# mariadbd-safe

## NAME



           mariadbd-safe - MariaDB server startup script (mariadbd-safe is
           now a symlink to mariadbd-safe)
    


## SYNOPSIS



    
           **mariadbd-safe** _options_
    


## DESCRIPTION



           **mariadbd-safe** is the recommended way to start a **mariadbd** server on
           Unix.  **mariadbd-safe** adds some safety features such as restarting
           the server when an error occurs and logging runtime information to
           an error log file. Descriptions of error logging is given later in
           this section.
    
           **mariadbd-safe** tries to start an executable named **mariadbd**. To
           override the default behavior and specify explicitly the name of
           the server you want to run, specify a **--mariadbd** or
           **--mariadbd-version** option to **mariadbd-safe**. You can also use
           **--ledir** to indicate the directory where **mariadbd-safe** should look
           for the server.
    
           Many of the options to **mariadbd-safe** are the same as the options
           to **mariadbd**.
    
           Options unknown to **mariadbd-safe** are passed to **mariadbd** if they
           are specified on the command line, but ignored if they are
           specified in the [mariadbd-safe] or [mariadbd_safe] groups of an
           option file.
    
           **mariadbd-safe** reads all options from the [mariadbd], [server],
           [mariadbd-safe] and [mariadbd_safe] sections in option files. For
           example, if you specify a [mariadbd] section like this, **mariadbd-**
           **safe** will find and use the **--log-error** option:
    
               [mariadbd]
               log-error=error.log
    
           For backward compatibility, **mariadbd-safe** also reads
           [safe_mariadbd] sections, although you should rename such sections
           to [mariadbd-safe] in current installations.
    
           **mariadbd-safe** supports the options in the following list. It also
           reads option files and supports the options for processing them.
    
           •   **--help**
    
               Display a help message and exit.
    
           •   **--basedir=**_path_
    
               The path to the MariaDB installation directory.
    
           •   **--core-file-size=**_size_
    
               The size of the core file that **mariadbd** should be able to
               create. The option value is passed to **ulimit -c**.
    
           •   **--crash-script=**_file_
    
               Script to call in the event of mariadbd crashing.
    
           •   **--datadir=**_path_
    
               The path to the data directory.
    
           •   **--defaults-extra-file=**_path_
    
               The name of an option file to be read in addition to the usual
               option files. This must be the first option on the command
               line if it is used. If the file does not exist or is otherwise
               inaccessible, the server will exit with an error.
    
           •   **--defaults-file=**_file_name_
    
               The name of an option file to be read instead of the usual
               option files. This must be the first option on the command
               line if it is used.
    
           •   **--flush-caches**
    
               Flush and purge buffers/caches before starting the server.
    
           •   **--ledir=**_path_
    
               If **mariadbd-safe** cannot find the server, use this option to
               indicate the path name to the directory where the server is
               located.
    
           •   **--log-error=**_file_name_
    
               Write the error log to the given file.
    
           •   **--malloc-lib=**_lib_
    
               Preload shared library lib if available.
    
           •   **--mariadbd=**_prog_name_
    
               The name of the server program (in the ledir directory) that
               you want to start. This option is needed if you use the
               MariaDB binary distribution but have the data directory
               outside of the binary distribution. If **mariadbd-safe** cannot
               find the server, use the **--ledir** option to indicate the path
               name to the directory where the server is located.
    
           •   **--mariadbd-version=**_suffix_
    
               This option is similar to the **--mariadbd** option, but you
               specify only the suffix for the server program name. The
               basename is assumed to be **mariadbd**. For example, if you use
               **--mariadbd-version=debug** , **mariadbd-safe** starts the
               **mariadbd-debug** program in the ledir directory. If the argument
               to **--mariadbd-version** is empty, **mariadbd-safe** uses **mariadbd** in
               the ledir directory.
    
           •   **--nice=**_priority_
    
               Use the nice program to set the server's scheduling priority
               to the given value.
    
           •   **--no-auto-restart** , **--nowatch** , **--no-watch**
    
               Exit after starting mariadbd.
    
           •   **--no-defaults**
    
               Do not read any option files. This must be the first option on
               the command line if it is used.
    
           •   **--numa-interleave**
    
               Run mariadbd with its memory interleaved on all NUMA nodes.
    
           •   **--open-files-limit=**_count_
    
               The number of files that **mariadbd** should be able to open. The
               option value is passed to **ulimit -n**. Note that you need to
               start **mariadbd-safe** as root for this to work properly!
    
           •   **--pid-file=**_file_name_
    
               The path name of the process ID file.
    
           •   **--plugin-dir=**_dir_name_
    
               Directory for client-side plugins.
    
           •   **--port=**_port_num_
    
               The port number that the server should use when listening for
               TCP/IP connections. The port number must be 1024 or higher
               unless the server is started by the root system user.
    
           •   **--skip-kill-mariadbd**
    
               Do not try to kill stray **mariadbd** processes at startup. This
               option works only on Linux.
    
           •   **--socket=**_path_
    
               The Unix socket file that the server should use when listening
               for local connections.
    
           •   **--syslog** , **--skip-syslog**
    
               **--syslog** causes error messages to be sent to syslog on systems
               that support the **logger** program.  --skip-syslog suppresses the
               use of syslog; messages are written to an error log file.
    
           •   **--syslog-tag=**_tag_
    
               For logging to syslog, messages from **mariadbd-safe** and
               **mariadbd** are written with a tag of mariadbd-safe and mariadbd,
               respectively. To specify a suffix for the tag, use
               **--syslog-tag=**_tag_ , which modifies the tags to be mariadbd-
               safe-_tag_ and mariadbd-_tag_.
    
           •   **--timezone=**_timezone_
    
               Set the TZ time zone environment variable to the given option
               value. Consult your operating system documentation for legal
               time zone specification formats.
    
           •   **--user={**_user_name_**|**_user_id_**}**
    
               Run the **mariadbd** server as the user having the name _user_name_
               or the numeric user ID _user_id_. (“User” in this context refers
               to a system login account, not a MariaDB user listed in the
               grant tables.)
    
           If you execute **mariadbd-safe** with the **--defaults-file** or
           **--defaults-extra-file** option to name an option file, the option
           must be the first one given on the command line or the option file
           will not be used. For example, this command will not use the named
           option file:
    
               mariadb> **mariadbd-safe --port=**_port_num_ **--defaults-file=**_file_name_
    
           Instead, use the following command:
    
               mariadb> **mariadbd-safe --defaults-file=**_file_name_ **--port=**_port_num_
    
           The **mariadbd-safe** script is written so that it normally can start
           a server that was installed from either a source or a binary
           distribution of MariaDB, even though these types of distributions
           typically install the server in slightly different locations.
           **mariadbd-safe** expects one of the following conditions to be true:
    
           •   The server and databases can be found relative to the working
               directory (the directory from which **mariadbd-safe** is invoked).
               For binary distributions, **mariadbd-safe** looks under its
               working directory for bin and data directories. For source
               distributions, it looks for libexec and var directories. This
               condition should be met if you execute **mariadbd-safe** from your
               MariaDB installation directory (for example, /usr/local/mysql
               for a binary distribution).
    
           •   If the server and databases cannot be found relative to the
               working directory, **mariadbd-safe** attempts to locate them by
               absolute path names. Typical locations are /usr/local/libexec
               and /usr/local/var. The actual locations are determined from
               the values configured into the distribution at the time it was
               built. They should be correct if MariaDB is installed in the
               location specified at configuration time.
    
           Because **mariadbd-safe** tries to find the server and databases
           relative to its own working directory, you can install a binary
           distribution of MariaDB anywhere, as long as you run **mariadbd-safe**
           from the MariaDB installation directory:
    
               shell> **cd** _mysql_installation_directory_
               shell> **bin/mariadbd-safe &**
    
           If **mariadbd-safe** fails, even when invoked from the MariaDB
           installation directory, you can specify the **--ledir** and **--datadir**
           options to indicate the directories in which the server and
           databases are located on your system.
    
           When you use **mariadbd-safe** to start **mariadbd** , **mariadbd-safe**
           arranges for error (and notice) messages from itself and from
           **mariadbd** to go to the same destination.
    
           There are several **mariadbd-safe** options for controlling the
           destination of these messages:
    
           •   **--syslog** : Write error messages to syslog on systems that
               support the **logger** program.
    
           •   **--skip-syslog** : Do not write error messages to syslog. Messages
               are written to the default error log file (_host_name_.err in
               the data directory), or to a named file if the **--log-error**
               option is given.
    
           •   **--log-error=**_file_name_ : Write error messages to the named error
               file.
    
           If none of these options is given, the default is **--skip-syslog**.
    
               **Note**
    
           If **--syslog** and **--log-error** are both given, a warning is issued
           and **--log-error** takes precedence.
    
           When **mariadbd-safe** writes a message, notices go to the logging
           destination (syslog or the error log file) and stdout. Errors go
           to the logging destination and stderr.
    
           Normally, you should not edit the **mariadbd-safe** script. Instead,
           configure **mariadbd-safe** by using command-line options or options
           in the [mariadbd-safe] section of a my.cnf option file. In rare
           cases, it might be necessary to edit **mariadbd-safe** to get it to
           start the server properly. However, if you do this, your modified
           version of **mariadbd-safe** might be overwritten if you upgrade
           MariaDB in the future, so you should make a copy of your edited
           version that you can reinstall.
    
           On NetWare, **mariadbd-safe** is a NetWare Loadable Module (NLM) that
           is ported from the original Unix shell script. It starts the
           server as follows:
    
            1. Runs a number of system and option checks.
    
            2. Runs a check on MyISAM tables.
    
            3. Provides a screen presence for the MariaDB server.
    
            4. Starts **mariadbd** , monitors it, and restarts it if it terminates
               in error.
    
            5. Sends error messages from **mariadbd** to the _host_name_.err file
               in the data directory.
    
            6. Sends **mariadbd-safe** screen output to the _host_name_.safe file
               in the data directory.
    


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