# Cannot disable general query log **URL:** \ **Category:** Other MySQL® Questions\ **Created:** [August 11, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/cannot-disable-general-query-log/879 "2008-08-11T19:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carpii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@carpii](https://forums.percona.com/u/carpii)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2008, 7:38pm UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/cannot-disable-general-query-log/879/1 "2008-08-11T19:38:03Z")
Ive had a problem with mysql for some time now. When it starts, it writes the general query log to a file called ‘0’ in my mysql data directory. My server is VERY active, so this log file grows massive in a very short time. Some time ago, I simply deleted the log file while mysql was running. It didnt recreate it so I thought the problem was solved. That was a bit naive anyway, because linux continued to think the file was in use, and tonight started complaining about out of disk space errors. I restarted mysql and the disk space dropped back down the accurate value of 12%. My real problem is that I cant seem to disable mysql writing to this 0 query log file. Im running version Ver 5.0.22-log for redhat-linux-gnu on i686 (Source distribution) Does the “-log” indicate that the log is hardcoded? surely not The MySQL manual claims general query log is off by default, and can be turned on by a command line parameter. “To enable the general query log as of MySQL 5.1.6, start mysqld with the --log[=file\_name] or -l [file\_name] option, and optionally use --log-output to specify the log destination” I dont pass either of these, and the equivalent values arent in my.cnf Does anyone have any ideas please? Im stumped. ---
**Author:** ![csmiesing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@csmiesing](https://forums.percona.com/u/csmiesing)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:05am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/cannot-disable-general-query-log/879/2 "2008-08-12T01:05:08Z")
Could you include your my.cnf in your text? ---
**Author:** ![carpii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@carpii](https://forums.percona.com/u/carpii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/cannot-disable-general-query-log/879/3 "2008-08-12T01:17:25Z")
Hi, here we go… Mysql version = 5.0.22-log * * * # Example MySQL config file for very large systems.## This is for a large system with memory of 1G-2G where the system runs mainly# MySQL.## You can copy this file to# /etc/my.cnf to set global options,# mysql-data-dir/my.cnf to set server-specific options (in this# installation this directory is /var/lib/mysql) or# ~/.my.cnf to set user-specific options.## In this file, you can use all long options that a program supports.# If you want to know which options a program supports, run the program# with the “–help” option.# The following options will be passed to all MySQL clients[client][mysqld]innodb# 05/05/2008.PAC - Configure query cachequery-cache-type = 1query-cache-size = 20Mkey\_buffer = 30M# 25/02/2006.PAC - no logging#log-bin=mysql-binskip-log# \>\># 2008/05/28.PAC - Moved tmp dir onto sdb1 - /backup/mysqltmptmpdir = /tmp/# 25/02/2006.PAC moved data dir onto 400G disk# 2008/05/28.PAC - data is back on sda1 due to server movedatadir = /data/mysql/max\_connections=400max\_connect\_errors = 999999999skip-name-resolveskip-lockinginnodb\_data\_home\_dir = /data/mysqlinnodb\_data\_file\_path = ibdata1:5000M;ibdata2:10M:autoextend# 05/05/2008.PAC - Upped from 384M to 1000Minnodb\_buffer\_pool\_size = 1000Minnodb\_additional\_mem\_pool\_size = 20M[mysqldump]quickmax\_allowed\_packet = 16M[mysql]no-auto-rehash[isamchk]key\_buffer = 256Msort\_buffer\_size = 256Mread\_buffer = 2Mwrite\_buffer = 2M[myisamchk]key\_buffer = 256Msort\_buffer\_size = 256Mread\_buffer = 2Mwrite\_buffer = 2M[mysqlhotcopy]interactive-timeout ---
**Author:** ![csmiesing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@csmiesing](https://forums.percona.com/u/csmiesing)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:33am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/cannot-disable-general-query-log/879/4 "2008-08-12T01:33:06Z")
are there no other my.cnf files used? I don’t see any server id’s for example and this should be a slave, isn’t it? use the command show variables in mysql and look for the log setting it should be off ---
**Author:** ![carpii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@carpii](https://forums.percona.com/u/carpii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/cannot-disable-general-query-log/879/5 "2008-08-12T01:45:09Z")
| [B]csmiesing wrote[/B] | | are there no other my.cnf files used? | No, thats what it appears like. But I checked mt init scripts, and even the cmdline in ps output, and /etc/my.cnf is the only one being used. | [B]csmiesing wrote[/B] | | I don’t see any server id’s for example and this should be a slave, isn’t it? | Hm well, I dont use replication, its a standalone server. Is it still relevant? | [B]csmiesing wrote[/B] | | use the command show variables in mysql and look for the log setting it should be off | Log is “ON”. Its like this as soon as mysqld starts, yet theres nothing I can find which would explain this. mysql\> show variables like ‘%log%’; ±--------------------------------±-----------+ | Variable\_name | Value | ±--------------------------------±-----------+ | back\_log | 50 | | bdb\_log\_buffer\_size | 32768 | | bdb\_logdir | | | binlog\_cache\_size | 32768 | | expire\_logs\_days | 0 | | innodb\_flush\_log\_at\_trx\_commit | 1 | | innodb\_locks\_unsafe\_for\_binlog | OFF | | innodb\_log\_arch\_dir | | | innodb\_log\_archive | OFF | | innodb\_log\_buffer\_size | 1048576 | | innodb\_log\_file\_size | 5242880 | | innodb\_log\_files\_in\_group | 2 | | innodb\_log\_group\_home\_dir | ./ | | innodb\_mirrored\_log\_groups | 1 | | log | ON | | log\_bin | OFF | | log\_bin\_trust\_function\_creators | OFF | | log\_error | | | log\_slave\_updates | OFF | | log\_slow\_queries | OFF | | log\_warnings | 1 | | max\_binlog\_cache\_size | 4294967295 | | max\_binlog\_size | 1073741824 | | max\_relay\_log\_size | 0 | | relay\_log\_purge | ON | | relay\_log\_space\_limit | 0 | | sync\_binlog | 0 | ±--------------------------------±-----------+ ---
**Author:** ![csmiesing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@csmiesing](https://forums.percona.com/u/csmiesing)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/cannot-disable-general-query-log/879/6 "2008-08-12T02:11:09Z")
in your my.cnf settingsfile is a line skip-log that command doesn’t exist and when i use it in my.cnf file it does turn the logging on so delete this line and restart your mysql server ---
**Author:** ![carpii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@carpii](https://forums.percona.com/u/carpii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://forums.percona.com/t/cannot-disable-general-query-log/879/7 "2008-08-13T17:28:28Z")
Wow, thankyou so much! I have no idea how to explain that. I added the config line myself a long time ago, and even commented it (so I didnt even consider the possibility of that being at fault). I guess a fresh pair of eyes always helps, thanks again )