MySQL mailing lists and how to ask questions/give error (bug) reports

Subscribing to/un-subscribing from the MySQL mailing list.

Requests to be added or dropped from the MySQL list should be sent to the electronic mail address mdomo@tcx.se. Sending a one-line message with body text of either subscribe mysql or unsubscribe mysql will suffice. If your reply address is not valid, you may use subscribe mysql your@address.your-domain or unsubscribe mysql your@address.your-domain.

Please do not send mail about [un]subscribing to automatically forwarded to hundreds of other users.

Your local site may have many subscribers to mysql@tcx.se. In that case, it may have a local mailing list, so that a single message from tcx.se is sent to the site and propagated to the local list. In such cases, please contact your system administrator to be added to or dropped from the local mysql@tcx.se list.

Mail to mdomo is handled automatically by majordomo.

The following mailinglists exists:

mysql-announce

This is form announcement of new versions of MySQL and related programs. This is a low volume list that we think all MySQL users should be on.

mysql

The main list for general MySQL discussion. Please note that some things should go to the specialized lists. It you post to the wrong list you may not get a answer!

mysql-digest

The above list in digest form. That means that tou get all messages in one mail once a day.

mysql-Java

Discussion about MySQL and JAVA. Mostly about the JDBC drivers.

mysql-win32

All things concerning MySQL on Microsoft operating system like Windows/NT.

myodbc

All things concerning connection to MySQL with ODBC.

msql-mysql-modules

A list about the Perl support in MySQL.

msql-mysql-modules-digest

A digest version of the above.

You subscribe/unsubscribe to all lists in the same way as described above. Just exchange mysql with the list name.

Asking questions or reporting bugs.

Before you ask a question on the mailing list, it is a good idea to check this manual. If you can't find an answer here, check with your local MySQL expert. If you still can't find an answer to your question go ahead and read the next section about how to send mail to

I think I have found a bug. What information do you need to help me?

If you can, please use the `mysqlbug' script that can be found in the scripts directory in the distribution. If that is not possible, remember to specify (if relevant) the following. Note that it is possible to answer a letter with too much information but not one with too little.

1. State which version of MySQL you are using (for example mysql-3.21..tgz). You can find out which version you are running by typing mysqladmin version.
2. The manufacturer and model of machine you are working on.
3. The operating system. For most operating systems you can get this from uname -a.
4. Sometimes the amount of memory (real and virtual) is also relevant.
5. If this is a bug when compiling: Include the exact error messages and also a few lines around the offending code in the file from which you got the error.
6. If this is a run-time bug, please describe exactly how you got the error. If you can include a test program which shows the error you may get a more explicit answer.

If you are a support customer, please post the bug report to the specified mailing list for higher-priority treatment.

When answers are sent to you individually and not to the mailing list, it is considered good etiquette to summarise the answers and mail them to the mailing list.

MySQL keeps crashing

Since it is very hard to now why something crashing please do one of the following things.

First try to check if thigs that work for other crash for you:

• Have you tried the benchmarks? This should test MySQL rather well. You can also add code that simulates your application!
• Try also fork_test.pl and fork2_test.pl
• Check the reference manual about debugging mysqld.
• Recompile MySQL with the --with-debug switch to configure. This will include a safe memory allocator that can find some errors. This also gives a lot of output about what is happening.
• Use mysqld --log and try to find if it some specific query that kills it. 95% of all bugs is related to some specific query!
• Have you applied the latest patches for your Operating System ?
• Use --skip-locking
• Have you tried 'mysqladmin proc' when it 'dies' ?
• Put in some window the following command to output statistics: mysqladmin -i 5 status
• 1. Start mysqld with gdb (or another debugger).
  2. Run your test scripts.
  3. Do back (or the backtrace command in your debugger) when mysqld core dumps.
• Try to simulate your application with a perl script to force MySQL to crash/misbehave.
• Or send a normal bug report. See section I think I have found a bug. What information do you need to help me?. But be even more detailed than normally. Since MySQL works for a lot of people it may that the crash comes from something that only exists on your computer. For example, a system library error.

Guidelines for answering questions on the mailing list.

Try to make your answer broad enough that people other than the original poster may benefit from it. If you consider your answer to have broad interest, you may want to post it to the mailing list instead of replying directly to the individual who asked. In such cases, please make sure that your answer is not a duplication of a previous answer.

Try to summarise the essential part of the question in your reply, but don't feel obliged to quote the whole question.

Go to the first, previous, next, last section, table of contents.