Learning MySQL, 2nd Edition

Chapter 9. Using Option Files

Almost every piece of software is capable of being configured, or even must be configured. MySQL is not much different in this regard. While the default configuration will probably suit an astonishing number of installations, more likely than not, you will end up needing to configure the server, or a client. MySQL provides two ways to configure itself: through command-line argument options, and through the configuration file. Since this file contains only the options that could be specified on the command line, it’s also called the option file.

The option file is not exclusive to MySQL Server. It’s also not strictly correct to talk about the option file, as pretty much every installation of MySQL will have multiple option files. Most MySQL software supports inclusion in the option files, and we’ll cover that, too.

Knowing your way around an option file—understanding its sections and option precedence—is an important part of efficiently working with MySQL Server and related software. After going through this chapter, you should feel comfortable configuring MySQL Server and other programs that use option files. This chapter will focus on the files themselves. The configuration of the server itself and some tuning ideas are discussed in depth in Chapter 11.

Structure of the Option File

Configuration files in MySQL follow the ubiquitous INI file scheme. In short, they are regular text files that are intended to be edited manually. Of course, you can ...