This week I’d expected to hear good friend Giuseppe (CCO) Maxia speak about MySQL SandBox at the Hamburg MySQL April Meetup.

This is product I’ve thought about using, wanted to use, but just never got to the point to using. I download the current version 1.18, I had MySQL tar’s already of 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0 and was all ready until the late topic change.

However due to the language barrier in the second talk, I got a one-on-one lesson. Now I know how it works, and understands the strengths I can use it as part of my standard vanilla testing. There are some improvements I could see, something perhaps I can contribute if they allow a Perl part-timer too. The joy of open source is I can add, modify, change and submit my work, if not wanted for example, there is simply no loss to me.

• By default installation goes to $HOME, and then creates a different standard for individual, replication or multiple instances. I’d like to see this default to a directory say $HOME/msb so all different installs are all under one directory node. You can specific this currently via –sandbox_directory otherwise.
• express_install.pl could benefit from a –help option
• I’d like the set_replication.pl and set_many.pl commands to support an array of mysql tar’s. I’m most interested in testing replication say from 5.0 to 5.1 and 6.0, not just 5.0 to 5.0. I’d also like to be able to install a 5.0, 5.1 and 6.0 versions and be able to use the multi_cmd to run the same SQL across different versions easily.
• The multi_cmd would benefit from a means to list the identify of the instance with the output. It’s hard as MySQL does not have MYSQL_SID, only a server_id which can be a little confusing.

Thanks Giuseppe for your work on this product.

Current syntax

./install.pl --help
Unknown option: help
    The MySQL Sandbox,  version 1.18 05-Apr-2008
    (C) 2006,2007,2008 Giuseppe Maxia, MySQL AB
syntax: ./install.pl [options]
    -h --home_directory = name          The home directory. (default: $HOME (/Users/rbradfor))
    -d --sandbox_directory = name       Where to install the sandbox, under home-directory
    -P --sandbox_port = number          The port number to use for the sandbox server.
                                        (Default: 3310)

    --datadir_from = name               Where to get datadir files from. Available options are
                                        archive   will be taken from the archived data
                                                  provided with the package. They include
                                                  default username and passwords
                                                  ( DEPRECATED )
                                        script    the script mysql_install_db is called, with
                                                  default users, no passwords.
                                        dir:name  will be copied from an existing mysql directory
                                        (Default: script)

    -i --install_version = name         Which version to install (3.23, 4.0, 4.1, 5.0 or 5.1) default: 5.0
    -b --basedir = name                 Base directory for MySQL (default: /usr/local/mysql)
    -m --my_file = name                 which sample my-{small|large|huge}.cnf file should be used
                                        for additional configuration
                                        You may enter either the label (small|large|huge) or a full
                                        file name. (default: none)

    -f --conf_file = name               Configuration file containing options like the ones
                                        you can give on the command line (without dashes)

    -U --operating_system_user = name   Operating system user (for mysql installation)
                                        default: $USER (rbradfor)

    -u --db_user = name                 user for global access to mysql (Default: sandbox)
    -p --db_password = name             password for global access to mysql (Default: sandbox)
    -c --my_clause = name               option to be inserted in a my.cnf file
                                        it may be used several times

    --prompt_prefix = name              prefix to use in CLI prompt (default: mysql)
    --force                             Use this option if you want to overwrite existing directories
                                        and files during the installation. (Default: disabled)

    --no_ver_after_name                 Do not add version number after sandbox directory name (default: disabled)
    -v --verbose                        Use this option to see installation progress (default: disabled)
    --load_grants                       Loads the predefined grants from a SQL file.
                                        Useful when installing from script.
                                        (default: disabled)

    --no_load_grants                    Does not loads the predefined grants from a SQL file.
                                        (default: disabled)

    -t --interactive                    Use this option to be guided through the installation process (default: disabled)
    --no_confirm                        suppress the confirmation request from user

Example:
     ./install.pl --my_file=large --sandbox_directory=my_sandbox