Troublesome MySQL Configuration

Quite a few of users who attempt to install IndiMail first time, face the biggest issue with MySQL installation and configuration. Most of the issues relate to the following

1. MySQL version less than 5.1: MySQL fails to startup under supervise
2. MySQL version less than 5.1: svctool fails to create a default database for IndiMail during rpm installation.
   
3. /etc/my.cnf uses socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock. IndiMail uses /tmp/mysql.sock. Connection to MySQL fails if you use mysql(1) (without -S opton).
4. You get MySQL syntax error when running indimail programs
   

The solution to the first problem is to delete the lines --general-log-file and the line --slow-query-log from the file /service/mysql.3306/run. After deleting the lines you can issue the command

/var/indimail/bin/svc -u /service/mysql.3306

to start up MySQL.

The solution to the second problem is to create a blank MySQL database by running the following command

/var/indimail/bin/svc -d /service/mysql.3306
/bin/rm -r /var/indimail/mysqldb/data
/usr/bin/mysql_install_db --user=mysql --datadir=/var/indimail/mysqldb/data
chown -R mysql:mysql /var/indimail/mysqldb/data
/var/indimail/bin/svc -u /service/mysql.3306
mysql -u root -p
mysql> use mysql;
mysql> update user set password=PASSWORD('some_pass') where user='root';
mysql> CREATE USER indimail identified by 'ssh-1.5-';
mysql> CREATE USER mysql identified by '4-57343-';
mysql> CREATE USER admin identified by 'benhur20';
mysql> CREATE USER repl identified by 'slaveserver';
mysql> GRANT SELECT,CREATE,ALTER,INDEX,INSERT,UPDATE,DELETE, \
mysql> CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES, \
mysql> LOCK TABLES ON indimail.* to 'indimail';
mysql> GRANT RELOAD,SHUTDOWN,PROCESS,SUPER on *.* to admin;
mysql> GRANT REPLICATION SLAVE on *.* to repl;

The third problem can be solved by replacing socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock with socket=/tmp/mysql.sock in /etc/my.cnf or equivalent file. You can also copy /var/indimail/etc/indimail.cnf as .indimail.cnf in your home directory. i.e.

cp /var/indimail/etc/indimail.cnf $HOME/.indimail.cnf

To avoid the above problems, it is recommended to use one of the below MySQL versions

• mysql-6.0.3-alpha
• mysql-6.0.9-alpha
• mysql-5.0.26
• mysql-5.0.77
  
• mysql-5.1.40
• mysql-5.4.3-beta
• mysql-5.5.0-m2
• MariaDB 5.1.42
  

Let me know if you are using any version of MySQL other than the above. Run the following command to get the MySQL version

% mysql_config --version

The fourth problem relates to a workaround made in IndiMail to prevent MySQL injection. What is needed is to set NO_BACKSLASH_ESCAPES in the MySQL server. You can use either of the two methods below

1. This SQL mode also can be enabled automatically when the server starts by using the command-line option
   `--sql-mode=NO_BACKSLASH_ESCAPES' or by setting
2. Set `sql-mode=NO_BACKSLASH_ESCAPES' in the server option file (for
   example, `my.cnf' or `my.ini', depending on your system).