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2.2.2 Starting and Stopping MySQL Automatically »
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2.2.1. Problems Running mysql_install_db

The purpose of the mysql_install_db script is to generate new MySQL privilege tables. It does not overwrite existing MySQL privilege tables, and it does not affect any other data.

If you want to re-create your privilege tables, first stop the mysqld server if it is running. Then rename the mysql directory under the data directory to save it, and then run mysql_install_db. Suppose that your current directory is the MySQL installation directory and that mysql_install_db is located in the bin directory and the data directory is named data. To rename the mysql database and re-run mysql_install_db, use these commands. 

shell> mv data/mysql data/mysql.old
shell> bin/mysql_install_db --user=mysql

When you run mysql_install_db, you might encounter the following problems:

  • mysql_install_db fails to 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 error 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 do not understand what happened, include the log when you post a bug report. See How to Report Bugs or Problems.

  • There is a mysqld process running

    This indicates that the server is running, in which case the grant tables have probably been created already. If so, there is no need to run mysql_install_db at all because it needs to be run only once (when you install MySQL the first time).

  • Installing a second mysqld server does not work when one server is running

    This can happen when you have an existing MySQL installation, but want to put a new installation in a different location. For example, you might have a production installation, but you want to create a second installation for testing purposes. Generally the problem that occurs when you try to run a second server is that it tries to use a network interface that is in use by the first server. In this case, you should see one of the following error messages: 

    Can't start server: Bind on TCP/IP port:
Address already in use
Can't start server: Bind on unix socket...

    For instructions on setting up multiple servers, see Running Multiple MySQL Servers on the Same Machine.

  • You do not have write access to the /tmp directory

    If you do not have write access to create temporary files or a Unix socket file in the default location (the /tmp directory), an error occurs when you run mysql_install_db or the mysqld server.

    You can specify different locations for the temporary directory and Unix socket file by executing these commands prior to starting mysql_install_db or mysqld, where some_tmp_dir is the full path name to some directory for which you have write permission: 

    shell> TMPDIR=/some_tmp_dir/
shell> MYSQL_UNIX_PORT=/some_tmp_dir/mysql.sock
shell> export TMPDIR MYSQL_UNIX_PORT

    Then you should be able to run mysql_install_db and start the server with these commands: 

    shell> bin/mysql_install_db --user=mysql
shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &

    If mysql_install_db is located in the scripts directory, modify the first command to scripts/mysql_install_db.

    See How to Protect or Change the MySQL Unix Socket File, and Environment Variables.

There are some alternatives to running the mysql_install_db script provided in the MySQL distribution:

  • If you want the initial privileges to be different from the standard defaults, you can modify mysql_install_db before you run it. However, it is preferable to use GRANT and REVOKE to change the privileges after the grant tables have been set up. In other words, you can run mysql_install_db, and then use mysql -u root mysql to connect to the server as the MySQL root user so that you can issue the necessary GRANT and REVOKE statements.

    If you want to install MySQL on several machines with the same privileges, you can put the GRANT and REVOKE statements in a file and execute the file as a script using mysql after running mysql_install_db. For example: 

    shell> bin/mysql_install_db --user=mysql
shell> bin/mysql -u root < your_script_file

    By doing this, you can avoid having to issue the statements manually on each machine.

  • It is possible to re-create the grant tables completely after they have previously been created. You might want to do this if you're just learning how to use GRANT and REVOKE and have made so many modifications after running mysql_install_db that you want to wipe out the tables and start over.

    To re-create the grant tables, remove all the .frm, .MYI, and .MYD files in the mysql database directory. Then run the mysql_install_db script again.

  • You can start mysqld manually using the --skip-grant-tables option and add the privilege information yourself using mysql: 

    shell> bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql --skip-grant-tables &
shell> bin/mysql mysql

    From mysql, manually execute the SQL commands contained in mysql_install_db. Make sure that you run mysqladmin flush-privileges or mysqladmin reload afterward to tell the server to reload the grant tables.

    Note that by not using mysql_install_db, you not only have to populate the grant tables manually, you also have to create them first.