1MYSQL_CONFIG_EDITOR(1) MySQL Database System MYSQL_CONFIG_EDITOR(1)
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6 mysql_config_editor - configure authentication information for
7 connecting to MySQL server
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10 mysql_config_editor options command
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13 The mysql_config_editor utility enables you to store authentication
14 credentials in an obfuscated login path file named .mylogin.cnf. The
15 file location is the %APPDATA%\MySQL directory on Windows and the
16 current user's home directory on non-Windows systems. The file can be
17 read later by MySQL client programs to obtain authentication
18 credentials for connecting to MySQL Server.
19 The unobfuscated format of the .mylogin.cnf login path file consists of
21 option groups, similar to other option files. Each option group in
22 .mylogin.cnf is called a “login path,” which is a group that permits
23 only certain options: host, user, password, port and socket. Think of a
24 login path option group as a set of options that specify which MySQL
25 server to connect to and which account to authenticate as. Here is an
26 unobfuscated example:
27 [client]
29 user = mydefaultname
30 password = mydefaultpass
31 host = 127.0.0.1
32 [mypath]
33 user = myothername
34 password = myotherpass
35 host = localhost
36 When you invoke a client program to connect to the server, the client
38 uses .mylogin.cnf in conjunction with other option files. Its
39 precedence is higher than other option files, but less than options
40 specified explicitly on the client command line. For information about
41 the order in which option files are used, see Section 4.2.2.2, “Using
42 Option Files”.
43 To specify an alternate login path file name, set the
45 MYSQL_TEST_LOGIN_FILE environment variable. This variable is recognized
46 by mysql_config_editor, by standard MySQL clients (mysql, mysqladmin,
47 and so forth), and by the mysql-test-run.pl testing utility.
48 Programs use groups in the login path file as follows:
50 • mysql_config_editor operates on the client login path by default if
52 you specify no --login-path=name option to indicate explicitly
53 which login path to use.
54 • Without a --login-path option, client programs read the same option
56 groups from the login path file that they read from other option
57 files. Consider this command:
58 mysql
60 By default, the mysql client reads the [client] and [mysql] groups
62 from other option files, so it reads them from the login path file
63 as well.
64 • With a --login-path option, client programs additionally read the
66 named login path from the login path file. The option groups read
67 from other option files remain the same. Consider this command:
68 mysql --login-path=mypath
70 The mysql client reads [client] and [mysql] from other option
72 files, and [client], [mysql], and [mypath] from the login path
73 file.
74 • Client programs read the login path file even when the
76 --no-defaults option is used. This permits passwords to be
77 specified in a safer way than on the command line even if
78 --no-defaults is present.
79 mysql_config_editor obfuscates the .mylogin.cnf file so it cannot be
81 read as cleartext, and its contents when unobfuscated by client
82 programs are used only in memory. In this way, passwords can be stored
83 in a file in non-cleartext format and used later without ever needing
84 to be exposed on the command line or in an environment variable.
85 mysql_config_editor provides a print command for displaying the login
86 path file contents, but even in this case, password values are masked
87 so as never to appear in a way that other users can see them.
88 The obfuscation used by mysql_config_editor prevents passwords from
90 appearing in .mylogin.cnf as cleartext and provides a measure of
91 security by preventing inadvertent password exposure. For example, if
92 you display a regular unobfuscated my.cnf option file on the screen,
93 any passwords it contains are visible for anyone to see. With
94 .mylogin.cnf, that is not true, but the obfuscation used is not likely
95 to deter a determined attacker and you should not consider it
96 unbreakable. A user who can gain system administration privileges on
97 your machine to access your files could unobfuscate the .mylogin.cnf
98 file with some effort.
99 The login path file must be readable and writable to the current user,
101 and inaccessible to other users. Otherwise, mysql_config_editor ignores
102 it, and client programs do not use it, either.
103 Invoke mysql_config_editor like this:
105 mysql_config_editor [program_options] command [command_options]
107 If the login path file does not exist, mysql_config_editor creates it.
109 Command arguments are given as follows:
111 • program_options consists of general mysql_config_editor options.
113 • command indicates what action to perform on the .mylogin.cnf login
115 path file. For example, set writes a login path to the file, remove
116 removes a login path, and print displays login path contents.
117 • command_options indicates any additional options specific to the
119 command, such as the login path name and the values to use in the
120 login path.
121 The position of the command name within the set of program arguments is
123 significant. For example, these command lines have the same arguments,
124 but produce different results:
125 mysql_config_editor --help set
127 mysql_config_editor set --help
128 The first command line displays a general mysql_config_editor help
130 message, and ignores the set command. The second command line displays
131 a help message specific to the set command.
132 Suppose that you want to establish a client login path that defines
134 your default connection parameters, and an additional login path named
135 remote for connecting to the MySQL server the host remote.example.com.
136 You want to log in as follows:
137 • By default, to the local server with a user name and password of
139 localuser and localpass
140 • To the remote server with a user name and password of remoteuser
142 and remotepass
143 To set up the login paths in the .mylogin.cnf file, use the following
145 set commands. Enter each command on a single line, and enter the
146 appropriate passwords when prompted:
147 $> mysql_config_editor set --login-path=client
149 --host=localhost --user=localuser --password
150 Enter password: enter password "localpass" here
151 $> mysql_config_editor set --login-path=remote
152 --host=remote.example.com --user=remoteuser --password
153 Enter password: enter password "remotepass" here
154 mysql_config_editor uses the client login path by default, so the
156 --login-path=client option can be omitted from the first command
157 without changing its effect.
158 To see what mysql_config_editor writes to the .mylogin.cnf file, use
160 the print command:
161 $> mysql_config_editor print --all
163 [client]
164 user = localuser
165 password = *****
166 host = localhost
167 [remote]
168 user = remoteuser
169 password = *****
170 host = remote.example.com
171 The print command displays each login path as a set of lines beginning
173 with a group header indicating the login path name in square brackets,
174 followed by the option values for the login path. Password values are
175 masked and do not appear as cleartext.
176 If you do not specify --all to display all login paths or
178 --login-path=name to display a named login path, the print command
179 displays the client login path by default, if there is one.
180 As shown by the preceding example, the login path file can contain
182 multiple login paths. In this way, mysql_config_editor makes it easy to
183 set up multiple “personalities” for connecting to different MySQL
184 servers, or for connecting to a given server using different accounts.
185 Any of these can be selected by name later using the --login-path
186 option when you invoke a client program. For example, to connect to the
187 remote server, use this command:
188 mysql --login-path=remote
190 Here, mysql reads the [client] and [mysql] option groups from other
192 option files, and the [client], [mysql], and [remote] groups from the
193 login path file.
194 To connect to the local server, use this command:
196 mysql --login-path=client
198 Because mysql reads the client and mysql login paths by default, the
200 --login-path option does not add anything in this case. That command is
201 equivalent to this one:
202 mysql
204 Options read from the login path file take precedence over options read
206 from other option files. Options read from login path groups appearing
207 later in the login path file take precedence over options read from
208 groups appearing earlier in the file.
209 mysql_config_editor adds login paths to the login path file in the
211 order you create them, so you should create more general login paths
212 first and more specific paths later. If you need to move a login path
213 within the file, you can remove it, then recreate it to add it to the
214 end. For example, a client login path is more general because it is
215 read by all client programs, whereas a mysqldump login path is read
216 only by mysqldump. Options specified later override options specified
217 earlier, so putting the login paths in the order client, mysqldump
218 enables mysqldump-specific options to override client options.
219 When you use the set command with mysql_config_editor to create a login
221 path, you need not specify all possible option values (host name, user
222 name, password, port, socket). Only those values given are written to
223 the path. Any missing values required later can be specified when you
224 invoke a client path to connect to the MySQL server, either in other
225 option files or on the command line. Any options specified on the
226 command line override those specified in the login path file or other
227 option files. For example, if the credentials in the remote login path
228 also apply for the host remote2.example.com, connect to the server on
229 that host like this:
230 mysql --login-path=remote --host=remote2.example.com
232 mysql_config_editor General Options
234 mysql_config_editor supports the following general options, which may
236 be used preceding any command named on the command line. For
237 descriptions of command-specific options, see mysql_config_editor
238 Commands and Command-Specific Options.
239 • --help, -? Display a general help message and exit.
241 To see a command-specific help message, invoke mysql_config_editor
243 as follows, where command is a command other than help:
244 mysql_config_editor command --help
246 • --debug[=debug_options], -# debug_options Write a debugging log. A
248 typical debug_options string is d:t:o,file_name. The default is
249 d:t:o,/tmp/mysql_config_editor.trace.
250 This option is available only if MySQL was built using WITH_DEBUG.
252 MySQL release binaries provided by Oracle are not built using this
253 option.
254 • --verbose, -v Verbose mode. Print more information about what the
256 program does. This option may be helpful in diagnosing problems if
257 an operation does not have the effect you expect.
258 • --version, -V Display version information and exit.
260 mysql_config_editor Commands and Command-Specific Options
261 This section describes the permitted mysql_config_editor commands, and,
263 for each one, the command-specific options permitted following the
264 command name on the command line.
265 In addition, mysql_config_editor supports general options that can be
267 used preceding any command. For descriptions of these options, see
268 mysql_config_editor General Options.
269 mysql_config_editor supports these commands:
271 • help
273 Display a general help message and exit. This command takes no
275 following options.
276 To see a command-specific help message, invoke mysql_config_editor
278 as follows, where command is a command other than help:
279 mysql_config_editor command --help
281 • print [options]
283 Print the contents of the login path file in unobfuscated form,
285 with the exception that passwords are displayed as *****.
286 The default login path name is client if no login path is named. If
288 both --all and --login-path are given, --all takes precedence.
289 The print command permits these options following the command name:
291 • --help, -?
293 Display a help message for the print command and exit.
295 To see a general help message, use mysql_config_editor --help.
297 • --all
299 Print the contents of all login paths in the login path file.
301 • --login-path=name, -G name
303 Print the contents of the named login path.
305 • remove [options]
307 Remove a login path from the login path file, or modify a login
309 path by removing options from it.
310 This command removes from the login path only such options as are
312 specified with the --host, --password, --port, --socket, and --user
313 options. If none of those options are given, remove removes the
314 entire login path. For example, this command removes only the user
315 option from the mypath login path rather than the entire mypath
316 login path:
317 mysql_config_editor remove --login-path=mypath --user
319 This command removes the entire mypath login path:
321 mysql_config_editor remove --login-path=mypath
323 The remove command permits these options following the command
325 name:
326 • --help, -?
328 Display a help message for the remove command and exit.
330 To see a general help message, use mysql_config_editor --help.
332 • --host, -h
334 Remove the host name from the login path.
336 • --login-path=name, -G name
338 The login path to remove or modify. The default login path name
340 is client if this option is not given.
341 • --password, -p
343 Remove the password from the login path.
345 • --port, -P
347 Remove the TCP/IP port number from the login path.
349 • --socket, -S
351 Remove the Unix socket file name from the login path.
353 • --user, -u
355 Remove the user name from the login path.
357 • --warn, -w
359 Warn and prompt the user for confirmation if the command
361 attempts to remove the default login path (client) and
362 --login-path=client was not specified. This option is enabled
363 by default; use --skip-warn to disable it.
364 • reset [options]
366 Empty the contents of the login path file.
368 The reset command permits these options following the command name:
370 • --help, -?
372 Display a help message for the reset command and exit.
374 To see a general help message, use mysql_config_editor --help.
376 • set [options]
378 Write a login path to the login path file.
380 This command writes to the login path only such options as are
382 specified with the --host, --password, --port, --socket, and --user
383 options. If none of those options are given, mysql_config_editor
384 writes the login path as an empty group.
385 The set command permits these options following the command name:
387 • --help, -?
389 Display a help message for the set command and exit.
391 To see a general help message, use mysql_config_editor --help.
393 • --host=host_name, -h host_name
395 The host name to write to the login path.
397 • --login-path=name, -G name
399 The login path to create. The default login path name is client
401 if this option is not given.
402 • --password, -p
404 Prompt for a password to write to the login path. After
406 mysql_config_editor displays the prompt, type the password and
407 press Enter. To prevent other users from seeing the password,
408 mysql_config_editor does not echo it.
409 To specify an empty password, press Enter at the password
411 prompt. The resulting login path written to the login path file
412 includes a line like this:
413 password =
415 • --port=port_num, -P port_num
417 The TCP/IP port number to write to the login path.
419 • --socket=file_name, -S file_name
421 The Unix socket file name to write to the login path.
423 • --user=user_name, -u user_name
425 The user name to write to the login path.
427 • --warn, -w
429 Warn and prompt the user for confirmation if the command
431 attempts to overwrite an existing login path. This option is
432 enabled by default; use --skip-warn to disable it.
433
435 Copyright © 1997, 2023, Oracle and/or its affiliates.
436 This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
438 modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
439 published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.
440 This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
442 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
443 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
444 General Public License for more details.
445 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
447 with the program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
448 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA or see
449 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
450
453 For more information, please refer to the MySQL Reference Manual, which
454 may already be installed locally and which is also available online at
455 http://dev.mysql.com/doc/.
456
458 Oracle Corporation (http://dev.mysql.com/).
459MySQL 8.0 08/31/2023 MYSQL_CONFIG_EDITOR(1)