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5.2.2. The Error Log

The error log contains information indicating when mysqld was started and stopped and also any critical errors that occur while the server is running. If mysqld notices a table that needs to be automatically checked or repaired, it writes a message to the error log.

On some operating systems, the error log contains a stack trace if mysqld dies. The trace can be used to determine where mysqld died. See MySQL Internals: Porting to Other Systems.

In the following discussion, “console” means stderr, the standard error output; this is your terminal or console window unless the standard error output has been redirected. (For example, if invoked with the --syslog option, mysqld_safe arranges for the server's stderr to be sent to the syslog facility, as described later.)

On Windows, the --log-error and --console options both affect error logging:

  • Without --log-error, mysqld writes error messages to host_name.err in the data directory.

  • With --log-error[=file_name], mysqld writes error messages to an error log file. The server uses the named file if present, creating it in in the data directory unless an absolute path name is given to specify a different directory. If no file is named, the default name is host_name.err in the data directory.

  • If --console is given, mysqld writes error messages to the console, unless --log-error is also given. If both options are present, the last one takes precedence.

In addition, on Windows, events and error messages are written to the Windows Event Log within the Application log. Entries marked as Warning and Note are written to the Event Log, but not informational messages such as information statements from individual storage engines. These log entries have a source of MySQL. You cannot disable writing information to the Windows Event Log.

On Unix and Unix-like systems, mysqld writes error log messages as follows:

  • Without --log-error, mysqld writes error messages to the console.

  • With --log-error[=file_name], mysqld writes error messages to an error log file. The server uses the named file if present, creating it in the data directory unless an absolute path name is given to specify a different directory. If no file is named, the default name is host_name.err in the data directory.

At runtime, log_error system variable indicates the the error log file name if error output is written to a file.

If you flush the logs using FLUSH LOGS or mysqladmin flush-logs and mysqld is writing the error log to a file (for example, if it was started with the --log-error option), the effect is version dependent:

  • As of MySQL 5.1.51, the server closes and reopens the log file. To rename the file, do so manually before flushing. Then flushing the logs reopens a new file with the original file name. For example, to rename the file and create a new one, use the following commands: 

    shell> mv host_name.err host_name.err-old
shell> mysqladmin flush-logs
shell> mv host_name.err-old backup-directory

    On Windows, use rename rather than mv.

  • Prior to MySQL 5.1.51, the server renames the current log file with the suffix -old, then creates a new empty log file. Be aware that a second log-flushing operation thus causes the original error log file to be lost unless you save it under a different name. On Windows, you cannot rename the error log while the server has it open before MySQL 5.1.51. To avoid a restart, flush the logs first to cause the server to rename the original file and create a new one, then save the renamed file. That also works on Unix, or you can use the commands shown earlier.

No error log renaming occurs when the logs are flushed in any case if the server is not writing to a named file.

If you use mysqld_safe to start mysqld, mysqld_safe arranges for mysqld to write error messages to a log file or (as of MySQL 5.1.20) to syslog:

  • Before 5.1.20, mysqld_safe behavior is to log to a file, using the default error log file if the --log-error option is not given to mysqld_safe. Otherwise, mysqld_safe uses the file name specified using --log-error=file_name.

  • From 5.1.20 on, mysqld_safe has two additional error-logging options, --syslog and --skip-syslog.

    In 5.1.21 and up, the default with no logging options is --skip-syslog, which is compatible with the default behavior of writing an error log file for releases prior to 5.1.20. To explicitly specify use of an error log file, specify --log-error=file_name to mysqld_safe, and mysqld_safe will arrange for mysqld to write messages to a log file. To use syslog instead, specify the --syslog option.

    In 5.1.20 only, the following conditions apply: 1) The default is to use syslog, which is not compatible with releases prior to 5.1.20. 2) Logging to syslog may fail to operate correctly in some cases; if so, use --skip-syslog or --log-error.

    For logging to syslog, messages from mysqld_safe and mysqld are written with a tag of mysqld_safe and mysqld, respectively. As of MySQL 5.1.21, to specify a suffix for the tag, use --syslog-tag=tag, which modifies the tags to be mysqld_safe-tag and mysqld-tag.

If you specify --log-error in an option file in a [mysqld], [server], or [mysqld_safe] section, mysqld_safe will find and use the option.

If mysqld_safe is used to start mysqld and mysqld dies unexpectedly, mysqld_safe notices that it needs to restart mysqld and writes a restarted mysqld message to the error log.

The --log-warnings option or log_warnings system variable can be used to control warning logging to the error log. The default value is enabled (1). Warning logging can be disabled using a value of 0. If the value is greater than 1, aborted connections are written to the error log. See Section C.5.2.11, “Communication Errors and Aborted Connections”.

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User Comments

Posted by Jonathan Lampe on September 23 2004 1:20pm[Delete] [Edit]

I did some testing with MySQL 4.0.21 this morning. Here's a typical snippet from my "hostname.err" file. To generate this, I did a "NET START MySQL", connected with one session and ran a 2000-entry query, and then did a "NET STOP MySQL" while the query was still returning data.

MySql: ready for connections.
Version: '4.0.21-nt-log' socket: '' port: 3306 Source distribution
040923 10:00:00 MySql: Normal shutdown
040923 10:00:01 MySql: Forcing close of thread 1 user: 'root'
040923 10:00:01 InnoDB: Starting shutdown...
040923 10:00:03 InnoDB: Shutdown completed
040923 10:00:03 MySql: Shutdown Complete

The Windows Application Event Log recorded 3 messages at the same time. All of the messages corresponded with the entries prefixed with the "MySQL:" entries in the hostname.err file. (OK)

However, all 3 messages were logged as ERRORS; this designation is misleading. If anything, the "Normal Shutdown" and "Shutdown Complete" messages should have been logged as INFORMATION and the "Forcing close of thread..." message should have been logged as a WARNING.

Also, it is important to note that the MySQL service startup was NOT LOGGED in the Event Log.

Long story short, if you are a Windows user, it is probably still best (as of 4.0.21) to stick with your existing "parse-the-.err" script rather than rely on the Windows Event Log if you're interested in MySQL service starts, stops and abnormal events.

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