2.10.1 Initializing the Data Directory

Change location into the top-level directory of your MySQL installation directory, which is typically /usr/local/mysql:

shell> cd /usr/local/mysql

You will find several files and subdirectories inside the folder, including the bin subdirectory, which contains the server as well as the client and utility programs.

Create a directory whose location can be provided to the secure_file_priv system variable, which limits import/export operations to that specific directory:

shell> mkdir mysql-files

Grant ownership of the directory to the mysql user and group ownership to the mysql group, and set the right permissions for the directory:

shell> chown mysql:mysql mysql-files
shell> chmod 750 mysql-files

Initialize the data directory, including the mysql database containing the initial MySQL grant tables that determine how users are permitted to connect to the server.

Typically, data directory initialization need be done only after you first installed MySQL. If you are upgrading an existing installation, you should run mysql_upgrade instead (see Section 4.4.5, “mysql_upgrade — Check and Upgrade MySQL Tables”). However, the command that initializes the data directory does not overwrite any existing privilege tables, so it should be safe to run in any circumstances. Use the server to initialize the data directory; for example:

shell> bin/mysqld --initialize --user=mysql

See Section 2.10.1.1, “Initializing the Data Directory Manually Using mysqld” for some important information on the command, especially on the command options you might use.

shell> bin/mysqld --initialize --user=mysql
bin/mysqld: error while loading shared libraries: libnuma.so.1: cannot
open shared object file: No such file or directory

If you want the server to be able to deploy with automatic support for secure connections, use the mysql_ssl_rsa_setup utility to create default SSL and RSA files:

shell> bin/mysql_ssl_rsa_setup

For more information, see Section 4.4.3, “mysql_ssl_rsa_setup — Create SSL/RSA Files”.

If the plugin directory (the directory named by the plugin_dir system variable) is writable by the server, it may be possible for a user to write executable code to a file in the directory using SELECT ... INTO DUMPFILE. This can be prevented by making the plugin directory read only to the server or by setting the secure_file_priv system variable at server startup to a directory where SELECT writes can be performed safely. (For example, set it to the mysql-files directory created earlier.)

To specify options that the MySQL server should use at startup, put them in a /etc/my.cnf or /etc/mysql/my.cnf file. You can use such a file to set, for example, the secure_file_priv system variable. See Section 5.1.2, “Server Configuration Defaults”. If you do not do this, the server starts with its default settings.

If you want MySQL to start automatically when you boot your machine, see Section 2.10.5, “Starting and Stopping MySQL Automatically”.