MySQL- how to configure for temporary script path? Linux

keithostertag · 12-03-2014, 01:58 PM

I am just starting to look at MySQL. Loaded and running, on Debian.

I get lots of scripts from books and online for study. I don't know the best place to put them.

Evidently, the default would be the datadir which from /etc/mysql.my.cnf is = /var/lib/mysql. That seems like an odd place to dump a bunch of temporary educational scripts.

It would also be nice to not need to type a long absolute path each time I try out another script (using SOURCE).

Ideas?

Thanks,
Keith Ostertag

Habitual · 12-03-2014, 02:26 PM

I wouldn't put anything in /var/lib/mysql

How about making a /usr/src/tmp directory and sticking them there? That's easy to type for sourcing.

keithostertag · 12-03-2014, 02:53 PM

OK thanks.

But then how should I configure that path into mysql?

I could edit the my.cnf so that datadir= /usr/src/tmp or wherever. Is that the preferred method? (changing the default datadir)

Is there a way to simply add /usr/src/tmp (or wherever) to an existing path search that the program will check for scripts, or other data?

Thanks,
Keith

michaelk · 12-03-2014, 03:44 PM

You might have to provide some additional information but I assume by scripts they are either bash scripts or files containing SQL statements that you run via mysql. You do not have to configure mysql.

I would create a subdirectory in your home directory as whatever name you desire. You could add that directory to your path but not sure it is really necessary. Just change to that directory and edit run etc your scripts.

keithostertag · 12-03-2014, 04:34 PM

Hi Michael-

OK, thanks for responding. The scripts are just text files containing sql language statements, and end in .sql.

Yes, I can (and have) created a subdirectory for scripts. I can access them with SOURCE <path_to_file>;

My question really is asking where the normal conventional place to put such temporary scripts, or how to configure mysql to look for them in a path. Like Habitual suggests, I hesitate to put them in the default datadir.

In looking through several documents I failed to find any path that mysql uses, other than the defaults in my.cnf. Evidently the syntax of my.cnf does not allow more than a single absolute path for any given option. So I must be missing something.

Yes, I can (and did) put a subdirectory of these scripts in my path (using ~/.bashrc), but mysql does not search the user system path.

So, yes, I can access the scripts with:

Code:

mysql> SOURCE /home/keith/sql/filename.sql

but I was hoping there was an easier/shorter way to do this so I could just use

Code:

mysql> SOURCE filename.sql

Thanks,
Keith Ostertag

Habitual · 12-03-2014, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keithostertag

My question really is asking where the normal conventional place to put such temporary scripts, or how to configure mysql to look for them in a path. Like Habitual suggests, I hesitate to put them in the default datadir.

Keith: I use this to load data (if that's what your doing here)

Code:

mysql -u<user> -p<pass> db_name < /path/to/file.sql

or
cd /usr/src/tmp

Code:

mysql -u<user> -p<pass> db_name < ./file.sql

Does sourcing inside a mysql environment not do a data import?

keithostertag · 12-03-2014, 08:28 PM

Hi Habitual-

Oh... OK. So you put your *.sql files in /usr/src/tmp? So then you can cd /usr/src/tmp, then invoke mysql. That way the current working directory holds the scripts, and mysql sees them without using a path or or any configured subdirectory.

Yes, that works... don't know why I didn't think of that. So in my case I first cd /home/keith/sql/, then invoke mysql as usual.

I use SOURCE inside mysql because as I'm studying I am occassionally calling up dozens of demonstration *.sql scripts (one-at-a-time!) downloaded from online along with various sample databases. I'm not sourcing data- just scripts with sql statements, although I guess one could source data that way as well.

Thanks,
Keith Ostertag

kevinmilan2014 · 12-04-2014, 01:45 AM

When you execute your script, it gets a new shell environment. Thus when you export variables, you are exporting it to the new shell environment and not its parent environment. As far as I know, there is no way to access the parent environment. However, since you are using bash, there may be a few solutions:

Use source

Rather than execute the script like this: /path/to/init.sh do source /path/to/init.sh

From the bash man page:

Code:

source filename [arguments]

Read and execute commands from filename in the current shell environment and return the exit status of the last command executed from filename.

Make your script a shell function and put it in

Code:

.bashrc

]

Another option is to make init a function and put it in .bashrc like this:

Code:

function init {
    export PATH=$PATH:/home/me/morph_numsys/software/bin
}

Then from the terminal you can just run init.

astrogeek · 12-04-2014, 01:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kevinmilan2014

When you execute your script, it gets a new shell environment. Thus when you export variables, you are exporting it to the new shell environment and not its parent environment. As far as I know, there is no way to access the parent environment. However, since you are using bash, there may be a few solutions:
...

I don't see how you reply relates to the OP's question. Perhaps you should re-read and rethink your response to keep the posted information more relevant.