4.4.7 mysql_upgrade — Check and Upgrade MySQL Tables

Each time you upgrade MySQL, you should execute mysql_upgrade, which looks for incompatibilities with the upgraded MySQL server:

• It upgrades the system tables in the mysql schema so that you can take advantage of new privileges or capabilities that might have been added.

• It upgrades the Performance Schema.

• It examines user schemas.

If mysql_upgrade finds that a table has a possible incompatibility, it performs a table check and, if problems are found, attempts a table repair. If the table cannot be repaired, see Section 2.11.10, “Rebuilding or Repairing Tables or Indexes” for manual table repair strategies.

If you install MySQL from RPM packages on Linux, you must install the server and client RPMs. mysql_upgrade is included in the server RPM but requires the client RPM because the latter includes mysqlcheck. (See Section 2.5.5, “Installing MySQL on Linux Using RPM Packages from Oracle”.)

Note

On Windows, you must run mysql_upgrade with administrator privileges. You can do this by running a Command Prompt as Administrator and running the command. Failure to do so may result in the upgrade failing to execute correctly.

Caution

You should always back up your current MySQL installation before performing an upgrade. See Section 7.2, “Database Backup Methods”.

Some upgrade incompatibilities may require special handling before upgrading your MySQL installation and running mysql_upgrade. See Section 2.11, “Upgrading MySQL”, for instructions on determining whether any such incompatibilities apply to your installation and how to handle them.

Use mysql_upgrade like this:

1. Ensure that the server is running.

2. Invoke mysql_upgrade to upgrade the system tables in the mysql schema and check and repair tables in other schemas:

   mysql_upgrade [options]

3. Stop the server and restart it so that any system table changes take effect.

If you have multiple MySQL server instances to upgrade, invoke mysql_upgrade with connection parameters appropriate for connecting to each of the desired servers. For example, with servers running on the local host on parts 3306 through 3308, upgrade each of them by connecting to the appropriate port:

mysql_upgrade --protocol=tcp -P 3306 [other_options]
mysql_upgrade --protocol=tcp -P 3307 [other_options]
mysql_upgrade --protocol=tcp -P 3308 [other_options]

For local host connections on Unix, the --protocol=tcp option forces a connection using TCP/IP rather than the Unix socket file.

By default, mysql_upgrade runs as the MySQL root user. If the root password is expired when you run mysql_upgrade, you should see a message that your password is expired and that mysql_upgrade failed as a result. To correct this, reset the root password to unexpire it and run mysql_upgrade again:

shell> mysql -u root -p
Enter password: ****  <- enter root password here
mysql> SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('root-password');
mysql> quit

shell> mysql_upgrade [options]

mysql_upgrade executes the following commands to check and repair tables and to upgrade the system tables:

mysqlcheck --no-defaults --databases
 --fix-db-names --fix-table-names mysql
mysqlcheck --no-defaults --check-upgrade --databases
 --auto-repair mysql
mysql < fix_priv_tables
mysqlcheck --no-defaults --all-databases
 --skip-database=mysql --fix-db-names --fix-table-names
mysqlcheck --no-defaults --check-upgrade --all-databases
 --skip-database=mysql --auto-repair

Notes about the preceding commands:

• mysql_upgrade also adds --write-binlog or --skip-write-binlog to the mysqlcheck commands, depending on whether the --write-binlog option was specified on the mysql_upgrade command.

• Unless invoked with the --upgrade-system-tables option, mysql_upgrade processes all tables in all user schemas as necessary. Table checking might take a long time to complete. Each table is locked and therefore unavailable to other sessions while it is being processed. Check and repair operations can be time-consuming, particularly for large tables. Table checking uses mysqlcheck with the --all-databases and --check-upgrade option. For details about what --check-upgrade entails, see the description of the FOR UPGRADE option of the CHECK TABLE statement in Section 13.7.2.2, “CHECK TABLE Statement”.

• fix_priv_tables represents a script generated internally by mysql_upgrade that contains SQL statements to upgrade the tables in the mysql database.

mysql_upgrade marks all checked and repaired tables with the current MySQL version number. This ensures that the next time you run mysql_upgrade with the same version of the server, it can be determined whether there is any need to check or repair a given table again.

mysql_upgrade saves the MySQL version number in a file named mysql_upgrade_info in the data directory. This is used to quickly check whether all tables have been checked for this release so that table-checking can be skipped. To ignore this file and perform the check regardless, use the --force option.

mysql_upgrade does not upgrade the contents of the time zone tables or help tables. For upgrade instructions, see Section 5.1.13, “MySQL Server Time Zone Support”, and Section 5.1.14, “Server-Side Help Support”.

mysql_upgrade supports the following options, which can be specified on the command line or in the [mysql_upgrade] and [client] groups of an option file. Unrecognized options are passed to mysqlcheck. For information about option files, see Section 4.2.2.2, “Using Option Files”.

Table 4.9 mysql_upgrade Options

Option Name	Description	Introduced
--basedir	Not used
--character-sets-dir	Directory where character sets are installed
--compress	Compress all information sent between client and server
--datadir	Not used
--debug	Write debugging log
--debug-check	Print debugging information when program exits
--debug-info	Print debugging information, memory, and CPU statistics when program exits
--default-auth	Authentication plugin to use
--default-character-set	Specify default character set
--defaults-extra-file	Read named option file in addition to usual option files
--defaults-file	Read only named option file
--defaults-group-suffix	Option group suffix value
--force	Force execution even if mysql_upgrade has already been executed for current MySQL version
--help	Display help message and exit
--host	Host on which MySQL server is located
--login-path	Read login path options from .mylogin.cnf
--no-defaults	Read no option files
--password	Password to use when connecting to server
--pipe	Connect to server using named pipe (Windows only)
--plugin-dir	Directory where plugins are installed
--port	TCP/IP port number for connection
--print-defaults	Print default options
--protocol	Transport protocol to use
--shared-memory-base-name	Shared-memory name for shared-memory connections (Windows only)
--socket	Unix socket file or Windows named pipe to use
--ssl	Enable connection encryption
--ssl-ca	File that contains list of trusted SSL Certificate Authorities
--ssl-capath	Directory that contains trusted SSL Certificate Authority certificate files
--ssl-cert	File that contains X.509 certificate
--ssl-cipher	Permissible ciphers for connection encryption
--ssl-crl	File that contains certificate revocation lists
--ssl-crlpath	Directory that contains certificate revocation-list files
--ssl-key	File that contains X.509 key
--ssl-mode	Desired security state of connection to server	5.6.30
--ssl-verify-server-cert	Verify host name against server certificate Common Name identity
--tmpdir	Directory for temporary files
--upgrade-system-tables	Update only system tables, not user schemas
--user	MySQL user name to use when connecting to server
--verbose	Verbose mode
--version-check	Check for proper server version	5.6.12
--write-binlog	Write all statements to binary log

• --help

  Display a short help message and exit.

• --basedir=dir_name

  The path to the MySQL installation directory. This option is accepted for backward compatibility but ignored. It is removed in MySQL 5.7.

• --character-sets-dir=dir_name

  The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 10.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

• --compress

  Compress all information sent between the client and the server if possible. See Section 4.2.6, “Connection Compression Control”.

• --datadir=dir_name

  The path to the data directory. This option is accepted for backward compatibility but ignored. It is removed in MySQL 5.7.

• --debug[=debug_options], -# [debug_options]

  Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is d:t:o,file_name. The default is d:t:O,/tmp/mysql_upgrade.trace.

• --debug-check

  Print some debugging information when the program exits.

• --debug-info, -T

  Print debugging information and memory and CPU usage statistics when the program exits.

• --default-auth=plugin

  A hint about which client-side authentication plugin to use. See Section 6.2.11, “Pluggable Authentication”.

• --default-character-set=charset_name

  Use charset_name as the default character set. See Section 10.15, “Character Set Configuration”.

• --defaults-extra-file=file_name

  Read this option file after the global option file but (on Unix) before the user option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --defaults-file=file_name

  Use only the given option file. If the file does not exist or is otherwise inaccessible, an error occurs. If file_name is not an absolute path name, it is interpreted relative to the current directory.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --defaults-group-suffix=str

  Read not only the usual option groups, but also groups with the usual names and a suffix of str. For example, mysql_upgrade normally reads the [client] and [mysql_upgrade] groups. If this option is given as --defaults-group-suffix=_other, mysql_upgrade also reads the [client_other] and [mysql_upgrade_other] groups.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --force

  Ignore the mysql_upgrade_info file and force execution even if mysql_upgrade has already been executed for the current version of MySQL.

• --host=host_name, -h host_name

  Connect to the MySQL server on the given host.

• --login-path=name

  Read options from the named login path in the .mylogin.cnf login path file. A “login path” is an option group containing options that specify which MySQL server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. To create or modify a login path file, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --no-defaults

  Do not read any option files. If program startup fails due to reading unknown options from an option file, --no-defaults can be used to prevent them from being read.

  The exception is that the .mylogin.cnf file is read in all cases, if it exists. This permits passwords to be specified in a safer way than on the command line even when --no-defaults is used. To create .mylogin.cnf, use the mysql_config_editor utility. See Section 4.6.6, “mysql_config_editor — MySQL Configuration Utility”.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --password[=password], -p[password]

  The password of the MySQL account used for connecting to the server. The password value is optional. If not given, mysql_upgrade prompts for one. If given, there must be no space between --password= or -p and the password following it. If no password option is specified, the default is to send no password.

  Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. To avoid giving the password on the command line, use an option file. See Section 6.1.2.1, “End-User Guidelines for Password Security”.

  To explicitly specify that there is no password and that mysql_upgrade should not prompt for one, use the --skip-password option.

• --pipe, -W

  On Windows, connect to the server using a named pipe. This option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

• --plugin-dir=dir_name

  The directory in which to look for plugins. Specify this option if the --default-auth option is used to specify an authentication plugin but mysql_upgrade does not find it. See Section 6.2.11, “Pluggable Authentication”.

• --port=port_num, -P port_num

  For TCP/IP connections, the port number to use.

• --print-defaults

  Print the program name and all options that it gets from option files.

  For additional information about this and other option-file options, see Section 4.2.2.3, “Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File Handling”.

• --protocol={TCP|SOCKET|PIPE|MEMORY}

  The transport protocol to use for connecting to the server. It is useful when the other connection parameters normally result in use of a protocol other than the one you want. For details on the permissible values, see Section 4.2.5, “Connection Transport Protocols”.

• --shared-memory-base-name=name

  On Windows, the shared-memory name to use for connections made using shared memory to a local server. The default value is MYSQL. The shared-memory name is case-sensitive.

  This option applies only if the server was started with the shared_memory system variable enabled to support shared-memory connections.

• --socket=path, -S path

  For connections to localhost, the Unix socket file to use, or, on Windows, the name of the named pipe to use.

  On Windows, this option applies only if the server was started with the named_pipe system variable enabled to support named-pipe connections. In addition, the user making the connection must be a member of the Windows group specified by the named_pipe_full_access_group system variable.

• --ssl*

  Options that begin with --ssl specify whether to connect to the server using encryption and indicate where to find SSL keys and certificates. See Command Options for Encrypted Connections.

• --tmpdir=dir_name, -t dir_name

  The path name of the directory to use for creating temporary files.

• --upgrade-system-tables, -s

  Upgrade only the system tables in the mysql schema, do not upgrade user schemas.

• --user=user_name, -u user_name

  The user name of the MySQL account to use for connecting to the server. The default user name is root.

• --verbose

  Verbose mode. Print more information about what the program does.

• --version-check, -k

  Check the version of the server to which mysql_upgrade is connecting to verify that it is the same as the version for which mysql_upgrade was built. If not, mysql_upgrade exits. This option is enabled by default; to disable the check, use --skip-version-check. This option was added in MySQL 5.6.12.

• --write-binlog

  Cause binary logging to be enabled while mysql_upgrade runs. In MySQL 5.6.6 and earlier, this was the default behavior. (To disable binary logging during the upgrade, it was necessary to use the inverse of this option, by starting the program with --skip-write-binlog.) Beginning with MySQL 5.6.7, binary logging by mysql_upgrade is disabled by default (Bug #14221043). Invoke the program explicitly with --write-binlog if you want its actions to be written to the binary log. (Also beginning with MySQL 5.6.7, the --skip-write-binlog option effectively does nothing.)

  When the server is running with global transaction identifiers (GTIDs) enabled (gtid_mode=ON), do not enable binary logging by mysql_upgrade.