mariadb-install-db - Man Page
initialize MariaDB data directory (mariadb-install-db is now a symlink to mariadb-install-db)
Examples (TL;DR)
- Initialize a database:
sudo mariadb-install-db --user user --basedir /usr --datadir /var/lib/mysql
- Display help:
mariadb-install-db --help
Synopsis
mariadb-install-db [options]
Description
mariadb-install-db initializes the MariaDB data directory and creates the system tables that it contains, if they do not exist.
To invoke mariadb-install-db, use the following syntax:
shell> mariadb-install-db [options]
Because the MariaDB server, mariadbd, needs to access the data directory when it runs later, you should either run mariadb-install-db from the same account that will be used for running mariadbd or run it as root and use the --user option to indicate the user name that mariadbd will run as. It might be necessary to specify other options such as --basedir or --datadir if mariadb-install-db does not use the correct locations for the installation directory or data directory. For example:
shell> bin/mariadb-install-db --user=mysql \ --basedir=/opt/mysql/mysql \ --datadir=/opt/mysql/mysql/data
mariadb-install-db needs to invoke mariadbd with the --bootstrap and --skip-grant-tables options (see Section 2.3.2, “Typical configure Options”). If MariaDB was configured with the --disable-grant-options option, --bootstrap and --skip-grant-tables will be disabled. To handle this, set the mariadbd_BOOTSTRAP environment variable to the full path name of a server that has all options enabled. mariadb-install-db will use that server.
mariadb-install-db supports the following options, which can be specified on the command line or in the [mariadb-install-db] and (if they are common to mariadbd) [mariadbd] option file groups.
--basedir=path
The path to the MariaDB installation directory.
--builddir=path
If using --srcdir with out-of-directory builds, you will need to set this to the location of the build directory where built files reside..
--cross-bootstrap
For internal use. Used when building the MariaDB system tables on a different host than the target..
--datadir=path, --ldata=path
The path to the MariaDB data directory.
--defaults-extra-file=filename
Set filename as the file to read default options from after the global defaults files has been read. Must be given as first option.
--defaults-file=filename
Set filename as the file to read default options from, override global defaults files. Must be given as first option.
--defaults-group-suffix=name
In addition to the given groups, also read groups with this suffix.
--force
Cause mariadb-install-db to run even if DNS does not work. In that case, grant table entries that normally use host names will use IP addresses.
--help
Display a help message and exit.
--no-defaults
Do not read default options from any option file. This must be given as the first argument.
--print-defaults
Print the program argument list and exit. This must be given as the first argument.
--rpm
For internal use. This option is used by RPM files during the MariaDB installation process.
--skip-name-resolve
Use IP addresses rather than host names when creating grant table entries. This option can be useful if your DNS does not work.
--srcdir=path
For internal use. The directory under which mariadb-install-db looks for support files such as the error message file and the file for populating the help tables.4.
--user=user_name
The login user name to use for running mariadbd. Files and directories created by mariadbd will be owned by this user. You must be root to use this option. By default, mariadbd runs using your current login name and files and directories that it creates will be owned by you.
--extra-file=file_path
Add user defined SQL file, to be executed following regular database initialization.
--verbose
Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does.
--windows
For internal use. This option is used for creating Windows distributions.
Copyright
Copyright 2007-2008 MySQL AB, 2008-2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 2010-2025 MariaDB Foundation
This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.
This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with the program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1335 USA or see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
See Also
For more information, please refer to the MariaDB Knowledge Base, available online at https://mariadb.com/kb/
Author
MariaDB Foundation (http://www.mariadb.org/).