MySQL 5.7 Release Notes
MySQL Server supports a HELP
statement that returns information from the MySQL Reference Manual
(see Section 13.8.3, “HELP Statement”). This information is stored in
several tables in the mysql database (see
Section 5.3, “The mysql System Database”). Proper operation of the
HELP statement requires that these
help tables be initialized.
For a new installation of MySQL using a binary or source distribution on Unix, help-table content initialization occurs when you initialize the data directory (see Section 2.9.1, “Initializing the Data Directory”). For an RPM distribution on Linux or binary distribution on Windows, content initialization occurs as part of the MySQL installation process.
For a MySQL upgrade using a binary distribution, help-table
content is not upgraded automatically, but you can upgrade it
manually. Locate the fill_help_tables.sql
file in the share or
share/mysql directory. Change location into
that directory and process the file with the
mysql client as follows:
mysql -u root -p mysql < fill_help_tables.sql
The command shown here assumes that you connect to the server
using an account such as root that has
privileges for modifying tables in the mysql
database. Adjust the connection parameters as required.
If you are working with Git and a MySQL development source tree,
the source tree contains only a “stub” version of
fill_help_tables.sql. To obtain a non-stub
copy, use one from a source or binary distribution.
Note
Each MySQL series has its own series-specific reference manual, so help-table content is series specific as well. This has implications for replication because help-table content should match the MySQL series. If you load MySQL 5.7 help content into a MySQL 5.7 source server, it does not make sense to replicate that content to a replica server from a different MySQL series and for which that content is not appropriate. For this reason, as you upgrade individual servers in a replication scenario, you should upgrade each server's help tables, using the instructions given earlier.