MySQL AB :: MySQL 5.1 Reference Manual :: 5.5.7 mysql_upgrade

5.5.7. mysql_upgrade — Check Tables for MySQL Upgrade

mysql_upgrade should be executed each time you upgrade MySQL. It checks all tables in all databases for incompatibilities with the current version of MySQL Server. If a table is found to have a possible incompatibility, it is checked. If any problems are found, the table is repaired. mysql_upgrade also upgrades the system tables so that you can take advantage of new privileges or capabilities that might have been added.

All checked and repaired tables are marked with the current MySQL version number. This ensures that next time you run mysql_upgrade with the same version of the server, it can tell whether there is any need to check or repair the table again.

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

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

mysqlcheck --check-upgrade --all-databases --auto-repair
mysql_fix_privilege_tables

mysql_upgrade supersedes the older mysql_fix_privilege_tables script. In MySQL 5.1.7, mysql_upgrade was added as a shell script and worked only for Unix systems. As of MySQL 5.1.10, mysql_upgrade is an executable binary and is available on all systems. On systems older than those supporting mysql_upgrade, you can execute the mysqlcheck command manually, and then upgrade your system tables as described in Section 5.5.3, “mysql_fix_privilege_tables — Upgrade MySQL System Tables”.

For details about what is checked, see the description of the FOR UPGRADE option of the CHECK TABLE statement (see Section 13.5.2.3, “CHECK TABLE Syntax”).

To use mysql_upgrade, make sure that the server is running, and then invoke it like this:

shell> mysql_upgrade [options]

mysql_upgrade reads options from the command line and from the [mysql_upgrade] group in option files. It supports the following options:

--help

Display a short help message and exit.
--basedir=path

The path to the MySQL installation directory.
--datadir=path

The path to the data directory.
--force

Force execution of mysqlcheck even if mysql_upgrade has already been executed for the current version of MySQL. (In other words, this option causes the mysql_upgrade.info file to be ignored.)
--user=user_name, -u user_name

The MySQL username to use when connecting to the server. The default username is root.
--verbose

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

Other options are passed to mysqlcheck and to mysql_fix_privilege_tables. For example, it might be necessary to specify the --password[=password] option.

User Comments

Posted by Mark Malakanov on October 7 2006 7:42pm

[Delete] [Edit]

Couple of bugs in mysql_upgrade.exe, like Bug #20950 "Win version of mysql_upgrade looks for mysqlcheck instead of mysqlcheck.exe", cause problems running mysql_upgrade.

The fast and dirty workaround is:

cd C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.0\bin
copy mysqlcheck.exe "mysqlcheck"
rem Yes, without extention.
copy mysql.exe "mysql"
cd ..
mysql_upgrade --basedir="."

Posted by Dennis Yu on March 10 2007 10:26am

[Delete] [Edit]

After installed 5.0.37 I always got "Access denied..." when execute mysql_upgrade.exe, finally I use following to solve this problem:

1) in one command prompt window,
2) stop service by "net stop mysql"
3) mysqld --bind-address=127.0.0.1 --skip-grant-tables
4) in another command prompt window, cd to basedir,
5) mysql_upgrade --basedir=. --datadir=.\data
6) after a series of "OK", although it return many "duplicate column name...", but I remember MySQL once said it was a known bug, so I ignore them.
7) use Task Manager close above mysqld process.
8) back to first command prompt window, restart the service by "net start mysql".

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