--help, -h

Display a help message and exit.

--big-test

Allow tests marked as "big" to run. Tests can be thus marked by including the line --source include/big_test.inc, and they will only be run if this option is given, or if the environment variable BIG_TEST is set to 1.

This is typically done for tests that take very long to run, or that use very much resources, so that they are not suitable for running as part of a normal test suite run.

--boot-dbx

Run the mysqld server used for bootstrapping the database through the dbx debugger. This option is available from MySQL 5.5.17.

--boot-ddd

Run the mysqld server used for bootstrapping the database through the ddd debugger. This option is available from MySQL 5.5.17.

--boot-gdb

Run the mysqld server used for bootstrapping the database through the gdb debugger. This option is available from MySQL 5.5.17.

--build-thread=number

Specify a number to calculate port numbers from. The formula is 10 * build_thread + 10000. Instead of a number, it can be set to auto, which is also the default value, in which case mysql-test-run.pl will allocate a number unique to this host.

The value (number or auto) can also be set with the MTR_BUILD_THREAD environment variable.

From MySQL 5.1.45, the more logical --port-base is supported as an alternative.

--callgrind

Instructs valgrind to use callgrind.

--check-testcases

Check test cases for side effects. This is done by checking system state before and after each test case; if there is any difference, a warning to that effect will be written, but the test case will not be marked as failed because of it. This check is enabled by default.

--clean-vardir

Clean up the var directory with logs and test results etc. after the test run, but only if there were no test failures. This option only has effect if also running with option --mem. The intent is to alleviate the problem of using up memory for test results, in cases where many different test runs are being done on the same host.

The --clean-vardir option is available from MySQL 5.5.

--client-bindir=path

The path to the directory where client binaries are located.

--client-dbx

Start mysqltest in the dbx debugger. Support for dbx is available from MySQL 5.5.12.

--client-ddd

Start mysqltest in the ddd debugger.

--client-debugger=debugger

Start mysqltest in the named debugger.

--client-gdb

Start mysqltest in the gdb debugger.

--client-libdir=path

The path to the directory where client libraries are located.

--combination=value

Extra option to pass to mysqld. The value should consist of a single mysqld option including dashes. This option is similar to --mysqld but has a different effect. mysql-test-run.pl executes multiple test runs, using the options for each instance of --combination in successive runs. If --combination is given only once, it has no effect. For test runs specific to a given test suite, an alternative to the use of --combination is to create a combinations file in the suite directory. The file should contain a section of options for each test run. See Section 4.9, “Passing Options from mysql-test-run.pl to mysqld or mysqltest”.

--comment=str

Write str to the output within lines filled with #, as a form of banner.

--compress

Compress all information sent between the client and the server if both support compression.

--cursor-protocol

Pass the --cursor-protocol option to mysqltest (implies --ps-protocol).

--dbx

Start mysqld in the dbx debugger. Support for dbx is available from MySQL 5.5.12.

--ddd

Start mysqld in the ddd debugger.

--debug

Dump trace output for all clients and servers.

--debugger=debugger

Start mysqld using the named debugger.

--debug-server

Runs mysqld.debug (if available) instead of mysqld as server. If it does find mysqld.debug, it will search for plugin libraries in a subdirectory debug under the directory where it's normally located. This option does not turn on trace output and is independent of the debug option.

The debug-server option was added in MySQL 5.1.56 and 5.5.10.

--debug-sync-timeout=N

Controls whether the Debug Sync facility for testing and debugging is enabled. The option value is a timeout in seconds. The default value is 300. A value of 0 disables Debug Sync. The value of this option also becomes the default timeout for individual synchronization points.

mysql-test-run.pl passes --loose-debug-sync-timeout=N to mysqld. The --loose prefix is used so that mysqld does not fail if Debug Sync is not compiled in.

For information about using the Debug Sync facility for testing, see Section 4.14, “Thread Synchronization in Test Cases”.

This option was added in MySQL 5.1.41.

--default-myisam

Use MyISAM as default engine for all except InnoDB-specific tests. This option was added in MySQL 5.5 and is on by default. It may be changed to off by default in a later release. See also --nodefault-myisam.

--defaults-file=file_name

Use the named file as fixed config file template for all tests.

--defaults_extra_file=file_name

Add setting from the named file to all generated configs.

--do-test=prefix

Run all test cases having a name that begins with the given prefix value. This option provides a convenient way to run a family of similarly named tests.

The argument for the --do-test option also allows more flexible specification of which tests to perform. If the argument contains a pattern metacharacter other than a lone period, it is interpreted as a Perl regular expression and applies to test names that match the pattern. If the argument contains a lone period or does not contain any pattern metacharacters, it is interpreted the same way as previously and matches test names that begin with the argument value. For example, --do-test=testa matches tests that begin with testa, --do-test=main.testa matches tests in the main test suite that begin with testa, and --do-test=main.*testa matches test names that contain main followed by testa with anything in between. In the latter case, the pattern match is not anchored to the beginning of the test name, so it also matches names such as xmainytestz.

--embedded-server

Use a version of mysqltest built with the embedded server.

--enable-disabled

Ignore any disabled.def file, and run also tests marked as disbaled. Success or failure of those tests will be reported the same way as other tests.

--experimental=file_name

Specify a file that contains a list of test cases that should be displayed with the [ exp-fail ] code rather than [ fail ] if they fail. This option was added in MySQL 5.1.33.

For an example of a file that might be specified using this option, see mysql-test/collections/default.experimental.

From MySQL 5.1.51, it's possible to supply more than one --experimental, test cases listed in all the files will be treated as experimental.

--extern option=value

Use an already running server. The option/value pair is what is needed by the mysql client to connect to the server. Each --extern can only take one option/value pair as argument, so it you need more you need to repeat --extern for each of them. Example:

      ./mysql-test-run.pl --extern socket=var/tmp/mysqld.1.sock alias

Note: If a test case has an .opt file that requires the server to be restarted with specific options, the file will not be used. The test case likely will fail as a result.

--fast

Do not perform controlled shutdown when servers need to be restarted or at the end of the test run. This is equivalent to using --shutdown-timeout=0.

--force

Normally, mysql-test-run.pl exits if a test case fails. --force causes execution to continue regardless of test case failure.

--force-restart

Always restart the server(s) between each tast case, whether it's needed or not. Will also restart between repeated runs of the same test case. This may be useful e.g. when looking for the source of a memory leak, as there will only have been one test run before the server exits.

The --force-restart option was added in MySQL version 5.1.52.

--gcov

Run tests with the gcov test coverage tool.

--gdb

Start mysqld in the gdb debugger.

--gprof

Run tests with the gprof profiling tool. --gprof was added in 5.1.45.

--include-ndbcluster, --include-ndb

Run also tests that need Cluster. This is the default behavior up to MySQL 5.1.51. From MySQL 5.1.52 this option has been added to re-enable running Cluster tests.

--manual-dbx

Use a server that has already been started by the user in the dbx debugger. Support for dbx is available from MySQL 5.5.12.

--manual-ddd

Use a server that has already been started by the user in the ddd debugger.

--manual-debug

Use a server that has already been started by the user in a debugger.

--manual-gdb

Use a server that has already been started by the user in the gdb debugger.

--mark-progress

Marks progress with timing (in milliseconds) and line number in var/log/testname.progress.

--max-connections=num

The maximum number of simultaneous server connections that may be used per test. If not set, the maximum is 128. Minimum allowed limit is 8, maximum is 5120. Corresponds to the same option for mysqltest.

This option is available from MySQL 5.1.45.

--max-save-core=N

Limit the number of core files saved, to avoid filling up disks in case of a frequently crashing server. Defaults to 5, set to 0 for no limit. May also be set with the environment variable MTR_MAX_SAVE_CORE

--max-save-datadir=N

Limit the number of data directories saved after failed tests, to avoid filling up disks in case of frequent failures. Defaults to 20, set to 0 for no limit. May also be set with the environment variable MTR_MAX_SAVE_DATADIR

--max-test-fail=N

Stop execution after the specified number of tests have failed, to avoid using up resources (and time) in case of massive failures. retries are noe counted, nor are failures of tests marked experimental. Defaults to 10, set to 0 for no limit. May also be set with the environment variable MTR_MAX_TEST_FAIL

--mem

This option is not supported on Windows.

Run the test suite in memory, using tmpfs or ramdisk. This can decrease test times significantly, in particular if you would otherwise be running over a remote file system. mysql-test-run.pl attempts to find a suitable location using a built-in list of standard locations for tmpfs and puts the var directory there. This option also affects placement of temporary files, which are created in var/tmp.

The default list includes /dev/shm. You can also enable this option by setting the environment variable MTR_MEM[=dir_name]. If dir_name is given, it is added to the beginning of the list of locations to search, so it takes precedence over any built-in locations.

Once you have run tests with --mem within a mysql-testdirectory, a soflink var will have been set up to the temporary directory, and this will be re-used the next time, until the soflink is deleted. Thus, you do not have to repeat the --mem option next time.

--mysqld=value

Extra option to pass to mysqld. Only one option may be specified in value; to specify more than one, use additional --mysqld options. See Section 4.9, “Passing Options from mysql-test-run.pl to mysqld or mysqltest”.

--mysqld-env=variable=value

Sets (or changes) an environment variable before starting mysqld. Varibles set in the environment from which you run mysql-test-run.pl will normally also be propagated to mysqld, but there may be cases where you want a setting just for a single run, or you may not want the setting to affect other programs. You may use additional --mysqld-env options to set more than one variable.

The --mysqld-env option is available from MySQL 5.5.10.

--ndb-connectstring=str

Pass --ndb-connectstring=str to the master MySQL server. This option also prevents mysql-test-run.pl from starting a cluster. It is assumed that there is already a cluster running to which the server can connect with the given connectstring.

--nocheck-testcases

Disable the check for test case side effects; see --check-testcases for a description.

--nodefault-myisam

Do not override the build-in default engine to use MyISAM instead for non-InnoDB tests. This option was added in MySQL 5.5. Since the existing collection of tests were originally adapted for MyISAM as default, many tests will fail when this option is used, because the test behaves differently or produces different output when the engine switches to InnoDB.

--noreorder

Do not reorder tests to reduce number of restarts, but run them in exactly the order given. If a whole suite is to be run, the tests are run in alphabetic order, though similiar combinations will be grouped together. If more than one suite is listed, the tests are run one suite at a time, in the order listed.

--notimer

Cause mysqltest not to generate a timing file. The effect of this is that the report from each test case does not include the timing in milliseconds as it normally does.

--nounit-tests

Do not run unit tests, overriding default behaviour or setting of the MTR_UNIT_TESTS variable.

Running of unit tests was enabled from MySQL 5.5.11.

--nowarnings

Do not look for and report errors and warning in the server logs.

--parallel={N|auto}

Run tests using N parallel threads. By default, 1 thread is used. Use --parallel=auto for auto-setting of N. The auto value was added in MySQL 5.1.36.

--port-base=P

Specify base of port numbers to be used; a block of 10 will be allocated. P should be divisible by 10; if it is not, it will be rounded down. If running with more than one parallel test thread, thread 2 will use the next block of 10 and so on.

If the port number is given as auto, which is also the default, mysql-test-run.plwill allocate a number unique to this host. The value may also be given with the environment variable MTR_PORT_BASE.

--port-base was added in MySQL 5.1.45 as a more logical alternative to --build-thread. If both are used, --port-base takes presedence.

--print-testcases

Do not run any tests, but print details about all tests, in the order they would have been run.

--ps-protocol

Pass the --ps-protocol option to mysqltest.

--record

Pass the --record option to mysqltest. This option requires a specific test case to be named on the command line.

--reorder

Reorder tests to minimize the number of server restarts needed. This is the default behavior. There is no guarantee that a particular set of tests will always end up in the same order.

--repeat=N

Run each test N number of times.

--report-features

Display the output of SHOW ENGINES and SHOW VARIABLES. This can be used to verify that binaries are built with all required features.

--report-times

At the end of the test run, write a summary of how much time was spent in various phases of execution. If you run with --parallel, the total will exceed the wall clock time passed, since it will be summed over all threads.

The times reported should only be treated as approximations, and the exact points where the time is taken may also change between releases. If the test run is aborted, including if a test fails and --force is not in use, the time report will not be produced.

The --report-times is available from MySQL 5.5.

--retry=N

If a test fails, it is retried up to a maximum of N runs, but will terminate after 2 failures. Default is 3, set to 1 or 0 for no retries. This option has no effect unless --force is also used; without it, test execution will terminate after the first failure.

The --retry and --retry-failure options do not affect how many times a test repeated with --repeat may fail in total, as each repetition is considered a new test case, which may in turn be retried if it fails.

--retry-failure=N

Allow a failed and retried test to fail more than the default 2 times before giving it up. Setting it to 0 or 1 effectively turns off retries

--shutdown-timeout=SECONDS

Max number of seconds to wait for servers to do controlled shutdown before killing them. Default is 10.

--skip-combinations

Do not apply combinations; ignore combinations file or option.

--skip-ndbcluster, --skip-ndb

Do not start NDB Cluster; skip Cluster test cases. From MySQL 5.1.52, this is the default and so this option does not do anything but is kept for backwards compatibility.

--skip-ndbcluster-slave, --skip-ndb-slave

Do not start an NDB Cluster slave.

--skip-rpl

Skip replication test cases.

--skip-ssl

Do not start mysqld with support for SSL connections.

--skip-test=regex

Specify a regular expression to be applied to test case names. Cases with names that match the expression are skipped. tests to skip.

The argument for the --skip-test option allows more flexible specification of which tests to skip. If the argument contains a pattern metacharacter other than a lone period, it is interpreted as a Perl regular expression and applies to test names that match the pattern. See the description of the --do-test option for details.

--skip-test-list=file

Specify a file listing tests that should be skipped (disabled).

The file has the same format as the disabled.def file listing disabled tests. With this option, disabling can be done on a case by case basis. The --skip-test-list option is supported from MySQL 5.5.

--skip-*

--skip-* options not otherwise recognized by mysql-test-run.pl are passed to the master server.

--sleep=N

Pass --sleep=N to mysqltest.

--sp-protocol

Pass the --sp-protocol option to mysqltest.

--ssl

If mysql-test-run.pl is started with the --ssl option, it sets up a secure connection for all test cases. In this case, if mysqld does not support SSL, mysql-test-run.pl exits with an error message: Couldn't find support for SSL

--start

Initialize and start servers with the startup settings for the specified test case. You can use this option to start a server to which you can connect later. For example, after building a source distribution you can start a server and connect to it with the mysql client like this:

shell> cd mysql-test
shell> ./mysql-test-run.pl --start alias &
shell> ../mysql -S ./var/tmp/master.sock -h localhost -u root

If no tests are named on the command line, the server(s) will be started with settings for the first test that would have been run without the --start option.

mysql-test-run.pl will stop once the server has been started, but will terminate if the server dies. If killed, it will also shut down the server.

--start-and-exit

This is similar to --start, but mysql-test-run.pl terminates once the server has been started, leaving just the server process running.

Tha --start-and-exit was available with version 1 of mysql-test-run.pl (unlike --start which came with version 2), and is again supported in version 2 from MySQL 5.1.51.

--start-dirty

This is similar to --start, but will skip the database initialization phase and assume that database files are already available. Usually this means you must have run another test first.

--start-from=test_name

mysql-test-run.pl sorts the list of names of the test cases to be run, and then begins with test_name.

--strace-client

Create strace output for mysqltest. Will produce default strace output as mysqltest.strace. Note that this will be overwritten for each new test case, so it's most useful for running only one test.

The strace-client option is functional from MySQL 5.5.20, and only supported on Linux. The option was available in earlier versions too, but was not working properly.

--strace-server

Create strace output for the server. Will produce default strace output as mysqld.1.strace. Note that this will be overwritten each time the server is restarted, so it's most useful for running a single test, or if you want trace from the first test that fails.

The strace-server option is available from MySQL 5.5.20, on Linux only.

--stress=stress options

Start a server, but instead of running a test, run mysql-stress-test.pl with the supplied arguments. Arguments needed to communicate with the server will be automatically provided, the rest should be given as arguments to this option. Command line options for mysql-stress-test.pl should be separeted by a comma.

The stress option was added in MySQL 5.5.17, it is not a direct replacement for the option of the same name that exists in version 1 of mysql-test-run.pl.

--suite=suite_name

Run the named test suite. The default name is main (the regular test suite located in the mysql-test directory).

--suite-timeout=minutes

Specify the maximum test suite runtime.

--testcase-timeout

Specify the maximum test case runtime.

--timediff

Adds to each test report for a test case, the total time in sconds and milliseconds passed since the preceding test ended. This option can only be used together with --timestamp, and has no effect without it.

--timer

Cause mysqltest to generate a timing file. The default file is named ./var/log/timer.

--timestamp

Prints a timestamp before the test case name in each test report line, showing when the test ended.

--tmpdir=path

The directory where temporary file are stored. The default location is ./var/tmp. The environment variable MYSQL_TMP_DIR will be set to the path for this directory, whether it has the default value or has been set explicitly. This may be referred to in tests.

--unit-tests

Force running of unit tests, overriding default behaviour or setting of the MTR_UNIT_TESTS variable.

Running of unit tests was enabled from MySQL 5.5.11.

--user=user_name

The MySQL user name to use when connecting to the server.

--user-args

Drops all non-essential command line arguments to the mysqld server, except those supplied with --mysqld arguemnts, if any. Only works in combination with --start, --start-and-exit or --start-dirty, and only if no test name is given.

The --user-args option was added in MySQL 5.1.51.

--valgrind

Run mysqltest and mysqld with valgrind. This and the following --valgrind options require that the executables have been build with valgrind support.

When the server is run with valgrind, an extra pass over the server log file(s) will be performed after all tests are run, and any report with problems that have been reported at server shutdown will be extracted and printed. The most common warnings are memory leaks. With each report will also be listed all tests that were run since previous server restart; one of these is likely to have caused the problem. This reporting was added in MySQL 5.1.45.

From MySQL 5.5.13, a final "pseudo" test named valgrind_report is added to the list of tests when the server is run in valgrind. This test is reported as failed if any such shutdown warnings were produced by valgrind. Pass or failure of this test is also added to the total test count reported.

--valgrind-mysqld

Run the mysqld server with valgrind.

--valgrind-mysqltest

Run mysqltest with valgrind.

--valgrind-option=str

Extra options to pass to valgrind.

--valgrind-path=path

Specify the path name to the valgrind executable.

--vardir=path

Specify the path where files generated during the test run are stored. The default location is ./var. The environment variable MYSQLTEST_VARDIR will be set to the path for this directory, whether it has the default value or has been set explicitly. This may be referred to in tests.

--verbose

Give more verbose output regarding test execution. Use the option twice to get even more output. Note that the output generated within each test case is not affected.

--verbose-restart

Write when and why servers are restarted between test cases.

--view-protocol

Pass the --view-protocol option to mysqltest.

--vs-config=config_val

Specify the configuration used to build MySQL (for example, --vs-config=debug --vs-config=release). This option is for Windows only.

--wait-all

If --start or --start-dirty is used, wait for all servers to exit before termination. Otherise, it will terminate if one (of several) servers is restarted.

This option was added in MySQL 5.1.36.

--warnings

Search the server log for errors or warning after each test and report any suspicious ones; if any are found, the test will be marked as failed. This is the default behavior, it may be turned off with --nowarnings.

--with-ndbcluster-only

Run only test cases that have ndb in their name.