MySQL Bugs: #8519: 'wait_timeout' as returned by 'show variables' is not right

Bug #8519	'wait_timeout' as returned by 'show variables' is not right
Submitted:	15 Feb 2005 15:49	Modified:	15 Feb 2005 16:20
Reporter:	Johannes Ullrich	Email Updates:
Status:	Not a Bug	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	4.1.9	OS:	Linux (Linux (x86_64, Suse 9.1))
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
If I set 'wait_timeout', either via 'set global' or in my.cnf, it still returns 28800 regardless of the value I set. The actual new timeout does seem to work, but it is just not displayed right.

How to repeat:
in my.cnf add:
set-variable = wait_timeout=6000

restart server

mysql> show variables like 'wait_timeout';
+---------------+-------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+---------------+-------+
| wait_timeout  | 28800 |

now, 'set global wait_timeout=6000;' , disconnect and reconnect, and you will still see 28800.

I used this little perl script to test the actual timeout:
#!/usr/bin/perl

use DBI;
$dbh=DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:db;host=somehost","username","password", { PrintError =>1, RaiseError=>1 } ) || die ("can't connect\n");
$sth=$dbh->prepare("select now()");
$sth->execute();
($start)=$sth->fetchrow_array();
$sth->execute;
($now)=$sth->fetchrow_array();
print "$start $now\n";
sleep 70;
$sth->execute;
($now)=$sth->fetchrow_array();
print "$start $now\n";

if I set the time in the sleep line just below the wait_timeout I set (not the timeout shown by 'show variable'), it will work. I get disconnected if I set it higher (as I should)

Suggested fix:
fix the value displayed by 'show variables'?

Not a bug.
Since you're using an interactive client (mysql client identifies itself as that) the timeout used is interactive_timeout.

Change your interactive_timeout and try reconnecting.

Hi,

as Mikael already said, for interactive clients interactive_timeout variable is used.

You can check your changes with:

shell> mysqladmin variables