Question

I am experiencing some permission problems with my SELECT ... INTO OUTFILE statement.

When I log into my database and do a simple export command, eg:

mysql> select * from XYZ into outfile '/home/mropa/Photos/Desktop/TEST.txt';

I get the respond:

ERROR 1 (HY000): 
Can't create/write to file '/home/mropa/Photos/Desktop/TEST.txt' 
(Errcode: 13)

However, when I simply write:

mysql> select * from XYZ into outfile 'TEST.txt';
Query OK, 8287 rows affected (0.73 sec)

The file is written into the directory /var/lib/mysql/XYZ.
I looked into the file /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld where mysql seems to define the reading and writting permissions but I don’t really know how to modify it.

How can I give myself permission to export a mysql table into any directory I like?

Answer 1

The issue is directory permissions. mysqld does not run as current_user. Add the mysqld user to the group that has write permissions on your target directories (convenient, but not as secure) or remember to change your target directory permissions before and after you write the outfile.