MySQL Bugs: #23881: Add a server variable that tells which config file the server is actually using

Bug #23881	Add a server variable that tells which config file the server is actually using
Submitted:	2 Nov 2006 10:04	Modified:	5 Feb 2008 13:19
Reporter:	Mike Lischke	Email Updates:
Status:	Won't fix	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: General	Severity:	S4 (Feature request)
Version:		OS:	Any (any)
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	config file, server variables

Description:
It would be extremely helpful if the server would tell us which config file it is currently using. Not only would bug hunting be simpler if something with the config file is wrong it would also help management tools which allow comfortable edition of config variables.

How to repeat:
Hmm, I marked it as feature request and *must* supply a way to reproduce a bug? Could be improved as well.

Suggested fix:
I bet somewhere in the server is stored which config file is currently being used since the server had to open it. Just add a (read-only) variable that can be queried.

Important too: which section in the config file is used by the server. This is important because several servers can share the same config file either using the same section or different ones.

The feature would be more useful if you'd ask about something that affect a running server.
But if you change a config file you'll need to restart the server for changes to take any effect. And if you're starting the server's binary you can as well give --help command-line option and see

...
Default options are read from the following files in the given order:
/etc/my.cnf /var/mysql/my.cnf ~/.my.cnf 
The following groups are read: mysqld server mysqld-4.1
...

Part of a larger (related) list now.