MySQL Bugs: #50601: Workbench won't connect without my.cnf in /etc

Bug #50601	Workbench won't connect without my.cnf in /etc
Submitted:	25 Jan 2010 19:19	Modified:	26 Feb 2010 18:16
Reporter:	Heather Collins	Email Updates:
Status:	No Feedback	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Workbench: Administration	Severity:	S1 (Critical)
Version:	5.4	OS:	Mac OS X
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	install, my.cnf, workbench

Description:
Workbench Administrator won't connect to mysql server. 

It is looking for file /etc/my.cnf, but default installation of mysql on Mac is in /usr/local and so there's nothing sql-related in /etc.     

This a show-stopper.   Or am I missing something. 

How to repeat:
Install using OSX pkg.  Now try to run workbench and connect to the server. 

Suggested fix:
Um ... fix workbench to look for configuration info in the right place?

Hi Heather,

does Admin completely refuse to start? i can start it here, using a local server profile, without even having a local db installed. it just informs me of not being able to connect and it wont give me much data or an edit-enabled config-grid. but its starting just fine.

Hi Johannes,

Yes it starts.   The bug is that it won't connect to the server. 
Thanks!

I do NOT think this is a bug at all. It is common practice in UNIX (and Mac OS X is a kind of UNIX internally after all) to use /etc/my.cnf and other files in /etc for storing information (in plain text files) about configuration of different programs and services. See http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/option-files.html.

Also when you create new server instance, at a later stage, there is a separate dialog box where you can provide path to server's configuration file. 

So, I see no big problem with using /etc/my.cnf by default. There is no /usr/local/mysql/my.cnf installed from .dmg anyway...

No feedback was provided for this bug for over a month, so it is
being suspended automatically. If you are able to provide the
information that was originally requested, please do so and change
the status of the bug back to "Open".

The problem is that a fresh install of MySQL 5.1 on a Mac does not include any my.cnf file, in /etc or elsewhere.  An optimal solution would be for Workbench to create that file if none is found.