, the following errors may occur on some
systems:

     gcc -g -o client test.o -L/usr/local/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient -lsocket -lnsl
     
     Undefined        first referenced
      symbol          in file
     floor            /usr/local/lib/mysql/libmysqlclient.a(password.o)
     ld: fatal: Symbol referencing errors. No output written to client

If this happens on your system, you must include the math library by
adding `-lm' to the end of the compile/link line.

Building Client Programs
------------------------

If you compile MySQL clients that you've written yourself or that you
obtain from a third-party, they must be linked using the `-lmysqlclient
-lz' option on the link command.  You may also need to specify a `-L'
option to tell the linker where to find the library.  For example, if
the library is installed in `/usr/local/mysql/lib', use
`-L/usr/local/mysql/lib -lmysqlclient -lz' on the link command.

For clients that use MySQL header files, you may need to specify a `-I'
option when you compile them (for example,
`-I/usr/local/mysql/include'), so the compiler can find the header
files.

To make the above simpler on Unix we have provided the `mysql_config'
script for you. *Note `mysql_config': mysql_config.

You can use this to compile a MySQL client by as follows:

     CFG=/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql_config
     sh -c "gcc -o progname `$CFG --cflags` progname.c `$CFG --libs`"

The `sh -c' is need to get the shell to not threat the output from
`mysql_config' as one word.

How to Make a Threaded Client
-----------------------------

The client library is almost thread-safe. The biggest problem is that
the subroutines in `net.c' that read from sockets are not interrupt
safe.  This was done with the thought that you might want to have your
own alarm that can break a long read to a server.  If you install
interrupt handlers for the `SIGPIPE' interrupt, the socket handling
should be thread-safe.

New in 4.0.16: To not abort the program when a connection terminates,
MySQL blocks `SIGPIPE' on the first call to `mysql_server_init'(),
`mysql_init()' or `mysql_connect()'.  If you want to have your own
`SIGPIPE' handler, you should first call `mysql_server_init()' and then
install your handler. In older versions of MySQL `SIGPIPE' was blocked,
but only in the thread safe client library, for every call to
`mysql_init()'.

In the older binaries we distribute on our web site
(`http://www.mysql.com/'), the client libraries are not normally
compiled with the thread-safe option (the Windows binaries are by
default compiled to be thread-safe). Newer binary distributions should
have both a normal and a thread-safe client library.

To get a threaded client where you can interrupt the client from other
threads and set timeouts when talking with the MySQL server, you should
use the `-lmysys', `-lmystrings', and `-ldbug' libraries and the
`net_serv.o' code that the server uses.

If you don't need interrupts or timeouts, you can just compile a
thread-safe client library `(mysqlclient_r)' and use this.  *Note MySQL
C API: C.  In this case you don't have to worry about the `net_serv.o'
object file or the other MySQL libraries.

When using a threaded client and you want to use timeouts and
interrupts, you can make great use of the routines in the `thr_alarm.c'
file.  If you are using routines from the `mysys' library, the only
thing you must remember is to call `my_init()' first! *Note C Thread
functions::.

All functions except `mysql_real_connect()' are by default thread-safe.
The following notes describe how to compile a thread-safe client
library and use it in a thread-safe manner.  (The notes below for
`mysql_real_connect()' actually apply to `mysql_connect()' as well, but
because `mysql_connect()' is deprecated, you should be using
`mysql_real_connect()' anyway.)

To make `mysql_real_connect()' thread-safe, you must recompile the
client library with this command:

     shell> ./configure --enable-thread-safe-client

This will create a thread-safe client library `libmysqlclient_r'.
(Assuming your OS has a thread-safe `gethostbyname_r()' function.)
This library is thread-safe per connection.  You can let two threads
share the same connection with the following caveats:

   * Two threads can't send a query to the MySQL server at the same
     time on the same connection.  In particular, you have to ensure
     that between a `mysql_query()' and `mysql_store_result()' no other
     thread is using the same connection.

   * Many threads can access different result sets that are retrieved
     with `mysql_store_result()'.

   * If you use `mysql_use_result', you have to ensure that no other
     thread is using the same connection until the result set is closed.
     However, it really is best for threaded clients that share the same
     connection to use `mysql_store_result()'.

   * If you want to use multiple threads on the same connection, you
     must have a mutex lock around your `mysql_query()' and
     `mysql_store_result()' call combination.  Once
     `mysql_store_result()' is ready, the lock can be released and other
     threads may query the same connection.

   * If you program with POSIX threads, you can use
     `pthread_mutex_lock()' and `pthread_mutex_unlock()' to establish
     and release a mutex lock.

You need to know the following if you have a thread that is calling
MySQL functions which did not create the connection to the MySQL
database:

When you call `mysql_init()' or `mysql_connect()', MySQL will create a
thread-specific variable for the thread that is used by the debug
library (among other things).

If you call a MySQL function, before the thread has called
`mysql_init()' or `mysql_connect()', the thread will not have the
necessary thread-specific variables in place and you are likely to end
up with a core dump sooner or later.

The get things to work smoothly you have to do the following:

  1. Call `my_init()' at the start of your program if it calls any
     other MySQL function before calling `mysql_real_connect()'.

  2. Call `mysql_thread_init()' in the thread handler before calling
     any MySQL function.

  3. In the thread, call `mysql_thread_end()' before calling
     `pthread_exit()'.  This will free the memory used by MySQL
     thread-specific variables.

You may get some errors because of undefined symbols when linking your
client with `libmysqlclient_r'. In most cases this is because you
haven't included the thread libraries on the link/compile line.

libmysqld, the Embedded MySQL Server Library
--------------------------------------------

Overview of the Embedded MySQL Server Library
.............................................

The embedded MySQL server library makes it possible to run a
full-featured MySQL server inside a client application.  The main
benefits are increased speed and more simple management for embedded
applications.

The embedded server library is based on the client/server version of
MySQL, which is written in C/C++. Consequently, the embedded server also
is written in C/C++. There is no embedded server available in other
languages.

The API is identical for the embedded MySQL version and the
client/server version.  To change an old threaded application to use the
embedded library, you normally only have to add calls to the following
functions:

*Function*         *When to call*
`mysql_server_init()'Should be called before any other MySQL function
                   is called, preferably early in the `main()'
                   function.
`mysql_server_end()'Should be called before your program exits.
`mysql_thread_init()'Should be called in each thread you create that
                   will access MySQL.
`mysql_thread_end()'Should be called before calling `pthread_exit()'

Then you must link your code with `libmysqld.a' instead of
`libmysqlclient.a'.

The above `mysql_server_xxx' functions are also included in
`libmysqlclient.a' to allow you to change between the embedded and the
client/server version by just linking your application with the right
library. *Note `mysql_server_init()': mysql_server_init.

Compiling Programs with `libmysqld'
...................................

To get a `libmysqld' library you should configure MySQL with the
`--with-embedded-server' option.

When you link your program with `libmysqld', you must also include the
system-specific `pthread' libraries and some libraries that the MySQL
server uses.  You can get the full list of libraries by executing
`mysql_config --libmysqld-libs'.

The correct flags for compiling and linking a threaded program must be
used, even if you do not directly call any thread functions in your
code.

Restrictions when using the Embedded MySQL Server
.................................................

The embedded server has the following limitations:

   * No support for ISAM tables. (This is mainly done to make the
     library smaller)

   * No user-defined functions (UDFs).

   * No stack trace on core dump.

   * No internal RAID support. (This is not normally needed as most OS
     has nowadays support for big files).

   * You cannot set this up as a master or a slave (no replication).

   * You can't connect to an embedded server from an outside process
     with sockets or TCP/IP.

Some of these limitations can be changed by editing the `mysql_embed.h'
include file and recompiling MySQL.

Using Option Files with the Embedded Server
...........................................

The following is the recommended way to use option files to make it easy
to switch between a client/server application and one where MySQL is
embedded. *Note Option files::.

   * Put common options in the `[server]' section. These will be read by
     both MySQL versions.

   * Put client/server-specific options in the `[mysqld]' section.

   * Put embedded MySQL-specific options in the `[embedded]' section.

   * Put application-specific options in a `[ApplicationName_SERVER]'
     section.

Things left to do in Embedded Server (TODO)
...........................................

   * We are going to provide options to leave out some parts of MySQL
     to make the library smaller.

   * There is still a lot of speed optimization to do.

   * Errors are written to `stderr'.  We will add an option to specify a
     filename for these.

   * We have to change `InnoDB' to not be so verbose when using in the
     embedded version.

A Simple Embedded Server Example
................................

This example program and makefile should work without any changes on a
Linux or FreeBSD system.  For other operating systems, minor changes
will be needed.  This example is designed to give enough details to
understand the problem, without the clutter that is a necessary part of
a real application.

To try out the example, create an `test_libmysqld' directory at the
same level as the mysql-4.0 source directory.  Save the
`test_libmysqld.c' source and the `GNUmakefile' in the directory, and
run GNU `make' from inside the `test_libmysqld' directory.

`test_libmysqld.c'
     /*
      * A simple example client, using the embedded MySQL server library
      */
     
     #include <mysql.h>
     #include <stdarg.h>
     #include <stdio.h>
     #include <stdlib.h>
     
     MYSQL *db_connect(const char *dbname);
     void db_disconnect(MYSQL *db);
     void db_do_query(MYSQL *db, const char *query);
     
     const char *server_groups[] = {
       "test_libmysqld_SERVER", "embedded", "server", NULL
     };
     
     int
     main(int argc, char **argv)
     {
       MYSQL *one, *two;
     
       /* mysql_server_init() must be called before any other mysql
        * functions.
        *
        * You can use mysql_server_init(0, NULL, NULL), and it will
        * initialize the server using groups = {
        *   "server", "embedded", NULL
        *  }.
        *
        * In your $HOME/.my.cnf file, you probably want to put:
     
     [test_libmysqld_SERVER]
     language = /path/to/source/of/mysql/sql/share/english
     
        * You could, of course, modify argc and argv before passing
        * them to this function.  Or you could create new ones in any
        * way you like.  But all of the arguments in argv (except for
        * argv[0], which is the program name) should be valid options
        * for the MySQL server.
        *
        * If you link this client against the normal mysqlclient
        * library, this function is just a stub that does nothing.
        */
       mysql_server_init(argc, argv, (char **)server_groups);
     
       one = db_connect("test");
       two = db_connect(NULL);
     
       db_do_query(one, "SHOW TABLE STATUS");
       db_do_query(two, "SHOW DATABASES");
     
       mysql_close(two);
       mysql_close(one);
     
       /* This must be called after all other mysql functions */
       mysql_server_end();
     
       exit(EXIT_SUCCESS);
     }
     
     static void
     die(MYSQL *db, char *fmt, ...)
     {
       va_list ap;
       va_start(ap, fmt);
       vfprintf(stderr, fmt, ap);
       va_end(ap);
       (void)putc('\n', stderr);
       if (db)
         db_disconnect(db);
       exit(EXIT_FAILURE);
     }
     
     MYSQL *
     db_connect(const char *dbname)
     {
       MYSQL *db = mysql_init(NULL);
       if (!db)
         die(db, "mysql_init failed: no memory");
       /*
        * Notice that the client and server use separate group names.
        * This is critical, because the server will not accept the
        * client's options, and vice versa.
        */
       mysql_options(db, MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP, "test_libmysqld_CLIENT");
       if (!mysql_real_connect(db, NULL, NULL, NULL, dbname, 0, NULL, 0))
         die(db, "mysql_real_connect failed: %s", mysql_error(db));
     
       return db;
     }
     
     void
     db_disconnect(MYSQL *db)
     {
       mysql_close(db);
     }
     
     void
     db_do_query(MYSQL *db, const char *query)
     {
       if (mysql_query(db, query) != 0)
         goto err;
     
       if (mysql_field_count(db) > 0)
       {
         MYSQL_RES   *res;
         MYSQL_ROW    row, end_row;
         int num_fields;
     
         if (!(res = mysql_store_result(db)))
           goto err;
         num_fields = mysql_num_fields(res);
         while ((row = mysql_fetch_row(res)))
         {
           (void)fputs(">> ", stdout);
           for (end_row = row + num_fields; row < end_row; ++row)
             (void)printf("%s\t", row ? (char*)*row : "NULL");
           (void)fputc('\n', stdout);
         }
         (void)fputc('\n', stdout);
         mysql_free_result(res);
       }
       else
         (void)printf("Affected rows: %lld\n", mysql_affected_rows(db));
     
       return;
     
     err:
       die(db, "db_do_query failed: %s [%s]", mysql_error(db), query);
     }

`GNUmakefile'
     # This assumes the MySQL software is installed in /usr/local/mysql
     inc      := /usr/local/mysql/include/mysql
     lib      := /usr/local/mysql/lib
     
     # If you have not installed the MySQL software yet, try this instead
     #inc      := $(HOME)/mysql-4.0/include
     #lib      := $(HOME)/mysql-4.0/libmysqld
     
     CC       := gcc
     CPPFLAGS := -I$(inc) -D_THREAD_SAFE -D_REENTRANT
     CFLAGS   := -g -W -Wall
     LDFLAGS  := -static
     # You can change -lmysqld to -lmysqlclient to use the
     # client/server library
     LDLIBS    = -L$(lib) -lmysqld -lz -lm -lcrypt
     
     ifneq (,$(shell grep FreeBSD /COPYRIGHT 2>/dev/null))
     # FreeBSD
     LDFLAGS += -pthread
     else
     # Assume Linux
     LDLIBS += -lpthread
     endif
     
     # This works for simple one-file test programs
     sources := $(wildcard *.c)
     objects := $(patsubst %c,%o,$(sources))
     targets := $(basename $(sources))
     
     all: $(targets)
     
     clean:
             rm -f $(targets) $(objects) *.core

Licensing the Embedded Server
.............................

The MySQL source code is covered by the GNU `GPL' license (*note GPL
license::).  One result of this is that any program which includes, by
linking with `libmysqld', the MySQL source code must be released as
free software (under a license compatible with the `GPL').

We encourage everyone to promote free software by releasing code under
the `GPL' or a compatible license.  For those who are not able to do
this, another option is to purchase a commercial license for the MySQL
code from MySQL AB.  For details, please see *Note MySQL licenses::.

MySQL ODBC Support
==================

MySQL provides support for ODBC by means of the `MyODBC' program.  This
chapter will teach you how to install `MyODBC', and how to use it.
Here, you will also find a list of common programs that are known to
work with `MyODBC'.

How to Install MyODBC
---------------------

`MyODBC' 2.50 is a 32-bit ODBC 2.50 specification level 0 (with level 1
and level 2 features) driver for connecting an ODBC-aware application
to MySQL.  `MyODBC' works on Windows 9x/Me/NT/2000/XP and most Unix
platforms.  `MyODBC' 3.51 is an enhanced version with ODBC 3.5x
specification level 1 (complete core API + level 2 features).

`MyODBC' is `Open Source', and you can find the newest version at
`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/api-myodbc.html'.  Please note that the
2.50.x versions are `LGPL' licensed, whereas the 3.51.x versions are
`GPL' licensed.

If you have problem with `MyODBC' and your program also works with
OLEDB, you should try the OLEDB driver.

Normally you only need to install `MyODBC' on Windows machines.  You
only need `MyODBC' for Unix if you have a program like ColdFusion that
is running on the Unix machine and uses ODBC to connect to the
databases.

If you want to install `MyODBC' on a Unix box, you will also need an
ODBC manager.  `MyODBC' is known to work with most of the Unix ODBC
managers.

To install `MyODBC' on Windows, you should download the appropriate
`MyODBC' `.zip' file, unpack it with `WinZip' or some similar program,
and execute the `SETUP.EXE' file.

On Windows/NT/XP you may get the following error when trying to install
`MyODBC':

     An error occurred while copying C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MFC30.DLL. Restart
     Windows and try installing again (before running any applications which
     use ODBC)

The problem in this case is that some other program is using ODBC and
because of how Windows is designed, you may not in this case be able to
install a new ODBC drivers with Microsoft's ODBC setup program. In most
cases you can continue by just pressing `Ignore' to copy the rest of
the MyODBC files and the final installation should still work.  If this
doesn't work, the solution is to reboot your computer in "safe mode"
(Choose this by pressing F8 just before your machine starts Windows
during rebooting), install `MyODBC', and reboot to normal mode.

   * To make a connection to a Unix box from a Windows box, with an ODBC
     application (one that doesn't support MySQL natively), you must
     first install `MyODBC' on the Windows machine.

   * The user and Windows machine must have the access privileges to the
     MySQL server on the Unix machine.  This is set up with the `GRANT'
     command. *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

   * You must create an ODBC DSN entry as follows:

        - Open the Control Panel on the Windows machine.

        - Double-click the ODBC Data Sources 32-bit icon.

        - Click the tab User DSN.

        - Click the button Add.

        - Select MySQL in the screen Create New Data Source and click
          the Finish button.

        - The MySQL Driver default configuration screen is shown.
          *Note ODBC administrator::.

   * Now start your application and select the ODBC driver with the DSN
     you specified in the ODBC administrator.

Notice that there are other configuration options on the screen of
MySQL (trace, don't prompt on connect, etc) that you can try if you run
into problems.

How to Fill in the Various Fields in the ODBC Administrator Program
-------------------------------------------------------------------

There are three possibilities for specifying the server name on
Windows95:

   * Use the IP address of the server.

   * Add a file `\windows\lmhosts' with the following information:

          ip hostname

     For example:

          194.216.84.21 my_hostname

   * Configure the PC to use DNS.

Example of how to fill in the `ODBC setup':
     Windows DSN name:   test
     Description:        This is my test database
     MySQL Database:     test
     Server:             194.216.84.21
     User:               monty
     Password:           my_password
     Port:

The value for the `Windows DSN name' field is any name that is unique
in your Windows ODBC setup.

You don't have to specify values for the `Server', `User', `Password',
or `Port' fields in the ODBC setup screen.  However, if you do, the
values will be used as the defaults later when you attempt to make a
connection.  You have the option of changing the values at that time.

If the port number is not given, the default port (3306) is used.

If you specify the option `Read options from C:\my.cnf', the groups
`client' and `odbc' will be read from the `C:\my.cnf' file.  You can
use all options that are usable by `mysql_options()'.  *Note
`mysql_options()': mysql_options.

Connect parameters for MyODBC
-----------------------------

One can specify the following parameters for `MyODBC' on the
`[Servername]' section of an `ODBC.INI' file or through  the
`InConnectionString' argument in the `SQLDriverConnect()' call.

*Parameter* *Default       *Comment*
            value*         
user        ODBC (on       The username used to connect to MySQL.
            Windows)       
server      localhost      The hostname of the MySQL server.
database                   The default database.
option      0              A integer by which you can specify how
                           `MyODBC' should work. See below.
port        3306           The TCP/IP port to use if `server' is not
                           `localhost'.
stmt                       A statement that will be executed when
                           connecting to `MySQL'.
password                   The password for the `server' `user'
                           combination.
socket                     The socket or Windows pipe to connect to.

The option argument is used to tell `MyODBC' that the client isn't 100%
ODBC compliant. On Windows, one normally sets the option flag by
toggling the different options on the connection screen but one can also
set this in the option argument. The following options are listed in the
same order as they appear in the `MyODBC' connect screen:

*Bit*   *Description*
1       The client can't handle that `MyODBC' returns the real width of
        a column.
2       The client can't handle that MySQL returns the true value of
        affected rows.  If this flag is set then MySQL returns 'found
        rows' instead.  One must have MySQL 3.21.14 or newer to get this
        to work.
4       Make a debug log in c:\myodbc.log.  This is the same as putting
        `MYSQL_DEBUG=d:t:O,c::\myodbc.log' in `AUTOEXEC.BAT'
8       Don't set any packet limit for results and parameters.
16      Don't prompt for questions even if driver would like to prompt
32      Simulate a ODBC 1.0 driver in some context.
64      Ignore use of database name in 'database.table.column'.
128     Force use of ODBC manager cursors (experimental).
256     Disable the use of extended fetch (experimental).
512     Pad CHAR fields to full column length.
1024    SQLDescribeCol() will return fully qualified column names
2048    Use the compressed server/client protocol
4096    Tell server to ignore space after function name and before `'(''
        (needed by PowerBuilder).  This will make all function names
        keywords!
8192    Connect with named pipes to a `mysqld' server running on NT.
16384   Change LONGLONG columns to INT columns (some applications can't
        handle LONGLONG).
32768   Return 'user' as Table_qualifier and Table_owner from SQLTables
        (experimental)
65536   Read parameters from the `client' and `odbc' groups from `my.cnf'
131072  Add some extra safety checks (should not bee needed but...)

If you want to have many options, you should add the above flags!  For
example setting option to 12 (4+8) gives you debugging without package
limits!

The default `MYODBC.DLL' is compiled for optimal performance.  If you
want to debug `MyODBC' (for example to enable tracing), you should
instead use `MYODBCD.DLL'.  To install this file, copy `MYODBCD.DLL'
over the installed `MYODBC.DLL' file.

How to Report Problems with MyODBC
----------------------------------

`MyODBC' has been tested with Access, Admndemo.exe, C++-Builder,
Borland Builder 4, Centura Team Developer (formerly Gupta SQL/Windows),
ColdFusion (on Solaris and NT with svc pack 5), Crystal Reports,
DataJunction, Delphi, ERwin, Excel, iHTML, FileMaker Pro, FoxPro, Notes
4.5/4.6, SBSS, Perl DBD-ODBC, Paradox, Powerbuilder, Powerdesigner 32
bit, VC++, and Visual Basic.

If you know of any other applications that work with `MyODBC', please
send mail to the `myodbc' mailing list about this!  *Note
Mailing-list::.

With some programs you may get an error like: `Another user has
modifies the record that you have modified'. In most cases this can be
solved by doing one of the following things:

   * Add a primary key for the table if there isn't one already.

   * Add a timestamp column if there isn't one already.

   * Only use double float fields. Some programs may fail when they
     compare single floats.

If the above doesn't help, you should do a `MyODBC' trace file and try
to figure out why things go wrong.

Programs Known to Work with MyODBC
----------------------------------

Most programs should work with `MyODBC', but for each of those listed
here, we have tested it ourselves or received confirmation from some
user that it works:

*Program*
     *Comment*

Access
     To make Access work:
        * If you are using Access 2000, you should get and install the
          newest (version 2.6 or above) Microsoft MDAC (`Microsoft Data
          Access Components') from `http://www.microsoft.com/data/'.
          This will fix the following bug in Access: when you export
          data to MySQL, the table and column names aren't specified.
          Another way to around this bug is to upgrade to MyODBC
          Version 2.50.33 and MySQL Version 3.23.x, which together
          provide a workaround for this bug!

          You should also get and apply the Microsoft Jet 4.0 Service
          Pack 5 (SP5) which can be found here
          `http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q
          239/1/14.ASP'.  This will fix some cases where columns are
          marked as `#deleted#' in Access.

          Note that if you are using MySQL Version 3.22, you must to
          apply the MDAC patch and use MyODBC 2.50.32 or 2.50.34 and
          above to go around this problem.

        * For all Access versions, you should enable the MyODBC option
          flag `Return matching rows'. For Access 2.0, you should
          additionally enable `Simulate ODBC 1.0'.

        * You should have a timestamp in all tables you want to be able
          to update.  For maximum portability `TIMESTAMP(14)' or simple
          `TIMESTAMP' is recommended instead of other `TIMESTAMP(X)'
          variations.

        * You should have a primary key in the table. If not, new or
          updated rows may show up as `#DELETED#'.

        * Only use `DOUBLE' float fields. Access fails when comparing
          with single floats.  The symptom usually is that new or
          updated rows may show up as `#DELETED#' or that you can't
          find or update rows.

        * If you are linking a table through MyODBC, which has `BIGINT'
          as one of the column, then the results will be displayed as
          `#DELETED'. The work around solution is:
             * Have one more dummy column with `TIMESTAMP' as the
               datatype, preferably `TIMESTAMP(14)'.

             * Check the `'Change BIGINT columns to INT'' in connection
               options dialog in ODBC DSN Administrator

             * Delete the table link from access and re-create it.

          It still displays the previous records as `#DELETED#', but
          newly added/updated records will be displayed properly.

        * If you still get the error `Another user has changed your
          data' after adding a `TIMESTAMP' column, the following trick
          may help you:

          Don't use `table' data sheet view. Create instead a form with
          the fields you want, and use that `form' data sheet view.
          You should set the `DefaultValue' property for the
          `TIMESTAMP' column to `NOW()'.  It may be a good idea to hide
          the `TIMESTAMP' column from view so your users are not
          confused.

        * In some cases, Access may generate illegal SQL queries that
          MySQL can't understand. You can fix this by selecting
          `"Query|SQLSpecific|Pass-Through"' from the Access menu.

        * Access on NT will report `BLOB' columns as `OLE OBJECTS'. If
          you want to have `MEMO' columns instead, you should change the
          column to `TEXT' with `ALTER TABLE'.

        * Access can't always handle `DATE' columns properly. If you
          have a problem with these, change the columns to `DATETIME'.

        * If you have in Access a column defined as `BYTE', Access will
          try to export this as `TINYINT' instead of `TINYINT UNSIGNED'.
          This will give you problems if you have values > 127 in the
          column!

ADO
     When you are coding with the ADO API and `MyODBC' you need to put
     attention in some default properties that aren't supported by the
     MySQL server.  For example, using the `CursorLocation Property' as
     `adUseServer' will return for the `RecordCount Property' a result
     of -1. To have the right value, you need to set this property to
     `adUseClient', like is showing in the VB code here:

          Dim myconn As New ADODB.Connection
          Dim myrs As New Recordset
          Dim mySQL As String
          Dim myrows As Long
          
          myconn.Open "DSN=MyODBCsample"
          mySQL = "SELECT * from user"
          myrs.Source = mySQL
          Set myrs.ActiveConnection = myconn
          myrs.CursorLocation = adUseClient
          myrs.Open
          myrows = myrs.RecordCount
          
          myrs.Close
          myconn.Close

     Another workaround is to use a `SELECT COUNT(*)' statement for a
     similar query to get the correct row count.

Active server pages (ASP)
     You should use the option flag `Return matching rows'.

BDE applications
     To get these to work, you should set the option flags `Don't
     optimize column widths' and `Return matching rows'.

Borland Builder 4
     When you start a query you can use the property `Active' or use the
     method `Open'.  Note that `Active' will start by automatically
     issuing a `SELECT * FROM ...' query that may not be a good thing if
     your tables are big!

ColdFusion (On Unix)
     The following information is taken from the ColdFusion
     documentation:

     Use the following information to configure ColdFusion Server for
     Linux to use the unixODBC driver with `MyODBC' for MySQL data
     sources.  Allaire has verified that `MyODBC' Version 2.50.26 works
     with MySQL Version 3.22.27 and ColdFusion for Linux. (Any newer
     version should also work.) You can download `MyODBC' at
     `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/api-myodbc.html'

     ColdFusion Version 4.5.1 allows you to us the ColdFusion
     Administrator to add the MySQL data source. However, the driver is
     not included with ColdFusion Version 4.5.1. Before the MySQL driver
     will appear in the ODBC datasources drop-down list, you must build
     and copy the `MyODBC' driver to `/opt/coldfusion/lib/libmyodbc.so'.

     The Contrib directory contains the program `mydsn-xxx.zip' which
     allows you to build and remove the DSN registry file for the
     MyODBC driver on Coldfusion applications.

DataJunction
     You have to change it to output `VARCHAR' rather than `ENUM', as
     it exports the latter in a manner that causes MySQL grief.

Excel
     Works. A few tips:
        * If you have problems with dates, try to select them as
          strings using the `CONCAT()' function. For example:
               select CONCAT(rise_time), CONCAT(set_time)
                   from sunrise_sunset;
          Values retrieved as strings this way should be correctly
          recognized as time values by Excel97.

          The purpose of `CONCAT()' in this example is to fool ODBC
          into thinking the column is of "string type". Without the
          `CONCAT()', ODBC knows the column is of time type, and Excel
          does not understand that.

          Note that this is a bug in Excel, because it automatically
          converts a string to a time. This would be great if the
          source was a text file, but is plain stupid when the source
          is an ODBC connection that reports exact types for each
          column.

Word
     To retrieve data from MySQL to Word/Excel documents, you need to
     use the `MyODBC' driver and the Add-in Microsoft Query help.

     For example, create a db with a table containing 2 columns of text:

        * Insert rows using the `mysql' client command-line tool.

        * Create a DSN file using the ODBC manager, for example, `my'
          for the db above.

        * Open the Word application.

        * Create a blank new documentation.

        * Using the tool bar called Database, press the button insert
          database.

        * Press the button Get Data.

        * At the right hand of the screen Get Data, press the button Ms
          Query.

        * In the Ms Query create a New Data Source using the DSN file
          my.

        * Select the new query.

        * Select the columns that you want.

        * Make a filter if you want.

        * Make a Sort if you want.

        * Select Return Data to Microsoft Word.

        * Click Finish.

        * Click Insert data and select the records.

        * Click OK and you see the rows in your Word document.

odbcadmin
     Test program for ODBC.

Delphi
     You must use BDE Version 3.2 or newer.  Set the `Don't optimize
     column width' option field when connecting to MySQL.

     Also, here is some potentially useful Delphi code that sets up
     both an ODBC entry and a BDE entry for `MyODBC' (the BDE entry
     requires a BDE Alias Editor that is free at a Delphi Super Page
     near you. (Thanks to Bryan Brunton <bryan@flesherfab.com> for
     this):

          fReg:= TRegistry.Create;
            fReg.OpenKey('\Software\ODBC\ODBC.INI\DocumentsFab', True);
            fReg.WriteString('Database', 'Documents');
            fReg.WriteString('Description', ' ');
            fReg.WriteString('Driver', 'C:\WINNT\System32\myodbc.dll');
            fReg.WriteString('Flag', '1');
            fReg.WriteString('Password', '');
            fReg.WriteString('Port', ' ');
            fReg.WriteString('Server', 'xmark');
            fReg.WriteString('User', 'winuser');
            fReg.OpenKey('\Software\ODBC\ODBC.INI\ODBC Data Sources', True);
            fReg.WriteString('DocumentsFab', 'MySQL');
            fReg.CloseKey;
            fReg.Free;
          
            Memo1.Lines.Add('DATABASE NAME=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('USER NAME=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('ODBC DSN=DocumentsFab');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('OPEN MODE=READ/WRITE');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('BATCH COUNT=200');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('LANGDRIVER=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('MAX ROWS=-1');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SCHEMA CACHE DIR=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SCHEMA CACHE SIZE=8');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SCHEMA CACHE TIME=-1');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SQLPASSTHRU MODE=SHARED AUTOCOMMIT');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('SQLQRYMODE=');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('ENABLE SCHEMA CACHE=FALSE');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('ENABLE BCD=FALSE');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('ROWSET SIZE=20');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('BLOBS TO CACHE=64');
            Memo1.Lines.Add('BLOB SIZE=32');
          
            AliasEditor.Add('DocumentsFab','MySQL',Memo1.Lines);

C++ Builder
     Tested with BDE Version 3.0. The only known problem is that when
     the table schema changes, query fields are not updated. BDE,
     however, does not seem to recognize primary keys, only the index
     PRIMARY, though this has not been a problem.

Vision
     You should use the option flag `Return matching rows'.

Visual Basic
     To be able to update a table, you must define a primary key for
     the table.

     Visual Basic with ADO can't handle big integers. This means that
     some queries like `SHOW PROCESSLIST' will not work properly.  The
     fix is to set the option `OPTION=16384' in the ODBC connect string
     or to set the `Change BIGINT columns to INT' option in the MyODBC
     connect screen.  You may also want to set the `Return matching
     rows' option.

VisualInterDev
     If you get the error `[Microsoft][ODBC Driver Manager] Driver does
     not support this parameter' the reason may be that you have a
     `BIGINT' in your result.  Try setting the `Change BIGINT columns
     to INT' option in the MyODBC connect screen.

Visual Objects
     You should use the option flag `Don't optimize column widths'.

How to Get the Value of an `AUTO_INCREMENT' Column in ODBC
----------------------------------------------------------

A common problem is how to get the value of an automatically generated
ID from an `INSERT'. With ODBC, you can do something like this (assuming
that `auto' is an `AUTO_INCREMENT' field):

     INSERT INTO foo (auto,text) VALUES(NULL,'text');
     SELECT LAST_INSERT_ID();

Or, if you are just going to insert the ID into another table, you can
do this:

     INSERT INTO foo (auto,text) VALUES(NULL,'text');
     INSERT INTO foo2 (id,text) VALUES(LAST_INSERT_ID(),'text');

*Note Getting unique ID::.

For the benefit of some ODBC applications (at least Delphi and Access),
the following query can be used to find a newly inserted row:
     SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE auto IS NULL;

Reporting Problems with MyODBC
------------------------------

If you encounter difficulties with MyODBC, you should start by making a
log file from the ODBC manager (the log you get when requesting logs
from ODBCADMIN) and a MyODBC log.

To get a MyODBC log, you need to do the following:

  1. Ensure that you are using `myodbcd.dll' and not `myodbc.dll'.  The
     easiest way to do this is to get `myodbcd.dll' from the MyODBC
     distribution and copy it over the `myodbc.dll', which is probably
     in your `C:\windows\system32' or `C:\winnt\system32' directory.

     Note that you probably want to restore the old `myodbc.dll' file
     when you have finished testing, as it is a lot faster than
     `myodbcd.dll'.

  2. Select the "Trace MyODBC" option in the `MyODBC' connect/configure
     screen.  The log will be written to the file `C:\myodbc.log'.

     If the trace option is not remembered the next time you visit this
     screen, it means that you are not using the `myodbcd.dll' driver.
     Reread the previous step to verify that you have installed
     `myodbcd.dll'.

  3. Start your application and try to get it to fail.

Check the MyODBC trace file, to find out what could be wrong.  You
should be able to determine what statements were issued by searching for
the string `>mysql_real_query' in the `myodbc.log' file.

You should also try issuing the statements from the `mysql' client
program or from `admndemo'. This will help you determine whether the
error is in MyODBC or MySQL.

If you find out something is wrong, please only send the relevant rows
(max 40 rows) to the `myodbc' mailing list.  *Note Mailing-list::.
Please never send the whole MyODBC or ODBC log file!

If you are unable to find out what's wrong, the last option is to make
an archive in `tar' or ZIP format that contains a MyODBC trace file,
the ODBC log file, and a `README' file that explains the problem.  You
can send this to `ftp://support.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret/'.  Only we
at MySQL AB will have access to the files you upload, and we will be
very discreet with the data!

If you can create a program that also demonstrates the problem, please
include it in the archive as well.

If the program works with some other SQL server, you should include an
ODBC log file where you do exactly the same thing in the other SQL
server.

Remember that the more information you can supply to us, the more
likely it is that we can fix the problem!

MySQL Java Connectivity (JDBC)
==============================

There are 2 supported JDBC drivers for MySQL:

   * `MySQL Connector/J' from MySQL AB, implemented in 100% native Java.
     This product was formerly known as the `mm.mysql' driver.  You can
     download `MySQL Connector/J' from
     `http://www.mysql.com/products/connector-j/'.

   * The Resin JDBC driver, which can be found at
     `http://www.caucho.com/projects/jdbc-mysql/index.xtp'.

For more information, consult any general JDBC documentation, plus each
driver's own documentation for MySQL-specific features.

Documentation for `MySQL Connector/J' is available online at the MySQL
AB web site at `http://www.mysql.com/documentation/'.

MySQL PHP API
=============

PHP is a server-side, HTML-embedded scripting language that may be used
to create dynamic web pages.  It contains support for accessing several
databases, including MySQL.  PHP may be run as a separate program or
compiled as a module for use with the Apache web server.

The distribution and documentation are available at the PHP web site
(`http://www.php.net/').

Common Problems with MySQL and PHP
----------------------------------

   * Error: "Maximum Execution Time Exceeded" This is a PHP limit; go
     into the `php.ini' file and set the maximum execution time up from
     30 seconds to something higher, as needed.  It is also not a bad
     idea to double the RAM allowed per script to 16 MB instead of 8 MB.

   * Error: "Fatal error: Call to unsupported or undefined function
     mysql_connect() in .."  This means that your PHP version isn't
     compiled with MySQL support.  You can either compile a dynamic
     MySQL module and load it into PHP or recompile PHP with built-in
     MySQL support.  This is described in detail in the PHP manual.

   * Error: "undefined reference to `uncompress'" This means that the
     client library is compiled with support for a compressed
     client/server protocol. The fix is to add `-lz' last when linking
     with `-lmysqlclient'.

MySQL Perl API
==============

The Perl `DBI' module provides a generic interface for database access.
You can write a DBI script that works with many different database
engines without change. To use DBI, you must install the `DBI' module,
as well as a DataBase Driver (DBD) module for each type of server you
want to access.  For MySQL, this driver is the `DBD::mysql' module.

Perl DBI is now the recommended Perl interface. It replaces an older
interface called `mysqlperl', which should be considered obsolete.

Installation instructions for Perl DBI support are given in *Note Perl
support::.

DBI information is available at the command line, online, or in printed
form:

   * Once you have the `DBI' and `DBD::mysql' modules installed, you can
     get information about them at the command line with the `perldoc'
     command:

          shell> perldoc DBI
          shell> perldoc DBI::FAQ
          shell> perldoc DBD::mysql

     You can also use `pod2man', `pod2html', and so forth to translate
     this information into other formats.

   * For online information about Perl DBI, visit the DBI web site,
     `http://dbi.perl.org/'.

   * For printed information, the official DBI book is `Programming the
     Perl DBI' (Alligator Descartes and Tim Bunce, O'Reilly &
     Associates, 2000).  Information about the book is available at the
     DBI web site, `http://dbi.perl.org/'.

     For information that focuses specifically on using DBI with MySQL,
     see `MySQL and Perl for the Web' (Paul DuBois, New Riders, 2001).
     This book's web site is `http://www.kitebird.com/mysql-perl/'.


MySQL C++ API
=============

`MySQL++' is the MySQL API for C++. More information can be found at
`http://www.mysql.com/products/mysql++/'.

Borland C++
-----------

You can compile the MySQL Windows source with Borland C++ 5.02.  (The
Windows source includes only projects for Microsoft VC++, for Borland
C++ you have to do the project files yourself.)

One known problem with Borland C++ is that it uses a different structure
alignment than VC++.  This means that you will run into problems if you
try to use the default `libmysql.dll' libraries (that was compiled with
VC++) with Borland C++. You can do one of the following to avoid this
problem.

   * You can use the static MySQL libraries for Borland C++ that you
     can find on `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/os-win32.html'.

   * Only call `mysql_init()' with `NULL' as an argument, not a
     pre-allocated `MYSQL' structure.

MySQL Python API
================

`MySQLdb' provides MySQL support for Python, compliant with the Python
DB API version 2.0. It can be found at
`http://sourceforge.net/projects/mysql-python/'.

MySQL Tcl API
=============

`MySQLtcl' is a simple API for accessing a MySQL database server from
the Tcl programming language. It can be found at
`http://www.xdobry.de/mysqltcl/'.

MySQL Eiffel Wrapper
====================

Eiffel MySQL is an interface to the MySQL database server using the
Eiffel programming language, written by Michael Ravits. It can be found
at `http://efsa.sourceforge.net/archive/ravits/mysql.htm'.

Error Handling in MySQL
***********************

This chapter describes how MySQL handles errors.

Error Returns
=============

Following are error codes that may appear when you call MySQL from any
host language.

The `Name' and `Error Code' columns correspond to definitions in the
MySQL source code file: `include/mysqld_error.h'

The `SQLSTATE' column corresponds to definitions in the MySQL source
code file: `include/sql_state.h'

The SQLSTATE error code will appear only if you use MySQL version 4.1.
SQLSTATE codes were added for compatibility with X/Open / ANSI / ODBC
behavior.

A suggested text for each error code can be found in the error-message
file: `share/english/errmsg.sys'

Because updates are frequent, it is possible that the above sources
will contain additional error codes.

*Name*                               *Error      *SQLSTATE*
                                     Code*       
ER_HASHCHK                           1000        HY000
ER_NISAMCHK                          1001        HY000
ER_NO                                1002        HY000
ER_YES                               1003        HY000
ER_CANT_CREATE_FILE                  1004        HY000
ER_CANT_CREATE_TABLE                 1005        HY000
ER_CANT_CREATE_DB                    1006        HY000
ER_DB_CREATE_EXISTS                  1007        HY000
ER_DB_DROP_EXISTS                    1008        HY000
ER_DB_DROP_DELETE                    1009        HY000
ER_DB_DROP_RMDIR                     1010        HY000
ER_CANT_DELETE_FILE                  1011        HY000
ER_CANT_FIND_SYSTEM_REC              1012        HY000
ER_CANT_GET_STAT                     1013        HY000
ER_CANT_GET_WD                       1014        HY000
ER_CANT_LOCK                         1015        HY000
ER_CANT_OPEN_FILE                    1016        HY000
ER_FILE_NOT_FOUND                    1017        HY000
ER_CANT_READ_DIR                     1018        HY000
ER_CANT_SET_WD                       1019        HY000
ER_CHECKREAD                         1020        HY000
ER_DISK_FULL                         1021        HY000
ER_DUP_KEY                           1022        23000
ER_ERROR_ON_CLOSE                    1023        HY000
ER_ERROR_ON_READ                     1024        HY000
ER_ERROR_ON_RENAME                   1025        HY000
ER_ERROR_ON_WRITE                    1026        HY000
ER_FILE_USED                         1027        HY000
ER_FILSORT_ABORT                     1028        HY000
ER_FORM_NOT_FOUND                    1029        HY000
ER_GET_ERRNO                         1030        HY000
ER_ILLEGAL_HA                        1031        HY000
ER_KEY_NOT_FOUND                     1032        HY000
ER_NOT_FORM_FILE                     1033        HY000
ER_NOT_KEYFILE                       1034        HY000
ER_OLD_KEYFILE                       1035        HY000
ER_OPEN_AS_READONLY                  1036        HY000
ER_OUTOFMEMORY                       1037        HY001
ER_OUT_OF_SORTMEMORY                 1038        HY001
ER_UNEXPECTED_EOF                    1039        HY000
ER_CON_COUNT_ERROR                   1040        08004
ER_OUT_OF_RESOURCES                  1041        08004
ER_BAD_HOST_ERROR                    1042        08S01
ER_HANDSHAKE_ERROR                   1043        08S01
ER_DBACCESS_DENIED_ERROR             1044        42000
ER_ACCESS_DENIED_ERROR               1045        42000
ER_NO_DB_ERROR                       1046        42000
ER_UNKNOWN_COM_ERROR                 1047        08S01
ER_BAD_NULL_ERROR                    1048        23000
ER_BAD_DB_ERROR                      1049        42000
ER_TABLE_EXISTS_ERROR                1050        42S01
ER_BAD_TABLE_ERROR                   1051        42S02
ER_NON_UNIQ_ERROR                    1052        23000
ER_SERVER_SHUTDOWN                   1053        08S01
ER_BAD_FIELD_ERROR                   1054        42S22
ER_WRONG_FIELD_WITH_GROUP            1055        42000
ER_WRONG_GROUP_FIELD                 1056        42000
ER_WRONG_SUM_SELECT                  1057        42000
ER_WRONG_VALUE_COUNT                 1058        21S01
ER_TOO_LONG_IDENT                    1059        42000
ER_DUP_FIELDNAME                     1060        42S21
ER_DUP_KEYNAME                       1061        42000
ER_DUP_ENTRY                         1062        23000
ER_WRONG_FIELD_SPEC                  1063        42000
ER_PARSE_ERROR                       1064        42000
ER_EMPTY_QUERY                       1065        42000
ER_NONUNIQ_TABLE                     1066        42000
ER_INVALID_DEFAULT                   1067        42000
ER_MULTIPLE_PRI_KEY                  1068        42000
ER_TOO_MANY_KEYS                     1069        42000
ER_TOO_MANY_KEY_PARTS                1070        42000
ER_TOO_LONG_KEY                      1071        42000
ER_KEY_COLUMN_DOES_NOT_EXITS         1072        42000
ER_BLOB_USED_AS_KEY                  1073        42000
ER_TOO_BIG_FIELDLENGTH               1074        42000
ER_WRONG_AUTO_KEY                    1075        42000
ER_READY                             1076        00000
ER_NORMAL_SHUTDOWN                   1077        00000
ER_GOT_SIGNAL                        1078        00000
ER_SHUTDOWN_COMPLETE                 1079        00000
ER_FORCING_CLOSE                     1080        08S01
ER_IPSOCK_ERROR                      1081        08S01
ER_NO_SUCH_INDEX                     1082        42S12
ER_WRONG_FIELD_TERMINATORS           1083        42000
ER_BLOBS_AND_NO_TERMINATED           1084        42000
ER_TEXTFILE_NOT_READABLE             1085        HY000
ER_FILE_EXISTS_ERROR                 1086        HY000
ER_LOAD_INFO                         1087        HY000
ER_ALTER_INFO                        1088        HY000
ER_WRONG_SUB_KEY                     1089        HY000
ER_CANT_REMOVE_ALL_FIELDS            1090        42000
ER_CANT_DROP_FIELD_OR_KEY            1091        42000
ER_INSERT_INFO                       1092        HY000
ER_UPDATE_TABLE_USED                 1093        HY000
ER_NO_SUCH_THREAD                    1094        HY000
ER_KILL_DENIED_ERROR                 1095        HY000
ER_NO_TABLES_USED                    1096        HY000
ER_TOO_BIG_SET                       1097        HY000
ER_NO_UNIQUE_LOGFILE                 1098        HY000
ER_TABLE_NOT_LOCKED_FOR_WRITE        1099        HY000
ER_TABLE_NOT_LOCKED                  1100        HY000
ER_BLOB_CANT_HAVE_DEFAULT            1101        42000
ER_WRONG_DB_NAME                     1102        42000
ER_WRONG_TABLE_NAME                  1103        42000
ER_TOO_BIG_SELECT                    1104        42000
ER_UNKNOWN_ERROR                     1105        HY000
ER_UNKNOWN_PROCEDURE                 1106        42000
ER_WRONG_PARAMCOUNT_TO_PROCEDURE     1107        42000
ER_WRONG_PARAMETERS_TO_PROCEDURE     1108        HY000
ER_UNKNOWN_TABLE                     1109        42S02
ER_FIELD_SPECIFIED_TWICE             1110        42000
ER_INVALID_GROUP_FUNC_USE            1111        42000
ER_UNSUPPORTED_EXTENSION             1112        42000
ER_TABLE_MUST_HAVE_COLUMNS           1113        42000
ER_RECORD_FILE_FULL                  1114        HY000
ER_UNKNOWN_CHARACTER_SET             1115        42000
ER_TOO_MANY_TABLES                   1116        HY000
ER_TOO_MANY_FIELDS                   1117        HY000
ER_TOO_BIG_ROWSIZE                   1118        42000
ER_STACK_OVERRUN                     1119        HY000
ER_WRONG_OUTER_JOIN                  1120        42000
ER_NULL_COLUMN_IN_INDEX              1121        42000
ER_CANT_FIND_UDF                     1122        HY000
ER_CANT_INITIALIZE_UDF               1123        HY000
ER_UDF_NO_PATHS                      1124        HY000
ER_UDF_EXISTS                        1125        HY000
ER_CANT_OPEN_LIBRARY                 1126        HY000
ER_CANT_FIND_DL_ENTRY                1127        HY000
ER_FUNCTION_NOT_DEFINED              1128        HY000
ER_HOST_IS_BLOCKED                   1129        HY000
ER_HOST_NOT_PRIVILEGED               1130        HY000
ER_PASSWORD_ANONYMOUS_USER           1131        42000
ER_PASSWORD_NOT_ALLOWED              1132        42000
ER_PASSWORD_NO_MATCH                 1133        42000
ER_UPDATE_INFO                       1134        HY000
ER_CANT_CREATE_THREAD                1135        HY000
ER_WRONG_VALUE_COUNT_ON_ROW          1136        21S01
ER_CANT_REOPEN_TABLE                 1137        HY000
ER_INVALID_USE_OF_NULL               1138        42000
ER_REGEXP_ERROR                      1139        42000
ER_MIX_OF_GROUP_FUNC_AND_FIELDS      1140        42000
ER_NONEXISTING_GRANT                 1141        42000
ER_TABLEACCESS_DENIED_ERROR          1142        42000
ER_COLUMNACCESS_DENIED_ERROR         1143        42000
ER_ILLEGAL_GRANT_FOR_TABLE           1144        42000
ER_GRANT_WRONG_HOST_OR_USER          1145        42000
ER_NO_SUCH_TABLE                     1146        42S02
ER_NONEXISTING_TABLE_GRANT           1147        42000
ER_NOT_ALLOWED_COMMAND               1148        42000
ER_SYNTAX_ERROR                      1149        42000
ER_DELAYED_CANT_CHANGE_LOCK          1150        HY000
ER_TOO_MANY_DELAYED_THREADS          1151        HY000
ER_ABORTING_CONNECTION               1152        08S01
ER_NET_PACKET_TOO_LARGE              1153        08S01
ER_NET_READ_ERROR_FROM_PIPE          1154        08S01
ER_NET_FCNTL_ERROR                   1155        08S01
ER_NET_PACKETS_OUT_OF_ORDER          1156        08S01
ER_NET_UNCOMPRESS_ERROR              1157        08S01
ER_NET_READ_ERROR                    1158        08S01
ER_NET_READ_INTERRUPTED              1159        08S01
ER_NET_ERROR_ON_WRITE                1160        08S01
ER_NET_WRITE_INTERRUPTED             1161        08S01
ER_TOO_LONG_STRING                   1162        42000
ER_TABLE_CANT_HANDLE_BLOB            1163        42000
ER_TABLE_CANT_HANDLE_AUTO_INCREMENT  1164        42000
ER_DELAYED_INSERT_TABLE_LOCKED       1165        HY000
ER_WRONG_COLUMN_NAME                 1166        42000
ER_WRONG_KEY_COLUMN                  1167        42000
ER_WRONG_MRG_TABLE                   1168        HY000
ER_DUP_UNIQUE                        1169        23000
ER_BLOB_KEY_WITHOUT_LENGTH           1170        42000
ER_PRIMARY_CANT_HAVE_NULL            1171        42000
ER_TOO_MANY_ROWS                     1172        42000
ER_REQUIRES_PRIMARY_KEY              1173        42000
ER_NO_RAID_COMPILED                  1174        HY000
ER_UPDATE_WITHOUT_KEY_IN_SAFE_MODE   1175        HY000
ER_KEY_DOES_NOT_EXITS                1176        HY000
ER_CHECK_NO_SUCH_TABLE               1177        42000
ER_CHECK_NOT_IMPLEMENTED             1178        42000
ER_CANT_DO_THIS_DURING_AN_TRANSACTION1179        25000
ER_ERROR_DURING_COMMIT               1180        HY000
ER_ERROR_DURING_ROLLBACK             1181        HY000
ER_ERROR_DURING_FLUSH_LOGS           1182        HY000
ER_ERROR_DURING_CHECKPOINT           1183        HY000
ER_NEW_ABORTING_CONNECTION           1184        08S01
ER_DUMP_NOT_IMPLEMENTED              1185        HY000
ER_FLUSH_MASTER_BINLOG_CLOSED        1186        HY000
ER_INDEX_REBUILD                     1187        HY000
ER_MASTER                            1188        HY000
ER_MASTER_NET_READ                   1189        08S01
ER_MASTER_NET_WRITE                  1190        08S01
ER_FT_MATCHING_KEY_NOT_FOUND         1191        HY000
ER_LOCK_OR_ACTIVE_TRANSACTION        1192        HY000
ER_UNKNOWN_SYSTEM_VARIABLE           1193        HY000
ER_CRASHED_ON_USAGE                  1194        HY000
ER_CRASHED_ON_REPAIR                 1195        HY000
ER_WARNING_NOT_COMPLETE_ROLLBACK     1196        HY000
ER_TRANS_CACHE_FULL                  1197        HY000
ER_SLAVE_MUST_STOP                   1198        HY000
ER_SLAVE_NOT_RUNNING                 1199        HY000
ER_BAD_SLAVE                         1200        HY000
ER_MASTER_INFO                       1201        HY000
ER_SLAVE_THREAD                      1202        HY000
ER_TOO_MANY_USER_CONNECTIONS         1203        42000
ER_SET_CONSTANTS_ONLY                1204        HY000
ER_LOCK_WAIT_TIMEOUT                 1205        HY000
ER_LOCK_TABLE_FULL                   1206        HY000
ER_READ_ONLY_TRANSACTION             1207        25000
ER_DROP_DB_WITH_READ_LOCK            1208        HY000
ER_CREATE_DB_WITH_READ_LOCK          1209        HY000
ER_WRONG_ARGUMENTS                   1210        HY000
ER_NO_PERMISSION_TO_CREATE_USER      1211        42000
ER_UNION_TABLES_IN_DIFFERENT_DIR     1212        HY000
ER_LOCK_DEADLOCK                     1213        40001
ER_TABLE_CANT_HANDLE_FULLTEXT        1214        HY000
ER_CANNOT_ADD_FOREIGN                1215        HY000
ER_NO_REFERENCED_ROW                 1216        23000
ER_ROW_IS_REFERENCED                 1217        23000
ER_CONNECT_TO_MASTER                 1218        08S01
ER_QUERY_ON_MASTER                   1219        HY000
ER_ERROR_WHEN_EXECUTING_COMMAND      1220        HY000
ER_WRONG_USAGE                       1221        HY000
ER_WRONG_NUMBER_OF_COLUMNS_IN_SELECT 1222        21000
ER_CANT_UPDATE_WITH_READLOCK         1223        HY000
ER_MIXING_NOT_ALLOWED                1224        HY000
ER_DUP_ARGUMENT                      1225        HY000
ER_USER_LIMIT_REACHED                1226        42000
ER_SPECIFIC_ACCESS_DENIED_ERROR      1227        HY000
ER_LOCAL_VARIABLE                    1228        HY000
ER_GLOBAL_VARIABLE                   1229        HY000
ER_NO_DEFAULT                        1230        42000
ER_WRONG_VALUE_FOR_VAR               1231        42000
ER_WRONG_TYPE_FOR_VAR                1232        42000
ER_VAR_CANT_BE_READ                  1233        HY000
ER_CANT_USE_OPTION_HERE              1234        42000
ER_NOT_SUPPORTED_YET                 1235        42000
ER_MASTER_FATAL_ERROR_READING_BINLOG 1236        HY000
ER_SLAVE_IGNORED_TABLE               1237        HY000
ER_WRONG_FK_DEF                      1238        42000
ER_KEY_REF_DO_NOT_MATCH_TABLE_REF    1239        HY000
ER_CARDINALITY_COL                   1240        21000
ER_SUBSELECT_NO_1_ROW                1241        21000
ER_UNKNOWN_STMT_HANDLER              1242        HY000
ER_CORRUPT_HELP_DB                   1243        HY000
ER_CYCLIC_REFERENCE                  1244        HY000
ER_AUTO_CONVERT                      1245        HY000
ER_ILLEGAL_REFERENCE                 1246        42S22
ER_DERIVED_MUST_HAVE_ALIAS           1247        42000
ER_SELECT_REDUCED                    1248        01000
ER_TABLENAME_NOT_ALLOWED_HERE        1249        42000
ER_NOT_SUPPORTED_AUTH_MODE           1250        08004
ER_SPATIAL_CANT_HAVE_NULL            1251        42000
ER_COLLATION_CHARSET_MISMATCH        1252        42000
ER_SLAVE_WAS_RUNNING                 1253        HY000
ER_SLAVE_WAS_NOT_RUNNING             1254        HY000
ER_TOO_BIG_FOR_UNCOMPRESS            1255        HY000
ER_ZLIB_Z_MEM_ERROR                  1256        HY000
ER_ZLIB_Z_BUF_ERROR                  1257        HY000
ER_ZLIB_Z_DATA_ERROR                 1258        HY000
ER_CUT_VALUE_GROUP_CONCAT            1259        HY000
ER_WARN_TOO_FEW_RECORDS              1260        01000
ER_WARN_TOO_MANY_RECORDS             1261        01000
ER_WARN_NULL_TO_NOTNULL              1262        01000
ER_WARN_DATA_OUT_OF_RANGE            1263        01000
ER_WARN_DATA_TRUNCATED               1264        01000
ER_WARN_USING_OTHER_HANDLER          1265        01000
ER_CANT_AGGREGATE_COLLATIONS         1266        42000
ER_DROP_USER                         1267        42000
ER_REVOKE_GRANTS                     1268        42000
ER_CANT_AGGREGATE_3COLLATIONS        1269        42000
ER_CANT_AGGREGATE_NCOLLATIONS        1270        42000
ER_VARIABLE_IS_NOT_STRUCT            1271        HY000
ER_UNKNOWN_COLLATION                 1272        HY000
ER_SLAVE_IGNORED_SSL_PARAMS          1273        HY000
ER_SERVER_IS_IN_SECURE_AUTH_MODE     1274        HY000
ER_WARN_FIELD_RESOLVED               1275        HY000
ER_BAD_SLAVE_UNTIL_COND              1276        HY000
ER_MISSING_SKIP_SLAVE                1277        HY000
ER_UNTIL_COND_IGNORED                1278        HY000

Extending MySQL
***************

MySQL Internals
===============

This chapter describes a lot of things that you need to know when
working on the MySQL code. If you plan to contribute to MySQL
development, want to have access to the bleeding-edge in-between
versions code, or just want to keep track of development, follow the
instructions in *Note Installing source tree::.  If you are interested
in MySQL internals, you should also subscribe to our `internals'
mailing list. This list is relatively low traffic. For details on how
to subscribe, please see *Note Mailing-list::.  All developers at MySQL
AB are on the `internals' list and we help other people who are working
on the MySQL code. Feel free to use this list both to ask questions
about the code and to send patches that you would like to contribute to
the MySQL project!

MySQL Threads
-------------

The MySQL server creates the following threads:

   * The TCP/IP connection thread handles all connection requests and
     creates a new dedicated thread to handle the authentication and
     SQL query processing for each connection.

   * On Windows NT there is a named pipe handler thread that does the
     same work as the TCP/IP connection thread on named pipe connect
     requests.

   * The signal thread handles all signals.  This thread also normally
     handles alarms and calls `process_alarm()' to force timeouts on
     connections that have been idle too long.

   * If `mysqld' is compiled with `-DUSE_ALARM_THREAD', a dedicated
     thread that handles alarms is created.  This is only used on some
     systems where there are problems with `sigwait()' or if one wants
     to use the `thr_alarm()' code in ones application without a
     dedicated signal handling thread.

   * If one uses the `--flush_time=#' option, a dedicated thread is
     created to flush all tables at the given interval.

   * Every connection has its own thread.

   * Every different table on which one uses `INSERT DELAYED' gets its
     own thread.

   * If you use `--master-host', a slave replication thread will be
     started to read and apply updates from the master.

`mysqladmin processlist' only shows the connection, `INSERT DELAYED',
and replication threads.

MySQL Test Suite
----------------

Until recently, our main full-coverage test suite was based on
proprietary customer data and for that reason has not been publicly
available. The only publicly available part of our testing process
consisted of the `crash-me' test, a Perl DBI/DBD benchmark found in the
`sql-bench' directory, and miscellaneous tests located in `tests'
directory. The lack of a standardized publicly available test suite has
made it difficult for our users, as well developers, to do regression
tests on the MySQL code. To address this problem, we have created a new
test system that is included in Unix source distributions and binary
distributions starting with Version 3.23.29.  The tests can be run
under Unix, or on Windows in the Cygwin environment if the server has
been compiled under Cygwin. They cannot be run in a native Windows
environment currently.

The current set of test cases doesn't test everything in MySQL, but it
should catch most obvious bugs in the SQL processing code, OS/library
issues, and is quite thorough in testing replication.  Our eventual goal
is to have the tests cover 100% of the code.  We welcome contributions
to our test suite.  You may especially want to contribute tests that
examine the functionality critical to your system, as this will ensure
that all future MySQL releases will work well with your applications.

Running the MySQL Test Suite
............................

The test system consist of a test language interpreter (`mysqltest'), a
shell script to run all tests(`mysql-test-run'), the actual test cases
written in a special test language, and their expected results.  To run
the test suite on your system after a build, type `make test' or
`mysql-test/mysql-test-run' from the source root.  If you have
installed a binary distribution, `cd' to the install root (eg.
`/usr/local/mysql'), and do `scripts/mysql-test-run'.  All tests should
succeed.  If not, you should try to find out why and report the problem
if this is a bug in MySQL.  *Note Reporting mysqltest bugs::.

If you have a copy of `mysqld' running on the machine where you want to
run the test suite you do not have to stop it, as long as it is not
using ports `9306' and `9307'.  If one of those ports is taken, you
should edit `mysql-test-run' and change the values of the master and/or
slave port to one that is available.

You can run one individual test case with `mysql-test/mysql-test-run
test_name'.

If one test fails, you should test running `mysql-test-run' with the
`--force' option to check if any other tests fails.

Extending the MySQL Test Suite
..............................

You can use the `mysqltest' language to write your own test cases.
Unfortunately, we have not yet written full documentation for it.  You
can, however, look at our current test cases and use them as an
example.  The following points should help you get started:

   * The tests are located in `mysql-test/t/*.test'

   * A test case consists of `;' terminated statements and is similar
     to the input of `mysql' command-line client.  A statement by
     default is a query to be sent to MySQL server, unless it is
     recognized as internal command (eg. `sleep').

   * All queries that produce results--for example, `SELECT', `SHOW',
     `EXPLAIN', etc., must be preceded with `@/path/to/result/file'.
     The file must contain the expected results.  An easy way to
     generate the result file is to run `mysqltest -r <
     t/test-case-name.test' from `mysql-test' directory, and then edit
     the generated result files, if needed, to adjust them to the
     expected output.  In that case, be very careful about not adding
     or deleting any invisible characters - make sure to only change
     the text and/or delete lines.  If you have to insert a line, make
     sure the fields are separated with a hard tab, and there is a hard
     tab at the end.  You may want to use `od -c' to make sure your
     text editor has not messed anything up during edit.  We hope that
     you will never have to edit the output of `mysqltest -r' as you
     only have to do it when you find a bug.

   * To be consistent with our setup, you should put your result files
     in `mysql-test/r' directory and name them `test_name.result'.  If
     the test produces more than one result, you should use
     `test_name.a.result', `test_name.b.result', etc.

   * If a statement returns an error, you should on the line before the
     statement specify with the `--error error-number'.  The error
     number can be a list of possible error numbers separated with
     `',''.

   * If you are writing a replication test case, you should on the
     first line of the test file, put `source
     include/master-slave.inc;'.  To switch between master and slave,
     use `connection master;' and `connection slave;'.  If you need to
     do something on an alternate connection, you can do `connection
     master1;' for the master, and `connection slave1;' for the slave.

   * If you need to do something in a loop, you can use something like
     this:
          let $1=1000;
          while ($1)
          {
           # do your queries here
           dec $1;
          }

   * To sleep between queries, use the `sleep' command. It supports
     fractions of a second, so you can do `sleep 1.3;', for example, to
     sleep 1.3 seconds.

   * To run the slave with additional options for your test case, put
     them in the command-line format in
     `mysql-test/t/test_name-slave.opt'. For the master, put them in
     `mysql-test/t/test_name-master.opt'.

   * If you have a question about the test suite, or have a test case
     to contribute, send an email message to the MySQL internals
     mailing list.  *Note Mailing-list::.  As this list does not accept
     attachments, you should ftp all the relevant files to:
     `ftp://support.mysql.com/pub/mysql/Incoming/'


Reporting Bugs in the MySQL Test Suite
......................................

If your MySQL version doesn't pass the test suite you should do the
following:

   * Don't send a bug report before you have found out as much as
     possible of what when wrong!  When you do it, please use the
     `mysqlbug' script so that we can get information about your system
     and `MySQL' version. *Note Bug reports::.

   * Make sure to include the output of `mysql-test-run', as well as
     contents of all `.reject' files in `mysql-test/r' directory.

   * If a test in the test suite fails, check if the test fails also
     when run by its own:

          cd mysql-test
          mysql-test-run --local test-name

     If this fails, then you should configure MySQL with `--with-debug'
     and run `mysql-test-run' with the `--debug' option. If this also
     fails send the trace file `var/tmp/master.trace' to
     ftp://support.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret so that we can examine
     it. Please remember to also include a full description of your
     system, the version of the mysqld binary and how you compiled it.

   * Try also to run `mysql-test-run' with the `--force' option to see
     if there is any other test that fails.

   * If you have compiled MySQL yourself, check our manual for how to
     compile MySQL on your platform or, preferable, use one of the
     binaries we have compiled for you at
     `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/'.  All our standard binaries
     should pass the test suite !

   * If you get an error, like `Result length mismatch' or `Result
     content mismatch' it means that the output of the test didn't match
     exactly the expected output. This could be a bug in MySQL or that
     your mysqld version produces slight different results under some
     circumstances.

     Failed test results are put in a file with the same base name as
     the result file with the `.reject' extension.  If your test case is
     failing, you should do a diff on the two files.  If you cannot see
     how they are different, examine both with `od -c' and also check
     their lengths.

   * If a test fails totally, you should check the logs file in the
     `mysql-test/var/log' directory for hints of what went wrong.

   * If you have compiled MySQL with debugging you can try to debug this
     by running `mysql-test-run' with the `--gdb' and/or `--debug'
     options.  *Note Making trace files::.

     If you have not compiled MySQL for debugging you should probably
     do that.  Just specify the `--with-debug' options to `configure'!
     *Note Installing source::.

Adding New Functions to MySQL
=============================

There are two ways to add new functions to MySQL:

   * You can add the function through the user-defined function (UDF)
     interface.  User-defined functions are added and removed
     dynamically using the `CREATE FUNCTION' and `DROP FUNCTION'
     statements.  *Note `CREATE FUNCTION': CREATE FUNCTION.

   * You can add the function as a native (built in) MySQL function.
     Native functions are compiled into the `mysqld' server and become
     available on a permanent basis.

Each method has advantages and disadvantages:

   * If you write a user-defined function, you must install the object
     file in addition to the server itself.  If you compile your
     function into the server, you don't need to do that.

   * You can add UDFs to a binary MySQL distribution.  Native functions
     require you to modify a source distribution.

   * If you upgrade your MySQL distribution, you can continue to use
     your previously installed UDFs.  For native functions, you must
     repeat your modifications each time you upgrade.

Whichever method you use to add new functions, they may be used just
like native functions such as `ABS()' or `SOUNDEX()'.

`CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax
--------------------------------------

     CREATE [AGGREGATE] FUNCTION function_name RETURNS {STRING|REAL|INTEGER}
            SONAME shared_library_name
     
     DROP FUNCTION function_name
A user-defined function (UDF) is a way to extend MySQL with a new
function that works like native (built in) MySQL function such as
`ABS()' and `CONCAT()'.

`AGGREGATE' is a new option for MySQL Version 3.23.  An `AGGREGATE'
function works exactly like a native MySQL `GROUP' function like `SUM'
or `COUNT()'.

`CREATE FUNCTION' saves the function's name, type, and shared library
name in the `mysql.func' system table.  You must have the `INSERT' and
`DELETE' privileges for the `mysql' database to create and drop
functions.

All active functions are reloaded each time the server starts, unless
you start `mysqld' with the `--skip-grant-tables' option.  In this
case, UDF initialization is skipped and UDFs are unavailable.  (An
active function is one that has been loaded with `CREATE FUNCTION' and
not removed with `DROP FUNCTION'.)

For instructions on writing user-defined functions, see *Note Adding
functions::.  For the UDF mechanism to work, functions must be written
in C or C++, your operating system must support dynamic loading and you
must have compiled `mysqld' dynamically (not statically).

Note that to make `AGGREGATE' work, you must have a `mysql.func' table
that contains the column `type'.  If you do not have this table, you
should run the script `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' to create it.

Adding a New User-defined Function
----------------------------------

For the UDF mechanism to work, functions must be written in C or C++
and your operating system must support dynamic loading.  The MySQL
source distribution includes a file `sql/udf_example.cc' that defines 5
new functions.  Consult this file to see how UDF calling conventions
work.

For `mysqld' to be able to use UDF functions, you should configure MySQL
with `--with-mysqld-ldflags=-rdynamic' The reason is that to on many
platforms (including Linux) you can load a dynamic library (with
`dlopen()') from a static linked program, which you would get if you
are using `--with-mysqld-ldflags=-all-static' If you want to use an UDF
that needs to access symbols from `mysqld' (like the `metaphone'
example in `sql/udf_example.cc' that uses `default_charset_info'), you
must link the program with `-rdynamic' (see `man dlopen').

If you are using a precompiled version of the server, use MySQL-Max,
which supports dynamic loading.

For each function that you want to use in SQL statements, you should
define corresponding C (or C++) functions.  In the discussion below,
the name "xxx" is used for an example function name.  To distinguish
between SQL and C/C++ usage, `XXX()' (uppercase) indicates an SQL
function call, and `xxx()' (lowercase) indicates a C/C++ function call.

The C/C++ functions that you write to implement the interface for
`XXX()' are:

`xxx()' (required)
     The main function.  This is where the function result is computed.
     The correspondence between the SQL type and return type of your
     C/C++ function is shown here:

     *SQL       *C/C++
     type*      type*
     `STRING'   `char *'
     `INTEGER'  `long
                long'
     `REAL'     `double'

`xxx_init()' (optional)
     The initialization function for `xxx()'.  It can be used to:

        * Check the number of arguments to `XXX()'.

        * Check that the arguments are of a required type or,
          alternatively, tell MySQL to coerce arguments to the types
          you want when the main function is called.

        * Allocate any memory required by the main function.

        * Specify the maximum length of the result.

        * Specify (for `REAL' functions) the maximum number of decimals.

        * Specify whether the result can be `NULL'.

`xxx_deinit()' (optional)
     The deinitialization function for `xxx()'.  It should deallocate
     any memory allocated by the initialization function.

When an SQL statement invokes `XXX()', MySQL calls the initialization
function `xxx_init()' to let it perform any required setup, such as
argument checking or memory allocation.  If `xxx_init()' returns an
error, the SQL statement is aborted with an error message and the main
and deinitialization functions are not called.  Otherwise, the main
function `xxx()' is called once for each row.  After all rows have been
processed, the deinitialization function `xxx_deinit()' is called so it
can perform any required cleanup.

For aggregate functions (like `SUM()'), you must also provide the
following functions:

`xxx_reset()' (required)
     Reset sum and insert the argument as the initial value for a new
     group.

`xxx_add()' (required)
     Add the argument to the old sum.

When using aggregate UDFs, MySQL works the following way:

  1. Call `xxx_init()' to let the aggregate function allocate the
     memory it will need to store results.

  2. Sort the table according to the `GROUP BY' expression.

  3. For the first row in a new group, call the `xxx_reset()' function.

  4. For each new row that belongs in the same group, call the
     `xxx_add()' function.

  5. When the group changes or after the last row has been processed,
     call `xxx()' to get the result for the aggregate.

  6. Repeat 3-5 until all rows has been processed

  7. Call `xxx_deinit()' to let the UDF free any memory it has
     allocated.

All functions must be thread-safe (not just the main function, but the
initialization and deinitialization functions as well). This means that
you are not allowed to allocate any global or static variables that
change!  If you need memory, you should allocate it in `xxx_init()' and
free it in `xxx_deinit()'.

UDF Calling Sequences for simple functions
..........................................

The main function should be declared as shown here.  Note that the
return type and parameters differ, depending on whether you will
declare the SQL function `XXX()' to return `STRING', `INTEGER', or
`REAL' in the `CREATE FUNCTION' statement:

For `STRING' functions:

     char *xxx(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args,
               char *result, unsigned long *length,
               char *is_null, char *error);

For `INTEGER' functions:

     long long xxx(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args,
                   char *is_null, char *error);

For `REAL' functions:

     double xxx(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args,
                   char *is_null, char *error);

The initialization and deinitialization functions are declared like
this:

     my_bool xxx_init(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args, char *message);
     
     void xxx_deinit(UDF_INIT *initid);

The `initid' parameter is passed to all three functions.  It points to a
`UDF_INIT' structure that is used to communicate information between
functions.  The `UDF_INIT' structure members follow.  The
initialization function should fill in any members that it wishes to
change.  (To use the default for a member, leave it unchanged.):

`my_bool maybe_null'
     `xxx_init()' should set `maybe_null' to `1' if `xxx()' can return
     `NULL'.  The default value is `1' if any of the arguments are
     declared `maybe_null'.

`unsigned int decimals'
     Number of decimals.  The default value is the maximum number of
     decimals in the arguments passed to the main function.  (For
     example, if the function is passed `1.34', `1.345', and `1.3', the
     default would be 3, because `1.345' has 3 decimals.

`unsigned int max_length'
     The maximum length of the string result.  The default value
     differs depending on the result type of the function.  For string
     functions, the default is the length of the longest argument.  For
     integer functions, the default is 21 digits.  For real functions,
     the default is 13 plus the number of decimals indicated by
     `initid->decimals'.  (For numeric functions, the length includes
     any sign or decimal point characters.)

     If you want to return a blob, you can set this to 65K or 16M; this
     memory is not allocated but used to decide which column type to
     use if there is a need to temporary store the data.

`char *ptr'
     A pointer that the function can use for its own purposes.  For
     example, functions can use `initid->ptr' to communicate allocated
     memory between functions.  In `xxx_init()', allocate the memory
     and assign it to this pointer:

          initid->ptr = allocated_memory;

     In `xxx()' and `xxx_deinit()', refer to `initid->ptr' to use or
     deallocate the memory.

UDF Calling Sequences for aggregate functions
.............................................

Here follows a description of the different functions you need to define
when you want to create an aggregate UDF function.

Note that the following function is NOT needed or used by MySQL 4.1.1.
You can keep still have define his function if you want to have your
code work with both MySQL 4.0 and MySQL 4.1.1

     char *xxx_reset(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args,
                     char *is_null, char *error);

This function is called when MySQL finds the first row in a new group.
In the function you should reset any internal summary variables and
then set the given argument as the first argument in the group.

In many cases this is implemented internally by reseting all variables
(for example by calling `xxx_clear()' and then calling `xxx_add()'.

The following function is only required by MySQL 4.1.1 and above:

     char *xxx_clear(UDF_INIT *initid, char *is_null, char *error);

This function is called when MySQL needs to reset the summary results.
This will be called at the beginning for each new group but can also be
called to reset the values for a query where there was no matching rows.
`is_null' will be set to point to `CHAR(0)' before calling
`xxx_clear()'.

You can use the `error' pointer to store a byte if something went wrong
.

     char *xxx_add(UDF_INIT *initid, UDF_ARGS *args,
                   char *is_null, char *error);

This function is called for all rows that belongs to the same group,
except for the first row. In this you should add the value in UDF_ARGS
to your internal summary variable.

The `xxx()' function should be declared identical as when you define a
simple UDF function. *Note UDF calling::.

This function is called when all rows in the group has been processed.
You should normally never access the `args' variable here but return
your value based on your internal summary variables.

All argument processing in `xxx_reset()' and `xxx_add()' should be done
identically as for normal UDFs. *Note UDF arguments::.

The return value handling in `xxx()' should be done identically as for
a normal UDF. *Note UDF return values::.

The pointer argument to `is_null' and `error' is the same for all calls
to `xxx_reset()', `xxx_clear()', `xxx_add()' and `xxx()'.  You can use
this to remember that you got an error or if the `xxx()' function
should return `NULL'. Note that you should not store a string into
`*error'!  This is just a 1 byte flag!

`is_null' is reset for each group (before calling `xxx_clear()' `error'
is never reset.

If `isnull' or `error' are set after `xxx()' then MySQL will return
`NULL' as the result for the group function.

Argument Processing
...................

The `args' parameter points to a `UDF_ARGS' structure that has the
members listed here:

`unsigned int arg_count'
     The number of arguments.  Check this value in the initialization
     function if you want your function to be called with a particular
     number of arguments.  For example:

          if (args->arg_count != 2)
          {
              strcpy(message,"XXX() requires two arguments");
              return 1;
          }

`enum Item_result *arg_type'
     The types for each argument.  The possible type values are
     `STRING_RESULT', `INT_RESULT', and `REAL_RESULT'.

     To make sure that arguments are of a given type and return an
     error if they are not, check the `arg_type' array in the
     initialization function.  For example:

          if (args->arg_type[0] != STRING_RESULT ||
              args->arg_type[1] != INT_RESULT)
          {
              strcpy(message,"XXX() requires a string and an integer");
              return 1;
          }

     As an alternative to requiring your function's arguments to be of
     particular types, you can use the initialization function to set
     the `arg_type' elements to the types you want.  This causes MySQL
     to coerce arguments to those types for each call to `xxx()'.  For
     example, to specify coercion of the first two arguments to string
     and integer, do this in `xxx_init()':

          args->arg_type[0] = STRING_RESULT;
          args->arg_type[1] = INT_RESULT;

`char **args'
     `args->args' communicates information to the initialization
     function about the general nature of the arguments your function
     was called with.  For a constant argument `i', `args->args[i]'
     points to the argument value.  (See below for instructions on how
     to access the value properly.)  For a non-constant argument,
     `args->args[i]' is `0'.  A constant argument is an expression that
     uses only constants, such as `3' or `4*7-2' or `SIN(3.14)'.  A
     non-constant argument is an expression that refers to values that
     may change from row to row, such as column names or functions that
     are called with non-constant arguments.

     For each invocation of the main function, `args->args' contains the
     actual arguments that are passed for the row currently being
     processed.

     Functions can refer to an argument `i' as follows:

        * An argument of type `STRING_RESULT' is given as a string
          pointer plus a length, to allow handling of binary data or
          data of arbitrary length.  The string contents are available
          as `args->args[i]' and the string length is
          `args->lengths[i]'.  You should not assume that strings are
          null-terminated.

        * For an argument of type `INT_RESULT', you must cast
          `args->args[i]' to a `long long' value:

               long long int_val;
               int_val = *((long long*) args->args[i]);

        * For an argument of type `REAL_RESULT', you must cast
          `args->args[i]' to a `double' value:

               double    real_val;
               real_val = *((double*) args->args[i]);

`unsigned long *lengths'
     For the initialization function, the `lengths' array indicates the
     maximum string length for each argument. You should not change
     these.  For each invocation of the main function, `lengths'
     contains the actual lengths of any string arguments that are
     passed for the row currently being processed.  For arguments of
     types `INT_RESULT' or `REAL_RESULT', `lengths' still contains the
     maximum length of the argument (as for the initialization
     function).

Return Values and Error Handling
................................

The initialization function should return `0' if no error occurred and
`1' otherwise.  If an error occurs, `xxx_init()' should store a
null-terminated error message in the `message' parameter.  The message
will be returned to the client.  The message buffer is
`MYSQL_ERRMSG_SIZE' characters long, but you should try to keep the
message to less than 80 characters so that it fits the width of a
standard terminal screen.

The return value of the main function `xxx()' is the function value, for
`long long' and `double' functions.  A string functions should return a
pointer to the result and store the length of the string in the
`length' arguments.

Set these to the contents and length of the return value.  For example:

     memcpy(result, "result string", 13);
     *length = 13;

The `result' buffer that is passed to the calc function is 255 byte
big. If your result fits in this, you don't have to worry about memory
allocation for results.

If your string function needs to return a string longer than 255 bytes,
you must allocate the space for it with `malloc()' in your `xxx_init()'
function or your `xxx()' function and free it in your `xxx_deinit()'
function.  You can store the allocated memory in the `ptr' slot in the
`UDF_INIT' structure for reuse by future `xxx()' calls.  *Note UDF
calling::.

To indicate a return value of `NULL' in the main function, set
`is_null' to `1':

     *is_null = 1;

To indicate an error return in the main function, set the `error'
parameter to `1':

     *error = 1;

If `xxx()' sets `*error' to `1' for any row, the function value is
`NULL' for the current row and for any subsequent rows processed by the
statement in which `XXX()' was invoked.  (`xxx()' will not even be
called for subsequent rows.) *Note:* In MySQL versions prior to
3.22.10, you should set both `*error' and `*is_null':

     *error = 1;
     *is_null = 1;

Compiling and Installing User-defined Functions
...............................................

Files implementing UDFs must be compiled and installed on the host
where the server runs.  This process is described below for the example
UDF file `udf_example.cc' that is included in the MySQL source
distribution.  This file contains the following functions:

   * `metaphon()' returns a metaphon string of the string argument.
     This is something like a soundex string, but it's more tuned for
     English.

   * `myfunc_double()' returns the sum of the ASCII values of the
     characters in its arguments, divided by the sum of the length of
     its arguments.

   * `myfunc_int()' returns the sum of the length of its arguments.

   * `sequence([const int])' returns an sequence starting from the given
     number or 1 if no number has been given.

   * `lookup()' returns the IP number for a hostname.

   * `reverse_lookup()' returns the hostname for an IP number.  The
     function may be called with a string `"xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"' or four
     numbers.

A dynamically loadable file should be compiled as a sharable object
file, using a command something like this:

     shell> gcc -shared -o udf_example.so myfunc.cc

You can easily find out the correct compiler options for your system by
running this command in the `sql' directory of your MySQL source tree:

     shell> make udf_example.o

You should run a compile command similar to the one that `make'
displays, except that you should remove the `-c' option near the end of
the line and add `-o udf_example.so' to the end of the line.  (On some
systems, you may need to leave  the `-c' on the command.)

Once you compile a shared object containing UDFs, you must install it
and tell MySQL about it. Compiling a shared object from `udf_example.cc'
produces a file named something like `udf_example.so' (the exact name
may vary from platform to platform). Copy this file to some directory
searched by the dynamic linker `ld', such as `/usr/lib' or add the
directory in which you placed the shared object to the linker
configuration file (for example, `/etc/ld.so.conf').

On many systems, you can also set the `LD_LIBRARY' or `LD_LIBRARY_PATH'
environment variable to point at the directory where you have your UDF
function files. The `dlopen' manual page tells you which variable you
should use on your system. You should set this in `mysql.server' or
`mysqld_safe' startup scripts and restart `mysqld'.

After the library is installed, notify `mysqld' about the new functions
with these commands:

     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION metaphon RETURNS STRING SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION myfunc_double RETURNS REAL SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION myfunc_int RETURNS INTEGER SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION lookup RETURNS STRING SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE FUNCTION reverse_lookup
         ->        RETURNS STRING SONAME "udf_example.so";
     mysql> CREATE AGGREGATE FUNCTION avgcost
         ->        RETURNS REAL SONAME "udf_example.so";

Functions can be deleted using `DROP FUNCTION':

     mysql> DROP FUNCTION metaphon;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION myfunc_double;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION myfunc_int;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION lookup;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION reverse_lookup;
     mysql> DROP FUNCTION avgcost;

The `CREATE FUNCTION' and `DROP FUNCTION' statements update the system
table `func' in the `mysql' database.  The function's name, type and
shared library name are saved in the table.  You must have the `INSERT'
and `DELETE' privileges for the `mysql' database to create and drop
functions.

You should not use `CREATE FUNCTION' to add a function that has already
been created.  If you need to reinstall a function, you should remove
it with `DROP FUNCTION' and then reinstall it with `CREATE FUNCTION'.
You would need to do this, for example, if you recompile a new version
of your function, so that `mysqld' gets the new version.  Otherwise,
the server will continue to use the old version.

Active functions are reloaded each time the server starts, unless you
start `mysqld' with the `--skip-grant-tables' option.  In this case, UDF
initialization is skipped and UDFs are unavailable.  (An active
function is one that has been loaded with `CREATE FUNCTION' and not
removed with `DROP FUNCTION'.)

Adding a New Native Function
----------------------------

The procedure for adding a new native function is described here.  Note
that you cannot add native functions to a binary distribution because
the procedure involves modifying MySQL source code.  You must compile
MySQL yourself from a source distribution.  Also note that if you
migrate to another version of MySQL (for example, when a new version is
released), you will need to repeat the procedure with the new version.

To add a new native MySQL function, follow these steps:

  1. Add one line to `lex.h' that defines the function name in the
     `sql_functions[]' array.

  2. If the function prototype is simple (just takes zero, one, two or
     three arguments), you should in lex.h specify SYM(FUNC_ARG#)
     (where # is the number of arguments) as the second argument in the
     `sql_functions[]' array and add a function that creates a function
     object in `item_create.cc'.  Take a look at `"ABS"' and
     `create_funcs_abs()' for an example of this.

     If the function prototype is complicated (for example takes a
     variable number of arguments), you should add two lines to
     `sql_yacc.yy'. One indicates the preprocessor symbol that `yacc'
     should define (this should be added at the beginning of the file).
     Then define the function parameters and add an "item" with these
     parameters to the `simple_expr' parsing rule.  For an example,
     check all occurrences of `ATAN' in `sql_yacc.yy' to see how this
     is done.

  3. In `item_func.h', declare a class inheriting from `Item_num_func'
     or `Item_str_func', depending on whether your function returns a
     number or a string.

  4. In `item_func.cc', add one of the following declarations, depending
     on whether you are defining a numeric or string function:
          double   Item_func_newname::val()
          longlong Item_func_newname::val_int()
          String  *Item_func_newname::Str(String *str)

     If you inherit your object from any of the standard items (like
     `Item_num_func'), you probably only have to define one of the above
     functions and let the parent object take care of the other
     functions.  For example, the `Item_str_func' class defines a
     `val()' function that executes `atof()' on the value returned by
     `::str()'.

  5. You should probably also define the following object function:
          void Item_func_newname::fix_length_and_dec()
     This function should at least calculate `max_length' based on the
     given arguments. `max_length' is the maximum number of characters
     the function may return.  This function should also set `maybe_null
     = 0' if the main function can't return a `NULL' value.  The
     function can check if any of the function arguments can return
     `NULL' by checking the arguments `maybe_null' variable. You can
     take a look at `Item_func_mod::fix_length_and_dec' for a typical
     example of how to do this.

All functions must be thread-safe (in other words, don't use any global
or static variables in the functions without protecting them with
mutexes).

If you want to return `NULL', from `::val()', `::val_int()' or
`::str()' you should set `null_value' to 1 and return 0.

For `::str()' object functions, there are some additional
considerations to be aware of:

   * The `String *str' argument provides a string buffer that may be
     used to hold the result. (For more information about the `String'
     type, take a look at the `sql_string.h' file.)

   * The `::str()' function should return the string that holds the
     result or `(char*) 0' if the result is `NULL'.

   * All current string functions try to avoid allocating any memory
     unless absolutely necessary!

Adding New Procedures to MySQL
==============================

In MySQL, you can define a procedure in C++ that can access and modify
the data in a query before it is sent to the client.  The modification
can be done on row-by-row or `GROUP BY' level.

We have created an example procedure in MySQL Version 3.23 to show you
what can be done.

Additionally we recommend you to take a look at `mylua'.  With this you
can use the LUA language to load a procedure at runtime into `mysqld'.

Procedure Analyse
-----------------

`analyse([max elements,[max memory]])'

This procedure is defined in the `sql/sql_analyse.cc'.  This examines
the result from your query and returns an analysis of the results:

   * `max elements' (default 256) is the maximum number of distinct
     values `analyse' will notice per column.  This is used by
     `analyse' to check if the optimal column type should be of type
     `ENUM'.

   * `max memory' (default 8192) is the maximum memory `analyse' should
     allocate per column while trying to find all distinct values.

     SELECT ... FROM ... WHERE ... PROCEDURE ANALYSE([max elements,[max memory]])

Writing a Procedure
-------------------

For the moment, the only documentation for this is the source.

You can find all information about procedures by examining the
following files:

   * `sql/sql_analyse.cc'

   * `sql/procedure.h'

   * `sql/procedure.cc'

   * `sql/sql_select.cc'

Problems and Common Errors
**************************

This chapter lists some common problems and error messages that users
have run into.  You will learn how to figure out what the problem is,
and what to do to solve it.  You will also find proper solutions to
some common problems.

How to Determine What Is Causing Problems
=========================================

When you run into problems, the first thing you should do is to find out
which program / piece of equipment is causing problems:

   * If you have one of the following symptoms, then it is probably a
     hardware (like memory, motherboard, CPU, or hard disk) or kernel
     problem:
        - The keyboard doesn't work.  This can normally be checked by
          pressing Caps Lock. If the Caps Lock light doesn't change you
          have to replace your keyboard.  (Before doing this, you
          should try to reboot your computer and check all cables to
          the keyboard.)

        - The mouse pointer doesn't move.

        - The machine doesn't answer to a remote machine's pings.

        - Different, unrelated programs don't behave correctly.

        - If your system rebooted unexpectedly (a faulty user level
          program should *never* be able to take down your system).

     In this case you should start by checking all your cables and run
     some diagnostic tool to check your hardware!  You should also
     check if there are any patches, updates, or service packs for your
     operating system that could likely solve your problems.  Check
     also that all your libraries (like glibc) are up to date.

     It's always good to use a machine with ECC memory to discover
     memory problems early!

   * If your keyboard is locked up, you may be able to fix this by
     logging into your machine from another machine and execute
     `kbd_mode -a' on it.

   * Please examine your system log file (/var/log/messages or similar)
     for reasons for your problems.  If you think the problem is in
     MySQL then you should also examine MySQL's log files. *Note Binary
     log::.

   * If you don't think you have hardware problems, you should try to
     find out which program is causing problems.

     Try using `top', `ps', `taskmanager', or some similar program, to
     check which program is taking all CPU or is locking the machine.

   * Check with `top', `df', or a similar program if you are out of
     memory, disk space, open files, or some other critical resource.

   * If the problem is some runaway process, you can always try to kill
     it. If it doesn't want to die, there is probably a bug in the
     operating system.

If after you have examined all other possibilities and you have
concluded that it's the MySQL server or a MySQL client that is causing
the problem, it's time to do a bug report for our mailing list or our
support team.  In the bug report, try to give a very detailed
description of how the system is behaving and what you think is
happening. You should also state why you think it's MySQL that is
causing the problems.  Take into consideration all the situations in
this chapter. State any problems exactly how they appear when you
examine your system. Use the 'cut and paste' method for any output
and/or error messages from programs and/or log files!

Try to describe in detail which program is not working and all symptoms
you see!  We have in the past received many bug reports that just state
"the system doesn't work".  This doesn't provide us with any
information about what could be the problem.

If a program fails, it's always useful to know:

   * Has the program in question made a segmentation fault (core
     dumped)?

   * Is the program taking up the whole CPU? Check with `top'. Let the
     program run for a while, it may be evaluating something heavy.

   * If it's the `mysqld' server that is causing problems, can you do
     `mysqladmin -u root ping' or `mysqladmin -u root processlist'?

   * What does a client program say (try with `mysql', for example)
     when you try to connect to the MySQL server?  Does the client jam?
     Do you get any output from the program?

When sending a bug report, you should of follow the outlines described
in this manual. *Note Asking questions::.

Common Errors When Using MySQL
==============================

This section lists some errors that users frequently get.  You will find
descriptions of the errors, and how to solve the problem here.

`Access denied' Error
---------------------

*Note Access denied::.  *Note Privileges::.

`MySQL server has gone away' Error
----------------------------------

This section also covers the related `Lost connection to server during
query' error.

The most common reason for the `MySQL server has gone away' error is
that the server timed out and closed the connection. By default, the
server closes the connection after 8 hours if nothing has happened. You
can change the time limit by setting the `wait_timeout' variable when
you start `mysqld'.

Another common reason to receive the `MySQL server has gone away' error
is because you have issued a "close" on your MySQL connection and then
tried to run a query on the closed connection.

If you have a script, you just have to issue the query again for the
client to do an automatic reconnection.

You normally can get the following error codes in this case (which one
you get is OS-dependent):

*Error code*              *Description*
`CR_SERVER_GONE_ERROR'    The client couldn't send a question to the
                          server.
`CR_SERVER_LOST'          The client didn't get an error when writing to
                          the server, but it didn't get a full answer
                          (or any answer) to the question.

You will also get this error if someone has kills the running thread
with `kill #threadid#'.

You can check that the MySQL hasn't died by executing `mysqladmin
version' and examining the uptime.  If the problem is that mysqld
crashed you should concentrate one finding the reason for the crash.
You should in this case start by checking if issuing the query again
will kill MySQL again. *Note Crashing::.

You can also get these errors if you send a query to the server that is
incorrect or too large. If `mysqld' gets a packet that is too large or
out of order, it assumes that something has gone wrong with the client
and closes the connection.  If you need big queries (for example, if
you are working with big `BLOB' columns), you can increase the query
limit by starting `mysqld' with the `-O max_allowed_packet=#' option
(default 1M). The extra memory is allocated on demand, so `mysqld' will
allocate more memory only when you issue a big query or when `mysqld'
must return a big result row!

You will also get a lost connection if you are sending a packet >= 16M
if your client is older than 4.0.8 and your server is 4.0.8 and above,
or the other way around.

If you want to make a bug report regarding this problem, be sure that
you include the following information:

   * Include information if MySQL died or not. (You can find this in the
     `hostname.err file'. *Note Crashing::.

   * If a specific query kills `mysqld' and the involved tables where
     checked with `CHECK TABLE' before you did the query, can you do a
     test case for this? *Note Reproduceable test case::.

   * What is the value of the `wait_timeout' variable in the MySQL
     server ?  `mysqladmin variables' gives you the value of this

   * Have you tried to run `mysqld' with `--log' and check if the
     issued query appears in the log ?

*Note Asking questions::.

`Can't connect to [local] MySQL server' Error
---------------------------------------------

A MySQL client on Unix can connect to the `mysqld' server in two
different ways: Unix socket files, which connect through a file in the
file system (default `/tmp/mysqld.sock') or TCP/IP, which connects
through a port number.  Unix socket files are faster than TCP/IP but
can only be used when connecting to a server on the same computer.
Unix socket files are used if you don't specify a hostname or if you
specify the special hostname `localhost'.

On Windows, if the `mysqld' server is running on 9x/Me, you can connect
only via TCP/IP. If the server is running on NT/2000/XP and mysqld is
started with `--enable-named-pipe', you can also connect with named
pipes. The name of the named pipe is MySQL.  If you don't give a
hostname when connecting to `mysqld', a MySQL client will first try to
connect to the named pipe, and if this doesn't work it will connect to
the TCP/IP port.  You can force the use of named pipes on Windows by
using `.' as the hostname.

The error (2002) `Can't connect to ...' normally means that there isn't
a MySQL server running on the system or that you are using a wrong
socket file or TCP/IP port when trying to connect to the `mysqld'
server.

Start by checking (using `ps' or the task manager on Windows) that
there is a process running named `mysqld' on your server!  If there
isn't any `mysqld' process, you should start one. *Note Starting
server::.

If a `mysqld' process is running, you can check the server by trying
these different connections (the port number and socket pathname might
be different in your setup):

     shell> mysqladmin version
     shell> mysqladmin variables
     shell> mysqladmin -h `hostname` version variables
     shell> mysqladmin -h `hostname` --port=3306 version
     shell> mysqladmin -h 'ip for your host' version
     shell> mysqladmin --protocol=socket --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock version

Note the use of backquotes rather than forward quotes with the
`hostname' command; these cause the output of `hostname' (that is, the
current hostname) to be substituted into the `mysqladmin' command.

Here are some reasons the `Can't connect to local MySQL server' error
might occur:

   * `mysqld' is not running.

   * You are running on a system that uses MIT-pthreads.  If you are
     running on a system that doesn't have native threads, `mysqld'
     uses the MIT-pthreads package.  *Note Which OS::.  However, not
     all MIT-pthreads versions support Unix socket files. On a system
     without sockets support you must always specify the hostname
     explicitly when connecting to the server. Try using this command
     to check the connection to the server:
          shell> mysqladmin -h `hostname` version

   * Someone has removed the Unix socket that `mysqld' uses (default
     `/tmp/mysqld.sock').  You might have a `cron' job that removes the
     MySQL socket (for example, a job that removes old files from the
     `/tmp' directory).  You can always run `mysqladmin version' and
     check that the socket `mysqladmin' is trying to use really exists.
     The fix in this case is to change the `cron' job to not remove
     `mysqld.sock' or to place the socket somewhere else.  *Note
     Problems with mysql.sock::.

   * You have started the `mysqld' server with the
     `--socket=/path/to/socket' option.  If you change the socket
     pathname for the server, you must also notify the MySQL clients
     about the new path. You can do this by providing the socket path
     as an argument to the client. *Note Problems with mysql.sock::.

   * You are using Linux and one thread has died (core dumped).  In
     this case you must kill the other `mysqld' threads (for example,
     with the `mysql_zap' script before you can start a new MySQL
     server.  *Note Crashing::.

   * You may not have read and write privilege to either the directory
     that holds the socket file or privilege to the socket file itself.
     In this case you have to either change the privilege for the
     directory / file or restart `mysqld' so that it uses a directory
     that you can access.

If you get the error message `Can't connect to MySQL server on
some_hostname', you can try the following things to find out what the
problem is:

   * Check if the server is up by doing `telnet your-host-name
     tcp-ip-port-number' and press Enter a couple of times.  If there
     is a MySQL server running on this port you should get a responses
     that includes the version number of the running MySQL server.  If
     you get an error like `telnet: Unable to connect to remote host:
     Connection refused', then there is no server running on the given
     port.

   * Try connecting to the `mysqld' daemon on the local machine and
     check the TCP/IP port that `mysqld' it's configured to use
     (variable `port') with `mysqladmin variables'.

   * Check that your `mysqld' server is not started with the
     `--skip-networking' option.

`Client does not support authentication protocol' error
-------------------------------------------------------

MySQL 4.1 uses an authentication protocal based on a password hashing
algorithm that is incompatible with that used by older clients.  If you
upgrade the server to 4.1, attempts to connect to a it with an older
client may fail with the following message:

     shell> mysql
     Client does not support authentication protocol requested
     by server; consider upgrading MySQL client

To solve this problem you should do one of the following:

   * Upgrade all client programs to use the 4.1.1 or newer client
     library.

   * Use a user account with an old password when connecting from a pre
     4.1 client.

   * Reset the user that needs a pre-4.1 client to use an old password:
          mysql> UPDATE user SET Password = OLD_PASSWORD('mypass')
              -> WHERE Host = 'some_host' AND User = 'some_user';
          mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

   * Tell the server to use the older password hashing algorithm:
       1. Start mysqld with `--old-passwords'.

       2. Set the password for all users that has a long password. You
          can find these users with:

               SELECT * FROM mysql.user WHERE LENGTH(password) > 16;

For background on password hashing and authentication, see *Note
Password hashing::.

`Host '...' is blocked' Error
-----------------------------

If you get an error like this:

     Host 'hostname' is blocked because of many connection errors.
     Unblock with 'mysqladmin flush-hosts'

This means that `mysqld' has gotten a lot (`max_connect_errors') of
connect requests from the host `'hostname'' that have been interrupted
in the middle. After `max_connect_errors' failed requests, `mysqld'
assumes that something is wrong (like an attack from a cracker), and
blocks the site from further connections until you execute a
`mysqladmin flush-hosts' command or issue a `FLUSH HOSTS' statement.

By default, `mysqld' blocks a host after 10 connection errors.  You can
easily adjust this by starting the server like this:

     shell> mysqld_safe -O max_connect_errors=10000 &

Note that if you get this error message for a given host, you should
first check that there isn't anything wrong with TCP/IP connections
from that host.  If your TCP/IP connections aren't working, it won't do
you any good to increase the value of the `max_connect_errors' variable!

`Too many connections' Error
----------------------------

If you get the error `Too many connections' when you try to connect to
MySQL, this means that there is already `max_connections' clients
connected to the `mysqld' server.

If you need more connections than the default (100), then you should
restart `mysqld' with a bigger value for the `max_connections' variable.

Note that `mysqld' actually allows (`max_connections'+1) clients to
connect.  The last connection is reserved for a user with the `SUPER'
privilege.  By not giving this privilege to normal users (they
shouldn't need this), an administrator with this privilege can log in
and use `SHOW PROCESSLIST' to find out what could be wrong. *Note SHOW
PROCESSLIST::.

The maximum number of connects MySQL is depending on how good the
thread library is on a given platform. Linux or Solaris should be able
to support 500-1000 simultaneous connections, depending on how much RAM
you have and what your clients are doing.

`Some non-transactional changed tables couldn't be rolled back' Error
---------------------------------------------------------------------

If you get the error/warning: `Warning: Some non-transactional changed
tables couldn't be rolled back' when trying to do a `ROLLBACK', this
means that some of the tables you used in the transaction didn't
support transactions.  These non-transactional tables will not be
affected by the `ROLLBACK' statement.

The most typical case when this happens is when you have tried to create
a table of a type that is not supported by your `mysqld' binary.  If
`mysqld' doesn't support a table type (or if the table type is disabled
by a startup option) , it will instead create the table type with the
table type that is most resembles to the one you requested, probably
`MyISAM'.

You can check the table type for a table by doing:

`SHOW TABLE STATUS LIKE 'table_name''. *Note SHOW TABLE STATUS::.

You can check the extensions your `mysqld' binary supports by doing:

`show variables like 'have_%''. *Note SHOW VARIABLES::.

`Out of memory' Error
---------------------

If you issue a query and get something like the following error:

     mysql: Out of memory at line 42, 'malloc.c'
     mysql: needed 8136 byte (8k), memory in use: 12481367 bytes (12189k)
     ERROR 2008: MySQL client ran out of memory

note that the error refers to the MySQL client `mysql'. The reason for
this error is simply that the client does not have enough memory to
store the whole result.

To remedy the problem, first check that your query is correct. Is it
reasonable that it should return so many rows?  If so, you can use
`mysql --quick', which uses `mysql_use_result()' to retrieve the result
set.  This places less of a load on the client (but more on the server).

`Packet too large' Error
------------------------

When a MySQL client or the `mysqld' server gets a packet bigger than
`max_allowed_packet' bytes, it issues a `Packet too large' error and
closes the connection.

In MySQL 3.23 the biggest possible packet is 16M (due to limits in the
client/server protocol). In MySQL 4.0.1 and up, this is only limited by
the amount on memory you have on your server (up to a theoretical
maximum of 2G).

A communication packet is a single SQL statement sent to the MySQL
server or a single row that is sent to the client.

When a MySQL client or the `mysqld' server gets a packet bigger than
`max_allowed_packet' bytes, it issues a `Packet too large' error and
closes the connection.  With some clients, you may also get `Lost
connection to MySQL server during query' error if the communication
packet is too big.

Note that both the client and the server has it's own
`max_allowed_packet' variable. If you want to handle big packets, you
have to increase this variable both in the client and in the server.

It's safe to increase this variable as memory is only allocated when
needed; this variable is more a precaution to catch wrong packets
between the client/server and also to ensure that you don't accidentally
use big packets so that you run out of memory.

If you are using the `mysql' client, you may specify a bigger buffer by
starting the client with `mysql --set-variable=max_allowed_packet=8M'.
Other clients have different methods to set this variable.  Please note
that `--set-variable' is deprecated since MySQL 4.0, just use
`--max-allowed-packet=8M' instead.

You can use the option file to set `max_allowed_packet' to a larger
size in `mysqld'.  For example, if you are expecting to store the full
length of a `MEDIUMBLOB' into a table, you'll need to start the server
with the `set-variable=max_allowed_packet=16M' option.

You can also get strange problems with large packets if you are using
big blobs, but you haven't given `mysqld' access to enough memory to
handle the query.  If you suspect this is the case, try adding `ulimit
-d 256000' to the beginning of the `mysqld_safe' script and restart
`mysqld'.

Communication Errors / Aborted Connection
-----------------------------------------

Starting with `MySQL 3.23.40' you only get the `Aborted connection'
error of you start `mysqld' with `--warnings'.

If you find errors like the following in your error log.

     010301 14:38:23  Aborted connection 854 to db: 'users' user: 'josh'

*Note Error log::.

This means that something of the following has happened:

   * The client program did not call `mysql_close()' before exit.

   * The client had been sleeping more than `wait_timeout' or
     `interactive_timeout' without doing any requests.  *Note
     `wait_timeout': SHOW VARIABLES.  *Note `interactive_timeout': SHOW
     VARIABLES.

   * The client program ended abruptly in the middle of the transfer.

When the above happens, the server variable `Aborted_clients' is
incremented.

The server variable `Aborted_connects' is incremented when:

   * When a connection packet doesn't contain the right information.

   * When the user didn't have privileges to connect to a database.

   * When a user uses a wrong password.

   * When it takes more than `connect_timeout' seconds to get a connect
     package.  *Note `connect_timeout': SHOW VARIABLES.

Note that the above could indicate that someone is trying to break into
your database!

Other reasons for problems with Aborted clients / Aborted connections.
   * Usage of Ethernet protocol with Linux, both half and full duplex.
     Many Linux Ethernet drivers have this bug. You should test for this
     bug by transferring a huge file via ftp between these two machines.
     If a transfer goes in burst-pause-burst-pause ... mode then you are
     experiencing a Linux duplex syndrome.  The only solution is
     switching duplex mode for both your network card and Hub/Switch to
     either full duplex or to half duplex and testing the results to
     decide on the best setting.

   * Some problem with the thread library that causes interrupts on
     reads.

   * Badly configured TCP/IP.

   * Faulty Ethernets or hubs or switches, cables ... This can be
     diagnosed properly only by replacing hardware.

   * `max_allowed_packet' is too small or queries require more memory
     than you have allocated for `mysqld'. *Note Packet too large::.

`The table is full' Error
-------------------------

There are a couple of different cases when you can get this error:

   * You are using an older MySQL version (before 3.23.0) when an
     in-memory temporary table becomes larger than `tmp_table_size'
     bytes.  To avoid this problem, you can use the `-O
     tmp_table_size=#' option to make `mysqld' increase the temporary
     table size or use the SQL option `SQL_BIG_TABLES' before you issue
     the problematic query.  *Note `SET': SET OPTION.

     You can also start `mysqld' with the `--big-tables' option.  This
     is exactly the same as using `SQL_BIG_TABLES' for all queries.

     In MySQL Version 3.23, if an in-memory temporary table becomes
     larger than `tmp_table_size', the server automatically converted
     it to a disk-based `MyISAM' table.

   * You are using `InnoDB' tables and run out of room in the `InnoDB'
     tablespace. In this case the solution is to extend the `InnoDB'
     tablespace.

   * You are using `ISAM' or `MyISAM' tables on an OS that only
     supports files of 2G in size and you have hit this limit for the
     datafile or index file.

   * You are using `MyISAM' tables and the needed data or index size is
     bigger than what MySQL has allocated pointers for.  (If you don't
     specify `MAX_ROWS' to `CREATE TABLE' MySQL will only allocate
     pointers to hold 4G of data).

     You can check the maximum data/index sizes by doing
          SHOW TABLE STATUS FROM database LIKE 'table_name';
     or using `myisamchk -dv database/table_name'.

     If this is the problem, you can fix it by doing something like:
          ALTER TABLE table_name MAX_ROWS=1000000000 AVG_ROW_LENGTH=nnn;
     You only have to specify `AVG_ROW_LENGTH' for tables with
     `BLOB/TEXT' fields as in this case MySQL can't optimize the space
     required based only on the number of rows.

`Can't create/write to file' Error
----------------------------------

If you get an error for some queries of type:

     Can't create/write to file '\\sqla3fe_0.ism'.

this means that MySQL can't create a temporary file for the result set
in the given temporary directory. (The above error is a typical error
message on Windows, and the Unix error message is similar.)  The fix is
to start `mysqld' with `--tmpdir=path' or to add to your option file:

     [mysqld]
     tmpdir=C:/temp

assuming that the `c:\\temp' directory exists. *Note Option files::.

Check also the error code that you get with `perror'. One reason may
also be a disk full error;

     shell> perror 28
     Error code  28:  No space left on device

`Commands out of sync' Error in Client
--------------------------------------

If you get `Commands out of sync; you can't run this command now' in
your client code, you are calling client functions in the wrong order!

This can happen, for example, if you are using `mysql_use_result()' and
try to execute a new query before you have called `mysql_free_result()'.
It can also happen if you try to execute two queries that return data
without a `mysql_use_result()' or `mysql_store_result()' in between.

`Ignoring user' Error
---------------------

If you get the following error:

`Found wrong password for user: 'some_user@some_host'; ignoring user'

this means that when `mysqld' was started or when it reloaded the
permissions tables, it found an entry in the `user' table with an
invalid password.  As a result, the entry is simply ignored by the
permission system.

Possible causes of and fixes for this problem:

   * You may be running a new version of `mysqld' with an old `user'
     table.  You can check this by executing `mysqlshow mysql user' to
     see whether the password field is shorter than 16 characters. If
     so, you can correct this condition by running the
     `scripts/add_long_password' script.

   * The user has an old password (8 characters long) and you didn't
     start `mysqld' with the `--old-protocol' option.  Update the user
     in the `user' table with a new password or restart `mysqld' with
     `--old-protocol'.

   * You have specified a password in the `user' table without using the
     `PASSWORD()' function.  Use `mysql' to update the user in the
     `user' table with a new password. Make sure to use the `PASSWORD()'
     function:

          mysql> UPDATE user SET password=PASSWORD('your password')
              ->             WHERE user='XXX';

`Table 'xxx' doesn't exist' Error
---------------------------------

If you get the error `Table 'xxx' doesn't exist' or `Can't find file:
'xxx' (errno: 2)', this means that no table exists in the current
database with the name `xxx'.

Note that as MySQL uses directories and files to store databases and
tables, the database and table names are *case sensitive*!  (On Windows
the databases and tables names are not case sensitive, but all
references to a given table within a query must use the same case!)

You can check which tables you have in the current database with `SHOW
TABLES'. *Note `SHOW': SHOW.

`Can't initialize character set xxx' error
------------------------------------------

If you get an error like:

     MySQL Connection Failed: Can't initialize character set xxx

This means one of the following things:

   * The character set is a multi-byte character set and you have no
     support for the character set in the client.

     In this case you need to recompile the client with
     `--with-charset=xxx' or with `--with-extra-charsets=xxx'.  *Note
     configure options::.

     All standard MySQL binaries are compiled with
     `--with-extra-character-sets=complex' which will enable support for
     all multi-byte character sets. *Note Character sets::.

   * The character set is a simple character set which is not compiled
     into `mysqld' and the character set definition files are not in
     the place where the client expects to find them.

     In this case you need to:

        * Recompile the client with support for the character set.
          *Note configure options::.

        * Specify to the client where the character set definition
          files are. For many clients you can do this with the
          `--character-sets-dir=path-to-charset-dir' option.

        * Copy the character definition files to the path where the
          client expects them to be.

File Not Found
--------------

If you get `ERROR '...' not found (errno: 23)', `Can't open file: ...
(errno: 24)', or any other error with `errno 23' or `errno 24' from
MySQL, it means that you haven't allocated enough file descriptors for
MySQL.  You can use the `perror' utility to get a description of what
the error number means:

     shell> perror 23
     File table overflow
     shell> perror 24
     Too many open files
     shell> perror 11
     Resource temporarily unavailable

The problem here is that `mysqld' is trying to keep open too many files
simultaneously.  You can either tell `mysqld' not to open so many files
at once or increase the number of file descriptors available to
`mysqld'.

To tell `mysqld' to keep open fewer files at a time, you can make the
table cache smaller by using the `-O table_cache=32' option to
`mysqld_safe' (the default value is 64). Reducing the value of
`max_connections' will also reduce the number of open files (the
default value is 90).

To change the number of file descriptors available to `mysqld', you can
use the option `--open-files-limit=#' to `mysqld_safe' or `-O
open_files_limit=#' to `mysqld'.  *Note `open_files_limit': SHOW
VARIABLES.  The easiest way to do that is to add the option to your
option file.  *Note Option files::.  If you have an old `mysqld'
version that doesn't support this, you can edit the `mysqld_safe'
script.  There is a commented-out line `ulimit -n 256' in the script.
You can remove the `'#'' character to uncomment this line, and change
the number 256 to affect the number of file descriptors available to
`mysqld'.

`ulimit' (and `open-files-limit') can increase the number of file
descriptors, but only up to the limit imposed by the operating system.
There is also a 'hard' limit that can only be overridden if you start
`mysqld_safe' or `mysqld' as root (just remember that you need to also
use the `--user=...' option in this case).  If you need to increase the
OS limit on the number of file descriptors available to each process,
consult the documentation for your operating system.

Note that if you run the `tcsh' shell, `ulimit' will not work!  `tcsh'
will also report incorrect values when you ask for the current limits!
In this case you should start `mysqld_safe' with `sh'!

Installation Related Issues
===========================

Problems When Linking with the MySQL Client Library
---------------------------------------------------

If you are linking your program and you get errors for unreferenced
symbols that start with `mysql_', like the following:

     /tmp/ccFKsdPa.o: In function `main':
     /tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0xb): undefined reference to `mysql_init'
     /tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0x31): undefined reference to `mysql_real_connect'
     /tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0x57): undefined reference to `mysql_real_connect'
     /tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0x69): undefined reference to `mysql_error'
     /tmp/ccFKsdPa.o(.text+0x9a): undefined reference to `mysql_close'

you should be able to solve this by adding `-Lpath-to-the-mysql-library
-lmysqlclient' *last* on your link line.

If you get `undefined reference' errors for the `uncompress' or
`compress' function, add `-lz' *last* on your link line and try again!

If you get `undefined reference' errors for functions that should exist
on your system, like `connect', check the man page for the function in
question, for which libraries you should add to the link line!

If you get `undefined reference' errors for functions that don't exist
on your system, like the following:

     mf_format.o(.text+0x201): undefined reference to `__lxstat'

it usually means that your library is compiled on a system that is not
100% compatible with yours.  In this case you should download the
latest MySQL source distribution and compile this yourself.  *Note
Installing source::.

If you are trying to run a program and you then get errors for
unreferenced symbols that start with `mysql_' or that the `mysqlclient'
library can't be found, this means that your system can't find the
share `libmysqlclient.so' library.

The fix for this is to tell your system to search after shared
libraries where the library is located by one of the following methods:

   * Add the path to the directory where you have `libmysqlclient.so'
     the `LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable.

   * Add the path to the directory where you have `libmysqlclient.so'
     the `LD_LIBRARY' environment variable.

   * Copy `libmysqlclient.so' to some place that is searched by your
     system, like `/lib', and update the shared library information by
     executing `ldconfig'.

Another way to solve this problem is to link your program statically,
with `-static', or by removing the dynamic MySQL libraries before
linking your code. In the second case you should be sure that no other
programs are using the dynamic libraries!

How to Run MySQL As a Normal User
---------------------------------

The MySQL server `mysqld' can be started and run by any user.  In order
to change `mysqld' to run as a Unix user `user_name', you must do the
following:

  1. Stop the server if it's running (use `mysqladmin shutdown').

  2. Change the database directories and files so that `user_name' has
     privileges to read and write files in them (you may need to do
     this as the Unix `root' user):

          shell> chown -R user_name /path/to/mysql/datadir

     If directories or files within the MySQL data directory are
     symlinks, you'll also need to follow those links and change the
     directories and files they point to.  `chown -R' may not follow
     symlinks for you.

  3. Start the server as user `user_name', or, if you are using MySQL
     Version 3.22 or later, start `mysqld' as the Unix `root' user and
     use the `--user=user_name' option.  `mysqld' will switch to run as
     the Unix user `user_name' before accepting any connections.

  4. To start the server as the given username automatically at system
     startup time, add a `user' line that specifies the username to the
     `[mysqld]' group of the `/etc/my.cnf' option file or the `my.cnf'
     option file in the server's data directory. For example:

          [mysqld]
          user=user_name

At this point, your `mysqld' process should be running fine and dandy as
the Unix user `user_name'. One thing hasn't changed, though: the
contents of the permissions tables. By default (right after running the
permissions table install script `mysql_install_db'), the MySQL user
`root' is the only user with permission to access the `mysql' database
or to create or drop databases.  Unless you have changed those
permissions, they still hold. This shouldn't stop you from accessing
MySQL as the MySQL `root' user when you're logged in as a Unix user
other than `root'; just specify the `-u root' option to the client
program.

Note that accessing MySQL as `root', by supplying `-u root' on the
command-line, has *nothing* to do with MySQL running as the Unix `root'
user, or, indeed, as another Unix user. The access permissions and
usernames of MySQL are completely separate from Unix usernames. The
only connection with Unix usernames is that if you don't provide a `-u'
option when you invoke a client program, the client will try to connect
using your Unix login name as your MySQL user name.

If your Unix box itself isn't secured, you should probably at least put
a password on the MySQL `root' users in the access tables.  Otherwise,
any user with an account on that machine can run `mysql -u root
db_name' and do whatever he likes.

On Windows, you can install MySQL 4.0.17 and MySQL 4.1.2 as services as
a normal user. (Older MySQL versions required you to have administrator
rights;  This was a bug introduced in MySQL 3.23.54).

Problems with File Permissions
------------------------------

If you have problems with file permissions, for example, if `mysql'
issues the following error message when you create a table:

     ERROR: Can't find file: 'path/with/filename.frm' (Errcode: 13)

then the environment variable `UMASK' might be set incorrectly when
`mysqld' starts.  The default umask value is `0660'. You can change
this behavior by starting `mysqld_safe' as follows:

     shell> UMASK=384  # = 600 in octal
     shell> export UMASK
     shell> /path/to/mysqld_safe &

By default MySQL will create database and `RAID' directories with
permission type 0700.  You can modify this behavior by setting the
`UMASK_DIR' variable. If you set this, new directories are created with
the combined `UMASK' and `UMASK_DIR'. For example, if you want to give
group access to all new directories, you can do:

     shell> UMASK_DIR=504  # = 770 in octal
     shell> export UMASK_DIR
     shell> /path/to/mysqld_safe &

In MySQL Version 3.23.25 and above, MySQL assumes that the value for
`UMASK' and `UMASK_DIR' is in octal if it starts with a zero.

*Note Environment variables::.

Administration Related Issues
=============================

What To Do If MySQL Keeps Crashing
----------------------------------

All MySQL versions are tested on many platforms before they are
released.  This doesn't mean that there aren't any bugs in MySQL, but
it means if there are bugs, they are very few and can be hard to find.
If you have a problem, it will always help if you try to find out
exactly what crashes your system, as you will have a much better chance
of getting this fixed quickly.

First, you should try to find out whether the problem is that the
`mysqld' daemon dies or whether your problem has to do with your
client.  You can check how long your `mysqld' server has been up by
executing `mysqladmin version'.  If `mysqld' has died, you may find the
reason for this in the file `mysql-data-directory/`hostname`.err'.
*Note Error log::.

On some systems you can find in this file a stack trace of where
`mysqld' died that you can resolve with `resolve_back_stack'.  *Note
Using stack trace::. Note that the variable values written in the `.err'
file may not always be 100 percent correct.

Many crashes of MySQL are caused by corrupted index files or datafiles.
MySQL will update the data on disk, with the `write()' system call,
after every SQL statement and before the client is notified about the
result. (This is not true if you are running with `delay_key_write', in
which case only the data is written.)  This means that the data is safe
even if `mysqld' crashes, as the OS will ensure that the not flushed
data is written to disk.  You can force MySQL to sync everything to
disk after every SQL command by starting `mysqld' with `--flush'.

The above means that normally you shouldn't get corrupted tables unless:

   * Someone/something killed `mysqld' or the machine in the middle of
     an update.

   * You have found a bug in `mysqld' that caused it to die in the
     middle of an update.

   * Someone is manipulating the data/index files outside of *mysqld*
     without locking the table properly.

   * If you are running many `mysqld' servers on the same data on a
     system that doesn't support good filesystem locks (normally
     handled by the `lockd' daemon ) or if you are running multiple
     servers with `--skip-external-locking'

   * You have a crashed index/datafile that contains very wrong data
     that got `mysqld' confused.

   * You have found a bug in the data storage code. This isn't that
     likely, but it's at least possible.  In this case you can try to
     change the file type to another storage engine by using `ALTER
     TABLE' on a repaired copy of the table!

Because it is very difficult to know why something is crashing, first
try to check whether things that work for others crash for you.  Please
try the following things:

     Take down the `mysqld' daemon with `mysqladmin shutdown', run
     `myisamchk --silent --force */*.MYI' on all tables, and restart the
     `mysqld' daemon.  This will ensure that you are running from a
     clean state.  *Note MySQL Database Administration::.

   * Use `mysqld --log' and try to determine from the information in
     the log whether some specific query kills the server. About 95% of
     all bugs are related to a particular query!  Normally this is one
     of the last queries in the log file just before MySQL restarted.
     *Note Query log::.  If you can repeatedly kill MySQL with one of
     the queries, even when you have checked all tables just before
     doing the query, then you have been able to locate the bug and
     should do a bug report for this!  *Note Bug reports::.

   * Try to make a test case that we can use to reproduce the problem.
     *Note Reproduceable test case::.

   * Try running the included mysql-test test and the MySQL benchmarks.
     *Note MySQL test suite::.  They should test MySQL rather well.
     You can also add code to the benchmarks that simulates your
     application!  The benchmarks can be found in the `bench' directory
     in the source distribution or, for a binary distribution, in the
     `sql-bench' directory under your MySQL installation directory.

   * Try `fork_test.pl' and `fork2_test.pl'.

   * If you configure MySQL for debugging, it will be much easier to
     gather information about possible errors if something goes wrong.
     Reconfigure MySQL with the `--with-debug' option or
     `--with-debug=full' to `configure' and then recompile.  *Note
     Debugging server::.

   * Configuring MySQL for debugging causes a safe memory allocator to
     be included that can find some errors. It also provides a lot of
     output about what is happening.

   * Have you applied the latest patches for your operating system?

   * Use the `--skip-external-locking' option to `mysqld'.  On some
     systems, the `lockd' lock manager does not work properly; the
     `--skip-external-locking' option tells `mysqld' not to use external
     locking.  (This means that you cannot run 2 `mysqld' servers on
     the same data and that you must be careful if you use `myisamchk',
     but it may be instructive to try the option as a test.)

   * Have you tried `mysqladmin -u root processlist' when `mysqld'
     appears to be running but not responding?  Sometimes `mysqld' is
     not comatose even though you might think so.  The problem may be
     that all connections are in use, or there may be some internal
     lock problem.  `mysqladmin processlist' will usually be able to
     make a connection even in these cases, and can provide useful
     information about the current number of connections and their
     status.

   * Run the command `mysqladmin -i 5 status' or `mysqladmin -i 5 -r
     status' or in a separate window to produce statistics while you run
     your other queries.

   * Try the following:
       1. Start `mysqld' from `gdb' (or in another debugger).  *Note
          Using `gdb' on `mysqld': Using gdb on mysqld.

       2. Run your test scripts.

       3. Print the backtrace and the local variables at the 3 lowest
          levels. In gdb you can do this with the following commands
          when `mysqld' has crashed inside gdb:

               backtrace
               info local
               up
               info local
               up
               info local

          With gdb you can also examine which threads exist with `info
          threads' and switch to a specific thread with `thread #',
          where `#' is the thread ID.

   * Try to simulate your application with a Perl script to force MySQL
     to crash or misbehave.

   * Send a normal bug report. *Note Bug reports::. Be even more
     detailed than usual.  Because MySQL works for many people, it may
     be that the crash results from something that exists only on your
     computer (for example, an error that is related to your particular
     system libraries).

   * If you have a problem with tables with dynamic-length rows and you
     are not using `BLOB/TEXT' columns (but only `VARCHAR' columns), you
     can try to change all `VARCHAR' to `CHAR' with `ALTER TABLE'.
     This will force MySQL to use fixed-size rows.  Fixed-size rows
     take a little extra space, but are much more tolerant to
     corruption!

     The current dynamic row code has been in use at MySQL AB for at
     least 3 years without any problems, but by nature dynamic-length
     rows are more prone to errors, so it may be a good idea to try the
     above to see whether it helps!

How to Reset a Forgotten Root Password
--------------------------------------

If you never set a `root' password for MySQL, then the server will not
require a password at all for connecting as `root'. It is recommended
to always set a password for each user. *Note Security guidelines::.

If you have set a `root' password, but forgot what it was, you can set
a new password with the following procedure:

  1. Take down the `mysqld' server by sending a `kill' (not `kill -9')
     to the `mysqld' server.  The pid is stored in a `.pid' file, which
     is normally in the MySQL database directory:
          shell> kill `cat /mysql-data-directory/hostname.pid`
     You must be either the Unix `root' user or the same user `mysqld'
     runs as to do this.

  2. Restart `mysqld' with the `--skip-grant-tables' option.

  3. Set a new password with the `mysqladmin password' command:
          shell> mysqladmin -u root password "mynewpassword"

  4. Now you can either stop `mysqld' and restart it normally, or just
     load the privilege tables with:
          shell> mysqladmin -h hostname flush-privileges

  5. After this, you should be able to connect using the new password.

Alternatively, you can set the new password using the `mysql' client:
  1. Take down and restart `mysqld' with the `--skip-grant-tables'
     option as described above.

  2. Connect to the `mysqld' server with:
          shell> mysql -u root mysql

  3. Issue the following commands in the `mysql' client:
          mysql> UPDATE user SET Password=PASSWORD('mynewpassword')
              ->             WHERE User='root';
          mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

  4. After this, you should be able to connect using the new password.

  5. You can now stop `mysqld' and restart it normally.

How MySQL Handles a Full Disk
-----------------------------

When a disk-full condition occurs, MySQL does the following:

   * It checks once every minute to see whether there is enough space to
     write the current row. If there is enough space, it continues as
     if nothing had happened.

   * Every 6 minutes it writes an entry to the log file warning about
     the disk full condition.

To alleviate the problem, you can take the following actions:

   * To continue, you only have to free enough disk space to insert all
     records.

   * To abort the thread, you must send a `mysqladmin kill' to the
     thread.  The thread will be aborted the next time it checks the
     disk (in 1 minute).

   * Note that other threads may be waiting for the table that caused
     the disk full condition.  If you have several "locked" threads,
     killing the one thread that is waiting on the disk-full condition
     will allow the other threads to continue.

Exceptions to the above behavior is when you use `REPAIR' or `OPTIMIZE'
or when the indexes are created in a batch after an `LOAD DATA INFILE'
or after an `ALTER TABLE' statement.

All of the above commands may use big temporary files that left to
themself would cause big problems for the rest of the system.  If MySQL
gets disk full while doing any of the above operations, it will remove
the big temporary files and mark the table as crashed (except for
`ALTER TABLE', in which the old table will be left unchanged).

Where MySQL Stores Temporary Files
----------------------------------

MySQL uses the value of the `TMPDIR' environment variable as the
pathname of the directory in which to store temporary files.  If you
don't have `TMPDIR' set, MySQL uses the system default, which is
normally `/tmp' or `/usr/tmp'.  If the filesystem containing your
temporary file directory is too small, you should edit `mysqld_safe' to
set `TMPDIR' to point to a directory in a filesystem where you have
enough space!  You can also set the temporary directory using the
`--tmpdir' option to `mysqld'.

MySQL creates all temporary files as hidden files. This ensures that
the temporary files will be removed if `mysqld' is terminated.  The
disadvantage of using hidden files is that you will not see a big
temporary file that fills up the filesystem in which the temporary file
directory is located.

When sorting (`ORDER BY' or `GROUP BY'), MySQL normally uses one or two
temporary files. The maximum disk-space needed is:

     (length of what is sorted + sizeof(database pointer))
     * number of matched rows
     * 2

`sizeof(database pointer)' is usually 4, but may grow in the future for
really big tables.

For some `SELECT' queries, MySQL also creates temporary SQL tables.
These are not hidden and have names of the form `SQL_*'.

`ALTER TABLE' creates a temporary table in the same directory as the
original table.

If you use MySQL 4.1 or later you can spread load between several
physical disks by setting `--tmpdir' to a list of paths separated by
colon `:' (semicolon `;' on Windows). They will be used in round-robin
fashion.  *Note:* These paths should end up on different *physical*
disks, not different partitions of the same disk.

It is possible to set `tmpdir' to point to a memory-based filesystem,
except if the MySQL server is a slave. If it is a slave, it needs some
of its temporary files (for replication of temporary tables or of `LOAD
DATA INFILE') to survive a machine's reboot, so a memory-based `tmpdir'
which is cleared when the machine reboots is not suitable; a disk-based
`tmpdir' is necessary.

How to Protect or Change the MySQL Socket File `/tmp/mysql.sock'
----------------------------------------------------------------

If you have problems with the fact that anyone can delete the MySQL
communication socket `/tmp/mysql.sock', you can, on most versions of
Unix, protect your `/tmp' filesystem by setting the `sticky' bit on it.
Log in as `root' and do the following:

     shell> chmod +t /tmp

This will protect your `/tmp' filesystem so that files can be deleted
only by their owners or the superuser (`root').

You can check if the `sticky' bit is set by executing `ls -ld /tmp'.
If the last permission bit is `t', the bit is set.

You can change the place where MySQL uses / puts the socket file the
following ways:

   * Specify the path in a global or local option file.  For example,
     put in `/etc/my.cnf':

          [client]
          socket=path-for-socket-file
          
          [mysqld]
          socket=path-for-socket-file
     *Note Option files::.

   * Specifying this on the command-line to `mysqld_safe' and most
     clients with the `--socket=path-for-socket-file' option.

   * Specify the path to the socket in the `MYSQL_UNIX_PORT' environment
     variable.

   * Defining the path with the `configure' option
     `--with-unix-socket-path=path-for-socket-file'. *Note configure
     options::.

You can test that the socket works with this command:

     shell> mysqladmin --socket=/path/to/socket version

Time Zone Problems
------------------

If you have a problem with `SELECT NOW()' returning values in GMT and
not your local time, you have to set the `TZ' environment variable to
your current time zone.  This should be done for the environment in
which the server runs, for example, in `mysqld_safe' or `mysql.server'.
*Note Environment variables::.

The same applies if `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()' returns the wrong value.

You can set the time zone for the server by setting the `TZ' environment
variable before you start `mysqld'.  You can also set it with the
`--timezone=timezone_name' argument to `mysqld_safe'.

The allowable `TZ' values are system-dependent. Consult your operating
system documentation to see what values are acceptable.

Query Related Issues
====================

Case-Sensitivity in Searches
----------------------------

By default, MySQL searches are not case sensitive (although there are
some character sets that are never case-insensitive, such as `czech').
That means that if you search with `col_name LIKE 'a%'', you will get
all column values that start with `A' or `a'. If you want to make this
search case sensitive, use something like `INSTR(col_name, "A")=1' to
check a prefix. Or use `STRCMP(col_name, "A") = 0' if the column value
must be exactly `"A"'.

Simple comparison operations (`>=, >, = , < , <=', sorting and
grouping) are based on each character's "sort value". Characters with
the same sort value (like E, e and é) are treated as the same character!

In older MySQL versions `LIKE' comparisons were done on the uppercase
value of each character (E == e but E <> é).  In newer MySQL versions
`LIKE' works just like the other comparison operators.

If you want a column always to be treated in case-sensitive fashion,
declare it as `BINARY'. *Note `CREATE TABLE': CREATE TABLE.

If you are using Chinese data in the so-called big5 encoding, you want
to make all character columns `BINARY'. This works because the sorting
order of big5 encoding characters is based on the order of ASCII codes.

Problems Using `DATE' Columns
-----------------------------

The format of a `DATE' value is `'YYYY-MM-DD''. According to standard
SQL, no other format is allowed. You should use this format in `UPDATE'
expressions and in the WHERE clause of `SELECT' statements.  For
example:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name WHERE date >= '1997-05-05';

As a convenience, MySQL automatically converts a date to a number if
the date is used in a numeric context (and vice versa). It is also smart
enough to allow a "relaxed" string form when updating and in a `WHERE'
clause that compares a date to a `TIMESTAMP', `DATE', or a `DATETIME'
column.  (Relaxed form means that any punctuation character may be used
as the separator between parts. For example, `'1998-08-15'' and
`'1998#08#15'' are equivalent.) MySQL can also convert a string
containing no separators (such as `'19980815''), provided it makes
sense as a date.

The special date `'0000-00-00'' can be stored and retrieved as
`'0000-00-00'.' When using a `'0000-00-00'' date through `MyODBC', it
will automatically be converted to `NULL' in `MyODBC' Version 2.50.12
and above, because ODBC can't handle this kind of date.

Because MySQL performs the conversions described above, the following
statements work:

     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES (19970505);
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('19970505');
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('97-05-05');
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('1997.05.05');
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('1997 05 05');
     mysql> INSERT INTO tbl_name (idate) VALUES ('0000-00-00');
     
     mysql> SELECT idate FROM tbl_name WHERE idate >= '1997-05-05';
     mysql> SELECT idate FROM tbl_name WHERE idate >= 19970505;
     mysql> SELECT MOD(idate,100) FROM tbl_name WHERE idate >= 19970505;
     mysql> SELECT idate FROM tbl_name WHERE idate >= '19970505';

However, the following will not work:

     mysql> SELECT idate FROM tbl_name WHERE STRCMP(idate,'19970505')=0;

`STRCMP()' is a string function, so it converts `idate' to a string and
performs a string comparison.  It does not convert `'19970505'' to a
date and perform a date comparison.

Note that MySQL does very limited checking whether the date is correct.
If you store an incorrect date, such as `'1998-2-31'', the wrong date
will be stored.

Because MySQL packs dates for storage, it can't store any given date as
it would not fit onto the result buffer. The rules for accepting a date
are:
   * If MySQL can store and retrieve a given date, the wrong date is
     accepted for `DATE' and `DATETIME' columns.

   * All days values between 0-31 are accepted for any date.  This
     makes it very convenient for web applications where you ask year,
     month and day in 3 different fields.

   * The day or month field may be zero.  This is convenient if you want
     to store a birthdate in a `DATE' column and you only know part of
     the date.

If the date cannot be converted to any reasonable value, a `0' is
stored in the `DATE' field, which will be retrieved as `0000-00-00'.
This is both a speed and convenience issue as we believe that the
database's responsibility is to retrieve the same date you stored (even
if the data was not logically correct in all cases).  We think it is up
to the application to check the dates, and not the server.

Problems with `NULL' Values
---------------------------

The concept of the `NULL' value is a common source of confusion for
newcomers to SQL, who often think that `NULL' is the same thing as an
empty string `""'.  This is not the case! For example, the following
statements are completely different:

     mysql> INSERT INTO my_table (phone) VALUES (NULL);
     mysql> INSERT INTO my_table (phone) VALUES ("");

Both statements insert a value into the `phone' column, but the first
inserts a `NULL' value and the second inserts an empty string.  The
meaning of the first can be regarded as "phone number is not known" and
the meaning of the second can be regarded as "she has no phone".

In SQL, the `NULL' value is always false in comparison to any other
value, even `NULL'.  An expression that contains `NULL' always produces
a `NULL' value unless otherwise indicated in the documentation for the
operators and functions involved in the expression. All columns in the
following example return `NULL':

     mysql> SELECT NULL,1+NULL,CONCAT('Invisible',NULL);

If you want to search for column values that are `NULL', you cannot use
the `=NULL' test. The following statement returns no rows, because
`expr = NULL' is FALSE, for any expression:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE phone = NULL;

To look for `NULL' values, you must use the `IS NULL' test.  The
following shows how to find the `NULL' phone number and the empty phone
number:

     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE phone IS NULL;
     mysql> SELECT * FROM my_table WHERE phone = "";

Note that you can add an index on a column that can have `NULL' values
only if you are using MySQL Version 3.23.2 or newer and are using the
`MyISAM', `InnoDB', or `BDB' table type.  In earlier versions and with
other table types, you must declare such columns `NOT NULL'. This also
means you cannot then insert `NULL' into an indexed column.

When reading data with `LOAD DATA INFILE', empty columns are updated
with `'''. If you want a `NULL' value in a column, you should use `\N'
in the text file. The literal word `'NULL'' may also be used under some
circumstances.  *Note `LOAD DATA': LOAD DATA.

When using `ORDER BY', `NULL' values are presented first, or last if
you specify `DESC' to sort in descending order. Exception: In MySQL
versions 4.0.2 through 4.0.10, `NULL' values sort first regardless of
sort order.

When using `GROUP BY', all `NULL' values are regarded as equal.

Aggregate (summary) functions such as `COUNT()', `MIN()', and `SUM()'
ignore `NULL' values. The exception to this is `COUNT(*)', which counts
rows and not individual column values.  For example, the following
statement would produce two counts.  The first is a count of the number
of rows in the table, and the second is a count of the number of
non-`NULL' values in the `age' column:

     mysql> SELECT COUNT(*), COUNT(age) FROM person;

To help with `NULL' handling, you can use the `IS NULL' and `IS NOT
NULL' operators and the `IFNULL()' function.

For some column types, `NULL' values are handled specially.  If you
insert `NULL' into the first `TIMESTAMP' column of a table, the current
date and time is inserted.  If you insert `NULL' into an
`AUTO_INCREMENT' column, the next number in the sequence is inserted.

Problems with `alias'
---------------------

You can use an alias to refer to a column in the `GROUP BY', `ORDER
BY', or in the `HAVING' part.  Aliases can also be used to give columns
better names:

     SELECT SQRT(a*b) as rt FROM table_name GROUP BY rt HAVING rt > 0;
     SELECT id,COUNT(*) AS cnt FROM table_name GROUP BY id HAVING cnt > 0;
     SELECT id AS "Customer identity" FROM table_name;

Note that standard SQL doesn't allow you to refer to an alias in a
`WHERE' clause.  This is because when the `WHERE' code is executed the
column value may not yet be determined. For example, the following
query is *illegal*:

     SELECT id,COUNT(*) AS cnt FROM table_name WHERE cnt > 0 GROUP BY id;

The `WHERE' statement is executed to determine which rows should be
included in the `GROUP BY' part while `HAVING' is used to decide which
rows from the result set should be used.

Deleting Rows from Related Tables
---------------------------------

As MySQL doesn't support subqueries (prior to Version 4.1), nor the use
of more than one table in the `DELETE' statement (prior to Version
4.0), you should use the following approach to delete rows from 2
related tables:

  1. `SELECT' the rows based on some `WHERE' condition in the main
     table.

  2. `DELETE' the rows in the main table based on the same condition.

  3. `DELETE FROM related_table WHERE related_column IN
     (selected_rows)'.

If the total number of characters in the query with `related_column' is
more than 1,048,576 (the default value of `max_allowed_packet', you
should split it into smaller parts and execute multiple `DELETE'
statements.  You will probably get the fastest `DELETE' by only
deleting 100-1000 `related_column' ids per query if the
`related_column' is an index.  If the `related_column' isn't an index,
the speed is independent of the number of arguments in the `IN' clause.

Solving Problems with No Matching Rows
--------------------------------------

If you have a complicated query that has many tables and that doesn't
return any rows, you should use the following procedure to find out what
is wrong with your query:

  1. Test the query with `EXPLAIN' and check if you can find something
     that is obviously wrong. *Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN.

  2. Select only those fields that are used in the `WHERE' clause.

  3. Remove one table at a time from the query until it returns some
     rows.  If the tables are big, it's a good idea to use `LIMIT 10'
     with the query.

  4. Do a `SELECT' for the column that should have matched a row against
     the table that was last removed from the query.

  5. If you are comparing `FLOAT' or `DOUBLE' columns with numbers that
     have decimals, you can't use `'=''. This problem is common in most
     computer languages because floating-point values are not exact
     values.  In most cases, changing the `FLOAT' to a `DOUBLE' will
     fix this.  *Note Problems with float::.

  6. If you still can't figure out what's wrong, create a minimal test
     that can be run with `mysql test < query.sql' that shows your
     problems.  You can create a test file with `mysqldump --quick
     database tables > query.sql'. Open the file in an editor, remove
     some insert lines (if there are too many of these), and add your
     select statement at the end of the file.

     Test that you still have your problem by doing:

          shell> mysqladmin create test2
          shell> mysql test2 < query.sql

     Post the test file using `mysqlbug' to the general MySQL mailing
     list.  *Note Mailing-list::.

Problems with Floating-Point Comparison
---------------------------------------

floating-point numbers cause confusion sometimes, because these numbers
are not stored as exact values inside computer architecture. What one
can see on the screen usually is not the exact value of the number.

Field types `FLOAT', `DOUBLE' and `DECIMAL' are such.

     CREATE TABLE t1 (i INT, d1 DECIMAL(9,2), d2 DECIMAL(9,2));
     INSERT INTO t1 VALUES (1, 101.40, 21.40), (1, -80.00, 0.00),
     (2, 0.00, 0.00), (2, -13.20, 0.00), (2, 59.60, 46.40),
     (2, 30.40, 30.40), (3, 37.00, 7.40), (3, -29.60, 0.00),
     (4, 60.00, 15.40), (4, -10.60, 0.00), (4, -34.00, 0.00),
     (5, 33.00, 0.00), (5, -25.80, 0.00), (5, 0.00, 7.20),
     (6, 0.00, 0.00), (6, -51.40, 0.00);
     
     mysql> SELECT i, SUM(d1) AS a, SUM(d2) AS b
         -> FROM t1 GROUP BY i HAVING a <> b;
     +------+--------+-------+
     | i    | a      | b     |
     +------+--------+-------+
     |    1 |  21.40 | 21.40 |
     |    2 |  76.80 | 76.80 |
     |    3 |   7.40 |  7.40 |
     |    4 |  15.40 | 15.40 |
     |    5 |   7.20 |  7.20 |
     |    6 | -51.40 |  0.00 |
     +------+--------+-------+

The result is correct. Although the first five records look like they
shouldn't pass the comparison test, they may do so because the
difference between the numbers show up around tenth decimal, or so
depending on computer architecture.

The problem cannot be solved by using ROUND() (or similar function),
because the result is still a floating-point number. Example:

     mysql> SELECT i, ROUND(SUM(d1), 2) AS a, ROUND(SUM(d2), 2) AS b
         -> FROM t1 GROUP BY i HAVING a <> b;
     +------+--------+-------+
     | i    | a      | b     |
     +------+--------+-------+
     |    1 |  21.40 | 21.40 |
     |    2 |  76.80 | 76.80 |
     |    3 |   7.40 |  7.40 |
     |    4 |  15.40 | 15.40 |
     |    5 |   7.20 |  7.20 |
     |    6 | -51.40 |  0.00 |
     +------+--------+-------+

This is what the numbers in column 'a' look like:
     mysql> SELECT i, ROUND(SUM(d1), 2)*1.0000000000000000 AS a,
         -> ROUND(SUM(d2), 2) AS b FROM t1 GROUP BY i HAVING a <> b;
     +------+----------------------+-------+
     | i    | a                    | b     |
     +------+----------------------+-------+
     |    1 |  21.3999999999999986 | 21.40 |
     |    2 |  76.7999999999999972 | 76.80 |
     |    3 |   7.4000000000000004 |  7.40 |
     |    4 |  15.4000000000000004 | 15.40 |
     |    5 |   7.2000000000000002 |  7.20 |
     |    6 | -51.3999999999999986 |  0.00 |
     +------+----------------------+-------+

Depending on the computer architecture you may or may not see similar
results.  Each CPU may evaluate floating-point numbers differently. For
example in some machines you may get 'right' results by multiplying
both arguments with 1, an example follows.

*WARNING: NEVER TRUST THIS METHOD IN YOUR APPLICATION, THIS IS AN
EXAMPLE OF A WRONG METHOD!!!*

     mysql> SELECT i, ROUND(SUM(d1), 2)*1 AS a, ROUND(SUM(d2), 2)*1 AS b
         -> FROM t1 GROUP BY i HAVING a <> b;
     +------+--------+------+
     | i    | a      | b    |
     +------+--------+------+
     |    6 | -51.40 | 0.00 |
     +------+--------+------+

The reason why the above example seems to be working is that on the
particular machine where the test was done, the CPU floating-point
arithmetics happens to round the numbers to same, but there is no rule
that any CPU should do so, so it cannot be trusted.

The correct way to do floating-point number comparison is to first
decide on what is the wanted tolerance between the numbers and then do
the comparison against the tolerance number. For example, if we agree on
that floating-point numbers should be regarded the same, if they are
same with precision of one of ten thousand (0.0001), the comparison
should be done like this:

     mysql> SELECT i, SUM(d1) AS a, SUM(d2) AS b FROM t1
         -> GROUP BY i HAVING ABS(a - b) > 0.0001;
     +------+--------+------+
     | i    | a      | b    |
     +------+--------+------+
     |    6 | -51.40 | 0.00 |
     +------+--------+------+
     1 row in set (0.00 sec)

And vice versa, if we wanted to get rows where the numbers are the same,
the test would be:

     mysql> SELECT i, SUM(d1) AS a, SUM(d2) AS b FROM t1
         -> GROUP BY i HAVING ABS(a - b) < 0.0001;
     +------+-------+-------+
     | i    | a     | b     |
     +------+-------+-------+
     |    1 | 21.40 | 21.40 |
     |    2 | 76.80 | 76.80 |
     |    3 |  7.40 |  7.40 |
     |    4 | 15.40 | 15.40 |
     |    5 |  7.20 |  7.20 |
     +------+-------+-------+

Optimizer Related Issues
========================

MySQL uses a cost based optimizer to find out the best way to resolve a
query.  In many cases MySQL can calculate the best possible query plan
but in some cases MySQL doesn't have enough information about the data
at hand and have to do some 'educated' guesses about the data.

This manual section is intended for the cases when MySQL doesn't get it
right.

The tools one has available to help MySQL do the 'right' things are:

   * `EXPLAIN'. *Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN.

   * `ANALYZE TABLE'. *Note `ANALYZE TABLE': ANALYZE TABLE.

   * `USE INDEX', `FORCE INDEX' and `IGNORE INDEX'. *Note SELECT::.

   * Global and table level `STRAIGHT JOIN'. *Note SELECT::.

   * Setting thread specific variables. *Note SHOW VARIABLES::.

How to avoid table scan,,,
--------------------------

`EXPLAIN' will show `ALL' in the `type' column when MySQL uses a table
scan to resolve a query. This happens usually when:

   * The table is so small that it's faster to do a table scan than a
     key lookup.  This is a common case for tables with < 10 rows and a
     short row length.

   * There is no usable restrictions in the `ON' or `WHERE' clause for
     indexed columns.

   * You are comparing indexed columns with constants and MySQL has
     calculated (based on the index tree) that the constants covers a
     too big part of the table and a table scan would be faster. *Note
     Where optimisations::.

   * You are using a key with low cardinality (= many matching rows)
     through another column.  MySQL will in this case assume that by
     using the key it will probably do a lot of key lookups and in this
     case the table scan would be faster.

What you can do to avoid a 'wrong' table scan for big tables are:

   * Use `ANALYZE TABLE' for the scanned table to update key
     distributions.  *Note ANALYZE TABLE::.

   * Use `FORCE INDEX' for the scanned table to tell MySQL that table
     scans are very expensive compared to use one of the given index.
     *Note SELECT::.

          SELECT * FROM t1,t2 force index(index_for_column) WHERE t1.column=t2.column;

   * Start `mysqld' with `--max-seeks-for-key=1000' or do `SET
     MAX_SEEKS_FOR_KEY=1000'  to tell the optimizer that for no key
     scan will cause more than 1000 key seeks.

Table Definition Related Issues
===============================

Problems with `ALTER TABLE'.
----------------------------

`ALTER TABLE' changes a table to the current character set.  If you get
a duplicate key error during `ALTER TABLE', then the cause is either
that the new character sets maps two keys to the same value or that the
table is corrupted, in which case you should run `REPAIR TABLE' on the
table.

If `ALTER TABLE' dies with an error like this:

     Error on rename of './database/name.frm' to './database/B-a.frm' (Errcode: 17)

the problem may be that MySQL has crashed in a previous `ALTER TABLE'
and there is an old table named `A-something' or `B-something' lying
around.  In this case, go to the MySQL data directory and delete all
files that have names starting with `A-' or `B-'.  (You may want to
move them elsewhere instead of deleting them.)

`ALTER TABLE' works the following way:

   * Create a new table named `A-xxx' with the requested changes.

   * All rows from the old table are copied to `A-xxx'.

   * The old table is renamed `B-xxx'.

   * `A-xxx' is renamed to your old table name.

   * `B-xxx' is deleted.

If something goes wrong with the renaming operation, MySQL tries to
undo the changes.  If something goes seriously wrong (this shouldn't
happen), MySQL may leave the old table as `B-xxx', but a simple rename
on the system level should get your data back.

How To Change the Order of Columns in a Table
---------------------------------------------

The whole point of SQL is to abstract the application from the data
storage format.  You should always specify the order in which you wish
to retrieve your data.  For example:

     SELECT col_name1, col_name2, col_name3 FROM tbl_name;

will return columns in the order `col_name1', `col_name2', `col_name3',
whereas:

     SELECT col_name1, col_name3, col_name2 FROM tbl_name;

will return columns in the order `col_name1', `col_name3', `col_name2'.

If you want to change the order of columns anyway, you can do it as
follows:

  1. Create a new table with the columns in the right order.

  2. Execute `INSERT INTO new_table SELECT fields-in-new_table-order
     FROM old_table'.

  3. Drop or rename `old_table'.

  4. `ALTER TABLE new_table RENAME old_table'.

In an application, you should *never* use `SELECT *' and retrieve the
columns based on their position, because the order and position in
which columns are returned will not remain the same if you add, move,
or delete columns. A simple change to your database structure would
then cause your application to fail.  `SELECT *' is quite suitable for
testing queries.

TEMPORARY TABLE problems
------------------------

The following are a list of the limitations with `TEMPORARY TABLES'.

   * A temporary table can only be of type `HEAP', `ISAM', `MyISAM',
     `MERGE', or `InnoDB'.

   * You can't use temporary tables more than once in the same query.
     For example, the following doesn't work.

          mysql> SELECT * FROM temporary_table, temporary_table AS t2;

   * You can't use `RENAME' on a `TEMPORARY' table.  Note that `ALTER
     TABLE org_name RENAME new_name' works!

Credits
*******

This appendix lists the developers, contributors, and supporters that
have helped to make MySQL what it is today.

Developers at MySQL AB
======================

These are the developers that are or have been employed by `MySQL AB'
to work on the `MySQL' database software, roughly in the order they
started to work with us. Following each developer is a small list of the
tasks that the developer is responsible for, or the accomplishments they
have made. All developers are involved in support.

Michael (Monty) Widenius
        * Lead developer and main author of the MySQL server (`mysqld').

        * New functions for the string library.

        * Most of the `mysys' library.

        * The `ISAM' and `MyISAM' libraries (B-tree index file handlers
          with index compression and different record formats).

        * The `HEAP' library. A memory table system with our superior
          full dynamic hashing. In use since 1981 and published around
          1984.

        * The `replace' program (take a look at it, it's *COOL*!).

        * `MyODBC', the ODBC driver for Windows95.

        * Fixing bugs in MIT-pthreads to get it to work for MySQL
          Server. And also Unireg, a curses-based application tool with
          many utilities.

        * Porting of `mSQL' tools like `msqlperl', `DBD'/`DBI', and
          `DB2mysql'.

        * Most of `crash-me' and the foundation for the MySQL
          benchmarks.

David Axmark
        * Initial main writer of the *Reference Manual*, including
          enhancements to `texi2html'.

        * Automatic web site updating from the manual.

        * Initial Autoconf, Automake, and Libtool support.

        * Licensing.

        * Parts of all the text files.  (Nowadays only the `README' is
          left. The rest ended up in the manual.)

        * Lots of testing of new features.

        * Our in-house Free Software legal expert.

        * Mailing list maintainer (who never has the time to do it
          right...).

        * Our original portability code (more than 10 years old now).
          Nowadays only some parts of `mysys' are left.

        * Someone for Monty to call in the middle of the night when he
          just got that new feature to work.

        * Chief "Open Sourcerer" (MySQL community relations).

Jani Tolonen
        * `mysqlimport'

        * A lot of extensions to the command-line clients.

        * `PROCEDURE ANALYSE()'

Sinisa Milivojevic
        * Compression (with `zlib') in the client/server protocol.

        * Perfect hashing for the lexical analyzer phase.

        * Multi-row `INSERT'

        * `mysqldump' -e option

        * `LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE'

        * `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' `SELECT' option

        * `--max-user-connections=...' option

        * `net_read' and `net_write_timeout'

        * `GRANT'/`REVOKE' and `SHOW GRANTS FOR'

        * New client/server protocol for 4.0

        * `UNION' in 4.0

        * Multiple-table `DELETE'/`UPDATE'

        * Derived tables in 4.1

        * User resources management

        * Initial developer of the `MySQL++' C++ API and the `MySQLGUI'
          client.

Tonu Samuel (past developer)
        * VIO interface (the foundation for the encrypted client/server
          protocol).

        * MySQL Filesystem (a way to use MySQL databases as files and
          directories).

        * The `CASE' expression.

        * The `MD5()' and `COALESCE()' functions.

        * `RAID' support for `MyISAM' tables.

Sasha Pachev
        * Initial implementation of replication (up to version 4.0).

        * `SHOW CREATE TABLE'.

        * `mysql-bench'

Matt Wagner
        * MySQL test suite.

        * Webmaster (until 2002).

        * Coordinator of development.

Miguel Solorzano
        * Win32 development and release builds.

        * Windows NT server code.

        * WinMySQLAdmin

Timothy Smith (past developer)
        * Dynamic character sets support.

        * configure, RPMs and other parts of the build system.

        * Initial developer of `libmysqld', the embedded server.

Sergei Golubchik
        * Full-text search.

        * Added keys to the `MERGE' library.

Jeremy Cole
        * Proofreading and editing this fine manual.

        * `ALTER TABLE ... ORDER BY ...'.

        * `UPDATE ... ORDER BY ...'.

        * `DELETE ... ORDER BY ...'.

Indrek Siitan
        * Designing/programming of our web interface.

        * Author of our newsletter management system.

Jorge del Conde
        * `MySQLCC' (`MySQL Control Center')

        * Win32 development

        * Initial implementation of the website portals.

Venu Anuganti
        * Connector/ODBC (MyODBC) 3.51

        * New client/server protocol for 4.1 (for prepared statements).

        *
Arjen Lentz
        * Maintainer of the MySQL Reference Manual.

        * Preparing the O'Reilly printed edition of the manual.

Alexander (Bar) Barkov, Alexey (Holyfoot) Botchkov, and Ramil Kalimullin
        * Spatial data (GIS) and R-Trees implementation for 4.1

        * Unicode and character sets for 4.1; documentation for same

Oleksandr (Sanja) Byelkin
        * Query cache in 4.0

        * Implementation of subqueries (4.1).

Aleksey (Walrus) Kishkin and Alexey (Ranger) Stroganov
        * Benchmarks design and analysis.

        * Maintenance of the MySQL test suite.

Zak Greant
        * Open Source advocate, MySQL community relations.

Carsten Pedersen
        * The MySQL Certification program.

Lenz Grimmer
        * Production (build and release) engineering.

Peter Zaitsev
        * `SHA1()', `AES_ENCRYPT()' and `AES_DECRYPT()' functions.

        * Debugging, cleaning up various features.

Alexander (Salle) Keremidarski
        * Support.

        * Debugging.

Per-Erik Martin
        * Lead developer for stored procedures (5.0) and triggers.

Jim Winstead
        * Lead web developer.

Mark Matthews
        * Connector/J driver (Java).

Peter Gulutzan
          SQL-99, SQL:2003 standards compliance.

        * Documentation of existing MySQL code/algorithms.

        * Character set documentation.

Guilhem Bichot
        * Replication, from `MySQL' version 4.0.

        * Fixed handling of exponents for `DECIMAL'.

        * Author of `mysql_tableinfo'.

Antony T. Curtis
        * Porting of the MySQL Database software to OS/2.

Contributors to MySQL
=====================

While `MySQL AB' owns all copyrights in the `MySQL server' and the
`MySQL manual', we wish to recognize those who have made contributions
of one kind or another to the `MySQL distribution'.  Contributors are
listed here, in somewhat random order:

Gianmassimo Vigazzola <qwerg@mbox.vol.it> or <qwerg@tin.it>
     The initial port to Win32/NT.

Per Eric Olsson
     For more or less constructive criticism and real testing of the
     dynamic record format.

Irena Pancirov <irena@mail.yacc.it>
     Win32 port with Borland compiler.  `mysqlshutdown.exe' and
     `mysqlwatch.exe'

David J. Hughes
     For the effort to make a shareware SQL database. At TcX, the
     predecessor of MySQL AB, we started with `mSQL', but found that it
     couldn't satisfy our purposes so instead we wrote an SQL interface
     to our application builder Unireg.  `mysqladmin' and `mysql'
     client are programs that were largely influenced by their `mSQL'
     counterparts.  We have put a lot of effort into making the MySQL
     syntax a superset of `mSQL'. Many of the API's ideas are borrowed
     from `mSQL' to make it easy to port free `mSQL' programs to the
     MySQL API.  The MySQL software doesn't contain any code from
     `mSQL'.  Two files in the distribution (`client/insert_test.c' and
     `client/select_test.c') are based on the corresponding
     (non-copyrighted) files in the `mSQL' distribution, but are
     modified as examples showing the changes necessary to convert code
     from `mSQL' to MySQL Server.  (`mSQL' is copyrighted David J.
     Hughes.)

Patrick Lynch
     For helping us acquire `http://www.mysql.com/'.

Fred Lindberg
     For setting up qmail to handle the MySQL mailing list and for the
     incredible help we got in managing the MySQL mailing lists.

Igor Romanenko <igor@frog.kiev.ua>
     `mysqldump' (previously `msqldump', but ported and enhanced by
     Monty).

Yuri Dario
     For keeping up and extending the MySQL OS/2 port.

Tim Bunce
     Author of `mysqlhotcopy'.

Zarko Mocnik <zarko.mocnik@dem.si>
     Sorting for Slovenian language.

"TAMITO" <tommy@valley.ne.jp>
     The `_MB' character set macros and the ujis and sjis character
     sets.

Joshua Chamas <joshua@chamas.com>
     Base for concurrent insert, extended date syntax, debugging on NT,
     and answering on the MySQL mailing list.

Yves Carlier <Yves.Carlier@rug.ac.be>
     `mysqlaccess', a program to show the access rights for a user.

Rhys Jones <rhys@wales.com> (And GWE Technologies Limited)
     For one of the early JDBC drivers.

Dr Xiaokun Kelvin ZHU <X.Zhu@brad.ac.uk>
     Further development of one of the early JDBC drivers and other
     MySQL-related Java tools.

James Cooper <pixel@organic.com>
     For setting up a searchable mailing list archive at his site.

Rick Mehalick <Rick_Mehalick@i-o.com>
     For `xmysql', a graphical X client for MySQL Server.

Doug Sisk <sisk@wix.com>
     For providing RPM packages of MySQL for Red Hat Linux.

Diemand Alexander V. <axeld@vial.ethz.ch>
     For providing RPM packages of MySQL for Red Hat Linux-Alpha.

Antoni Pamies Olive <toni@readysoft.es>
     For providing RPM versions of a lot of MySQL clients for Intel and
     SPARC.

Jay Bloodworth <jay@pathways.sde.state.sc.us>
     For providing RPM versions for MySQL Version 3.21.

David Sacerdote <davids@secnet.com>
     Ideas for secure checking of DNS hostnames.

Wei-Jou Chen <jou@nematic.ieo.nctu.edu.tw>
     Some support for Chinese(BIG5) characters.

Wei He <hewei@mail.ied.ac.cn>
     A lot of functionality for the Chinese(GBK) character set.

Jan Pazdziora <adelton@fi.muni.cz>
     Czech sorting order.

Zeev Suraski <bourbon@netvision.net.il>
     `FROM_UNIXTIME()' time formatting, `ENCRYPT()' functions, and
     `bison' advisor.  Active mailing list member.

Luuk de Boer <luuk@wxs.nl>
     Ported (and extended) the benchmark suite to `DBI'/`DBD'. Have
     been of great help with `crash-me' and running benchmarks. Some new
     date functions. The `mysql_setpermissions' script.

Alexis Mikhailov <root@medinf.chuvashia.su>
     User-defined functions (UDFs); `CREATE FUNCTION' and `DROP
     FUNCTION'.

Andreas F. Bobak <bobak@relog.ch>
     The `AGGREGATE' extension to UDF functions.

Ross Wakelin <R.Wakelin@march.co.uk>
     Help to set up InstallShield for MySQL-Win32.

Jethro Wright III <jetman@li.net>
     The `libmysql.dll' library.

James Pereria <jpereira@iafrica.com>
     Mysqlmanager, a Win32 GUI tool for administering MySQL Servers.

Curt Sampson <cjs@portal.ca>
     Porting of MIT-pthreads to NetBSD/Alpha and NetBSD 1.3/i386.

Martin Ramsch <m.ramsch@computer.org>
     Examples in the MySQL Tutorial.

Steve Harvey
     For making `mysqlaccess' more secure.

Konark IA-64 Centre of Persistent Systems Private Limited
     `http://www.pspl.co.in/konark/'.  Help with the Win64 port of the
     MySQL server.

Albert Chin-A-Young.
     Configure updates for Tru64, large file support and better TCP
     wrappers support.

John Birrell
     Emulation of `pthread_mutex()' for OS/2.

Benjamin Pflugmann
     Extended `MERGE' tables to handle `INSERTS'. Active member on the
     MySQL mailing lists.

Jocelyn Fournier
     Excellent spotting and reporting innumerable bugs (especially in
     the MySQL 4.1 subquery code).

Marc Liyanage
     Maintaining the Mac OS X packages and providing invaluable feedback
     on how to create Mac OS X PKGs.

Robert Rutherford
     Providing invaluable information and feedback about the QNX port.

Other contributors, bugfinders, and testers: James H. Thompson, Maurizio
Menghini, Wojciech Tryc, Luca Berra, Zarko Mocnik, Wim Bonis, Elmar
Haneke, <jehamby@lightside>, <psmith@BayNetworks.com>,
<duane@connect.com.au>, Ted Deppner <ted@psyber.com>, Mike Simons,
Jaakko Hyvatti.

And lots of bug report/patches from the folks on the mailing list.

A big tribute goes to those that help us answer questions on the MySQL
mailing lists:

Daniel Koch <dkoch@amcity.com>
     Irix setup.

Luuk de Boer <luuk@wxs.nl>
     Benchmark questions.

Tim Sailer <tps@users.buoy.com>
     `DBD::mysql' questions.

Boyd Lynn Gerber <gerberb@zenez.com>
     SCO-related questions.

Richard Mehalick <RM186061@shellus.com>
     `xmysql'-related questions and basic installation questions.

Zeev Suraski <bourbon@netvision.net.il>
     Apache module configuration questions (log & auth), PHP-related
     questions, SQL syntax-related questions and other general
     questions.

Francesc Guasch <frankie@citel.upc.es>
     General questions.

Jonathan J Smith <jsmith@wtp.net>
     Questions pertaining to OS-specifics with Linux, SQL syntax, and
     other things that might need some work.

David Sklar <sklar@student.net>
     Using MySQL from PHP and Perl.

Alistair MacDonald <A.MacDonald@uel.ac.uk>
     Not yet specified, but is flexible and can handle Linux and maybe
     HP-UX.  Will try to get user to use `mysqlbug'.

John Lyon <jlyon@imag.net>
     Questions about installing MySQL on Linux systems, using either
     `.rpm' files or compiling from source.

Lorvid Ltd. <lorvid@WOLFENET.com>
     Simple billing/license/support/copyright issues.

Patrick Sherrill <patrick@coconet.com>
     ODBC and VisualC++ interface questions.

Randy Harmon <rjharmon@uptimecomputers.com>
     `DBD', Linux, some SQL syntax questions.

Documenters and translators
===========================

The following people has helped us with writing the MySQL documentation
and translating the documentation or error messages in MySQL.

Paul DuBois
     Ongoing help with making this manual correct and understandable.
     That includes rewriting Monty's and David's attempts at English
     into English as other people know it.

Kim Aldale
     Helped to rewrite Monty's and David's early attempts at English
     into English.

Michael J. Miller Jr. <mke@terrapin.turbolift.com>
     For the first MySQL manual. And a lot of spelling/language fixes
     for the FAQ (that turned into the MySQL manual a long time ago).

Yan Cailin
     First translator of the MySQL Reference Manual into simplified
     Chinese in early 2000 on which the Big5 and HK coded
     (`http://mysql.hitstar.com/') versions were based. Personal home
     page at linuxdb.yeah.net (http://linuxdb.yeah.net).

Jay Flaherty <fty@mediapulse.com>
     Big parts of the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' section in the manual.

Paul Southworth <pauls@etext.org>, Ray Loyzaga <yar@cs.su.oz.au>
     Proof-reading of the Reference Manual.

Therrien Gilbert <gilbert@ican.net>, Jean-Marc Pouyot <jmp@scalaire.fr>
     French error messages.

Petr Snajdr, <snajdr@pvt.net>
     Czech error messages.

Jaroslaw Lewandowski <jotel@itnet.com.pl>
     Polish error messages.

Miguel Angel Fernandez Roiz
     Spanish error messages.

Roy-Magne Mo <rmo@www.hivolda.no>
     Norwegian error messages and testing of Version 3.21.#.

Timur I. Bakeyev <root@timur.tatarstan.ru>
     Russian error messages.

<brenno@dewinter.com> & Filippo Grassilli <phil@hyppo.com>
     Italian error messages.

Dirk Munzinger <dirk@trinity.saar.de>
     German error messages.

Billik Stefan <billik@sun.uniag.sk>
     Slovak error messages.

Stefan Saroiu <tzoompy@cs.washington.edu>
     Romanian error messages.

Peter Feher
     Hungarian error messages.

Roberto M. Serqueira
     Portuguese error messages.

Carsten H. Pedersen
     Danish error messages.

Arjen G. Lentz
     Dutch error messages, completing earlier partial translation (also
     work on consistency and spelling).

Libraries used by and included with MySQL
=========================================

The following is a list of the creators of the libraries we have
included with the MySQL server source to make it easy to compile and
install MySQL. We are very thankfully to all individuals that have
created these and it has made our life much easier.

Fred Fish
     For his excellent C debugging and trace library. Monty has made a
     number of smaller improvements to the library (speed and
     additional options).

Richard A. O'Keefe
     For his public domain string library.

Henry Spencer
     For his regex library, used in `WHERE column REGEXP regexp'.

Chris Provenzano
     Portable user level pthreads. From the copyright: This product
     includes software developed by Chris Provenzano, the University of
     California, Berkeley, and contributors.  We are currently using
     version 1_60_beta6 patched by Monty (see
     `mit-pthreads/Changes-mysql').

Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler
     For the zlib library (used on MySQL on Windows).

Bjorn Benson
     For his safe_malloc (memory checker) package which is used in when
     you configure MySQL with `--debug'.

Free Software Foundation
     The `readline' library (used by the `mysql' command line client).

The NetBSD foundation
     The `libedit' package (optionally used by the `mysql' command line
     client).

Packages that support MySQL
===========================

The following is a list of creators/maintainers of some of the most
important API/packages/applications that a lot of people use with MySQL.

We can't list every possible package here becasue the list would then be
way to hard to maintain. For other packages, please refer to the
software portal at `http://www.mysql.com/portal/software'.

Tim Bunce, Alligator Descartes
     For the `DBD' (Perl) interface.

Andreas Koenig <a.koenig@mind.de>
     For the Perl interface for MySQL Server.

Jochen Wiedmann <wiedmann@neckar-alb.de>
     For maintaining the Perl `DBD::mysql' module.

Eugene Chan <eugene@acenet.com.sg>
     For porting PHP for MySQL Server.

Georg Richter
     MySQL 4.1 testing and bug hunting.  New PHP 5.0 `mysqli' extension
     (API) for use with MySQL 4.1 and up.

Giovanni Maruzzelli <maruzz@matrice.it>
     For porting iODBC (Unix ODBC).

Xavier Leroy <Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr>
     The author of LinuxThreads (used by the MySQL Server on Linux).

Tools that were used to create MySQL
====================================

The following is a list of some of the tools we have used to create
MySQL.  We use this to express our thanks to those that has created
them as without these we could not have made MySQL what is is today.

Free Software Foundation
     From whom we got an excellent compiler (`gcc'), an excellent
     debugger (`gdb' and the `libc' library (from which we have
     borrowed `strto.c' to get some code working in Linux).

Free Software Foundation & The XEmacs development team
     For a really great editor/environment used by almost everybody at
     MySQL AB.

Julian Seward
     Author of `valgrind', an excellent memory checker tool that has
     helped us find a lot of otherwise hard to find bugs in MySQL.

Dorothea Lütkehaus and Andreas Zeller
     For `DDD' (The Data Display Debugger) which is an excellent
     graphical frontend to `gdb').

Supporters of MySQL
===================

While `MySQL AB' owns all copyrights in the `MySQL server' and the
`MySQL manual', we wish to recognize the following companies, which
helped us finance the development of the `MySQL server', such as by
paying us for developing a new feature or giving us hardware for
development of the `MySQL server'.

VA Linux / Andover.net
     Funded replication.

NuSphere
     Editing of the MySQL manual.

Stork Design studio
     The MySQL web site in use between 1998-2000.

Intel
     Contributed to development on Windows and Linux platforms.

Compaq
     Contributed to Development on Linux/Alpha.

SWSoft
     Development on the embedded `mysqld' version.

FutureQuest
     `--skip-show-database'

MySQL Change History
********************

This appendix lists the changes from version to version in the MySQL
source code.

We are now working actively on MySQL 4.1 and 5.0, and will provide only
critical bug fixes for MySQL 4.0 and MySQL 3.23.  We update this section
as we add new features, so that everybody can follow the development.

Our TODO section contains what further plans we have for 4.1 & 5.0.
*Note TODO::.

Note that we tend to update the manual at the same time we make changes
to MySQL.  If you find a version listed here that you can't find on the
MySQL download page (`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/'), this means
that the version has not yet been released!

The date mentioned with a release version is the date of the last
BitKeeper ChangeSet that this particular release has been based on, not
the date when the packages have been made available. The binaries are
usually made available a few days after the date of the tagged
ChangeSet - building and testing all packages takes some time.

Changes in release 5.0.x (Development)
======================================

The following changelog shows what has already been done in the 5.0
tree:

   * Basic support for stored procedures (SQL:2003 style).  *Note
     Stored Procedures::.

   * Added `SELECT INTO list_of_vars', which can be of mixed, that is,
     global and local type.  *Note SELECT INTO Statement::.

   * Removed the update log. It is fully replaced by the binary log.
     If the MySQL server is started with `--log-update', it will be
     translated to `--log-bin' (or ignored if the server is explicitly
     started with `--log-bin'), and a warning message will be written to
     the error log. Setting `SQL_LOG_UPDATE' will silently set
     `SQL_LOG_BIN' instead (or do nothing if the server is explicitly
     started with `--log-bin').

   * User variable names are now case insensitive: if you do `SET
     @a=10;' then `SELECT @A;' will now return `10'.  Case sensitivity
     of a variable's value depends on the collation of the value.

For a full list of changes, please refer to the changelog sections for
each individual 5.0.x release.

Changes in release 5.0.1 (not released yet)
-------------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * For replication of `HEAP' tables: Made the master automatically
     write a `DELETE FROM' statement to its binary log when a `HEAP'
     table is opened for the first time since master's startup. This is
     for the case where the slave has replicated a non-empty `HEAP'
     table, then the master is shut down and restarted: the table is
     now empty on master; the `DELETE FROM' empties it on slave too.
     Note that even with this fix, between the master's restart and the
     first use of the table on master, the slave still has out-of-date
     data in the table. But if you use the `init-file' option to
     populate the `HEAP' table on the master at startup, it ensures
     that the failing time interval is zero. (Bug #2477)

Bugs fixed:
   * `ALTER DATABASE' caused the client to hang if the database did not
     exist. (Bug #2333)

   * `SLAVE START' (which is a deprecated syntax, `START SLAVE' should
     be used instead) could crash the slave. (Bug #2516)

   * Multiple-table `DELETE' statements were never replicated by the
     slave if there were any `replicate-*-table' options. (Bug #2527)

Changes in release 5.0.0 (22 Dec 2003: Alpha)
---------------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * The `KILL' statement now takes `CONNECTION' and `QUERY' variants.
     The first is the same as `KILL' with no modifier (it kills a given
     connection thread).  The second kills only the statement currently
     being executed by the connection.

   * Added `TIMESTAMPADD()' and `TIMESTAMPDIFF()' functions.

   * Added `WEEK' and `QUARTER' values as `INTERVAL' arguments for
     `DATE_ADD()' and `DATE_SUB()' functions.

   * New binary log format which enables replication of those session
     variables: `SQL_MODE', `SQL_AUTO_IS_NULL', `FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS'
     (that one was already replicated since 4.0.14 but here it's done
     more efficiently: takes less space in the binary logs),
     `UNIQUE_CHECKS'.  Other variables (like character sets,
     `SQL_SELECT_LIMIT'...) will be replicated in next 5.0.x releases.

   * `Merge Index' optimization for `OR' clauses.  *Note OR
     optimizations::.

   * Basic support for stored procedures (SQL:2003 style).  *Note
     Stored Procedures::.

   * Added `SELECT INTO list_of_vars', which can be of mixed, that is,
     global and local type.  *Note SELECT INTO Statement::.

   * Easier replication upgrade (5.0.0 masters can read older binary
     logs, 5.0.0 slaves can read older relay logs; see *Note
     Replication Upgrade:: for more details). The format of the binary
     log and relay log is changed compared to the one of MySQL 4.1 and
     older.

   * *IMPORTANT NOTE:* If you upgrade to InnoDB-4.1.1 or higher, you
     cannot downgrade to a version lower than 4.1.1 any more! That is
     because earlier versions of InnoDB are not aware of multiple
     tablespaces.

Bugs fixed:

Changes in release 4.1.x (Alpha)
================================

Version 4.1 of the MySQL server includes many enhancements and new
features.  Binaries for this version are available for download at
`http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-4.1.html'.

   * Subqueries and derived tables (unnamed views).  *Note Subqueries::.

   * `INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE ...' syntax.  This allows you
     to `UPDATE' an existing row if the insert would cause a duplicate
     value in a `PRIMARY' or `UNIQUE' key. (`REPLACE' allows you to
     overwrite an existing row, which is something entirely different.)
     *Note INSERT::.

   * A newly designed `GROUP_CONCAT()' aggregate function.  *Note Group
     by functions and modifiers::.

   * Extensive Unicode (UTF8) support.

   * Character sets can be defined per column, table, and database.

   * New key cache for `MyISAM' tables with many tunable parameters.
     You can have multiple key caches, preload index into caches for
     batches...

   * `BTREE' index on `HEAP' tables.

   * Support for OpenGIS spatial types (geographical data).  *Note
     Spatial extensions in MySQL::.

   * `SHOW WARNINGS' shows warnings for the last command.  *Note `SHOW
     WARNINGS': SHOW WARNINGS.

   * Faster binary protocol with prepared statements and parameter
     binding.  *Note C API Prepared statements::.

   * You can now issue multiple statements with a single C API call and
     then read the results in one go.  *Note C API multiple queries::.

   * Create Table: `CREATE [TEMPORARY] TABLE [IF NOT EXISTS] table2 LIKE
     table1'.

   * Server based `HELP' command that can be used in the `mysql'
     command line client (and other clients) to get help for SQL
     statements.

For a full list of changes, please refer to the changelog sections for
each individual 4.1.x release.

Changes in release 4.1.2 (not released yet)
-------------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * `mysqlhotcopy' now works on NetWare.

   * `ALTER TABLE DROP PRIMARY KEY' no longer drops the first `UNIQUE'
     index if there is no primary index. (Bug #2361)

   * Added `latin1_spanish_ci' (Modern Spanish) collation for the
     `latin1' character set.

   * `ENGINE' is now a synonym for the `TYPE' option for `CREATE TABLE'
     and `ALTER TABLE'.

   * Added `init_connect' and `init_slave' server variables.  The
     values should be SQL statements to be executed when each client
     connects or each time a slave's SQL thread starts, respectively.

   * C API enhancement: `SERVER_QUERY_NO_INDEX_USED' and
     `SERVER_QUERY_NO_GOOD_INDEX_USED' flags are now set in
     `server_status' field of `MYSQL' structure.  It is these flags
     that make the query to be logged as slow if `mysqld' was started
     with `--log-slow-queries --log-queries-not-using-indexes'.

   * For replication of `HEAP' tables: Made the master automatically
     write a `DELETE FROM' statement to its binary log when a `HEAP'
     table is opened for the first time since master's startup. This is
     for the case where the slave has replicated a non-empty `HEAP'
     table, then the master is shut down and restarted: the table is
     now empty on master; the `DELETE FROM' empties it on slave too.
     Note that even with this fix, between the master's restart and the
     first use of the table on master, the slave still has out-of-date
     data in the table. But if you use the `init-file' option to
     populate the `HEAP' table on the master at startup, it ensures
     that the failing time interval is zero. (Bug #2477)

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed bug when mysqldump didn't quote "tricky" names correctly
     (Bug #2592)

   * Fix for a bug in 4.1.2 that prevented table / column privileges
     from being loaded on startup. (Bug #2546)

   * Fixed bug in replication with `CREATE TABLE .. LIKE ..' that
     resulted in a statement not being written to the binary log. (Bug
     #2557)

   * Fixed memory leak in `INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE ...'.
     (Bug #2438)

   * Fixed bug in the parser, making the syntax
     `CONVERT(expression,type)' legal again.

   * Fixed parsing of short-form IP addresses in `INET_ATON()'. (Bug
     #2310)

   * Fixed a bug in `CREATE ... SELECT' that sometimes caused a string
     column with a multi-byte character set (such as `utf8') to have
     insufficient length to hold the data.

   * Fixed a rare table corruption on adding data (`INSERT', `REPLACE',
     `UPDATE', etc. but not `DELETE') to a `FULLTEXT' index.  (Bug
     #2417)

   * Compile the `MySQL-client' RPM package against `libreadline'
     instead of `libedit'. (Bug #2289)

   * Fix for a crashing bug that was caused by not setting
     `vio_timeout()' virtual function for all protocols. This bug
     occurred on Windows. (Bug #2025)

   * Fix for a bug that caused `mysql' client program to erroneously
     cache the value of the current database. (Bug #2025)

   * Fix for a bug that caused client/server communication to be broken
     when `mysql_set_server_option()' or `mysql_get_server_option()'
     were invoked.  (Bug #2207)

   * Fix for a bug that caused wong results when `CAST()' was applied
     on `NULL' to signed or unsigned integer column.  (Bug #2219)

   * Fix for a crashing bug that occurred in the `mysql' client program
     when database name was longer then expected.  (Bug #2221)

   * Fixed a bug in `CHECK TABLE' that occasionally resulted in
     spurious "Found key at page ... that points to record outside
     datafile" error on a table with a `FULLTEXT' index. (Bug #2190)

   * Fixed bug in `GRANT' with table-level privilege handling. (Bug
     #2178)

   * Fixed bug in `ORDER BY' on a small column. (Bug #2147)

   * Fixed a bug with the `INTERVAL()' function when 8 or more
     comparison arguments are provided. (Bug #1561)

   * Packaging: Fixed a bug in the Mac OS PKG `postinstall' script
     (`mysql_install_db' was called with an obsolete argument).

   * Packaging: Added missing file `mysql_create_system_tables' to the
     server RPM package. This bug was fixed for the 4.1.1 RPMs by
     updating the MySQL-server RPM from `MySQL-server-4.1.1-0' to
     `MySQL-server-4.1.1-1'. The other RPMs were not affected by this
     change.

   * Fixed a bug in `myisamchk' and `CHECK TABLE' that sometimes
     resulted in a spurious error `Found key at page ..... that points
     to record outside datafile' for a table with a `FULLTEXT' index.
     (Bug #1977)

   * Fixed a hang in full-text indexing of strings in multi-byte (all
     besides `utf8') charsets. (Bug #2065)

   * Fixed a crash in full-text indexing of UTF8 data. (Bug #2033)

   * Replication: a rare race condition in the slave SQL thread that
     could lead to an incorrect complaint that the relay log is
     corrupted. (Bug #2011)

   * Replication: if an administrative command on a table (`OPTIMIZE
     TABLE', `REPAIR TABLE' etc) was run on the slave, this could
     sometimes stop the slave SQL thread (this did not lead to any
     corruption; one just had to type `START SLAVE' to get replication
     going again). (Bug #1858)

   * Replication: in the slave SQL thread, a multi-table `UPDATE' could
     produce an incorrect complaint that some record was not found in
     one table, if the `UPDATE' was preceded by a `INSERT ... SELECT'.
     (Bug #1701)

   * Replication: sometimes the master gets a non-fatal error during
     the execution of a statement but finally the statements succeeds
     (for example, a write to a MyISAM table first receives "no space
     left on device" but is able to finally complete, *note Full
     disk::); the bug was that the master forgot to reset the error
     code to 0 after success, so the error code got into its binary
     log, thus making the slave giving false alarms like "did not get
     the same error as on master". (Bug #2083)

   * Removed a misleading "check permissions on master.info" from a
     replication error message, because the cause of the problem could
     be different from permissions. (Bug #2121)

   * Fixed a crash when the replication slave was unable to create the
     first relay log. (Bug #2145)

   * `ALTER DATABASE' caused the client to hang if the database did not
     exist. (Bug #2333)

   * Multi-table `DELETE' statements were never replicated by the slave
     if there were any `replicate-*-table' options. (Bug #2527)

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE RENAME', when rename to the table with
     the same name in another database silently dropped destination
     table if it existed. (Bug #2628)

Changes in release 4.1.1 (01 Dec 2003)
--------------------------------------

This release includes all fixes in MySQL 4.0.16 and most of the fixes
in MySQL 4.0.17.

Functionality added or changed:
   * It is now possible to create multiple key caches, assign table
     indexes to particular caches, and to preload indexes into caches.
     *Note `CACHE INDEX': CACHE INDEX.  *Note `LOAD INDEX': LOAD INDEX.
     Structured system variables are introduced as a means of grouping
     related key cache parameters.  *Note Structured System Variables::.

   * New `COERCIBILITY()' function to return the collation coercibility
     of a string.

   * `mysqldump' now includes a statement in the dump output to set
     `FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS' to 0 to avoid problems with tables having to
     be reloaded in a particular order when the dump is reloaded. The
     existing `FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS' value is saved and restored.

   * *IMPORTANT NOTE: if you upgrade to InnoDB-4.1.1 or higher, you
     cannot downgrade to a version lower than 4.1.1 any more! That is
     because earlier versions of InnoDB are not aware of multiple
     tablespaces.*

   * One can revoke all privileges from a user with `REVOKE ALL
     PRIVILEGES, GRANT FROM user_list'.

   * Added `IGNORE' option for `DELETE' statement.

   * The MySQL source distribution now also includes the MySQL Internals
     Manual `internals.texi'.

   * Added `mysql_set_server_option()' C API client function to allow
     multiple statement handling in the server to be enabled or
     disabled.

   * The `mysql_next_result()' C API function now returns `-1' if there
     are no more result sets.

   * Renamed `CLIENT_MULTI_QUERIES' connect option flag to
     `CLIENT_MULTI_STATEMENTS'. To allow for a transition period, the
     old option will continue to be recognized for a while.

   * Require `DEFAULT' before table and database default character set.
     This enables us to use `ALTER TABLE table_name ... CHARACTER
     SET=...' to change the character set for all `CHAR', `VARCHAR', and
     `TEXT' columns in a table.

   * Added `MATCH ... AGAINST( ... WITH QUERY EXPANSION)' and the
     `ft_query_expansion_limit' server variable.

   * Removed unused `ft_max_word_len_for_sort' server variable.

   * Full-text search now supports multi-byte character sets and the
     Unicode `utf8' character set. (The Unicode `ucs2' character set is
     not yet supported.)

   * Phrase search in `MATCH ... AGAINST ( ... IN BOOLEAN MODE)' no
     longer matches partial words.

   * Added aggregate function `BIT_XOR()' for bitwise XOR operations.

   * Replication over SSL now works.

   * The `START SLAVE' statement now supports an `UNTIL' clause for
     specifying that the slave SQL thread should be started but run
     only until it reaches a given position in the master's binary logs
     or in the slave's relay logs.

   * Produce warnings even for single-row `INSERT' statements, not just
     for multiple-row `INSERT' statements. Previously, it was necessary
     to set `SQL_WARNINGS=1' to generate warnings for single-row
     statements.

   * Added `delimiter' (`\d') command to the `mysql' command-line
     client for changing the statement delimiter (terminator).  The
     default delimiter is semicolon.

   * `CHAR', `VARCHAR', and `TEXT' columns now have lengths measured in
     characters rather than in bytes.  The character size depends on
     the column's character set.  This means, for example, that a
     `CHAR(n)' column for a multi-byte character set will take more
     storage than before.  Similarly, index values on such columns are
     measured in characters, not bytes.

   * `LIMIT' no longer accepts negative arguments (they used to be
     treated as very big positive numbers before).

   * The `DATABASE()' function now returns `NULL' rather than the empty
     string if there is no database selected.

   * Added `--sql-mode=NO_AUTO_VALUE_ON_ZERO' option to suppress the
     usual behavior of generating the next sequence number when zero is
     stored in an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column. With this mode enabled, zero
     is stored as zero; only storing `NULL' generates a sequence number.

   * *Warning: Incompatible change!* Client authentication now is based
     on 41-byte passwords in the `user' table, not 45-byte passwords as
     in 4.1.0.  Any 45-byte passwords created for 4.1.0 must be reset
     after running the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script.

   * Added MySQL Server option and global variable 'secure-auth' that
     disallows authentication for accounts that have old (pre-4.1.1)
     passwords.

   * Added MySQL command line client option 'secure-auth'. If this
     option is set, client will refuse to send password in old
     (pre-4.1.1) format.

   * *Warning: Incompatible change!* Renamed the C API
     `mysql_prepare_result()' function to `mysql_get_metadata()' as the
     old name was confusing.

   * Added `DROP USER 'username'@'hostname'' statement to drop an
     account that has no privileges.

   * The interface to aggregated UDF functions has changed a bit. You
     must now declare a `xxx_clear()' function for each aggregate
     function `XXX()'.

   * Added new `ADDTIME()', `DATE()', `DATEDIFF()', `LAST_DAY()',
     `MAKEDATE()', `MAKETIME()', `MICROSECOND()', `SUBTIME()',
     `TIME()', `TIMEDIFF()', `TIMESTAMP()', `UTC_DATE()', `UTC_TIME()',
     `UTC_TIMESTAMP()', and `WEEKOFYEAR()' functions.

   * Added new syntax for `ADDDATE()' and `SUBDATE()'.  The second
     argument now may be a number representing the number of days to be
     added to or subtracted from the first date argument.

   * Added new `type' values `DAY_MICROSECOND', `HOUR_MICROSECOND',
     `MINUTE_MICROSECOND', `SECOND_MICROSECOND', and `MICROSECOND' for
     `DATE_ADD()', `DATE_SUB()', and `EXTRACT()'.

   * Added new `%f' microseconds format specifier for `DATE_FORMAT()'
     and `TIME_FORMAT()'.

   * All queries in which at least one `SELECT' does not use indexes
     properly now are written to the slow query log when long log
     format is used.

   * It is now possible to create a `MERGE' table from `MyISAM' tables
     in different databases. Formerly, all the `MyISAM' tables had to
     be in the same database, and the `MERGE' table had to be created
     in that database as well.

   * Added new `COMPRESS()', `UNCOMPRESS()', and
     `UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH()' functions.

   * When doing `SET sql_mode='mode'' for a complex mode (like `ANSI'),
     we now update the `sql_mode' variable to include all the
     individual options implied by the complex mode.

   * Added the OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) function `ROLLUP',
     which provides summary rows for each `GROUP BY' level.

   * Added `SQLSTATE' codes for all server errors.

   * Added `mysql_sqlstate()' and `mysql_stmt_sqlstate()' C API client
     functions that return the `SQLSTATE' error code for the last error.

   * `TIME' columns with hour values greater than 24 were returned
     incorrectly to the client.

   * `ANALYZE', `OPTIMIZE', `REPAIR', and `FLUSH' statements are now
     stored in the binary log and thus replicated to slaves.  This
     logging does not occur if the optional `NO_WRITE_TO_BINLOG' keyword
     (or its alias `LOCAL') is given.  Exceptions are that `FLUSH
     LOGS', `FLUSH MASTER', `FLUSH SLAVE', and `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ
     LOCK' are not logged in any case.  For a syntax example, see *Note
     `FLUSH': FLUSH.

   * New global variable `RELAY_LOG_PURGE' to enable or disable
     automatic relay log purging.

   * `LOAD DATA' now produces warnings that can be fetched with `SHOW
     WARNINGS'.

   * Added support for syntax `CREATE TABLE table2 (LIKE table1)' that
     creates an empty table `table2' with a definition that is exactly
     the same as `table1', including any indexes.

   * `CREATE TABLE table_name (...) TYPE=storage_engine' now generates a
     warning if the named storage engine is not available. The table is
     still created as a `MyISAM' table, as before.

   * Most subqueries are now much faster than before.

   * Added `PURGE BINARY LOGS' as an alias for `PURGE MASTER LOGS'.

   * Disabled the `PURGE LOGS' statement that was added in in version
     4.1.0.  The statement now should be issued as `PURGE MASTER LOGS'
     or `PURGE BINARY LOGS'.

   * Added `SHOW BDB LOGS' as an alias for `SHOW LOGS'.

   * Added `SHOW MASTER LOGS' (which had been deleted in version 4.1.0)
     as an alias for `SHOW BINARY LOGS'.

   * Added `Slave_IO_State' and `Seconds_Behind_Master' columns to the
     output of `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'.  `Slave_IO_State' indicates the
     state of the slave I/O thread, and `Seconds_Behind_Master'
     indicates the number of seconds by which the slave is late
     compared to the master.

   * `--lower-case-table-names=1' now also makes aliases case
     insensitive. (Bug #534)

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed `mysql' parser not to erroneously interpret `;' character
     within `/* ... */' comment as statement terminator.

   * Fixed merging types and length of result set columns for `UNION'
     operations. The types and lengths now are determined taking into
     account values for all `SELECT' statements in the `UNION', not
     just the first `SELECT'.

   * Fixed a bug in privilege handling that caused connections from
     certain IP addresses to be assigned incorrect database-level
     privileges.  A connection could be assigned the database
     privileges of the previous successful authentication from one of
     those IP addresses, even if the IP address username and database
     name were different. (Bug #1636)

   * Error-handling functions were not called properly when an error
     resulted from `[CREATE | REPLACE| INSERT] ... SELECT' statements.

   * `HASH', `BTREE', `RTREE', `ERRORS', and `WARNINGS' no longer are
     reserved words. (Bug #724)

   * Fix for bug in `ROLLUP' when all tables were `const' tables.  (Bug
     #714)

   * Fixed a bug in `UNION' that prohibited `NULL' values from being
     inserted into result set columns where the first `SELECT' of the
     `UNION' retrieved `NOT NULL' columns. The type and max_length of
     the result column is now defined based on all `UNION' parts.

   * Fixed name resolution of columns of reduced subqueries in unions.
     (Bug #745)

   * Fixed memory overrun in subqueries in select list with `WHERE'
     clause bigger than outer query `WHERE' clause. (Bug #726)

   * Fixed a bug that caused `MyISAM' tables with `FULLTEXT' indexes
     created in 4.0.x to be unreadable in 4.1.x.

   * Fixed a data loss bug in `REPAIR TABLE ... USE_FRM' when used with
     tables that contained `TIMESTAMP' columns and were created in
     4.0.x.

   * Fixed reduced subquery processing in `ORDER BY'/`GROUP BY'
     clauses. (Bug #442)

   * Fixed name resolution of outer columns of subquery in
     `INSERT'/`REPLACE' statements. (Bug #446)

   * Fixed bug in marking columns of reduced subqueries. (Bug #679)

   * Fixed a bug that made `CREATE FULLTEXT INDEX' syntax illegal.

   * Fixed a crash when a `SELECT' that required a temporary table
     (marked by `Using temporary' in `EXPLAIN' output) was used as a
     derived table in `EXPLAIN' command. (Bug #251)

   * Fixed a rare table corruption bug in `DELETE' from a big table with
     a *new* (created by MySQL-4.1) full-text index.

   * `LAST_INSERT_ID()' now returns 0 if the last `INSERT' statement
     didn't insert any rows.

   * Fixed missing last character in function output. (Bug #447)

   * Fixed a rare replication bug when a transaction spanned two or more
     relay logs, and the slave was stopped while executing the part of
     the transaction that was in the second or later relay log. Then
     replication would resume at the beginning of the second or later
     relay log, which was incorrect. (It should resume at `BEGIN', in
     the first relay log.) (Bug #53)

   * `CONNECTION_ID()' now is properly replicated. (Bug #177)

   * The new `PASSWORD()' function in 4.1 is now properly replicated.
     (Bug #344)

   * Fixed a bug with double freed memory.

   * Fixed a crashing bug in `UNION' operations that involved temporary
     tables.

   * Fixed a crashing bug in `DERIVED TABLES' when `EXPLAIN' is used on
     a `DERIVED TABLES' with a join.

   * Fixed a crashing bug in `DELETE' with `ORDER BY' and `LIMIT'
     caused by an uninitialized array of reference pointers.

   * Fixed a bug in the `USER()' function caused by an error in the
     size of the allocated string.

   * Fixed a crashing bug when attempting to create a table containing
     a spatial (GIS) column with a storage engine that does not support
     spatial types.

   * Fixed a crashing bug in `UNION' caused by the empty select list and
     a non-existent column being used in some of the individual `SELECT'
     statements.

   * Fixed a replication bug with a 3.23 master and a 4.0 slave: The
     slave lost the replicated temporary tables if `FLUSH LOGS' was
     issued on the master. (Bug #254)

   * Fixed a security bug: A server compiled without SSL support still
     allowed connections by users that had the `REQUIRE SSL' option
     specified for their accounts.

   * When an undefined user variable was used in a updating query on the
     master (such as `INSERT INTO t VALUES(@a)', where `@a' had never
     been set by this connection before), the slave could replicate the
     query incorrectly if a previous transaction on the master used a
     user variable of the same name. (Bug #1331)

   * Fixed bug with prepared statements: Using the `?' prepared
     statement parameter as the argument to certain functions or
     statement clauses caused a server crash when `mysql_prepare()' was
     invoked. (Bug #1500)

   * Fixed bug with prepared statements: after call to
     mysql_stmt_prepare placeholders became allowed in all consequent
     statements, even if they are not prepared (Bug #1946)

   * `SLAVE START' (which is a deprecated syntax, `START SLAVE' should
     be used instead) could crash the slave. (Bug #2516)

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE RENAME', when rename to the table with
     the same name in another database silently dropped destination
     table if it existed. (Bug #2628)

Changes in release 4.1.0 (03 Apr 2003: Alpha)
---------------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * New `CHARSET()' and `COLLATION()' functions to return the character
     set and collation of a string.

   * Allow index type to be specified explicitly for some storage
     engines via `USING type_name' syntax in index definition.

   * New function `IS_USED_LOCK()' for determining the connection
     identifier of the client that holds a given advisory lock.

   * New more secure client authentication based on 45-byte passwords
     in the `user' table.

   * New `CRC32()' function to compute cyclic redundancy check value.

   * On Windows, we are now using shared memory to communicate between
     server and client when they are running on the same machine and
     you are connecting to `localhost'.

   * `REPAIR' of `MyISAM' tables now uses less temporary disk space when
     sorting char columns.

   * `DATE'/`DATETIME' checking is now a bit stricter to support the
     ability to automatically distinguish between date, datetime, and
     time with microseconds. For example, dates of type `YYYYMMDD
     HHMMDD' are no longer supported; you must either have separators
     between each `DATE'/`TIME' part or not at all.

   * Server side help for all MySQL functions. One can now type `help
     week' in the `mysql' client and get help for the `week()' function.

   * Added new `mysql_get_server_version()' C API client function.

   * Fixed bug in `libmysqlclient' that fetched column defaults.

   * Fixed bug in `mysql.cc' client when skipping comments

   * Added `record_in_range()' method to `MERGE' tables to be able to
     choose the right index when there are many to choose from.

   * Replication now works with `RAND()' and user variables `@var'.

   * Allow one to change mode for `ANSI_QUOTES' on the fly.

   * `EXPLAIN SELECT' now can be killed. *Note `KILL': KILL.

   * `REPAIR TABLE' now can be killed. *Note `KILL': KILL.

   * Allow empty index lists to be specified for `USE INDEX', `IGNORE
     INDEX', and `FORCE INDEX'.

   * `DROP TEMPORARY TABLE' now drops only temporary tables and doesn't
     end transactions.

   * Added support for `UNION' in derived tables.

   * *Warning: Incompatible change!* `TIMESTAMP' is now returned as a
     string of type `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' and different timestamp
     lengths are not supported.

     This change was necessary for SQL standards compliance. In a future
     version, a further change will be made (backward compatible with
     this change), allowing the timestamp length to indicate the
     desired number of digits of fractions of a second.

   * New faster client/server protocol that supports prepared
     statements, bound parameters, and bound result columns, binary
     transfer of data, warnings.

   * Added database and real table name (in case of alias) to the
     `MYSQL_FIELD' structure.

   * Multi-line queries: You can now issue several queries at once and
     then read the results in one go.

   * In `CREATE TABLE foo (a INT not null primary key)' the `PRIMARY'
     word is now optional.

   * In `CREATE TABLE' the attribute `SERIAL' is now an alias for
     `BIGINT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT UNIQUE'.

   * `SELECT ... FROM DUAL' is an alias for `SELECT ...'.  (To be
     compatible with some other databases).

   * If one creates a too long `CHAR'/`VARCHAR' it's now automatically
     changed to `TEXT' or `BLOB'; One will get a warning in this case.

   * One can specify the different `BLOB'/`TEXT' types with the syntax
     `BLOB(length)' and `TEXT(length)'.  MySQL will automatically
     change it to one of the internal `BLOB'/`TEXT' types.

   * `CHAR BYTE' is an alias for `CHAR BINARY'.

   * `VARCHARACTER' is an alias for `VARCHAR'.

   * New operators `integer MOD integer' and `integer DIV integer'.

   * `SERIAL DEFAULT VALUE' added as an alias for `AUTO_INCREMENT'.

   * `TRUE' and `FALSE' added as alias for 1 and 0, respectively.

   * Aliases are now forced in derived tables, as per SQL-99.

   * Fixed `SELECT .. LIMIT 0' to return proper row count for
     `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS'.

   * One can specify many temporary directories to be used in a
     round-robin fashion with:  `--tmpdir=dirname1:dirname2:dirname3'.

   * Subqueries: `SELECT * from t1 where t1.a=(SELECT t2.b FROM t2)'.

   * Derived tables:
          SELECT a.col1, b.col2
                 FROM (SELECT MAX(col1) AS col1 FROM root_table) a,
                 other_table b
                 WHERE a.col1=b.col1;

   * Character sets to be defined per column, table and database.

   * Unicode (UTF8) support.

   * New `CONVERT(... USING ...)' syntax for converting string values
     between character sets.

   * `BTREE' index on `HEAP' tables.

   * Faster embedded server (new internal communication protocol).

   * One can add a comment per column in `CREATE TABLE'.

   * `SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM table_name' shows column comments.

   * `ALTER DATABASE'.

   * Support for GIS (Geometrical data).  *Note Spatial extensions in
     MySQL::.

   * `SHOW [COUNT(*)] WARNINGS' shows warnings from the last command.

   * One can specify a column type for a colum in `CREATE TABLE ...
     SELECT' by defining the column in the `CREATE' part.

          CREATE TABLE foo (a tinyint not null) SELECT b+1 AS 'a' FROM bar;

   * `expr SOUNDS LIKE expr' same as `SOUNDEX(expr)=SOUNDEX(expr)'.

   * Added new `VARIANCE(expr)' function returns the variance of `expr'

   * One can create a table from the existing table using `CREATE
     [TEMPORARY] TABLE [IF NOT EXISTS] table (LIKE table)'. The table
     can be either normal or temporary.

   * New options `--reconnect' and `--disable-reconnect' for the
     `mysql' client, to reconnect automatically or not if the
     connection is lost.

   * `START SLAVE' (`STOP SLAVE') no longer returns an error if the
     slave is already started (stopped); it returns a warning instead.

   * `SLAVE START' and `SLAVE STOP' are no longer accepted by the query
     parser; use `START SLAVE' and `STOP SLAVE' instead.

Changes in release 4.0.x (Production)
=====================================

Version 4.0 of the MySQL server includes many enhancements and new
features:

   * The `InnoDB' storage engine is now included in the standard
     binaries, adding transactions, row-level locking, and foreign keys.
     *Note `InnoDB': InnoDB.

   * A query cache, offering vastly increased performance for many
     applications.  By caching complete result sets, later identical
     queries can return instantly.  *Note Query Cache::.

   * Improved full-text indexing with boolean mode, truncation, and
     phrase searching.  *Note Fulltext Search::.

   * Enhanced `MERGE' tables, now supporting `INSERT' statements and
     `AUTO_INCREMENT'.  *Note `MERGE': MERGE.

   * `UNION' syntax in `SELECT'.  *Note `UNION': UNION.

   * Multiple-table `DELETE' statements.  *Note `DELETE': DELETE.

   * `libmysqld', the embedded server library.  *Note `libmysqld':
     libmysqld.

   * Additional `GRANT' privilege options for even tighter control and
     security.  *Note `GRANT': GRANT.

   * Management of user resources in the `GRANT' system, particularly
     useful for ISPs and other hosting providers.  *Note User
     resources::.

   * Dynamic server variables, allowing configuration changes to be made
     without having to stop and restart the server.  *Note `SET
     OPTION': SET OPTION.

   * Improved replication code and features.  *Note Replication::.

   * Numerous new functions and options.

   * Changes to existing code for enhanced performance and reliability.

For a full list of changes, please refer to the changelog sections for
each individual 4.0.x release.

Changes in release 4.0.19 (not released yet)
--------------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:

Bugs fixed:

Changes in release 4.0.18 (to be released soon)
-----------------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * Fixed processing of `LOAD DATA' by `mysqlbinlog' in remote mode.
     (Bug #1378)

   * New utility program `myisam_ftdump' was added to binary
     distributions.

   * `mysqlhotcopy' now works on NetWare.

   * `ENGINE' is now a synonym for the `TYPE' option for `CREATE TABLE'
     and `ALTER TABLE'.

   * `lower_case_table_names' system variable now can take a value of
     `2', to store table names in mixed case on case-insensitive
     filesystems.

   * For replication of `HEAP' tables: Made the master automatically
     write a `DELETE FROM' statement to its binary log when a `HEAP'
     table is opened for the first time since master's startup. This is
     for the case where the slave has replicated a non-empty `HEAP'
     table, then the master is shut down and restarted: the table is
     now empty on master; the `DELETE FROM' empties it on slave too.
     Note that even with this fix, between the master's restart and the
     first use of the table on master, the slave still has out-of-date
     data in the table. But if you use the `init-file' option to
     populate the `HEAP' table on the master at startup, it ensures
     that the failing time interval is zero. (Bug #2477)

   * Optimizer is now better tuned for the case where the first used
     key part (of many) is a constant.  (Bug #1679)

   * Removed old non-working `--old-rpl-compat' server option, which
     was a holdover from the very first 4.0.x versions. (Bug #2428)

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed bug when -init-file crashes MySQL if contains large select
     (Bug #2526)

   * `SHOW KEYS' now shows `NULL' in `Sub_part' column for `FULLTEXT'
     indexes.

   * A size of the signal thread's stack is increased to let `mysqld'
     to run on Debian/ia64 with with TLS-enabled glibc.  (Bug #2599)

   * Now one need only `SELECT' privilege for tables that are only read
     in `UPDATE' statements with many tables. (Bug #2377).

   * Give proper error message if one uses `LOCK TABLES ... ; INSERT
     ... SELECT' and one used the same table in the `INSERT' and
     `SELECT' part. (Bug #2296)

   * `SELECT INTO ... DUMPFILE' now deletes the generated file on error.

   * Fixed foreign key reference handling to allow references to column
     names that contain spaces. (Bug #1725)

   * Fixed problem with index reads on character fields with `BDB'
     tables. The symptom was that data could be returned in wrong
     lettercase. (Bug #2509)

   * Fixed a spurious table corruption problem that could sometimes
     appear on tables with indexed `TEXT' columns if these columns
     happened to contain values having trailing spaces.  This bug was
     introduced in 4.0.17.

   * Fixed a problem where some queries could hang if a condition like
     `indexed_TEXT_column = expr' was present and the column contained
     values having trailing spaces.  This bug was introduced in 4.0.17.

   * Fixed a bug that could cause incorrect results from a query that
     involved range conditions on indexed `TEXT' columns that happened
     to contain values having trailing spaces. This bug was introduced
     in 4.0.17. (Bug #2295)

   * Fixed incorrect path names in some of the manual pages.  (Bug
     #2270)

   * Fixed spurious "table corrupted" errors in parallel repair
     operations.  *Note `myisam_repair_threads': SHOW VARIABLES.

   * Fixed a crashing bug in parallel repair operations.  *Note
     `myisam_repair_threads': SHOW VARIABLES.

   * Fixed bug in updating `MyISAM' tables for `BLOB' values longer
     than 16M. (Bug #2159)

   * Fixed bug in `mysqld_safe' when running multiple instances of
     MySQL. (Bug #2114)

   * Fixed a bug in using `HANDLER' statement with tables not from a
     current database. (Bug #2304)

   * Fix for a crashing bug that occurred due to the fact that
     multiple-table `UPDATE' statements did not check that there was
     only one table to be updated. (Bug #2103)

   * Fix for a crashing bug that occurred due to `BLOB' column type
     index size being calculated incorrectly in `MIN()' and `MAX()'
     optimizations.  (Bug #2189)

   * Fix for a bug with incorrect syntax for `LOCK TABLES' in
     `mysqldump'. (Bug #2242)

   * Fixed a bug in `mysqld_safe' that caused `mysqld' to generate a
     warning about duplicate `user=xxx' options if this option was
     specified in the `[mysqld]' or `[server]' sections of `my.cnf'.
     (Bug #2163)

   * `INSERT DELAYED ... SELECT ...' could cause table corruption
     because tables were not locked properly.  This is now fixed by
     ignoring `DELAYED' in this context. (Bug #1983)

   * Replication: Sometimes the master gets a non-fatal error during the
     execution of a statement that does not immediately succeed.  (For
     example, a write to a `MyISAM' table may first receive "no space
     left on device," but later complete when disk space becomes
     available.  *Note Full disk::.)  The bug was that the master
     forgot to reset the error code to 0 after success, so the error
     code got into its binary log, thus causing the slave to issue
     false alarms such as "did not get the same error as on master."
     (Bug #2083)

   * Removed a misleading "check permissions on master.info" from a
     replication error message, because the cause of the problem could
     be something other than permissions. (Bug #2121)

   * Fixed a crash when the replication slave was unable to create the
     first relay log. (Bug #2145)

   * Replication of `LOAD DATA INFILE' for an empty file from a 3.23
     master to a 4.0 slave caused the slave to print an error. (Bug
     #2452)

   * When automatically forcing `lower_case_table_names' to 1 if the
     file system was case insensitive, `mysqld' could crash. This bug
     existed only in MySQL 4.0.17. (Bug #2481)

   * Restored ability to specify default values for `TIMESTAMP' columns
     that was erroneously disabled in previous release. (Bug #2539)
     Fixed `SHOW CREATE TABLE' to reflect these values. (Bug #1885) Note
     that because of the auto-update feature for the first `TIMESTAMP'
     column in a table, it makes no sense to specify a default value for
     the column. Any such default will be silently ignored (unless
     another `TIMESTAMP' column is added before this one).  Also fixed
     the meaning of the `DEFAULT' keyword when it is used to specify
     the value to be inserted into a `TIMESTAMP' column other than the
     first. (Bug #2464)

   * Fixed bug for out-of-range arguments on QNX platform that caused
     `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()' to produce incorrect results or that caused
     non-zero values to be inserted into `TIMESTAMP' columns.  (Bug
     #2523) Also, current time zone now is taken into account when
     checking if datetime values satisfy both range boundaries for
     `TIMESTAMP' columns. The range allowed for a `TIMESTAMP' column is
     time zone-dependant and equivalent to a range of `1970-01-01
     00:00:01' UTC to `2037-12-31 23:59:59' UTC.

   * Multi-table `DELETE' statements were never replicated by the slave
     if there were any `replicate-*-table' options. (Bug #2527)

   * Changes to session counterparts of variables query_prealloc_size,
     query_alloc_block_size, trans_prealloc_size,
     trans_alloc_block_size now have effect (Bug #1948)

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE RENAME', when rename to the table with
     the same name in another database silently dropped destination
     table if it existed. (Bug #2628)

Changes in release 4.0.17 (14 Dec 2003)
---------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * `mysqldump' no longer dumps data for `MERGE' tables. (Bug #1846)

   * `lower_case_table_names' is now forced to 1 if the database
     directory is located on a case-insensitive file system. (Bug #1812)

   * Symlink creation is now disabled on systems where `realpath()'
     doesn't work. (Before one could use `CREATE TABLE .. DATA
     DIRECTORY=..' even if `HAVE_BROKEN_REALPATH' was defined. This is
     now disabled to avoid problems when running `ALTER TABLE').

   * Inserting a negative `AUTO_INCREMENT' value in a `MyISAM' table no
     longer updates the `AUTO_INCREMENT' counter to a big unsigned
     value.  (Bug #1366)

   * Added four new modes to `WEEK(..., mode)' function.  *Note
     `WEEK(date,mode)': Date and time functions.  (Bug #1178)

   * Allow `UNION DISTINCT' syntax.

   * `mysql_server_init()' now returns 1 if it can't initialize the
     environment. (Previously `mysql_server_init()' called `exit(1)' if
     it could not create a key with `pthread_key_create()'. (Bug #2062)

   * Allow spaces in Windows service names.

   * Changed the default Windows service name for `mysqld' from `MySql'
     to `MySQL'.  This should not affect usage, because service names
     are not case sensitive.

   * When you install `mysqld' as a service on Windows systems, `mysqld'
     will read startup options in option files from the option group
     with the same name as the service name.  (Except when the service
     name is `MySQL').

Bugs fixed:
   * Sending `SIGHUP' to mysqld crashed server if it was running with
     `--log-bin'. (Bug #2045)

   * One can now configure MySQL as a Windows service as a normal user.
     (Bug #1802). Thanks to Richard Hansen for fixing this.

   * Database names are now compared in lowercase in `ON' clauses when
     `lower_case_table_names' is set. (Bug #1736)

   * `IGNORE ... LINES' option to `LOAD DATA INFILE' didn't work when
     used with fixed length rows. (Bug #1704)

   * Fixed problem with `UNIX_TIMESTAMP()' for timestamps close to 0.
     (Bug #1998)

   * Fixed problem with character values greater than 128 in the
     `QUOTE()' function. (Bug #1868)

   * Fixed searching of `TEXT' with end space. (Bug #1651)

   * Fixed caching bug in multiple-table updates where same table was
     used twice.  (Bug #1711)

   * Fixed directory permissions for the MySQL-server RPM documentation
     directory.  (Bug #1672)

   * Fixed server crash when updating an `ENUM' column that is set to
     the empty string (for example, with `REPLACE()').  (Bug #2023)

   * `mysql' client program now correctly prints connection identifier
     returned by `mysql_thread_id()' as unsigned integer rather than as
     signed integer.  (Bug #1951)

   * `FOUND_ROWS()' could return incorrect number of rows after a query
     with an impossible `WHERE' condition. (Bug #1468)

   * `SHOW DATABASES' no longer shows `.sym' files (on Windows) that do
     not point to a valid directory. (Bug #1385)

   * Fixed a possible memory leak on Mac OS X when using the shared
     `libmysql.so' library. (from `pthread_key_create()'). (Bug #2061)

   * Fixed bug in `UNION' statement with alias `*'. (Bug #1249)

   * Fixed a bug in `DELETE ... ORDER BY ... LIMIT' where the rows
     where not deleted in the proper order. (Bug #1024, Bug #1697).

   * Fixed serious problem with multi-threaded programs on Windows that
     used the embedded MySQL libraries. (Locks of tables were not
     handled correctly between different threads).

   * Code cleanup: Fixed a few code defects (potential memory leaks,
     null pointer dereferences, uninitialized variables). Thanks to
     Reasoning Inc. for informing us about these findings.

   * Fixed a buffer overflow error that occurred with prepended `0'
     characters in some columns of type `DECIMAL'. (Bug #2128)

   * Filesort was never shown in `EXPLAIN' if query contained an `ORDER
     BY NULL' clause. (Bug #1335)

   * Fixed invalidation of whole query cache on `DROP DATABASE'. (Bug
     #1898)

   * Fixed bug in range optimizer that caused wrong results for some
     unlikely `AND'/`OR' queries. (Bug #1828)

   * Fixed a crash in `ORDER BY' when ordering by expression and
     identifier.  (Bug #1945)

   * Fixed a crash in an open `HANDLER' when an `ALTER TABLE' was
     executed in a different connection. (Bug #1826)

   * Fixed a bug in `trunc*' operator of full-text search which
     sometimes caused MySQL not to find all matched rows.

   * Fixed bug in prepending `0' characters to `DECIMAL' column values.

   * Fixed optimizer bug, introduced in 4.0.16, when `REF' access plan
     was preferred to more efficient `RANGE' on another column.

   * Fixed problem when installing a MySQL server as a Windows service
     using a command of the form `mysqld --install mysql
     --defaults-file=path-to-file'.  (Bug #1643)

   * Fixed an incorrect result from a query that uses only `const'
     tables (such as one-row tables) and non-constant expression (such
     as `RAND()'). (Bug #1271)

   * Fixed bug when the optimizer did not take `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS'
     into account if `LIMIT' clause was present. (Bug #1274)

   * `mysqlbinlog' now asks for a password at the console when the `-p'
     or `--password' option is used with no argument. This is
     consistent with the way that other clients such `mysqladmin' and
     `mysqldump' already behave. *Note:* A consequence of this change
     is that it is no longer possible to invoke `mysqlbinlog' as
     `mysqlbinlog -p pass_val' (with a space between the `-p' option
     and the following password value).  (Bug #1595)

   * Fixed bug accidentally introduced in 4.0.16 where the slave SQL
     thread deleted its replicated temporary tables when `STOP SLAVE'
     was issued.

   * In a "chain" replication setup `A->B->C', if 2 sessions on A
     updated temporary tables of the same name at the same time, the
     binary log of `B' became incorrect, resulting in `C' becoming
     confused.  (Bug #1686)

   * In a "chain" replication setup `A->B->C', if `STOP SLAVE' was
     issued on `B' while it was replicating a temporary table from `A',
     then when `START SLAVE' was issued on `B', the binary log of `B'
     became incorrect, resulting in `C' becoming confused.  (Bug #1240)

   * When `MASTER_LOG_FILE' and `MASTER_LOG_POS' were not specified,
     `CHANGE MASTER' used the coordinates of the slave I/O thread to
     set up replication, which broke replication if the slave SQL
     thread lagged behind the slave I/O thread. This caused the slave
     SQL thread to lose some events. The new behavior is to use the
     coordinates of the slave SQL thread instead.  *Note `CHANGE MASTER
     TO': CHANGE MASTER TO.  (Bug #1870)

   * Now if integer is stored or converted to `TIMESTAMP' or `DATETIME'
     value checks of year, month, day, hour, minute and second ranges
     are performed and numbers representing illegal timestamps are
     converted to 0 value. This behavior is consistent with manual and
     with behavior of string to `TIMESTAMP'/`DATETIME' conversion. (Bug
     #1448)

   * Fixed bug when `BIT_AND()' and `BIT_OR()' group functions returned
     incorrect value if `SELECT' used a temporary table and no rows
     were found. (Bug #1790).

   * `BIT_AND()' is now unsigned in all contexts. This means that it
     will now return 18446744073709551615 (= 0xffffffffffffffff)
     instead of -1 if there were no rows in the result.

   * Fixed bug with `BIT_AND()' still returning signed value for an
     empty set in some cases. (Bug #1972)

   * Fixed bug with `^' (XOR) and `>>' (bit shift) still returning
     signed value in some cases. (Bug #1993)

   * Replication: a rare race condition in the slave SQL thread, which
     could lead to a wrong complain that the relay log is corrupted.
     (Bug #2011)

   * Replication: if an administrative command on a table (`OPTIMIZE
     TABLE', `REPAIR TABLE' etc) was run on the slave, this could
     sometimes stop the slave SQL thread (this did not led to any
     corruption; one just had to type `START SLAVE' to get replication
     going again). (Bug #1858)

   * Replication: in the slave SQL thread, a multi-table `UPDATE' could
     produce a wrong complain that some record was not found in one
     table, if the `UPDATE' was preceded by a `INSERT ... SELECT'. (Bug
     #1701)

   * Fixed deficiency in MySQL code which is responsible for scanning
     directories. This deficiency caused `SHOW TABLE STATUS' to be very
     slow when a database contained a large number of tables, even if a
     single particular table were specified. (Bug #1952)

Changes in release 4.0.16 (17 Oct 2003)
---------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * Option values in option files now may be quoted. This is useful
     for values that contain whitespace or comment characters.

   * Write memory allocation information to error log when doing
     `mysqladmin debug'.  This works only on systems that support the
     `mallinfo()' call (like newer Linux systems).

   * Added the following new server variables to allow more precise
     memory allocation: `range_alloc_block_size',
     `query_alloc_block_size', `query_prealloc_size',
     `transaction_alloc_block_size', and `transaction_prealloc_size'.

   * `mysqlbinlog' now reads option files. To make this work one must
     now specify `--read-from-remote-server' when reading binary logs
     from a MySQL server. (Note that using a remote server is
     deprecated and may disappear in future `mysqlbinlog' versions).

   * Block `SIGPIPE' signals also for non-threaded programs. The
     blocking is moved from `mysql_init()' to `mysql_server_init()',
     which is automatically called on the first call to `mysql_init()'.

   * Added `--libs_r' and `--include' options to `mysql_config'.

   * New ``>' prompt for `mysql'. This prompt is similar to the `'>'
     and `">' prompts, but indicates that an identifier quoted with
     backticks was begun on an earlier line and the closing backtick
     has not yet been seen.

   * Updated `mysql_install_db' to be able to use the local machine's IP
     address instead of the hostname when building the initial grant
     tables if `skip-name-resolve' has been specified. This option can
     be helpful on FreeBSD to avoid thread-safety problems with the
     FreeBSD resolver libraries. (Thanks to Jeremy Zawodny for the
     patch.)

   * A documentation change: Added a note that when backing up a slave,
     it is necessary also to back up the `master.info' and
     `relay-log.info' files, as well as any `SQL_LOAD-*' files located
     in the directory specified by the `--slave-load-tmpdir' option.
     All these files are needed when the slave resumes replication
     after you restore the slave's data.

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed a spurious error `ERROR 14: Can't change size of file
     (Errcode: 2)' on Windows in `DELETE FROM table_name' without a
     `WHERE' clause or `TRUNCATE TABLE table_name', when `table_name'
     is a `MyISAM' table. (Bug #1397)

   * Fixed a bug that resulted in `thr_alarm queue is full' warnings
     after increasing the `max_connections' variable with `SET GLOBAL'.
     (Bug #1435)

   * Made `LOCK TABLES' to work when `Lock_tables_priv' is granted on
     the database level and `Select_priv' is granted on the table level.

   * Fixed crash of `FLUSH QUERY CACHE' on queries that use same table
     several times (Bug #988).

   * Fixed core dump bug when setting an enum system variable (such as
     `SQL_WARNINGS') to `NULL'.

   * Extended the default timeout value for Windows clients from 30
     seconds to 1 year.  (The timeout that was added in MySQL 4.0.15
     was way too short).  This fixes a bug that caused `ERROR 2013:
     Lost connection to MySQL server during query' for queries that
     lasted longer than 30 seconds, if the client didn't specify a
     limit with `mysql_options()'. Users of 4.0.15 on Windows should
     upgrade to avoid this problem.

   * More "out of memory" checking in range optimizer.

   * Fixed and documented a problem when setting and using a user
     variable within the same `SELECT' statement. (Bug #1194).

   * Fixed bug in overrun check for `BLOB' values with compressed
     tables.  This was a bug introduced in 4.0.14.  It caused MySQL to
     regard some correct tables containing `BLOB' values as corrupted.
     (Bug #770, Bug #1304, and maybe Bug #1295)

   * `SHOW GRANTS' showed `USAGE' instead of the real column-level
     privileges when no table-level privileges were given.

   * When copying a database from the master, `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'
     dropped the corresponding database on the slave, thus erroneously
     dropping tables that had no counterpart on the master and tables
     that may have been excluded from replication using
     `replicate-*-table' rules. Now `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' no longer
     drops the database.  Instead, it drops only the tables that have a
     counterpart on the master and that match the `replicate-*-table'
     rules. `replicate-*-db' rules can still be used to include or
     exclude a database as a whole from `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'. A
     database will also be included or excluded as a whole if there are
     some rules like `replicate-wild-do-table=db1.%' or
     `replicate-wild-ignore-table=db1.%', as is already the case for
     `CREATE DATABASE' and `DROP DATABASE' in replication. (Bug #1248)

   * Fixed a bug where `mysqlbinlog' crashed with a segmentation fault
     when used with the `-h' or `--host' option. (Bug #1258)

   * Fixed a bug where `mysqlbinlog' crashed with a segmentation fault
     when used on a binary log containing only final events for `LOAD
     DATA'. (Bug #1340)

   * `mysqlbinlog' will not reuse temporary file names from previous
     runs.  Previously `mysqlbinlog' failed if was used several times
     on the same binary log file that contained a `LOAD DATA' command.

   * Fixed compilation problem when compiling with OpenSSL 0.9.7 with
     disabled old DES support (If `OPENSSL_DISABLE_OLD_DES_SUPPORT'
     option was enabled).

   * Fixed a bug when two (or more) MySQL servers were running on the
     same machine, and they were both slaves, and at least one of them
     was replicating some `LOAD DATA INFILE' command from its master.
     The bug was that one slave MySQL server sometimes deleted the
     `SQL_LOAD-*' files (used for replication of `LOAD DATA INFILE' and
     located in the `slave-load-tmpdir' directory, which defaults to
     `tmpdir') belonging to the other slave MySQL server of this
     machine, if these slaves had the same `slave-load-tmpdir'
     directory.  When that happened, the other slave could not replicate
     `LOAD DATA INFILE' and complained about not being able to open some
     `SQL_LOAD-*' file. (Bug #1357)

   * If `LOAD DATA INFILE' failed for a small file, the master forgot to
     write a marker (a `Delete_file' event) in its binary log, so the
     slave could not delete 2 files (`SQL_LOAD-*.info' and
     `SQL_LOAD-*.data' from its `tmpdir'. (Bug #1391)

   * On Windows, the slave forgot to delete a `SQL_LOAD-*.info' file
     from `tmpdir' after successfully replicating a `LOAD DATA INFILE'
     command. (Bug #1392)

   * When a connection terminates, MySQL writes `DROP TEMPORARY TABLE'
     statements to the binary log for all temporary tables which the
     connection had not explicitly dropped. MySQL forgot to backquote
     the database and table names in the statement. (Bug #1345)

   * On some 64-bit machines (some HP-UX and Solaris machines), a slave
     installed with the 64-bit MySQL binary could not connect to its
     master (it connected to itself instead). (Bug #1256, Bug #1381)

   * Code was introduced in MySQL 4.0.15 for the slave to detect that
     the master had died while writing a transaction to its binary log.
     This code reported an error in a legal situation: When the slave
     I/O thread was stopped while copying a transaction to the relay
     log, the slave SQL thread would later pretend that it found an
     unfinished transaction. (Bug #1475)

Changes in release 4.0.15 (03 Sep 2003)
---------------------------------------

*IMPORTANT*:

If you are using this release on Windows, you should upgrade at least
your clients (any program that uses `libmysql.lib') to 4.0.16 or above.
This is because the 4.0.15 release had a bug in the Windows client
library that causes Windows clients using the library to die with a
`Lost connection to MySQL server during query' error for queries that
take more than 30 seconds.  This problem is specific to Windows;
clients on other platforms are unaffected.

Functionality added or changed:
   * `mysqldump' now correctly quotes all identifiers when communicating
     with the server. This assures that during the dump process,
     `mysqldump' will never send queries to the server that result in a
     syntax error.  This problem is *not* related to the `mysqldump'
     program's output, which was not changed. (Bug #1148)

   * Change result set metadata information so that `MIN()' and `MAX()'
     report that they can return `NULL' (this is true because an empty
     set will return `NULL'). (Bug #324)

   * Produce an error message on Windows if a second `mysqld' server is
     started on the same TCP/IP port as an already running `mysqld'
     server.

   * The `mysqld' server variables `wait_timeout', `net_read_timeout',
     and `net_write_timeout' now work on Windows.  One can now also set
     timeouts for read and writes in Windows clients with
     `mysql_options()'.

   * Added option `--sql-mode=NO_DIR_IN_CREATE' to make it possible for
     slaves to ignore `INDEX DIRECTORY' and `DATA DIRECTORY' options
     given to `CREATE TABLE'.  When this is mode is on, `SHOW CREATE
     TABLE' will not show the given directories.

   * `SHOW CREATE TABLE' now shows the `INDEX DIRECTORY' and `DATA
     DIRECTORY' options, if they were specified when the table was
     created.

   * The `open_files_limit' server variable now shows the real open
     files limit.

   * `MATCH ... AGAINST()' in natural language mode now treats words
     that are present in more than 2,000,000 rows as stopwords.

   * The Mac OS X installation disk images now include an additional
     `MySQLStartupItem.pkg' package that enables the automatic startup
     of MySQL on system bootup.  *Note Mac OS X installation::.

   * Most of the documentation included in the binary tarball
     distributions (`.tar.gz') has been moved into a subdirectory
     `docs'.  *Note Installation layouts::.

   * The manual is now included as an additional `info' file in the
     binary distributions. (Bug #1019)

   * The binary distributions now include the embedded server library
     (`libmysqld.a') by default. Due to a linking problem with non-gcc
     compilers, it was not included in all packages of the initial
     4.0.15 release. The affected packages were rebuilt and released as
     4.0.15a.  *Note Nutshell Embedded MySQL::.

   * MySQL can now use range optimization for `BETWEEN' with
     non-constant limits. (Bug #991)

   * Replication error messages now include the default database, so
     that users can check which database the failing query was run for.

   * A documentation change: Added a paragraph about how the
     `binlog-do-db' and `binlog-ignore-db' options are tested against
     the database on the master (*note Binary log::), and a paragraph
     about how `replicate-do-db', `replicate-do-table' and analogous
     options are tested against the database and tables on the slave
     (*note Replication Options::).

   * Now the slave does not replicate `SET PASSWORD' if it is
     configured to exclude the `mysql' database from replication (using
     for example `replicate-wild-ignore-table=mysql.%'). This was
     already the case for `GRANT' and `REVOKE' since version 4.0.13
     (though there was Bug #980 in 4.0.13 & 4.0.14, which has been
     fixed in 4.0.15).

   * Rewrote the information shown in the `State' column of `SHOW
     PROCESSLIST' for replication threads and for `MASTER_POS_WAIT()'
     and added the most common states for these threads to the
     documentation, *note Replication Implementation Details::.

   * Added a test in replication to detect the case where the master
     died in the middle of writing a transaction to the binlog; such
     unfinished transactions now trigger an error message on the slave.

   * A `GRANT' command that creates an anonymous user (that is, an
     account with an empty username) no longer requires `FLUSH
     PRIVILEGES' for the account to be recognized by the server.  (Bug
     #473)

   * `CHANGE MASTER' now flushes `relay-log.info'. Previously this was
     deferred to the next run of `START SLAVE', so if `mysqld' was
     shutdown on the slave after `CHANGE MASTER' without having run
     `START SLAVE', the relay log's name and position were lost. At
     restart they were reloaded from `relay-log.info', thus reverting
     to their old (incorrect) values from before `CHANGE MASTER' and
     leading to error messages (as the old relay log did not exist any
     more) and the slave threads refusing to start. (Bug #858)

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed buffer overflow in password handling which could potentially
     be exploited by MySQL users with `ALTER' privilege on the
     `mysql.user' table to execute random code or to gain shell access
     with the UID of the mysqld process (thanks to Jedi/Sector One for
     spotting and reporting this bug).

   * Fixed server crash on `FORCE INDEX' in a query that contained
     "Range checked for each record" in the `EXPLAIN' output. (Bug
     #1172)

   * Fixed table/column grant handling - proper sort order (from most
     specific to less specific, *note Request access::) was not honored.
     (Bug #928)

   * Fixed rare bug in MYISAM introduced in 4.0.3 where the index file
     header was not updated directly after an `UPDATE' of split dynamic
     rows.  The symptom was that the table had a corrupted delete-link
     if mysqld was shut down or the table was checked directly after
     the update.

   * Fixed `Can't unlock file' error when running `myisamchk
     --sort-index' on Windows. (Bug #1119)

   * Fixed possible deadlock when changing `key_buffer_size' while the
     key cache was actively used. (Bug #1088)

   * Fixed overflow bug in `MyISAM' and `ISAM' when a row is updated in
     a table with a large number of columns and at least one `BLOB/TEXT'
     column.

   * Fixed incorrect result when doing `UNION' and `LIMIT #,#' when one
     didn't use braces around the `SELECT' parts.

   * Fixed incorrect result when doing `UNION' and `ORDER BY .. LIMIT #'
     when one didn't use braces around the `SELECT' parts.

   * Fixed problem with `SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS ... UNION ALL ...
     LIMIT #' where `FOUND_ROWS()' returned incorrect number of rows.

   * Fixed unlikely stack bug when having a BIG expression of type
     `1+1-1+1-1...' in certain combinations. (Bug #871)

   * Fixed the bug that sometimes prevented a table with a `FULLTEXT'
     index from being marked as "analyzed".

   * Fixed MySQL so that the column length (in C API) for the second
     column in `SHOW CREATE TABLE' is always larger than the data
     length.  The only known application that was affected by the old
     behavior was Borland dbExpress, which truncated the output from
     the command.  (Bug #1064)

   * Fixed crash in comparisons of strings using the `tis620' character
     set. (Bug #1116)

   * Fixed `ISAM' bug in `MAX()' optimization.

   * `myisamchk --sort-records=N' no longer marks table as crashed if
     sorting failed because of an inappropriate key. (Bug #892)

   * Fixed a minor bug in `MyISAM' compressed table handling that
     sometimes made it impossible to repair compressed table in "Repair
     by sort" mode.  "Repair with keycache" (`myisamchk
     --safe-recover') worked, though.  (Bug #1015)

   * Fixed bug in propagating the version number to the manual included
     in the distribution files. (Bug #1020)

   * Fixed key sorting problem (a `PRIMARY' key declared for a column
     that is not explicitly marked `NOT NULL' was sorted after a
     `UNIQUE' key for a `NOT NULL' column).

   * Fixed the result of `INTERVAL' when applied to a `DATE' value.
     (Bug #792)

   * Fixed compiling of the embedded server library in the RPM spec
     file.  (Bug #959)

   * Added some missing files to the RPM spec file and fixed some RPM
     building errors that occurred on Red Hat Linux 9. (Bug #998)

   * Fixed incorrect `XOR' evaluation in `WHERE' clause. (Bug #992)

   * Fixed bug with processing in query cache merged tables constructed
     from more then 255 tables. (Bug #930)

   * Fixed incorrect results from outer join query (e.g. `LEFT JOIN')
     when `ON' condition is always false, and range search in used.
     (Bug #926)

   * Fixed a bug causing incorrect results from `MATCH ... AGAINST()'
     in some joins. (Bug #942)

   * `MERGE' tables do not ignore "Using index" (from `EXPLAIN' output)
     anymore.

   * Fixed a bug that prevented an empty table from being marked as
     "analyzed".  (Bug #937)

   * Fixed `myisamchk --sort-records' crash when used on compressed
     table.

   * Fixed slow (as compared to 3.23) `ALTER TABLE' and related
     commands such as `CREATE INDEX'.  (Bug #712)

   * Fixed segmentation fault resulting from `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'
     when the master was running without the `--log-bin' option. (Bug
     #934)

   * Fixed a security bug: A server compiled without SSL support still
     allowed connections by users that had the `REQUIRE SSL' option
     specified for their accounts.

   * Fixed a random bug: Sometimes the slave would replicate `GRANT' or
     `REVOKE' queries even if it was configured to exclude the `mysql'
     database from replication (for example, using
     `replicate-wild-ignore-table=mysql.%'). (Bug #980)

   * The `Last_Errno' and `Last_Error' fields in the output of `SHOW
     SLAVE STATUS' are now cleared by `CHANGE MASTER' and when the
     slave SQL thread starts. (Bug #986)

   * A documentation mistake: It said that `RESET SLAVE' does not change
     connection information  (master host, port, user, and password),
     whereas it does. The statement resets these to the startup options
     (`master-host' etc) if there were some. (Bug #985)

   * `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' now shows correct information (master host,
     port, user, and password) after `RESET SLAVE' (that is, it shows
     the new values, which are copied from the startup options if there
     were some). (Bug #985)

   * Disabled propagation of the original master's log position for
     events because this caused unexpected values for
     `Exec_Master_Log_Pos' and problems with `MASTER_POS_WAIT()' in
     A->B->C replication setup. (Bug #1086)

   * Fixed a segfault in `mysqlbinlog' when `--position=x' was used
     with `x' being between a `Create_file' event and its fellow
     `Append_block', `Exec_load' or `Delete_file' events. (Bug #1091)

   * `mysqlbinlog' printed superfluous warnings when using
     `--database', which caused syntax errors when piped to `mysql'.
     (Bug #1092)

   * Made `mysqlbinlog --database' filter `LOAD DATA INFILE' too
     (previously, it filtered all queries except `LOAD DATA INFILE').
     (Bug #1093)

   * `mysqlbinlog' in some cases forgot to put a leading `'#'' in front
     of the original `LOAD DATA INFILE' (this command is displayed only
     for information, not to be run; it is later reworked to `LOAD DATA
     LOCAL' with a different filename, for execution by `mysql'). (Bug
     #1096)

   * `binlog-do-db' and `binlog-ignore-db' incorrectly filtered `LOAD
     DATA INFILE' (it was half-written to the binary log). This
     resulted in a corrupted binary log, which could cause the slave to
     stop with an error. (Bug #1100)

   * When, in a transaction, a transactional table (such as an `InnoDB'
     table) was updated, and later in the same transaction a
     non-transactional table (such as a `MyISAM' table) was updated
     using the updated content of the transactional table (with `INSERT
     ... SELECT' for example), the queries were written to the binary
     log in an incorrect order. (Bug #873)

   * When, in a transaction, `INSERT ... SELECT' updated a
     non-transactional table, and `ROLLBACK' was issued, no error was
     returned to the client. Now the client is warned that some changes
     could not be rolled back, as this was already the case for normal
     `INSERT'. (Bug #1113)

   * Fixed a potential bug: When `STOP SLAVE' was run while the slave
     SQL thread was in the middle of a transaction, and then `CHANGE
     MASTER' was used to point the slave to some non-transactional
     statement, the slave SQL thread could get confused (because it
     would still think, from the past, that it was in a transaction).

Changes in release 4.0.14 (18 Jul 2003)
---------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * `mysqld' now reads an additional option file group having a name
     corresponding to the server's release series: `[mysqld-4.0]' for
     4.0.x servers, `[mysqld-4.1]' for 4.1.x servers, and so forth.
     This allows options to be specified on a series-specific basis.

   * The `CONCAT_WS()' function no longer skips empty strings. (Bug
     #586).

   * `InnoDB' now supports indexing a prefix of a column. This means, in
     particular, that `BLOB' and `TEXT' columns can be indexed in
     `InnoDB' tables, which was not possible before.

   * A documentation change: Function `INTERVAL(NULL, ...)' returns
     `-1'.

   * Enabled `INSERT' from `SELECT' when the table into which the
     records are inserted is also a table listed in the `SELECT'.

   * Allow `CREATE TABLE' and `INSERT' from any `UNION'.

   * The `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' option now always returns the total
     number of rows for any `UNION'.

   * Removed `--table' option from `mysqlbinlog' to avoid repeating
     `mysqldump' functionality.

   * Comment lines in option files can now start from the middle of a
     line, too (like `basedir=c:\mysql # installation directory').

   * Changed optimizer slightly to prefer index lookups over full table
     scans in some boundary cases.

   * Added thread-specific `max_seeks_for_key' variable that can be
     used to force the optimizer to use keys instead of table scans
     even if the cardinality of the index is low.

   * Added optimization that converts `LEFT JOIN' to normal join in
     some cases.

   * A documentation change: added a paragraph about failover in
     replication (how to use a surviving slave as the new master, how to
     resume to the original setup). *Note Replication FAQ::.

   * A documentation change: added warning notes about safe use of the
     `CHANGE MASTER' command. *Note CHANGE MASTER TO::.

   * MySQL now issues a warning (not an error, as in 4.0.13) when it
     opens a table that was created with MySQL 4.1.

   * Added `--nice' option to `mysqld_safe' to allow setting the
     niceness of the `mysqld' process. (Thanks to Christian Hammers for
     providing the initial patch.) (Bug #627)

   * Added `--read-only' option to cause `mysqld' to allow no updates
     except from slave threads or from users with the `SUPER' privilege.
     (Original patch from Markus Benning).

   * `SHOW BINLOG EVENTS FROM x' where `x' is less than 4 now silently
     converts `x' to 4 instead of printing an error. The same change
     was done for `CHANGE MASTER TO MASTER_LOG_POS=x' and `CHANGE
     MASTER TO RELAY_LOG_POS=x'.

   * `mysqld' now only adds an interrupt handler for the `SIGINT' signal
     if you start it with the new `--gdb' option.  This is because some
     MySQL users encountered strange problems when they accidentally
     sent `SIGINT' to `mysqld' threads.

   * `RESET SLAVE' now clears the `Last_Errno' and `Last_Error' fields
     in the output of `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'.

   * Added `max_relay_log_size' variable; the relay log will be rotated
     automatically when its size exceeds `max_relay_log_size'. But if
     `max_relay_log_size' is 0 (the default), `max_binlog_size' will be
     used (as in older versions). `max_binlog_size' still applies to
     binary logs in any case.

   * `FLUSH LOGS' now rotates relay logs in addition to the other types
     of logs it already rotated.

Bugs fixed:
   * Comparison/sorting for `latin1_de' character set was rewritten.
     The old algorithm could not handle cases like `"sa"" > "ssa"'.
     *Note German character set::. In rare cases it resulted in table
     corruption.

   * Fixed a problem with the password prompt on Windows. (Bug #683)

   * `ALTER TABLE ... UNION=(...)' for `MERGE' table is now allowed
     even if some underlying `MyISAM' tables are read-only. (Bug #702)

   * Fixed a problem with `CREATE TABLE t1 SELECT x'41''. (Bug #801)

   * Removed some incorrect lock warnings from the error log.

   * Fixed memory overrun when doing `REPAIR' on a table with a
     multi-part auto_increment key where one part was a packed `CHAR'.

   * Fixed a probable race condition in the replication code that could
     potentially lead to `INSERT' statements not being replicated in the
     event of a `FLUSH LOGS' command or when the binary log exceeds
     `max_binlog_size'. (Bug #791)

   * Fixed a crashing bug in `INTERVAL' and `GROUP BY' or `DISTINCT'.
     (Bug #807)

   * Fixed bug in `mysqlhotcopy' so it actually aborts for unsuccessful
     table copying operations.  Fixed another bug so that it succeeds
     when there are thousands of tables to copy. (Bug #812)

   * Fixed problem with `mysqlhotcopy' failing to read options from
     option files. (Bug #808)

   * Fixed bugs in optimizer that sometimes prevented MySQL from using
     `FULLTEXT' indexes even though it was possible (for example, in
     `SELECT * FROM t1 WHERE MATCH a,b AGAINST("index") > 0').

   * Fixed a bug with "table is full" in `UNION' operations.

   * Fixed a security problem that enabled users with no privileges to
     obtain information on the list of existing databases by using
     `SHOW TABLES' and similar commands.

   * Fixed a stack problem on UnixWare/OpenUnix.

   * Fixed a configuration problem on UnixWare/OpenUNIX and OpenServer.

   * Fixed a stack overflow problem in password verification.

   * Fixed a problem with `max_user_connections'.

   * `HANDLER' without an index now works properly when a table has
     deleted rows. (Bug #787)

   * Fixed a bug with `LOAD DATA' in `mysqlbinlog'. (Bug #670)

   * Fixed that `SET CHARACTER SET DEFAULT' works. (Bug #462)

   * Fixed `MERGE' table behavior in `ORDER BY ... DESC' queries.  (Bug
     #515)

   * Fixed server crash on `PURGE MASTER LOGS' or `SHOW MASTER LOGS'
     when the binary log is off. (Bug #733)

   * Fixed password-checking problem on Windows. (Bug #464)

   * Fixed the bug in comparison of a `DATETIME' column and an integer
     constant.  (Bug #504)

   * Fixed remote mode of `mysqlbinlog'. (Bug #672)

   * Fixed `ERROR 1105: Unknown error' that occurred for some `SELECT'
     queries, where a column that was declared as `NOT NULL' was
     compared with an expression that took `NULL' value.

   * Changed timeout in `mysql_real_connect()' to use `poll()' instead
     of `select()' to work around problem with many open files in the
     client.

   * Fixed incorrect results from `MATCH ... AGAINST' used with a `LEFT
     JOIN' query.

   * Fixed a bug that limited the maximum value for `mysqld' variables
     to 4294967295 when they are specified on the command line.

   * Fixed a bug that sometimes caused spurious "Access denied" errors
     in `HANDLER ... READ' statements, when a table is referenced via
     an alias.

   * Fixed portability problem with `safe_malloc', which caused MySQL to
     give "Freeing wrong aligned pointer" errors on SCO 3.2.

   * `ALTER TABLE ... ENABLE/DISABLE KEYS' could cause a core dump when
     done after an `INSERT DELAYED' statement on the same table.

   * Fixed problem with conversion of localtime to GMT where some times
     resulted in different (but correct) timestamps. Now MySQL should
     use the smallest possible timestamp value in this case.  (Bug #316)

   * Very small query cache sizes could crash `mysqld'. (Bug #549)

   * Fixed a bug (accidentally introduced by us but present only in
     version 4.0.13) that made `INSERT ... SELECT' into an
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' column not replicate well. This bug is in the
     master, not in the slave.  (Bug #490)

   * Fixed a bug: When an `INSERT ... SELECT' statement inserted rows
     into a non-transactional table, but failed at some point (for
     example, due to a "Duplicate key" error), the query was not
     written to the binlog.  Now it is written to the binlog, with its
     error code, as all other queries are. About the
     `slave-skip-errors' option for how to handle partially completed
     queries in the slave, see *Note Replication Options::. (Bug #491)

   * `SET FOREIGN_KEY_CHECKS=0' was not replicated properly.  The fix
     probably will not be backported to 3.23.

   * On a slave, `LOAD DATA INFILE' which had no `IGNORE' or `REPLACE'
     clause on the master, was replicated with `IGNORE'.  While this is
     not a problem if the master and slave data are identical (a `LOAD'
     that produces no duplicate conflicts on the master will produce
     none on the slave anyway), which is true in normal operation, it
     is better for debugging not to silently add the `IGNORE'. That way,
     you can get an error message on the slave and discover that for
     some reason, the data on master and slave are different and
     investigate why.  (Bug #571)

   * On a slave, `LOAD DATA INFILE' printed an incomplete "Duplicate
     entry '%-.64s' for key %d"' message (the key name and value were
     not mentioned) in case of duplicate conflict (which does not
     happen in normal operation).  (Bug #573)

   * When using a slave compiled with `--debug', `CHANGE MASTER TO
     RELAY_LOG_POS' could cause a debug assertion failure. (Bug #576)

   * When doing a `LOCK TABLES WRITE' on an `InnoDB' table, commit could
     not happen, if the query was not written to the binary log (for
     example, if `--log-bin' was not used, or `binlog-ignore-db' was
     used). (Bug #578)

   * If a 3.23 master had open temporary tables that had been
     replicated to a 4.0 slave, and the binlog got rotated, these
     temporary tables were immediately dropped by the slave (which
     caused problems if the master used them subsequently). This bug
     had been fixed in 4.0.13, but in a manner which caused an unlikely
     inconvenience: if the 3.23 master died brutally (power failure),
     without having enough time to automatically write `DROP TABLE'
     statements to its binlog, then the 4.0.13 slave would not notice
     the temporary tables have to be dropped, until the slave `mysqld'
     server is restarted. This minor inconvenience is fixed in 3.23.57
     and 4.0.14 (meaning the master must be upgraded to 3.23.57 and the
     slave to 4.0.14 to remove the inconvenience). (Bug #254)

   * If `MASTER_POS_WAIT()' was waiting, and the slave was idle, and
     the slave SQL thread terminated, `MASTER_POS_WAIT()' would wait
     forever. Now when the slave SQL thread terminates,
     `MASTER_POS_WAIT()' immediately returns `NULL' ("slave stopped").
     (Bug #651)

   * After `RESET SLAVE; START SLAVE;', the `Relay_Log_Space' value
     displayed by `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' was too big by four bytes. (Bug
     #763)

   * If a query was ignored on the slave (because of
     `replicate-ignore-table' and other similar rules), the slave still
     checked if the query got the same error code (0, no error) as on
     the master. So if the master had an error on the query (for
     example, "Duplicate entry" in a multiple-row insert), then the
     slave stopped and warned that the error codes didn't match. (Bug
     #797)

Changes in release 4.0.13 (16 May 2003)
---------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * `PRIMARY KEY' now implies `NOT NULL'. (Bug #390)

   * The Windows binary packages are now compiled with
     `--enable-local-infile' to match the Unix build configuration.

   * Removed timing of tests from `mysql-test-run'. `time' does not
     accept all required parameters on many platforms (for example,
     QNX) and timing the tests is not really required (it's not a
     benchmark anyway).

   * `SHOW MASTER STATUS' and `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' required the `SUPER'
     privilege; now they accept `REPLICATION CLIENT' as well.  (Bug
     #343)

   * Added multi-threaded MyISAM repair optimization and
     `myisam_repair_threads' variable to enable it.  *Note
     `myisam_repair_threads': SHOW VARIABLES.

   * Added `innodb_max_dirty_pages_pct' variable which controls amount
     of dirty pages allowed in `InnoDB' buffer pool.

   * `CURRENT_USER()' and `Access denied' error messages now report the
     hostname exactly as it was specified in the `GRANT' command.

   * Removed benchmark results from the source and binary
     distributions. They are still available in the BK source tree,
     though.

   * `InnoDB' tables now support `ANALYZE TABLE'.

   * MySQL now issues an error when it opens a table that was created
     with MySQL 4.1.

   * Option `--new' now changes binary items (`0xFFDF') to be treated
     as binary strings instead of numbers by default. This fixes some
     problems with character sets where it's convenient to input the
     string as a binary item.  After this change you have to convert
     the binary string to `INTEGER' with a `CAST' if you want to
     compare two binary items with each other and know which one is
     bigger than the other.  `SELECT CAST(0xfeff AS UNSIGNED) <
     CAST(0xff AS UNSIGNED)'.  This will be the default behavior in
     MySQL 4.1. (Bug #152)

   * Enabled `delayed_insert_timeout' on Linux (most modern `glibc'
     libraries have a fixed `pthread_cond_timedwait()'). (Bug #211)

   * Don't create more insert delayed threads than given by
     `max_insert_delayed_threads'. (Bug #211)

   * Changed `UPDATE ... LIMIT' to apply the limit to rows that were
     matched, whether or not they actually were changed. Previously the
     limit was applied as a restriction on the number of rows changed.

   * Tuned optimizer to favor clustered index over table scan.

   * `BIT_AND()' and `BIT_OR()' now return an unsigned 64-bit value.

   * Added warnings to error log of why a secure connection failed (when
     running with `--log-warnings').

   * Deprecated options `--skip-symlink' and `--use-symbolic-links' and
     replaced these with `--symbolic-links'.

   * The default option for `innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit' was changed
     from 0 to 1 to make `InnoDB' tables ACID by default.  *Note
     `InnoDB' start: InnoDB start.

   * Added a feature to `SHOW KEYS' to display keys that are disabled by
     `ALTER TABLE DISABLE KEYS' command.

   * When using a non-existing table type with `CREATE TABLE', first
     try if the default table type exists before falling back to
     `MyISAM'.

   * Added `MEMORY' as an alias for `HEAP'.

   * Renamed function `rnd' to `my_rnd' as the name was too generic and
     is an exported symbol in `libmysqlclient' (thanks to Dennis Haney
     for the initial patch).

   * Portability fix: renamed `include/dbug.h' to `include/my_debug.h'.

   * `mysqldump' no longer silently deletes the binlogs when called with
     `--master-data' or `--first-slave'; while this behavior was
     convenient for some users, others may suffer from it. Now one has
     to explicitly ask for this deletion with the new
     `--delete-master-logs' option.

   * If the slave is configured (using for example
     `replicate-wild-ignore-table=mysql.%') to exclude `mysql.user',
     `mysql.host', `mysql.db', `mysql.tables_priv' and
     `mysql.columns_priv' from replication, then `GRANT' and `REVOKE'
     will not be replicated.

Bugs fixed:
   * Logged `Access denied' error message had incorrect `Using password'
     value. (Bug #398)

   * Fixed bug with `NATURAL LEFT JOIN', `NATURAL RIGHT JOIN' and
     `RIGHT JOIN' when using many joined tables.  The problem was that
     the `JOIN' method was not always associated with the tables
     surrounding the `JOIN' method.  If you have a query that uses many
     `RIGHT JOIN' or `NATURAL ... JOINS' you should check that they
     work as you expected after upgrading MySQL to this version. (Bug
     #291)

   * Fixed `mysql' parser not to erroneously interpret `'' or `"'
     characters within `/* ... */' comment as beginning a quoted string.

   * `mysql' command line client no longer looks for `\*' commands
     inside backtick-quoted strings.

   * Fixed `Unknown error' when using `UPDATE ... LIMIT'. (Bug #373)

   * Fixed problem with ANSI mode and `GROUP BY' with constants. (Bug
     #387)

   * Fixed bug with `UNION' and `OUTER JOIN'. (Bug #386)

   * Fixed bug if one used a multiple-table `UPDATE' and the query
     required a temporary table bigger than `tmp_table_size'. (Bug #286)

   * Run `mysql_install_db' with the `-IN-RPM' option for the Mac OS X
     installation to not fail on systems with improperly configured
     hostname configurations.

   * `LOAD DATA INFILE' will now read `000000' as a zero date instead as
     `"2000-00-00"'.

   * Fixed bug that caused `DELETE FROM table WHERE const_expression'
     always to delete the whole table (even if expression result was
     false).  (Bug #355)

   * Fixed core dump bug when using `FORMAT('nan',#)'. (Bug #284)

   * Fixed name resolution bug with `HAVING ... COUNT(DISTINCT ...)'.

   * Fixed incorrect result from truncation operator (`*') in `MATCH
     ... AGAINST()' in some complex joins.

   * Fixed a crash in `REPAIR ... USE_FRM' command, when used on
     read-only, nonexisting table or a table with a crashed index file.

   * Fixed a crashing bug in mysql monitor program.  It occurred if
     program was started with `--no-defaults', with a prompt that
     contained hostname and connection to non-existing db was requested

   * Fixed problem when comparing a key for a multi-byte-character set.
     (Bug #152)

   * Fixed bug in `LEFT', `RIGHT' and `MID' when used with multi-byte
     character sets and some `GROUP BY' queries. (Bug #314)

   * Fix problem with `ORDER BY' being discarded for some `DISTINCT'
     queries. (Bug #275)

   * Fixed that `SET SQL_BIG_SELECTS=1' works as documented (This
     corrects a new bug introduced in 4.0)

   * Fixed some serious bugs in `UPDATE ... ORDER BY'. (Bug #241)

   * Fixed unlikely problem in optimizing `WHERE' clause with constant
     expression like in `WHERE 1 AND (a=1 AND b=1)'.

   * Fixed that `SET SQL_BIG_SELECTS=1' works again.

   * Introduced proper backtick quoting for db.table in `SHOW GRANTS'.

   * `FULLTEXT' index stopped working after `ALTER TABLE' that converts
     `TEXT' column to `CHAR'. (Bug #283)

   * Fixed a security problem with `SELECT' and wildcarded select list,
     when user only had partial column `SELECT' privileges on the table.

   * Mark a MyISAM table as "analyzed" only when all the keys are indeed
     analyzed.

   * Only ignore world-writable `my.cnf' files that are regular files
     (and not, for example, named pipes or character devices).

   * Fixed few smaller issues with `SET PASSWORD'.

   * Fixed error message which contained deprecated text.

   * Fixed a bug with two `NATURAL JOIN's in the query.

   * `SUM()' didn't return `NULL' when there was no rows in result or
     when all values was `NULL'.

   * On Unix symbolic links handling was not enabled by default and
     there was no way to turn this on.

   * Added missing dashes to parameter `--open-files-limit' in
     `mysqld_safe'. (Bug #264)

   * Fixed incorrect hostname for TCP/IP connections displayed in `SHOW
     PROCESSLIST'.

   * Fixed a bug with `NAN' in `FORMAT(...)' function ...

   * Fixed a bug with improperly cached database privileges.

   * Fixed a bug in `ALTER TABLE ENABLE / DISABLE KEYS' which failed to
     force a refresh of table data in the cache.

   * Fixed bugs in replication of `LOAD DATA INFILE' for custom
     parameters (`ENCLOSED',  `TERMINATED' and so on) and temporary
     tables.  (Bug #183, Bug #222)

   * Fixed a replication bug when the master is 3.23 and the slave 4.0:
     the slave lost the replicated temporary tables if `FLUSH LOGS' was
     issued on the master. (Bug #254)

   * Fixed a bug when doing `LOAD DATA INFILE IGNORE': When reading the
     binary log, `mysqlbinlog' and the replication code read `REPLACE'
     instead of `IGNORE'. This could make the slave's table become
     different from the master's table. (Bug #218)

   * Fixed a deadlock when `relay_log_space_limit' was set to a too
     small value. (Bug #79)

   * Fixed a bug in HAVING clause when an alias is used from the
     *select list*.

   * Fixed overflow bug in `MyISAM' when a row is inserted into a table
     with a large number of columns and at least one `BLOB/TEXT'
     column. Bug was caused by incorrect calculation of the needed
     buffer to pack data.

   * Fixed a bug when `SELECT' *@nonexistent_variable* caused the error
     in client - server protocol due to net_printf() being sent to the
     client twice.

   * Fixed a bug in setting `SQL_BIG_SELECTS' option.

   * Fixed a bug in `SHOW PROCESSLIST' which only displayed a localhost
     in the `"Host"' column. This was caused by a glitch that used only
     current thread information instead of information from the linked
     list of threads.

   * Removed unnecessary Mac OS X helper files from server RPM. (Bug
     #144)

   * Allow optimization of multiple-table update for `InnoDB' tables as
     well.

   * Fixed a bug in multiple-table updates that caused some rows to be
     updated several times.

   * Fixed a bug in `mysqldump' when it was called with
     `--master-data': the `CHANGE MASTER TO' commands appended to the
     SQL dump had incorrect coordinates. (Bug #159)

   * Fixed a bug when an updating query using `USER()' was replicated
     on the slave; this caused segfault on the slave. (Bug #178).
     `USER()' is still badly replicated on the slave (it is replicated
     to `""').

Changes in release 4.0.12 (15 Mar 2003: Production)
---------------------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * `mysqld' no longer reads options from world-writable config files.

   * Integer values between 9223372036854775807 and 9999999999999999999
     are now regarded as unsigned longlongs, not as floats. This makes
     these values work similar to values between 10000000000000000000
     and 18446744073709551615.

   * `SHOW PROCESSLIST' will now include the client TCP port after the
     hostname to make it easier to know from which client the request
     originated.

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed `mysqld' crash on extremely small values of `sort_buffer'
     variable.

   * `INSERT INTO u SELECT ... FROM t' was written too late to the
     binary log if t was very frequently updated during the execution of
     this query. This could cause a problem with `mysqlbinlog' or
     replication. The master must be upgraded, not the slave. (Bug #136)

   * Fixed checking of random part of `WHERE' clause. (Bug #142)

   * Fixed a bug with multiple-table updates with `InnoDB' tables. This
     bug occurred as, in many cases, `InnoDB' tables cannot be updated
     "on the fly," but offsets to the records have to be stored in a
     temporary table.

   * Added missing file `mysql_secure_installation' to the `server' RPM
     subpackage. (Bug #141)

   * Fixed MySQL (and `myisamchk') crash on artificially corrupted
     `.MYI' files.

   * Don't allow `BACKUP TABLE' to overwrite existing files.

   * Fixed a bug with multiple-table `UPDATE' statements when user had
     all privileges on the database where tables are located and there
     were any entries in `tables_priv' table, that is, `grant_option'
     was true.

   * Fixed a bug that allowed a user with table or column grants on
     some table, `TRUNCATE' any table in the same database.

   * Fixed deadlock when doing `LOCK TABLE' followed by `DROP TABLE' in
     the same thread.  In this case one could still kill the thread
     with `KILL'.

   * `LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE' was not properly written to the binary
     log (hence not properly replicated). (Bug #82)

   * `RAND()' entries were not read correctly by `mysqlbinlog' from the
     binary log which caused problems when restoring a table that was
     inserted with `RAND()'. `INSERT INTO t1 VALUES(RAND())'. In
     replication this worked ok.

   * `SET SQL_LOG_BIN=0' was ignored for `INSERT DELAYED' queries. (Bug
     #104)

   * `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' reported too old positions (columns
     `Relay_Master_Log_File' and `Exec_Master_Log_Pos') for the last
     executed statement from the master, if this statement was the
     `COMMIT' of a transaction. The master must be upgraded for that,
     not the slave. (Bug #52)

   * `LOAD DATA INFILE' was not replicated by the slave if
     `replicate_*_table' was set on the slave. (Bug #86)

   * After `RESET SLAVE', the coordinates displayed by `SHOW SLAVE
     STATUS' looked un-reset (though they were, but only internally).
     (Bug #70)

   * Fixed query cache invalidation on `LOAD DATA'.

   * Fixed memory leak on `ANALYZE' procedure with error.

   * Fixed a bug in handling `CHAR(0)' columns that could cause
     incorrect results from the query.

   * Fixed rare bug with incorrect initialization of `AUTO_INCREMENT'
     column, as a secondary column in a multi-column key (*note
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' on secondary column in a multi-column key:
     example-AUTO_INCREMENT.), when data was inserted with `INSERT ...
     SELECT' or `LOAD DATA' into an empty table.

   * On Windows, `STOP SLAVE' didn't stop the slave until the slave got
     one new command from the master (this bug has been fixed for MySQL
     4.0.11 by releasing updated 4.0.11a Windows packages, which
     include this individual fix on top of the 4.0.11 sources). (Bug
     #69)

   * Fixed a crash when no database was selected and `LOAD DATA' command
     was issued with full table name specified, including database
     prefix.

   * Fixed a crash when shutting down replication on some platforms
     (for example, Mac OS X).

   * Fixed a portability bug with `pthread_attr_getstacksize' on HP-UX
     10.20 (Patch was also included in 4.0.11a sources).

   * Fixed the `bigint' test to not fail on some platforms (for
     example, HP-UX and Tru64) due to different return values of the
     `atof()' function.

   * Fixed the `rpl_rotate_logs' test to not fail on certain platforms
     (e.g.  Mac OS X) due to a too long file name (changed
     `slave-master-info.opt' to `.slave-mi').

Changes in release 4.0.11 (20 Feb 2003)
---------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * `NULL' is now sorted *LAST* if you use `ORDER BY ... DESC' (as it
     was before MySQL 4.0.2).  This change was required to comply with
     the SQL-99 standard.  (The original change was made because we
     thought that SQL-99 required `NULL' to be always sorted at the
     same position, but this was incorrect).

   * Added `START TRANSACTION' (SQL-99 syntax) as alias for `BEGIN'.
     This is recommended to use instead of `BEGIN' to start a
     transaction.

   * Added `OLD_PASSWORD()' as a synonym for `PASSWORD()'.

   * Allow keyword `ALL' in group functions.

   * Added support for some new `INNER JOIN' and `JOIN' syntaxes.  For
     example, `SELECT * FROM t1 INNER JOIN t2' didn't work before.

   * Novell NetWare 6.0 porting effort completed, Novell patches merged
     into the main source tree.

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed problem with multiple-table delete and `InnoDB' tables.

   * Fixed a problem with `BLOB NOT NULL' columns used with `IS NULL'.

   * Re-added missing pre- and post(un)install scripts to the Linux RPM
     packages (they were missing after the renaming of the server
     subpackage).

   * Fixed that table locks are not released with multiple-table
     updates and deletes with `InnoDB' storage engine.

   * Fixed bug in updating `BLOB' columns with long strings.

   * Fixed integer-wraparound when giving big integer (>= 10 digits) to
     function that requires an unsigned argument, like `CREATE TABLE
     (...)  AUTO_INCREMENT=#'.

   * `MIN(key_column)' could in some cases return `NULL' on a column
     with `NULL' and other values.

   * `MIN(key_column)' and `MAX(key_column)' could in some cases return
     incorrect values when used in `OUTER JOIN'.

   * `MIN(key_column)' and `MAX(key_column)' could return incorrect
     values if one of the tables was empty.

   * Fixed rare crash in compressed MyISAM tables with blobs.

   * Fixed bug in using aggregate functions as argument for `INTERVAL',
     `CASE', `FIELD', `CONCAT_WS', `ELT' and `MAKE_SET' functions.

   * When running with `--lower-case-table-names' (default on Windows)
     and you had tables or databases with mixed case on disk, then
     executing `SHOW TABLE STATUS' followed with `DROP DATABASE' or
     `DROP TABLE' could fail with `Errcode 13'.

Changes in release 4.0.10 (29 Jan 2003)
---------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * Added option `--log-error[=file_name]' to `mysqld_safe' and
     `mysqld'. This option will force all error messages to be put in a
     log file if the option `--console' is not given. On Windows
     `--log-error' is enabled as default, with a default name of
     `host_name.err' if the name is not specified.

   * Changed some things from `Warning:' to `Note:' in the log files.

   * The mysqld server should now compile on NetWare.

   * Added optimization that if one does `GROUP BY ... ORDER BY NULL'
     then result is not sorted.

   * New `--ft-stopword-file' command-line option for `mysqld' to
     replace/disable the built-in stopword list that is used in
     full-text searches.  *Note `ft_stopword_file': SHOW VARIABLES.

   * Changed default stack size from 64K to 192K; This fixes a core dump
     problem on Red Hat 8.0 and other systems with a `glibc' that
     requires a stack size larger than 128K for `gethostbyaddr()' to
     resolve a hostname. You can fix this for earlier MySQL versions by
     starting `mysqld' with `--thread-stack=192K'.

   * Added `mysql_waitpid' to the binary distribution and the
     `MySQL-client' RPM subpackage (required for `mysql-test-run').

   * Renamed the main `MySQL' RPM package to `MySQL-server'. When
     updating from an older version, `MySQL-server.rpm' will simply
     replace `MySQL.rpm'.

   * If a slave is configured with `replicate_wild_do_table=db.%' or
     `replicate_wild_ignore_table=db.%', these rules will be applied to
     `CREATE/DROP DATABASE', too.

   * Added timeout value for `MASTER_POS_WAIT()'.

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed initialization of the random seed for newly created threads
     to give a better `rand()' distribution from the first call.

   * Fixed a bug that caused `mysqld' to hang when a table was opened
     with the `HANDLER' command and then dropped without being closed.

   * Fixed bug in logging to binary log (which affects replication) a
     query that inserts a `NULL' in an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column and also
     uses `LAST_INSERT_ID()'.

   * Fixed an unlikely bug that could cause a memory overrun when using
     `ORDER BY constant_expression'.

   * Fixed a table corruption in `myisamchk''s parallel repair mode.

   * Fixed bug in query cache invalidation on simple table renaming.

   * Fixed bug in `mysqladmin --relative'.

   * On some 64-bit systems, `show status' reported a strange number for
     `Open_files' and `Open_streams'.

   * Fixed incorrect number of columns in `EXPLAIN' on empty table.

   * Fixed bug in `LEFT JOIN' that caused zero rows to be returned in
     the case the `WHERE' condition was evaluated as `FALSE' after
     reading `const' tables. (Unlikely condition).

   * `FLUSH PRIVILEGES' didn't correctly flush table/column privileges
     when `mysql.tables_priv' is empty.

   * Fixed bug in replication when using `LOAD DATA INFILE' one a file
     that updated an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column with `NULL' or `0'. This
     bug only affected MySQL 4.0 masters (not slaves or MySQL 3.23
     masters).  *Note:* If you have a slave that has replicated a file
     with generated `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns then the slave data is
     corrupted and you should reinitialize the affected tables from the
     master.

   * Fixed possible memory overrun when sending a `BLOB' value larger
     than 16M to the client.

   * Fixed incorrect error message when setting a `NOT NULL' column to
     an expression that returned `NULL'.

   * Fixed core dump bug in `str LIKE "%other_str%"' where `str' or
     `other_str' contained characters >= 128.

   * Fixed bug: When executing on master `LOAD DATA' and `InnoDB' failed
     with `table full' error the binary log was corrupted.

Changes in release 4.0.9 (09 Jan 2003)
--------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * `OPTIMIZE TABLE' will for MyISAM tables treat all `NULL' values as
     different when calculating cardinality.  This helps in optimizing
     joins between tables where one of the tables has a lot of `NULL'
     values in a indexed column:
          SELECT * from t1,t2 where t1.a=t2.key_with_a_lot_of_null;

   * Added join operator `FORCE INDEX (key_list)'. This acts likes `USE
     INDEX (key_list)' but with the addition that a table scan is
     assumed to be VERY expensive.  One bad thing with this is that it
     makes `FORCE' a reserved word.

   * Reset internal row buffer in MyISAM after each query. This will
     reduce memory in the case you have a lot of big blobs in a table.

Bugs fixed:
   * A security patch in 4.0.8 causes the mysqld server to die if the
     remote hostname can't be resolved. This is now fixed.

   * Fixed crash when replication big `LOAD DATA INFILE' statement that
     caused log rotation.

Changes in release 4.0.8 (07 Jan 2003)
--------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * Default `max_packet_length' for libmysqld.c is now 1024*1024*1024.

   * One can now specify `max_allowed_packet' in a file ready by
     `mysql_options(MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE)'.  for clients.

   * When sending a too big packet to the server with the not compressed
     protocol, the client now gets an error message instead of a lost
     connection.

   * We now send big queries/result rows in bigger hunks, which should
     give a small speed improvement.

   * Fixed some bugs with the compressed protocol for rows > 16M.

   * `InnoDB' tables now also support `ON UPDATE CASCADE' in `FOREIGN
     KEY' constraints. See the `InnoDB' section in the manual for the
     `InnoDB' changelog.

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE' with `BDB' tables.

   * Fixed core dump bug in `QUOTE()' function.

   * Fixed a bug in handling communication packets bigger than 16M.
     Unfortunately this required a protocol change; If you upgrade the
     server to 4.0.8 and above and have clients that uses packets >=
     255*255*255 bytes (=16581375) you must also upgrade your clients
     to at least 4.0.8.  If you don't upgrade, the clients will hang
     when sending a big packet.

   * Fixed bug when sending blobs longer than 16M to client.

   * Fixed bug in `GROUP BY' when used on BLOB column with `NULL'
     values.

   * Fixed a bug in handling `NULL' values in `CASE' ... WHEN ...

Changes in release 4.0.7 (20 Dec 2002)
--------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:
   * `mysqlbug' now also reports the compiler version used for building
     the binaries (if the compiler supports the option `--version').

Bugs fixed:
   * Fixed compilation problems on OpenUnix and HPUX 10.20.

   * Fixed some optimization problems when compiling MySQL with
     `-DBIG_TABLES' on a 32-bit system.

   * `mysql_drop_db()' didn't check permissions properly so anyone could
     drop another users database.  `DROP DATABASE' is checked properly.

Changes in release 4.0.6 (14 Dec 2002: Gamma)
---------------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:

   * Added syntax support for `CHARACTER SET xxx' and `CHARSET=xxx'
     table options (to be able to read table dumps from 4.1).

   * Fixed replication bug that caused the slave to loose its position
     in some cases when the replication log was rotated.

   * Fixed that a slave will restart from the start of a transaction if
     it's killed in the middle of one.

   * Moved the manual pages from `man' to `man/man1' in the binary
     distributions.

   * The default type returned by `IFNULL(A,B)' is now set to be the
     more 'general' of the types of `A' and `B'. (The order is
     `STRING', `REAL' or `INTEGER').

   * Moved the `mysql.server' startup script in the RPM packages from
     `/etc/rc.d/init.d/mysql' to `/etc/init.d/mysql' (which almost all
     current Linux distributions support for LSB compliance).

   * Added `Qcache_lowmem_prunes' status variable (number of queries
     that were deleted from cache because of low memory).

   * Fixed `mysqlcheck' so it can deal with table names containing
     dashes.

   * Bulk insert optimization (*note `bulk_insert_buffer_size': SHOW
     VARIABLES.)  is no longer used when inserting small (less than
     100) number of rows.

   * Optimization added for queries like `SELECT ... FROM merge_table
     WHERE indexed_column=constant_expr'.

   * Added functions `LOCALTIME' and `LOCALTIMESTAMP' as synonyms for
     `NOW()'.

   * `CEIL' is now an alias for `CEILING'.

   * The `CURRENT_USER()' function can be used to get a `user@host'
     value as it was matched in the `GRANT' system.  *Note
     `CURRENT_USER()': Miscellaneous functions.

   * Fixed `CHECK' constraints to be compatible with SQL-99. This made
     `CHECK' a reserved word. (Checking of `CHECK' constraints is still
     not implemented).

   * Added `CAST(... as CHAR)'.

   * Added PostgreSQL compatible `LIMIT' syntax: `SELECT ... LIMIT
     row_count OFFSET offset'

   * `mysql_change_user()' will now reset the connection to the state
     of a fresh connect (Ie, `ROLLBACK' any active transaction, close
     all temporary tables, reset all user variables etc..)

   * `CHANGE MASTER' and `RESET SLAVE' now require that slave threads
     be both already stopped; these commands will return an error if at
     least one of these two threads is running.

Bugs fixed:

   * Fixed number of found rows returned in `multi table updates'

   * Make `--lower-case-table-names' default on Mac OS X as the default
     file system (HFS+) is case insensitive.  *Note Name case
     sensitivity::.

   * Transactions in `AUTOCOMMIT=0' mode didn't rotate binary log.

   * A fix for the bug in a `SELECT' with joined tables with `ORDER BY'
     and `LIMIT' clause when filesort had to be used.  In that case
     `LIMIT' was applied to filesort of one of the tables, although it
     could not be.  This fix also solved problems with `LEFT JOIN'.

   * `mysql_server_init()' now makes a copy of all arguments. This fixes
     a problem when using the embedded server in C# program.

   * Fixed buffer overrun in `libmysqlclient' library that allowed a
     malicious `MySQL' server to crash the client application.

   * Fixed security-related bug in `mysql_change_user()' handling.  All
     users are strongly recommended to upgrade to version 4.0.6.

   * Fixed bug that prevented `--chroot' command-line option of
     `mysqld' from working.

   * Fixed bug in phrase operator `"..."' in boolean full-text search.

   * Fixed bug that caused `OPTIMIZE TABLE' to corrupt the table under
     some rare circumstances.

   * Part rewrite of multiple-table-update to optimize it, make it
     safer and more bug free.

   * `LOCK TABLES' now works together with multiple-table-update and
     multiple-table-delete.

   * `--replicate-do=xxx' didn't work for `UPDATE' commands.  (Bug
     introduced in 4.0.0)

   * Fixed shutdown problem on Mac OS X.

   * Major `InnoDB' bugs in `REPLACE, AUTO_INCREMENT, INSERT INTO ...
     SELECT ...' were fixed. See the `InnoDB' changelog in the `InnoDB'
     section of the manual.

   * `RESET SLAVE' caused a crash if the slave threads were running.

Changes in release 4.0.5 (13 Nov 2002)
--------------------------------------

Functionality added or changed:

   * Port number was added to hostname (if it is known) in `SHOW
     PROCESSLIST' command

   * Changed handling of last argument in `WEEK()' so that one can get
     week number according to the ISO 8601 specification.  (Old code
     should still work).

   * Fixed that `INSERT DELAYED' threads don't hang on `Waiting for
     INSERT' when one sends a `SIGHUP' to `mysqld'.

   * Change that `AND' works according to SQL-99 when it comes to
     `NULL' handling. In practice, this only affects queries where you
     do something like `WHERE ... NOT (NULL AND 0)'.

   * `mysqld' will now resolve `basedir' to its full path (with
     `realpath()'). This enables one to use relative symlinks to the
     MySQL installation directory.  This will however cause `show
     variables' to report different directories on systems where there
     is a symbolic link in the path.

   * Fixed that MySQL will not use index scan on index disabled with
     `IGNORE INDEX' or `USE INDEX'.  to be ignored.

   * Added `--use-frm' option to `mysqlcheck'. When used with `REPAIR',
     it gets the table structure from the `.frm' file, so the table can
     be repaired even if the `.MYI' header is corrupted.

   * Fixed bug in `MAX()' optimization when used with `JOIN' and `ON'
     expressions.

   * Added support for reading of MySQL 4.1 table definition files.

   * `BETWEEN' behavior changed (*note Comparison Operators::).  Now
     `datetime_col BETWEEN timestamp AND timestamp' should work as
     expected.

   * One can create `TEMPORARY' `MERGE' tables now.

   * `DELETE FROM myisam_table' now shrinks not only the `.MYD' file but
     also the `.MYI' file.

   * When one uses the `--open-files-limit=#' option to `mysqld_safe'
     it's now passed on to `mysqld'.

   * Changed output from `EXPLAIN' from `'where used'' to `'Using
     where'' to make it more in line with other output.

   * Removed variable `safe_show_database' as it was no longer used.

   * Updated source tree to be built using `automake 1.5' and `libtool
     1.4'.

   * Fixed an inadvertently changed option (`--ignore-space') back to
     the original `--ignore-spaces' in `mysqlclient'. (Both syntaxes
     will work).

   * Don't require `UPDATE' privilege when using `REPLACE'.

   * Added support for `DROP TEMPORARY TABLE ...', to be used to make
     replication safer.

   * When transactions are enabled, all commands that update temporary
     tables inside a `BEGIN/COMMIT' are now stored in the binary log on
     `COMMIT' and not stored if one does `ROLLBACK'.  This fixes some
     problems with non-transactional temporary tables used inside
     transactions.

   * Allow braces in joins in all positions. Formerly, things like
     `SELECT * FROM (t2 LEFT JOIN t3 USING (a)), t1' worked, but not
     `SELECT * FROM t1, (t2 LEFT JOIN t3 USING (a))'. Note that braces
     are simply removed, they do not change the way the join is
     executed.

   * `InnoDB' now supports also isolation levels `READ UNCOMMITTED' and
     `READ COMMITTED'.  For a detailed `InnoDB' changelog, see *Note
     InnoDB change history:: in this manual.

Bugs fixed:

   * Fixed bug in `MAX()' optimization when used with `JOIN' and `ON'
     expressions.

   * Fixed that `INSERT DELAY' threads don't hang on `Waiting for
     INSERT' when one sends a `SIGHUP' to `mysqld'.

   * Fixed that MySQL will not use an index scan on an index that has
     been disabled with `IGNORE INDEX' or `USE INDEX'.

   * Corrected test for `root' user in `mysqld_safe'.

   * Fixed error message issued when storage engine cannot do `CHECK'
     or `REPAIR'.

   * Fixed rare core dump problem in complicated `GROUP BY' queries that
     didn't return any result.

   * Fixed `mysqlshow' to work properly with wildcarded database names
     and with database names that contain underscores.

   * Portability fixes to get MySQL to compile cleanly with Sun Forte
     5.0.

   * Fixed `MyISAM' crash when using dynamic-row tables with huge
     numbers of packed fields.

   * Fixed query cache behavior with `BDB' transactions.

   * Fixed possible floating point exception in `MATCH' relevance
     calculations.

   * Fixed bug in full-text search `IN BOOLEAN MODE' that made `MATCH'
     to return incorrect relevance value in some complex joins.

   * Fixed a bug that limited `MyISAM' key length to a value slightly
     less that 500. It is exactly 500 now.

   * Fixed that `GROUP BY' on columns that may have a `NULL' value
     doesn't always use disk based temporary tables.

   * The filename argument for the `--des-key-file' argument to `mysqld'
     is interpreted relative to the data directory if given as a
     relative pathname.

   * Removed a condition that temp table with index on column that can
     be `NULL' has to be `MyISAM'. This was okay for 3.23, but not
     needed in 4.*. This resulted in slowdown in many queries since
     4.0.2.

   * Small code improvement in multiple-table updates.

   * Fixed a newly introduced bug that caused `ORDER BY ... LIMIT
     row_count' to not return all rows.

   * Fixed a bug in multiple-table deletes when outer join is used on
     an empty table, which gets first to be deleted.

   * Fixed a bug in multiple-table updates when a single table is
     updated.

   * Fixed bug that caused `REPAIR TABLE' and `myisamchk' to corrupt
     `FULLTEXT' indexes.

   * Fixed bug with caching the `mysql' grant table database. Now
     queries in this database are not cached in the query cache.

   * Small fix in `mysqld_safe' for some shells.

   * Give error if a `MyISAM' `MERGE' table has more than 2 ^ 32 rows
     and MySQL was not compiled with `-DBIG_TABLES'.

   * Fixed some `ORDER BY ... DESC' problems with `InnoDB' tables.

Changes in release 4.0.4 (29 Sep 2002)
--------------------------------------

   * Fixed bug where `GRANT'/`REVOKE' failed if hostname was given in
     non-matching case.

   * Don't give warning in `LOAD DATA INFILE' when setting a
     `timestamp' to a string value of `'0''.

   * Fixed bug in `myisamchk -R' mode.

   * Fixed bug that caused `mysqld' to crash on `REVOKE'.

   * Fixed bug in `ORDER BY' when there is a constant in the `SELECT'
     statement.

   * One didn't get an error message if `mysqld' couldn't open the
     privilege tables.

   * `SET PASSWORD FOR ...' closed the connection in case of errors (bug
     from 4.0.3).

   * Increased max possible `max_allowed_packet' in `mysqld' to 1 GB.

   * Fixed bug when doing a multi-line `INSERT' on a table with an
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' key which was not in the first part of the key.

   * Changed `LOAD DATA INFILE' to not re-create index if the table had
     rows from before.

   * Fixed overrun bug when calling `AES_DECRYPT()' with incorrect
     arguments.

   * `--skip-ssl' can now be used to disable SSL in the MySQL clients,
     even if one is using other SSL options in an option file or
     previously on the command line.

   * Fixed bug in `MATCH ... AGAINST( ... IN BOOLEAN MODE)' used with
     `ORDER BY'.

   * Added `LOCK TABLES' and `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES' privilege on the
     database level.  One must run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables'
     script on old installations to activate these.

   * In `SHOW TABLE ... STATUS', compressed tables sometimes showed up
     as `dynamic'.

   * `SELECT @@[global|session].var_name' didn't report `global |
     session' in the result column name.

   * Fixed problem in replication that `FLUSH LOGS' in a circular
     replication setup created an infinite number of binary log files.
     Now a `rotate-binary-log' command in the binary log will not cause
     slaves to rotate logs.

   * Removed `STOP EVENT' from binary log when doing `FLUSH LOGS'.

   * Disable the use of `SHOW NEW MASTER FOR SLAVE' as this needs to be
     completely reworked in a future release.

   * Fixed a bug with constant expression (for example, field of a
     one-row table, or field from a table, referenced by a `UNIQUE'
     key) appeared in `ORDER BY' part of `SELECT DISTINCT'.

   * `--log-binary=a.b.c' now properly strips off `.b.c'.

   * `FLUSH LOGS' removed numerical extension for all future update
     logs.

   * `GRANT ... REQUIRE' didn't store the SSL information in the
     `mysql.user' table if SSL was not enabled in the server.

   * `GRANT ... REQUIRE NONE' can now be used to remove SSL information.

   * `AND' is now optional between `REQUIRE' options.

   * `REQUIRE' option was not properly saved, which could cause strange
     output in `SHOW GRANTS'.

   * Fixed that `mysqld --help' reports correct values for `--datadir'
     and `--bind-address'.

   * Fixed that one can drop UDFs that didn't exist when `mysqld' was
     started.

   * Fixed core dump problem with `SHOW VARIABLES' on some 64-bit
     systems (like Solaris SPARC).

   * Fixed a bug in `my_getopt()'; `--set-variable' syntax didn't work
     for those options that didn't have a valid variable in the
     `my_option' struct.  This affected at least the
     `default-table-type' option.

   * Fixed a bug from 4.0.2 that caused `REPAIR TABLE' and `myisamchk
     --recover' to fail on tables with duplicates in a unique key.

   * Fixed a bug from 4.0.3 in calculating the default datatype for some
     functions. This affected queries of type `CREATE TABLE table_name
     SELECT expression(),...'

   * Fixed bug in queries of type `SELECT * FROM table-list GROUP BY
     ...' and `SELECT DISTINCT * FROM ...'.

   * Fixed bug with the `--slow-log' when logging an administrator
     command (like `FLUSH TABLES').

   * Fixed a bug that `OPTIMIZE' of locked and modified table, reported
     table corruption.

   * Fixed a bug in `my_getopt()' in handling of special prefixes
     (`--skip-', `--enable-'). `--skip-external-locking' didn't work
     and the bug may have affected other similar options.

   * Fixed bug in checking for output file name of the `tee' option.

   * Added some more optimization to use index for `SELECT ... FROM
     many_tables .. ORDER BY key limit #'

   * Fixed problem in `SHOW OPEN TABLES' when a user didn't have access
     permissions to one of the opened tables.

Changes in release 4.0.3 (26 Aug 2002: Beta)
--------------------------------------------

   * Fixed problem with types of user variables. (Bug #551)

   * Fixed problem with `configure ... --localstatedir=...'.

   * Cleaned up `mysql.server' script.

   * Fixed a bug in `mysqladmin shutdown' when pid file was modified
     while `mysqladmin' was still waiting for the previous one to
     disappear. This could happen during a very quick restart and caused
     `mysqladmin' to hang until `shutdown_timeout' seconds had passed.

   * Don't increment warnings when setting `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns to
     `NULL' in `LOAD DATA INFILE'.

   * Fixed all boolean type variables/options to work with the old
     syntax, for example, all of these work: `--lower-case-table-names',
     `--lower-case-table-names=1', `-O lower-case-table-names=1',
     `--set-variable=lower-case-table-names=1'

   * Fixed shutdown problem (SIGTERM signal handling) on Solaris. (Bug
     from 4.0.2).

   * `SHOW MASTER STATUS' now returns an empty set if binary log is not
     enabled.

   * `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' now returns an empty set if slave is not
     initialized.

   * Don't update MyISAM index file on update if not strictly necessary.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT DISTINCT ... FROM many_tables ORDER BY
     not-used-column'.

   * Fixed a bug with `BIGINT' values and quoted strings.

   * Added `QUOTE()' function that performs SQL quoting to produce
     values that can be used as data values in queries.

   * Changed variable `DELAY_KEY_WRITE' to an enum to allow one set
     `DELAY_KEY_WRITE' for all tables without taking down the server.

   * Changed behavior of `IF(condition,column,NULL)' so that it returns
     the value of the column type.

   * Made `safe_mysqld' a symlink to `mysqld_safe' in binary
     distribution.

   * Fixed security bug when having an empty database name in the
     `user.db' table.

   * Fixed some problems with `CREATE TABLE ... SELECT function()'.

   * `mysqld' now has the option `--temp-pool' enabled by default as
     this gives better performance with some operating systems.

   * Fixed problem with too many allocated alarms on slave when
     connecting to master many times (normally not a very critical
     error).

   * Fixed hang in `CHANGE MASTER TO' if the slave thread died very
     quickly.

   * Big cleanup in replication code (less logging, better error
     messages, etc..)

   * If the `--code-file' option is specified, the server calls
     `setrlimit()' to set the maximum allowed core file size to
     unlimited, so core files can be generated.

   * Fixed bug in query cache after temporary table creation.

   * Added `--count=N' (`-c') option to `mysqladmin', to make the
     program do only `N' iterations. To be used with `--sleep' (`-i').
     Useful in scripts.

   * Fixed bug in multiple-table `UPDATE': when updating a table,
     `do_select()' became confused about reading records from a cache.

   * Fixed bug in multiple-table `UPDATE' when several fields were
     referenced from a single table

   * Fixed bug in truncating nonexisting table.

   * Fixed bug in `REVOKE' that caused user resources to be randomly
     set.

   * Fixed bug in `GRANT' for the new `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE'
     privilege.

   * Fixed bug in multiple-table `DELETE' when tables are re-ordered in
     the table initialization method and ref_lengths are of different
     sizes.

   * Fixed two bugs in `SELECT DISTINCT' with large tables.

   * Fixed bug in query cache initialization with very small query
     cache size.

   * Allow `DEFAULT' with `INSERT' statement.

   * The startup parameters `myisam_max_sort_file_size' and
     `myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size' are now given in bytes, not
     megabytes.

   * External system locking of `MyISAM'/`ISAM' files is now turned off
     by default.  One can turn this on with `--external-locking'.  (For
     most users this is never needed).

   * Fixed core dump bug with `INSERT ... SET
     db_name.table_name.colname='''.

   * Fixed client hangup bug when using some SQL commands with
     incorrect syntax.

   * Fixed a timing bug in `DROP DATABASE'

   * New `SET [GLOBAL | SESSION]' syntax to change thread-specific and
     global server variables at runtime.

   * Added variable `slave_compressed_protocol'.

   * Renamed variable `query_cache_startup_type' to `query_cache_type',
     `myisam_bulk_insert_tree_size' to `bulk_insert_buffer_size',
     `record_buffer' to `read_buffer_size' and `record_rnd_buffer' to
     `read_rnd_buffer_size'.

   * Renamed some SQL variables, but old names will still work until
     5.0.  *Note Upgrading-from-3.23::.

   * Renamed `--skip-locking' to `--skip-external-locking'.

   * Removed unused variable `query_buffer_size'.

   * Fixed a bug that made the pager option in the `mysql' client
     non-functional.

   * Added full `AUTO_INCREMENT' support to `MERGE' tables.

   * Extended `LOG()' function to accept an optional arbitrary base
     parameter.  *Note Mathematical functions::.

   * Added `LOG2()' function (useful for finding out how many bits a
     number would require for storage).

   * Added `LN()' natural logarithm function for compatibility with
     other databases. It is synonymous with `LOG(X)'.

Changes in release 4.0.2 (01 Jul 2002)
--------------------------------------

   * Cleaned up `NULL' handling for default values in `DESCRIBE
     table_name'.

   * Fixed `truncate()' to round up negative values to the nearest
     integer.

   * Changed `--chroot=path' option to execute `chroot()' immediately
     after all options have been parsed.

   * Don't allow database names that contain `\'.

   * `lower_case_table_names' now also affects database names.

   * Added `XOR' operator (logical and bitwise `XOR') with `^' as a
     synonym for bitwise `XOR'.

   * Added function `IS_FREE_LOCK("lock_name")'.  Based on code
     contributed by Hartmut Holzgraefe <hartmut@six.de>.

   * Removed `mysql_ssl_clear()' from C API, as it was not needed.

   * `DECIMAL' and `NUMERIC' types can now read exponential numbers.

   * Added `SHA1()' function to calculate 160 bit hash value as
     described in RFC 3174 (Secure Hash Algorithm). This function can
     be considered a cryptographically more secure equivalent of
     `MD5()'.  *Note Encryption functions::.

   * Added `AES_ENCRYPT()' and `AES_DECRYPT()' functions to perform
     encryption according to AES standard (Rijndael).  *Note Encryption
     functions::.

   * Added `--single-transaction' option to `mysqldump', allowing a
     consistent dump of `InnoDB' tables.  *Note mysqldump::.

   * Fixed bug in `innodb_log_group_home_dir' in `SHOW VARIABLES'.

   * Fixed a bug in optimizer with merge tables when non-unique values
     are used in summing up (causing crashes).

   * Fixed a bug in optimizer when a range specified makes index
     grouping impossible (causing crashes).

   * Fixed a rare bug when `FULLTEXT' index is present and no tables
     are used.

   * Added privileges `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES', `EXECUTE', `LOCK
     TABLES', `REPLICATION CLIENT', `REPLICATION SLAVE', `SHOW
     DATABASES' and `SUPER'. To use these, you must have run the
     `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script after upgrading.

   * Fixed query cache align data bug.

   * Fixed mutex bug in replication when reading from master fails.

   * Added missing mutex in `TRUNCATE TABLE';  This fixes some core
     dump/hangup problems when using `TRUNCATE TABLE'.

   * Fixed bug in multiple-table `DELETE' when optimizer uses only
     indexes.

   * Fixed that `ALTER TABLE table_name RENAME new_table_name' is as
     fast as `RENAME TABLE'.

   * Fixed bug in `GROUP BY' with two or more fields, where at least one
     field can contain `NULL' values.

   * Use `Turbo Boyer-Moore' algorithm to speed up `LIKE "%keyword%"'
     searches.

   * Fixed bug in `DROP DATABASE' with symlink.

   * Fixed crash in `REPAIR ... USE_FRM'.

   * Fixed bug in `EXPLAIN' with `LIMIT offset != 0'.

   * Fixed bug in phrase operator `"..."' in boolean full-text search.

   * Fixed bug that caused duplicated rows when using truncation
     operator `*' in boolean full-text search.

   * Fixed bug in truncation operator of boolean full-text search
     (incorrect results when there are only `+word*'s in the query).

   * Fixed bug in boolean full-text search that caused a crash when an
     identical `MATCH' expression that did not use an index appeared
     twice.

   * Query cache is now automatically disabled in `mysqldump'.

   * Fixed problem on Windows 98 that made sending of results very slow.

   * Boolean full-text search weighting scheme changed to something
     more reasonable.

   * Fixed bug in boolean full-text search that caused MySQL to ignore
     queries of `ft_min_word_len' characters.

   * Boolean full-text search now supports "phrase searches".

   * New configure option `--without-query-cache'.

   * Memory allocation strategy for "root memory" changed. Block size
     now grows with number of allocated blocks.

   * `INET_NTOA()' now returns `NULL' if you give it an argument that
     is too large (greater than the value corresponding to
     `255.255.255.255').

   * Fix `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' to work with `UNION'. It will work only
     if the first `SELECT' has this option and if there is global
     `LIMIT' for the entire statement. For the moment, this requires
     using parentheses for individual `SELECT' queries within the
     statement.

   * Fixed bug in `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' and `LIMIT'.

   * Don't give an error for `CREATE TABLE ...(... VARCHAR(0))'.

   * Fixed `SIGINT' and `SIGQUIT' problems in `mysql.cc' on Linux with
     some `glibc' versions.

   * Fixed bug in `convert.cc', which is caused by having an incorrect
     `net_store_length()' linked in the `CONVERT::store()' method.

   * `DOUBLE' and `FLOAT' columns now honor the `UNSIGNED' flag on
     storage.

   * `InnoDB' now retains foreign key constraints through `ALTER TABLE'
     and `CREATE/DROP INDEX'.

   * `InnoDB' now allows foreign key constraints to be added through the
     `ALTER TABLE' syntax.

   * `InnoDB' tables can now be set to automatically grow in size
     (autoextend).

   * Added `--ignore-lines=n' option to `mysqlimport'.  This has the
     same effect as the `IGNORE n LINES' clause for `LOAD DATA'.

   * Fixed bug in `UNION' with last offset being transposed to total
     result set.

   * `REPAIR ... USE_FRM' added.

   * Fixed that `DEFAULT_SELECT_LIMIT' is always imposed on `UNION'
     result set.

   * Fixed that some `SELECT' options can appear only in the first
     `SELECT'.

   * Fixed bug with `LIMIT' with `UNION', where last select is in the
     braces.

   * Fixed that full-text works fine with `UNION' operations.

   * Fixed bug with indexless boolean full-text search.

   * Fixed bug that sometimes appeared when full-text search was used
     with `const' tables.

   * Fixed incorrect error value when doing a `SELECT' with an empty
     `HEAP' table.

   * Use `ORDER BY column DESC' now sorts `NULL' values first.  (In
     other words, `NULL' values sort first in all cases, whether or not
     `DESC' is specified.)  This is changed back in 4.0.10.

   * Fixed bug in `WHERE key_name='constant' ORDER BY key_name DESC'.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT DISTINCT ... ORDER BY DESC' optimization.

   * Fixed bug in `... HAVING 'GROUP_FUNCTION'(xxx) IS [NOT] NULL'.

   * Fixed bug in truncation operator for boolean full-text search.

   * Allow value of `--user=#' option for `mysqld' to be specified as a
     numeric user ID.

   * Fixed a bug where `SQL_CALC_ROWS' returned an incorrect value when
     used with one table and `ORDER BY' and with `InnoDB' tables.

   * Fixed that `SELECT 0 LIMIT 0' doesn't hang thread.

   * Fixed some problems with `USE/IGNORE INDEX' when using many keys
     with the same start column.

   * Don't use table scan with `BerkeleyDB' and `InnoDB' tables when we
     can use an index that covers the whole row.

   * Optimized `InnoDB' sort-buffer handling to take less memory.

   * Fixed bug in multiple-table `DELETE' and `InnoDB' tables.

   * Fixed problem with `TRUNCATE' and `InnoDB' tables that produced the
     error `Can't execute the given command because you have active
     locked tables or an active transaction'.

   * Added `NO_UNSIGNED_SUBTRACTION' to the set of flags that may be
     specified with the `--sql-mode' option for `mysqld'.  It disables
     unsigned arithmetic rules when it comes to subtraction. (This will
     make MySQL 4.0 behave more like 3.23 with `UNSIGNED' columns).

   * The result returned for all bit functions (`|', `<<', ...) is now
     of type `unsigned integer'.

   * Added detection of `nan' values in `MyISAM' to make it possible to
     repair tables with `nan' in float or double columns.

   * Fixed new bug in `myisamchk' where it didn't correctly update
     number of "parts" in the `MyISAM' index file.

   * Changed to use `autoconf' 2.52 (from `autoconf' 2.13).

   * Fixed optimization problem where the MySQL Server was in
     "preparing" state for a long time when selecting from an empty
     table which had contained a lot of rows.

   * Fixed bug in complicated join with `const' tables. This fix also
     improves performance a bit when referring to another table from a
     `const' table.

   * First pre-version of multiple-table `UPDATE' statement.

   * Fixed bug in multiple-table `DELETE'.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT CONCAT(argument_list) ... GROUP BY 1'.

   * `INSERT ... SELECT' did a full rollback in case of an error. Fixed
     so that we only roll back the last statement in the current
     transaction.

   * Fixed bug with empty expression for boolean full-text search.

   * Fixed core dump bug in updating full-text key from/to `NULL'.

   * ODBC compatibility: Added `BIT_LENGTH()' function.

   * Fixed core dump bug in `GROUP BY BINARY column'.

   * Added support for `NULL' keys in `HEAP' tables.

   * Use index for `ORDER BY' in queries of type: `SELECT * FROM t
     WHERE key_part1=1 ORDER BY key_part1 DESC,key_part2 DESC'

   * Fixed bug in `FLUSH QUERY CACHE'.

   * Added `CAST()' and `CONVERT()' functions. The `CAST' and `CONVERT'
     functions are nearly identical and mainly useful when you want to
     create a column with a specific type in a `CREATE ... SELECT'
     statement.  For more information, read *Note Cast Functions::.

   * `CREATE ... SELECT' on `DATE' and `TIME' functions now create
     columns of the expected type.

   * Changed order in which keys are created in tables.

   * Added new columns `Null' and `Index_type' to `SHOW INDEX' output.

   * Added `--no-beep' and `--prompt' options to `mysql' command-line
     client.

   * New feature: management of user resources.
          GRANT ... WITH MAX_QUERIES_PER_HOUR N1
                         MAX_UPDATES_PER_HOUR N2
                         MAX_CONNECTIONS_PER_HOUR N3;
     *Note User resources::.

   * Added `mysql_secure_installation' to the `scripts/' directory.

Changes in release 4.0.1 (23 Dec 2001)
--------------------------------------

   * Added `system' command to `mysql'.

   * Fixed bug when `HANDLER' was used with some unsupported table type.

   * `mysqldump' now puts `ALTER TABLE tbl_name DISABLE KEYS' and
     `ALTER TABLE tbl_name ENABLE KEYS' in the sql dump.

   * Added `mysql_fix_extensions' script.

   * Fixed stack overrun problem with `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' on OSF/1.

   * Fixed shutdown problem on HP-UX.

   * Added `DES_ENCRYPT()' and `DES_DECRYPT()' functions.

   * Added `FLUSH DES_KEY_FILE' statement.

   * Added `--des-key-file' option to `mysqld'.

   * `HEX(string)' now returns the characters in `string' converted to
     hexadecimal.

   * Fixed problem with `GRANT' when using `lower_case_table_names=1'.

   * Changed `SELECT ... IN SHARE MODE' to `SELECT ... LOCK IN SHARE
     MODE' (as in MySQL 3.23).

   * A new query cache to cache results from identical `SELECT' queries.

   * Fixed core dump bug on 64-bit machines when it got an incorrect
     communication packet.

   * `MATCH ... AGAINST(... IN BOOLEAN MODE)' can now work without
     `FULLTEXT' index.

   * Fixed slave to replicate from 3.23 master.

   * Miscellaneous replication fixes/cleanup.

   * Got shutdown to work on Mac OS X.

   * Added `myisam/ft_dump' utility for low-level inspection of
     `FULLTEXT' indexes.

   * Fixed bug in `DELETE ... WHERE ... MATCH ...'.

   * Added support for `MATCH ... AGAINST(... IN BOOLEAN MODE)'.
     *Note: You must rebuild your tables with `ALTER TABLE tablename
     TYPE=MyISAM' to be able to use boolean full-text search*.

   * `LOCATE()' and `INSTR()' are now case sensitive if either argument
     is a binary string.

   * Changed `RAND()' initialization so that `RAND(N)' and `RAND(N+1)'
     are more distinct.

   * Fixed core dump bug in `UPDATE ... ORDER BY'.

   * In 3.23, `INSERT INTO ... SELECT' always had `IGNORE' enabled.
     Now MySQL will stop (and possibly roll back) by default in case of
     an error unless you specify `IGNORE'.

   * Ignore `DATA DIRECTORY' and `INDEX DIRECTORY' directives on
     Windows.

   * Added boolean full-text search code. It should be considered early
     alpha.

   * Extended `MODIFY' and `CHANGE' in `ALTER TABLE' to accept the
     `FIRST' and `AFTER' keywords.

   * Indexes are now used with `ORDER BY' on a whole `InnoDB' table.

Changes in release 4.0.0 (Oct 2001: Alpha)
------------------------------------------

   * Added `--xml' option to `mysql' for producing XML output.

   * Added full-text variables `ft_min_word_len', `ft_max_word_len', and
     `ft_max_word_len_for_sort'.

   * Added documentation for `libmysqld', the embedded MySQL server
     library.  Also added example programs (a `mysql' client and
     `mysqltest' test program) which use `libmysqld'.

   * Removed all Gemini hooks from MySQL server.

   * Removed `my_thread_init()' and `my_thread_end()' from
     `mysql_com.h', and added `mysql_thread_init()' and
     `mysql_thread_end()' to `mysql.h'.

   * Support for communication packets > 16M.  In 4.0.1 we will extend
     `MyISAM' to be able to handle these.

   * Secure connections (with SSL).

   * Unsigned `BIGINT' constants now work. `MIN()' and `MAX()' now
     handle signed and unsigned `BIGINT' numbers correctly.

   * New character set `latin1_de' which provides correct German
     sorting.

   * `STRCMP()' now uses the current character set when doing
     comparisons, which means that the default comparison behavior now
     is case insensitive.

   * `TRUNCATE TABLE' and `DELETE FROM tbl_name' are now separate
     functions. One bonus is that `DELETE FROM tbl_name' now returns
     the number of deleted rows, rather than zero.

   * `DROP DATABASE' now executes a `DROP TABLE' on all tables in the
     database, which fixes a problem with `InnoDB' tables.

   * Added support for `UNION'.

   * Added support for multiple-table `DELETE' operations.

   * A new `HANDLER' interface to `MyISAM' tables.

   * Added support for `INSERT' on `MERGE' tables. Patch from Benjamin
     Pflugmann.

   * Changed `WEEK(date,0)' to match the calendar in the USA.

   * `COUNT(DISTINCT)' is about 30% faster.

   * Speed up all internal list handling.

   * Speed up `IS NULL', `ISNULL()' and some other internal primitives.

   * Full-text index creation now is much faster.

   * Tree-like cache to speed up bulk inserts and
     `myisam_bulk_insert_tree_size' variable.

   * Searching on packed (`CHAR'/`VARCHAR') keys is now much faster.

   * Optimized queries of type: `SELECT DISTINCT * from tbl_name ORDER
     by key_part1 LIMIT row_count'.

   * `SHOW CREATE TABLE' now shows all table attributes.

   * `ORDER BY ... DESC' can now use keys.

   * `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' "automatically" sets up a slave.

   * Renamed `safe_mysqld' to `mysqld_safe' to make this name more in
     line with other MySQL scripts/commands.

   * Added support for symbolic links to `MyISAM' tables. Symlink
     handling is now enabled by default for Windows.

   * Added `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' and `FOUND_ROWS()'. This makes it
     possible to know how many rows a query would have returned without
     a `LIMIT' clause.

   * Changed output format of `SHOW OPEN TABLES'.

   * Allow `SELECT expression LIMIT ...'.

   * Added `ORDER BY' syntax to `UPDATE' and `DELETE'.

   * `SHOW INDEXES' is now a synonym for `SHOW INDEX'.

   * Added `ALTER TABLE tbl_name DISABLE KEYS' and `ALTER TABLE
     tbl_name ENABLE KEYS' commands.

   * Allow use of `IN' as a synonym for `FROM' in `SHOW' commands.

   * Implemented "repair by sort" for `FULLTEXT' indexes.  `REPAIR
     TABLE', `ALTER TABLE', and `OPTIMIZE TABLE' for tables with
     `FULLTEXT' indexes are now up to 100 times faster.

   * Allow SQL-99 syntax `X'hexadecimal-number''.

   * Cleaned up global lock handling for `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK'.

   * Fixed problem with `DATETIME = constant' in `WHERE' optimization.

   * Added `--master-data' and `--no-autocommit' options to
     `mysqldump'. (Thanks to Brian Aker for this.)

   * Added script `mysql_explain_log.sh' to distribution.  (Thanks to
     mobile.de).

Changes in release 3.23.x (Recent; still supported)
===================================================

Please note that since release 4.0 is now production level, only
critical fixes are done in the 3.23 release series. You are recommended
to upgrade when possible, to take advantage of all speed and feature
improvements in 4.0. *Note Upgrading-from-3.23::.

The 3.23 release has several major features that are not present in
previous versions.  We have added three new table types:

`MyISAM'
     A new ISAM library which is tuned for SQL and supports large files.

`InnoDB'
     A transaction-safe storage engine that supports row level locking,
     and many Oracle-like features.

`BerkeleyDB' or `BDB'
     Uses the Berkeley DB library from Sleepycat Software to implement
     transaction-safe tables.

Note that only `MyISAM' is available in the standard binary
distribution.

The 3.23 release also includes support for database replication between
a master and many slaves, full-text indexing, and much more.

All new features are being developed in the 4.x version.  Only bug
fixes and minor enhancements to existing features will be added to 3.23.

The replication code and BerkeleyDB code is still not as tested and as
the rest of the code, so we will probably need to do a couple of future
releases of 3.23 with small fixes for this part of the code. As long as
you don't use these features, you should be quite safe with MySQL 3.23!

Note that the above doesn't mean that replication or Berkeley DB don't
work.  We have done a lot of testing of all code, including replication
and `BDB' without finding any problems.  It only means that not as many
users use this code as the rest of the code and because of this we are
not yet 100% confident in this code.

Changes in release 3.23.59 (not released yet)
---------------------------------------------

   * Fixed bug in `ACOS()', `ASIN()'. (Bug #2338) The cause of the
     problem is an overly strong optimization done by `gcc' in this
     case.

   * Fixed bug in `INSERT ... SELECT' statements where, if a `NOT NULL'
     column is assigned a value of `NULL', the following columns in the
     row might be assigned a value of zero.  (Bug #2012)

   * If a query was ignored on the slave (because of
     `replicate-ignore-table' and other similar rules), the slave still
     checked if the query got the same error code (0, no error) as on
     the master. So if the master had an error on the query (for
     example, "Duplicate entry" in a multiple-row insert), then the
     slave stopped and warned that the error codes didn't match. This
     is a backport of the fix for MySQL 4.0. (Bug #797)

   * `mysqlbinlog' now asks for a password at console when the
     `-p/--password' option is used with no argument. This is how the
     other clients (`mysqladmin', `mysqldump'..) already behave. Note
     that one now has to use `mysqlbinlog -p<my_password>';
     `mysqlbinlog -p <my_password>' will not work anymore (in other
     words, put no space after `-p'). (Bug #1595)

   * On some 64-bit machines (some HP-UX and Solaris machines), a slave
     installed with the 64-bit MySQL binary could not connect to its
     master (it connected to itself instead). (Bug #1256, #1381)

   * Fixed a Windows-specific bug present since MySQL version 3.23.57
     and 3.23.58, which caused Windows slaves to crash when they started
     replication if a `master.info' file existed. (Bug #1720)

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE RENAME', when rename to the table with
     the same name in another database silently dropped destination
     table if it existed. (Bug #2628)

Changes in release 3.23.58 (11 Sep 2003)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed buffer overflow in password handling which could potentially
     be exploited by MySQL users with `ALTER' privilege on the
     `mysql.user' table to execute random code or to gain shell access
     with the UID of the mysqld process (thanks to Jedi/Sector One for
     spotting and reporting this bug).

   * `mysqldump' now correctly quotes all identifiers when communicating
     with the server. This assures that during the dump process,
     `mysqldump' will never send queries to the server that result in a
     syntax error. This problem is *not* related to the `mysqldump'
     program's output, which was not changed. (Bug #1148)

   * Fixed table/column grant handling - proper sort order (from most
     specific to less specific, *note Request access::) was not
     honored. (Bug #928)

   * Fixed overflow bug in `MyISAM' and `ISAM' when a row is updated in
     a table with a large number of columns and at least one `BLOB/TEXT'
     column.

   * Fixed MySQL so that field length (in C API) for the second column
     in `SHOW CREATE TABLE' is always larger than the data length.  The
     only known application that was affected by the old behavior was
     Borland dbExpress, which truncated the output from the command.
     (Bug #1064)

   * Fixed `ISAM' bug in `MAX()' optimization.

   * Fixed `Unknown error' when doing `ORDER BY' on reference table
     which was used with `NULL' value on `NOT NULL' column. (Bug #479)

Changes in release 3.23.57 (06 Jun 2003)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed problem in alarm handling that could cause problems when
     getting a packet that is too large.

   * Fixed problem when installing MySQL as a service on Windows when
     one gave two arguments (option file group name and service name)
     to `mysqld'.

   * Fixed `kill pid-of-mysqld' to work on Mac OS X.

   * `SHOW TABLE STATUS' displayed incorrect `Row_format' value for
     tables that have been compressed with `myisampack'.  (Bug #427)

   * `SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'innodb_data_file_path'' displayed only the
     name of the first datafile. (Bug #468)

   * Fixed security problem where `mysqld' didn't allow one to `UPDATE'
     rows in a table even if one had a global `UPDATE' privilege and a
     database `SELECT' privilege.

   * Fixed a security problem with `SELECT' and wildcarded select list,
     when user only had partial column `SELECT' privileges on the table.

   * Fixed unlikely problem in optimizing `WHERE' clause with a constant
     expression such as in `WHERE 1 AND (a=1 AND b=1)'.

   * Fixed problem on IA-64 with timestamps that caused `mysqlbinlog'
     to fail.

   * The default option for `innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit' was changed
     from 0 to 1 to make `InnoDB' tables ACID by default.  *Note
     `InnoDB' start: InnoDB start.

   * Fixed problem with too many allocated alarms on slave when
     connecting to master many times (normally not a very critical
     error).

   * Fixed a bug in replication of temporary tables. (Bug #183)

   * Fixed 64-bit bug that affected at least AMD hammer systems.

   * Fixed a bug when doing `LOAD DATA INFILE IGNORE': When reading the
     binary log, `mysqlbinlog' and the replication code read `REPLACE'
     instead of `IGNORE'. This could make the slave's table become
     different from the master's table. (Bug #218)

   * Fixed overflow bug in `MyISAM' when a row is inserted into a table
     with a large number of columns and at least one `BLOB/TEXT'
     column. Bug was caused by incorrect calculation of the needed
     buffer to pack data.

   * The binary log was not locked during `TRUNCATE table_name' or
     `DELETE FROM table_name' statements, which could cause an `INSERT'
     to `table_name' to be written to the log before the `TRUNCATE' or
     `DELETE' statements.

   * Fixed rare bug in `UPDATE' of `InnoDB' tables where one row could
     be updated multiple times.

   * Produce an error for empty table and column names.

   * Changed `PROCEDURE ANALYSE()' to report `DATE' instead of
     `NEWDATE'.

   * Changed `PROCEDURE ANALYSE(#)' to restrict the number of values in
     an `ENUM' column to `#' also for string values.

   * `mysqldump' no longer silently deletes the binary logs when
     invoked with the `--master-data' or `--first-slave' option; while
     this behavior was convenient for some users, others may suffer
     from it. Now one has to explicitly ask for binary logs to be
     deleted by using the new `--delete-master-logs' option.

   * Fixed a bug in `mysqldump' when it was invoked with the
     `--master-data' option: The `CHANGE MASTER TO' statements that were
     appended to the SQL dump had incorrect coordinates. (Bug #159)

Changes in release 3.23.56 (13 Mar 2003)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed `mysqld' crash on extremely small values of `sort_buffer'
     variable.

   * Fixed a bug in privilege system for `GRANT UPDATE' on the column
     level.

   * Fixed a rare bug when using a date in `HAVING' with `GROUP BY'.

   * Fixed checking of random part of `WHERE' clause. (Bug #142)

   * Fixed MySQL (and `myisamchk') crash on artificially corrupted
     `.MYI' files.

   * Security enhancement: `mysqld' no longer reads options from
     world-writable config files.

   * Security enhancement: `mysqld' and `safe_mysqld' now use only the
     first `--user' option specified on the command line. (Normally
     this comes from `/etc/my.cnf')

   * Security enhancement: Don't allow `BACKUP TABLE' to overwrite
     existing files.

   * Fixed unlikely deadlock bug when one thread did a `LOCK TABLE' and
     another thread did a `DROP TABLE'.  In this case one could do a
     `KILL' on one of the threads to resolve the deadlock.

   * `LOAD DATA INFILE' was not replicated by slave if
     `replicate_*_table' was set on the slave.

   * Fixed a bug in handling `CHAR(0)' columns that could cause
     incorrect results from the query.

   * Fixed a bug in `SHOW VARIABLES' on 64-bit platforms. The bug was
     caused by incorrect declaration of variable `server_id'.

   * The Comment column in `SHOW TABLE STATUS' now reports that it can
     contain `NULL' values (which is the case for a crashed `.frm'
     file).

   * Fixed the `rpl_rotate_logs' test to not fail on certain platforms
     (e.g.  Mac OS X) due to a too long file name (changed
     `slave-master-info.opt' to `.slave-mi').

   * Fixed a problem with `BLOB NOT NULL' columns used with `IS NULL'.

   * Fixed bug in `MAX()' optimization in `MERGE' tables.

   * Better `RAND()' initialization for new connections.

   * Fixed bug with connect timeout. This bug was manifested on OS's
     with `poll()' system call, which resulted in timeout the value
     specified as it was executed in both `select()' and `poll()'.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT * FROM table WHERE datetime1 IS NULL OR
     datetime2 IS NULL'.

   * Fixed bug in using aggregate functions as argument for `INTERVAL',
     `CASE', `FIELD', `CONCAT_WS', `ELT' and `MAKE_SET' functions.

   * When running with `--lower-case-table-names=1' (default on Windows)
     and you had tables or databases with mixed case on disk, then
     executing `SHOW TABLE STATUS' followed with `DROP DATABASE' or
     `DROP TABLE' could fail with `Errcode 13'.

   * Fixed bug in logging to binary log (which affects replication) a
     query that inserts a `NULL' in an `auto_increment' field and also
     uses `LAST_INSERT_ID()'.

   * Fixed bug in `mysqladmin --relative'.

   * On some 64-bit systems, `show status' reported a strange number for
     `Open_files' and `Open_streams'.

Changes in release 3.23.55 (23 Jan 2003)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed double `free''d pointer bug in `mysql_change_user()'
     handling, that enabled a specially hacked version of MySQL client
     to crash `mysqld'. *Note*, that you must log in to the server by
     using a valid user account to be able to exploit this bug.

   * Fixed bug with the `--slow-log' when logging an administrator
     command (like `FLUSH TABLES').

   * Fixed bug in `GROUP BY' when used on BLOB column with `NULL'
     values.

   * Fixed a bug in handling `NULL' values in `CASE ... WHEN ...'.

   * Bugfix for `--chroot' (*note `--chroot': News-3.23.54.)  is
     reverted. Unfortunately, there is no way to make it to work,
     without introducing backward-incompatible changes in `my.cnf'.
     Those who need `--chroot' functionality, should upgrade to MySQL
     4.0.  (The fix in the 4.0 branch did not break
     backward-compatibility).

   * Make `--lower-case-table-names' default on Mac OS X as the default
     file system (HFS+) is case insensitive.

   * Fixed a bug in `scripts/mysqld_safe.sh' in `NOHUP_NICENESS'
     testing.

   * Transactions in `AUTOCOMMIT=0' mode didn't rotate binary log.

   * Fixed a bug in `scripts/make_binary_distribution' that resulted in
     a remaining `@HOSTNAME@' variable instead of replacing it with the
     correct path to the `hostname' binary.

   * Fixed a very unlikely bug that could cause `SHOW PROCESSLIST' to
     core dump in pthread_mutex_unlock() if a new thread was connecting.

   * Forbid `SLAVE STOP' if the thread executing the query has locked
     tables.  This removes a possible deadlock situation.

Changes in release 3.23.54 (05 Dec 2002)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed a bug, that allowed to crash `mysqld' with a specially
     crafted packet.

   * Fixed a rare crash (double `free''d pointer) when altering a
     temporary table.

   * Fixed buffer overrun in `libmysqlclient' library that allowed
     malicious MySQL server to crash the client application.

   * Fixed security-related bug in `mysql_change_user()' handling.  All
     users are strongly recommended to upgrade to the version 3.23.54.

   * Fixed bug that prevented `--chroot' command-line option of `mysqld'
     from working.

   * Fixed bug that made `OPTIMIZE TABLE' to corrupt the table under
     some rare circumstances.

   * Fixed `mysqlcheck' so it can deal with table names containing
     dashes.

   * Fixed shutdown problem on Mac OS X.

   * Fixed bug with comparing an indexed `NULL' field with `<=> NULL'.

   * Fixed bug that caused `IGNORE INDEX' and `USE INDEX' sometimes to
     be ignored.

   * Fixed rare core dump problem in complicated `GROUP BY' queries that
     didn't return any result.

   * Fixed a bug where `MATCH ... AGAINST () >=0' was treated as if it
     was `>'.

   * Fixed core dump in `SHOW PROCESSLIST' when running with an active
     slave (unlikely timing bug).

   * Make it possible to use  multiple MySQL servers on Windows (code
     backported from 4.0.2).

   * One can create `TEMPORARY' `MERGE' tables now.

   * Fixed that `--core-file' works on Linux (at least on kernel
     2.4.18).

   * Fixed a problem with `BDB' and `ALTER TABLE'.

   * Fixed reference to freed memory when doing complicated `GROUP BY
     ... ORDER BY' queries.  Symptom was that `mysqld' died in function
     `send_fields'.

   * Allocate heap rows in smaller blocks to get better memory usage.

   * Fixed memory allocation bug when storing `BLOB' values in internal
     temporary tables used for some (unlikely) `GROUP BY' queries.

   * Fixed a bug in key optimizing handling where the expression `WHERE
     column_name = key_column_name' was calculated as true for `NULL'
     values.

   * Fixed core dump bug when doing `LEFT JOIN ... WHERE
     key_column=NULL'.

   * Fixed `MyISAM' crash when using dynamic-row tables with huge
     numbers of packed fields.

   * Updated source tree to be built using `automake 1.5' and `libtool
     1.4'.

Changes in release 3.23.53 (09 Oct 2002)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed crash when `SHOW INNODB STATUS' was used and `skip-innodb'
     was defined.

   * Fixed possible memory corruption bug in binary log file handling
     when slave rotated the logs (only affected 3.23, not 4.0).

   * Fixed problem in `LOCK TABLES' on Windows when one connects to a
     database that contains uppercase letters.

   * Fixed that `--skip-show-databases' doesn't reset the `--port'
     option.

   * Small fix in `safe_mysqld' for some shells.

   * Fixed that `FLUSH STATUS' doesn't reset `delayed_insert_threads'.

   * Fixed core dump bug when using the `BINARY' cast on a `NULL' value.

   * Fixed race condition when someone did a `GRANT' at the same time a
     new user logged in or did a `USE database'.

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE' and `RENAME TABLE' when running with
     `-O lower_case_table_names=1' (typically on Windows) when giving
     the table name in uppercase.

   * Fixed that `-O lower_case_table_names=1' also converts database
     names to lowercase.

   * Fixed unlikely core dump with `SELECT ... ORDER BY ... LIMIT'.

   * Changed `AND/OR' to report that they can return NULL. This fixes a
     bug in `GROUP BY' on `AND/OR' expressions that return `NULL'.

   * Fixed a bug that `OPTIMIZE' of locked and modified MyISAM table,
     reported table corruption.

   * Fixed a `BDB'-related `ALTER TABLE' bug with dropping a column and
     shutting down immediately thereafter.

   * Fixed problem with `configure ... --localstatedir=...'.

   * Fixed problem with `UNSIGNED BIGINT' on AIX (again).

   * Fixed bug in pthread_mutex_trylock() on HPUX 11.0.

   * Multi-threaded stress tests for `InnoDB'.

Changes in release 3.23.52 (14 Aug 2002)
----------------------------------------

   * Wrap `BEGIN'/`COMMIT' around transaction in the binary log.  This
     makes replication honor transactions.

   * Fixed security bug when having an empty database name in the
     `user.db' table.

   * Changed initialization of `RND()' to make it less predicatable.

   * Fixed problem with `GROUP BY' on result with expression that
     created a `BLOB' field.

   * Fixed problem with `GROUP BY' on columns that have `NULL' values.
     To solve this we now create an `MyISAM' temporary table when doing
     a `GROUP BY' on a possible `NULL' item.  From MySQL 4.0.5 we can
     use in memory `HEAP' tables for this case.

   * Fixed problem with privilege tables when downgrading from 4.0.2 to
     3.23.

   * Fixed thread bug in `SLAVE START', `SLAVE STOP' and automatic
     repair of MyISAM tables that could cause table cache to be
     corrupted.

   * Fixed possible thread related key-cache-corruption problem with
     `OPTIMIZE TABLE' and `REPAIR TABLE'.

   * Added name of 'administrator command' logs.

   * Fixed bug with creating an auto-increment value on second part of a
     `UNIQUE()' key where first part could contain `NULL' values.

   * Don't write slave-timeout reconnects to the error log.

   * Fixed bug with slave net read timeouting

   * Fixed a core-dump bug with `MERGE' tables and `MAX()' function.

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE' with `BDB' tables.

   * Fixed bug when logging `LOAD DATA INFILE' to binary log with no
     active database.

   * Fixed a bug in range optimizer (causing crashes).

   * Fixed possible problem in replication when doing `DROP DATABASE'
     on a database with `InnoDB' tables.

   * Fixed `mysql_info()' to return 0 for `Duplicates' value when using
     `INSERT DELAYED IGNORE'.

   * Added `-DHAVE_BROKEN_REALPATH' to the Mac OS X (darwin) compile
     options in `configure.in' to fix a failure under high load.

Changes in release 3.23.51 (31 May 2002)
----------------------------------------

   * Fix bug with closing tags missing slash for `mysqldump' XML output.

   * Remove end space from `ENUM' values. (This fixed a problem with
     `SHOW CREATE TABLE'.)

   * Fixed bug in `CONCAT_WS()' that cut the result.

   * Changed name of server variables `Com_show_master_stat' to
     `Com_show_master_status' and `Com_show_slave_stat' to
     `Com_show_slave_status'.

   * Changed handling of `gethostbyname()' to make the client library
     thread-safe even if `gethostbyname_r' doesn't exist.

   * Fixed core-dump problem when giving a wrong password string to
     `GRANT'.

   * Fixed bug in `DROP DATABASE' with symlinked directory.

   * Fixed optimization problem with `DATETIME' and value outside
     `DATETIME' range.

   * Removed Sleepycat's `BDB' doc files from the source tree, as
     they're not needed (MySQL covers `BDB' in its own documentation).

   * Fixed MIT-pthreads to compile with `glibc' 2.2 (needed for `make
     dist').

   * Fixed the `FLOAT(X+1,X)' is not converted to `FLOAT(X+2,X)'.
     (This also affected `DECIMAL', `DOUBLE' and `REAL' types)

   * Fixed the result from `IF()' is case in-sensitive if the second and
     third arguments are case sensitive.

   * Fixed core dump problem on OSF/1 in `gethostbyname_r'.

   * Fixed that underflowed decimal fields are not zero filled.

   * If we get an overflow when inserting `'+11111'' for `DECIMAL(5,0)
     UNSIGNED' columns, we will just drop the sign.

   * Fixed optimization bug with
     `ISNULL(expression_which_cannot_be_null)' and
     `ISNULL(constant_expression)'.

   * Fixed host lookup bug in the `glibc' library that we used with the
     3.23.50 Linux-x86 binaries.

Changes in release 3.23.50 (21 Apr 2002)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed buffer overflow problem if someone specified a too long
     datadir parameter to mysqld

   * Add missing `<row>' tags for `mysqldump' XML output.

   * Fixed problem with `crash-me' and `gcc' 3.0.4.

   * Fixed that `@@unknown_variable' doesn't hang server.

   * Added `@@VERSION' as a synonym for `VERSION()'.

   * `SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'xxx'' is now case-insensitive.

   * Fixed timeout for `GET_LOCK()' on HP-UX with DCE threads.

   * Fixed memory allocation bug in the glibc library used to build
     Linux binaries, which caused mysqld to die in 'free()'.

   * Fixed `SIGINT' and `SIGQUIT' problems in `mysql'.

   * Fixed bug in character table converts when used with big ( > 64K)
     strings.

   * `InnoDB' now retains foreign key constraints through `ALTER TABLE'
     and `CREATE/DROP INDEX'.

   * `InnoDB' now allows foreign key constraints to be added through the
     `ALTER TABLE' syntax.

   * `InnoDB' tables can now be set to automatically grow in size
     (autoextend).

   * Our Linux RPMS and binaries are now compiled with `gcc' 3.0.4,
     which should make them a bit faster.

   * Fixed some buffer overflow problems when reading startup
     parameters.

   * Because of problems on shutdown we have now disabled named pipes on
     Windows by default.  One can enable named pipes by starting mysqld
     with `--enable-named-pipe'.

   * Fixed bug when using `WHERE key_column = 'J' or key_column='j''.

   * Fixed core-dump bug when using `--log-bin' with `LOAD DATA INFILE'
     without an active database.

   * Fixed bug in `RENAME TABLE' when used with
     `lower_case_table_names=1' (default on Windows).

   * Fixed unlikely core-dump bug when using `DROP TABLE' on a table
     that was in use by a thread that also used queries on only
     temporary tables.

   * Fixed problem with `SHOW CREATE TABLE' and `PRIMARY KEY' when using
     32 indexes.

   * Fixed that one can use `SET PASSWORD' for the anonymous user.

   * Fixed core dump bug when reading client groups from option files
     using `mysql_options()'.

   * Memory leak (16 bytes per every *corrupted* table) closed.

   * Fixed binary builds to use `--enable-local-infile'.

   * Update source to work with new version of `bison'.

   * Updated shell scripts to now agree with new POSIX standard.

   * Fixed bug where `DATE_FORMAT()' returned empty string when used
     with `GROUP BY'.

Changes in release 3.23.49
--------------------------

   * Don't give warning for a statement that is only a comment; this is
     needed for `mysqldump --disable-keys' to work.

   * Fixed unlikely caching bug when doing a join without keys. In this
     case the last used field for a table always returned `NULL'.

   * Added options to make `LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE' more secure.

   * MySQL binary release 3.23.48 for Linux contained a new `glibc'
     library, which has serious problems under high load and Red Hat
     7.2.  The 3.23.49 binary release doesn't have this problem.

   * Fixed shutdown problem on NT.

Changes in release 3.23.48 (07 Feb 2002)
----------------------------------------

   * Added `--xml' option to `mysqldump' for producing XML output.

   * Changed to use `autoconf' 2.52 (from `autoconf' 2.13)

   * Fixed bug in complicated join with `const' tables.

   * Added internal safety checks for `InnoDB'.

   * Some `InnoDB' variables were always shown in `SHOW VARIABLES' as
     `OFF' on high-byte-first systems (like SPARC).

   * Fixed problem with one thread using an `InnoDB' table and another
     thread doing an `ALTER TABLE' on the same table. Before that,
     `mysqld' could crash with an assertion failure in `row0row.c',
     line 474.

   * Tuned the `InnoDB' SQL optimizer to favor index searches more often
     over table scans.

   * Fixed a performance problem with `InnoDB' tables when several large
     `SELECT' queries are run concurrently on a multiprocessor Linux
     computer.  Large CPU-bound `SELECT' queries will now also generally
     run faster on all platforms.

   * If MySQL binlogging is used, `InnoDB' now prints after crash
     recovery the latest MySQL binlog name and the offset `InnoDB' was
     able to recover to. This is useful, for example, when
     resynchronizing a master and a slave database in replication.

   * Added better error messages to help in installation problems of
     `InnoDB' tables.

   * It is now possible to recover MySQL temporary tables that have
     become orphaned inside the `InnoDB' tablespace.

   * `InnoDB' now prevents a `FOREIGN KEY' declaration where the
     signedness is not the same in the referencing and referenced
     integer columns.

   * Calling `SHOW CREATE TABLE' or `SHOW TABLE STATUS' could cause
     memory corruption and make `mysqld' crash.  Especially at risk was
     `mysqldump', because it frequently calls `SHOW CREATE TABLE'.

   * If inserts to several tables containing an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column
     were wrapped inside one `LOCK TABLES', `InnoDB' asserted in
     `lock0lock.c'.

   * In 3.23.47 we allowed several `NULL' values in a `UNIQUE' secondary
     index for an `InnoDB' table.  But `CHECK TABLE' was not relaxed: it
     reports the table as corrupt.  `CHECK TABLE' no longer complains in
     this situation.

   * `SHOW GRANTS' now shows `REFERENCES' instead of `REFERENCE'.

Changes in release 3.23.47 (27 Dec 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed bug when using the following construct: `SELECT ... WHERE
     key=@var_name OR key=@var_name2'

   * Restrict `InnoDB' keys to 500 bytes.

   * `InnoDB' now supports `NULL' in keys.

   * Fixed shutdown problem on HP-UX. (Introduced in 3.23.46)

   * Fixed core dump bug in replication when using `SELECT
     RELEASE_LOCK()'.

   * Added new command: `DO expression,[expression]'

   * Added `slave-skip-errors' option.

   * Added statistics variables for all MySQL commands. (`SHOW STATUS'
     is now much longer.)

   * Fixed default values for `InnoDB' tables.

   * Fixed that `GROUP BY expr DESC' works.

   * Fixed bug when using `t1 LEFT JOIN t2 ON t2.key=constant'.

   * `mysql_config' now also works with binary (relocated)
     distributions.

Changes in release 3.23.46 (29 Nov 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed problem with aliased temporary table replication.

   * `InnoDB' and `BDB' tables will now use index when doing an `ORDER
     BY' on the whole table.

   * Fixed bug where one got an empty set instead of a DEADLOCK error
     when using `BDB' tables.

   * One can now kill `ANALYZE', `REPAIR', and `OPTIMIZE TABLE' when
     the thread is waiting to get a lock on the table.

   * Fixed race condition in `ANALYZE TABLE'.

   * Fixed bug when joining with caching (unlikely to happen).

   * Fixed race condition when using the binary log and `INSERT DELAYED'
     which could cause the binary log to have rows that were not yet
     written to `MyISAM' tables.

   * Changed caching of binary log to make replication slightly faster.

   * Fixed bug in replication on Mac OS X.

Changes in release 3.23.45 (22 Nov 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * `(UPDATE|DELETE) ...WHERE MATCH' bugfix.

   * shutdown should now work on Darwin (Mac OS X).

   * Fixed core dump when repairing corrupted packed `MyISAM' files.

   * `--core-file' now works on Solaris.

   * Fix a bug which could cause `InnoDB' to complain if it cannot find
     free blocks from the buffer cache during recovery.

   * Fixed bug in `InnoDB' insert buffer B-tree handling that could
     cause crashes.

   * Fixed bug in `InnoDB' lock timeout handling.

   * Fixed core dump bug in `ALTER TABLE' on a `TEMPORARY' `InnoDB'
     table.

   * Fixed bug in `OPTIMIZE TABLE' that reset index cardinality if it
     was up to date.

   * Fixed problem with `t1 LEFT_JOIN t2 ... WHERE t2.date_column IS
     NULL' when date_column was declared as `NOT NULL'.

   * Fixed bug with `BDB' tables and keys on `BLOB' columns.

   * Fixed bug in `MERGE' tables on OS with 32-bit file pointers.

   * Fixed bug in `TIME_TO_SEC()' when using negative values.

Changes in release 3.23.44 (31 Oct 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed `Rows_examined' count in slow query log.

   * Fixed bug when using a reference to an `AVG()' column in `HAVING'.

   * Fixed that date functions that require correct dates, like
     `DAYOFYEAR(column)', will return `NULL' for `0000-00-00' dates.

   * Fixed bug in const-propagation when comparing columns of different
     types. (`SELECT * FROM date_col="2001-01-01" and
     date_col=time_col')

   * Fixed bug that caused error message `Can't write, because of unique
     constraint' with some `GROUP BY' queries.

   * Fixed problem with `sjis' character strings used within quoted
     table names.

   * Fixed core dump when using `CREATE ... FULLTEXT' keys with other
     storage engines than `MyISAM'.

   * Don't use `signal()' on Windows because this appears to not be
     100% reliable.

   * Fixed bug when doing `WHERE col_name=NULL' on an indexed column
     that had `NULL' values.

   * Fixed bug when doing `LEFT JOIN ...  ON (col_name = constant)
     WHERE col_name = constant'.

   * When using replications, aborted queries that contained `%' could
     cause a core dump.

   * `TCP_NODELAY' was not used on some systems. (Speed problem.)

   * Applied portability fixes for OS/2. (Patch by Yuri Dario.)

The following changes are for `InnoDB' tables:

   * Add missing `InnoDB' variables to `SHOW VARIABLES'.

   * Foreign keys checking is now done for `InnoDB' tables.

   * `DROP DATABASE' now works also for `InnoDB' tables.

   * `InnoDB' now supports datafiles and raw disk partitions bigger
     than 4 GB on those operating systems that have big files.

   * `InnoDB' calculates better table cardinality estimates for the
     MySQL optimizer.

   * Accent characters in the default character set `latin1' are ordered
     according to the MySQL ordering.

     Note: If you are using `latin1' and have inserted characters whose
     code is greater than 127 into an indexed `CHAR' column, you should
     run `CHECK TABLE' on your table when you upgrade to 3.23.44, and
     drop and reimport the table if `CHECK TABLE' reports an error!

   * A new `my.cnf' parameter, `innodb_thread_concurrency', helps in
     performance tuning in heavily concurrent environments.

   * A new `my.cnf' parameter, `innodb_fast_shutdown', speeds up server
     shutdown.

   * A new `my.cnf' parameter, `innodb_force_recovery', helps to save
     your data in case the disk image of the database becomes corrupt.

   * `innodb_monitor' has been improved and a new
     `innodb_table_monitor' added.

   * Increased maximum key length from 500 to 7000 bytes.

   * Fixed a bug in replication of `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns with
     multiple-line inserts.

   * Fixed a bug when the case of letters changes in an update of an
     indexed secondary column.

   * Fixed a hang when there are > 24 datafiles.

   * Fixed a crash when `MAX(col)' is selected from an empty table, and
     `col' is not the first column in a multi-column index.

   * Fixed a bug in purge which could cause crashes.

Changes in release 3.23.43 (04 Oct 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed a bug in `INSERT DELAYED' and `FLUSH TABLES' introduced in
     3.23.42.

   * Fixed unlikely bug, which returned non-matching rows, in `SELECT'
     with many tables and multi-column indexes and 'range' type.

   * Fixed an unlikely core dump bug when doing `EXPLAIN SELECT' when
     using many tables and `ORDER BY'.

   * Fixed bug in `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' when using table with
     `CHECKSUM=1'.

   * Added unique error message when one gets a DEADLOCK during a
     transaction with `BDB' tables.

   * Fixed problem with `BDB' tables and `UNIQUE' columns defined as
     `NULL'.

   * Fixed problem with `myisampack' when using pre-space filled `CHAR'
     columns.

   * Applied patch from Yuri Dario for OS/2.

   * Fixed bug in `--safe-user-create'.

Changes in release 3.23.42 (08 Sep 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed problem when using `LOCK TABLES' and `BDB' tables.

   * Fixed problem with `REPAIR TABLE' on `MyISAM' tables with row
     lengths in the range from 65517 to 65520 bytes.

   * Fixed rare hang when doing `mysqladmin shutdown' when there was a
     lot of activity in other threads.

   * Fixed problem with `INSERT DELAYED' where delayed thread could be
     hanging on `upgrading locks' for no apparent reason.

   * Fixed problem with `myisampack' and `BLOB'.

   * Fixed problem when one edited `.MRG' tables by hand.  (Patch from
     Benjamin Pflugmann).

   * Enforce that all tables in a `MERGE' table come from the same
     database.

   * Fixed bug with `LOAD DATA INFILE' and transactional tables.

   * Fix bug when using `INSERT DELAYED' with wrong column definition.

   * Fixed core dump during `REPAIR' of some particularly broken tables.

   * Fixed bug in `InnoDB' and `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns.

   * Fixed bug in `InnoDB' and `RENAME TABLE' columns.

   * Fixed critical bug in `InnoDB' and `BLOB' columns.  If you have
     used `BLOB' columns larger than 8000 bytes in an `InnoDB' table,
     it is necessary to dump the table with `mysqldump', drop it and
     restore it from the dump.

   * Applied large patch for OS/2 from Yuri Dario.

   * Fixed problem with `InnoDB' when one could get the error `Can't
     execute the given command...' even when no transaction was active.

   * Applied some minor fixes that concern Gemini.

   * Use real arithmetic operations even in integer context if not all
     arguments are integers. (Fixes uncommon bug in some integer
     contexts).

   * Don't force everything to lowercase on Windows. (To fix problem
     with Windows and `ALTER TABLE').  Now `--lower_case_table_names'
     also works on Unix.

   * Fixed that automatic rollback is done when thread end doesn't lock
     other threads.

Changes in release 3.23.41 (11 Aug 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Added `--sql-mode=value[,value[,value]]' option to `mysqld'.
     *Note Server options::.

   * Fixed possible problem with `shutdown' on Solaris where the `.pid'
     file wasn't deleted.

   * `InnoDB' now supports < 4 GB rows. The former limit was 8000 bytes.

   * The `doublewrite' file flush method is used in `InnoDB'.  It
     reduces the need for Unix `fsync()' calls to a fraction and
     improves performance on most Unix flavors.

   * You can now use the `InnoDB' Monitor to print a lot of `InnoDB'
     state information, including locks, to the standard output.  This
     is useful in performance tuning.

   * Several bugs which could cause hangs in `InnoDB' have been fixed.

   * Split `record_buffer' to `record_buffer' and `record_rnd_buffer'.
     To make things compatible to previous MySQL versions, if
     `record_rnd_buffer' is not set, then it takes the value of
     `record_buffer'.

   * Fixed optimizing bug in `ORDER BY' where some `ORDER BY' parts
     where wrongly removed.

   * Fixed overflow bug with `ALTER TABLE' and `MERGE' tables.

   * Added prototypes for `my_thread_init()' and `my_thread_end()' to
     `mysql_com.h'

   * Added `--safe-user-create' option to `mysqld'.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT DISTINCT ... HAVING' that caused error message
     `Can't find record in #...'

Changes in release 3.23.40
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem with `--low-priority-updates' and `INSERT'
     statements.

   * Fixed bug in slave thread when under some rare circumstances it
     could get 22 bytes ahead on the offset in the master.

   * Added `slave_net_timeout' for replication.

   * Fixed problem with `UPDATE' and `BDB' tables.

   * Fixed hard bug in `BDB' tables when using key parts.

   * Fixed problem when using `GRANT FILE ON database.* ...'; previously
     we added the `DROP' privilege for the database.

   * Fixed `DELETE FROM tbl_name ... LIMIT 0' and `UPDATE FROM tbl_name
     ... LIMIT 0', which acted as though the `LIMIT' clause was not
     present (they deleted or updated all selected rows).

   * `CHECK TABLE' now checks if an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column contains
     the value 0.

   * Sending a `SIGHUP' to `mysqld' will now only flush the logs, not
     reset the replication.

   * Fixed parser to allow floats of type `1.0e1' (no sign after `e').

   * Option `--force' to `myisamchk' now also updates states.

   * Added option `--warnings' to `mysqld'. Now `mysqld' prints the
     error `Aborted connection' only if this option is used.

   * Fixed problem with `SHOW CREATE TABLE' when you didn't have a
     `PRIMARY KEY'.

   * Properly fixed the rename of `innodb_unix_file_flush_method'
     variable to `innodb_flush_method'.

   * Fixed bug when converting `BIGINT UNSIGNED' to `DOUBLE'. This
     caused a problem when doing comparisons with `BIGINT' values
     outside of the signed range.

   * Fixed bug in `BDB' tables when querying empty tables.

   * Fixed a bug when using `COUNT(DISTINCT)' with `LEFT JOIN' and
     there weren't any matching rows.

   * Removed all documentation referring to the `GEMINI' table type.
     `GEMINI' is not released under an `Open Source' license.

Changes in release 3.23.39 (12 Jun 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * The `AUTO_INCREMENT' sequence wasn't reset when dropping and
     adding an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column.

   * `CREATE ... SELECT' now creates non-unique indexes delayed.

   * Fixed problem where `LOCK TABLES tbl_name READ' followed by `FLUSH
     TABLES' put an exclusive lock on the table.

   * `REAL @variable' values were represented with only 2 digits when
     converted to strings.

   * Fixed problem that client "hung" when `LOAD TABLE FROM MASTER'
     failed.

   * `myisamchk --fast --force' will no longer repair tables that only
     had the open count wrong.

   * Added functions to handle symbolic links to make life easier in
     4.0.

   * We are now using the `-lcma' thread library on HP-UX 10.20 so that
     MySQL will be more stable on HP-UX.

   * Fixed problem with `IF()' and number of decimals in the result.

   * Fixed date-part extraction functions to work with dates where day
     and/or month is 0.

   * Extended argument length in option files from 256 to 512 chars.

   * Fixed problem with shutdown when `INSERT DELAYED' was waiting for
     a `LOCK TABLE'.

   * Fixed core dump bug in `InnoDB' when tablespace was full.

   * Fixed problem with `MERGE' tables and big tables (> 4G) when using
     `ORDER BY'.

Changes in release 3.23.38 (09 May 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed a bug when `SELECT' from `MERGE' table sometimes results in
     incorrectly ordered rows.

   * Fixed a bug in `REPLACE()' when using the `ujis' character set.

   * Applied Sleepycat `BDB' patches 3.2.9.1 and 3.2.9.2.

   * Added `--skip-stack-trace' option to `mysqld'.

   * `CREATE TEMPORARY' now works with `InnoDB' tables.

   * `InnoDB' now promotes sub keys to whole keys.

   * Added option `CONCURRENT' to `LOAD DATA'.

   * Better error message when slave `max_allowed_packet' is too low to
     read a very long log event from the master.

   * Fixed bug when too many rows where removed when using `SELECT
     DISTINCT ... HAVING'.

   * `SHOW CREATE TABLE' now returns `TEMPORARY' for temporary tables.

   * Added `Rows_examined' to slow query log.

   * Fixed problems with function returning empty string when used
     together with a group function and a `WHERE' that didn't match any
     rows.

   * New program `mysqlcheck'.

   * Added database name to output for administrative commands like
     `CHECK', `REPAIR', `OPTIMIZE'.

   * Lots of portability fixes for `InnoDB'.

   * Changed optimizer so that queries like `SELECT * FROM
     tbl_name,tbl_name2 ... ORDER BY key_part1 LIMIT row_count' will
     use index on `key_part1' instead of `filesort'.

   * Fixed bug when doing `LOCK TABLE to_table WRITE,...; INSERT INTO
     to_table... SELECT ...' when `to_table' was empty.

   * Fixed bug with `LOCK TABLE' and `BDB' tables.

Changes in release 3.23.37 (17 Apr 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed a bug when using `MATCH()' in `HAVING' clause.

   * Fixed a bug when using `HEAP' tables with `LIKE'.

   * Added `--mysql-version' option to `safe_mysqld'

   * Changed `INNOBASE' to `InnoDB' (because the `INNOBASE' name was
     already used). All `configure' options and `mysqld' start options
     now use `innodb' instead of `innobase'. This means that before
     upgrading to this version, you have to change any configuration
     files where you have used `innobase' options!

   * Fixed bug when using indexes on `CHAR(255) NULL' columns.

   * Slave thread will now be started even if `master-host' is not set,
     as long as `server-id' is set and valid `master.info' is present.

   * Partial updates (terminated with kill) are now logged with a
     special error code to the binary log. Slave will refuse to execute
     them if the error code indicates the update was terminated
     abnormally, and will have to be recovered with `SET
     SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER=1; SLAVE START' after a manual sanity
     check/correction of data integrity.

   * Fixed bug that erroneously logged a drop of internal temporary
     table on thread termination to the binary log -- this bug affected
     replication.

   * Fixed a bug in `REGEXP' on 64-bit machines.

   * `UPDATE' and `DELETE' with `WHERE unique_key_part IS NULL' didn't
     update/delete all rows.

   * Disabled `INSERT DELAYED' for tables that support transactions.

   * Fixed bug when using date functions on `TEXT'/`BLOB' column with
     wrong date format.

   * UDFs now also work on Windows. (Patch by Ralph Mason.)

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE' and `LOAD DATA INFILE' that disabled
     key-sorting. These commands should now be faster in most cases.

   * Fixed performance bug where reopened tables (tables that had been
     waiting for `FLUSH' or `REPAIR') would not use indexes for the
     next query.

   * Fixed problem with `ALTER TABLE' to `InnoDB' tables on FreeBSD.

   * Added `mysqld' variables `myisam_max_sort_file_size' and
     `myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size'.

   * Initialize signals early to avoid problem with signals in `InnoDB'.

   * Applied patch for the `tis620' character set to make comparisons
     case-independent and to fix a bug in `LIKE' for this character set.
     *Note:* All tables that uses the `tis620' character set must be
     fixed with  `myisamchk -r' or `REPAIR TABLE' !

   * Added `--skip-safemalloc' option to `mysqld'.

Changes in release 3.23.36 (27 Mar 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed a bug that allowed use of database names containing a `.'
     character.  This fixes a serious security issue when `mysqld' is
     run as root.

   * Fixed bug when thread creation failed (could happen when doing a
     *lot* of connections in a short time).

   * Fixed some problems with `FLUSH TABLES' and `TEMPORARY' tables.
     (Problem with freeing the key cache and error `Can't reopen
     table...'.)

   * Fixed a problem in `InnoDB' with other character sets than `latin1'
     and another problem when using many columns.

   * Fixed bug that caused a core dump when using a very complex query
     involving `DISTINCT' and summary functions.

   * Added `SET TRANSACTION ISOLATION LEVEL ...'

   * Added `SELECT ... FOR UPDATE'.

   * Fixed bug where the number of affected rows was not returned when
     MySQL was compiled without transaction support.

   * Fixed a bug in `UPDATE' where keys weren't always used to find the
     rows to be updated.

   * Fixed a bug in `CONCAT_WS()' where it returned incorrect results.

   * Changed `CREATE ... SELECT' and `INSERT ... SELECT' to not allow
     concurrent inserts as this could make the binary log hard to
     repeat.  (Concurrent inserts are enabled if you are not using the
     binary or update log.)

   * Changed some macros to be able to use fast mutex with `glibc' 2.2.

Changes in release 3.23.35 (15 Mar 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed newly introduced bug in `ORDER BY'.

   * Fixed wrong define `CLIENT_TRANSACTIONS'.

   * Fixed bug in `SHOW VARIABLES' when using `INNOBASE' tables.

   * Setting and using user variables in `SELECT DISTINCT' didn't work.

   * Tuned `SHOW ANALYZE' for small tables.

   * Fixed handling of arguments in the benchmark script
     `run-all-tests'.

Changes in release 3.23.34a
---------------------------

   * Added extra files to the distribution to allow `INNOBASE' support
     to be compiled.

Changes in release 3.23.34 (10 Mar 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Added the `INNOBASE' storage engine and the `BDB' storage engine
     to the MySQL source distribution.

   * Updated the documentation about `GEMINI' tables.

   * Fixed a bug in `INSERT DELAYED' that caused threads to hang when
     inserting `NULL' into an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column.

   * Fixed a bug in `CHECK TABLE' / `REPAIR TABLE' that could cause a
     thread to hang.

   * `REPLACE' will not replace a row that conflicts with an
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' generated key.

   * `mysqld' now only sets `CLIENT_TRANSACTIONS' in
     `mysql->server_capabilities' if the server supports a
     transaction-safe storage engine.

   * Fixed `LOAD DATA INFILE' to allow numeric values to be read into
     `ENUM' and `SET' columns.

   * Improved error diagnostic for slave thread exit.

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE ... ORDER BY'.

   * Added `max_user_connections' variable to `mysqld'.

   * Limit query length for replication by `max_allowed_packet', not the
     arbitrary limit of 4 MB.

   * Allow space around `=' in argument to `--set-variable'.

   * Fixed problem in automatic repair that could leave some threads in
     state `Waiting for table'.

   * `SHOW CREATE TABLE' now displays the `UNION=()' for `MERGE' tables.

   * `ALTER TABLE' now remembers the old `UNION=()' definition.

   * Fixed bug when replicating timestamps.

   * Fixed bug in bidirectional replication.

   * Fixed bug in the `BDB' storage engine that occurred when using an
     index on multi-part key where a key part may be `NULL'.

   * Fixed `MAX()' optimization on sub-key for `BDB' tables.

   * Fixed problem where garbage results were returned when using `BDB'
     tables and `BLOB' or `TEXT' fields when joining many tables.

   * Fixed a problem with `BDB' tables and `TEXT' columns.

   * Fixed bug when using a `BLOB' key where a const row wasn't found.

   * Fixed that `mysqlbinlog' writes the timestamp value for each query.
     This ensures that one gets same values for date functions like
     `NOW()' when using `mysqlbinlog' to pipe the queries to another
     server.

   * Allow `--skip-gemini', `--skip-bdb', and `--skip-innodb' options
     to be specified when invoking `mysqld', even if these storage
     engines are not compiled in to `mysqld'.

   * One can now do `GROUP BY ... DESC'.

   * Fixed a deadlock in the `SET' code, when one ran `SET @foo=bar',
     where `bar' is a column reference, an error was not properly
     generated.

Changes in release 3.23.33 (09 Feb 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed DNS lookups not to use the same mutex as the hostname cache.
     This will enable known hosts to be quickly resolved even if a DNS
     lookup takes a long time.

   * Added `--character-sets-dir' option to `myisampack'.

   * Removed warnings when running `REPAIR TABLE ... EXTENDED'.

   * Fixed a bug that caused a core dump when using `GROUP BY' on an
     alias, where the alias was the same as an existing column name.

   * Added `SEQUENCE()' as an example UDF function.

   * Changed `mysql_install_db' to use `BINARY' for `CHAR' columns in
     the privilege tables.

   * Changed `TRUNCATE tbl_name' to `TRUNCATE TABLE tbl_name' to use
     the same syntax as Oracle.  Until 4.0 we will also allow `TRUNCATE
     tbl_name' to not crash old code.

   * Fixed "no found rows" bug in `MyISAM' tables when a `BLOB' was
     first part of a multi-part key.

   * Fixed bug where `CASE' didn't work with `GROUP BY'.

   * Added `--sort-recover' option to `myisamchk'.

   * `myisamchk -S' and `OPTIMIZE TABLE' now work on Windows.

   * Fixed bug when using `DISTINCT' on results from functions that
     referred to a group function, like:
          SELECT a, DISTINCT SEC_TO_TIME(SUM(a))
          FROM tbl_name GROUP BY a, b;

   * Fixed buffer overrun in `libmysqlclient' library.  Fixed bug in
     handling `STOP' event after `ROTATE' event in replication.

   * Fixed another buffer overrun in `DROP DATABASE'.

   * Added `Table_locks_immediate' and `Table_locks_waited' status
     variables.

   * Fixed bug in replication that broke slave server start with
     existing `master.info'. This fixes a bug introduced in 3.23.32.

   * Added `SET SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER=n' command to recover from
     replication glitches without a full database copy.

   * Added `max_binlog_size' variable; the binary log will be rotated
     automatically when the size crosses the limit.

   * Added `Last_Error', `Last_Errno', and `Slave_skip_counter'
     variables to `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'.

   * Fixed bug in `MASTER_POS_WAIT()' function.

   * Execute core dump handler on `SIGILL', and `SIGBUS' in addition to
     `SIGSEGV'.

   * On x86 Linux, print the current query and thread (connection) id,
     if available, in the core dump handler.

   * Fixed several timing bugs in the test suite.

   * Extended `mysqltest' to take care of the timing issues in the test
     suite.

   * `ALTER TABLE' can now be used to change the definition for a
     `MERGE' table.

   * Fixed creation of `MERGE' tables on Windows.

   * Portability fixes for OpenBSD and OS/2.

   * Added `--temp-pool' option to `mysqld'.  Using this option will
     cause most temporary files created to use a small set of names,
     rather than a unique name for each new file.  This is to work
     around a problem in the Linux kernel dealing with creating a bunch
     of new files with different names.  With the old behavior, Linux
     seems to "leak" memory, as it's being allocated to the directory
     entry cache instead of the disk cache.

Changes in release 3.23.32 (22 Jan 2001: Production)
----------------------------------------------------

   * Changed code to get around compiler bug in Compaq C++ on OSF/1,
     that broke `BACKUP', `RESTORE', `CHECK', `REPAIR', and `ANALYZE
     TABLE'.

   * Added option `FULL' to `SHOW COLUMNS'. Now we show the privilege
     list for the columns only if this option is given.

   * Fixed bug in `SHOW LOGS' when there weren't any `BDB' logs.

   * Fixed a timing problem in replication that could delay sending an
     update to the client until a new update was done.

   * Don't convert field names when using `mysql_list_fields()'.  This
     is to keep this code compatible with `SHOW FIELDS'.

   * `MERGE' tables didn't work on Windows.

   * Fixed problem with `SET PASSWORD=...' on Windows.

   * Added missing `my_config.h' to RPM distribution.

   * `TRIM("foo" from "foo")' didn't return an empty string.

   * Added `--with-version-suffix' option to `configure'.

   * Fixed core dump when client aborted connection without
     `mysql_close()'.

   * Fixed a bug in `RESTORE TABLE' when trying to restore from a
     non-existent directory.

   * Fixed a bug which caused a core dump on the slave when replicating
     `SET PASSWORD'.

   * Added `MASTER_POS_WAIT()'.

Changes in release 3.23.31 (17 Jan 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * The test suite now tests all reachable `BDB' interface code.
     During testing we found and fixed many errors in the interface
     code.

   * Using `HAVING' on an empty table could produce one result row when
     it shouldn't.

   * Fixed the MySQL RPM so it no longer depends on Perl5.

   * Fixed some problems with `HEAP' tables on Windows.

   * `SHOW TABLE STATUS' didn't show correct average row length for
     tables larger than 4G.

   * `CHECK TABLE ... EXTENDED' didn't check row links for fixed size
     tables.

   * Added option `MEDIUM' to `CHECK TABLE'.

   * Fixed problem when using `DECIMAL()' keys on negative numbers.

   * `HOUR()' (and some other `TIME' functions) on a `CHAR' column
     always returned `NULL'.

   * Fixed security bug in something (please upgrade if you are using
     an earlier MySQL 3.23 version).

   * Fixed buffer overflow bug when writing a certain error message.

   * Added usage of `setrlimit()' on Linux to get `-O
     --open_files_limit=#' to work on Linux.

   * Added `bdb_version' variable to `mysqld'.

   * Fixed bug when using expression of type:
          SELECT ... FROM t1 LEFT JOIN t2 ON (t1.a=t2.a) WHERE t1.a=t2.a
     In this case the test in the `WHERE' clause was wrongly optimized
     away.

   * Fixed bug in `MyISAM' when deleting keys with possible `NULL'
     values, but the first key-column was not a prefix-compressed text
     column.

   * Fixed `mysql.server' to read the `[mysql.server]' option file group
     rather than the `[mysql_server]' group.

   * Fixed `safe_mysqld' and `mysql.server' to also read the `server'
     option section.

   * Added `Threads_created' status variable to `mysqld'.

Changes in release 3.23.30 (04 Jan 2001)
----------------------------------------

   * Added `SHOW OPEN TABLES' command.

   * Fixed that `myisamdump' works against old `mysqld' servers.

   * Fixed `myisamchk -k#' so that it works again.

   * Fixed a problem with replication when the binary log file went
     over 2G on 32-bit systems.

   * `LOCK TABLES' will now automatically start a new transaction.

   * Changed `BDB' tables to not use internal subtransactions and reuse
     open files to get more speed.

   * Added `--mysqld=#' option to `safe_mysqld'.

   * Allow hex constants in the `--fields-*-by' and
     `--lines-terminated-by' options to `mysqldump' and `mysqlimport'.
     By Paul DuBois.

   * Added `--safe-show-database' option to `mysqld'.

   * Added `have_bdb', `have_gemini', `have_innobase', `have_raid' and
     `have_openssl' to `SHOW VARIABLES' to make it easy to test for
     supported extensions.

   * Added `--open-files-limit' option to `mysqld'.

   * Changed `--open-files' option to `--open-files-limit' in
     `safe_mysqld'.

   * Fixed a bug where some rows were not found with `HEAP' tables that
     had many keys.

   * Fixed that `--bdb-no-sync' works.

   * Changed `--bdb-recover' to `--bdb-no-recover' as recover should be
     on by default.

   * Changed the default number of `BDB' locks to 10000.

   * Fixed a bug from 3.23.29 when allocating the shared structure
     needed for `BDB' tables.

   * Changed `mysqld_multi.sh' to use configure variables. Patch by
     Christopher McCrory.

   * Added fixing of include files for Solaris 2.8.

   * Fixed bug with `--skip-networking' on Debian Linux.

   * Fixed problem that some temporary files where reported as having
     the name `UNOPENED' in error messages.

   * Fixed bug when running two simultaneous `SHOW LOGS' queries.

Changes in release 3.23.29 (16 Dec 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Configure updates for Tru64, large file support, and better TCP
     wrapper support. By Albert Chin-A-Young.

   * Fixed bug in `<=>' operator.

   * Fixed bug in `REPLACE' with `BDB' tables.

   * `LPAD()' and `RPAD()' will shorten the result string if it's longer
     than the length argument.

   * Added `SHOW LOGS' command.

   * Remove unused `BDB' logs on shutdown.

   * When creating a table, put `PRIMARY' keys first, followed by
     `UNIQUE' keys.

   * Fixed a bug in `UPDATE' involving multi-part keys where one
     specified all key parts both in the update and the `WHERE' part. In
     this case MySQL could try to update a record that didn't match the
     whole `WHERE' part.

   * Changed drop table to first drop the tables and then the `.frm'
     file.

   * Fixed a bug in the hostname cache which caused `mysqld' to report
     the hostname as `''' in some error messages.

   * Fixed a bug with `HEAP' type tables; the variable
     `max_heap_table_size' wasn't used. Now either `MAX_ROWS' or
     `max_heap_table_size' can be used to limit the size of a `HEAP'
     type table.

   * Changed the default server-id to 1 for masters and 2 for slaves to
     make it easier to use the binary log.

   * Renamed `bdb_lock_max' variable to `bdb_max_lock'.

   * Added support for `AUTO_INCREMENT' on sub-fields for `BDB' tables.

   * Added `ANALYZE' of `BDB' tables.

   * In `BDB' tables, we now store the number of rows; this helps to
     optimize queries when we need an approximation of the number of
     rows.

   * If we get an error in a multi-row statement, we now only roll back
     the last statement, not the entire transaction.

   * If you do a `ROLLBACK' when you have updated a non-transactional
     table you will get an error as a warning.

   * Added `--bdb-shared-data' option to `mysqld'.

   * Added `Slave_open_temp_tables' status variable to `mysqld'

   * Added `binlog_cache_size' and `max_binlog_cache_size' variables to
     `mysqld'.

   * `DROP TABLE', `RENAME TABLE', `CREATE INDEX' and `DROP INDEX' are
     now transaction endpoints.

   * If you do a `DROP DATABASE' on a symbolically linked database, both
     the link and the original database are deleted.

   * Fixed `DROP DATABASE' to work on OS/2.

   * Fixed bug when doing a `SELECT DISTINCT ... table1 LEFT JOIN
     table2 ...' when `table2' was empty.

   * Added `--abort-slave-event-count' and
     `--disconnect-slave-event-count' options to `mysqld' for debugging
     and testing of replication.

   * Fixed replication of temporary tables. Handles everything except
     slave server restart.

   * `SHOW KEYS' now shows whether key is `FULLTEXT'.

   * New script `mysqld_multi'. *Note `mysqld_multi': mysqld_multi.

   * Added new script, `mysql-multi.server.sh'.  Thanks to Tim Bunce
     <Tim.Bunce@ig.co.uk> for modifying `mysql.server' to easily handle
     hosts running many `mysqld' processes.

   * `safe_mysqld', `mysql.server', and `mysql_install_db' have been
     modified to use `mysql_print_defaults' instead of various hacks to
     read the `my.cnf' files.  In addition, the handling of various
     paths has been made more consistent with how `mysqld' handles them
     by default.

   * Automatically remove Berkeley DB transaction logs that no longer
     are in use.

   * Fixed bug with several `FULLTEXT' indexes in one table.

   * Added a warning if number of rows changes on `REPAIR'/`OPTIMIZE'.

   * Applied patches for OS/2 by `Yuri Dario'.

   * `FLUSH TABLES tbl_name' didn't always flush the index tree to disk
     properly.

   * `--bootstrap' is now run in a separate thread. This fixes a problem
     that caused `mysql_install_db' to core dump on some Linux machines.

   * Changed `mi_create()' to use less stack space.

   * Fixed bug with optimizer trying to over-optimize `MATCH()' when
     used with `UNIQUE' key.

   * Changed `crash-me' and the MySQL benchmarks to also work with
     FrontBase.

   * Allow `RESTRICT' and `CASCADE' after `DROP TABLE' to make porting
     easier.

   * Reset status variable which could cause problem if one used
     `--slow-log'.

   * Added `connect_timeout' variable to `mysql' and `mysqladmin'.

   * Added `connect-timeout' as an alias for `timeout' for option files
     read by `mysql_options()'.

Changes in release 3.23.28 (22 Nov 2000: Gamma)
-----------------------------------------------

   * Added new options `--pager[=...]', `--no-pager', `--tee=...' and
     `--no-tee' to the `mysql' client.  The new corresponding
     interactive commands are `pager', `nopager', `tee' and `notee'.
     *Note `mysql': mysql, `mysql --help' and the interactive help for
     more information.

   * Fixed crash when automatic repair of `MyISAM' table failed.

   * Fixed a major performance bug in the table locking code when one
     constantly had a lot of `SELECT', `UPDATE' and `INSERT' statements
     running. The symptom was that the `UPDATE' and `INSERT' queries
     were locked for a long time while new `SELECT' statements were
     executed before the updates.

   * When reading `options_files' with `mysql_options()' the
     `return-found-rows' option was ignored.

   * One can now specify `interactive-timeout' in the option file that
     is read by `mysql_options()'. This makes it possible to force
     programs that run for a long time (like `mysqlhotcopy') to use the
     `interactive_timeout' time instead of the `wait_timeout' time.

   * Added to the slow query log the time and the username for each
     logged query. If you are using `--log-long-format' then also
     queries that do not use an index are logged, even if the query
     takes less than `long_query_time' seconds.

   * Fixed a problem in `LEFT JOIN' which caused all columns in a
     reference table to be `NULL'.

   * Fixed a problem when using `NATURAL JOIN' without keys.

   * Fixed a bug when using a multi-part keys where the first part was
     of type `TEXT' or `BLOB'.

   * `DROP' of temporary tables wasn't stored in the update/binary log.

   * Fixed a bug where `SELECT DISTINCT * ... LIMIT row_count' only
     returned one row.

   * Fixed a bug in the assembler code in `strstr()' for SPARC and
     cleaned up the `global.h' header file to avoid a problem with bad
     aliasing with the compiler submitted with Red Hat 7.0. (Reported
     by Trond Eivind Glomsr/od)

   * The `--skip-networking' option now works properly on NT.

   * Fixed a long outstanding bug in the `ISAM' tables when a row with
     a length of more than 65K was shortened by a single byte.

   * Fixed a bug in `MyISAM' when running multiple updating processes on
     the same table.

   * Allow one to use `FLUSH TABLE tbl_name'.

   * Added `--replicate-ignore-table', `--replicate-do-table',
     `--replicate-wild-ignore-table', and `--replicate-wild-do-table'
     options to `mysqld'.

   * Changed all log files to use our own `IO_CACHE' mechanism instead
     of `FILE' to avoid OS problems when there are many files open.

   * Added `--open-files' and `--timezone' options to `safe_mysqld'.

   * Fixed a fatal bug in `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE ... SELECT ...'.

   * Fixed a problem with `CREATE TABLE ... SELECT NULL'.

   * Added variables `large_file_support',`net_read_timeout',
     `net_write_timeout' and `query_buffer_size' to `SHOW VARIABLES'.

   * Added status variables `created_tmp_files' and `sort_merge_passes'
     to `SHOW STATUS'.

   * Fixed a bug where we didn't allow an index name after the `FOREIGN
     KEY' definition.

   * Added `TRUNCATE table_name' as a synonym for `DELETE FROM
     table_name'.

   * Fixed a bug in a `BDB' key compare function when comparing part
     keys.

   * Added `bdb_lock_max' variable to `mysqld'.

   * Added more tests to the benchmark suite.

   * Fixed an overflow bug in the client code when using overly long
     database names.

   * `mysql_connect()' now aborts on Linux if the server doesn't answer
     in `timeout' seconds.

   * `SLAVE START' did not work if you started with
     `--skip-slave-start' and had not explicitly run `CHANGE MASTER TO'.

   * Fixed the output of `SHOW MASTER STATUS' to be consistent with
     `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'. (It now has no directory in the log name.)

   * Added `PURGE MASTER LOGS TO'.

   * Added `SHOW MASTER LOGS'.

   * Added `--safemalloc-mem-limit' option to `mysqld' to simulate
     memory shortage when compiled with the `--with-debug=full' option.

   * Fixed several core dumps in out-of-memory conditions.

   * `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' was using an uninitialized mutex if the slave
     had not been started yet.

   * Fixed bug in `ELT()' and `MAKE_SET()' when the query used a
     temporary table.

   * `CHANGE MASTER TO' without specifying `MASTER_LOG_POS' would set
     it to 0 instead of 4 and hit the magic number in the master binlog.

   * `ALTER TABLE ... ORDER BY ...' syntax added.  This will create the
     new table with the rows in a specific order.

Changes in release 3.23.27 (24 Oct 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed a bug where the automatic repair of `MyISAM' tables
     sometimes failed when the datafile was corrupt.

   * Fixed a bug in `SHOW CREATE' when using `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns.

   * Changed `BDB' tables to use new compare function in Berkeley DB
     3.2.3.

   * You can now use Unix socket files with MIT-pthreads.

   * Added the `latin5' (turkish) character set.

   * Small portability fixes.

Changes in release 3.23.26 (18 Oct 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Renamed `FLUSH MASTER' and `FLUSH SLAVE' to `RESET MASTER' and
     `RESET SLAVE'.

   * Fixed `<>' to work properly with `NULL'.

   * Fixed a problem with `SUBSTRING_INDEX()' and `REPLACE()'.  (Patch
     by Alexander Igonitchev)

   * Fix `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE IF NOT EXISTS' not to produce an error
     if the table exists.

   * If you don't create a `PRIMARY KEY' in a `BDB' table, a hidden
     `PRIMARY KEY' will be created.

   * Added read-only-key optimization to `BDB' tables.

   * `LEFT JOIN' in some cases preferred a full table scan when there
     was no `WHERE' clause.

   * When using `--log-slow-queries', don't count the time waiting for
     a lock.

   * Fixed bug in lock code on Windows which could cause the key cache
     to report that the key file was crashed even if it was okay.

   * Automatic repair of `MyISAM' tables if you start `mysqld' with
     `--myisam-recover'.

   * Removed the `TYPE=' keyword from `CHECK' and `REPAIR'. Allow
     `CHECK' options to be combined. (You can still use `TYPE=', but
     this usage is deprecated.)

   * Fixed mutex bug in the binary replication log -- long update
     queries could be read only in part by the slave if it did it at
     the wrong time, which was not fatal, but resulted in a
     performance-degrading reconnect and a scary message in the error
     log.

   * Changed the format of the binary log -- added magic number, server
     version, binlog version. Added the server ID and query error code
     for each query event.

   * Replication thread from the slave now will kill all the stale
     threads from the same server.

   * Long replication usernames were not being handled properly.

   * Added `--replicate-rewrite-db' option to `mysqld'.

   * Added `--skip-slave-start' option to `mysqld'.

   * Updates that generated an error code (such as `INSERT INTO
     foo(some_key) values (1),(1)') erroneously terminated the slave
     thread.

   * Added optimization of queries where `DISTINCT' is used only on
     columns from some of the tables.

   * Allow floating-point numbers where there is no sign after the
     exponent (like `1e1').

   * `SHOW GRANTS' didn't always show all column grants.

   * Added `--default-extra-file=#' option to all MySQL clients.

   * Columns referenced in `INSERT' statements now are initialized
     properly.

   * `UPDATE' didn't always work when used with a range on a timestamp
     that was part of the key that was used to find rows.

   * Fixed a bug in `FULLTEXT' index when inserting a `NULL' column.

   * Changed to use `mkstemp()' instead of `tempnam()'. Based on a
     patch from John Jones.

Changes in release 3.23.25 (29 Sep 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed that `databasename' works as second argument to
     `mysqlhotcopy'.

   * The values for the `UMASK' and `UMASK_DIR' environment variables
     now can be specified in octal by beginning the value with a zero.

   * Added `RIGHT JOIN'. This makes `RIGHT' a reserved word.

   * Added `@@IDENTITY' as a synonym for `LAST_INSERT_ID()'.  (This is
     for MSSQL compatibility.)

   * Fixed a bug in `myisamchk' and `REPAIR' when using `FULLTEXT'
     index.

   * `LOAD DATA INFILE' now works with FIFOs.  (Patch by Toni L.
     Harbaugh-Blackford.)

   * `FLUSH LOGS' broke replication if you specified a log name with an
     explicit extension as the value of the `log-bin' option.

   * Fixed a bug in `MyISAM' with packed multi-part keys.

   * Fixed crash when using `CHECK TABLE' on Windows.

   * Fixed a bug where `FULLTEXT' index always used the `koi8_ukr'
     character set.

   * Fixed privilege checking for `CHECK TABLE'.

   * The `MyISAM' repair/reindex code didn't use the `--tmpdir' option
     for its temporary files.

   * Added `BACKUP TABLE' and `RESTORE TABLE'.

   * Fixed core dump on `CHANGE MASTER TO' when the slave did not have
     the master to start with.

   * Fixed incorrect `Time' in the processlist for `Connect' of the
     slave thread.

   * The slave now logs when it connects to the master.

   * Fixed a core dump bug when doing `FLUSH MASTER' if you didn't
     specify a filename argument to `--log-bin'.

   * Added missing `ha_berkeley.x' files to the MySQL Windows
     distribution.

   * Fixed some mutex bugs in the log code that could cause thread
     blocks if new log files couldn't be created.

   * Added lock time and number of selected processed rows to slow
     query log.

   * Added `--memlock' option to `mysqld' to lock `mysqld' in memory on
     systems with the `mlockall()' call (as in Solaris).

   * `HEAP' tables didn't use keys properly. (Bug from 3.23.23.)

   * Added better support for `MERGE' tables (keys, mapping, creation,
     documentation...). *Note `MERGE': MERGE.

   * Fixed bug in `mysqldump' from 3.23 which caused some `CHAR' columns
     not to be quoted.

   * Merged `analyze', `check', `optimize' and repair code.

   * `OPTIMIZE TABLE' is now mapped to `REPAIR' with statistics and
     sorting of the index tree.  This means that for the moment it only
     works on `MyISAM' tables.

   * Added a pre-alloced block to root_malloc to get fewer mallocs.

   * Added a lot of new statistics variables.

   * Fixed `ORDER BY' bug with `BDB' tables.

   * Removed warning that `mysqld' couldn't remove the `.pid' file
     under Windows.

   * Changed `--log-isam' to log `MyISAM' tables instead of isam tables.

   * Fixed `CHECK TABLE' to work on Windows.

   * Added file mutexes to make `pwrite()' safe on Windows.

Changes in release 3.23.24 (08 Sep 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Added `created_tmp_disk_tables' variable to `mysqld'.

   * To make it possible to reliably dump and restore tables with
     `TIMESTAMP(X)' columns, MySQL now reports columns with `X' other
     than 14 or 8 to be strings.

   * Changed sort order for `latin1' as it was before MySQL Version
     3.23.23.  Any table that was created or modified with 3.23.22 must
     be repaired if it has `CHAR' columns that may contain characters
     with ASCII values greater than 128!

   * Fixed small memory leak introduced from 3.23.22 when creating a
     temporary table.

   * Fixed problem with `BDB' tables and reading on a unique (not
     primary) key.

   * Restored the `win1251' character set (it's now only marked
     deprecated).

Changes in release 3.23.23 (01 Sep 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Changed sort order for 'German'; all tables created with 'German'
     sortorder must be repaired with `REPAIR TABLE' or `myisamchk'
     before use!

   * Added `--core-file' option to `mysqld' to get a core file on Linux
     if `mysqld' dies on the `SIGSEGV' signal.

   * MySQL client `mysql' now starts with option `--no-named-commands'
     (`-g') by default. This option can be disabled with
     `--enable-named-commands' (`-G'). This may cause incompatibility
     problems in some cases, for example, in SQL scripts that use named
     commands without a semicolon, etc.!  Long format commands still
     work from the first line.

   * Fixed a problem when using many pending `DROP TABLE' statements at
     the same time.

   * Optimizer didn't use keys properly when using `LEFT JOIN' on an
     empty table.

   * Added shorter help text when invoking `mysqld' with incorrect
     options.

   * Fixed non-fatal `free()' bug in `mysqlimport'.

   * Fixed bug in `MyISAM' index handling of `DECIMAL'/`NUMERIC' keys.

   * Fixed a bug in concurrent insert in `MyISAM' tables.  In some
     contexts, usage of `MIN(key_part)' or `MAX(key_part)' returned an
     empty set.

   * Updated `mysqlhotcopy' to use the new `FLUSH TABLES table_list'
     syntax. Only tables which are being backed up are flushed now.

   * Changed behavior of `--enable-thread-safe-client' so that both
     non-threaded (`-lmysqlclient') and threaded (`-lmysqlclient_r')
     libraries are built.  Users who linked against a threaded
     `-lmysqlclient' will need to link against `-lmysqlclient_r' now.

   * Added atomic `RENAME TABLE' command.

   * Don't count `NULL' values in `COUNT(DISTINCT ...)'.

   * Changed `ALTER TABLE', `LOAD DATA INFILE' on empty tables and
     `INSERT ... SELECT ...' on empty tables to create non-unique
     indexes in a separate batch with sorting. This will make the above
     calls much faster when you have many indexes.

   * `ALTER TABLE' now logs the first used insert_id correctly.

   * Fixed crash when adding a default value to a `BLOB' column.

   * Fixed a bug with `DATE_ADD/DATE_SUB' where it returned a datetime
     instead of a date.

   * Fixed a problem with the thread cache which made some threads show
     up as `***DEAD***' in `SHOW PROCESSLIST'.

   * Fixed a lock in our thr_rwlock code, which could make selects that
     run at the same time as concurrent inserts crash. This only
     affects systems that don't have the `pthread_rwlock_rdlock' code.

   * When deleting rows with a non-unique key in a `HEAP' table, all
     rows weren't always deleted.

   * Fixed bug in range optimizer for `HEAP' tables for searches on a
     part index.

   * Fixed `SELECT' on part keys to work with `BDB' tables.

   * Fixed `INSERT INTO bdb_table ... SELECT' to work with `BDB' tables.

   * `CHECK TABLE' now updates key statistics for the table.

   * `ANALYZE TABLE' will now only update tables that have been changed
     since the last `ANALYZE'. Note that this is a new feature and
     tables will not be marked to be analysed until they are updated in
     any way with 3.23.23 or newer.  For older tables, you have to do
     `CHECK TABLE' to update the key distribution.

   * Fixed some minor privilege problems with `CHECK', `ANALYZE',
     `REPAIR' and `SHOW CREATE' commands.

   * Added `CHANGE MASTER TO' statement.

   * Added `FAST', `QUICK' `EXTENDED' check types to `CHECK TABLES'.

   * Changed `myisamchk' so that `--fast' and `--check-only-changed'
     are also honored with `--sort-index' and `--analyze'.

   * Fixed fatal bug in `LOAD TABLE FROM MASTER' that did not lock the
     table during index re-build.

   * `LOAD DATA INFILE' broke replication if the database was excluded
     from replication.

   * More variables in `SHOW SLAVE STATUS' and `SHOW MASTER STATUS'.

   * `SLAVE STOP' now will not return until the slave thread actually
     exits.

   * Full-text search via the `MATCH()' function and `FULLTEXT' index
     type (for `MyISAM' files).  This makes `FULLTEXT' a reserved word.

Changes in release 3.23.22 (31 Jul 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed that `lex_hash.h' is created properly for each MySQL
     distribution.

   * Fixed that `MASTER' and `COLLECTION' are not reserved words.

   * The log generated by `--slow-query-log' didn't contain the whole
     queries.

   * Fixed that open transactions in `BDB' tables are rolled back if the
     connection is closed unexpectedly.

   * Added workaround for a bug in `gcc' 2.96 (intel) and `gcc' 2.9
     (IA-64) in `gen_lex_hash.c'.

   * Fixed memory leak in the client library when using `host=' in the
     `my.cnf' file.

   * Optimized functions that manipulate the hours/minutes/seconds.

   * Fixed bug when comparing the result of `DATE_ADD()'/`DATE_SUB()'
     against a number.

   * Changed the meaning of `-F, --fast' for `myisamchk'. Added `-C,
     --check-only-changed' option to `myisamchk'.

   * Added `ANALYZE tbl_name' to update key statistics for tables.

   * Changed binary items `0x...' to be regarded as integers by default.

   * Fix for SCO and `SHOW PROCESSLIST'.

   * Added `auto-rehash' on reconnect for the `mysql' client.

   * Fixed a newly introduced bug in `MyISAM', where the index file
     couldn't get bigger than 64M.

   * Added `SHOW MASTER STATUS' and `SHOW SLAVE STATUS'.

Changes in release 3.23.21
--------------------------

   * Added `mysql_character_set_name()' function to the MySQL C API.

   * Made the update log ASCII 0 safe.

   * Added the `mysql_config' script.

   * Fixed problem when using `<' or `>' with a char column that was
     only partly indexed.

   * One would get a core dump if the log file was not readable by the
     MySQL user.

   * Changed `mysqladmin' to use `CREATE DATABASE' and `DROP DATABASE'
     statements instead of the old deprecated API calls.

   * Fixed `chown' warning in `safe_mysqld'.

   * Fixed a bug in `ORDER BY' that was introduced in 3.23.19.

   * Only optimize the `DELETE FROM tbl_name' to do a drop+create of
     the table if we are in `AUTOCOMMIT' mode (needed for `BDB' tables).

   * Added extra checks to avoid index corruption when the
     `ISAM'/`MyISAM' index files get full during an `INSERT'/`UPDATE'.

   * `myisamchk' didn't correctly update row checksum when used with
     `-ro' (this only gave a warning in subsequent runs).

   * Fixed bug in `REPAIR TABLE' so that it works with tables without
     indexes.

   * Fixed buffer overrun in `DROP DATABASE'.

   * `LOAD TABLE FROM MASTER' is sufficiently bug-free to announce it as
     a feature.

   * `MATCH' and `AGAINST' are now reserved words.

Changes in release 3.23.20
--------------------------

   * Fixed bug in 3.23.19; `DELETE FROM tbl_name' removed the `.frm'
     file.

   * Added `SHOW CREATE TABLE'.

Changes in release 3.23.19
--------------------------

   * Changed copyright for all files to `GPL' for the server code and
     utilities and to LGPL for the client libraries.  See
     <http://www.fsf.org/licenses/>.

   * Fixed bug where all rows matching weren't updated on a `MyISAM'
     table when doing update based on key on a table with many keys and
     some key changed values.

   * The Linux MySQL RPMs and binaries are now statically linked with a
     linuxthread version that has faster mutex handling when used with
     MySQL.

   * `ORDER BY' can now use `REF' keys to find subsets of the rows that
     need to be sorted.

   * Changed name of `print_defaults' program to `my_print_defaults' to
     avoid name confusion.

   * Fixed `NULLIF()' to work as required by SQL-99.

   * Added `net_read_timeout' and `net_write_timeout' as startup
     parameters to `mysqld'.

   * Fixed bug that destroyed index when doing `myisamchk
     --sort-records' on a table with prefix compressed index.

   * Added `pack_isam' and `myisampack' to the standard MySQL
     distribution.

   * Added the syntax `BEGIN WORK' (the same as `BEGIN').

   * Fixed core dump bug when using `ORDER BY' on a `CONV()' expression.

   * Added `LOAD TABLE FROM MASTER'.

   * Added `FLUSH MASTER' and `FLUSH SLAVE'.

   * Fixed big/little endian problem in the replication.

Changes in release 3.23.18
--------------------------

   * Fixed a problem from 3.23.17 when choosing character set on the
     client side.

   * Added `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK' to make a global lock suitable
     for making a copy of MySQL datafiles.

   * `CREATE TABLE ... SELECT ... PROCEDURE' now works.

   * Internal temporary tables will now use compressed index when using
     `GROUP BY' on `VARCHAR/CHAR' columns.

   * Fixed a problem when locking the same table with both a `READ' and
     a `WRITE' lock.

   * Fixed problem with `myisamchk' and `RAID' tables.

Changes in release 3.23.17
--------------------------

   * Fixed a bug in `FIND_IN_SET()' when the first argument was `NULL'.

   * Added table locks to Berkeley DB.

   * Fixed a bug with `LEFT JOIN' and `ORDER BY' where the first table
     had only one matching row.

   * Added 4 sample `my.cnf' example files in the `support-files'
     directory.

   * Fixed `duplicated key' problem when doing big `GROUP BY'
     operations.  (This bug was probably introduced in 3.23.15.)

   * Changed syntax for `INNER JOIN' to match SQL-99.

   * Added `NATURAL JOIN' syntax.

   * A lot of fixes in the `BDB' interface.

   * Added handling of `--no-defaults' and `--defaults-file' to
     `safe_mysqld.sh' and `mysql_install_db.sh'.

   * Fixed bug in reading compressed tables with many threads.

   * Fixed that `USE INDEX' works with `PRIMARY' keys.

   * Added `BEGIN' statement to start a transaction in `AUTOCOMMIT'
     mode.

   * Added support for symbolic links for Windows.

   * Changed protocol to let client know if the server is in
     `AUTOCOMMIT' mode and if there is a pending transaction.  If there
     is a pending transaction, the client library will give an error
     before reconnecting to the server to let the client know that the
     server did a rollback.  The protocol is still backward-compatible
     with old clients.

   * `KILL' now works on a thread that is locked on a 'write' to a dead
     client.

   * Fixed memory leak in the replication slave thread.

   * Added new `log-slave-updates' option to `mysqld', to allow
     daisy-chaining the slaves.

   * Fixed compile error on FreeBSD and other systems where `pthread_t'
     is not the same as `int'.

   * Fixed master shutdown aborting the slave thread.

   * Fixed a race condition in `INSERT DELAYED' code when doing `ALTER
     TABLE'.

   * Added deadlock detection sanity checks to `INSERT DELAYED'.

Changes in release 3.23.16
--------------------------

   * Added `SLAVE START' and `SLAVE STOP' statements.

   * Added `TYPE=QUICK' option to `CHECK' and to `REPAIR'.

   * Fixed bug in `REPAIR TABLE' when the table was in use by other
     threads.

   * Added a thread cache to make it possible to debug MySQL with `gdb'
     when one does a lot of reconnects. This will also improve systems
     where you can't use persistent connections.

   * Lots of fixes in the Berkeley DB interface.

   * `UPDATE IGNORE' will not abort if an update results in a
     `DUPLICATE_KEY' error.

   * Put `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE' commands in the update log.

   * Fixed bug in handling of masked IP numbers in the privilege tables.

   * Fixed bug with `delay_key_write' tables and `CHECK TABLE'.

   * Added `replicate-do-db' and `replicate-ignore-db' options to
     `mysqld', to restrict which databases get replicated.

   * Added `SQL_LOG_BIN' option.

Changes in release 3.23.15 (May 2000: Beta)
-------------------------------------------

   * To start `mysqld' as `root', you must now use the `--user=root'
     option.

   * Added interface to Berkeley DB. (This is not yet functional; play
     with it at your own risk!)

   * Replication between master and slaves.

   * Fixed bug that other threads could steal a lock when a thread had
     a lock on a table and did a `FLUSH TABLES' command.

   * Added the `slow_launch_time' variable and the `Slow_launch_threads'
     status variable to `mysqld'.  These can be examined with
     `mysqladmin variables' and `mysqladmin extended-status'.

   * Added functions `INET_NTOA()' and `INET_ATON()'.

   * The default type of `IF()' now depends on the second and third
     arguments and not only on the second argument.

   * Fixed case when `myisamchk' could go into a loop when trying to
     repair a crashed table.

   * Don't write `INSERT DELAYED' to update log if `SQL_LOG_UPDATE=0'.

   * Fixed problem with `REPLACE' on `HEAP' tables.

   * Added possible character sets and time zone to `SHOW VARIABLES'
     output.

   * Fixed bug in locking code that could result in locking problems
     with concurrent inserts under high load.

   * Fixed a problem with `DELETE' of many rows on a table with
     compressed keys where MySQL scanned the index to find the rows.

   * Fixed problem with `CHECK' on table with deleted keyblocks.

   * Fixed a bug in reconnect (at the client side) where it didn't free
     memory properly in some contexts.

   * Fixed problems in update log when using `LAST_INSERT_ID()' to
     update a table with an `AUTO_INCREMENT' key.

   * Added `NULLIF()' function.

   * Fixed bug when using `LOAD DATA INFILE' on a table with
     `BLOB/TEXT' columns.

   * Optimized `MyISAM' to be faster when inserting keys in sorted
     order.

   * `EXPLAIN SELECT ...' now also prints out whether MySQL needs to
     create a temporary table or use file sorting when resolving the
     `SELECT'.

   * Added optimization to skip `ORDER BY' parts where the part is a
     constant expression in the `WHERE' part.  Indexes can now be used
     even if the `ORDER BY' doesn't match the index exactly, as long as
     all the unused index parts and all the extra `ORDER BY' columns
     are constants in the `WHERE' clause.  *Note MySQL indexes::.

   * `UPDATE' and `DELETE' on a whole unique key in the `WHERE' part
     are now faster than before.

   * Changed `RAID_CHUNKSIZE' to be in 1024-byte increments.

   * Fixed core dump in `LOAD_FILE(NULL)'.

Changes in release 3.23.14
--------------------------

   * Added `mysql_real_escape_string()' function to the MySQL C API.

   * Fixed a bug in `CONCAT()' where one of the arguments was a function
     that returned a modified argument.

   * Fixed a critical bug in `myisamchk', where it updated the header in
     the index file when one only checked the table.  This confused the
     `mysqld' daemon if it updated the same table at the same time. Now
     the status in the index file is only updated if one uses
     `--update-state'.  With older `myisamchk' versions you should use
     `--read-only' when only checking tables, if there is the slightest
     chance that the `mysqld' server is working on the table at the
     same time!

   * Fixed that `DROP TABLE' is logged in the update log.

   * Fixed problem when searching on `DECIMAL()' key field where the
     column data contained leading zeros.

   * Fix bug in `myisamchk' when the `AUTO_INCREMENT' column isn't the
     first key.

   * Allow `DATETIME' in ISO8601 format: 2000-03-12T12:00:00

   * Dynamic character sets.  A `mysqld' binary can now handle many
     different character sets (you can choose which when starting
     `mysqld').

   * Added command `REPAIR TABLE'.

   * Added `mysql_thread_safe()' function to the MySQL C API.

   * Added the `UMASK_DIR' environment variable.

   * Added `CONNECTION_ID()' function to return the client connection
     thread ID.

   * When using `=' on `BLOB' or `VARCHAR BINARY' keys, where only a
     part of the column was indexed, the whole column of the result row
     wasn't compared.

   * Fix for `sjis' character set and `ORDER BY'.

   * When running in ANSI mode, don't allow columns to be used that
     aren't in the `GROUP BY' part.

Changes in release 3.23.13
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem when doing locks on the same table more than 2 times
     in the same `LOCK TABLE' command; this fixed the problem one got
     when running the test-ATIS test with `--fast' or
     `--check-only-changed'.

   * Added `SQL_BUFFER_RESULT' option to `SELECT'.

   * Removed end space from double/float numbers in results from
     temporary tables.

   * Added `CHECK TABLE' command.

   * Added changes for `MyISAM' in 3.23.12 that didn't get into the
     source distribution because of CVS problems.

   * Fixed bug so that `mysqladmin shutdown' will wait for the local
     server to close down.

   * Fixed a possible endless loop when calculating timestamp.

   * Added `print_defaults' program to the `.rpm' files. Removed
     `mysqlbug' from the client `.rpm' file.

Changes in release 3.23.12 (07 Mar 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed bug in `MyISAM' involving `REPLACE ... SELECT ...' which
     could give a corrupted table.

   * Fixed bug in `myisamchk' where it incorrectly reset the
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.

   * LOTS of patches for Linux Alpha. MySQL now appears to be relatively
     stable on Alpha.

   * Changed `DISTINCT' on `HEAP' temporary tables to use hashed keys
     to quickly find duplicated rows. This mostly concerns queries of
     type `SELECT DISTINCT ... GROUP BY ...'.  This fixes a problem
     where not all duplicates were removed in queries of the above
     type.  In addition, the new code is MUCH faster.

   * Added patches to make MySQL compile on Mac OS X.

   * Added `IF NOT EXISTS' clause to `CREATE DATABASE'.

   * Added `--all-databases' and `--databases' options to `mysqldump'
     to allow dumping of many databases at the same time.

   * Fixed bug in compressed `DECIMAL()' index in `MyISAM' tables.

   * Fixed bug when storing 0 into a timestamp.

   * When doing `mysqladmin shutdown' on a local connection,
     `mysqladmin' now waits until the PID file is gone before
     terminating.

   * Fixed core dump with some `COUNT(DISTINCT ...)' queries.

   * Fixed that `myisamchk' works properly with RAID tables.

   * Fixed problem with `LEFT JOIN' and `key_field IS NULL'.

   * Fixed bug in `net_clear()' which could give the error `Aborted
     connection' in the MySQL clients.

   * Added options `USE INDEX (key_list)' and `IGNORE INDEX (key_list)'
     as parameters in `SELECT'.

   * `DELETE' and `RENAME' should now work on `RAID' tables.

Changes in release 3.23.11
--------------------------

   * Allow the `ALTER TABLE tbl_name ADD (field_list)' syntax.

   * Fixed problem with optimizer that could sometimes use incorrect
     keys.

   * Fixed that `GRANT/REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES' doesn't affect `GRANT
     OPTION'.

   * Removed extra `)' from the output of `SHOW GRANTS'.

   * Fixed problem when storing numbers in timestamps.

   * Fix problem with time zones that have half hour offsets.

   * Allow the syntax `UNIQUE INDEX' in `CREATE' statements.

   * `mysqlhotcopy' - fast online hot-backup utility for local MySQL
     databases. By Tim Bunce.

   * New more secure `mysqlaccess'. Thanks to Steve Harvey for this.

   * Added `--i-am-a-dummy' and `--safe-updates' options to `mysql'.

   * Added `select_limit' and `max_join_size' variables to `mysql'.

   * Added `SQL_MAX_JOIN_SIZE' and `SQL_SAFE_UPDATES' options.

   * Added `READ LOCAL' lock that doesn't lock the table for concurrent
     inserts. (This is used by `mysqldump'.)

   * Changed that `LOCK TABLES ... READ' no longer allows concurrent
     inserts.

   * Added `--skip-delay-key-write' option to `mysqld'.

   * Fixed security problem in the protocol regarding password checking.

   * `_rowid' can now be used as an alias for an integer type unique
     indexed column.

   * Added back blocking of `SIGPIPE' when compiling with
     `--thread-safe-clients' to make things safe for old clients.

Changes in release 3.23.10
--------------------------

   * Fixed bug in 3.23.9 where memory wasn't properly freed when using
     `LOCK TABLES'.

Changes in release 3.23.9
-------------------------

   * Fixed problem that affected queries that did arithmetic on group
     functions.

   * Fixed problem with timestamps and `INSERT DELAYED'.

   * Fixed that `date_col BETWEEN const_date AND const_date' works.

   * Fixed problem when only changing a 0 to `NULL' in a table with
     `BLOB/TEXT' columns.

   * Fixed bug in range optimizer when using many key parts and or on
     the middle key parts:  `WHERE K1=1 and K3=2 and (K2=2 and K4=4 or
     K2=3 and K4=5)'

   * Added `source' command to `mysql' to allow reading of batch files
     inside the `mysql' client.  Original patch by Matthew Vanecek.

   * Fixed critical problem with the `WITH GRANT OPTION' option.

   * Don't give an unnecessary `GRANT' error when using tables from many
     databases in the same query.

   * Added VIO wrapper (needed for SSL support; by Andrei Errapart and
     To~nu Samuel).

   * Fixed optimizer problem on `SELECT' when using many overlapping
     indexes.  MySQL should now be able to choose keys even better when
     there are many keys to choose from.

   * Changed optimizer to prefer a range key instead of a ref key when
     the range key can uses more columns than the ref key (which only
     can use columns with `=').  For example, the following type of
     queries should now be faster: `SELECT * from key_part_1=const and
     key_part_2 > const2'

   * Fixed bug that a change of all `VARCHAR' columns to `CHAR' columns
     didn't change row type from dynamic to fixed.

   * Disabled floating-point exceptions for FreeBSD to fix core dump
     when doing `SELECT FLOOR(POW(2,63))'.

   * Renamed `mysqld' startup option from `--delay-key-write' to
     `--delay-key-write-for-all-tables'.

   * Added `read-next-on-key' to `HEAP' tables.  This should fix all
     problems with `HEAP' tables when using non-`UNIQUE' keys.

   * Added option to print default arguments to all clients.

   * Added `--log-slow-queries' option to `mysqld' to log all queries
     that take a long time to a separate log file with a time
     indicating how long the query took.

   * Fixed core dump when doing `WHERE key_col=RAND(...)'.

   * Fixed optimization bug in `SELECT ... LEFT JOIN ... key_col IS
     NULL', when `key_col' could contain `NULL' values.

   * Fixed problem with 8-bit characters as separators in `LOAD DATA
     INFILE'.

Changes in release 3.23.8 (02 Jan 2000)
---------------------------------------

   * Fixed problem when handling indexfiles larger than 8G.

   * Added latest patches to MIT-pthreads for NetBSD.

   * Fixed problem with time zones that are < GMT - 11.

   * Fixed a bug when deleting packed keys in `NISAM'.

   * Fixed problem with `ISAM' when doing some `ORDER BY ... DESC'
     queries.

   * Fixed bug when doing a join on a text key which didn't cover the
     whole key.

   * Option `--delay-key-write' didn't enable delayed key writing.

   * Fixed update of `TEXT' column which involved only case changes.

   * Fixed that `INSERT DELAYED' doesn't update timestamps that are
     given.

   * Added function `YEARWEEK()' and options `x', `X', `v' and `V' to
     `DATE_FORMAT()'.

   * Fixed problem with `MAX(indexed_column)' and `HEAP' tables.

   * Fixed problem with `BLOB NULL' keys and `LIKE "prefix%"'.

   * Fixed problem with `MyISAM' and fixed-length rows < 5 bytes.

   * Fixed problem that could cause MySQL to touch freed memory when
     doing very complicated `GROUP BY' queries.

   * Fixed core dump if you got a crashed table where an `ENUM' field
     value was too big.

Changes in release 3.23.7 (10 Dec 1999)
---------------------------------------

   * Fixed workaround under Linux to avoid problems with
     `pthread_mutex_timedwait()', which is used with `INSERT DELAYED'.
     *Note Linux::.

   * Fixed that one will get a 'disk full' error message if one gets
     disk full when doing sorting (instead of waiting until we got more
     disk space).

   * Fixed a bug in `MyISAM' with keys > 250 characters.

   * In `MyISAM' one can now do an `INSERT' at the same time as other
     threads are reading from the table.

   * Added `max_write_lock_count' variable to `mysqld' to force a
     `READ' lock after a certain number of `WRITE' locks.

   * Inverted flag `delay_key_write' on `show variables'.

   * Renamed `concurrency' variable to `thread_concurrency'.

   * The following functions are now multi-byte-safe:
     `LOCATE(substr,str)', `POSITION(substr IN str)',
     `LOCATE(substr,str,pos)', `INSTR(str,substr)', `LEFT(str,len)',
     `RIGHT(str,len)', `SUBSTRING(str,pos,len)', `SUBSTRING(str FROM
     pos FOR len)', `MID(str,pos,len)', `SUBSTRING(str,pos)',
     `SUBSTRING(str FROM pos)', `SUBSTRING_INDEX(str,delim,count)',
     `RTRIM(str)', `TRIM([[BOTH | TRAILING] [remstr] FROM] str)',
     `REPLACE(str,from_str,to_str)', `REVERSE(str)',
     `INSERT(str,pos,len,newstr)', `LCASE(str)', `LOWER(str)',
     `UCASE(str)' and `UPPER(str)'; patch by Wei He.

   * Fix core dump when releasing a lock from a non-existent table.

   * Remove locks on tables before starting to remove duplicates.

   * Added option `FULL' to `SHOW PROCESSLIST'.

   * Added option `--verbose' to `mysqladmin'.

   * Fixed problem when automatically converting `HEAP' to `MyISAM'.

   * Fixed bug in `HEAP' tables when doing insert + delete + insert +
     scan the table.

   * Fixed bugs on Alpha with `REPLACE()' and `LOAD DATA INFILE'.

   * Added `interactive_timeout' variable to `mysqld'.

   * Changed the argument to `mysql_data_seek()' from `ulong' to
     `ulonglong'.

Changes in release 3.23.6
-------------------------

   * Added `-O lower_case_table_names={0|1}' option to `mysqld' to allow
     users to force table names to lowercase.

   * Added `SELECT ... INTO DUMPFILE'.

   * Added `--ansi' option to `mysqld' to make some functions SQL-99
     compatible.

   * Temporary table names now start with `#sql'.

   * Added quoting of identifiers with ``' (`"' in `--ansi' mode).

   * Changed to use `snprintf()' when printing floats to avoid some
     buffer overflows on FreeBSD.

   * Made `FLOOR()' overflow safe on FreeBSD.

   * Added `--quote-names' option to `mysqldump'.

   * Fixed bug that one could make a part of a `PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL'.

   * Fixed `encrypt()' to be thread-safe and not reuse buffer.

   * Added `mysql_odbc_escape_string()' function to support big5
     characters in MyODBC.

   * Rewrote the storage engine to use classes.  This introduces a lot
     of new code, but will make table handling faster and better.

   * Added patch by Sasha for user-defined variables.

   * Changed that `FLOAT' and `DOUBLE' (without any length modifiers)
     no longer are fixed decimal point numbers.

   * Changed the meaning of `FLOAT(X)': Now this is the same as `FLOAT'
     if `X' <= 24 and a `DOUBLE' if 24 < `X' <= 53.

   * `DECIMAL(X)' is now an alias for `DECIMAL(X,0)' and `DECIMAL' is
     now an alias for `DECIMAL(10,0)'.  The same goes for `NUMERIC'.

   * Added option `ROW_FORMAT={DEFAULT | DYNAMIC | FIXED | COMPRESSED}'
     to `CREATE_TABLE'.

   * `DELETE FROM table_name' didn't work on temporary tables.

   * Changed function `CHAR_LENGTH()' to be multi-byte character safe.

   * Added function `ORD(string)'.

Changes in release 3.23.5 (20 Oct 1999)
---------------------------------------

   * Fixed some Y2K problems in the new date handling in 3.23.

   * Fixed problem with `SELECT DISTINCT ... ORDER BY RAND()'.

   * Added patches by Sergei A. Golubchik for text searching on the
     `MyISAM' level.

   * Fixed cache overflow problem when using full joins without keys.

   * Fixed some configure issues.

   * Some small changes to make parsing faster.

   * Adding a column after the last field with `ALTER TABLE' didn't
     work.

   * Fixed problem when using an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column in two keys

   * With `MyISAM', you now can have an `AUTO_INCREMENT' column as a key
     sub part: `CREATE TABLE foo (a INT NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, b
     CHAR(5), PRIMARY KEY (b,a))'

   * Fixed bug in `MyISAM' with packed char keys that could be `NULL'.

   * `AS' on field name with `CREATE TABLE table_name SELECT ...' didn't
     work.

   * Allow use of `NATIONAL' and `NCHAR' when defining character
     columns.  This is the same as not using `BINARY'.

   * Don't allow `NULL' columns in a `PRIMARY KEY' (only in `UNIQUE'
     keys).

   * Clear `LAST_INSERT_ID()' if one uses this in ODBC: `WHERE
     auto_increment_column IS NULL'.  This seems to fix some problems
     with Access.

   * `SET SQL_AUTO_IS_NULL=0|1' now turns on/off the handling of
     searching after the last inserted row with `WHERE
     auto_increment_column IS NULL'.

   * Added new variable `concurrency' to `mysqld' for Solaris.

   * Added `--relative' option to `mysqladmin' to make
     `extended-status' more useful to monitor changes.

   * Fixed bug when using `COUNT(DISTINCT ...)' on an empty table.

   * Added support for the Chinese character set GBK.

   * Fixed problem with `LOAD DATA INFILE' and `BLOB' columns.

   * Added bit operator `~' (negation).

   * Fixed problem with UDF functions.

Changes in release 3.23.4 (28 Sep 1999)
---------------------------------------

   * Inserting a `DATETIME' into a `TIME' column no longer will try to
     store 'days' in it.

   * Fixed problem with storage of float/double on little endian
     machines.  (This affected `SUM()'.)

   * Added connect timeout on TCP/IP connections.

   * Fixed problem with `LIKE "%"' on an index that may have `NULL'
     values.

   * `REVOKE ALL PRIVILEGES' didn't revoke all privileges.

   * Allow creation of temporary tables with same name as the original
     table.

   * When granting a user a `GRANT' option for a database, he couldn't
     grant privileges to other users.

   * New command: `SHOW GRANTS FOR user' (by Sinisa).

   * New `date_add' syntax:  `date/datetime + INTERVAL # interval_type'.
     By Joshua Chamas.

   * Fixed privilege check for `LOAD DATA REPLACE'.

   * Automatic fixing of broken include files on Solaris 2.7

   * Some configure issues to fix problems with big filesystem
     detection.

   * `REGEXP' is now case-insensitive if you use non-binary strings.

Changes in release 3.23.3
-------------------------

   * Added patches for MIT-pthreads on NetBSD.

   * Fixed range bug in `MyISAM'.

   * `ASC' is now the default again for `ORDER BY'.

   * Added `LIMIT' to `UPDATE'.

   * Added `mysql_change_user()' function to the MySQL C API.

   * Added character set to `SHOW VARIABLES'.

   * Added support of `--[whitespace]' comments.

   * Allow `INSERT into tbl_name VALUES ()', that is, you may now
     specify an empty value list to insert a row in which each column
     is set to its default value.

   * Changed `SUBSTRING(text FROM pos)' to conform to SQL-99. (Before
     this construct returned the rightmost `pos' characters.)

   * `SUM()' with `GROUP BY' returned 0 on some systems.

   * Changed output for `SHOW TABLE STATUS'.

   * Added `DELAY_KEY_WRITE' option to `CREATE TABLE'.

   * Allow `AUTO_INCREMENT' on any key part.

   * Fixed problem with `YEAR(NOW())' and `YEAR(CURDATE())'.

   * Added `CASE' construct.

   * New function `COALESCE()'.

Changes in release 3.23.2 (09 Aug 1999)
---------------------------------------

   * Fixed range optimizer bug: `SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE
     key_part1 >= const AND (key_part2 = const OR key_part2 = const)'.
     The bug was that some rows could be duplicated in the result.

   * Running `myisamchk' without `-a' updated the index distribution
     incorrectly.

   * `SET SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES=1' was causing a parse error.

   * You can now update index columns that are used in the `WHERE'
     clause.  `UPDATE tbl_name SET KEY=KEY+1 WHERE KEY > 100'

   * Date handling should now be a bit faster.

   * Added handling of fuzzy dates (dates where day or month is 0),
     such as `'1999-01-00''.

   * Fixed optimization of `SELECT ... WHERE key_part1=const1 AND
     key_part_2=const2 AND key_part1=const4 AND key_part2=const4';
     indextype should be `range' instead of `ref'.

   * Fixed `egcs' 1.1.2 optimizer bug (when using `BLOB' values) on
     Linux Alpha.

   * Fixed problem with `LOCK TABLES' combined with `DELETE FROM table'.

   * `MyISAM' tables now allow keys on `NULL' and `BLOB/TEXT' columns.

   * The following join is now much faster: `SELECT ... FROM t1 LEFT
     JOIN t2 ON ... WHERE t2.not_null_column IS NULL'.

   * `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' can be done on functions.

   * Changed handling of 'const_item' to allow handling of `ORDER BY
     RAND()'.

   * Indexes are now used for `WHERE key_column = function'.

   * Indexes are now used for `WHERE key_column = col_name' even if the
     columns are not identically packed.

   * Indexes are now used for `WHERE col_name IS NULL'.

   * Changed heap tables to be stored in low_byte_first order (to make
     it easy to convert to `MyISAM' tables)

   * Automatic change of `HEAP' temporary tables to `MyISAM' tables in
     case of "table is full" errors.

   * Added `--init-file=file_name' option to `mysqld'.

   * Added `COUNT(DISTINCT value, [value, ...])'.

   * `CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE' now creates a temporary table, in its own
     namespace, that is automatically deleted if connection is dropped.

   * New reserved words (required for `CASE'):  `CASE, THEN, WHEN, ELSE
     and END'.

   * New functions `EXPORT_SET()' and `MD5()'.

   * Support for the GB2312 Chinese character set.

Changes in release 3.23.1
-------------------------

   * Fixed some compilation problems.

Changes in release 3.23.0 (05 Aug 1999: Alpha)
----------------------------------------------

   * A new storage engine library (`MyISAM') with a lot of new features.
     *Note `MyISAM': MyISAM.

   * You can create in-memory `HEAP' tables which are extremely fast for
     lookups.

   * Support for big files (63-bit) on OSs that support big files.

   * New function `LOAD_FILE(filename)' to get the contents of a file
     as a string value.

   * New operator `<=>' which will act as `=' but will return TRUE if
     both arguments are `NULL'.  This is useful for comparing changes
     between tables.

   * Added the ODBC 3.0 `EXTRACT(interval FROM datetime)' function.

   * Columns defined as `FLOAT(X)' are not rounded on storage and may be
     in scientific notation (1.0 E+10) when retrieved.

   * `REPLACE' is now faster than before.

   * Changed `LIKE' character comparison to behave as `='; This means
     that `'e' LIKE 'é'' is now true.  (If the line doesn't display
     correctly, the latter 'e' is a French 'e' with a dot above.)

   * `SHOW TABLE STATUS' returns a lot of information about the tables.

   * Added `LIKE' to the `SHOW STATUS' command.

   * Added `Privileges' column to `SHOW COLUMNS'.

   * Added `Packed' and `Comment' columns to `SHOW INDEX'.

   * Added comments to tables (with `CREATE TABLE ... COMMENT "xxx"').

   * Added `UNIQUE', as in `CREATE TABLE table_name (col INT not null
     UNIQUE)'

   * New create syntax: `CREATE TABLE table_name SELECT ...'

   * New create syntax: `CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ...'

   * Allow creation of `CHAR(0)' columns.

   * `DATE_FORMAT()' now requires `%' before any format character.

   * `DELAYED' is now a reserved word (sorry about that :( ).

   * An example procedure is added: `analyse', file: `sql_analyse.c'.
     This will describe the data in your query.  Try the following:
          SELECT ... FROM ...
          WHERE ... PROCEDURE ANALYSE([max elements,[max memory]])

     This procedure is extremely useful when you want to check the data
     in your table!

   * `BINARY' cast to force a string to be compared in case-sensitive
     fashion.

   * Added `--skip-show-database' option to `mysqld'.

   * Check whether a row has changed in an `UPDATE' now also works with
     `BLOB'/`TEXT' columns.

   * Added the `INNER' join syntax.  *NOTE*:  This made `INNER' a
     reserved word!

   * Added support for netmasks to the hostname in the MySQL grant
     tables.  You can specify a netmask using the `IP/NETMASK' syntax.

   * If you compare a `NOT NULL DATE/DATETIME' column with `IS NULL',
     this is changed to a compare against `0' to satisfy some ODBC
     applications.  (By <shreeve@uci.edu>.)

   * `NULL IN (...)' now returns `NULL' instead of `0'.  This will
     ensure that `null_column NOT IN (...)' doesn't match `NULL' values.

   * Fix storage of floating-point values in `TIME' columns.

   * Changed parsing of `TIME' strings to be more strict.  Now the
     fractional second part is detected (and currently skipped). The
     following formats are supported:
        * [[DAYS] [H]H:]MM:]SS[.fraction]

        * [[[[[H]H]H]H]MM]SS[.fraction]

   * Detect (and ignore) fractional second part from `DATETIME'.

   * Added the `LOW_PRIORITY' attribute to `LOAD DATA INFILE'.

   * The default index name now uses the same case as the column name
     on which the index name is based.

   * Changed default number of connections to 100.

   * Use bigger buffers when using `LOAD DATA INFILE'.

   * `DECIMAL(x,y)' now works according to SQL-99.

   * Added aggregate UDF functions. Thanks to Andreas F. Bobak
     (<bobak@relog.ch>) for this!

   * `LAST_INSERT_ID()' is now updated for `INSERT INTO ... SELECT'.

   * Some small changes to the join table optimizer to make some joins
     faster.

   * `SELECT DISTINCT' is much faster; it uses the new `UNIQUE'
     functionality in `MyISAM'. One difference compared to MySQL
     Version 3.22 is that the output of `DISTINCT' is no longer sorted.

   * All C client API macros are now functions to make shared libraries
     more reliable. Because of this, you can no longer call
     `mysql_num_fields()' on a `MYSQL' object, you must use
     `mysql_field_count()' instead.

   * Added use of `LIBWRAP'; patch by Henning P. Schmiedehausen.

   * Don't allow `AUTO_INCREMENT' for other than numerical columns.

   * Using `AUTO_INCREMENT' will now automatically make the column `NOT
     NULL'.

   * Show `NULL' as the default value for `AUTO_INCREMENT' columns.

   * Added `SQL_BIG_RESULT'; `SQL_SMALL_RESULT' is now default.

   * Added a shared library RPM. This enhancement was contributed by
     David Fox (<dsfox@cogsci.ucsd.edu>).

   * Added  `--enable-large-files' and `--disable-large-files' switches
     to `configure'. See `configure.in' for some systems where this is
     automatically turned off because of broken implementations.

   * Upgraded `readline' to 4.0.

   * New `CREATE TABLE' options: `PACK_KEYS' and `CHECKSUM'.

   * Added `--default-table-type' option to `mysqld'.

Changes in release 3.22.x (Old; discontinued)
=============================================

The 3.22 version has faster and safer connect code than version 3.21,
as well as a lot of new nice enhancements.  As there aren't really any
major changes, upgrading from 3.21 to 3.22 should be very easy and
painless.  *Note Upgrading-from-3.21::.

Changes in release 3.22.35
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem with `STD()'.

   * Merged changes from the newest `ISAM' library from 3.23.

   * Fixed problem with `INSERT DELAYED'.

   * Fixed a bug core dump when using a `LEFT JOIN'/`STRAIGHT_JOIN' on
     a table with only one row.

Changes in release 3.22.34
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem with `GROUP BY' on `TINYBLOB' columns; this caused
     bugzilla to not show rows in some queries.

   * Had to do total recompile of the Windows binary version as VC++
     didn't compile all relevant files for 3.22.33 :(

Changes in release 3.22.33
--------------------------

   * Fixed problems in Windows when locking tables with `LOCK TABLE'.

   * Quicker kill of `SELECT DISTINCT' queries.

Changes in release 3.22.32 (14 Feb 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed problem when storing numbers in timestamps.

   * Fix problem with time zones that have half hour offsets.

   * Added `mysqlhotcopy', a fast online hot-backup utility for local
     MySQL databases. By Tim Bunce.

   * New more secure `mysqlaccess'. Thanks to Steve Harvey for this.

   * Fixed security problem in the protocol regarding password checking.

   * Fixed problem that affected queries that did arithmetic on `GROUP'
     functions.

   * Fixed a bug in the `ISAM' code when deleting rows on tables with
     packed indexes.

Changes in release 3.22.31
--------------------------

   * A few small fixes for the Windows version.

Changes in release 3.22.30
--------------------------

   * Fixed optimizer problem on `SELECT' when using many overlapping
     indexes.

   * Disabled floating-point exceptions for FreeBSD to fix core dump
     when doing `SELECT FLOOR(POW(2,63))'.

   * Added print of default arguments options to all clients.

   * Fixed critical problem with the `WITH GRANT OPTION' option.

   * Fixed non-critical Y2K problem when writing short date to log
     files.

Changes in release 3.22.29 (02 Jan 2000)
----------------------------------------

   * Upgraded the configure and include files to match the latest 3.23
     version.  This should increase portability and make it easier to
     build shared libraries.

   * Added latest patches to MIT-pthreads for NetBSD.

   * Fixed problem with time zones that are < GMT -11.

   * Fixed a bug when deleting packed keys in NISAM.

   * Fixed problem that could cause MySQL to touch freed memory when
     doing very complicated `GROUP BY' queries.

   * Fixed core dump if you got a crashed table where an `ENUM' field
     value was too big.

   * Added `mysqlshutdown.exe' and `mysqlwatch.exe' to the Windows
     distribution.

   * Fixed problem when doing `ORDER BY' on a reference key.

   * Fixed that `INSERT DELAYED' doesn't update timestamps that are
     given.

Changes in release 3.22.28 (20 Oct 1999)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed problem with `LEFT JOIN' and `COUNT()' on a column which was
     declared `NULL' + and it had a `DEFAULT' value.

   * Fixed core dump problem when using `CONCAT()' in a `WHERE' clause.

   * Fixed problem with `AVG()' and `STD()' with `NULL' values.

Changes in release 3.22.27
--------------------------

   * Fixed prototype in `my_ctype.h' when using other character sets.

   * Some configure issues to fix problems with big filesystem
     detection.

   * Fixed problem when sorting on big `BLOB' columns.

   * `ROUND()' will now work on Windows.

Changes in release 3.22.26 (16 Sep 1999)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed core dump with empty `BLOB/TEXT' column argument to
     `REVERSE()'.

   * Extended `/*! */' with version numbers.

   * Changed `SUBSTRING(text FROM pos)' to conform to SQL-99. (Before
     this construct returned the rightmost 'pos' characters.)

   * Fixed problem with `LOCK TABLES' combined with `DELETE FROM table'

   * Fixed problem that `INSERT ... SELECT' didn't use `BIG_TABLES'.

   * `SET SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES=#' didn't work.

   * Password wasn't updated correctly if privileges didn't change on:
     `GRANT ... IDENTIFIED BY'

   * Fixed range optimizer bug in `SELECT * FROM table_name WHERE
     key_part1 >= const AND (key_part2 = const OR key_part2 = const)'.

   * Fixed bug in compression key handling in `ISAM'.

Changes in release 3.22.25
--------------------------

   * Fixed some small problems with the installation.

Changes in release 3.22.24 (05 Jul 1999)
----------------------------------------

   * `DATA' is no longer a reserved word.

   * Fixed optimizer bug with tables with only one row.

   * Fixed bug when using `LOCK TABLES table_name READ; FLUSH TABLES;'

   * Applied some patches for HP-UX.

   * `isamchk' should now work on Windows.

   * Changed `configure' to not use big file handling on Linux as this
     crashes some Red Hat 6.0 systems

Changes in release 3.22.23 (08 Jun 1999)
----------------------------------------

   * Upgraded to use Autoconf 2.13, Automake 1.4 and `libtool' 1.3.2.

   * Better support for SCO in `configure'.

   * Added option `--defaults-file=file_name' to option file handling
     to force use of only one specific option file.

   * Extended `CREATE' syntax to ignore MySQL Version 3.23 keywords.

   * Fixed deadlock problem when using `INSERT DELAYED' on a table
     locked with `LOCK TABLES'.

   * Fixed deadlock problem when using `DROP TABLE' on a table that was
     locked by another thread.

   * Add logging of `GRANT/REVOKE' commands in the update log.

   * Fixed `isamchk' to detect a new error condition.

   * Fixed bug in `NATURAL LEFT JOIN'.

Changes in release 3.22.22 (30 Apr 1999)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed problem in the C API when you called `mysql_close()'
     directly after `mysql_init()'.

   * Better client error message when you can't open socket.

   * Fixed `delayed_insert_thread' counting when you couldn't create a
     new delayed_insert thread.

   * Fixed bug in `CONCAT()' with many arguments.

   * Added patches for DEC 3.2 and SCO.

   * Fixed path-bug when installing MySQL as a service on NT.

   * MySQL on Windows is now compiled with VC++ 6.0 instead of with
     VC++ 5.0.

   * New installation setup for MySQL on Windows.

Changes in release 3.22.21
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem with `DELETE FROM TABLE' when table was locked by
     another thread.

   * Fixed bug in `LEFT JOIN' involving empty tables.

   * Changed the `mysql.db' column from `CHAR(32)' to `CHAR(60)'.

   * `MODIFY' and `DELAYED' are no longer reserved words.

   * Fixed a bug when storing days in a `TIME' column.

   * Fixed a problem with `Host '...' is not allowed to connect to this
     MySQL server' after one had inserted a new MySQL user with a
     `GRANT' command.

   * Changed to use `TCP_NODELAY' also on Linux (should give faster
     TCP/IP connections).

Changes in release 3.22.20 (18 Mar 1999)
----------------------------------------

   * Fixed `STD()' for big tables when result should be 0.

   * The update log didn't have newlines on some operating systems.

   * `INSERT DELAYED' had some garbage at end in the update log.

Changes in release 3.22.19 (Mar 1999: Production)
-------------------------------------------------

   * Fixed bug in `mysql_install_db' (from 3.22.17).

   * Changed default key cache size to 8M.

   * Fixed problem with queries that needed temporary tables with `BLOB'
     columns.

Changes in release 3.22.18
--------------------------

   * Fixes a fatal problem in 3.22.17 on Linux; after `shutdown' not
     all threads died properly.

   * Added option `-O flush_time=#' to `mysqld'.  This is mostly useful
     on Windows and tells how often MySQL should close all unused
     tables and flush all updated tables to disk.

   * Fixed problem that a `VARCHAR' column compared with `CHAR' column
     didn't use keys efficiently.

Changes in release 3.22.17
--------------------------

   * Fixed a core dump problem when using `--log-update' and connecting
     without a default database.

   * Fixed some `configure' and portability problems.

   * Using `LEFT JOIN' on tables that had circular dependencies caused
     `mysqld' to hang forever.

Changes in release 3.22.16 (Feb 1999: Gamma)
--------------------------------------------

   * `mysqladmin processlist' could kill the server if a new user
     logged in.

   * `DELETE FROM tbl_name WHERE key_column=col_name' didn't find any
     matching rows.  Fixed.

   * `DATE_ADD(column, ...)' didn't work.

   * `INSERT DELAYED' could deadlock with status `upgrading lock'.

   * Extended `ENCRYPT()' to take longer salt strings than 2 characters.

   * `longlong2str' is now much faster than before.  For `Intel x86'
     platforms, this function is written in optimized assembler.

   * Added the `MODIFY' keyword to `ALTER TABLE'.

Changes in release 3.22.15
--------------------------

   * `GRANT' used with `IDENTIFIED BY' didn't take effect until
     privileges were flushed.

   * Name change of some variables in `SHOW STATUS'.

   * Fixed problem with `ORDER BY' with 'only index' optimization when
     there were multiple key definitions for a used column.

   * `DATE' and `DATETIME' columns are now up to 5 times faster than
     before.

   * `INSERT DELAYED' can be used to let the client do other things
     while the server inserts rows into a table.

   * `LEFT JOIN USING (col1,col2)' didn't work if one used it with
     tables from 2 different databases.

   * `LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE' didn't work in the Unix version because of
     a missing file.

   * Fixed problems with `VARCHAR'/`BLOB' on very short rows (< 4
     bytes); error 127 could occur when deleting rows.

   * Updating `BLOB/TEXT' through formulas didn't work for short (< 256
     char) strings.

   * When you did a `GRANT' on a new host, `mysqld' could die on the
     first connect from this host.

   * Fixed bug when one used `ORDER BY' on column name that was the same
     name as an alias.

   * Added `BENCHMARK(loop_count,expression)' function to time
     expressions.

Changes in release 3.22.14
--------------------------

   * Allow empty arguments to `mysqld' to make it easier to start from
     shell scripts.

   * Setting a `TIMESTAMP' column to `NULL' didn't record the timestamp
     value in the update log.

   * Fixed lock handler bug when one did `INSERT INTO TABLE ... SELECT
     ... GROUP BY'.

   * Added a patch for `localtime_r()' on Windows so that it will no
     lonher crash if your date is > 2039, but instead will return a
     time of all zero.

   * Names for user-defined functions are no longer case-sensitive.

   * Added escape of `^Z' (ASCII 26) to `\Z' as `^Z' doesn't work with
     pipes on Windows.

   * `mysql_fix_privileges' adds a new column to the `mysql.func' to
     support aggregate UDF functions in future MySQL releases.

Changes in release 3.22.13
--------------------------

   * Saving `NOW()', `CURDATE()' or `CURTIME()' directly in a column
     didn't work.

   * `SELECT COUNT(*) ... LEFT JOIN ...' didn't work with no `WHERE'
     part.

   * Updated `config.guess' to allow MySQL to configure on UnixWare
     7.1.x.

   * Changed the implementation of `pthread_cond()' on the Windows
     version.  `get_lock()' now correctly times out on Windows!

Changes in release 3.22.12
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem when using `DATE_ADD()' and `DATE_SUB()' in a
     `WHERE' clause.

   * You can now set the password for a user with the `GRANT ... TO user
     IDENTIFIED BY 'password'' syntax.

   * Fixed bug in `GRANT' checking with `SELECT' on many tables.

   * Added missing file `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' to the RPM
     distribution. This is not run by default because it relies on the
     client package.

   * Added option `SQL_SMALL_RESULT' to `SELECT' to force use of fast
     temporary tables when you know that the result set will be small.

   * Allow use of negative real numbers without a decimal point.

   * Day number is now adjusted to maximum days in month if the
     resulting month after `DATE_ADD'/`DATE_SUB()' doesn't have enough
     days.

   * Fix that `GRANT' compares columns in case-insensitive fashion.

   * Fixed a bug in `sql_list.h' that made `ALTER TABLE' dump core in
     some contexts.

   * The hostname in `user@hostname' can now include `.' and `-'
     without quotes in the context of the `GRANT', `REVOKE' and `SET
     PASSWORD FOR ...' statements.

   * Fix for `isamchk' for tables which need big temporary files.

Changes in release 3.22.11
--------------------------

   * *Important*: You must run the `mysql_fix_privilege_tables' script
     when you upgrade to this version!  This is needed because of the
     new `GRANT' system. If you don't do this, you will get `Access
     denied' when you try to use `ALTER TABLE', `CREATE INDEX', or
     `DROP INDEX'.

   * `GRANT' to allow/deny users table and column access.

   * Changed `USER()' to return a value in `user@host' format.
     Formerly it returned only `user'.

   * Changed the syntax for how to set `PASSWORD' for another user.

   * New command `FLUSH STATUS' that resets most status variables to
     zero.

   * New status variables: `aborted_threads', `aborted_connects'.

   * New option variable: `connection_timeout'.

   * Added support for Thai sorting (by Pruet Boonma
     <pruet@ds90.intanon.nectec.or.th>).

   * Slovak and Japanese error messages.

   * Configuration and portability fixes.

   * Added option `SET SQL_WARNINGS=1' to get a warning count also for
     simple (single-row) inserts.

   * MySQL now uses `SIGTERM' instead of `SIGQUIT' with shutdown to
     work better on FreeBSD.

   * Added option `\G' (print vertically) to `mysql'.

   * `SELECT HIGH_PRIORITY ...' killed `mysqld'.

   * `IS NULL' on a `AUTO_INCREMENT' column in a `LEFT JOIN' didn't
     work as expected.

   * New function `MAKE_SET()'.

Changes in release 3.22.10
--------------------------

   * `mysql_install_db' no longer starts the MySQL server!  You should
     start `mysqld' with `safe_mysqld' after installing it!  The MySQL
     RPM will, however, start the server as before.

   * Added `--bootstrap' option to `mysqld' and recoded
     `mysql_install_db' to use it.  This will make it easier to install
     MySQL with RPMs.

   * Changed `+', `-' (sign and minus), `*', `/', `%', `ABS()' and
     `MOD()' to be `BIGINT' aware (64-bit safe).

   * Fixed a bug in `ALTER TABLE' that caused `mysqld' to crash.

   * MySQL now always reports the conflicting key values when a
     duplicate key entry occurs. (Before this was only reported for
     `INSERT'.)

   * New syntax: `INSERT INTO tbl_name SET col_name=value,
     col_name=value, ...'

   * Most errors in the `.err' log are now prefixed with a time stamp.

   * Added option `MYSQL_INIT_COMMAND' to `mysql_options()' to make a
     query on connect or reconnect.

   * Added option `MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_FILE' and
     `MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP' to `mysql_options()' to read the
     following parameters from the MySQL option files: `port',
     `socket', `compress', `password', `pipe', `timeout', `user',
     `init-command', `host' and `database'.

   * Added `maybe_null' to the UDF structure.

   * Added option `IGNORE' to `INSERT' statements with many rows.

   * Fixed some problems with sorting of the `koi8' character sets;
     users of `koi8' *must* run `isamchk -rq' on each table that has an
     index on a `CHAR' or `VARCHAR' column.

   * New script `mysql_setpermission', by Luuk de Boer.  It allows easy
     creation of new users with permissions for specific databases.

   * Allow use of hexadecimal strings (0x...) when specifying a
     constant string (like in the column separators with `LOAD DATA
     INFILE').

   * Ported to OS/2 (thanks to Antony T. Curtis
     <antony.curtis@olcs.net>).

   * Added more variables to `SHOW STATUS' and changed format of output
     to be like `SHOW VARIABLES'.

   * Added `extended-status' command to `mysqladmin' which will show the
     new status variables.

Changes in release 3.22.9
-------------------------

   * `SET SQL_LOG_UPDATE=0' caused a lockup of the server.

   * New SQL command:  `FLUSH [ TABLES | HOSTS | LOGS | PRIVILEGES ] [,
     ...]'

   * New SQL command:  `KILL' `thread_id'.

   * Added casts and changed include files to make MySQL easier to
     compile on AIX and DEC OSF/1 4.x

   * Fixed conversion problem when using `ALTER TABLE' from a `INT' to
     a short `CHAR()' column.

   * Added `SELECT HIGH_PRIORITY'; this will get a lock for the
     `SELECT' even if there is a thread waiting for another `SELECT' to
     get a `WRITE LOCK'.

   * Moved `wild_compare()' to string class to be able to use `LIKE' on
     `BLOB'/`TEXT' columns with `\0'.

   * Added `ESCAPE' option to `LIKE'.

   * Added a lot more output to `mysqladmin debug'.

   * You can now start `mysqld' on Windows with the `--flush' option.
     This will flush all tables to disk after each update.  This makes
     things much safer on the Windows platforms but also *much* slower.

Changes in release 3.22.8
-------------------------

   * Czech character sets should now work much better.

   * `DATE_ADD()' and `DATE_SUB()' didn't work with group functions.

   * `mysql' will now also try to reconnect on `USE database' commands.

   * Fix problem with `ORDER BY' and `LEFT JOIN' and `const' tables.

   * Fixed problem with `ORDER BY' if the first `ORDER BY' column was a
     key and the rest of the `ORDER BY' columns wasn't part of the key.

   * Fixed a big problem with `OPTIMIZE TABLE'.

   * MySQL clients on NT will now by default first try to connect with
     named pipes and after this with TCP/IP.

   * Fixed a problem with `DROP TABLE' and `mysqladmin shutdown' on
     Windows (a fatal bug from 3.22.6).

   * Fixed problems with `TIME columns' and negative strings.

   * Added an extra thread signal loop on shutdown to avoid some error
     messages from the client.

   * MySQL now uses the next available number as extension for the
     update log file.

   * Added patches for UNIXWARE 7.

Changes in release 3.22.7 (Sep 1998: Beta)
------------------------------------------

   * Added `LIMIT' clause for the `DELETE' statement.

   * You can now use the `/*! ... */' syntax to hide MySQL-specific
     keywords when you write portable code.  MySQL will parse the code
     inside the comments as if the surrounding `/*!' and `*/' comment
     characters didn't exist.

   * `OPTIMIZE TABLE tbl_name' can now be used to reclaim disk space
     after many deletes.  Currently, this uses `ALTER TABLE' to
     regenerate the table, but in the future it will use an integrated
     `isamchk' for more speed.

   * Upgraded `libtool' to get the configure more portable.

   * Fixed slow `UPDATE' and `DELETE' operations when using `DATETIME'
     or `DATE' keys.

   * Changed optimizer to make it better at deciding when to do a full
     join and when using keys.

   * You can now use `mysqladmin proc' to display information about
     your own threads. Only users with the `PROCESS' privilege can get
     information about all threads.  (In 4.0.2, you need the `SUPER'
     privilege for this.)

   * Added handling of formats `YYMMDD', `YYYYMMDD', `YYMMDDHHMMSS' for
     numbers when using `DATETIME' and `TIMESTAMP' types. (Formerly
     these formats only worked with strings.)

   * Added connect option `CLIENT_IGNORE_SPACE' to allow use of spaces
     after function names and before `(' (Powerbuilder requires this).
     This will make all function names reserved words.

   * Added the `--log-long-format' option to `mysqld' to enable
     timestamps and INSERT_IDs in the update log.

   * Added `--where' option to `mysqldump' (patch by Jim Faucette).

   * The lexical analyzer now uses "perfect hashing" for faster parsing
     of SQL statements.

Changes in release 3.22.6
-------------------------

   * Faster `mysqldump'.

   * For the `LOAD DATA INFILE' statement, you can now use the new
     `LOCAL' keyword to read the file from the client.  `mysqlimport'
     will automatically use `LOCAL' when importing with the TCP/IP
     protocol.

   * Fixed small optimize problem when updating keys.

   * Changed makefiles to support shared libraries.

   * MySQL-NT can now use named pipes, which means that you can now use
     MySQL-NT without having to install TCP/IP.

Changes in release 3.22.5
-------------------------

   * All table lock handing is changed to avoid some very subtle
     deadlocks when using `DROP TABLE', `ALTER TABLE', `DELETE FROM
     TABLE' and `mysqladmin flush-tables' under heavy usage.  Changed
     locking code to get better handling of locks of different types.

   * Updated `DBI' to 1.00 and `DBD' to 1.2.0.

   * Added a check that the error message file contains error messages
     suitable for the current version of `mysqld'. (To avoid errors if
     you accidentally try to use an old error message file.)

   * All count structures in the client (`affected_rows()',
     `insert_id()', ...) are now of type `BIGINT' to allow 64-bit values
     to be used.  This required a minor change in the MySQL protocol
     which should affect only old clients when using tables with
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' values > 16M.

   * The return type of `mysql_fetch_lengths()' has changed from `uint
     *' to `ulong *'. This may give a warning for old clients but
     should work on most machines.

   * Change `mysys' and `dbug' libraries to allocate all thread
     variables in one struct.  This makes it easier to make a threaded
     `libmysql.dll' library.

   * Use the result from `gethostname()' (instead of `uname()') when
     constructing `.pid' file names.

   * New better compressed server/client protocol.

   * `COUNT()', `STD()' and `AVG()' are extended to handle more than 4G
     rows.

   * You can now store values in the range `-838:59:59' <= x <=
     `838:59:59' in a `TIME' column.

   * *Warning: Incompatible change!!* If you set a `TIME' column to too
     short a value, MySQL now assumes the value is given as: `[[[D
     ]HH:]MM:]SS' instead of `HH[:MM[:SS]]'.

   * `TIME_TO_SEC()' and `SEC_TO_TIME()' can now handle negative times
     and hours up to 32767.

   * Added new option `SET SQL_LOG_UPDATE={0|1}' to allow users with
     the `PROCESS' privilege to bypass the update log.  (Modified patch
     from Sergey A Mukhin <violet@rosnet.net>.)

   * Fixed fatal bug in `LPAD()'.

   * Initialize line buffer in `mysql.cc' to make `BLOB' reading from
     pipes safer.

   * Added `-O max_connect_errors=#' option to `mysqld'.  Connect
     errors are now reset for each correct connection.

   * Increased the default value of `max_allowed_packet' to `1M' in
     `mysqld'.

   * Added `--low-priority-updates' option to `mysqld', to give
     table-modifying operations (`INSERT', `REPLACE', `UPDATE',
     `DELETE') lower priority than retrievals.  You can now use
     `{INSERT | REPLACE | UPDATE | DELETE} LOW_PRIORITY ...' You can
     also use `SET SQL_LOW_PRIORITY_UPDATES={0|1}' to change the
     priority for one thread.  One side effect is that `LOW_PRIORITY'
     is now a reserved word. :(

   * Add support for `INSERT INTO table ... VALUES(...),(...),(...)',
     to allow inserting multiple rows with a single statement.

   * `INSERT INTO tbl_name' is now also cached when used with `LOCK
     TABLES'.  (Previously only `INSERT ... SELECT' and `LOAD DATA
     INFILE' were cached.)

   * Allow `GROUP BY' functions with `HAVING':
          mysql> SELECT col FROM table GROUP BY col HAVING COUNT(*)>0;

   * `mysqld' will now ignore trailing `;' characters in queries. This
     is to make it easier to migrate from some other SQL servers that
     require the trailing `;'.

   * Fix for corrupted fixed-format output generated by `SELECT INTO
     OUTFILE'.

   * *Warning: Incompatible change!* Added Oracle `GREATEST()' and
     `LEAST()' functions.  You must now use these instead of the
     `MAX()' and `MIN()' functions to get the largest/smallest value
     from a list of values. These can now handle `REAL', `BIGINT' and
     string (`CHAR' or `VARCHAR') values.

   * *Warning: Incompatible change!* `DAYOFWEEK()' had offset 0 for
     Sunday. Changed the offset to 1.

   * Give an error for queries that mix `GROUP BY' columns and fields
     when there is no `GROUP BY' specification.

   * Added `--vertical' option to `mysql', for printing results in
     vertical mode.

   * Index-only optimization; some queries are now resolved using only
     indexes.  Until MySQL 4.0, this works only for numeric columns.
     *Note MySQL indexes: MySQL indexes.

   * Lots of new benchmarks.

   * A new C API chapter and lots of other improvements in the manual.

Changes in release 3.22.4
-------------------------

   * Added `--tmpdir' option to `mysqld', for specifying the location
     of the temporary file directory.

   * MySQL now automatically changes a query from an ODBC client:
          SELECT ... FROM table WHERE auto_increment_column IS NULL
     to:
          SELECT ... FROM table WHERE auto_increment_column == LAST_INSERT_ID()
     This allows some ODBC programs (Delphi, Access) to retrieve the
     newly inserted row to fetch the `AUTO_INCREMENT' id.

   * `DROP TABLE' now waits for all users to free a table before
     deleting it.

   * Fixed small memory leak in the new connect protocol.

   * New functions `BIN()', `OCT()', `HEX()' and `CONV()' for
     converting between different number bases.

   * Added function `SUBSTRING()' with two arguments.

   * If you created a table with a record length smaller than 5, you
     couldn't delete rows from the table.

   * Added optimization to remove `const' reference tables from `ORDER
     BY' and `GROUP BY'.

   * `mysqld' now automatically disables system locking on Linux and
     Windows, and for systems that use MIT-pthreads.  You can force the
     use of locking with the `--enable-external-locking' option.

   * Added `--console' option to `mysqld', to force a console window
     (for error messages) when using Windows.

   * Fixed table locks for Windows.

   * Allow `$' in identifiers.

   * Changed name of user-specific configuration file from `my.cnf' to
     `.my.cnf' (Unix only).

   * Added `DATE_ADD()' and `DATE_SUB()' functions.

Changes in release 3.22.3
-------------------------

   * Fixed a lock problem (bug in MySQL Version 3.22.1) when closing
     temporary tables.

   * Added missing `mysql_ping()' to the client library.

   * Added `--compress' option to all MySQL clients.

   * Changed `byte' to `char' in `mysql.h' and `mysql_com.h'.

Changes in release 3.22.2
-------------------------

   * Searching on multiple constant keys that matched more than 30% of
     the rows didn't always use the best possible key.

   * New functions `<<', `>>', `RPAD()' and `LPAD()'.

   * You can now save default options (like passwords) in a
     configuration file (`my.cnf').

   * Lots of small changes to get `ORDER BY' to work when no records
     are found when using fields that are not in `GROUP BY' (MySQL
     extension).

   * Added `--chroot' option to `mysqld', to start `mysqld' in a chroot
     environment (by Nikki Chumakov <nikkic@cityline.ru>).

   * Trailing spaces are now ignored when comparing case-sensitive
     strings; this should fix some problems with ODBC and flag 512!

   * Fixed a core dump bug in the range optimizer.

   * Added `--one-thread' option to `mysqld', for debugging with
     LinuxThreads (or `glibc').  (This replaces the `-T32' flag)

   * Added `DROP TABLE IF EXISTS' to prevent an error from occurring if
     the table doesn't exist.

   * `IF' and `EXISTS' are now reserved words (they would have to be
     sooner or later).

   * Added lots of new options to `mysqldump'.

   * Server error messages are now in `mysqld_error.h'.

   * The server/client protocol now supports compression.

   * All bug fixes from MySQL Version 3.21.32.

Changes in release 3.22.1 (Jun 1998: Alpha)
-------------------------------------------

   * Added new C API function `mysql_ping()'.

   * Added new API functions `mysql_init()' and `mysql_options()'.  You
     now MUST call `mysql_init()' before you call
     `mysql_real_connect()'.  You don't have to call `mysql_init()' if
     you only use `mysql_connect()'.

   * Added `mysql_options(...,MYSQL_OPT_CONNECT_TIMEOUT,...)' so you
     can set a timeout for connecting to a server.

   * Added `--timeout' option to `mysqladmin', as a test of
     `mysql_options()'.

   * Added `AFTER column' and `FIRST' options to `ALTER TABLE ... ADD
     columns'.  This makes it possible to add a new column at some
     specific location within a row in an existing table.

   * `WEEK()' now takes an optional argument to allow handling of weeks
     when the week starts on Monday (some European countries).  By
     default, `WEEK()' assumes the week starts on Sunday.

   * `TIME' columns weren't stored properly (bug in MySQL Version
     3.22.0).

   * `UPDATE' now returns information about how many rows were matched
     and updated, and how many "warnings" occurred when doing the
     update.

   * Fixed incorrect result from `FORMAT(-100,2)'.

   * `ENUM' and `SET' columns were compared in binary (case-sensitive)
     fashion; changed to be case-insensitive.

Changes in release 3.22.0
-------------------------

   * New (backward-compatible) connect protocol that allows you to
     specify the database to use when connecting, to get much faster
     connections to a specific database.

     The `mysql_real_connect()' call is changed to:

          mysql_real_connect(MYSQL *mysql, const char *host, const char *user,
                             const char *passwd, const char *db, uint port,
                             const char *unix_socket, uint client_flag)

   * Each connection is handled by its own thread, rather than by the
     master `accept()' thread.  This fixes permanently the telnet bug
     that was a topic on the mail list some time ago.

   * All TCP/IP connections are now checked with backward-resolution of
     the hostname to get better security. `mysqld' now has a local
     hostname resolver cache so connections should actually be faster
     than before, even with this feature.

   * A site automatically will be blocked from future connections if
     someone repeatedly connects with an "improper header" (like when
     one uses telnet).

   * You can now refer to tables in different databases with references
     of the form `tbl_name@db_name' or `db_name.tbl_name'.  This makes
     it possible to give a user read access to some tables and write
     access to others simply by keeping them in different databases!

   * Added `--user' option to `mysqld', to allow it to run as another
     Unix user (if it is started as the Unix `root' user).

   * Added caching of users and access rights (for faster access rights
     checking)

   * Normal users (not anonymous ones) can change their password with
     `mysqladmin password "new_password"'.  This uses encrypted
     passwords that are not logged in the normal MySQL log!

   * All important string functions are now coded in assembler for x86
     Linux machines.  This gives a speedup of 10% in many cases.

   * For tables that have many columns, the column names are now hashed
     for much faster column name lookup (this will speed up some
     benchmark tests a lot!)

   * Some benchmarks are changed to get better individual timing.
     (Some loops were so short that a specific test took < 2 seconds.
     The loops have been changed to take about 20 seconds to make it
     easier to compare different databases. A test that took 1-2
     seconds before now takes 11-24 seconds, which is much better)

   * Re-arranged `SELECT' code to handle some very specific queries
     involving group functions (like `COUNT(*)') without a `GROUP BY'
     but with `HAVING'. The following now works:
          mysql> SELECT COUNT(*) as C FROM table HAVING C > 1;

   * Changed the protocol for field functions to be faster and avoid
     some calls to `malloc()'.

   * Added `-T32' option to `mysqld', for running all queries under the
     main thread.  This makes it possible to debug `mysqld' under Linux
     with `gdb'!

   * Added optimization of `not_null_column IS NULL' (needed for some
     Access queries).

   * Allow `STRAIGHT_JOIN' to be used between two tables to force the
     optimizer to join them in a specific order.

   * String functions now return `VARCHAR' rather than `CHAR' and the
     column type is now `VARCHAR' for fields saved as `VARCHAR'.  This
     should make the `MyODBC' driver better, but may break some old
     MySQL clients that don't handle `FIELD_TYPE_VARCHAR' the same way
     as `FIELD_TYPE_CHAR'.

   * `CREATE INDEX' and `DROP INDEX' are now implemented through `ALTER
     TABLE'.  `CREATE TABLE' is still the recommended (fast) way to
     create indexes.

   * Added `--set-variable' option `wait_timeout' to `mysqld'.

   * Added time column to `mysqladmin processlist' to show how long a
     query has taken or how long a thread has slept.

   * Added lots of new variables to `show variables' and some new to
     `show status'.

   * Added new type `YEAR'. `YEAR' is stored in 1 byte with allowable
     values of 0, and 1901 to 2155.

   * Added new `DATE' type that is stored in 3 bytes rather than 4
     bytes.  All new tables are created with the new date type if you
     don't use the `--old-protocol' option to `mysqld'.

   * Fixed bug in record caches; for some queries, you could get `Error
     from table handler: #' on some operating systems.

   * Added `--enable-assembler' option to `configure', for x86 machines
     (tested on Linux + `gcc').  This will enable assembler functions
     for the most important string functions for more speed!

Changes in release 3.21.x
=========================

Version 3.21 is quite old now, and should be avoided if possible.  This
information is kept here for historical purposes only.

Changes in release 3.21.33
--------------------------

   * Fixed problem when sending `SIGHUP' to `mysqld'; `mysqld' core
     dumped when starting from boot on some systems.

   * Fixed problem with losing a little memory for some connections.

   * `DELETE FROM tbl_name' without a `WHERE' condition is now done the
     long way when you use `LOCK TABLES' or if the table is in use, to
     avoid race conditions.

   * `INSERT INTO TABLE (timestamp_column) VALUES (NULL);' didn't set
     timestamp.

Changes in release 3.21.32
--------------------------

   * Fixed some possible race conditions when doing many reopen/close
     on the same tables under heavy load!  This can happen if you
     execute `mysqladmin refresh' often. This could in some very rare
     cases corrupt the header of the index file and cause error 126 or
     138.

   * Fixed fatal bug in `refresh()' when running with the
     `--skip-external-locking' option.  There was a "very small" time
     gap after a `mysqladmin refresh' when a table could be corrupted
     if one thread updated a table while another thread did `mysqladmin
     refresh' and another thread started a new update ont the same table
     before the first thread had finished.  A refresh (or
     `--flush-tables') will now not return until all used tables are
     closed!

   * `SELECT DISTINCT' with a `WHERE' clause that didn't match any rows
     returned a row in some contexts (bug only in 3.21.31).

   * `GROUP BY' + `ORDER BY' returned one empty row when no rows where
     found.

   * Fixed a bug in the range optimizer that wrote `Use_count: Wrong
     count for ...' in the error log file.

Changes in release 3.21.31
--------------------------

   * Fixed a sign extension problem for the `TINYINT' type on Irix.

   * Fixed problem with `LEFT("constant_string",function)'.

   * Fixed problem with `FIND_IN_SET()'.

   * `LEFT JOIN' core dumped if the second table is used with a constant
     `WHERE/ON' expression that uniquely identifies one record.

   * Fixed problems with `DATE_FORMAT()' and incorrect dates.
     `DATE_FORMAT()' now ignores `'%'' to make it possible to extend it
     more easily in the future.

Changes in release 3.21.30
--------------------------

   * `mysql' now returns an exit code > 0 if the query returned an
     error.

   * Saving of command-line history to file in `mysql' client.  By
     Tommy Larsen <tommy@mix.hive.no>.

   * Fixed problem with empty lines that were ignored in `mysql.cc'.

   * Save the pid of the signal handler thread in the pid file instead
     of the pid of the main thread.

   * Added patch by <tommy@valley.ne.jp> to support Japanese characters
     SJIS and UJIS.

   * Changed `safe_mysqld' to redirect startup messages to
     `'hostname'.err' instead of `'hostname'.log' to reclaim file space
     on `mysqladmin refresh'.

   * `ENUM' always had the first entry as default value.

   * `ALTER TABLE' wrote two entries to the update log.

   * `sql_acc()' now closes the `mysql' grant tables after a reload to
     save table space and memory.

   * Changed `LOAD DATA' to use less memory with tables and `BLOB'
     columns.

   * Sorting on a function which made a division / 0 produced a wrong
     set in some cases.

   * Fixed `SELECT' problem with `LEFT()' when using the `czech'
     character set.

   * Fixed problem in `isamchk'; it couldn't repair a packed table in a
     very unusual case.

   * `SELECT' statements with `&' or `|' (bit functions) failed on
     columns with `NULL' values.

   * When comparing a field = field, where one of the fields was a part
     key, only the length of the part key was compared.

Changes in release 3.21.29
--------------------------

   * `LOCK TABLES' + `DELETE from tbl_name' never removed locks
     properly.

   * Fixed problem when grouping on an `OR' function.

   * Fixed permission problem with `umask()' and creating new databases.

   * Fixed permission problem on result file with `SELECT ... INTO
     OUTFILE ...'

   * Fixed problem in range optimizer (core dump) for a very complex
     query.

   * Fixed problem when using `MIN(integer)' or `MAX(integer)' in
     `GROUP BY'.

   * Fixed bug on Alpha when using integer keys. (Other keys worked on
     Alpha.)

   * Fixed bug in `WEEK("XXXX-xx-01")'.

Changes in release 3.21.28
--------------------------

   * Fixed socket permission (clients couldn't connect to Unix socket
     on Linux).

   * Fixed bug in record caches; for some queries, you could get `Error
     from table handler: #' on some operating systems.

Changes in release 3.21.27
--------------------------

   * Added user level lock functions `GET_LOCK(string,timeout)',
     `RELEASE_LOCK(string)'.

   * Added `Opened_tables' to `show status'.

   * Changed connect timeout to 3 seconds to make it somewhat harder
     for crackers to kill `mysqld' through telnet + TCP/IP.

   * Fixed bug in range optimizer when using `WHERE key_part_1 >=
     something AND key_part_2 <= something_else'.

   * Changed `configure' for detection of FreeBSD 3.0 9803xx and above

   * `WHERE' with `string_col_key = constant_string' didn't always find
     all rows if the column had many values differing only with
     characters of the same sort value (like e and e with an accent).

   * Strings keys looked up with 'ref' were not compared in
     case-sensitive fashion.

   * Added `umask()' to make log files non-readable for normal users.

   * Ignore users with old (8-byte) password on startup if not using
     `--old-protocol' option to `mysqld'.

   * `SELECT' which matched all key fields returned the values in the
     case of the matched values, not of the found values. (Minor
     problem.)

Changes in release 3.21.26
--------------------------

   * `FROM_DAYS(0)' now returns "0000-00-00".

   * In `DATE_FORMAT()', PM and AM were swapped for hours 00 and 12.

   * Extended the default maximum key size to 256.

   * Fixed bug when using `BLOB'/`TEXT' in `GROUP BY' with many tables.

   * An `ENUM' field that is not declared `NOT NULL' has `NULL' as the
     default value.  (Previously, the default value was the first
     enumeration value.)

   * Fixed bug in the join optimizer code when using many part keys on
     the same key:  `INDEX (Organization,Surname(35),Initials(35))'.

   * Added some tests to the table order optimizer to get some cases
     with `SELECT ... FROM many_tables' much faster.

   * Added a retry loop around `accept()' to possibly fix some problems
     on some Linux machines.

Changes in release 3.21.25
--------------------------

   * Changed `typedef 'string'' to `typedef 'my_string'' for better
     portability.

   * You can now kill threads that are waiting on a disk-full condition.

   * Fixed some problems with UDF functions.

   * Added long options to `isamchk'. Try `isamchk --help'.

   * Fixed a bug when using 8 bytes long (alpha); `filesort()' didn't
     work.  Affects `DISTINCT', `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' on 64-bit
     processors.

Changes in release 3.21.24
--------------------------

   * Dynamic loadable functions. Based on source from Alexis Mikhailov.

   * You couldn't delete from a table if no one had done a `SELECT' on
     the table.

   * Fixed problem with range optimizer with many `OR' operators on key
     parts inside each other.

   * Recoded `MIN()' and `MAX()' to work properly with strings and
     `HAVING'.

   * Changed default umask value for new files from `0664' to `0660'.

   * Fixed problem with `LEFT JOIN' and constant expressions in the `ON'
     part.

   * Added Italian error messages from <brenno@dewinter.com>.

   * `configure' now works better on OSF/1 (tested on 4.0D).

   * Added hooks to allow `LIKE' optimization with international
     character support.

   * Upgraded `DBI' to 0.93.

Changes in release 3.21.23
--------------------------

   * The following symbols are now reserved words: `TIME', `DATE',
     `TIMESTAMP', `TEXT', `BIT', `ENUM', `NO', `ACTION', `CHECK',
     `YEAR', `MONTH', `DAY', `HOUR', `MINUTE', `SECOND', `STATUS',
     `VARIABLES'.

   * Setting a `TIMESTAMP' to `NULL' in `LOAD DATA INFILE ...' didn't
     set the current time for the `TIMESTAMP'.

   * Fix `BETWEEN' to recognize binary strings. Now `BETWEEN' is
     case-sensitive.

   * Added `--skip-thread-priority' option to `mysqld', for systems
     where `mysqld''s thread scheduling doesn't work properly (BSDI
     3.1).

   * Added ODBC functions `DAYNAME()' and `MONTHNAME()'.

   * Added function `TIME_FORMAT()'.  This works like `DATE_FORMAT()',
     but takes a time string (`'HH:MM:SS'') as argument.

   * Fixed unlikely(?) key optimizer bug when using `OR' operators of
     key parts inside `AND' expressions.

   * Added `variables' command to `mysqladmin'.

   * A lot of small changes to the binary releases.

   * Fixed a bug in the new protocol from MySQL Version 3.21.20.

   * Changed `ALTER TABLE' to work with Windows (Windows can't rename
     open files).  Also fixed a couple of small bugs in the Windows
     version.

   * All standard MySQL clients are now ported to MySQL for Windows.

   * MySQL can now be started as a service on NT.

Changes in release 3.21.22
--------------------------

   * Starting with this version, all MySQL distributions will be
     configured, compiled and tested with `crash-me' and the benchmarks
     on the following platforms: SunOS 5.6 sun4u, SunOS 5.5.1 sun4u,
     SunOS 4.14 sun4c, SunOS 5.6 i86pc, Irix 6.3 mips5k, HP-UX 10.20
     hppa, AIX 4.2.1 ppc, OSF/1 V4.0 alpha, FreeBSD 2.2.2 i86pc and
     BSDI 3.1 i386.

   * Fix `COUNT(*)' problems when the `WHERE' clause didn't match any
     records.  (Bug from 3.21.17.)

   * Removed that `NULL = NULL' is true.  Now you must use `IS NULL' or
     `IS NOT NULL' to test whether a value is `NULL'.  (This is
     according to SQL-99 but may break old applications that are ported
     from `mSQL'.)  You can get the old behavior by compiling with
     `-DmSQL_COMPLIANT'.

   * Fixed bug that core dumped when using many `LEFT OUTER JOIN'
     clauses.

   * Fixed bug in `ORDER BY' on string formula with possible `NULL'
     values.

   * Fixed problem in range optimizer when using `<=' on sub index.

   * Added functions `DAYOFYEAR()', `DAYOFMONTH()', `MONTH()',
     `YEAR()', `WEEK()', `QUARTER()', `HOUR()', `MINUTE()', `SECOND()'
     and `FIND_IN_SET()'.

   * Added `SHOW VARIABLES' command.

   * Added support of "long constant strings" from SQL-99:
          mysql> SELECT 'first ' 'second';       -> 'first second'

   * Upgraded Msql-Mysql-modules to 1.1825.

   * Upgraded `mysqlaccess' to 2.02.

   * Fixed problem with Russian character set and `LIKE'.

   * Ported to OpenBSD 2.1.

   * New Dutch error messages.

Changes in release 3.21.21a
---------------------------

   * Configure changes for some operating systems.

Changes in release 3.21.21
--------------------------

   * Fixed optimizer bug when using `WHERE data_field = date_field2 AND
     date_field2 = constant'.

   * Added `SHOW STATUS' command.

   * Removed `manual.ps' from the source distribution to make it
     smaller.

Changes in release 3.21.20
--------------------------

   * Changed the maximum table name and column name lengths from 32 to
     64.

   * Aliases can now be of "any" length.

   * Fixed `mysqladmin stat' to return the right number of queries.

   * Changed protocol (downward compatible) to mark if a column has the
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' attribute or is a `TIMESTAMP'. This is needed for
     the new Java driver.

   * Added Hebrew sorting order by Zeev Suraski.

   * Solaris 2.6: Fixed `configure' bugs and increased maximum table
     size from 2G to 4G.

Changes in release 3.21.19
--------------------------

   * Upgraded `DBD' to 1.1823. This version implements
     `mysql_use_result' in `DBD-Mysql'.

   * Benchmarks updated for empress (by Luuk).

   * Fixed a case of slow range searching.

   * Configure fixes (`Docs' directory).

   * Added function `REVERSE()' (by Zeev Suraski).

Changes in release 3.21.18
--------------------------

   * Issue error message if client C functions are called in wrong
     order.

   * Added automatic reconnect to the `libmysql.c' library. If a write
     command fails, an automatic reconnect is done.

   * Small sort sets no longer use temporary files.

   * Upgraded `DBI' to 0.91.

   * Fixed a couple of problems with `LEFT OUTER JOIN'.

   * Added `CROSS JOIN' syntax. `CROSS' is now a reserved word.

   * Recoded `yacc'/`bison' stack allocation to be even safer and to
     allow MySQL to handle even bigger expressions.

   * Fixed a couple of problems with the update log.

   * `ORDER BY' was slow when used with key ranges.

Changes in release 3.21.17
--------------------------

   * Changed documentation string of `--with-unix-socket-path' to avoid
     confusion.

   * Added ODBC and SQL-99 style `LEFT OUTER JOIN'.

   * The following are new reserved words: `LEFT', `NATURAL', `USING'.

   * The client library now uses the value of the environment variable
     `MYSQL_HOST' as the default host if it's defined.

   * `SELECT col_name, SUM(expr)' now returns `NULL' for `col_name'
     when there are matching rows.

   * Fixed problem with comparing binary strings and `BLOB' values with
     ASCII characters over 127.

   * Fixed lock problem: when freeing a read lock on a table with
     multiple read locks, a thread waiting for a write lock would have
     been given the lock.  This shouldn't affect data integrity, but
     could possibly make `mysqld' restart if one thread was reading
     data that another thread modified.

   * `LIMIT offset,count' didn't work in `INSERT ... SELECT'.

   * Optimized key block caching. This will be quicker than the old
     algorithm when using bigger key caches.

Changes in release 3.21.16
--------------------------

   * Added ODBC 2.0 & 3.0 functions `POWER()', `SPACE()', `COT()',
     `DEGREES()', `RADIANS()', `ROUND(2 arg)' and `TRUNCATE()'.

   * *Warning: Incompatible change!* `LOCATE()' parameters were swapped
     according to ODBC standard. Fixed.

   * Added function `TIME_TO_SEC()'.

   * In some cases, default values were not used for `NOT NULL' fields.

   * Timestamp wasn't always updated properly in `UPDATE SET ...'
     statements.

   * Allow empty strings as default values for `BLOB' and `TEXT', to be
     compatible with `mysqldump'.

Changes in release 3.21.15
--------------------------

   * *Warning: Incompatible change!* `mysqlperl' is now from
     Msql-Mysql-modules. This means that `connect()' now takes `host',
     `database', `user', `password' arguments! The old version took
     `host', `database', `password', `user'.

   * Allow `DATE '1997-01-01'', `TIME '12:10:10'' and `TIMESTAMP
     '1997-01-01 12:10:10'' formats required by SQL-99.  *Warning:
     Incompatible change!* This has the unfortunate side-effect that
     you no longer can have columns named `DATE', `TIME' or
     `TIMESTAMP'. :( Old columns can still be accessed through
     `tablename.columnname'!)

   * Changed Makefiles to hopefully work better with BSD systems. Also,
     `manual.dvi' is now included in the distribution to avoid having
     stupid `make' programs trying to rebuild it.

   * `readline' library upgraded to version 2.1.

   * A new sortorder german-1. That is a normal ISO-Latin1 with a
     german sort order.

   * Perl `DBI'/`DBD' is now included in the distribution. `DBI' is now
     the recommended way to connect to MySQL from Perl.

   * New portable benchmark suite with `DBD', with test results from
     `mSQL' 2.0.3, MySQL, PostgreSQL 6.2.1 and Solid server 2.2.

   * `crash-me' is now included with the benchmarks; this is a Perl
     program designed to find as many limits as possible in an SQL
     server. Tested with `mSQL', PostgreSQL, Solid and MySQL.

   * Fixed bug in range-optimizer that crashed MySQL on some queries.

   * Table and column name completion for `mysql' command-line tool, by
     Zeev Suraski and Andi Gutmans.

   * Added new command `REPLACE' that works like `INSERT' but replaces
     conflicting records with the new record. `REPLACE INTO TABLE ...
     SELECT ...' works also.

   * Added new commands `CREATE DATABASE db_name' and `DROP DATABASE
     db_name'.

   * Added `RENAME' option to `ALTER TABLE': `ALTER TABLE name RENAME
     TO new_name'.

   * `make_binary_distribution' now includes `libgcc.a' in
     `libmysqlclient.a'. This should make linking work for people who
     don't have `gcc'.

   * Changed `net_write()' to `my_net_write()' because of a name
     conflict with Sybase.

   * New function `DAYOFWEEK()' compatible with ODBC.

   * Stack checking and `bison' memory overrun checking to make MySQL
     safer with weird queries.

Changes in release 3.21.14b
---------------------------

   * Fixed a couple of small `configure' problems on some platforms.

Changes in release 3.21.14a
---------------------------

   * Ported to SCO Openserver 5.0.4  with FSU Pthreads.

   * HP-UX 10.20 should work.

   * Added new function `DATE_FORMAT()'.

   * Added `NOT IN'.

   * Added automatic removal of 'ODBC function conversions': `{fn now()
     }'

   * Handle ODBC 2.50.3 option flags.

   * Fixed comparison of `DATE' and `TIME' values with `NULL'.

   * Changed language name from germany to german to be consistent with
     the other language names.

   * Fixed sorting problem on functions returning a `FLOAT'.
     Previously, the values were converted to `INT' values before
     sorting.

   * Fixed slow sorting when sorting on key field when using
     `key_column=constant'.

   * Sorting on calculated `DOUBLE' values sorted on integer results
     instead.

   * `mysql' no longer requires a database argument.

   * Changed the place where `HAVING' should be. According to the SQL
     standards, it should be after `GROUP BY' but before `ORDER BY'.
     MySQL Version 3.20 incorrectly had it last.

   * Added Sybase command `USE database' to start using another
     database.

   * Added automatic adjusting of number of connections and table cache
     size if the maximum number of files that can be opened is less
     than needed.  This should fix that `mysqld' doesn't crash even if
     you haven't done a `ulimit -n 256' before starting `mysqld'.

   * Added lots of limit checks to make it safer when running with too
     little memory or when doing weird queries.

Changes in release 3.21.13
--------------------------

   * Added retry of interrupted reads and clearing of `errno'.  This
     makes Linux systems much safer!

   * Fixed locking bug when using many aliases on the same table in the
     same `SELECT'.

   * Fixed bug with `LIKE' on number key.

   * New error message so you can check whether the connection was lost
     while the command was running or whether the connection was down
     from the start.

   * Added `--table' option to `mysql' to print in table format.  Moved
     time and row information after query result.  Added automatic
     reconnect of lost connections.

   * Added `!=' as a synonym for `<>'.

   * Added function `VERSION()' to make easier logs.

   * New multi-user test `tests/fork_test.pl' to put some strain on the
     thread library.

Changes in release 3.21.12
--------------------------

   * Fixed `ftruncate()' call in MIT-pthreads. This made `isamchk'
     destroy the `.ISM' files on (Free)BSD 2.x systems.

   * Fixed broken `__P_' patch in MIT-pthreads.

   * Many memory overrun checks. All string functions now return `NULL'
     if the returned string should be longer than `max_allowed_packet'
     bytes.

   * Changed the name of the `INTERVAL' type to `ENUM', because
     `INTERVAL' is used in SQL-99.

   * In some cases, doing a `JOIN' + `GROUP' + `INTO OUTFILE', the
     result wasn't grouped.

   * `LIKE' with `'_'' as last character didn't work. Fixed.

   * Added extended SQL-99 `TRIM()' function.

   * Added `CURTIME()'.

   * Added `ENCRYPT()' function by Zeev Suraski.

   * Fixed better `FOREIGN KEY' syntax skipping. New reserved words:
     `MATCH', `FULL', `PARTIAL'.

   * `mysqld' now allows IP number and hostname for the `--bind-address'
     option.

   * Added `SET CHARACTER SET cp1251_koi8' to enable conversions of
     data to and from the `cp1251_koi8' character set.

   * Lots of changes for Windows 95 port. In theory, this version
     should now be easily portable to Windows 95.

   * Changed the `CREATE COLUMN' syntax of `NOT NULL' columns to be
     after the `DEFAULT' value, as specified in the SQL-99 standard.
     This will make `mysqldump' with `NOT NULL' and default values
     incompatible with MySQL Version 3.20.

   * Added many function name aliases so the functions can be used with
     ODBC or SQL-92 syntax.

   * Fixed syntax of `ALTER TABLE tbl_name ALTER COLUMN col_name SET
     DEFAULT NULL'.

   * Added `CHAR' and `BIT' as synonyms for `CHAR(1)'.

   * Fixed core dump when updating as a user who has only `SELECT'
     privilege.

   * `INSERT ... SELECT ... GROUP BY' didn't work in some cases. An
     `Invalid use of group function' error occurred.

   * When using `LIMIT', `SELECT' now always uses keys instead of record
     scan.  This will give better performance on `SELECT' and a `WHERE'
     that matches many rows.

   * Added Russian error messages.

Changes in release 3.21.11
--------------------------

   * Configure changes.

   * MySQL now works with the new thread library on BSD/OS 3.0.

   * Added new group functions `BIT_OR()' and `BIT_AND()'.

   * Added compatibility functions `CHECK' and `REFERENCES'.  `CHECK'
     is now a reserved word.

   * Added `ALL' option to `GRANT' for better compatibility. (`GRANT'
     is still a dummy function.)

   * Added partly translated Dutch error messages.

   * Fixed bug in `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' with `NULL' columns.

   * Added function `LAST_INSERT_ID()' SQL function to retrieve last
     `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.  This is intended for clients to ODBC that
     can't use the `mysql_insert_id()' API function, but can be used by
     any client.

   * Added `--flush-logs' option to `mysqladmin'.

   * Added command `STATUS' to `mysql'.

   * Fixed problem with `ORDER BY'/`GROUP BY' because of bug in `gcc'.

   * Fixed problem with `INSERT ... SELECT ... GROUP BY'.

Changes in release 3.21.10
--------------------------

   * New program `mysqlaccess'.

   * `CREATE' now supports all ODBC types and the `mSQL' `TEXT' type.
     All ODBC 2.5 functions are also supported (added `REPEAT'). This
     provides better portability.

   * Added text types `TINYTEXT', `TEXT', `MEDIUMTEXT' and `LONGTEXT'.
     These are actually `BLOB'types, but all searching is done in
     case-insensitive fashion.

   * All old `BLOB' fields are now `TEXT' fields.  This only changes
     that all searching on strings is done in case-sensitive fashion.
     You must do an `ALTER TABLE' and change the datatype to `BLOB' if
     you want to have tests done in case-sensitive fashion.

   * Fixed some `configure' issues.

   * Made the locking code a bit safer. Fixed very unlikely deadlock
     situation.

   * Fixed a couple of bugs in the range optimizer. Now the new range
     benchmark `test-select' works.

Changes in release 3.21.9
-------------------------

   * Added `--enable-unix-socket=pathname' option to `configure'.

   * Fixed a couple of portability problems with include files.

   * Fixed bug in range calculation that could return empty set when
     searching on multiple key with only one entry (very rare).

   * Most things ported to FSU Pthreads, which should allow MySQL to
     run on SCO. *Note SCO::.

Changes in release 3.21.8
-------------------------

   * Works now in Solaris 2.6.

   * Added handling of calculation of `SUM()' functions.  For example,
     you can now use `SUM(column)/COUNT(column)'.

   * Added handling of trigometric functions: `PI()', `ACOS()',
     `ASIN()', `ATAN()', `COS()', `SIN()' and `TAN()'.

   * New languages: Norwegian, Norwegian-ny and Portuguese.

   * Fixed parameter bug in `net_print()' in `procedure.cc'.

   * Fixed a couple of memory leaks.

   * Now allow also the old `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' syntax.

   * Fixed bug with `GROUP BY' and `SELECT' on key with many values.

   * `mysql_fetch_lengths()' sometimes returned incorrect lengths when
     you used `mysql_use_result()'. This affected at least some cases of
     `mysqldump --quick'.

   * Fixed bug in optimization of `WHERE const op field'.

   * Fixed problem when sorting on `NULL' fields.

   * Fixed a couple of 64-bit (Alpha) problems.

   * Added `--pid-file=#' option to `mysqld'.

   * Added date formatting to `FROM_UNIXTIME()', originally by Zeev
     Suraski.

   * Fixed bug in `BETWEEN' in range optimizer (did only test = of the
     first argument).

   * Added machine-dependent files for MIT-pthreads i386-SCO. There is
     probably more to do to get this to work on SCO 3.5.

Changes in release 3.21.7
-------------------------

   * Changed `Makefile.am' to take advantage of Automake 1.2.

   * Added the beginnings of a benchmark suite.

   * Added more secure password handling.

   * Added new client function `mysql_errno()', to get the error number
     of the error message. This makes error checking in the client much
     easier.  This makes the new server incompatible with the 3.20.x
     server when running without `--old-protocol'.  The client code is
     backward-compatible.  More information can be found in the
     `README' file!

   * Fixed some problems when using very long, illegal names.

Changes in release 3.21.6
-------------------------

   * Fixed more portability issues (incorrect `sigwait' and `sigset'
     defines).

   * `configure' should now be able to detect the last argument to
     `accept()'.

Changes in release 3.21.5
-------------------------

   * Should now work with FreeBSD 3.0 if used with
     `FreeBSD-3.0-libc_r-1.0.diff', which can be found at
     `http://www.mysql.com/downloads/os-freebsd.html'.

   * Added new `-O tmp_table_size=#' option to `mysqld'.

   * New function `FROM_UNIXTIME(timestamp)' which returns a date
     string in `'YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS'' format.

   * New function `SEC_TO_TIME(seconds)' which returns a string in
     `'HH:MM:SS'' format.

   * New function `SUBSTRING_INDEX()', originally by Zeev Suraski.

Changes in release 3.21.4
-------------------------

   * Should now configure and compile on OSF/1 4.0 with the DEC
     compiler.

   * Configuration and compilation on BSD/OS 3.0 works, but due to some
     bugs in BSD/OS 3.0, `mysqld' doesn't work on it yet.

   * Configuration and compilation on FreeBSD 3.0 works, but I couldn't
     get `pthread_create' to work.

Changes in release 3.21.3
-------------------------

   * Added reverse check lookup of hostnames to get better security.

   * Fixed some possible buffer overflows if filenames that are too
     long are used.

   * `mysqld' doesn't accept hostnames that start with digits followed
     by a `'.'', because the hostname may look like an IP number.

   * Added `--skip-networking' option to `mysqld', to allow only socket
     connections.  (This will not work with MIT-pthreads!)

   * Added check of too long table names for alias.

   * Added check if database name is okay.

   * Added check if too long table names.

   * Removed incorrect `free()' that killed the server on `CREATE
     DATABASE' or `DROP DATABASE'.

   * Changed some `mysqld' `-O' options to better names.

   * Added `-O join_cache_size=#' option to `mysqld'.

   * Added `-O max_join_size=#' option to `mysqld', to be able to set a
     limit how big queries (in this case big = slow) one should be able
     to handle without specifying `SET SQL_BIG_SELECTS=1'.  A # = is
     about 10 examined records. The default is "unlimited".

   * When comparing a `TIME', `DATE', `DATETIME' or `TIMESTAMP' column
     to a constant, the constant is converted to a time value before
     performing the comparison.  This will make it easier to get ODBC
     (particularly Access97) to work with the above types. It should
     also make dates easier to use and the comparisons should be
     quicker than before.

   * Applied patch from Jochen Wiedmann that allows `query()' in
     `mysqlperl' to take a query with `\0' in it.

   * Storing a timestamp with a 2-digit year (`YYMMDD') didn't work.

   * Fix that timestamp wasn't automatically updated if set in an
     `UPDATE' clause.

   * Now the automatic timestamp field is the FIRST timestamp field.

   * `SELECT * INTO OUTFILE', which didn't correctly if the outfile
     already existed.

   * `mysql' now shows the thread ID when starting or doing a reconnect.

   * Changed the default sort buffer size from 2M to 1M.

Changes in release 3.21.2
-------------------------

   * The range optimizer is coded, but only 85% tested. It can be
     enabled with `--new', but it crashes core a lot yet...

   * More portable. Should compile on AIX and alpha-digital.  At least
     the `isam' library should be relatively 64-bit clean.

   * New `isamchk' which can detect and fix more problems.

   * New options for `isamlog'.

   * Using new version of Automake.

   * Many small portability changes (from the AIX and alpha-digital
     port) Better checking of pthread(s) library.

   * czech error messages by <snajdr@pvt.net>.

   * Decreased size of some buffers to get fewer problems on systems
     with little memory.  Also added more checks to handle "out of
     memory" problems.

   * `mysqladmin': you can now do `mysqladmin kill 5,6,7,8' to kill
     multiple threads.

   * When the maximum connection limit is reached, one extra connection
     by a user with the *process_acl* privilege is granted.

   * Added `-O backlog=#' option to `mysqld'.

   * Increased maximum packet size from 512K to 1024K for client.

   * Almost all of the function code is now tested in the internal test
     suite.

   * `ALTER TABLE' now returns warnings from field conversions.

   * Port changed to 3306 (got it reserved from ISI).

   * Added a fix for Visual FoxBase so that any schema name from a table
     specification is automatically removed.

   * New function `ASCII()'.

   * Removed function `BETWEEN(a,b,c)'. Use the standard SQL syntax
     instead: `expr BETWEEN expr AND expr'.

   * MySQL no longer has to use an extra temporary table when sorting
     on functions or `SUM()' functions.

   * Fixed bug that you couldn't use `tbl_name.field_name' in `UPDATE'.

   * Fixed `SELECT DISTINCT' when using 'hidden group'. For example:
          mysql> SELECT DISTINCT MOD(some_field,10) FROM test
              ->        GROUP BY some_field;
     Note: `some_field' is normally in the `SELECT' part. Standard SQL
     should require it.

Changes in release 3.21.0
-------------------------

   * New reserved words used: `INTERVAL', `EXPLAIN', `READ', `WRITE',
     `BINARY'.

   * Added ODBC function `CHAR(num,...)'.

   * New operator `IN'. This uses a binary search to find a match.

   * New command `LOCK TABLES tbl_name [AS alias] {READ|WRITE} ...'

   * Added `--log-update' option to `mysqld', to get a log suitable for
     incremental updates.

   * New command `EXPLAIN SELECT ...' to get information about how the
     optimizer will do the join.

   * For easier client code, the client should no longer use
     `FIELD_TYPE_TINY_BLOB', `FIELD_TYPE_MEDIUM_BLOB',
     `FIELD_TYPE_LONG_BLOB' or `FIELD_TYPE_VAR_STRING' (as previously
     returned by `mysql_list_fields').  You should instead use only
     `FIELD_TYPE_BLOB' or `FIELD_TYPE_STRING'.  If you want exact
     types, you should use the command `SHOW FIELDS'.

   * Added varbinary syntax: `0x######' which can be used as a string
     (default) or a number.

   * `FIELD_TYPE_CHAR' is renamed to `FIELD_TYPE_TINY'.

   * Changed all fields to C++ classes.

   * Removed FORM struct.

   * Fields with `DEFAULT' values no longer need to be `NOT NULL'.

   * New field types:
    `ENUM'
          A string which can take only a couple of defined values. The
          value is stored as a 1-3 byte number that is mapped
          automatically to a string.  This is sorted according to
          string positions!

    `SET'
          A string which may have one or many string values separated
          with ','.  The string is stored as a 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- or 8-byte
          number where each bit stands for a specific set member.  This
          is sorted according to the unsigned value of the stored
          packed number.

   * Now all function calculation is done with `double' or `long long'.
     This will provide the full 64-bit range with bit functions and fix
     some conversions that previously could result in precision losses.
     One should avoid using `unsigned long long' columns with full
     64-bit range (numbers bigger than 9223372036854775807) because
     calculations are done with `signed long long'.

   * `ORDER BY' will now put `NULL' field values first. `GROUP BY' will
     also work with `NULL' values.

   * Full `WHERE' with expressions.

   * New range optimizer that can resolve ranges when some keypart
     prefix is constant. Example:
          mysql> SELECT * FROM tbl_name
              ->          WHERE key_part_1="customer"
              ->          AND key_part_2>=10 AND key_part_2<=10;

Changes in release 3.20.x
=========================

Version 3.20 is quite old now, and should be avoided if possible.  This
information is kept here for historical purposes only.

Changes from 3.20.18 to 3.20.32b are not documented here because the
3.21 release branched here. And the relevant changes are also
documented as changes to the 3.21 version.

Changes in release 3.20.18
--------------------------

   * Added `-p#' (remove `#' directories from path) to `isamlog'.  All
     files are written with a relative path from the database directory
     Now `mysqld' shouldn't crash on shutdown when using the
     `--log-isam' option.

   * New `mysqlperl' version. It is now compatible with `msqlperl-0.63'.

   * New `DBD' module available.

   * Added group function `STD()' (standard deviation).

   * The `mysqld' server is now compiled by default without debugging
     information.  This will make the daemon smaller and faster.

   * Now one usually only has to specify the `--basedir' option to
     `mysqld'. All other paths are relative in a normal installation.

   * `BLOB' columns sometimes contained garbage when used with a
     `SELECT' on more than one table and `ORDER BY'.

   * Fixed that calculations that are not in `GROUP BY' work as expected
     (SQL-99 extension).  Example:
          mysql> SELECT id,id+1 FROM table GROUP BY id;

   * The test of using `MYSQL_PWD' was reversed. Now `MYSQL_PWD' is
     enabled as default in the default release.

   * Fixed conversion bug which caused `mysqld' to core dump with
     Arithmetic error on SPARC-386.

   * Added `--unbuffered' option to `mysql', for new `mysqlaccess'.

   * When using overlapping (unnecessary) keys and join over many
     tables, the optimizer could get confused and return 0 records.

Changes in release 3.20.17
--------------------------

   * You can now use `BLOB' columns and the functions `IS NULL' and `IS
     NOT NULL' in the `WHERE' clause.

   * All communication packets and row buffers are now allocated
     dynamically on demand. The default value of `max_allowed_packet'
     is now 64K for the server and 512K for the client. This is mainly
     used to catch incorrect packets that could trash all memory. The
     server limit may be changed when it is started.

   * Changed stack usage to use less memory.

   * Changed `safe_mysqld' to check for running daemon.

   * The `ELT()' function is renamed to `FIELD()'.  The new `ELT()'
     function returns a value based on an index: `FIELD()' is the
     inverse of `ELT()' Example: `ELT(2,"A","B","C")' returns `"B"'.
     `FIELD("B","A","B","C")' returns `2'.

   * `COUNT(field)', where `field' could have a `NULL' value, now works.

   * A couple of bugs fixed in `SELECT ... GROUP BY'.

   * Fixed memory overrun bug in `WHERE' with many unoptimizable brace
     levels.

   * Fixed some small bugs in the grant code.

   * If hostname isn't found by `get_hostname', only the IP is checked.
     Previously, you got `Access denied'.

   * Inserts of timestamps with values didn't always work.

   * `INSERT INTO ... SELECT ... WHERE' could give the error
     `Duplicated field'.

   * Added some tests to `safe_mysqld' to make it "safer".

   * `LIKE' was case-sensitive in some places and case-insensitive in
     others.  Now `LIKE' is always case-insensitive.

   * `mysql.cc': Allow `'#'' anywhere on the line.

   * New command `SET SQL_SELECT_LIMIT=#'. See the FAQ for more details.

   * New version of the `mysqlaccess' script.

   * Change `FROM_DAYS()' and `WEEKDAY()' to also take a full
     `TIMESTAMP' or `DATETIME' as argument. Before they only took a
     number of type `YYYYMMDD' or `YYMMDD'.

   * Added new function `UNIX_TIMESTAMP(timestamp_column)'.

Changes in release 3.20.16
--------------------------

   * More changes in MIT-pthreads to get them safer. Fixed also some
     link bugs at least in SunOS.

   * Changed `mysqld' to work around a bug in MIT-pthreads. This makes
     multiple small `SELECT' operations 20 times faster. Now
     `lock_test.pl' should work.

   * Added `mysql_FetchHash(handle)' to `mysqlperl'.

   * The `mysqlbug' script is now distributed built to allow for
     reporting bugs that appear during the build with it.

   * Changed `libmysql.c' to prefer `getpwuid()' instead of `cuserid()'.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT' optimizer when using many tables with the
     same column used as key to different tables.

   * Added new `latin2' and Russian `KOI8' character tables.

   * Added support for a dummy `GRANT' command to satisfy Powerbuilder.

Changes in release 3.20.15
--------------------------

   * Fixed fatal bug `packets out of order' when using MIT-pthreads.

   * Removed possible loop when a thread waits for command from client
     and `fcntl()' fails. Thanks to Mike Bretz for finding this bug.

   * Changed alarm loop in `mysqld.cc' because shutdown didn't always
     succeed in Linux.

   * Removed use of `termbits' from `mysql.cc'.  This conflicted with
     `glibc' 2.0.

   * Fixed some syntax errors for at least BSD and Linux.

   * Fixed bug when doing a `SELECT' as superuser without a database.

   * Fixed bug when doing `SELECT' with group calculation to outfile.

Changes in release 3.20.14
--------------------------

   * If one gives `-p' or `--password' option to `mysql' without an
     argument, the user is solicited for the password from the tty.

   * Added default password from `MYSQL_PWD' (by Elmar Haneke).

   * Added command `kill' to `mysqladmin' to kill a specific MySQL
     thread.

   * Sometimes when doing a reconnect on a down connection this
     succeeded first on second try.

   * Fixed adding an `AUTO_INCREMENT' key with `ALTER_TABLE'.

   * `AVG()' gave too small value on some `SELECT' statements with
     `GROUP BY' and `ORDER BY'.

   * Added new `DATETIME' type (by Giovanni Maruzzelli
     <maruzz@matrice.it>).

   * Fixed that defining `DONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS' works.

   * Changed to use a thread to handle alarms instead of signals on
     Solaris to avoid race conditions.

   * Fixed default length of signed numbers. (George Harvey
     <georgeh@pinacl.co.uk>.)

   * Allow anything for `CREATE INDEX'.

   * Add prezeros when packing numbers to `DATE', `TIME' and
     `TIMESTAMP'.

   * Fixed a bug in `OR' of multiple tables (gave empty set).

   * Added many patches to MIT-pthreads. This fixes at least one lookup
     bug.

Changes in release 3.20.13
--------------------------

   * Added standard SQL-92 `DATE' and `TIME' types.

   * Fixed bug in `SELECT' with `AND'-`OR' levels.

   * Added support for Slovenian characters. The `Contrib' directory
     contains source and instructions for adding other character sets.

   * Fixed bug with `LIMIT' and `ORDER BY'.

   * Allow `ORDER BY' and `GROUP BY' on items that aren't in the
     `SELECT' list.  (Thanks to Wim Bonis <bonis@kiss.de>, for pointing
     this out.)

   * Allow setting of timestamp values in `INSERT'.

   * Fixed bug with `SELECT ... WHERE ... = NULL'.

   * Added changes for `glibc' 2.0. To get `glibc' to work, you should
     add the `gibc-2.0-sigwait-patch' before compiling `glibc'.

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE' when changing a `NOT NULL' field to
     allow `NULL' values.

   * Added some SQL-92 synonyms as field types to `CREATE TABLE'.
     `CREATE TABLE' now allows `FLOAT(4)' and `FLOAT(8)' to mean
     `FLOAT' and `DOUBLE'.

   * New utility program `mysqlaccess' by <Yves.Carlier@rug.ac.be>.
     This program shows the access rights for a specific user and the
     grant rows that determine this grant.

   * Added `WHERE const op field' (by <bonis@kiss.de>).

Changes in release 3.20.11
--------------------------

   * When using `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE', all temporary tables are ISAM
     instead of HEAP to allow big dumps.

   * Changed date functions to be string functions. This fixed some
     "funny" side effects when sorting on dates.

   * Extended `ALTER TABLE' for SQL-92 compliance.

   * Some minor compatibility changes.

   * Added `--port' and `--socket' options to all utility programs and
     `mysqld'.

   * Fixed MIT-pthreads `readdir_r()'. Now `mysqladmin create database'
     and `mysqladmin drop database' should work.

   * Changed MIT-pthreads to use our `tempnam()'. This should fix the
     "sort aborted" bug.

   * Added sync of records count in `sql_update'. This fixed slow
     updates on first connection. (Thanks to Vaclav Bittner for the
     test.)

Changes in release 3.20.10
--------------------------

   * New insert type: `INSERT INTO ... SELECT ...'

   * `MEDIUMBLOB' fixed.

   * Fixed bug in `ALTER TABLE' and `BLOB' values.

   * `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' now creates the file in the current
     database directory.

   * `DROP TABLE' now can take a list of tables.

   * Oracle synonym `DESCRIBE' (`DESC').

   * Changes to `make_binary_distribution'.

   * Added some comments to installation instructions about
     `configure''s C++ link test.

   * Added `--without-perl' option to `configure'.

   * Lots of small portability changes.

Changes in release 3.20.9
-------------------------

   * `ALTER TABLE' didn't copy null bit. As a result, fields that were
     allowed to have `NULL' values were always `NULL'.

   * `CREATE' didn't take numbers as `DEFAULT'.

   * Some compatibility changes for SunOS.

   * Removed `config.cache' from old distribution.

Changes in release 3.20.8
-------------------------

   * Fixed bug with `ALTER TABLE' and multi-part keys.

Changes in release 3.20.7
-------------------------

   * New commands: `ALTER TABLE', `SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE' and `LOAD
     DATA INFILE'.

   * New function: `NOW()'.

   * Added new field `File_priv' to `mysql/user' table.

   * New script `add_file_priv' which adds the new field `File_priv' to
     the `user' table. This script must be executed if you want to use
     the new `SELECT ... INTO' and `LOAD DATA INFILE ...' commands with
     a version of MySQL earlier than 3.20.7.

   * Fixed bug in locking code, which made `lock_test.pl' test fail.

   * New files `NEW' and `BUGS'.

   * Changed `select_test.c' and `insert_test.c' to include `config.h'.

   * Added `status' command to `mysqladmin' for short logging.

   * Increased maximum number of keys to 16 and maximum number of key
     parts to 15.

   * Use of sub keys. A key may now be a prefix of a string field.

   * Added `-k' option to `mysqlshow', to get key information for a
     table.

   * Added long options to `mysqldump'.

Changes in release 3.20.6
-------------------------

   * Portable to more systems because of MIT-pthreads, which will be
     used automatically if `configure' cannot find a `-lpthreads'
     library.

   * Added GNU-style long options to almost all programs. Test with
     `program --help'.

   * Some shared library support for Linux.

   * The FAQ is now in `.texi' format and is available in `.html',
     `.txt' and `.ps' formats.

   * Added new SQL function `RAND([init])'.

   * Changed `sql_lex' to handle `\0' unquoted, but the client can't
     send the query through the C API, because it takes a str pointer.
     You must use `mysql_real_query()' to send the query.

   * Added API function `mysql_get_client_info()'.

   * `mysqld' now uses the `N_MAX_KEY_LENGTH' from `nisam.h' as the
     maximum allowable key length.

   * The following now works:
          mysql> SELECT filter_nr,filter_nr FROM filter ORDER BY filter_nr;
     Previously, this resulted in the error: `Column: 'filter_nr' in
     order clause is ambiguous'.

   * `mysql' now outputs `'\0'', `'\t'', `'\n'' and `'\\'' when
     encountering ASCII 0, tab, newline or `'\'' while writing
     tab-separated output.  This is to allow printing of binary data in
     a portable format.  To get the old behavior, use `-r' (or `--raw').

   * Added german error messages (60 of 80 error messages translated).

   * Added new API function `mysql_fetch_lengths(MYSQL_RES *)', which
     returns an array of column lengths (of type `uint').

   * Fixed bug with `IS NULL' in `WHERE' clause.

   * Changed the optimizer a little to get better results when
     searching on a key part.

   * Added `SELECT' option `STRAIGHT_JOIN' to tell the optimizer that
     it should join tables in the given order.

   * Added support for comments starting with `'--'' in `mysql.cc'
     (Postgres syntax).

   * You can have `SELECT' expressions and table columns in a `SELECT'
     which are not used in the group part. This makes it efficient to
     implement lookups.  The column that is used should be a constant
     for each group because the value is calculated only once for the
     first row that is found for a group.
          mysql> SELECT id,lookup.text,SUM(*) FROM test,lookup
              ->        WHERE test.id=lookup.id GROUP BY id;

   * Fixed bug in `SUM(function)' (could cause a core dump).

   * Changed `AUTO_INCREMENT' placement in the SQL query:
          INSERT INTO table (auto_field) VALUES (0);
     inserted 0, but it should insert an `AUTO_INCREMENT' value.

   * `mysqlshow.c': Added number of records in table. Had to change the
     client code a little to fix this.

   * `mysql' now allows doubled `''' or `""' within strings for
     embedded `'' or `"'.

   * New math functions: `EXP()', `LOG()', `SQRT()', `ROUND()',
     `CEILING()'.

Changes in release 3.20.3
-------------------------

   * The `configure' source now compiles a thread-free client library
     `-lmysqlclient'. This is the only library that needs to be linked
     with client applications.  When using the binary releases, you must
     link with `-lmysql -lmysys -ldbug -lmystrings' as before.

   * New `readline' library from `bash-2.0'.

   * LOTS of small changes to `configure' and makefiles (and related
     source).

   * It should now be possible to compile in another directory using
     `VPATH'. Tested with GNU Make 3.75.

   * `safe_mysqld' and `mysql.server' changed to be more compatible
     between the source and the binary releases.

   * `LIMIT' now takes one or two numeric arguments.  If one argument
     is given, it indicates the maximum number of rows in a result. If
     two arguments are given, the first argument indicates the offset
     of the first row to return, the second is the maximum number of
     rows.  With this it's easy to do a poor man's next page/previous
     page WWW application.

   * Changed name of SQL function `FIELDS()' to `ELT()'.  Changed SQL
     function `INTERVALL()' to `INTERVAL()'.

   * Made `SHOW COLUMNS' a synonym for `SHOW FIELDS'.  Added
     compatibility syntax `FRIEND KEY' to `CREATE TABLE'. In MySQL,
     this creates a non-unique key on the given columns.

   * Added `CREATE INDEX' and `DROP INDEX' as compatibility functions.
     In MySQL, `CREATE INDEX' only checks if the index exists and
     issues an error if it doesn't exist. `DROP INDEX' always succeeds.

   * `mysqladmin.c': added client version to version information.

   * Fixed core dump bug in `sql_acl' (core on new connection).

   * Removed `host', `user' and `db' tables from database `test' in the
     distribution.

   * `FIELD_TYPE_CHAR' can now be signed (-128 to 127) or unsigned (0
     to 255) Previously, it was always unsigned.

   * Bug fixes in `CONCAT()' and `WEEKDAY()'.

   * Changed a lot of source to get `mysqld' to be compiled with SunPro
     compiler.

   * SQL functions must now have a `'('' immediately after the function
     name (no intervening space).  For example, `'USER('' is regarded
     as beginning a function call, and `'USER ('' is regarded as an
     identifier `USER' followed by a `'('', not as a function call.

Changes in release 3.20.0
-------------------------

   * The source distribution is done with `configure' and Automake.  It
     will make porting much easier.  The `readline' library is included
     in the distribution.

   * Separate client compilation: the client code should be very easy
     to compile on systems which don't have threads.

   * The old Perl interface code is automatically compiled and
     installed.  Automatic compiling of `DBD' will follow when the new
     `DBD' code is ported.

   * Dynamic language support: `mysqld' can now be started with Swedish
     or English (default) error messages.

   * New functions: `INSERT()', `RTRIM()', `LTRIM()' and `FORMAT()'.

   * `mysqldump' now works correctly for all field types (even
     `AUTO_INCREMENT'). The format for `SHOW FIELDS FROM tbl_name' is
     changed so the `Type' column contains information suitable for
     `CREATE TABLE'.  In previous releases, some `CREATE TABLE'
     information had to be patched when re-creating tables.

   * Some parser bugs from 3.19.5 (`BLOB' and `TIMESTAMP') are
     corrected.  `TIMESTAMP' now returns different date information
     depending on its create length.

   * Changed parser to allow a database, table or field name to start
     with a number or `'_''.

   * All old C code from Unireg changed to C++ and cleaned up. This
     makes the daemon a little smaller and easier to understand.

   * A lot of small bug fixes done.

   * New `INSTALL' files (not final version) and some information
     regarding porting.

Changes in release 3.19.x
=========================

Version 3.19 is quite old now, and should be avoided if possible.  This
information is kept here for historical purposes only.

Changes in release 3.19.5
-------------------------

   * Some new functions, some more optimization on joins.

   * Should now compile clean on Linux (2.0.x).

   * Added functions `DATABASE()', `USER()', `POW()', `LOG10()' (needed
     for ODBC).

   * In a `WHERE' with an `ORDER BY' on fields from only one table, the
     table is now preferred as first table in a multi-join.

   * `HAVING' and `IS NULL' or `IS NOT NULL' now works.

   * A group on one column and a sort on a group function (`SUM()',
     `AVG()'...) didn't work together. Fixed.

   * `mysqldump': Didn't send password to server.

Changes in release 3.19.4
-------------------------

   * Fixed horrible locking bug when inserting in one thread and reading
     in another thread.

   * Fixed one-off decimal bug.  1.00 was output as 1.0.

   * Added attribute `'Locked'' to process list as information if a
     query is locked by another query.

   * Fixed full magic timestamp. Timestamp length may now be 14, 12,
     10, 8, 6, 4 or 2 bytes.

   * Sort on some numeric functions could sort incorrectly on last
     number.

   * `IF(arg,syntax_error,syntax_error)' crashed.

   * Added functions `CEILING()', `ROUND()', `EXP()', `LOG()' and
     `SQRT()'.

   * Enhanced `BETWEEN' to handle strings.

Changes in release 3.19.3
-------------------------

   * Fixed `SELECT' with grouping on `BLOB' columns not to return
     incorrect `BLOB' info. Grouping, sorting and distinct on `BLOB'
     columns will not yet work as expected (probably it will group/sort
     by the first 7 characters in the `BLOB'). Grouping on formulas
     with a fixed string size (use `MID()' on a `BLOB') should work.

   * When doing a full join (no direct keys) on multiple tables with
     `BLOB' fields, the `BLOB' was garbage on output.

   * Fixed `DISTINCT' with calculated columns.

Porting to Other Systems
************************

This appendix will help you port MySQL to other operating systems.  Do
check the list of currently supported operating systems first.  *Note
Which OS::.  If you have created a new port of MySQL, please let us
know so that we can list it here and on our web site
(`http://www.mysql.com/'), recommending it to other users.

Note: If you create a new port of MySQL, you are free to copy and
distribute it under the `GPL' license, but it does not make you a
copyright holder of MySQL.

A working POSIX thread library is needed for the server. On Solaris 2.5
we use Sun PThreads (the native thread support in 2.4 and earlier
versions is not good enough), on Linux we use LinuxThreads by Xavier
Leroy, <Xavier.Leroy@inria.fr>.

The hard part of porting to a new Unix variant without good native
thread support is probably to port MIT-pthreads. See
`mit-pthreads/README' and Programming POSIX Threads
(`http://www.humanfactor.com/pthreads/').

Up to MySQL 4.0.2, the MySQL distribution included a patched version of
Chris Provenzano's Pthreads from MIT (see the MIT Pthreads web page at
`http://www.mit.edu/afs/sipb/project/pthreads/' and a programming
introduction at `http://www.mit.edu:8001/people/proven/IAP_2000/').
These can be used for some operating systems that do not have POSIX
threads.  *Note MIT-pthreads::.

It is also possible to use another user level thread package named FSU
Pthreads (see `http://moss.csc.ncsu.edu/~mueller/pthreads/').  This
implementation is being used for the SCO port.

See the `thr_lock.c' and `thr_alarm.c' programs in the `mysys'
directory for some tests/examples of these problems.

Both the server and the client need a working C++ compiler. We use `gcc'
on many platforms. Other compilers that are known to work are
SPARCworks, Sun Forte, Irix `cc', HP-UX `aCC', IBM AIX `xlC_r'), Intel
`ecc' and Compaq `cxx').

To compile only the client use `./configure --without-server'.

There is currently no support for only compiling the server, nor is it
likly to be added unless someone has a good reason for it.

If you want/need to change any `Makefile' or the configure script you
will also need GNU Automake and Autoconf.  *Note Installing source
tree::.

All steps needed to remake everything from the most basic files.

     /bin/rm */.deps/*.P
     /bin/rm -f config.cache
     aclocal
     autoheader
     aclocal
     automake
     autoconf
     ./configure --with-debug=full --prefix='your installation directory'
     
     # The makefiles generated above need GNU make 3.75 or newer.
     # (called gmake below)
     gmake clean all install init-db

If you run into problems with a new port, you may have to do some
debugging of MySQL!  *Note Debugging server::.

*Note:* Before you start debugging `mysqld', first get the test
programs `mysys/thr_alarm' and `mysys/thr_lock' to work.  This will
ensure that your thread installation has even a remote chance to work!

Debugging a MySQL server
========================

If you are using some functionality that is very new in MySQL, you can
try to run `mysqld' with the `--skip-new' (which will disable all new,
potentially unsafe functionality) or with `--safe-mode' which disables
a lot of optimization that may cause problems.  *Note Crashing::.

If `mysqld' doesn't want to start, you should check that you don't have
any `my.cnf' files that interfere with your setup!  You can check your
`my.cnf' arguments with `mysqld --print-defaults' and avoid using them
by starting with `mysqld --no-defaults ...'.

If `mysqld' starts to eat up CPU or memory or if it "hangs", you can
use `mysqladmin processlist status' to find out if someone is executing
a query that takes a long time.  It may be a good idea to run
`mysqladmin -i10 processlist status' in some window if you are
experiencing performance problems or problems when new clients can't
connect.

The command `mysqladmin debug' will dump some information about locks
in use, used memory and query usage to the mysql log file. This may
help solve some problems.  This command also provides some useful
information even if you haven't compiled MySQL for debugging!

If the problem is that some tables are getting slower and slower you
should try to optimize the table with `OPTIMIZE TABLE' or `myisamchk'.
*Note MySQL Database Administration::. You should also check the slow
queries with `EXPLAIN'.

You should also read the OS-specific section in this manual for
problems that may be unique to your environment.  *Note Operating
System Specific Notes::.

Compiling MYSQL for Debugging
-----------------------------

If you have some very specific problem, you can always try to debug
MySQL.  To do this you must configure MySQL with the `--with-debug' or
the `--with-debug=full' option.  You can check whether MySQL was
compiled with debugging by doing: `mysqld --help'.  If the `--debug'
flag is listed with the options then you have debugging enabled.
`mysqladmin ver' also lists the `mysqld' version as `mysql ... --debug'
in this case.

If you are using `gcc' or `egcs', the recommended `configure' line is:

     CC=gcc CFLAGS="-O2" CXX=gcc CXXFLAGS="-O2 -felide-constructors \
        -fno-exceptions -fno-rtti" ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql \
        --with-debug --with-extra-charsets=complex

This will avoid problems with the `libstdc++' library and with C++
exceptions (many compilers have problems with C++ exceptions in threaded
code) and compile a MySQL version with support for all character sets.

If you suspect a memory overrun error, you can configure MySQL with
`--with-debug=full', which will install a memory allocation
(`SAFEMALLOC') checker. However, running with `SAFEMALLOC' is quite
slow, so if you get performance problems you should start `mysqld' with
the `--skip-safemalloc' option. This will disable the memory overrun
checks for each call to `malloc()' and `free()'.

If `mysqld' stops crashing when you compile it with `--with-debug', you
have probably found a compiler bug or a timing bug within MySQL.  In
this case you can try to add `-g' to the `CFLAGS' and `CXXFLAGS'
variables above and not use `--with-debug'. If `mysqld' now dies, you
can at least attach to it with `gdb' or use `gdb' on the core file to
find out what happened.

When you configure MySQL for debugging you automatically enable a lot
of extra safety check functions that monitor the health of `mysqld'.
If they find something "unexpected," an entry will be written to
`stderr', which `safe_mysqld' directs to the error log!  This also
means that if you are having some unexpected problems with MySQL and
are using a source distribution, the first thing you should do is to
configure MySQL for debugging!  (The second thing is to send mail to a
MySQL mailing list and ask for help.  *Note Mailing-list::.  Please use
the `mysqlbug' script for all bug reports or questions regarding the
MySQL version you are using!

In the Windows MySQL distribution, `mysqld.exe' is by default compiled
with support for trace files.

Creating Trace Files
--------------------

If the `mysqld' server doesn't start or if you can cause the `mysqld'
server to crash quickly, you can try to create a trace file to find the
problem.

To do this you have to have a `mysqld' that is compiled for debugging.
You can check this by executing `mysqld -V'.  If the version number
ends with `-debug', it's compiled with support for trace files.

Start the `mysqld' server with a trace log in `/tmp/mysqld.trace' (or
`C:\mysqld.trace' on Windows):

`mysqld --debug'

On Windows you should also use the `--standalone' flag to not start
`mysqld' as a service:

In a console window do:

     mysqld --debug --standalone

After this, you can use the `mysql.exe' command-line tool in a second
console window to reproduce the problem. You can take down the above
`mysqld' server with `mysqladmin shutdown'.

Note that the trace file will get *very big*!  If you want to have a
smaller trace file, you can use something like:

`mysqld --debug=d,info,error,query,general,where:O,/tmp/mysqld.trace'

which only prints information with the most interesting tags in
`/tmp/mysqld.trace'.

If you make a bug report about this, please only send the lines from the
trace file to the appropriate mailing list where something seems to go
wrong! If you can't locate the wrong place, you can ftp the trace file,
together with a full bug report, to
`ftp://support.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret/' so that a MySQL developer
can take a look a this.

The trace file is made with the *DBUG* package by Fred Fish.  *Note The
DBUG package::.

Debugging mysqld under gdb
--------------------------

On most systems you can also start `mysqld' from `gdb' to get more
information if `mysqld' crashes.

With some older `gdb' versions on Linux you must use `run --one-thread'
if you want to be able to debug `mysqld' threads.  In this case you can
only have one thread active at a time.  We recommend you to upgrade to
gdb 5.1 ASAP as thread debugging works much better with this version!

When running `mysqld' under gdb, you should disable the stack trace
with `--skip-stack-trace' to be able to catch segfaults within gdb.

In MySQL 4.0.14 and above you should use the `--gdb' option to mysqld.
This will install an interrupt handler for `SIGINT' (needed to stop
mysqld with `^C' to set breakpoints) and disable stack tracing and core
file handling.

It's very hard to debug MySQL under `gdb' if you do a lot of new
connections the whole time as `gdb' doesn't free the memory for old
threads.  You can avoid this problem by starting `mysqld' with `-O
thread_cache_size= 'max_connections +1''.  In most cases just using `-O
thread_cache_size=5'' will help a lot!

If you want to get a core dump on Linux if `mysqld' dies with a SIGSEGV
signal, you can start `mysqld' with the `--core-file' option.  This
core file can be used to make a backtrace that may help you find out
why `mysqld' died:

     shell> gdb mysqld core
     gdb>   backtrace full
     gdb>   exit

*Note Crashing::.

If you are using gdb 4.17.x or above on Linux, you should install a
`.gdb' file, with the following information, in your current directory:

     set print sevenbit off
     handle SIGUSR1 nostop noprint
     handle SIGUSR2 nostop noprint
     handle SIGWAITING nostop noprint
     handle SIGLWP nostop noprint
     handle SIGPIPE nostop
     handle SIGALRM nostop
     handle SIGHUP nostop
     handle SIGTERM nostop noprint

If you have problems debugging threads with gdb, you should download
gdb 5.x and try this instead. The new gdb version has very improved
thread handling!

Here is an example how to debug mysqld:

     shell> gdb /usr/local/libexec/mysqld
     gdb> run
     ...
     backtrace full # Do this when mysqld crashes

Include the above output in a mail generated with `mysqlbug' and mail
this to the general MySQL mailing list.  *Note Mailing-list::.

If `mysqld' hangs you can try to use some system tools like `strace' or
`/usr/proc/bin/pstack' to examine where `mysqld' has hung.

     strace /tmp/log libexec/mysqld

If you are using the Perl `DBI' interface, you can turn on debugging
information by using the `trace' method or by setting the `DBI_TRACE'
environment variable.

Using a Stack Trace
-------------------

On some operating systems, the error log will contain a stack trace if
`mysqld' dies unexpectedly. You can use this to find out where (and
maybe why) `mysqld' died. *Note Error log::.  To get a stack trace, you
must not compile `mysqld' with the `-fomit-frame-pointer' option to
gcc. *Note Compiling for debugging::.

If the error file contains something like the following:

     mysqld got signal 11;
     The manual section 'Debugging a MySQL server' tells you how to use a
     stack trace and/or the core file to produce a readable backtrace that may
     help in finding out why mysqld died
     Attemping backtrace. You can use the following information to find out
     where mysqld died.  If you see no messages after this, something went
     terribly wrong
     stack range sanity check, ok, backtrace follows
     0x40077552
     0x81281a0
     0x8128f47
     0x8127be0
     0x8127995
     0x8104947
     0x80ff28f
     0x810131b
     0x80ee4bc
     0x80c3c91
     0x80c6b43
     0x80c1fd9
     0x80c1686

you can find where `mysqld' died by doing the following:

  1. Copy the above numbers to a file, for example `mysqld.stack'.

  2. Make a symbol file for the `mysqld' server:
          nm -n libexec/mysqld > /tmp/mysqld.sym

     Note that most MySQL binary distributions (except for the "debug"
     packages, where this information is included inside of the
     binaries themselves) already ship with the above file, named
     `mysqld.sym.gz'.  In this case you can simply unpack it by doing:

          gunzip < bin/mysqld.sym.gz > /tmp/mysqld.sym

  3. Execute `resolve_stack_dump -s /tmp/mysqld.sym -n mysqld.stack'.

     This will print out where `mysqld' died. If this doesn't help you
     find out why `mysqld' died, you should make a bug report and
     include the output from the above command with the bug report.

     Note however that in most cases it will not help us to just have a
     stack trace to find the reason for the problem.  To be able to
     locate the bug or provide a workaround, we would in most cases
     need to know the query that killed `mysqld' and preferable a test
     case so that we can repeat the problem!  *Note Bug reports::.

Using Log Files to Find Cause of Errors in mysqld
-------------------------------------------------

Note that before starting `mysqld' with `--log' you should check all
your tables with `myisamchk'.  *Note MySQL Database Administration::.

If `mysqld' dies or hangs, you should start `mysqld' with `--log'.
When `mysqld' dies again, you can examine the end of the log file for
the query that killed `mysqld'.

If you are using `--log' without a file name, the log is stored in the
database directory as 'hostname'.log In most cases it's the last query
in the log file that killed `mysqld', but if possible you should verify
this by restarting `mysqld' and executing the found query from the
`mysql' command-line tools. If this works, you should also test all
complicated queries that didn't complete.

You can also try the command `EXPLAIN' on all `SELECT' statements that
takes a long time to ensure that `mysqld' is using indexes properly.
*Note `EXPLAIN': EXPLAIN.

You can find the queries that take a long time to execute by starting
`mysqld' with `--log-slow-queries'. *Note Slow query log::.

If you find the text `mysqld restarted' in the error log file (normally
named `hostname.err') you have probably found a query that causes
`mysqld' to fail.  If this happens you should check all your tables
with `myisamchk' (*note MySQL Database Administration::), and test the
queries in the MySQL log files to see if one doesn't work.  If you find
such a query, try first upgrading to the newest MySQL version.  If this
doesn't help and you can't find anything in the `mysql' mail archive,
you should report the bug to a MySQL mailing list.  The mailing lists
are described at `http://lists.mysql.com/', which also has links to
online list archives.

If you have started `mysqld' with `myisam-recover', MySQL will
automatically check and try to repair `MyISAM' tables if they are
marked as 'not closed properly' or 'crashed'.  If this happens, MySQL
will write an entry in the `hostname.err' file `'Warning: Checking
table ...'' which is followed by `Warning: Repairing table' if the
table needs to be repaired.  If you get a lot of these errors, without
`mysqld' having died unexpectedly just before, then something is wrong
and needs to be investigated further. *Note Server options::.

It's not a good sign if `mysqld' did died unexpectedly, but in this
case one shouldn't investigate the `Checking table...' messages but
instead try to find out why `mysqld' died.

Making a Test Case If You Experience Table Corruption
-----------------------------------------------------

If you get corrupted tables or if `mysqld' always fails after some
update commands, you can test if this bug is reproducible by doing the
following:

   * Take down the MySQL daemon (with `mysqladmin shutdown').

   * Make a backup of the tables (to guard against the very unlikely
     case that the repair will do something bad).

   * Check all tables with `myisamchk -s database/*.MYI'.  Repair any
     wrong tables with `myisamchk -r database/table.MYI'.

   * Make a second backup of the tables.

   * Remove (or move away) any old log files from the MySQL data
     directory if you need more space.

   * Start `mysqld' with `--log-bin'. *Note Binary log::.  If you want
     to find a query that crashes `mysqld', you should use `--log
     --log-bin'.

   * When you have gotten a crashed table, stop the `mysqld server'.

   * Restore the backup.

   * Restart the `mysqld' server *without* `--log-bin'

   * Re-execute the commands with `mysqlbinlog update-log-file | mysql'.
     The update log is saved in the MySQL database directory with the
     name `hostname-bin.#'.

   * If the tables are corrupted again or you can get `mysqld' to die
     with the above command, you have found reproducible bug that
     should be easy to fix! FTP the tables and the binary log to
     `ftp://support.mysql.com/pub/mysql/secret/' and enter it into our
     bugs system at `http://bugs.mysql.com/'.  If you are a support
     customer), you can also <support@mysql.com> to alert the MySQL
     team about the problem and have it fixed as soon as possible.

You can also use the script `mysql_find_rows' to just execute some of
the update statements if you want to narrow down the problem.

Debugging a MySQL client
========================

To be able to debug a MySQL client with the integrated debug package,
you should configure MySQL with `--with-debug' or `--with-debug=full'.
*Note configure options::.

Before running a client, you should set the `MYSQL_DEBUG' environment
variable:

     shell> MYSQL_DEBUG=d:t:O,/tmp/client.trace
     shell> export MYSQL_DEBUG

This causes clients to generate a trace file in `/tmp/client.trace'.

If you have problems with your own client code, you should attempt to
connect to the server and run your query using a client that is known to
work.  Do this by running `mysql' in debugging mode (assuming you have
compiled MySQL with debugging on):

     shell> mysql --debug=d:t:O,/tmp/client.trace

This will provide useful information in case you mail a bug report.
*Note Bug reports::.

If your client crashes at some 'legal' looking code, you should check
that your `mysql.h' include file matches your mysql library file.  A
very common mistake is to use an old `mysql.h' file from an old MySQL
installation with new MySQL library.

The DBUG Package
================

The MySQL server and most MySQL clients are compiled with the DBUG
package originally made by Fred Fish.  When one has configured MySQL
for debugging, this package makes it possible to get a trace file of
what the program is debugging. *Note Making trace files::.

One uses the debug package by invoking the program with the
`--debug="..."' or the `-#...' option.

Most MySQL programs has a default debug string that will be used if you
don't specify an option to `--debug'.  The default trace file is
usually `/tmp/programname.trace' on Unix and `\programname.trace' on
Windows.

The debug control string is a sequence of colon-separated fields as
follows:

     <field_1>:<field_2>:...:<field_N>

Each field consists of a mandatory flag character followed by an
optional "," and comma-separated list of modifiers:

     flag[,modifier,modifier,...,modifier]

The currently recognized flag characters are:

*Flag**Description*
d    Enable output from DBUG_<N> macros for the current state. May be
     followed by a list of keywords which selects output only for the
     DBUG macros with that keyword. An empty list of keywords implies
     output for all macros.
D    Delay after each debugger output line. The argument is the number
     of tenths of seconds to delay, subject to machine capabilities.
     That is, `-#D,20' is delay two seconds.
f    Limit debugging and/or tracing, and profiling to the list of named
     functions.  Note that a null list will disable all functions.   The
     appropriate "d" or "t" flags must still be given, this flag only
     limits their actions if they are enabled.
F    Identify the source file name for each line of debug or trace
     output.
i    Identify the process with the PID or thread ID for each line of
     debug or trace output.
g    Enable profiling.  Create a file called 'dbugmon.out' containing
     information that can be used to profile the program.  May be
     followed by a list of keywords that select profiling only for the
     functions in that list.  A null list implies that all functions are
     considered.
L    Identify the source file line number for each line of debug or
     trace output.
n    Print the current function nesting depth for each line of debug or
     trace output.
N    Number each line of dbug output.
o    Redirect the debugger output stream to the specified file.  The
     default output is stderr.
O    As `o' but the file is really flushed between each write. When
     needed the file is closed and reopened between each write.
p    Limit debugger actions to specified processes. A process must be
     identified with the DBUG_PROCESS macro and match one in the list
     for debugger actions to occur.
P    Print the current process name for each line of debug or trace
     output.
r    When pushing a new state, do not inherit the previous state's
     function nesting level. Useful when the output is to start at the
     left margin.
S    Do function _sanity(_file_,_line_) at each debugged function until
     _sanity() returns something that differs from 0. (Mostly used with
     safemalloc to find memory leaks)
t    Enable function call/exit trace lines. May be followed by a list
     (containing only one modifier) giving a numeric maximum trace
     level, beyond which no output will occur for either debugging or
     tracing macros.  The default is a compile time option.

Some examples of debug control strings which might appear on a shell
command-line (the "-#" is typically used to introduce a control string
to an application program) are:

     -#d:t
     -#d:f,main,subr1:F:L:t,20
     -#d,input,output,files:n
     -#d:t:i:O,\\mysqld.trace

In MySQL, common tags to print (with the `d' option) are:
`enter',`exit',`error',`warning',`info' and `loop'.

Locking methods
===============

Currently MySQL only supports table locking for `ISAM'/`MyISAM' and
`HEAP' tables, page-level locking for `BDB' tables and row-level
locking for `InnoDB' tables.  *Note Internal locking::.  With `MyISAM'
tables one can freely mix `INSERT' and `SELECT' without locks, if the
`INSERT' statements are non-conflicting (that is, whenever they append
to the end of the table file rather than filling freespace from deleted
rows/data).

Starting in version 3.23.33, you can analyse the table lock contention
on your system by checking `Table_locks_waited' and
`Table_locks_immediate' environment variables.

To decide if you want to use a table type with row-level locking, you
will want to look at what the application does and what the
select/update pattern of the data is.

Pros for row locking:

   * Fewer lock conflicts when accessing different rows in many threads.

   * Fewer changes for rollbacks.

   * Makes it possible to lock a single row a long time.

Cons:

   * Takes more memory than page level or table locks.

   * Is slower than page level or table locks when used on a big part
     of the table, because one has to do many more locks.

   * Is definitely much worse than other locks if you do often do `GROUP
     BY' on a large part of the data or if one has to often scan the
     whole table.

   * With higher level locks one can also more easily support locks of
     different types to tune the application as the lock overhead is
     less notable as for row level locks.

Table locks are superior to page level / row level locks in the
following cases:

   * Mostly reads

   * Read and updates on strict keys; this is where one updates or
     deletes a row that can be fetched with one key read:
          UPDATE table_name SET column=value WHERE unique_key#
          DELETE FROM table_name WHERE unique_key=#

   * `SELECT' combined with `INSERT' (and very few `UPDATE' and
     `DELETE' statements).

   * Many scans / `GROUP BY' on the whole table without any writers.

Other options than row / page level locking:

Versioning (like we use in MySQL for concurrent inserts) where you can
have one writer at the same time as many readers.  This means that the
database/table supports different views for the data depending on when
one started to access it. Other names for this are time travel, copy on
write or copy on demand.

Copy on demand is in many case much better than page or row level
locking; the worst case does, however, use much more memory than when
using normal locks.

Instead of using row level locks one can use application level locks
(like get_lock/release_lock in MySQL).  This works only in well-behaved
applications.

In many cases one can do an educated guess which locking type is best
for the application, but generally it's very hard to say that a given
lock type is better than another; everything depends on the application
and different part of the application may require different lock types.

Here are some tips about locking in MySQL:

Most web applications do lots of selects, very few deletes, updates
mainly on keys, and inserts in some specific tables.  The base MySQL
setup is very well tuned for this.

Concurrent users are not a problem if you don't mix updates with selects
that need to examine many rows in the same table.

If you mix inserts and deletes on the same table, then `INSERT DELAYED'
may be of great help.

You can also use `LOCK TABLES' to speed up things (many updates within
a single lock is much faster than updates without locks).  Splitting
thing to different tables will also help.

If you encounter speed problems with the table locks in MySQL, you may
be able to solve these by converting some of your tables to `InnoDB' or
`BDB' tables.  *Note InnoDB::. *Note BDB::.

The optimization section in the manual covers many different aspects of
how to tune applications. *Note Tips::.

Comments about RTS threads
==========================

I have tried to use the RTS thread packages with MySQL but stumbled on
the following problems:

They use an old version of a lot of POSIX calls and it is very tedious
to make wrappers for all functions. I am inclined to think that it would
be easier to change the thread libraries to the newest POSIX
specification.

Some wrappers are already written. See `mysys/my_pthread.c' for more
info.

At least the following should be changed:

`pthread_get_specific' should use one argument.  `sigwait' should take
two arguments.  A lot of functions (at least `pthread_cond_wait',
`pthread_cond_timedwait()') should return the error code on error. Now
they return -1 and set `errno'.

Another problem is that user-level threads use the `ALRM' signal and
this aborts a lot of functions (`read', `write', `open'...).  MySQL
should do a retry on interrupt on all of these but it is not that easy
to verify it.

The biggest unsolved problem is the following:

To get thread-level alarms I changed `mysys/thr_alarm.c' to wait between
alarms with `pthread_cond_timedwait()', but this aborts with error
`EINTR'.  I tried to debug the thread library as to why this happens,
but couldn't find any easy solution.

If someone wants to try MySQL with RTS threads I suggest the following:

   * Change functions MySQL uses from the thread library to POSIX.
     This shouldn't take that long.

   * Compile all libraries with the `-DHAVE_rts_threads'.

   * Compile `thr_alarm'.

   * If there are some small differences in the implementation, they
     may be fixed by changing `my_pthread.h' and `my_pthread.c'.

   * Run `thr_alarm'. If it runs without any "warning", "error" or
     aborted messages, you are on the right track. Here is a successful
     run on Solaris:
          Main thread: 1
          Thread 0 (5) started
          Thread: 5  Waiting
          process_alarm
          Thread 1 (6) started
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 6  Slept for 1 (1) sec
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 6  Slept for 2 (2) sec
          Thread: 6  Simulation of no alarm needed
          Thread: 6  Slept for 0 (3) sec
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 6  Slept for 4 (4) sec
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 5  Slept for 10 (10) sec
          Thread: 5  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 6  Slept for 5 (5) sec
          Thread: 6  Waiting
          process_alarm
          process_alarm
          
          ...
          thread_alarm
          Thread: 5  Slept for 0 (1) sec
          end

Differences between different thread packages
=============================================

MySQL is very dependent on the thread package used. So when choosing a
good platform for MySQL, the thread package is very important.

There are at least three types of thread packages:

   * User threads in a single process. Thread switching is managed with
     alarms and the threads library manages all non-thread-safe
     functions with locks. Read, write and select operations are
     usually managed with a thread-specific select that switches to
     another thread if the running threads have to wait for data.  If
     the user thread packages are integrated in the standard libs
     (FreeBSD and BSDI threads) the thread package requires less
     overhead than thread packages that have to map all unsafe calls
     (MIT-pthreads, FSU Pthreads and RTS threads).  In some
     environments (for example, SCO), all system calls are thread-safe
     so the mapping can be done very easily (FSU Pthreads on SCO).
     Downside: All mapped calls take a little time and it's quite
     tricky to be able to handle all situations. There are usually also
     some system calls that are not handled by the thread package (like
     MIT-pthreads and sockets). Thread scheduling isn't always optimal.

   * User threads in separate processes. Thread switching is done by the
     kernel and all data are shared between threads.  The thread package
     manages the standard thread calls to allow sharing data between
     threads.  LinuxThreads is using this method.  Downside: Lots of
     processes. Thread creating is slow. If one thread dies the rest
     are usually left hanging and you must kill them all before
     restarting. Thread switching is somewhat expensive.

   * Kernel threads. Thread switching is handled by the thread library
     or the kernel and is very fast. Everything is done in one process,
     but on some systems, `ps' may show the different threads. If one
     thread aborts, the whole process aborts. Most system calls are
     thread-safe and should require very little overhead.  Solaris,
     HP-UX, AIX and OSF/1 have kernel threads.

In some systems kernel threads are managed by integrating user level
threads in the system libraries. In such cases, the thread switching
can only be done by the thread library and the kernel isn't really
"thread aware".

Environment Variables
*********************

Here is a list of all the environment variables that are used directly
or indirectly by MySQL. Most of these can also be found in other places
in this manual.

Note that any options on the command-line take precedence over values
specified in configuration files and environment variables, and values
in configuration files take precedence over values in environment
variables.

In many cases it's preferable to use a configure file instead of
environment variables to modify the behavior of MySQL. *Note Option
files::.

*Variable*         *Description*
`CXX'              Set this to your C++ compiler when running
                   configure.
`CC'               Set this to your C compiler when running
                   configure.
`CFLAGS'           Flags for your C compiler when running configure.
`CXXFLAGS'         Flags for your C++ compiler when running
                   configure.
`DBI_USER'         The default username for Perl DBI.
`DBI_TRACE'        Used when tracing Perl DBI.
`HOME'             The default path for the `mysql' history file is
                   `$HOME/.mysql_history'.
`LD_RUN_PATH'      Used to specify where your `libmysqlclient.so' is.
`MYSQL_DEBUG'      Debug-trace options when debugging.
`MYSQL_HISTFILE'   The path to the `mysql' history file.
`MYSQL_HOST'       Default hostname used by the `mysql' command-line
                   client.
`MYSQL_PS1'        Command prompt to use in the `mysql' command-line
                   client. *Note mysql::.
`MYSQL_PWD'        The default password when connecting to `mysqld'.
                   Note that use of this is insecure!
`MYSQL_TCP_PORT'   The default TCP/IP port.
`MYSQL_UNIX_PORT'  The default socket; used for connections to
                   `localhost'.
`PATH'             Used by the shell to finds the MySQL programs.
`TMPDIR'           The directory where temporary tables/files are
                   created.
`TZ'               This should be set to your local time zone. *Note
                   Timezone problems::.
`UMASK_DIR'        The user-directory creation mask when creating
                   directories. Note that this is ANDed with `UMASK'!
`UMASK'            The user-file creation mask when creating files.
`USER'             The default user on Windows to use when
                   connecting to `mysqld'.

MySQL Regular Expressions
*************************

A regular expression (regex) is a powerful way of specifying a complex
search.

MySQL uses Henry Spencer's implementation of regular expressions, which
is aimed at conformance with POSIX 1003.2. MySQL uses the extended
version.

This is a simplistic reference that skips the details. To get more exact
information, see Henry Spencer's `regex(7)' manual page that is
included in the source distribution. *Note Credits::.

A regular expression describes a set of strings. The simplest regexp is
one that has no special characters in it. For example, the regexp
`hello' matches `hello' and nothing else.

Non-trivial regular expressions use certain special constructs so that
they can match more than one string. For example, the regexp
`hello|word' matches either the string `hello' or the string `word'.

As a more complex example, the regexp `B[an]*s' matches any of the
strings `Bananas', `Baaaaas', `Bs', and any other string starting with
a `B', ending with an `s', and containing any number of `a' or `n'
characters in between.

A regular expression may use any of the following special
characters/constructs:
`^'
     Match the beginning of a string.
          mysql> SELECT "fo\nfo" REGEXP "^fo$";           -> 0
          mysql> SELECT "fofo" REGEXP "^fo";              -> 1

`$'
     Match the end of a string.
          mysql> SELECT "fo\no" REGEXP "^fo\no$";         -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "fo\no" REGEXP "^fo$";            -> 0

`.'
     Match any character (including newline).
          mysql> SELECT "fofo" REGEXP "^f.*";             -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "fo\nfo" REGEXP "^f.*";           -> 1

`a*'
     Match any sequence of zero or more `a' characters.
          mysql> SELECT "Ban" REGEXP "^Ba*n";             -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "Baaan" REGEXP "^Ba*n";           -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "Bn" REGEXP "^Ba*n";              -> 1

`a+'
     Match any sequence of one or more `a' characters.
          mysql> SELECT "Ban" REGEXP "^Ba+n";             -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "Bn" REGEXP "^Ba+n";              -> 0

`a?'
     Match either zero or one `a' character.
          mysql> SELECT "Bn" REGEXP "^Ba?n";              -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "Ban" REGEXP "^Ba?n";             -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "Baan" REGEXP "^Ba?n";            -> 0

`de|abc'
     Match either of the sequences `de' or `abc'.
          mysql> SELECT "pi" REGEXP "pi|apa";             -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "axe" REGEXP "pi|apa";            -> 0
          mysql> SELECT "apa" REGEXP "pi|apa";            -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "apa" REGEXP "^(pi|apa)$";        -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "pi" REGEXP "^(pi|apa)$";         -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "pix" REGEXP "^(pi|apa)$";        -> 0

`(abc)*'
     Match zero or more instances of the sequence `abc'.
          mysql> SELECT "pi" REGEXP "^(pi)*$";            -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "pip" REGEXP "^(pi)*$";           -> 0
          mysql> SELECT "pipi" REGEXP "^(pi)*$";          -> 1

`{1}'
`{2,3}'
     The is a more general way of writing regexps that match many
     occurrences of the previous atom.
    `a*'
          Can be written as `a{0,}'.

    `a+'
          Can be written as `a{1,}'.

    `a?'
          Can be written as `a{0,1}'.  To be more precise, an atom
     followed by a bound containing one integer `i' and no comma
     matches a sequence of exactly `i' matches of the atom. An atom
     followed by a bound containing one integer `i' and a comma matches
     a sequence of `i' or more matches of the atom.  An atom followed
     by a bound containing two integers `i' and `j' matches a sequence
     of `i' through `j' (inclusive) matches of the atom.

     Both arguments must be in the range from `0' to `RE_DUP_MAX'
     (default 255), inclusive.  If there are two arguments, the second
     must be greater than or equal to the first.

`[a-dX]'
`[^a-dX]'
     Matches any character which is (or is not, if ^ is used) either
     `a', `b', `c', `d' or `X'. To include a literal `]' character, it
     must immediately follow the opening bracket `['.  To include a
     literal `-' character, it must be written first or last. So
     `[0-9]' matches any decimal digit. Any character that does not have
     a defined meaning inside a `[]' pair has no special meaning and
     matches only itself.
          mysql> SELECT "aXbc" REGEXP "[a-dXYZ]";         -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "aXbc" REGEXP "^[a-dXYZ]$";       -> 0
          mysql> SELECT "aXbc" REGEXP "^[a-dXYZ]+$";      -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "aXbc" REGEXP "^[^a-dXYZ]+$";     -> 0
          mysql> SELECT "gheis" REGEXP "^[^a-dXYZ]+$";    -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "gheisa" REGEXP "^[^a-dXYZ]+$";   -> 0

`[[.characters.]]'
     The sequence of characters of that collating element. `characters'
     is either a single character or a character name like `newline'.
     You can find the full list of character names in `regexp/cname.h'.

`[=character_class=]'
     An equivalence class, standing for the sequences of characters of
     all collating elements equivalent to that one, including itself.

     For example, if `o' and `(+)' are the members of an equivalence
     class, then `[[=o=]]', `[[=(+)=]]', and `[o(+)]' are all
     synonymous. An equivalence class may not be an endpoint of a range.

`[:character_class:]'
     Within a bracket expression, the name of a character class
     enclosed in `[:' and `:]' stands for the list of all characters
     belonging to that class. Standard character class names are:

     *Name*  *Name*  *Name*
     alnum   digit   punct
     alpha   graph   space
     blank   lower   upper
     cntrl   print   xdigit

     These stand for the character classes defined in the `ctype(3)'
     manual page. A locale may provide others. A character class may
     not be used as an endpoint of a range.
          mysql> SELECT "justalnums" REGEXP "[[:alnum:]]+";       -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "!!" REGEXP "[[:alnum:]]+";               -> 0

`[[:<:]]'
`[[:>:]]'
     These match the null string at the beginning and end of a word
     respectively.  A word is defined as a sequence of word characters
     which is neither preceded nor followed by word characters. A word
     character is an alnum character (as defined by `ctype(3)') or an
     underscore (`_').
          mysql> SELECT "a word a" REGEXP "[[:<:]]word[[:>:]]";      -> 1
          mysql> SELECT "a xword a" REGEXP "[[:<:]]word[[:>:]]";     -> 0

     mysql> SELECT "weeknights" REGEXP "^(wee|week)(knights|nights)$"; -> 1

GNU General Public License
**************************

                         Version 2, June 1991

     Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA
     
     Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
     of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble
========

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom
to share and change it.  By contrast, the GNU General Public License is
intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users.  This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it.  (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
the GNU Library General Public License instead.)  You can apply it to
your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price.
Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have
the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for this
service if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you
want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new
free programs; and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone
to deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights.  These
restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis
or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that you
have.  You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source
code.  And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

We protect your rights with two steps: (1) copyright the software, and
(2) offer you this license which gives you legal permission to copy,
distribute and/or modify the software.

Also, for each author's protection and ours, we want to make certain
that everyone understands that there is no warranty for this free
software.  If the software is modified by someone else and passed on, we
want its recipients to know that what they have is not the original, so
that any problems introduced by others will not reflect on the original
authors' reputations.

Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software patents.
We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free program will
individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the program
proprietary.  To prevent this, we have made it clear that any patent
must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
modification follow.

                      GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE

    TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

  0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains a
     notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
     under the terms of this General Public License.  The "Program",
     below, refers to any such program or work, and a "work based on
     the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work under
     copyright law: that is to say, a work containing the Program or a
     portion of it, either verbatim or with modifications and/or
     translated into another language.  (Hereinafter, translation is
     included without limitation in the term "modification".)  Each
     licensee is addressed as "you".

     Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are
     not covered by this License; they are outside its scope.  The act
     of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the
     Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on
     the Program (independent of having been made by running the
     Program).  Whether that is true depends on what the Program does.

  1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
     source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you
     conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate
     copyright notice and disclaimer of warranty; keep intact all the
     notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any
     warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of
     this License along with the Program.

     You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy,
     and you may at your option offer warranty protection in exchange
     for a fee.

  2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
     of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
     distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
     above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

       a. You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
          stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.

       b. You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that
          in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program
          or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge
          to all third parties under the terms of this License.

       c. If the modified program normally reads commands interactively
          when run, you must cause it, when started running for such
          interactive use in the most ordinary way, to print or display
          an announcement including an appropriate copyright notice and
          a notice that there is no warranty (or else, saying that you
          provide a warranty) and that users may redistribute the
          program under these conditions, and telling the user how to
          view a copy of this License.  (Exception: if the Program
          itself is interactive but does not normally print such an
          announcement, your work based on the Program is not required
          to print an announcement.)

     These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole.  If
     identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the
     Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate
     works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not
     apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate
     works.  But when you distribute the same sections as part of a
     whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of
     the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions
     for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each
     and every part regardless of who wrote it.

     Thus, it is not the intent of this section to claim rights or
     contest your rights to work written entirely by you; rather, the
     intent is to exercise the right to control the distribution of
     derivative or collective works based on the Program.

     In addition, mere aggregation of another work not based on the
     Program with the Program (or with a work based on the Program) on
     a volume of a storage or distribution medium does not bring the
     other work under the scope of this License.

  3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it,
     under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms
     of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the
     following:

       a. Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable
          source code, which must be distributed under the terms of
          Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for
          software interchange; or,

       b. Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three
          years, to give any third-party, for a charge no more than your
          cost of physically performing source distribution, a complete
          machine-readable copy of the corresponding source code, to be
          distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a
          medium customarily used for software interchange; or,

       c. Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer
          to distribute corresponding source code.  (This alternative is
          allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you
          received the program in object code or executable form with
          such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)

     The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for
     making modifications to it.  For an executable work, complete
     source code means all the source code for all modules it contains,
     plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts
     used to control compilation and installation of the executable.
     However, as a special exception, the source code distributed need
     not include anything that is normally distributed (in either
     source or binary form) with the major components (compiler,
     kernel, and so on) of the operating system on which the executable
     runs, unless that component itself accompanies the executable.

     If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering
     access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent
     access to copy the source code from the same place counts as
     distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not
     compelled to copy the source along with the object code.

  4. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program
     except as expressly provided under this License.  Any attempt
     otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is
     void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this
     License.  However, parties who have received copies, or rights,
     from you under this License will not have their licenses
     terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.

  5. You are not required to accept this License, since you have not
     signed it.  However, nothing else grants you permission to modify
     or distribute the Program or its derivative works.  These actions
     are prohibited by law if you do not accept this License.
     Therefore, by modifying or distributing the Program (or any work
     based on the Program), you indicate your acceptance of this
     License to do so, and all its terms and conditions for copying,
     distributing or modifying the Program or works based on it.

  6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
     Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
     original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program
     subject to these terms and conditions.  You may not impose any
     further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights
     granted herein.  You are not responsible for enforcing compliance
     by third parties to this License.

  7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
     infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent
     issues), conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order,
     agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this
     License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this
     License.  If you cannot distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously
     your obligations under this License and any other pertinent
     obligations, then as a consequence you may not distribute the
     Program at all.  For example, if a patent license would not permit
     royalty-free redistribution of the Program by all those who
     receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then the only
     way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to refrain
     entirely from distribution of the Program.

     If any portion of this section is held invalid or unenforceable
     under any particular circumstance, the balance of the section is
     intended to apply and the section as a whole is intended to apply
     in other circumstances.

     It is not the purpose of this section to induce you to infringe any
     patents or other property right claims or to contest validity of
     any such claims; this section has the sole purpose of protecting
     the integrity of the free software distribution system, which is
     implemented by public license practices.  Many people have made
     generous contributions to the wide range of software distributed
     through that system in reliance on consistent application of that
     system; it is up to the author/donor to decide if he or she is
     willing to distribute software through any other system and a
     licensee cannot impose that choice.

     This section is intended to make thoroughly clear what is believed
     to be a consequence of the rest of this License.

  8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
     certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces,
     the original copyright holder who places the Program under this
     License may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation
     excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only
     in or among countries not thus excluded.  In such case, this
     License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of
     this License.

  9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new
     versions of the General Public License from time to time.  Such
     new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but
     may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

     Each version is given a distinguishing version number.  If the
     Program specifies a version number of this License which applies
     to it and "any later version", you have the option of following
     the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later
     version published by the Free Software Foundation.  If the Program
     does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose
     any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

 10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free
     programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the
     author to ask for permission.  For software which is copyrighted
     by the Free Software Foundation, write to the Free Software
     Foundation; we sometimes make exceptions for this.  Our decision
     will be guided by the two goals of preserving the free status of
     all derivatives of our free software and of promoting the sharing
     and reuse of software generally.

                                NO WARRANTY

 11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO
     WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE
     LAW.  EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT
     HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT
     WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT
     NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
     FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE
     QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE
     PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY
     SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

 12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN
     WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY
     MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE
     LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL,
     INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR
     INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF
     DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU
     OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY
     OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN
     ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

                      END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs
=============================================

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest
possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it
free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these
terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program.  It is safest to
attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey
the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the
"copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

     ONE LINE TO GIVE THE PROGRAM'S NAME AND A BRIEF IDEA OF WHAT IT DOES.
     Copyright (C) YYYY  NAME OF AUTHOR
     
     This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
     it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
     the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
     (at your option) any later version.
     
     This program 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 this program; if not, write to the Free Software
     Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

If the program is interactive, make it output a short notice like this
when it starts in an interactive mode:

     Gnomovision version 69, Copyright (C) 19YY NAME OF AUTHOR
     Gnomovision comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'.
     This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it
     under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the
appropriate parts of the General Public License.  Of course, the
commands you use may be called something other than `show w' and `show
c'; they could even be mouse-clicks or menu items--whatever suits your
program.

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or your
school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if
necessary.  Here is a sample; alter the names:

     Yoyodyne, Inc., hereby disclaims all copyright interest in the program
     `Gnomovision' (which makes passes at compilers) written by James Hacker.
     
     SIGNATURE OF TY COON, 1 April 1989
     Ty Coon, President of Vice

This General Public License does not permit incorporating your program
into proprietary programs.  If your program is a subroutine library,
you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary
applications with the library.  If this is what you want to do, use the
GNU Library General Public License instead of this License.

SQL command, type and function index
************************************

! (logical NOT):
          See ``Logical Operators''.
!= (not equal):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
":
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
% (modulo):
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
% (wildcard character):
          See ``Strings''.
& (bitwise AND):
          See ``Bit Functions''.
&& (logical AND):
          See ``Logical Operators''.
() (parentheses):
          See ``Parentheses''.
(Control-Z) \z:
          See ``Strings''.
* (multiplication):
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
+ (addition):
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
- (subtraction):
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
- (unary minus):
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
-p option:
          See ``Keeping Your Password Secure''.
-password option:
          See ``Keeping Your Password Secure''.
.my.cnf file <1>:
          See ``Using Client Programs in a Multiple-Server Environment''.
.my.cnf file <2>:
          See ``Keeping Your Password Secure''.
.my.cnf file <3>:
          See ``Causes of `Access denied' Errors''.
.my.cnf file <4>:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
.my.cnf file <5>:
          See ``Using Option Files''.
.my.cnf file:
          See ``MySQL on Windows Compared to MySQL on Unix''.
.mysql_history file:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
.pid (process ID) file:
          See ``Setting Up a Table Maintenance Regimen''.
/ (division):
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
/etc/passwd <1>:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
/etc/passwd:
          See ``Making MySQL Secure Against Attackers''.
< (less than):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
<<:
          See ``Calculating Visits Per Day''.
<< (left shift):
          See ``Bit Functions''.
<= (less than or equal):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
<=> (Equal to):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
<> (not equal):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
= (equal):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
> (greater than):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
>= (greater than or equal):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
>> (right shift):
          See ``Bit Functions''.
\" (double quote):
          See ``Strings''.
\' (single quote):
          See ``Strings''.
\0 (ASCII 0):
          See ``Strings''.
\\ (escape):
          See ``Strings''.
\b (backspace):
          See ``Strings''.
\n (linefeed):
          See ``Strings''.
\n (newline):
          See ``Strings''.
\r (carriage return):
          See ``Strings''.
\t (tab):
          See ``Strings''.
\z (Control-Z) ASCII 26:
          See ``Strings''.
^ (bitwise XOR):
          See ``Bit Functions''.
_ (wildcard character):
          See ``Strings''.
`:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
ABS():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
ACOS():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
ADDDATE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
addition (+):
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
ADDTIME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
AES_DECRYPT():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
AES_ENCRYPT():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
alias:
          See ``Problems with `alias'''.
ALTER COLUMN:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
ALTER DATABASE:
          See ```ALTER DATABASE' Syntax''.
ALTER FUNCTION:
          See ```ALTER PROCEDURE' and `ALTER FUNCTION'''.
ALTER PROCEDURE:
          See ```ALTER PROCEDURE' and `ALTER FUNCTION'''.
ALTER TABLE <1>:
          See ``Problems with `ALTER TABLE'.''.
ALTER TABLE:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
ANALYZE TABLE:
          See ```ANALYZE TABLE' Syntax''.
AND, bitwise:
          See ``Bit Functions''.
AND, logical:
          See ``Logical Operators''.
Area() <1>:
          See ```MultiPolygon' Functions''.
Area():
          See ```Polygon' Functions''.
arithmetic functions:
          See ``Bit Functions''.
AS <1>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
AS:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
AsBinary():
          See ``Geometry Format Conversion Functions''.
ASCII():
          See ``String Functions''.
ASIN():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
AsText():
          See ``Geometry Format Conversion Functions''.
ATAN():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
ATAN2():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
AVG():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
backspace (\b):
          See ``Strings''.
BACKUP TABLE:
          See ```BACKUP TABLE' Syntax''.
BdMPolyFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
BdMPolyFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
BdPolyFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
BdPolyFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
BEGIN <1>:
          See ```BEGIN ... END' Compound Statement''.
BEGIN:
          See ```START TRANSACTION', `COMMIT', and `ROLLBACK' Syntax''.
BENCHMARK():
          See ``Information Functions''.
BETWEEN ... AND:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
BIGINT:
          See ``Column Types''.
BIN():
          See ``String Functions''.
BINARY:
          See ``Case-Sensitivity''.
BIT:
          See ``Column Types''.
BIT_AND():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
BIT_COUNT:
          See ``Calculating Visits Per Day''.
BIT_COUNT():
          See ``Bit Functions''.
BIT_LENGTH():
          See ``String Functions''.
BIT_OR:
          See ``Calculating Visits Per Day''.
BIT_OR():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
BIT_XOR():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
BLOB <1>:
          See ``The `BLOB' and `TEXT' Types''.
BLOB:
          See ``Column Types''.
BOOL:
          See ``Column Types''.
BOOLEAN:
          See ``Column Types''.
Boundary():
          See ``General Geometry Functions''.
Buffer():
          See ``Spatial Operators''.
C:\my.cnf file:
          See ``Using Client Programs in a Multiple-Server Environment''.
CACHE INDEX:
          See ```CACHE INDEX' Syntax''.
CALL:
          See ```CALL'''.
carriage return (\r):
          See ``Strings''.
CASE <1>:
          See ```CASE' Statement''.
CASE:
          See ``Control Flow Functions''.
CAST:
          See ``Cast Functions''.
casts:
          See ``Case-Sensitivity''.
CC environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
CC environment variable <2>:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
CC environment variable:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
CEILING():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
Centroid():
          See ```MultiPolygon' Functions''.
CFLAGS environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
CFLAGS environment variable <2>:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
CFLAGS environment variable:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
CHANGE MASTER TO:
          See ```CHANGE MASTER TO'''.
CHAR <1>:
          See ``String Types''.
CHAR:
          See ``Column Types''.
CHAR VARYING:
          See ``Column Types''.
CHAR():
          See ``String Functions''.
CHAR_LENGTH():
          See ``String Functions''.
CHARACTER:
          See ``Column Types''.
CHARACTER VARYING:
          See ``Column Types''.
CHARACTER_LENGTH():
          See ``String Functions''.
CHARSET():
          See ``Information Functions''.
CHECK TABLE:
          See ```CHECK TABLE' Syntax''.
CHECKSUM TABLE:
          See ```CHECKSUM TABLE' Syntax''.
CLOSE:
          See ``Cursor `CLOSE' Statement''.
COALESCE():
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
COERCIBILITY():
          See ``Information Functions''.
COLLATION():
          See ``Information Functions''.
command-line options:
          See ```mysqld' Command-line Options''.
Comment syntax:
          See ``Comment Syntax''.
COMMIT <1>:
          See ```START TRANSACTION', `COMMIT', and `ROLLBACK' Syntax''.
COMMIT:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
comparison operators:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
compiler flag, DONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
COMPRESS():
          See ``String Functions''.
CONCAT():
          See ``String Functions''.
CONCAT_WS():
          See ``String Functions''.
configure option, --with-charset:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
configure option, --with-extra-charsets:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
CONNECTION_ID():
          See ``Information Functions''.
constraints:
          See ``How MySQL Deals with Constraints''.
Contains():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
control flow functions:
          See ``Control Flow Functions''.
CONV():
          See ``String Functions''.
CONVERT:
          See ``Cast Functions''.
ConvexHull():
          See ``Spatial Operators''.
COS():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
COT():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
COUNT():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
COUNT(DISTINCT):
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
CRC32():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
CREATE DATABASE:
          See ```CREATE DATABASE' Syntax''.
CREATE FUNCTION <1>:
          See ```CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax''.
CREATE FUNCTION:
          See ```CREATE PROCEDURE' and `CREATE FUNCTION'''.
CREATE INDEX:
          See ```CREATE INDEX' Syntax''.
CREATE PROCEDURE:
          See ```CREATE PROCEDURE' and `CREATE FUNCTION'''.
CREATE TABLE:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
CROSS JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
Crosses():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
CURDATE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
CURRENT_DATE:
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
CURRENT_TIME:
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
CURRENT_TIMESTAMP:
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
CURRENT_USER():
          See ``Information Functions''.
CURTIME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
CXX environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
CXX environment variable <2>:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
CXX environment variable:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
CXXFLAGS environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
CXXFLAGS environment variable <2>:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
CXXFLAGS environment variable:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
Database information, obtaining:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
DATABASE():
          See ``Information Functions''.
DATE <1>:
          See ``Problems Using `DATE' Columns''.
DATE <2>:
          See ``The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types''.
DATE:
          See ``Column Types''.
date and time functions:
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DATE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DATE_ADD():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DATE_FORMAT():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DATE_SUB():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DATEDIFF():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DATETIME <1>:
          See ``The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types''.
DATETIME:
          See ``Column Types''.
DAY():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DAYNAME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DAYOFMONTH():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DAYOFWEEK():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DAYOFYEAR():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
DBI->quote:
          See ``Strings''.
DBI->trace:
          See ``Debugging mysqld under gdb''.
DBI_TRACE environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
DBI_TRACE environment variable:
          See ``Debugging mysqld under gdb''.
DBI_USER environment variable:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
DEC:
          See ``Column Types''.
DECIMAL:
          See ``Column Types''.
DECLARE:
          See ```DECLARE' Statement''.
DECODE():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
DEGREES():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
DELAYED:
          See ```INSERT DELAYED' Syntax''.
DELETE:
          See ```DELETE' Syntax''.
DES_DECRYPT():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
DES_ENCRYPT():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
DESC:
          See ```DESCRIBE' Syntax (Get Information About Columns)''.
DESCRIBE <1>:
          See ```DESCRIBE' Syntax (Get Information About Columns)''.
DESCRIBE:
          See ``Getting Information About Databases and Tables''.
Difference():
          See ``Spatial Operators''.
Dimension():
          See ``General Geometry Functions''.
Disjoint():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
Distance():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
DISTINCT <1>:
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
DISTINCT <2>:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `DISTINCT'''.
DISTINCT:
          See ``Selecting Particular Columns''.
DIV:
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
division (/):
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
DO:
          See ```DO' Syntax''.
DONT_USE_DEFAULT_FIELDS compiler flag:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
DOUBLE:
          See ``Column Types''.
DOUBLE PRECISION:
          See ``Column Types''.
double quote (\"):
          See ``Strings''.
DROP DATABASE:
          See ```DROP DATABASE' Syntax''.
DROP FUNCTION <1>:
          See ```CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax''.
DROP FUNCTION:
          See ```DROP PROCEDURE' and `DROP FUNCTION'''.
DROP INDEX <1>:
          See ```DROP INDEX' Syntax''.
DROP INDEX:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
DROP PRIMARY KEY:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
DROP PROCEDURE:
          See ```DROP PROCEDURE' and `DROP FUNCTION'''.
DROP TABLE:
          See ```DROP TABLE' Syntax''.
DROP USER:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
DUMPFILE:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
ELT():
          See ``String Functions''.
ENCODE():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
ENCRYPT():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
encryption functions:
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
END:
          See ```BEGIN ... END' Compound Statement''.
EndPoint():
          See ```LineString' Functions''.
ENUM <1>:
          See ``The `ENUM' Type''.
ENUM:
          See ``Column Types''.
Envelope():
          See ``General Geometry Functions''.
Environment variable, CC:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, CC <1>:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
environment variable, CC:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
Environment variable, CFLAGS:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, CFLAGS <1>:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
environment variable, CFLAGS:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
Environment variable, CXX:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, CXX:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
Environment variable, CXX:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
environment variable, CXX:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
Environment variable, CXXFLAGS:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, CXXFLAGS <1>:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
environment variable, CXXFLAGS:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
Environment variable, DBI_TRACE <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, DBI_TRACE:
          See ``Debugging mysqld under gdb''.
Environment variable, DBI_USER:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, HOME:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, HOME:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
Environment variable, LD_LIBRARY_PATH:
          See ``Problems Using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' Interface''.
Environment variable, LD_RUN_PATH <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, LD_RUN_PATH:
          See ``Problems Using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' Interface''.
environment variable, LD_RUN_PATH <1>:
          See ``Solaris Notes''.
environment variable, LD_RUN_PATH:
          See ``Linux Source Distribution Notes''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_DEBUG <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_DEBUG:
          See ``Debugging a MySQL client''.
environment variable, MYSQL_DEBUG:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_HISTFILE:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, MYSQL_HISTFILE:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_HOST:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, MYSQL_HOST:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_PS1:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_PWD:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, MYSQL_PWD <1>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
environment variable, MYSQL_PWD:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_TCP_PORT:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, MYSQL_TCP_PORT <1>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
environment variable, MYSQL_TCP_PORT <2>:
          See ``Using Client Programs in a Multiple-Server Environment''.
environment variable, MYSQL_TCP_PORT:
          See ``Running Multiple Servers on Unix''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT <1>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT <2>:
          See ``Using Client Programs in a Multiple-Server Environment''.
environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT:
          See ``Running Multiple Servers on Unix''.
Environment variable, MYSQL_UNIX_PORT:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
Environment variable, PATH:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, PATH:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems''.
Environment variable, TMPDIR <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, TMPDIR:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
Environment variable, TZ <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, TZ:
          See ``Time Zone Problems''.
Environment variable, UMASK <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, UMASK:
          See ``Problems with File Permissions''.
Environment variable, UMASK_DIR <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
Environment variable, UMASK_DIR:
          See ``Problems with File Permissions''.
Environment variable, USER:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment variable, USER:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
Environment variables, CXX:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
equal (=):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
Equals():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
escape (\\):
          See ``Strings''.
EXP():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
EXPLAIN:
          See ```EXPLAIN' Syntax (Get Information About a `SELECT')''.
EXPORT_SET():
          See ``String Functions''.
ExteriorRing():
          See ```Polygon' Functions''.
EXTRACT():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
FALSE:
          See ``Numbers''.
FETCH:
          See ``Cursor `FETCH' Statement''.
FIELD():
          See ``String Functions''.
FILE:
          See ``String Functions''.
FIND_IN_SET():
          See ``String Functions''.
FIXED:
          See ``Column Types''.
FLOAT:
          See ``Column Types''.
FLOAT(M,D):
          See ``Column Types''.
FLOAT(precision):
          See ``Column Types''.
FLOOR():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
FLUSH:
          See ```FLUSH' Syntax''.
FORCE INDEX <1>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
FORCE INDEX:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
FORMAT():
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
FOUND_ROWS():
          See ``Information Functions''.
FROM:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
FROM_DAYS():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
FROM_UNIXTIME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
functions, arithmetic:
          See ``Bit Functions''.
functions, bit:
          See ``Bit Functions''.
functions, control flow:
          See ``Control Flow Functions''.
functions, date and time:
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
functions, encryption:
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
functions, GROUP BY:
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
functions, information:
          See ``Information Functions''.
functions, mathematical:
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
functions, miscellaneous:
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
functions, string:
          See ``String Functions''.
functions, string comparison:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
Functions, user-defined:
          See ```CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax''.
GeomCollFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
GeomCollFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
GEOMETRY:
          See ``MySQL Spatial Datatypes''.
GEOMETRYCOLLECTION:
          See ``MySQL Spatial Datatypes''.
GeometryCollection():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions''.
GeometryCollectionFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
GeometryCollectionFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
GeometryFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
GeometryFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
GeometryN():
          See ```GeometryCollection' Functions''.
GeometryType():
          See ``General Geometry Functions''.
GeomFromText() <1>:
          See ``Geometry Format Conversion Functions''.
GeomFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
GeomFromWKB() <1>:
          See ``Geometry Format Conversion Functions''.
GeomFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
GET_FORMAT():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
GET_LOCK():
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
GLength() <1>:
          See ```MultiLineString' Functions''.
GLength():
          See ```LineString' Functions''.
GRANT:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
GRANT statement <1>:
          See ``SSL `GRANT' Options''.
GRANT statement:
          See ``Adding New Users to MySQL''.
GRANTS:
          See ```SHOW GRANTS'''.
greater than (>):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
greater than or equal (>=):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
GREATEST():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
GROUP BY functions:
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
GROUP_CONCAT():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
HANDLER:
          See ```HANDLER' Syntax''.
HEX():
          See ``String Functions''.
hexadecimal values:
          See ``Hexadecimal Values''.
HOME environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
HOME environment variable:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
host.frm, problems finding:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
HOUR():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
identifiers, quoting:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
IF:
          See ```IF' Statement''.
IF():
          See ``Control Flow Functions''.
IFNULL():
          See ``Control Flow Functions''.
IGNORE INDEX <1>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
IGNORE INDEX:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
IGNORE KEY <1>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
IGNORE KEY:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
IN:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
INET_ATON():
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
INET_NTOA():
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
information functions:
          See ``Information Functions''.
INNER JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
INSERT <1>:
          See ```INSERT' Syntax''.
INSERT:
          See ``Speed of `INSERT' Queries''.
INSERT ... SELECT:
          See ```INSERT' Syntax''.
INSERT DELAYED:
          See ```INSERT DELAYED' Syntax''.
INSERT statement, grant privileges:
          See ``Adding New Users to MySQL''.
INSERT():
          See ``String Functions''.
INSTR():
          See ``String Functions''.
INT:
          See ``Column Types''.
INTEGER:
          See ``Column Types''.
InteriorRingN():
          See ```Polygon' Functions''.
Intersection():
          See ``Spatial Operators''.
Intersects():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
INTERVAL():
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
IS NOT NULL:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
IS NULL <1>:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
IS NULL:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `IS NULL'''.
IS NULL, and indexes:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
IS_FREE_LOCK():
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
IS_USED_LOCK():
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
IsClosed() <1>:
          See ```MultiLineString' Functions''.
IsClosed():
          See ```LineString' Functions''.
IsEmpty():
          See ``General Geometry Functions''.
ISNULL():
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
ISOLATION LEVEL:
          See ```SET TRANSACTION' Syntax''.
IsRing():
          See ```LineString' Functions''.
IsSimple():
          See ``General Geometry Functions''.
ITERATE:
          See ```ITERATE' Statement''.
JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
KILL:
          See ```KILL' Syntax''.
LAST_DAY():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
LAST_INSERT_ID():
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
LAST_INSERT_ID([expr]):
          See ``Information Functions''.
LCASE():
          See ``String Functions''.
LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable:
          See ``Problems Using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' Interface''.
LD_RUN_PATH environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
LD_RUN_PATH environment variable <2>:
          See ``Problems Using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' Interface''.
LD_RUN_PATH environment variable <3>:
          See ``Solaris Notes''.
LD_RUN_PATH environment variable:
          See ``Linux Source Distribution Notes''.
LEAST():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
LEAVE:
          See ```LEAVE' Statement''.
LEFT JOIN <1>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
LEFT JOIN:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `LEFT JOIN' and `RIGHT JOIN'''.
LEFT OUTER JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
LEFT():
          See ``String Functions''.
LENGTH():
          See ``String Functions''.
less than (<):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
less than or equal (<=):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
LIKE:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
LIKE, and indexes:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
LIKE, and wildcards:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
LIMIT <1>:
          See ``Information Functions''.
LIMIT:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `LIMIT'''.
linefeed (\n):
          See ``Strings''.
LineFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
LineFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
LINESTRING:
          See ``MySQL Spatial Datatypes''.
LineString():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions''.
LineStringFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
LineStringFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
LN():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
LOAD DATA FROM MASTER:
          See ```LOAD DATA FROM MASTER'''.
LOAD DATA INFILE <1>:
          See ``Problems with `NULL' Values''.
LOAD DATA INFILE:
          See ```LOAD DATA INFILE' Syntax''.
LOAD TABLE FROM MASTER:
          See ```LOAD TABLE tbl_name FROM MASTER'''.
LOAD_FILE():
          See ``String Functions''.
LOCALTIME:
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
LOCALTIMESTAMP:
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
LOCATE():
          See ``String Functions''.
LOCK TABLES:
          See ```LOCK TABLES' and `UNLOCK TABLES' Syntax''.
LOG():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
LOG10():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
LOG2():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
Logical operators:
          See ``Logical Operators''.
LONG:
          See ``The `BLOB' and `TEXT' Types''.
LONGBLOB:
          See ``Column Types''.
LONGTEXT:
          See ``Column Types''.
LOOP:
          See ```LOOP' Statement''.
LOWER():
          See ``String Functions''.
LPAD():
          See ``String Functions''.
LTRIM():
          See ``String Functions''.
MAKE_SET():
          See ``String Functions''.
MAKEDATE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
MAKETIME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
MASTER_POS_WAIT() <1>:
          See ```MASTER_POS_WAIT()'''.
MASTER_POS_WAIT():
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
MATCH ... AGAINST():
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
mathematical functions:
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
MAX():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
MBRContains():
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
MBRDisjoint():
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
MBREquals():
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
MBRIntersects():
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
MBROverlaps():
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
MBRTouches():
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
MBRWithin():
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
MD5():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
MEDIUMBLOB:
          See ``Column Types''.
MEDIUMINT:
          See ``Column Types''.
MEDIUMTEXT:
          See ``Column Types''.
MICROSECOND():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
MID():
          See ``String Functions''.
MIN():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
minus, unary (-):
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
MINUTE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
miscellaneous functions:
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
MLineFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
MLineFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
MOD (modulo):
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
MOD():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
modulo (%):
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
modulo (MOD):
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
MONTH():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
MONTHNAME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
MPointFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
MPointFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
MPolyFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
MPolyFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
MULTILINESTRING:
          See ``MySQL Spatial Datatypes''.
MultiLineString():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions''.
MultiLineStringFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
MultiLineStringFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
multiplication (*):
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
MULTIPOINT:
          See ``MySQL Spatial Datatypes''.
MultiPoint():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions''.
MultiPointFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
MultiPointFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
MULTIPOLYGON:
          See ``MySQL Spatial Datatypes''.
MultiPolygon():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions''.
MultiPolygonFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
MultiPolygonFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
my_init():
          See ```my_init()'''.
my_ulonglong C type:
          See ``C API Datatypes''.
my_ulonglong values, printing:
          See ``C API Datatypes''.
MySQL C type:
          See ``C API Prepared Statement Datatypes''.
MYSQL C type:
          See ``C API Datatypes''.
mysql_affected_rows():
          See ```mysql_affected_rows()'''.
mysql_autocommit().:
          See ```mysql_autocommit()'''.
MYSQL_BIND C type:
          See ``C API Prepared Statement Datatypes''.
mysql_bind_param():
          See ```mysql_bind_param()'''.
mysql_bind_result():
          See ```mysql_bind_result()'''.
mysql_change_user():
          See ```mysql_change_user()'''.
mysql_character_set_name():
          See ```mysql_character_set_name()'''.
mysql_close():
          See ```mysql_close()'''.
mysql_commit().:
          See ```mysql_commit()'''.
mysql_connect():
          See ```mysql_connect()'''.
mysql_create_db():
          See ```mysql_create_db()'''.
mysql_data_seek():
          See ```mysql_data_seek()'''.
MYSQL_DEBUG environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
MYSQL_DEBUG environment variable <2>:
          See ``Debugging a MySQL client''.
MYSQL_DEBUG environment variable:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysql_debug():
          See ```mysql_debug()'''.
mysql_drop_db():
          See ```mysql_drop_db()'''.
mysql_dump_debug_info():
          See ```mysql_dump_debug_info()'''.
mysql_eof():
          See ```mysql_eof()'''.
mysql_errno():
          See ```mysql_errno()'''.
mysql_error():
          See ```mysql_error()'''.
mysql_escape_string():
          See ```mysql_escape_string()'''.
mysql_execute():
          See ```mysql_execute()'''.
mysql_fetch():
          See ```mysql_fetch()'''.
mysql_fetch_column():
          See ```mysql_fetch_column()'''.
mysql_fetch_field():
          See ```mysql_fetch_field()'''.
mysql_fetch_field_direct():
          See ```mysql_fetch_field_direct()'''.
mysql_fetch_fields():
          See ```mysql_fetch_fields()'''.
mysql_fetch_lengths():
          See ```mysql_fetch_lengths()'''.
mysql_fetch_row():
          See ```mysql_fetch_row()'''.
MYSQL_FIELD C type:
          See ``C API Datatypes''.
mysql_field_count() <1>:
          See ```mysql_num_fields()'''.
mysql_field_count():
          See ```mysql_field_count()'''.
MYSQL_FIELD_OFFSET C type:
          See ``C API Datatypes''.
mysql_field_seek():
          See ```mysql_field_seek()'''.
mysql_field_tell():
          See ```mysql_field_tell()'''.
mysql_free_result():
          See ```mysql_free_result()'''.
mysql_get_client_info():
          See ```mysql_get_client_info()'''.
mysql_get_client_version():
          See ```mysql_get_client_version()'''.
mysql_get_host_info():
          See ```mysql_get_host_info()'''.
mysql_get_metadata.:
          See ```mysql_get_metadata()'''.
mysql_get_proto_info():
          See ```mysql_get_proto_info()'''.
mysql_get_server_info():
          See ```mysql_get_server_info()'''.
mysql_get_server_version():
          See ```mysql_get_server_version()'''.
MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
MYSQL_HOST environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
MYSQL_HOST environment variable:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
mysql_info() <1>:
          See ```mysql_info()'''.
mysql_info() <2>:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
mysql_info() <3>:
          See ```UPDATE' Syntax''.
mysql_info() <4>:
          See ```LOAD DATA INFILE' Syntax''.
mysql_info():
          See ```INSERT' Syntax''.
mysql_init():
          See ```mysql_init()'''.
mysql_insert_id() <1>:
          See ```mysql_insert_id()'''.
mysql_insert_id():
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
mysql_kill():
          See ```mysql_kill()'''.
mysql_list_dbs():
          See ```mysql_list_dbs()'''.
mysql_list_fields():
          See ```mysql_list_fields()'''.
mysql_list_processes():
          See ```mysql_list_processes()'''.
mysql_list_tables():
          See ```mysql_list_tables()'''.
mysql_more_results().:
          See ```mysql_more_results()'''.
mysql_next_result().:
          See ```mysql_next_result()'''.
mysql_num_fields():
          See ```mysql_num_fields()'''.
mysql_num_rows():
          See ```mysql_num_rows()'''.
mysql_options():
          See ```mysql_options()'''.
mysql_param_count():
          See ```mysql_param_count()'''.
mysql_param_result():
          See ```mysql_param_result()'''.
mysql_ping():
          See ```mysql_ping()'''.
mysql_prepare():
          See ```mysql_prepare()'''.
MYSQL_PS1 environment variable:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
MYSQL_PWD environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
MYSQL_PWD environment variable <2>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
MYSQL_PWD environment variable:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
mysql_query() <1>:
          See ``Common questions and problems when using the C API''.
mysql_query():
          See ```mysql_query()'''.
mysql_real_connect():
          See ```mysql_real_connect()'''.
mysql_real_escape_string() <1>:
          See ```mysql_real_escape_string()'''.
mysql_real_escape_string():
          See ``Strings''.
mysql_real_query():
          See ```mysql_real_query()'''.
mysql_reload():
          See ```mysql_reload()'''.
MYSQL_RES C type:
          See ``C API Datatypes''.
mysql_rollback().:
          See ```mysql_rollback()'''.
MYSQL_ROW C type:
          See ``C API Datatypes''.
mysql_row_seek():
          See ```mysql_row_seek()'''.
mysql_row_tell():
          See ```mysql_row_tell()'''.
mysql_select_db():
          See ```mysql_select_db()'''.
mysql_send_long_data().:
          See ```mysql_send_long_data()'''.
mysql_server_end():
          See ```mysql_server_end()'''.
mysql_server_init():
          See ```mysql_server_init()'''.
mysql_set_sever_option():
          See ```mysql_set_server_option()'''.
mysql_shutdown():
          See ```mysql_shutdown()'''.
mysql_sqlstate():
          See ```mysql_sqlstate()'''.
mysql_ssl_set():
          See ```mysql_ssl_set()'''.
mysql_stat():
          See ```mysql_stat()'''.
MYSQL_STMT C type:
          See ``C API Prepared Statement Datatypes''.
mysql_stmt_affected_rows():
          See ```mysql_stmt_affected_rows()'''.
mysql_stmt_close():
          See ```mysql_stmt_close()'''.
mysql_stmt_data_seek():
          See ```mysql_stmt_data_seek()'''.
mysql_stmt_errno():
          See ```mysql_stmt_errno()'''.
mysql_stmt_error().:
          See ```mysql_stmt_error()'''.
mysql_stmt_free_result():
          See ```mysql_stmt_free_result()'''.
mysql_stmt_num_rows():
          See ```mysql_stmt_num_rows()'''.
mysql_stmt_reset():
          See ```mysql_stmt_reset()'''.
mysql_stmt_row_seek():
          See ```mysql_stmt_row_seek()'''.
mysql_stmt_row_tell():
          See ```mysql_stmt_row_tell()'''.
mysql_stmt_sqlstate():
          See ```mysql_stmt_sqlstate()'''.
mysql_stmt_store_result():
          See ```mysql_stmt_store_result()'''.
mysql_store_result() <1>:
          See ``Common questions and problems when using the C API''.
mysql_store_result():
          See ```mysql_store_result()'''.
MYSQL_TCP_PORT environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
MYSQL_TCP_PORT environment variable <2>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
MYSQL_TCP_PORT environment variable <3>:
          See ``Using Client Programs in a Multiple-Server Environment''.
MYSQL_TCP_PORT environment variable:
          See ``Running Multiple Servers on Unix''.
mysql_thread_end():
          See ```mysql_thread_end()'''.
mysql_thread_id():
          See ```mysql_thread_id()'''.
mysql_thread_init():
          See ```mysql_thread_init()'''.
mysql_thread_safe():
          See ```mysql_thread_safe()'''.
MYSQL_UNIX_PORT environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
MYSQL_UNIX_PORT environment variable <2>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
MYSQL_UNIX_PORT environment variable <3>:
          See ``Using Client Programs in a Multiple-Server Environment''.
MYSQL_UNIX_PORT environment variable <4>:
          See ``Running Multiple Servers on Unix''.
MYSQL_UNIX_PORT environment variable:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
mysql_use_result():
          See ```mysql_use_result()'''.
mysql_warning_count().:
          See ```mysql_warning_count()'''.
NATIONAL CHAR:
          See ``Column Types''.
NATURAL LEFT JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
NATURAL LEFT OUTER JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
NATURAL RIGHT JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
NATURAL RIGHT OUTER JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
NCHAR:
          See ``Column Types''.
newline (\n):
          See ``Strings''.
NOT BETWEEN:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
not equal (!=):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
not equal (<>):
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
NOT IN:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
NOT LIKE:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
NOT REGEXP:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
NOT, logical:
          See ``Logical Operators''.
NOW():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
NUL:
          See ``Strings''.
NULL <1>:
          See ``Problems with `NULL' Values''.
NULL:
          See ``Working with `NULL' Values''.
NULL value:
          See ```NULL' Values''.
NULLIF():
          See ``Control Flow Functions''.
NUMERIC:
          See ``Column Types''.
NumGeometries():
          See ```GeometryCollection' Functions''.
NumInteriorRings():
          See ```Polygon' Functions''.
NumPoints():
          See ```LineString' Functions''.
OCT():
          See ``String Functions''.
OCTET_LENGTH():
          See ``String Functions''.
OLD_PASSWORD():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
OPEN:
          See ``Cursor `OPEN' Statement''.
Operators, logical:
          See ``Logical Operators''.
OPTIMIZE TABLE:
          See ```OPTIMIZE TABLE' Syntax''.
OR:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `OR' Clauses''.
OR, bitwise:
          See ``Bit Functions''.
OR, logical:
          See ``Logical Operators''.
ORD():
          See ``String Functions''.
ORDER BY:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
Overlaps():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
parentheses ( and ):
          See ``Parentheses''.
PASSWORD() <1>:
          See ```Ignoring user' Error''.
PASSWORD() <2>:
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
PASSWORD() <3>:
          See ``Setting Up Passwords''.
PASSWORD():
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
PATH environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
PATH environment variable:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems''.
PERIOD_ADD():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
PERIOD_DIFF():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
PI():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
POINT:
          See ``MySQL Spatial Datatypes''.
Point():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions''.
PointFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
PointFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
PointN():
          See ```LineString' Functions''.
PointOnSurface():
          See ```MultiPolygon' Functions''.
PolyFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
PolyFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
POLYGON:
          See ``MySQL Spatial Datatypes''.
Polygon():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using MySQL-Specific Functions''.
PolygonFromText():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKT Functions''.
PolygonFromWKB():
          See ``Creating Geometry Values Using WKB Functions''.
POSITION():
          See ``String Functions''.
POW():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
POWER():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
PRIMARY KEY <1>:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
PRIMARY KEY:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
PROCESSLIST:
          See ```SHOW PROCESSLIST'''.
PURGE MASTER LOGS:
          See ```PURGE MASTER LOGS'''.
QUARTER():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
QUOTE():
          See ``String Functions''.
quoting of identifiers:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
RADIANS():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
RAND():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
REAL:
          See ``Column Types''.
ref_or_null:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `IS NULL'''.
REGEXP:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
Related():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
RELEASE_LOCK():
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
RENAME TABLE:
          See ```RENAME TABLE' Syntax''.
REPAIR TABLE:
          See ```REPAIR TABLE' Syntax''.
REPEAT:
          See ```REPEAT' Statement''.
REPEAT():
          See ``String Functions''.
REPLACE:
          See ```REPLACE' Syntax''.
REPLACE ... SELECT:
          See ```INSERT' Syntax''.
REPLACE():
          See ``String Functions''.
REQUIRE GRANT option:
          See ``SSL `GRANT' Options''.
RESET MASTER:
          See ```RESET MASTER'''.
RESET SLAVE:
          See ```RESET SLAVE'''.
RESTORE TABLE:
          See ```RESTORE TABLE' Syntax''.
return (\r):
          See ``Strings''.
REVERSE():
          See ``String Functions''.
REVOKE:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
RIGHT JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
RIGHT OUTER JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
RIGHT():
          See ``String Functions''.
RLIKE:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
ROLLBACK <1>:
          See ```START TRANSACTION', `COMMIT', and `ROLLBACK' Syntax''.
ROLLBACK:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT:
          See ```SAVEPOINT' and `ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT' Syntax''.
ROLLUP:
          See ```GROUP BY' Modifiers''.
ROUND():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
RPAD():
          See ``String Functions''.
RTRIM():
          See ``String Functions''.
SAVEPOINT:
          See ```SAVEPOINT' and `ROLLBACK TO SAVEPOINT' Syntax''.
SEC_TO_TIME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
SECOND():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
SELECT:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
SELECT INTO:
          See ```SELECT ... INTO' Statement''.
SELECT INTO TABLE:
          See ```SELECT INTO TABLE'''.
SELECT speed:
          See ``Speed of `SELECT' Queries''.
SELECT, optimizing:
          See ```EXPLAIN' Syntax (Get Information About a `SELECT')''.
SESSION_USER():
          See ``Information Functions''.
SET <1>:
          See ``Variable `SET' Statement''.
SET <2>:
          See ``The `SET' Type''.
SET <3>:
          See ``Column Types''.
SET:
          See ```SET' Syntax''.
SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER:
          See ```SET GLOBAL SQL_SLAVE_SKIP_COUNTER'''.
SET OPTION:
          See ```SET' Syntax''.
SET PASSWORD statement:
          See ``Setting Up Passwords''.
SET SQL_LOG_BIN:
          See ```SET SQL_LOG_BIN'''.
SET TRANSACTION:
          See ```SET TRANSACTION' Syntax''.
SHA():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
SHA1():
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
SHOW BINLOG EVENTS:
          See ```SHOW BINLOG EVENTS'''.
SHOW COLUMNS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW CREATE FUNCTION:
          See ```SHOW CREATE PROCEDURE' and `SHOW CREATE FUNCTION'''.
SHOW CREATE PROCEDURE:
          See ```SHOW CREATE PROCEDURE' and `SHOW CREATE FUNCTION'''.
SHOW CREATE TABLE <1>:
          See ```SHOW CREATE TABLE'''.
SHOW CREATE TABLE:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW DATABASES:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW FIELDS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW FUNCTION STATUS:
          See ```SHOW PROCEDURE STATUS' and `SHOW FUNCTION STATUS'''.
SHOW GRANTS <1>:
          See ```SHOW GRANTS'''.
SHOW GRANTS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW INDEX:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW KEYS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW MASTER LOGS <1>:
          See ```SHOW MASTER LOGS'''.
SHOW MASTER LOGS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW MASTER STATUS <1>:
          See ```SHOW MASTER STATUS'''.
SHOW MASTER STATUS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW PRIVILEGES:
          See ```SHOW PRIVILEGES'''.
SHOW PROCEDURE STATUS:
          See ```SHOW PROCEDURE STATUS' and `SHOW FUNCTION STATUS'''.
SHOW PROCESSLIST <1>:
          See ```SHOW PROCESSLIST'''.
SHOW PROCESSLIST:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW SLAVE HOSTS:
          See ```SHOW SLAVE HOSTS'''.
SHOW SLAVE STATUS <1>:
          See ```SHOW SLAVE STATUS'''.
SHOW SLAVE STATUS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW STATUS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW TABLE STATUS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW TABLE TYPES <1>:
          See ```SHOW TABLE TYPES'''.
SHOW TABLE TYPES:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW TABLES:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW VARIABLES:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SHOW WARNINGS <1>:
          See ```SHOW WARNINGS | ERRORS'''.
SHOW WARNINGS:
          See ```SHOW' Syntax''.
SIGN():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
SIN():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
single quote (\'):
          See ``Strings''.
SMALLINT:
          See ``Column Types''.
SOUNDEX():
          See ``String Functions''.
SOUNDS LIKE:
          See ``String Functions''.
SPACE():
          See ``String Functions''.
SQL_CACHE:
          See ``Query Cache Options in `SELECT'''.
SQL_NO_CACHE:
          See ``Query Cache Options in `SELECT'''.
SQRT():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
SRID():
          See ``General Geometry Functions''.
START SLAVE:
          See ```START SLAVE'''.
START TRANSACTION:
          See ```START TRANSACTION', `COMMIT', and `ROLLBACK' Syntax''.
StartPoint():
          See ```LineString' Functions''.
statements, GRANT:
          See ``Adding New Users to MySQL''.
statements, INSERT:
          See ``Adding New Users to MySQL''.
STD():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
STDDEV():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
STOP SLAVE:
          See ```STOP SLAVE'''.
STR_TO_DATE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
STRAIGHT_JOIN:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
STRCMP():
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
string comparison functions:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
string functions:
          See ``String Functions''.
SUBDATE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
SUBSTRING():
          See ``String Functions''.
SUBSTRING_INDEX():
          See ``String Functions''.
SUBTIME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
subtraction (-):
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
SUM():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
SymDifference():
          See ``Spatial Operators''.
SYSDATE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
SYSTEM_USER():
          See ``Information Functions''.
tab (\t):
          See ``Strings''.
Table scan:
          See ``How to avoid table scan,,,''.
table_cache:
          See ``How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables''.
TAN():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
TEXT <1>:
          See ``The `BLOB' and `TEXT' Types''.
TEXT:
          See ``Column Types''.
threads:
          See ```SHOW PROCESSLIST'''.
TIME <1>:
          See ``The `TIME' Type''.
TIME:
          See ``Column Types''.
TIME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
TIME_FORMAT():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
TIME_TO_SEC():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
TIMEDIFF():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
TIMESTAMP <1>:
          See ``The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types''.
TIMESTAMP:
          See ``Column Types''.
TIMESTAMP():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
TIMESTAMPADD():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
TIMESTAMPDIFF():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
TINYBLOB:
          See ``Column Types''.
TINYINT:
          See ``Column Types''.
TINYTEXT:
          See ``Column Types''.
TMPDIR environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
TMPDIR environment variable:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
TO_DAYS():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
Touches():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
trace DBI method:
          See ``Debugging mysqld under gdb''.
TRIM():
          See ``String Functions''.
TRUE:
          See ``Numbers''.
TRUNCATE:
          See ```TRUNCATE' Syntax''.
TRUNCATE():
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
Types:
          See ``Column Types''.
TZ environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
TZ environment variable:
          See ``Time Zone Problems''.
UCASE():
          See ``String Functions''.
UDF functions:
          See ```CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax''.
ulimit:
          See ``File Not Found''.
UMASK environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
UMASK environment variable:
          See ``Problems with File Permissions''.
UMASK_DIR environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
UMASK_DIR environment variable:
          See ``Problems with File Permissions''.
unary minus (-):
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
UNCOMPRESS():
          See ``String Functions''.
UNCOMPRESSED_LENGTH():
          See ``String Functions''.
UNION <1>:
          See ```UNION' Syntax''.
UNION:
          See ``Searching on Two Keys''.
Union():
          See ``Spatial Operators''.
UNIQUE:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
UNIX_TIMESTAMP():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
UNLOCK TABLES:
          See ```LOCK TABLES' and `UNLOCK TABLES' Syntax''.
UNTIL:
          See ```REPEAT' Statement''.
UPDATE:
          See ```UPDATE' Syntax''.
UPPER():
          See ``String Functions''.
USE:
          See ```USE' Syntax''.
USE INDEX <1>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
USE INDEX:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
USE KEY <1>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
USE KEY:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
USER environment variable <1>:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
USER environment variable:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
USER():
          See ``Information Functions''.
User-defined functions:
          See ```CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax''.
UTC_DATE():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
UTC_TIME():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
UTC_TIMESTAMP():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
VARCHAR <1>:
          See ``String Types''.
VARCHAR:
          See ``Column Types''.
VARCHARACTER:
          See ``Column Types''.
VARIANCE():
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
VERSION():
          See ``Information Functions''.
WEEK():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
WEEKDAY():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
WEEKOFYEAR():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
WHERE:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `WHERE' Clauses''.
WHILE:
          See ```WHILE' Statement''.
Wildcard character (%):
          See ``Strings''.
Wildcard character (_):
          See ``Strings''.
Within():
          See ``Functions That Test Spatial Relationships Between Geometries''.
without-server option:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
X():
          See ```Point' Functions''.
XOR, bitwise:
          See ``Bit Functions''.
XOR, logical:
          See ``Logical Operators''.
Y():
          See ```Point' Functions''.
YEAR <1>:
          See ``The `YEAR' Type''.
YEAR:
          See ``Column Types''.
YEAR():
          See ``Date and Time Functions''.
| (bitwise OR):
          See ``Bit Functions''.
|| (logical OR):
          See ``Logical Operators''.
~:
          See ``Bit Functions''.
Concept Index
*************

--with-raid link errors:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
aborted clients:
          See ``Communication Errors / Aborted Connection''.
aborted connection:
          See ``Communication Errors / Aborted Connection''.
access control:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
access denied errors:
          See ```Access denied' Error''.
access privileges:
          See ``The MySQL Access Privilege System''.
Access program:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
ACID <1>:
          See ``InnoDB Tables Overview''.
ACID:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
ACLs:
          See ``The MySQL Access Privilege System''.
ActiveState Perl:
          See ``Installing ActiveState Perl on Windows''.
adding, character sets:
          See ``Adding a New Character Set''.
adding, native functions:
          See ``Adding a New Native Function''.
adding, new functions:
          See ``Adding New Functions to MySQL''.
adding, new user privileges:
          See ``Adding New Users to MySQL''.
adding, new users <1>:
          See ``Quick Source Installation Overview''.
adding, new users:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems''.
adding, procedures:
          See ``Adding New Procedures to MySQL''.
adding, user-defined functions:
          See ``Adding a New User-defined Function''.
administration, server:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
ADO program:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
age, calculating:
          See ``Date Calculations''.
alias names, case sensitivity:
          See ``Identifier Case Sensitivity''.
aliases, for expressions:
          See ```GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields''.
aliases, for tables:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
aliases, in GROUP BY clauses:
          See ```GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields''.
aliases, in ORDER BY clauses:
          See ```GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields''.
aliases, names:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
aliases, on expressions:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
anonymous user <1>:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
anonymous user <2>:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
anonymous user:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
ANSI mode, running:
          See ``Running MySQL in ANSI Mode''.
answering questions, etiquette:
          See ``Guidelines for Answering Questions on the Mailing List''.
Apache:
          See ``Using MySQL with Apache''.
API's, list of:
          See ``Packages that support MySQL''.
APIs:
          See ``MySQL APIs''.
APIs, Perl:
          See ``MySQL Perl API''.
argument processing:
          See ``Argument Processing''.
arithmetic expressions:
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
attackers, security against:
          See ``Making MySQL Secure Against Attackers''.
AUTO-INCREMENT, ODBC:
          See ``How to Get the Value of an `AUTO_INCREMENT' Column in ODBC''.
AUTO_INCREMENT:
          See ``Using `AUTO_INCREMENT'''.
AUTO_INCREMENT, and NULL values:
          See ``Problems with `NULL' Values''.
backing up, databases <1>:
          See ```mysqlhotcopy', Copying MySQL Databases and Tables''.
backing up, databases:
          See ```mysqldump', Dumping Table Structure and Data''.
backslash, escape character:
          See ``Literal Values''.
backups:
          See ``Database Backups''.
backups, database:
          See ```BACKUP TABLE' Syntax''.
batch mode:
          See ``Using `mysql' in Batch Mode''.
batch, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
BDB table type:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
BDB tables:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
benchmark suite:
          See ``The MySQL Benchmark Suite''.
benchmarks:
          See ``Using Your Own Benchmarks''.
BerkeleyDB table type:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
Big5 Chinese character encoding:
          See ``Case-Sensitivity in Searches''.
binary distributions:
          See ``MySQL Binaries Compiled by MySQL AB''.
binary distributions, installing:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems''.
binary distributions, on HP-UX:
          See ``Installing MySQL on HP-UX''.
binary distributions, on Linux:
          See ``Linux Binary Distribution Notes''.
binary log:
          See ``The Binary Log''.
bit_functions, example:
          See ``Calculating Visits Per Day''.
BitKeeper tree:
          See ``Installing from the Development Source Tree''.
BLOB columns, default values:
          See ``The `BLOB' and `TEXT' Types''.
BLOB columns, indexing:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
BLOB, inserting binary data:
          See ``Strings''.
BLOB, size:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
blocking_queries, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
Borland Builder 4 program:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
Borland C++ compiler:
          See ``Borland C++''.
brackets, square:
          See ``Column Types''.
buffer sizes, client:
          See ``MySQL APIs''.
buffer sizes, mysqld server:
          See ``Tuning Server Parameters''.
bug reports, criteria for:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
bugs database:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
bugs, known:
          See ``Known Errors and Design Deficiencies in MySQL''.
bugs, reporting:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
bugs.mysql.com:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
building, client programs:
          See ``Building Client Programs''.
C API, datatypes:
          See ``MySQL C API''.
C API, functions:
          See ``C API Function Overview''.
C API, linking problems:
          See ``Problems Linking with the C API''.
C Prepared statement API, functions:
          See ``C API Prepared Statement Function Overview''.
C++ APIs:
          See ``MySQL C++ API''.
C++ Builder:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
C++ compiler cannot create executables:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
C++ compiler, gcc:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
caches, clearing:
          See ```FLUSH' Syntax''.
calculating, dates:
          See ``Date Calculations''.
calling sequences for aggregate functions, UDF:
          See ``UDF Calling Sequences for aggregate functions''.
calling sequences for simple functions, UDF:
          See ``UDF Calling Sequences for simple functions''.
can't create/write to file:
          See ```Can't create/write to file' Error''.
case sensitivity, in identifiers:
          See ``Identifier Case Sensitivity''.
case sensitivity, in names:
          See ``Identifier Case Sensitivity''.
case sensitivity, in searches:
          See ``Case-Sensitivity in Searches''.
case sensitivity, in string comparisons:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
case-sensitivity, in access checking:
          See ``How the Privilege System Works''.
case-sensitivity, of database names:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
case-sensitivity, of table names:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
cast operators:
          See ``Case-Sensitivity''.
casts:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
cc1plus problems:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
certification:
          See ``Training and Certification''.
ChangeLog:
          See ``MySQL Change History''.
changes to privileges:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
changes, log:
          See ``MySQL Change History''.
changes, version 3.19:
          See ``Changes in release 3.19.x''.
changes, version 3.20:
          See ``Changes in release 3.20.x''.
changes, version 3.21:
          See ``Changes in release 3.21.x''.
changes, version 3.22:
          See ``Changes in release 3.22.x (Old; discontinued)''.
changes, version 3.23:
          See ``Changes in release 3.23.x (Recent; still supported)''.
changes, version 4.0:
          See ``Changes in release 4.0.x (Production)''.
changes, version 4.1:
          See ``Changes in release 4.1.x (Alpha)''.
changes, version 5.0:
          See ``Changes in release 5.0.x (Development)''.
changing socket location <1>:
          See ``How to Protect or Change the MySQL Socket File `/tmp/mysql.sock'''.
changing socket location <2>:
          See ``Starting and Stopping MySQL Automatically''.
changing socket location:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
changing, column:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
changing, column order:
          See ``How To Change the Order of Columns in a Table''.
changing, database:
          See ```ALTER DATABASE' Syntax''.
changing, field:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
changing, table <1>:
          See ``Problems with `ALTER TABLE'.''.
changing, table:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
Character sets:
          See ``National Character Sets and Unicode''.
character sets <1>:
          See ``The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting''.
character sets:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
character sets, adding:
          See ``Adding a New Character Set''.
character-sets-dir, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
characters, multi-byte:
          See ``Multi-byte Character Support''.
check options, myisamchk:
          See ``Check Options for `myisamchk'''.
checking, tables for errors:
          See ``How to Check Tables for Errors''.
checksum errors:
          See ``Solaris Notes''.
Chinese:
          See ``Case-Sensitivity in Searches''.
choosing types:
          See ``Choosing the Right Type for a Column''.
choosing, a MySQL version:
          See ``Choosing Which MySQL Distribution to Install''.
clearing, caches:
          See ```FLUSH' Syntax''.
client programs, building:
          See ``Building Client Programs''.
client tools:
          See ``MySQL APIs''.
clients, debugging:
          See ``Debugging a MySQL client''.
clients, threaded:
          See ``How to Make a Threaded Client''.
closing, tables:
          See ``How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables''.
ColdFusion program:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
collating, strings:
          See ``String Collating Support''.
column comments:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
column names, case sensitivity:
          See ``Identifier Case Sensitivity''.
column, changing:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
columns, changing:
          See ``How To Change the Order of Columns in a Table''.
columns, displaying:
          See ```mysqlshow', Showing Databases, Tables, and Columns''.
columns, indexes:
          See ``Column Indexes''.
columns, names:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
columns, other types:
          See ``Using Column Types from Other Database Engines''.
columns, selecting:
          See ``Selecting Particular Columns''.
columns, storage requirements:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
columns, types:
          See ``Column Types''.
command syntax:
          See ``Conventions Used in This Manual''.
command-line history:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
command-line options, mysql:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
command-line options, mysqlcc:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
command-line tool:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
commands out of sync:
          See ```Commands out of sync' Error in Client''.
commands, for binary distribution:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems''.
commands, list of:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
commands, replication masters:
          See ``SQL Statements for Controlling Master Servers''.
commands, replication slaves:
          See ``SQL Statements for Controlling Slave Servers''.
comments, adding:
          See ``Comment Syntax''.
comments, starting:
          See ```--' as the Start of a Comment''.
commercial support, types:
          See ``Support Offered by MySQL AB''.
compatibility, between MySQL versions <1>:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 3.21 to 3.22''.
compatibility, between MySQL versions <2>:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 3.22 to 3.23''.
compatibility, between MySQL versions <3>:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 3.23 to 4.0''.
compatibility, between MySQL versions <4>:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 4.0 to 4.1''.
compatibility, between MySQL versions:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 4.1 to 5.0''.
compatibility, with mSQL:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
compatibility, with ODBC <1>:
          See ``Changes in release 3.21.15''.
compatibility, with ODBC <2>:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
compatibility, with ODBC <3>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
compatibility, with ODBC <4>:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
compatibility, with ODBC <5>:
          See ``Column Types''.
compatibility, with ODBC:
          See ``Identifier Qualifiers''.
compatibility, with Oracle <1>:
          See ```DESCRIBE' Syntax (Get Information About Columns)''.
compatibility, with Oracle <2>:
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
compatibility, with Oracle:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
compatibility, with PostgreSQL:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
compatibility, with standard SQL:
          See ``MySQL Standards Compliance''.
compatibility, with Sybase:
          See ```USE' Syntax''.
compiler, C++ gcc:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
compiling, on Windows:
          See ``Compiling MySQL Clients on Windows''.
compiling, optimizing:
          See ``System/Compile Time and Startup Parameter Tuning''.
compiling, problems:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
compiling, speed:
          See ``How Compiling and Linking Affects the Speed of MySQL''.
compiling, statically:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
compiling, user-defined functions:
          See ``Compiling and Installing User-defined Functions''.
compliance, Y2K:
          See ``Year 2000 Compliance''.
compress, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
compress, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
compressed tables <1>:
          See ``Compressed Table Characteristics''.
compressed tables:
          See ```myisampack', The MySQL Compressed Read-only Table Generator''.
Conditions:
          See ```DECLARE' Conditions''.
config-file option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
config.cache:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
config.cache file:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
configuration files:
          See ``Causes of `Access denied' Errors''.
configuration options:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
configure option, -with-low-memory:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
configure script:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
configure, running after prior invocation:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
connect_timeout variable <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
connect_timeout variable:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
connecting, remotely with SSH:
          See ``Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH''.
connecting, to the server <1>:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
connecting, to the server:
          See ``Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Server''.
connecting, verification:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
connection, aborted:
          See ``Communication Errors / Aborted Connection''.
connection_name, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
Connector/J:
          See ``MySQL Java Connectivity (JDBC)''.
Connector/ODBC:
          See ``MySQL ODBC Support''.
constant table <1>:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `WHERE' Clauses''.
constant table:
          See ```EXPLAIN' Syntax (Get Information About a `SELECT')''.
consulting:
          See ``Consulting''.
contact information:
          See ``Contact Information''.
contributing companies, list of:
          See ``Supporters of MySQL''.
contributors, list of:
          See ``Contributors to MySQL''.
control access:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
conventions, typographical:
          See ``Conventions Used in This Manual''.
copying databases:
          See ``Copying MySQL Databases to Another Machine''.
copying tables:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
copyrights:
          See ``Copyrights and Licenses Used by MySQL''.
costs, support:
          See ``Support Offered by MySQL AB''.
counting, table rows:
          See ``Counting Rows''.
crash:
          See ``Debugging a MySQL server''.
crash, recovery:
          See ``Using `myisamchk' for Crash Recovery''.
crash, repeated:
          See ``What To Do If MySQL Keeps Crashing''.
crash-me:
          See ``The MySQL Benchmark Suite''.
crash-me program <1>:
          See ``The MySQL Benchmark Suite''.
crash-me program:
          See ``Portability''.
creating, bug reports:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
creating, databases:
          See ``Creating and Using a Database''.
creating, default startup options:
          See ``Using Option Files''.
creating, tables:
          See ``Creating a Table''.
Cursors:
          See ``Cursors''.
customer support, mailing address:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
customers, of MySQL:
          See ``What We Have Used MySQL For''.
CVS tree:
          See ``Installing from the Development Source Tree''.
data, character sets:
          See ``The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting''.
data, importing:
          See ```mysqlimport', Importing Data from Text Files''.
data, loading into tables:
          See ``Loading Data into a Table''.
data, retrieving:
          See ``Retrieving Information from a Table''.
data, size:
          See ``Get Your Data as Small as Possible''.
database design:
          See ``Design Choices''.
database names, case sensitivity:
          See ``Identifier Case Sensitivity''.
database names, case-sensitivity:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
database, changing:
          See ```ALTER DATABASE' Syntax''.
database, deleting:
          See ```DROP DATABASE' Syntax''.
database, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
database, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
databases, backups:
          See ``Database Backups''.
databases, copying:
          See ``Copying MySQL Databases to Another Machine''.
databases, creating:
          See ``Creating and Using a Database''.
databases, defined:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
databases, displaying:
          See ```mysqlshow', Showing Databases, Tables, and Columns''.
databases, dumping <1>:
          See ```mysqlhotcopy', Copying MySQL Databases and Tables''.
databases, dumping:
          See ```mysqldump', Dumping Table Structure and Data''.
databases, information about:
          See ``Getting Information About Databases and Tables''.
databases, names:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
databases, replicating:
          See ``Replication in MySQL''.
databases, selecting:
          See ``Creating and Selecting a Database''.
databases, symbolic links:
          See ``Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Unix''.
databases, using:
          See ``Creating and Using a Database''.
DataJunction:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
datatypes:
          See ``Column Types''.
datatypes, C API:
          See ``MySQL C API''.
Date and Time types:
          See ``Date and Time Types''.
date calculations:
          See ``Date Calculations''.
DATE columns, problems:
          See ``Problems Using `DATE' Columns''.
date functions, Y2K compliance:
          See ``Year 2000 Compliance''.
date types:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
date types, Y2K issues:
          See ``Y2K Issues and Date Types''.
date values, problems:
          See ``The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types''.
db table, sorting:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
DBI interface:
          See ``MySQL Perl API''.
DBI/DBD interface:
          See ``MySQL Perl API''.
DBUG package:
          See ``The DBUG Package''.
debug, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
debug-info, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
debugging, client:
          See ``Debugging a MySQL client''.
debugging, server:
          See ``Debugging a MySQL server''.
decimal point:
          See ``Column Types''.
default hostname:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
default installation location:
          See ``Installation Layouts''.
default options:
          See ``Using Option Files''.
default values <1>:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
default values <2>:
          See ```INSERT' Syntax''.
default values:
          See ``MySQL Design Limitations/Tradeoffs''.
default values, BLOB and TEXT columns:
          See ``The `BLOB' and `TEXT' Types''.
default values, suppression <1>:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
default values, suppression:
          See ``Constraint `NOT NULL' and `DEFAULT' values''.
default, privileges:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
default-character-set, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
defaults, embedded:
          See ``Using Option Files with the Embedded Server''.
delayed_insert_limit:
          See ```INSERT DELAYED' Syntax''.
deleting, database:
          See ```DROP DATABASE' Syntax''.
deleting, function:
          See ```CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax''.
deleting, index <1>:
          See ```DROP INDEX' Syntax''.
deleting, index:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
deleting, primary key:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
deleting, rows:
          See ``Deleting Rows from Related Tables''.
deleting, table:
          See ```DROP TABLE' Syntax''.
deleting, user:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
deleting, users:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
deletion, mysql.sock:
          See ``How to Protect or Change the MySQL Socket File `/tmp/mysql.sock'''.
Delphi program:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
derived tables:
          See ``Subqueries in the `FROM' clause''.
design, choices:
          See ``Design Choices''.
design, issues:
          See ``Known Errors and Design Deficiencies in MySQL''.
design, limitations:
          See ``MySQL Design Limitations/Tradeoffs''.
developers, list of:
          See ``Credits''.
development source tree:
          See ``Installing from the Development Source Tree''.
digits:
          See ``Column Types''.
directory structure, default:
          See ``Installation Layouts''.
disconnecting, from the server:
          See ``Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Server''.
disk full:
          See ``How MySQL Handles a Full Disk''.
disk issues:
          See ``Disk Issues''.
disks, splitting data across:
          See ``Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Windows''.
display size:
          See ``Column Types''.
displaying, database information:
          See ```mysqlshow', Showing Databases, Tables, and Columns''.
displaying, information, SHOW:
          See ``Retrieving Information about Database, Tables, Columns, and Indexes''.
displaying, table status:
          See ```SHOW TABLE STATUS'''.
DNS:
          See ``How MySQL uses DNS''.
Documenters, list of:
          See ``Documenters and translators''.
downgrading:
          See ``Upgrading/Downgrading MySQL''.
downloading:
          See ``How to Get MySQL''.
dropping, user:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
dumping, databases <1>:
          See ```mysqlhotcopy', Copying MySQL Databases and Tables''.
dumping, databases:
          See ```mysqldump', Dumping Table Structure and Data''.
dynamic table characteristics:
          See ``Dynamic Table Characteristics''.
Eiffel Wrapper:
          See ``MySQL Eiffel Wrapper''.
email lists:
          See ``The MySQL Mailing Lists''.
embedded MySQL server library:
          See ``libmysqld, the Embedded MySQL Server Library''.
employment with MySQL:
          See ``Contact Information''.
employment, contact information:
          See ``Contact Information''.
enable-named-commands, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
entering, queries:
          See ``Entering Queries''.
ENUM, size:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
environment variables <1>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
environment variables <2>:
          See ``Causes of `Access denied' Errors''.
environment variables:
          See ``Using Environment Variables to Specify Options''.
environment variables, list of:
          See ``Environment Variables''.
environment varible, PATH:
          See ``Invoking MySQL Programs''.
Errcode:
          See ```perror', Explaining Error Codes''.
errno:
          See ```perror', Explaining Error Codes''.
error mesaages, can't find file:
          See ``Problems with File Permissions''.
error messages, displaying:
          See ```perror', Explaining Error Codes''.
error messages, languages:
          See ``Non-English Error Messages''.
errors, access denied:
          See ```Access denied' Error''.
errors, checking tables for:
          See ``How to Check Tables for Errors''.
errors, common:
          See ``Problems and Common Errors''.
errors, directory checksum:
          See ``Solaris Notes''.
errors, handling for UDFs:
          See ``Return Values and Error Handling''.
errors, known:
          See ``Known Errors and Design Deficiencies in MySQL''.
errors, linking:
          See ``Problems When Linking with the MySQL Client Library''.
errors, list of:
          See ``Common Errors When Using MySQL''.
errors, reporting <1>:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
errors, reporting <2>:
          See ``MySQL Mailing Lists''.
errors, reporting:
          See ``General Information''.
escape characters:
          See ``Literal Values''.
estimating, query performance:
          See ``Estimating Query Performance''.
example option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
examples, compressed tables:
          See ```myisampack', The MySQL Compressed Read-only Table Generator''.
examples, myisamchk output:
          See ``Getting Information About a Table''.
examples, queries:
          See ``Examples of Common Queries''.
Excel:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
execute, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
expression aliases <1>:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
expression aliases:
          See ```GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields''.
expressions, extended:
          See ``Pattern Matching''.
extensions, to standard SQL:
          See ``MySQL Standards Compliance''.
extracting, dates:
          See ``Date Calculations''.
fatal signal 11:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
features of MySQL:
          See ``The Main Features of MySQL''.
field, changing:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
files, binary log:
          See ``The Binary Log''.
files, config.cache:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
files, error messages:
          See ``Non-English Error Messages''.
files, log <1>:
          See ``Log File Maintenance''.
files, log:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
files, not found message:
          See ``Problems with File Permissions''.
files, permissions:
          See ``Problems with File Permissions''.
files, query log:
          See ``The General Query Log''.
files, repairing:
          See ``Repair Options for myisamchk''.
files, script:
          See ``Using `mysql' in Batch Mode''.
files, size limits:
          See ``How Big MySQL Tables Can Be''.
files, slow query log:
          See ``The Slow Query Log''.
files, text:
          See ```mysqlimport', Importing Data from Text Files''.
files, tmp:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
files, update log:
          See ``The Update Log''.
files,my.cnf:
          See ``Replication Features and Known Problems''.
floating-point number:
          See ``Column Types''.
floats:
          See ``Numbers''.
flush tables:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
force, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
foreign key, constraint:
          See ``Constraint PRIMARY KEY / UNIQUE''.
foreign keys <1>:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
foreign keys <2>:
          See ``Using Foreign Keys''.
foreign keys:
          See ``Foreign Keys''.
free licensing:
          See ``Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL''.
FreeBSD troubleshooting:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
full disk:
          See ``How MySQL Handles a Full Disk''.
full-text search:
          See ``MySQL Full-text Search''.
FULLTEXT:
          See ``MySQL Full-text Search''.
function, deleting:
          See ```CREATE FUNCTION/DROP FUNCTION' Syntax''.
functions:
          See ``Functions and Operators''.
functions for SELECT and WHERE clauses:
          See ``Functions and Operators''.
functions, C API:
          See ``C API Function Overview''.
functions, C Prepared statement API:
          See ``C API Prepared Statement Function Overview''.
functions, grouping:
          See ``Parentheses''.
functions, native, adding:
          See ``Adding a New Native Function''.
functions, new:
          See ``Adding New Functions to MySQL''.
functions, user-defined:
          See ``Adding New Functions to MySQL''.
functions, user-defined, adding:
          See ``Adding a New User-defined Function''.
gcc:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
gdb, using:
          See ``Debugging mysqld under gdb''.
general information:
          See ``General Information''.
General Public License:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
General Public License, MySQL:
          See ``MySQL Licenses''.
geographic feature:
          See ``Introduction''.
geometry:
          See ``Introduction''.
geospatial feature:
          See ``Introduction''.
getting MySQL:
          See ``How to Get MySQL''.
GIS <1>:
          See ``Introduction''.
GIS:
          See ``Spatial Extensions in MySQL''.
global privileges:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
goals of MySQL:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
GPL, General Public License:
          See ``GNU General Public License''.
GPL, GNU General Public License:
          See ``GNU General Public License''.
GPL, MySQL:
          See ``MySQL Licenses''.
grant tables:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
grant tables, re-creating:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
grant tables, sorting <1>:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
grant tables, sorting:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
grant tables, upgrading:
          See ``Upgrading the Grant Tables''.
granting, privileges:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
graphical tool:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
GROUP BY, aliases in:
          See ```GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields''.
GROUP BY, extensions to standard SQL <1>:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
GROUP BY, extensions to standard SQL:
          See ```GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields''.
grouping, expressions:
          See ``Parentheses''.
GUI tool:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
Handlers:
          See ```DECLARE' Handlers''.
handling, errors:
          See ``Return Values and Error Handling''.
HEAP table type:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
help option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
help, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
help, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
hints <1>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
hints <2>:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
hints:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
history file:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
history of MySQL:
          See ``History of MySQL''.
history_size, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
host table:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
host table, sorting:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
host, mysql option <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
host, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
hostname caching:
          See ``How MySQL uses DNS''.
hostname, default:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
HP-UX, binary distribution:
          See ``Installing MySQL on HP-UX''.
html, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
ID, unique:
          See ``How to Get the Unique ID for the Last Inserted Row''.
identifiers:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
identifiers, case sensitivity:
          See ``Identifier Case Sensitivity''.
ignore-space, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
importing, data:
          See ```mysqlimport', Importing Data from Text Files''.
increasing, performance:
          See ``Replication FAQ''.
increasing, speed:
          See ``Replication in MySQL''.
index, deleting <1>:
          See ```DROP INDEX' Syntax''.
index, deleting:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
indexes:
          See ```CREATE INDEX' Syntax''.
indexes, and BLOB columns:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
indexes, and IS NULL:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
indexes, and LIKE:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
indexes, and NULL values:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
indexes, and TEXT columns:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
indexes, assigning to key cache:
          See ```CACHE INDEX' Syntax''.
indexes, block size:
          See ```SHOW VARIABLES'''.
indexes, columns:
          See ``Column Indexes''.
indexes, leftmost prefix of:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
indexes, multi-column:
          See ``Multiple-Column Indexes''.
indexes, multi-part:
          See ```CREATE INDEX' Syntax''.
indexes, names:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
indexes, use of:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
InnoDB table type:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
InnoDB tables:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
INSERT DELAYED:
          See ```INSERT DELAYED' Syntax''.
inserting, speed of:
          See ``Speed of `INSERT' Queries''.
installation layouts:
          See ``Installation Layouts''.
installation overview:
          See ``MySQL Installation Using a Source Distribution''.
installing, binary distribution:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems''.
installing, Linux RPM packages:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Linux''.
installing, Mac OS X PKG packages:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Mac OS X''.
installing, overview:
          See ``Installing MySQL''.
installing, Perl:
          See ``Perl Installation Notes''.
installing, Perl on Windows:
          See ``Installing ActiveState Perl on Windows''.
installing, source distribution:
          See ``MySQL Installation Using a Source Distribution''.
installing, user-defined functions:
          See ``Compiling and Installing User-defined Functions''.
integers:
          See ``Numbers''.
internal compiler errors:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
internal locking:
          See ``How MySQL Locks Tables''.
internals:
          See ``MySQL Internals''.
Internet Relay Chat:
          See ``MySQL Community Support on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)''.
Internet Service Providers:
          See ``Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL''.
IRC:
          See ``MySQL Community Support on IRC (Internet Relay Chat)''.
ISAM table type:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
ISP services:
          See ``Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL''.
Java connectivity:
          See ``MySQL Java Connectivity (JDBC)''.
JDBC:
          See ``MySQL Java Connectivity (JDBC)''.
jobs at MySQL:
          See ``Contact Information''.
key cache, assigning indexes to:
          See ```CACHE INDEX' Syntax''.
Key cache, MyISAM:
          See ``The MyISAM Key Cache''.
key space, MyISAM:
          See ``Space Needed for Keys''.
keys:
          See ``Column Indexes''.
keys, foreign <1>:
          See ``Using Foreign Keys''.
keys, foreign:
          See ``Foreign Keys''.
keys, multi-column:
          See ``Multiple-Column Indexes''.
keys, searching on two:
          See ``Searching on Two Keys''.
keywords:
          See ``Treatment of Reserved Words in MySQL''.
known errors:
          See ``Known Errors and Design Deficiencies in MySQL''.
language support:
          See ``Non-English Error Messages''.
last row, unique ID:
          See ``How to Get the Unique ID for the Last Inserted Row''.
layout of installation:
          See ``Installation Layouts''.
leftmost prefix of indexes:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
legal names:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
libmysqld:
          See ``libmysqld, the Embedded MySQL Server Library''.
libraries, list of:
          See ``Libraries used by and included with MySQL''.
library, mysqlclient:
          See ``MySQL APIs''.
licenses:
          See ``Copyrights and Licenses Used by MySQL''.
licensing costs:
          See ``Support Offered by MySQL AB''.
licensing policy:
          See ``MySQL Licenses''.
licensing terms:
          See ``MySQL Support and Licensing''.
licensing, contact information:
          See ``Contact Information''.
licensing, examples:
          See ``MySQL Licenses''.
licensing, free:
          See ``Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL''.
limitations, design:
          See ``MySQL Design Limitations/Tradeoffs''.
limits, file-size:
          See ``How Big MySQL Tables Can Be''.
linking:
          See ``Building Client Programs''.
linking, errors:
          See ``Problems When Linking with the MySQL Client Library''.
linking, problems:
          See ``Problems Linking with the C API''.
linking, speed:
          See ``How Compiling and Linking Affects the Speed of MySQL''.
links, symbolic:
          See ``Using Symbolic Links''.
Linux, binary distribution:
          See ``Linux Binary Distribution Notes''.
Linux, source distribution:
          See ``Linux Source Distribution Notes''.
literals:
          See ``Literal Values''.
loading, tables:
          See ``Loading Data into a Table''.
local-infile <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
local-infile:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
locking:
          See ``System/Compile Time and Startup Parameter Tuning''.
locking methods:
          See ``Locking methods''.
locking, row-level:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
locking, tables:
          See ``How MySQL Locks Tables''.
Log files:
          See ``The MySQL Log Files''.
log files:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
log files, maintaining:
          See ``Log File Maintenance''.
log files, names:
          See ``Database Backups''.
log option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
log, changes:
          See ``MySQL Change History''.
logos:
          See ``MySQL AB Logos and Trademarks''.
Mac OS X, installation:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Mac OS X''.
mailing address, for customer support:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
mailing list address:
          See ``General Information''.
mailing lists:
          See ``The MySQL Mailing Lists''.
mailing lists, archive location:
          See ``Asking Questions or Reporting Bugs''.
mailing lists, guidelines:
          See ``Guidelines for Answering Questions on the Mailing List''.
main features of MySQL:
          See ``The Main Features of MySQL''.
maintaining, log files:
          See ``Log File Maintenance''.
maintaining, tables:
          See ``Setting Up a Table Maintenance Regimen''.
make_binary_distribution:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
manual, available formats:
          See ``About This Manual''.
manual, online location:
          See ``About This Manual''.
manual, typographical conventions:
          See ``Conventions Used in This Manual''.
master/slave setup:
          See ``Replication Implementation Overview''.
matching, patterns:
          See ``Pattern Matching''.
max memory used:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
max_allowed_packet <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
max_allowed_packet:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
max_join_size <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
max_join_size:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
MBR:
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
memory usage, myisamchk:
          See ```myisamchk' Memory Usage''.
memory use <1>:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
memory use:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Memory''.
MERGE table type:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
MERGE tables, defined:
          See ```MERGE' Tables''.
messages, languages:
          See ``Non-English Error Messages''.
methods, locking:
          See ``Locking methods''.
Minimum Bounding Rectangle:
          See ``Relations on Geometry Minimal Bounding Rectangles (MBRs)''.
mirror sites:
          See ``How to Get MySQL''.
MIT-pthreads:
          See ``MIT-pthreads Notes''.
modes, batch:
          See ``Using `mysql' in Batch Mode''.
modules, list of:
          See ``MySQL Stability''.
monitor, terminal:
          See ``MySQL Tutorial''.
mSQL compatibility:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
msql2mysql:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
multi mysqld:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
multi-byte character sets:
          See ```Can't initialize character set xxx' error''.
multi-byte characters:
          See ``Multi-byte Character Support''.
multi-column indexes:
          See ``Multiple-Column Indexes''.
multi-part index:
          See ```CREATE INDEX' Syntax''.
multiple servers:
          See ``Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine''.
My, derivation:
          See ``History of MySQL''.
my.cnf file:
          See ``Replication Features and Known Problems''.
MyISAM key cache:
          See ``The MyISAM Key Cache''.
MyISAM table type:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
MyISAM, compressed tables <1>:
          See ``Compressed Table Characteristics''.
MyISAM, compressed tables:
          See ```myisampack', The MySQL Compressed Read-only Table Generator''.
MyISAM, size:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
myisamchk <1>:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
myisamchk:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
myisamchk, example output:
          See ``Getting Information About a Table''.
myisamchk, options:
          See ``General Options for `myisamchk'''.
myisampack <1>:
          See ``Compressed Table Characteristics''.
myisampack <2>:
          See ``Silent Column Specification Changes''.
myisampack:
          See ```myisampack', The MySQL Compressed Read-only Table Generator''.
MyODBC:
          See ``MySQL ODBC Support''.
MyODBC, reporting problems:
          See ``Reporting Problems with MyODBC''.
mysql <1>:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
mysql:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
MySQL AB, defined:
          See ``Overview of MySQL AB''.
MySQL binary distribution:
          See ``Choosing Which MySQL Distribution to Install''.
MySQL certification:
          See ``Training and Certification''.
mysql command-line options:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
MySQL consulting:
          See ``Consulting''.
MySQL Dolphin name:
          See ``History of MySQL''.
MySQL history:
          See ``History of MySQL''.
MySQL mailing lists:
          See ``MySQL Mailing Lists''.
MySQL name:
          See ``History of MySQL''.
MySQL source distribution:
          See ``Choosing Which MySQL Distribution to Install''.
MySQL table types:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
MySQL training:
          See ``Training and Certification''.
MySQL version:
          See ``How to Get MySQL''.
MySQL++:
          See ``MySQL C++ API''.
MySQL, defined:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
MySQL, introduction:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
MySQL, pronunciation:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
mysql.server:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysql.sock, changing location of:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
mysql.sock, protection:
          See ``How to Protect or Change the MySQL Socket File `/tmp/mysql.sock'''.
mysql_fix_privilege_tables <1>:
          See ``Causes of `Access denied' Errors''.
mysql_fix_privilege_tables:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysql_install_db:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysql_install_db script:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
mysqlaccess:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqladmin <1>:
          See ```KILL' Syntax''.
mysqladmin <2>:
          See ```FLUSH' Syntax''.
mysqladmin <3>:
          See ```SHOW STATUS'''.
mysqladmin <4>:
          See ```DROP DATABASE' Syntax''.
mysqladmin <5>:
          See ```CREATE DATABASE' Syntax''.
mysqladmin <6>:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
mysqladmin:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqladmin option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
mysqlbinlog <1>:
          See ```mysqlbinlog', Executing the queries from a binary log''.
mysqlbinlog:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqlbug:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqlbug script:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
mysqlbug script, location:
          See ``General Information''.
mysqlcc <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
mysqlcc:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqlcc command-line options:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
mysqlclient library:
          See ``MySQL APIs''.
mysqld:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqld option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
mysqld options <1>:
          See ``Tuning Server Parameters''.
mysqld options:
          See ```mysqld' Command-line Options''.
mysqld server, buffer sizes:
          See ``Tuning Server Parameters''.
mysqld, starting:
          See ``How to Run MySQL As a Normal User''.
mysqld-max <1>:
          See ```mysqld-max', An Extended `mysqld' Server''.
mysqld-max:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqld_multi <1>:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
mysqld_multi:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqld_safe <1>:
          See ```mysqld_safe', The Wrapper Around `mysqld'''.
mysqld_safe:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqldump <1>:
          See ```mysqldump', Dumping Table Structure and Data''.
mysqldump <2>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqldump:
          See ``Copying MySQL Databases to Another Machine''.
mysqlimport <1>:
          See ```LOAD DATA INFILE' Syntax''.
mysqlimport <2>:
          See ```mysqlimport', Importing Data from Text Files''.
mysqlimport <3>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqlimport:
          See ``Copying MySQL Databases to Another Machine''.
mysqlshow:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
mysqltest, MySQL Test Suite:
          See ``MySQL Test Suite''.
named pipes <1>:
          See ``Running MySQL Client Programs on Windows''.
named pipes:
          See ``Selecting a Windows Server''.
names:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
names, case sensitivity:
          See ``Identifier Case Sensitivity''.
names, variables:
          See ``User Variables''.
naming, releases of MySQL:
          See ``Choosing Which Version of MySQL to Install''.
native functions, adding:
          See ``Adding a New Native Function''.
native thread support:
          See ``Operating Systems Supported by MySQL''.
negative values:
          See ``Numbers''.
net etiquette <1>:
          See ``Guidelines for Answering Questions on the Mailing List''.
net etiquette:
          See ``Asking Questions or Reporting Bugs''.
net_buffer_length <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
net_buffer_length:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
netmask notation, in mysql.user table:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
NetWare:
          See ``Installing MySQL on NetWare''.
new procedures, adding:
          See ``Adding New Procedures to MySQL''.
new users, adding <1>:
          See ``Quick Source Installation Overview''.
new users, adding:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems''.
no matching rows:
          See ``Solving Problems with No Matching Rows''.
no-auto-rehash, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
no-beep, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
no-log option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
no-named-commands, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
no-pager, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
no-tee, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
non-delimited strings:
          See ``The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types''.
Non-transactional tables:
          See ```Some non-transactional changed tables couldn't be rolled back' Error''.
NOT NULL, constraint:
          See ``Constraint `NOT NULL' and `DEFAULT' values''.
Novell NetWare:
          See ``Installing MySQL on NetWare''.
NULL value:
          See ``Working with `NULL' Values''.
NULL values, and AUTO_INCREMENT columns:
          See ``Problems with `NULL' Values''.
NULL values, and indexes:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
NULL values, and TIMESTAMP columns:
          See ``Problems with `NULL' Values''.
NULL values, vs. empty values:
          See ``Problems with `NULL' Values''.
NULL, testing for null <1>:
          See ``Control Flow Functions''.
NULL, testing for null:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
numbers:
          See ``Numbers''.
numeric types:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
ODBC:
          See ``MySQL ODBC Support''.
ODBC compatibility <1>:
          See ``Changes in release 3.21.15''.
ODBC compatibility <2>:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
ODBC compatibility <3>:
          See ```JOIN' Syntax''.
ODBC compatibility <4>:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
ODBC compatibility <5>:
          See ``Column Types''.
ODBC compatibility:
          See ``Identifier Qualifiers''.
ODBC, administrator:
          See ``How to Fill in the Various Fields in the ODBC Administrator Program''.
odbcadmin program:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
one-database, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
online location of manual:
          See ``About This Manual''.
Open Source, defined:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
open tables <1>:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
open tables:
          See ``How MySQL Counts Open Tables''.
OpenGIS:
          See ``Introduction''.
opening, tables:
          See ``How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables''.
opens:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
OpenSSL:
          See ``Using Secure Connections''.
operating systems, file-size limits:
          See ``How Big MySQL Tables Can Be''.
operating systems, supported:
          See ``Operating Systems Supported by MySQL''.
operating systems, Windows versus Unix:
          See ``MySQL on Windows Compared to MySQL on Unix''.
operations, arithmetic:
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
operators:
          See ``Functions and Operators''.
operators, cast <1>:
          See ``Arithmetic Operations''.
operators, cast:
          See ``Case-Sensitivity''.
optimization, tips:
          See ``Other Optimization Tips''.
optimizations <1>:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `OR' Clauses''.
optimizations:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `WHERE' Clauses''.
optimizing, DISTINCT:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `DISTINCT'''.
optimizing, LEFT JOIN:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `LEFT JOIN' and `RIGHT JOIN'''.
optimizing, LIMIT:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `LIMIT'''.
optimizing, tables:
          See ``Table Optimization''.
option files <1>:
          See ``Causes of `Access denied' Errors''.
option files:
          See ``Using Option Files''.
options, command-line:
          See ```mysqld' Command-line Options''.
options, command-line, mysql:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
options, command-line, mysqlcc:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
options, configure:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
options, myisamchk:
          See ``General Options for `myisamchk'''.
options, provided by MySQL:
          See ``MySQL Tutorial''.
options, replication:
          See ``Replication Features and Known Problems''.
OR Merge Index optimization:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `OR' Clauses''.
Oracle compatibility <1>:
          See ```DESCRIBE' Syntax (Get Information About Columns)''.
Oracle compatibility <2>:
          See ```GROUP BY' Functions''.
Oracle compatibility:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
ORDER BY, aliases in:
          See ```GROUP BY' with Hidden Fields''.
overview:
          See ``General Information''.
pack_isam:
          See ```myisampack', The MySQL Compressed Read-only Table Generator''.
packages, list of:
          See ``Packages that support MySQL''.
pager, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
parameters, server:
          See ``Tuning Server Parameters''.
partnering with MySQL AB:
          See ``Partnering''.
password encryption, reversibility of:
          See ``Encryption Functions''.
password option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
password, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
password, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
password, root user:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
passwords, for users:
          See ``MySQL Usernames and Passwords''.
passwords, forgotten:
          See ``How to Reset a Forgotten Root Password''.
passwords, resetting:
          See ``How to Reset a Forgotten Root Password''.
passwords, security:
          See ``What the Privilege System Does''.
passwords, setting <1>:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
passwords, setting <2>:
          See ```SET' Syntax''.
passwords, setting:
          See ``Setting Up Passwords''.
PATH environment variable:
          See ``Invoking MySQL Programs''.
pattern matching:
          See ``Pattern Matching''.
performance, benchmarks:
          See ``Using Your Own Benchmarks''.
performance, disk issues:
          See ``Disk Issues''.
performance, estimating:
          See ``Estimating Query Performance''.
performance, improving <1>:
          See ``Get Your Data as Small as Possible''.
performance, improving:
          See ``Replication FAQ''.
Perl API:
          See ``MySQL Perl API''.
Perl DBI/DBD, installation problems:
          See ``Problems Using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' Interface''.
Perl, installing:
          See ``Perl Installation Notes''.
Perl, installing on Windows:
          See ``Installing ActiveState Perl on Windows''.
permission checks, effect on speed:
          See ``Optimizing `SELECT' Statements and Other Queries''.
perror:
          See ```perror', Explaining Error Codes''.
PHP API:
          See ``MySQL PHP API''.
plugins_path, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
port, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
port, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
portability:
          See ``Portability''.
portability, types:
          See ``Using Column Types from Other Database Engines''.
porting, to other systems:
          See ``Porting to Other Systems''.
post-install, multiple servers:
          See ``Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine''.
post-installation, setup and testing:
          See ``Post-installation Setup and Testing''.
PostgreSQL compatibility:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
prices, support:
          See ``Support Offered by MySQL AB''.
PRIMARY KEY, constraint:
          See ``Constraint PRIMARY KEY / UNIQUE''.
primary key, deleting:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
privilege information, location:
          See ``Privileges Provided by MySQL''.
privilege system:
          See ``What the Privilege System Does''.
privilege system, described:
          See ``How the Privilege System Works''.
privilege, changes:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
privileges, access:
          See ``The MySQL Access Privilege System''.
privileges, adding:
          See ``Adding New Users to MySQL''.
privileges, default:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
privileges, deleting:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
privileges, display:
          See ```SHOW GRANTS'''.
privileges, dropping:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
privileges, granting:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
privileges, revoking:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
problems, access denied errors:
          See ```Access denied' Error''.
problems, common errors:
          See ``Problems and Common Errors''.
problems, compiling:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
problems, DATE columns:
          See ``Problems Using `DATE' Columns''.
problems, date values:
          See ``The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types''.
problems, installing on IBM-AIX:
          See ``IBM-AIX notes''.
problems, installing on Solaris:
          See ``Solaris Notes''.
problems, installing Perl:
          See ``Problems Using the Perl `DBI'/`DBD' Interface''.
problems, linking:
          See ``Problems When Linking with the MySQL Client Library''.
problems, ODBC:
          See ``Reporting Problems with MyODBC''.
problems, reporting:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
problems, starting the server:
          See ``Starting and Troubleshooting the MySQL Server''.
problems, table locking:
          See ``Table Locking Issues''.
problems, time zone:
          See ``Time Zone Problems''.
procedures, adding:
          See ``Adding New Procedures to MySQL''.
procedures, stored <1>:
          See ``Stored Procedures and Functions''.
procedures, stored:
          See ``Stored Procedures and Triggers''.
process support:
          See ``Operating Systems Supported by MySQL''.
processes, display:
          See ```SHOW PROCESSLIST'''.
processing, arguments:
          See ``Argument Processing''.
products, selling:
          See ``MySQL Licenses''.
program variables, setting:
          See ``Using Options to Set Program Variables''.
programs, client:
          See ``Building Client Programs''.
programs, crash-me:
          See ``Portability''.
programs, list of <1>:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
programs, list of:
          See ``Overview of the Server-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
prompt command:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
prompt, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
prompts, meanings:
          See ``Entering Queries''.
pronunciation, MySQL:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
Protocol mismatch:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 3.20 to 3.21''.
protocol, mysql option <1>:
          See ```mysqlimport', Importing Data from Text Files''.
protocol, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
Python API:
          See ``MySQL Python API''.
queries, entering:
          See ``Entering Queries''.
queries, estimating performance:
          See ``Estimating Query Performance''.
queries, examples:
          See ``Examples of Common Queries''.
queries, speed of:
          See ``Optimizing `SELECT' Statements and Other Queries''.
queries, Twin Studies project:
          See ``Queries from the Twin Project''.
Query Cache:
          See ``MySQL Query Cache''.
query log:
          See ``The General Query Log''.
query, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
questions:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
questions, answering:
          See ``Guidelines for Answering Questions on the Mailing List''.
quick, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
quotes, in strings:
          See ``Strings''.
quoting:
          See ``Strings''.
quoting binary data:
          See ``Strings''.
RAID, compile errors:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
RAID, table type:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
raw, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
re-creating, grant tables:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
reconfiguring:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
reconnect, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
recovery, from crash:
          See ``Using `myisamchk' for Crash Recovery''.
reducing, data size:
          See ``Get Your Data as Small as Possible''.
references:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
regex:
          See ``MySQL Regular Expressions''.
register, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
regular expression syntax, described:
          See ``MySQL Regular Expressions''.
relational databases, defined:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
release numbers:
          See ``Choosing Which MySQL Distribution to Install''.
releases, naming scheme:
          See ``Choosing Which Version of MySQL to Install''.
releases, testing:
          See ``Choosing Which Version of MySQL to Install''.
releases, updating:
          See ``How and When Updates Are Released''.
reordering, columns:
          See ``How To Change the Order of Columns in a Table''.
repair options, myisamchk:
          See ``Repair Options for myisamchk''.
repairing, tables:
          See ``How to Repair Tables''.
replace:
          See ``Overview of the Client-Side Scripts and Utilities''.
replication:
          See ``Replication in MySQL''.
replication masters, commands:
          See ``SQL Statements for Controlling Master Servers''.
replication slaves, commands:
          See ``SQL Statements for Controlling Slave Servers''.
reporting, bugs:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
reporting, errors <1>:
          See ``MySQL Mailing Lists''.
reporting, errors:
          See ``General Information''.
reporting, MyODBC problems:
          See ``Reporting Problems with MyODBC''.
reserved words, exceptions:
          See ``Treatment of Reserved Words in MySQL''.
restarting, the server:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
retrieving, data from tables:
          See ``Retrieving Information from a Table''.
return values, UDFs:
          See ``Return Values and Error Handling''.
revoking, privileges:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
root password:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
root user, password resetting:
          See ``How to Reset a Forgotten Root Password''.
rounding errors <1>:
          See ``Mathematical Functions''.
rounding errors:
          See ``Column Types''.
rows, counting:
          See ``Counting Rows''.
rows, deleting:
          See ``Deleting Rows from Related Tables''.
rows, locking:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
rows, matching problems:
          See ``Solving Problems with No Matching Rows''.
rows, selecting:
          See ``Selecting Particular Rows''.
rows, sorting:
          See ``Sorting Rows''.
RPM file:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Linux''.
RPM Package Manager:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Linux''.
RTS-threads:
          See ``Comments about RTS threads''.
running a web server:
          See ``Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL''.
running configure after prior invocation:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
running, ANSI mode:
          See ``Running MySQL in ANSI Mode''.
running, batch mode:
          See ``Using `mysql' in Batch Mode''.
running, multiple servers:
          See ``Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine''.
running, queries:
          See ``Entering Queries''.
safe-mode command:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
safe-updates, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
safe_mysqld:
          See ```mysqld_safe', The Wrapper Around `mysqld'''.
Sakila:
          See ``History of MySQL''.
script files:
          See ``Using `mysql' in Batch Mode''.
scripts <1>:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
scripts <2>:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
scripts:
          See ```mysqld_safe', The Wrapper Around `mysqld'''.
scripts, mysql_install_db:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
scripts, mysqlbug:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
searching, and case sensitivity:
          See ``Case-Sensitivity in Searches''.
searching, full-text:
          See ``MySQL Full-text Search''.
searching, MySQL web pages:
          See ``Asking Questions or Reporting Bugs''.
searching, two keys:
          See ``Searching on Two Keys''.
security system:
          See ``The MySQL Access Privilege System''.
security, against attackers:
          See ``Making MySQL Secure Against Attackers''.
SELECT, Query Cache:
          See ``MySQL Query Cache''.
select_limit <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
select_limit:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
selecting, databases:
          See ``Creating and Selecting a Database''.
selling products:
          See ``MySQL Licenses''.
sequence emulation:
          See ``Information Functions''.
server administration:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
server, connecting <1>:
          See ``Connecting to the MySQL Server''.
server, connecting:
          See ``Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Server''.
server, debugging:
          See ``Debugging a MySQL server''.
server, disconnecting:
          See ``Connecting to and Disconnecting from the Server''.
server, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
server, restart:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
server, shutdown:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
server, starting:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
server, starting and stopping:
          See ``Starting and Stopping MySQL Automatically''.
server, starting problems:
          See ``Starting and Troubleshooting the MySQL Server''.
servers, multiple:
          See ``Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine''.
services, ISP:
          See ``Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL''.
services, web:
          See ``Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL''.
SET, size:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
set-variable, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
setting program variables:
          See ``Using Options to Set Program Variables''.
setting, passwords:
          See ``Setting Up Passwords''.
setup, post-installation:
          See ``Post-installation Setup and Testing''.
shell syntax:
          See ``Conventions Used in This Manual''.
showing, database information:
          See ```mysqlshow', Showing Databases, Tables, and Columns''.
shutting down, the server:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
silent column changes:
          See ``Silent Column Specification Changes''.
silent, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
size of tables:
          See ``How Big MySQL Tables Can Be''.
sizes, display:
          See ``Column Types''.
skip-column-names, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
skip-line-numbers, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
slow queries:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
slow query log:
          See ``The Slow Query Log''.
socket location, changing:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
socket, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
socket, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
Solaris installation problems:
          See ``Solaris Notes''.
Solaris troubleshooting:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
sorting, character sets:
          See ``The Character Set Used for Data and Sorting''.
sorting, data:
          See ``Sorting Rows''.
sorting, grant tables <1>:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
sorting, grant tables:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
sorting, table rows:
          See ``Sorting Rows''.
source distribution, installing:
          See ``MySQL Installation Using a Source Distribution''.
source distributions, on Linux:
          See ``Linux Source Distribution Notes''.
Spatial Extensions in MySQL:
          See ``Introduction''.
speed, compiling:
          See ``How Compiling and Linking Affects the Speed of MySQL''.
speed, increasing:
          See ``Replication in MySQL''.
speed, inserting:
          See ``Speed of `INSERT' Queries''.
speed, linking:
          See ``How Compiling and Linking Affects the Speed of MySQL''.
speed, of queries <1>:
          See ``Speed of `SELECT' Queries''.
speed, of queries:
          See ``Optimizing `SELECT' Statements and Other Queries''.
SQL commands, replication masters:
          See ``SQL Statements for Controlling Master Servers''.
SQL commands, replication slaves:
          See ``SQL Statements for Controlling Slave Servers''.
SQL, defined:
          See ``Overview of the MySQL Database Management System''.
SQL-92, extensions to:
          See ``MySQL Standards Compliance''.
sql_yacc.cc problems:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
square brackets:
          See ``Column Types''.
SSH:
          See ``Connecting to MySQL Remotely from Windows with SSH''.
SSL and X509 Basics:
          See ``Using Secure Connections''.
SSL command-line options:
          See ``SSL Command-line Options''.
SSL related options:
          See ``SSL `GRANT' Options''.
stability:
          See ``MySQL Stability''.
Standard SQL, differences from:
          See ```GRANT' and `REVOKE' Syntax''.
standards compatibility:
          See ``MySQL Standards Compliance''.
Starting many servers:
          See ``Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine''.
starting, comments:
          See ```--' as the Start of a Comment''.
starting, mysqld:
          See ``How to Run MySQL As a Normal User''.
starting, the server:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
starting, the server automatically:
          See ``Starting and Stopping MySQL Automatically''.
startup options, default:
          See ``Using Option Files''.
startup parameters:
          See ``Tuning Server Parameters''.
startup parameters, mysql:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
startup parameters, mysqlcc:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
startup parameters, tuning:
          See ``System/Compile Time and Startup Parameter Tuning''.
statically, compiling:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
status command:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
status command, results:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
status, tables:
          See ```SHOW TABLE STATUS'''.
stopping, the server:
          See ``Starting and Stopping MySQL Automatically''.
storage of data:
          See ``Design Choices''.
storage requirements, column type:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
storage space, minimising:
          See ``Get Your Data as Small as Possible''.
stored procedures:
          See ``Stored Procedures and Functions''.
stored procedures and triggers, defined:
          See ``Stored Procedures and Triggers''.
string collating:
          See ``String Collating Support''.
string comparisons, case sensitivity:
          See ``String Comparison Functions''.
string types:
          See ``String Types''.
strings, defined:
          See ``Literal Values''.
strings, escaping characters:
          See ``Literal Values''.
strings, non-delimited:
          See ``The `DATETIME', `DATE', and `TIMESTAMP' Types''.
striping, defined:
          See ``Disk Issues''.
subqueries:
          See ``Subquery Syntax''.
subquery:
          See ``Subquery Syntax''.
subselects:
          See ``Subquery Syntax''.
superuser:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
support costs:
          See ``Support Offered by MySQL AB''.
support terms:
          See ``MySQL Support and Licensing''.
support, for operating systems:
          See ``Operating Systems Supported by MySQL''.
support, licensing:
          See ``MySQL Licenses''.
support, mailing address:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
support, types:
          See ``Support Offered by MySQL AB''.
suppression, default values <1>:
          See ``Typical `configure' Options''.
suppression, default values:
          See ``Constraint `NOT NULL' and `DEFAULT' values''.
Sybase compatibility:
          See ```USE' Syntax''.
symbolic links <1>:
          See ``Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Windows''.
symbolic links:
          See ``Using Symbolic Links''.
syntax, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
syntax, regular expression:
          See ``MySQL Regular Expressions''.
syntax_file, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
system optimization:
          See ``System/Compile Time and Startup Parameter Tuning''.
system table:
          See ```EXPLAIN' Syntax (Get Information About a `SELECT')''.
system variables:
          See ``System Variables''.
system, privilege:
          See ``What the Privilege System Does''.
system, security:
          See ``General Security Issues''.
table aliases:
          See ```SELECT' Syntax''.
table cache:
          See ``How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables''.
table is full <1>:
          See ```The table is full' Error''.
table is full:
          See ```SET' Syntax''.
table names, case sensitivity:
          See ``Identifier Case Sensitivity''.
table names, case-sensitivity:
          See ``MySQL Extensions to the SQL-92 Standard''.
table types, choosing:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
table, changing <1>:
          See ``Problems with `ALTER TABLE'.''.
table, changing:
          See ```ALTER TABLE' Syntax''.
table, deleting:
          See ```DROP TABLE' Syntax''.
table, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
tables, BDB:
          See ```BDB' or `BerkeleyDB' Tables''.
tables, Berkeley DB:
          See ```BDB' or `BerkeleyDB' Tables''.
tables, changing column order:
          See ``How To Change the Order of Columns in a Table''.
tables, checking:
          See ``Check Options for `myisamchk'''.
tables, closing:
          See ``How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables''.
tables, compressed:
          See ```myisampack', The MySQL Compressed Read-only Table Generator''.
tables, compressed format:
          See ``Compressed Table Characteristics''.
tables, constant <1>:
          See ``How MySQL Optimizes `WHERE' Clauses''.
tables, constant:
          See ```EXPLAIN' Syntax (Get Information About a `SELECT')''.
tables, copying:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
tables, counting rows:
          See ``Counting Rows''.
tables, creating:
          See ``Creating a Table''.
tables, defragment <1>:
          See ``Dynamic Table Characteristics''.
tables, defragment:
          See ``Setting Up a Table Maintenance Regimen''.
tables, defragmenting:
          See ```OPTIMIZE TABLE' Syntax''.
tables, deleting rows:
          See ``Deleting Rows from Related Tables''.
tables, displaying:
          See ```mysqlshow', Showing Databases, Tables, and Columns''.
tables, displaying status:
          See ```SHOW TABLE STATUS'''.
tables, dumping <1>:
          See ```mysqlhotcopy', Copying MySQL Databases and Tables''.
tables, dumping:
          See ```mysqldump', Dumping Table Structure and Data''.
tables, dynamic:
          See ``Dynamic Table Characteristics''.
tables, error checking:
          See ``How to Check Tables for Errors''.
tables, flush:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
tables, fragmentation:
          See ```OPTIMIZE TABLE' Syntax''.
tables, grant:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
tables, HEAP:
          See ```HEAP' Tables''.
tables, host:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
tables, improving performance:
          See ``Get Your Data as Small as Possible''.
tables, information:
          See ``Getting Information About a Table''.
tables, information about:
          See ``Getting Information About Databases and Tables''.
tables, ISAM:
          See ```ISAM' Tables''.
tables, loading data:
          See ``Loading Data into a Table''.
tables, locking:
          See ``How MySQL Locks Tables''.
tables, maintenance regimen:
          See ``Setting Up a Table Maintenance Regimen''.
tables, maximum size:
          See ``How Big MySQL Tables Can Be''.
tables, merging:
          See ```MERGE' Tables''.
tables, multiple:
          See ``Using More Than one Table''.
tables, names:
          See ``Database, Table, Index, Column, and Alias Names''.
tables, open:
          See ``How MySQL Counts Open Tables''.
tables, opening:
          See ``How MySQL Opens and Closes Tables''.
tables, optimizing:
          See ``Table Optimization''.
tables, partitioning:
          See ```MERGE' Tables''.
tables, RAID:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
tables, repairing:
          See ``How to Repair Tables''.
tables, retrieving data:
          See ``Retrieving Information from a Table''.
tables, selecting columns:
          See ``Selecting Particular Columns''.
tables, selecting rows:
          See ``Selecting Particular Rows''.
tables, sorting rows:
          See ``Sorting Rows''.
tables, symbolic links:
          See ``Using Symbolic Links for Tables on Unix''.
tables, system:
          See ```EXPLAIN' Syntax (Get Information About a `SELECT')''.
tables, too many:
          See ``Drawbacks to Creating Large Numbers of Tables in the Same Database''.
tables, unique ID for last row:
          See ``How to Get the Unique ID for the Last Inserted Row''.
tables, updating:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
tar, problems on Solaris:
          See ``Solaris Notes''.
Tcl API:
          See ``MySQL Tcl API''.
tcp-ip option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
TCP/IP <1>:
          See ``Running MySQL Client Programs on Windows''.
TCP/IP:
          See ``Selecting a Windows Server''.
technical support, licensing:
          See ``MySQL Licenses''.
technical support, mailing address:
          See ``How to Report Bugs or Problems''.
tee, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
temporary file, write access:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
temporary tables, problems:
          See ``TEMPORARY TABLE problems''.
terminal monitor, defined:
          See ``MySQL Tutorial''.
testing mysqld, mysqltest:
          See ``MySQL Test Suite''.
testing, connection to the server:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
testing, installation:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
testing, of MySQL releases:
          See ``Choosing Which Version of MySQL to Install''.
testing, post-installation:
          See ``Post-installation Setup and Testing''.
testing, the server:
          See ``Unix Post-installation Procedures''.
Texinfo:
          See ``About This Manual''.
TEXT columns, default values:
          See ``The `BLOB' and `TEXT' Types''.
TEXT columns, indexing:
          See ```CREATE TABLE' Syntax''.
text files, importing:
          See ```mysqlimport', Importing Data from Text Files''.
TEXT, size:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
thread packages, differences between:
          See ``Differences between different thread packages''.
thread support:
          See ``Operating Systems Supported by MySQL''.
thread support, non-native:
          See ``MIT-pthreads Notes''.
threaded clients:
          See ``How to Make a Threaded Client''.
threads <1>:
          See ``MySQL Internals''.
threads:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
threads, display:
          See ```SHOW PROCESSLIST'''.
threads, RTS:
          See ``Comments about RTS threads''.
time types:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
time zone problems:
          See ``Time Zone Problems''.
timeout <1>:
          See ```SHOW VARIABLES'''.
timeout <2>:
          See ```INSERT DELAYED' Syntax''.
timeout:
          See ``Miscellaneous Functions''.
timeout, connect_timeout variable <1>:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
timeout, connect_timeout variable:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
TIMESTAMP, and NULL values:
          See ``Problems with `NULL' Values''.
tips, optimization:
          See ``Other Optimization Tips''.
ToDo list for MySQL:
          See ``MySQL and the Future (The TODO)''.
TODO, embedded server:
          See ``Things left to do in Embedded Server (TODO)''.
TODO, symlinks:
          See ``Using Symbolic Links for Tables on Unix''.
tools, command-line:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
tools, graphical:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
tools, GUI:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
tools, list of:
          See ``Tools that were used to create MySQL''.
tools, mysqld_multi:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
tools, mysqld_safe:
          See ```mysqld_safe', The Wrapper Around `mysqld'''.
tools, safe_mysqld:
          See ```mysqld_safe', The Wrapper Around `mysqld'''.
trademarks:
          See ``MySQL AB Logos and Trademarks''.
training:
          See ``Training and Certification''.
transaction-safe tables <1>:
          See ``InnoDB Tables Overview''.
transaction-safe tables:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
transactions, support <1>:
          See ``InnoDB Tables Overview''.
transactions, support:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
translations_path, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
Translators, list of:
          See ``Documenters and translators''.
triggers:
          See ``Stored Procedures and Triggers''.
troubleshooting, FreeBSD:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
troubleshooting, Solaris:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
tutorial:
          See ``MySQL Tutorial''.
Twin Studies, queries:
          See ``Queries from the Twin Project''.
type conversions:
          See ``Comparison Operators''.
types of support:
          See ``Support Offered by MySQL AB''.
types, columns <1>:
          See ``Choosing the Right Type for a Column''.
types, columns:
          See ``Column Types''.
types, data:
          See ``Column Types''.
types, date:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
types, Date and Time:
          See ``Date and Time Types''.
types, numeric:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
types, of tables:
          See ``MySQL Table Types''.
types, portability:
          See ``Using Column Types from Other Database Engines''.
types, strings:
          See ``String Types''.
types, time:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
typographical conventions:
          See ``Conventions Used in This Manual''.
UCS-2:
          See ``National Character Sets and Unicode''.
UDFs, compiling:
          See ``Compiling and Installing User-defined Functions''.
UDFs, defined:
          See ``Adding New Functions to MySQL''.
UDFs, return values:
          See ``Return Values and Error Handling''.
unbuffered, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
Unicode:
          See ``National Character Sets and Unicode''.
unique ID:
          See ``How to Get the Unique ID for the Last Inserted Row''.
UNIQUE, constraint:
          See ``Constraint PRIMARY KEY / UNIQUE''.
unloading, tables:
          See ``Retrieving Information from a Table''.
unnamed views:
          See ``Subqueries in the `FROM' clause''.
update log:
          See ``The Update Log''.
updating, releases of MySQL:
          See ``How and When Updates Are Released''.
updating, tables:
          See ``Transactions and Atomic Operations''.
upgrading:
          See ``Upgrading/Downgrading MySQL''.
upgrading, 3.20 to 3.21:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 3.20 to 3.21''.
upgrading, 3.21 to 3.22:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 3.21 to 3.22''.
upgrading, 3.22 to 3.23:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 3.22 to 3.23''.
upgrading, 3.23 to 4.0:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 3.23 to 4.0''.
upgrading, 4.0 to 4.1:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 4.0 to 4.1''.
upgrading, different architecture:
          See ``Copying MySQL Databases to Another Machine''.
upgrading, grant tables:
          See ``Upgrading the Grant Tables''.
upgrading, to 5.0:
          See ``Upgrading from Version 4.1 to 5.0''.
uptime:
          See ```mysqladmin', Administering a MySQL Server''.
URLs for downloading MySQL:
          See ``How to Get MySQL''.
user option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
user privileges, adding:
          See ``Adding New Users to MySQL''.
user privileges, deleting:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
user privileges, dropping:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
user table, sorting:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
user variables:
          See ``User Variables''.
user, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
user, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
user-defined functions, adding <1>:
          See ``Adding a New User-defined Function''.
user-defined functions, adding:
          See ``Adding New Functions to MySQL''.
usernames, and passwords:
          See ``MySQL Usernames and Passwords''.
users, adding <1>:
          See ``Quick Source Installation Overview''.
users, adding:
          See ``Installing MySQL on Other Unix-like Systems''.
users, deleting:
          See ``Deleting Users from MySQL''.
users, root:
          See ``Setting Up the Initial MySQL Privileges''.
uses, of MySQL:
          See ``What We Have Used MySQL For''.
using multiple disks to start data:
          See ``Using Symbolic Links for Databases on Windows''.
UTF-8:
          See ``National Character Sets and Unicode''.
UTF8:
          See ``National Character Sets and Unicode''.
valid numbers, examples:
          See ``Numbers''.
VARCHAR, size:
          See ``Column Type Storage Requirements''.
variables, mysqld:
          See ``Tuning Server Parameters''.
variables, status:
          See ```SHOW STATUS'''.
variables, System:
          See ``System Variables''.
variables, user:
          See ``User Variables''.
variables, values:
          See ```SHOW VARIABLES'''.
verbose, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
version option:
          See ```mysqld_multi', A Program for Managing Multiple MySQL Servers''.
version, choosing:
          See ``Choosing Which MySQL Distribution to Install''.
version, latest:
          See ``How to Get MySQL''.
version, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
version, mysqlcc option:
          See ```mysqlcc', The MySQL Control Center''.
vertical, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
views:
          See ``Views''.
virtual memory, problems while compiling:
          See ``Dealing With Problems Compiling MySQL''.
Visual Basic:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
wait, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
web server, running:
          See ``Using the MySQL Software for Free Under GPL''.
Well-Known Binary format:
          See ``Well-Known Binary (WKB) Format''.
Well-Known Text format:
          See ``Well-Known Text (WKT) Format''.
What is an X509/Certificate?:
          See ``Basics''.
What is encryption:
          See ``Basics''.
wildcards, and LIKE:
          See ``How MySQL Uses Indexes''.
wildcards, in mysql.columns_priv table:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
wildcards, in mysql.db table:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
wildcards, in mysql.host table:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
wildcards, in mysql.tables_priv table:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 2: Request Verification''.
wildcards, in mysql.user table:
          See ``Access Control, Stage 1: Connection Verification''.
Windows:
          See ``MySQL ODBC Support''.
Windows, compiling on:
          See ``Compiling MySQL Clients on Windows''.
Windows, open issues:
          See ``MySQL on Windows Compared to MySQL on Unix''.
Windows, upgrading:
          See ``Upgrading MySQL under Windows''.
Windows, versus Unix:
          See ``MySQL on Windows Compared to MySQL on Unix''.
WKB:
          See ``Well-Known Binary (WKB) Format''.
WKT:
          See ``Well-Known Text (WKT) Format''.
Word program:
          See ``Programs Known to Work with MyODBC''.
wrappers, Eiffel:
          See ``MySQL Eiffel Wrapper''.
write access, tmp:
          See ``Problems Running `mysql_install_db'''.
xml, mysql option:
          See ```mysql', The Command-line Tool''.
Year 2000 compliance:
          See ``Year 2000 Compliance''.
Year 2000 issues:
          See ``Y2K Issues and Date Types''.
