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Asked: 2026-05-19T13:35:42+00:00

In short, what configuration values does MySQL use if there is no my.cnf ?

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In short, what configuration values does MySQL use if there is no my.cnf?

I’m running MySQL on Slackware. I’ve been using it for a while with ISAM and InnoDB tables. I never configured a my.cnf file. Oops. Now I’d like to do that, but I don’t know what settings it is using currently, and I’d like to know before I install a my.cnf file and possibly change things.

I’ve done MySQL --help and checked the locations given.
I’ve done find / and I’m certain there is no my.cnf or .my.cnf file anywhere.
I’ve done ps aux and no --defaults_file is being specified.

These files exist:

/etc/my-medium.cnf
/etc/my-huge.cnf
/etc/my-small.cnf
/etc/my-large.cnf

/usr/share/mysql/my-medium.cnf
/usr/share/mysql/my-huge.cnf
/usr/share/mysql/my-small.cnf
/usr/share/mysql/my-innodb-heavy-4G.cnf
/usr/share/mysql/my-large.cnf

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    If it can’t find a my.cnf or my.ini file, MySQL will use its compiled-in defaults. The .cnf/.ini files are not necessary unless you want to override those defaults.

    The medium/huge/small/large files you found are suggested setups for that “size” of server. Just pick the one in /etc that suits your needs and rename it to my.cnf (in the same directory), restart mysql, and it should make that configuration take effect.

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