MySQL Bugs: #3233: mysqld_safe should use basedir and/or defaults-file

Bug #3233	mysqld_safe should use basedir and/or defaults-file
Submitted:	18 Mar 2004 14:50	Modified:	10 Feb 2006 14:16
Reporter:	Peter Kazmir	Email Updates:
Status:	Won't fix	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server	Severity:	S4 (Feature request)
Version:	4.0.17-pro	OS:	Any (All)
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
The mysqld_safe cannot be executed unless the user is in the installation directory of the MySQL server. It would be good if mysqld_safe would read and understand when --basedir is passed to it (and/or read basedir from the appropriate section of the value passed in --defaults-file) so that one could execute mysqld_safe from any directory.

Purely an enhancement request.

Thanks!

How to repeat:
Attempt to start mysqld_safe from a directory other that <install_dir>, even if including --basedir or --defaults-file (with a valid basedir) in the command line.

Suggested fix:
Change mysqld_safe so it recognizes and uses basedir in the command-line interface arguments and so it recognizes it in the defaults file if one is specified, and possibly in the default defaults file(s) if one isn't specified.

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Additional info:

Peter,

Can you elaborate more on "The mysqld_safe cannot be executed unless the user is in the installation directory of the MySQL server."

It always worked for me which means thousands of times within last 7 years. 

# pwd
/root
# /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe &
[1] 24560
# Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /usr/local/mysql-4.1/var

Success.
It works from any directory.

What hapens in your case?

Sorry, I didn't realize.  This is only a problem if you install MySQL somewhere OTHER THAN the default directory of /usr/local/mysql.  Say, /opt/mysql or /home/mysql.  Then it doesn't work, or, if there is another copy of MySQL installed in /usr/local/mysql, it will use files from the other installation which can produce unpredictable results.

Ok. I understand what do you mean.

When you relocate mysql basedir you have to change defaults in mysqld_safe too because of following lines:

<mysqld_safe snippet>

# Check if this is a 'moved install directory'
elif test -f ./var/mysql/db.frm -a -f ./share/mysql/english/errmsg.sys -a \
 -x ./libexec/mysqld
then
  MY_BASEDIR_VERSION=$MY_PWD            # Where libexec, share and var are
  ledir=$MY_BASEDIR_VERSION/libexec     # Where mysqld is
  DATADIR=$MY_BASEDIR_VERSION/var
else
  MY_BASEDIR_VERSION=/usr/local/mysql-4.0
  DATADIR=/usr/local/mysql-4.0/var
  ledir=/usr/local/mysql-4.0/libexec
fi

...

# Get first arguments from the my.cnf file, groups [mysqld] and [mysqld_safe]
# and then merge with the command line arguments
if test -x ./bin/my_print_defaults
then
  print_defaults="./bin/my_print_defaults"
elif test -x /usr/local/mysql-4.0/bin/my_print_defaults
then
  print_defaults="/usr/local/mysql-4.0/bin/my_print_defaults"
elif test -x /usr/local/mysql-4.0/bin/mysql_print_defaults
then
  print_defaults="/usr/local/mysql-4.0/bin/mysql_print_defaults"
else
  print_defaults="my_print_defaults"
fi

<end of snippet>

Here you can see that script always looks for MySQL instaleld in current directory. This is what you already know.

If it doesn't find MySQL it need to know where to find it and I can't imagine better way of doing it.

Basedir is set into mysqld_safe there during complie time. I deliberatly used an example of MySQL compiled with --prefix=/usr/local/mysql-4.0 to emphasise the fact that it is not hardcoded in source files.

mysqld_safe is generated from template mysqld_safe.sh in source directory.

I would not say this is a bug, but if you may have stronger arguments than mine.

It's not really a bug, I agree. I was submitting it as an enhancement request...that perhaps someone can make mysqld_safe smart enough to see that I've passed --basedir=<something> and override the defaults. It's certainly not a high priority, but I hope it doesn't get closed.

I do not think that we need to implement this additional feature/complication for mysqld_safe script. Workaround is clearly described here. Alternatively, you can compile MySQL from sources and put into any default besedir you want.