Description:
Inserting data with LOAD DATA INFILE is painfully slow with partitioned table and sometimes crawl to a stop. I haven't tried with SQL dumps to see if the problem repeats.

How to repeat:
CREATE TABLE t1 (
   f1 int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
   f2 int(10) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
   f3 char(33) CHARACTER SET latin1 NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
   f4 char(15) DEFAULT NULL,
   f5 datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
   f6 char(40) CHARACTER SET latin1 DEFAULT NULL,
   f7 text CHARACTER SET latin1,
  KEY f1_idx (f1),
  KEY f5_idx (f5)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 /*!50100 PARTITION BY RANGE (month(visited)) (PARTITION m1 VALUES LESS THAN (2) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m2 VALUES LESS THAN (3) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m3 VALUES LESS THAN (4) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m4 VALUES LESS THAN (5) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m5 VALUES LESS THAN (6) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m6 VALUES LESS THAN (7) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m7 VALUES LESS THAN (8) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m8 VALUES LESS THAN (9) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m9 VALUES LESS THAN (10) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m10 VALUES LESS THAN (11) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m11 VALUES LESS THAN (12) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m12 VALUES LESS THAN (13) ENGINE = MyISAM) */

Inserting 64GB of data takes more than 1 day with this setup.

Repeat without partitioning : Insert took 1h30 avg.

Thank you for the bug report.

miguel@light:~/dbs$ cd 5.1
miguel@light:~/dbs/5.1$ bin/mysql -uroot
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 1
Server version: 5.1.16-beta-debug Source distribution

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the buffer.

mysql> create database db1;
Query OK, 1 row affected (0.03 sec)

mysql> use db1
Database changed
mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (
    ->    f1 int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
    ->    f2 int(10) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
    ->    f3 char(33) CHARACTER SET latin1 NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
    ->    f4 char(15) DEFAULT NULL,
    ->    f5 datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
    ->    f6 char(40) CHARACTER SET latin1 DEFAULT NULL,
    ->    f7 text CHARACTER SET latin1,
    ->   KEY f1_idx (f1),
    ->   KEY f5_idx (f5)
    -> ) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 /*!50100 PARTITION BY RANGE
    -> (month(f5)) (PARTITION m1 VALUES LESS THAN (2) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION
    -> m2 VALUES LESS THAN (3) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m3 VALUES LESS THAN (4)
    -> ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m4 VALUES LESS THAN (5) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m5
    -> VALUES LESS THAN (6) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m6 VALUES LESS THAN (7) ENGINE =
    -> MyISAM, PARTITION m7 VALUES LESS THAN (8) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m8 VALUES
    -> LESS THAN (9) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m9 VALUES LESS THAN (10) ENGINE =
    -> MyISAM, PARTITION m10 VALUES LESS THAN (11) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m11
    -> VALUES LESS THAN (12) ENGINE = MyISAM, PARTITION m12 VALUES LESS THAN (13)
    -> ENGINE = MyISAM) */
    -> ;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

mysql> load data infile '/home/miguel/fill.sql' into table t1 fields terminated by ',' lines terminated by '\n';
Query OK, 10000000 rows affected (13 min 40.31 sec)
Records: 10000000  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> select * from t1 limit 1\G
*************************** 1. row ***************************
f1: 1
f2: 2
f3: some text for f3
f4: some text f4
f5: 2007-02-25 02:00:39
f6: some text f6
f7: some text f7
1 row in set (0.14 sec)

mysql> drop table t1;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (1.83 sec)

mysql> CREATE TABLE t1 (
    ->    f1 int(10) unsigned NOT NULL DEFAULT '0',
    ->    f2 int(10) unsigned DEFAULT NULL,
    ->    f3 char(33) CHARACTER SET latin1 NOT NULL DEFAULT '',
    ->    f4 char(15) DEFAULT NULL,
    ->    f5 datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
    ->    f6 char(40) CHARACTER SET latin1 DEFAULT NULL,
    ->    f7 text CHARACTER SET latin1,
    ->   KEY f1_idx (f1),
    ->   KEY f5_idx (f5)
    -> ) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)

mysql> load data infile '/home/miguel/fill.sql' into table t1 fields terminated by ',' lines terminated by '\n';
Query OK, 10000000 rows affected (5 min 29.10 sec)
Records: 10000000  Deleted: 0  Skipped: 0  Warnings: 0

mysql> exit
Bye
miguel@light:~/dbs/5.1$ cat /etc/issue
Ubuntu 6.10 \n \l

#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#include <ctime>

using namespace std;

void main()
{
  ofstream out("c:\\fill.sql");
  struct tm * tinfo;
  time_t rt;
  char tmb[20];

  for (int n = 1; n <= 10000000; n++)
  {
   time( &rt );
   tinfo = localtime ( &rt );
   strftime (tmb,20,"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",tinfo);
   out << n << ',' << n+1 << ',' << "some text for f3" << ','
       << "some text f4" << ',' << tmb << ',' << "some text f6"
       << ',' << "some text f7\n";
  }
}

A patch for this bug has been committed. After review, it may
be pushed to the relevant source trees for release in the next
version. You can access the patch from:

  http://lists.mysql.com/commits/21693

ChangeSet@1.2477, 2007-03-11 22:30:54+04:00, holyfoot@mysql.com +1 -0
  Bug #26527 LOAD DATA INFILE extremely slow with partitioned table
  mysql_load calls hander::start_bulk_insert(0) to prepare caches
  for big inserts. As ha_partition didn't allow these caches
  for underlaying tables, the inserts were much slower

Pushed into 5.1.23-beta

Pushed into 6.0.4-alpha

Thank you for your bug report. This issue has been committed to our source repository of that product and will be incorporated into the next release.

If necessary, you can access the source repository and build the latest available version, including the bug fix. More information about accessing the source trees is available at

    http://dev.mysql.com/doc/en/installing-source.html

Documented fix in 5.1.23 and 6.0.4 changelogs. Closed.