Bug #24889 Inconsistency of what happens when FLUSH LOGS is executed
Submitted: 7 Dec 2006 14:49 Modified: 7 Dec 2006 18:47
Reporter: Mikael Ronström Email Updates:
Status: Closed Impact on me:
None 
Category:MySQL Server: Documentation Severity:S3 (Non-critical)
Version:5.0 OS:
Assigned to: Paul DuBois CPU Architecture:Any

[7 Dec 2006 14:49] Mikael Ronström
Description:
c

How to repeat:
/* Cut from section 5.12.1 */
You can specify where mysqld stores the error log file with the --log-error[=file_name]  option. If no file_name value is given, mysqld uses the name host_name.err  and writes the file in the data directory. If you execute FLUSH LOGS, the error log is renamed with the suffix -old and mysqld  creates a new empty log file. (No renaming occurs if the --log-error option was not given.)
/* End cut */

/* Cut from section 5.12.5 */
The server creates a new binary log file when you flush the logs. However, it just closes and reopens the general and slow query log files. To cause new files to be created on Unix, rename the current logs before flushing them. At flush time, the server will open new logs with the original names. For example, if the general and slow query logs are named mysql.log and mysql-slow.log, you can use a series of commands like this:
/* end cut */

The cut from section 5.12.5 gives an impression that also the error log is
just closed and not renamed whereas this is stated in section 5.12.1. So it
isn't really wrong but it is very unclear after reading section 5.12.5. I
would recommend a referral to previous section on error log or mention it again
in section 5.12.5 that error logs are renamed

Suggested fix:
The cut from section 5.12.5 gives an impression that also the error log is
just closed and not renamed whereas this is stated in section 5.12.1. So it
isn't really wrong but it is very unclear after reading section 5.12.5. I
would recommend a referral to previous section on error log or mention it again
in section 5.12.5 that error logs are renamed
[7 Dec 2006 15:32] MySQL Verification Team
Thank you for the bug report.
[7 Dec 2006 18:47] Paul DuBois
Thank you for your bug report. This issue has been addressed in the documentation. The updated documentation will appear on our website shortly, and will be included in the next release of the relevant products.

Thanks, I'll clarify section 5.12.5.