Updating variables in my.cnf

Question

I set lower_case_table_names = 2 in my.cnf file. After setting the variable I restarted mysql server, but still the value is 0, when I use SHOW VARIABLES .

I'm using MySQL 5.5. Any Ideas what else needs to be done?

UPDATE

my.cnf is at /etc and /etc/mysql (ubuntu OS)

content:-

#
# The MySQL database server configuration file.
#
# You can copy this to one of:
# - "/etc/mysql/my.cnf" to set global options,
# - "~/.my.cnf" to set user-specific options.
# 
# One can use all long options that the program supports.
# Run program with --help to get a list of available options and with
# --print-defaults to see which it would actually understand and use.
#
# For explanations see
# http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/server-system-variables.html

# This will be passed to all mysql clients
# It has been reported that passwords should be enclosed with ticks/quotes
# escpecially if they contain "#" chars...
# Remember to edit /etc/mysql/debian.cnf when changing the socket location.
[client]
port        = 3306
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock

# Here is entries for some specific programs
# The following values assume you have at least 32M ram

# This was formally known as [safe_mysqld]. Both versions are currently parsed.
[mysqld_safe]
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
nice        = 0

[mysqld]
#
# * Basic Settings
#
lower_case_table_names = 2
user        = mysql
pid-file    = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
socket      = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
port        = 3306
basedir     = /usr
datadir     = /var/lib/mysql
tmpdir      = /tmp
lc-messages-dir = /usr/share/mysql
skip-external-locking

#
# Instead of skip-networking the default is now to listen only on
# localhost which is more compatible and is not less secure.
bind-address        = 127.0.0.1
#
# * Fine Tuning
#
key_buffer      = 16M
max_allowed_packet  = 16M
thread_stack        = 192K
thread_cache_size       = 8
# This replaces the startup script and checks MyISAM tables if needed
# the first time they are touched
myisam-recover         = BACKUP
#max_connections        = 100
#table_cache            = 64
#thread_concurrency     = 10
#
# * Query Cache Configuration
#
query_cache_limit   = 1M
query_cache_size        = 16M
#
# * Logging and Replication
#
# Both location gets rotated by the cronjob.
# Be aware that this log type is a performance killer.
# As of 5.1 you can enable the log at runtime!
#general_log_file        = /var/log/mysql/mysql.log
#general_log             = 1
#
# Error log - should be very few entries.
#
log_error = /var/log/mysql/error.log
#
# Here you can see queries with especially long duration
#log_slow_queries   = /var/log/mysql/mysql-slow.log
#long_query_time = 2
#log-queries-not-using-indexes
#
# The following can be used as easy to replay backup logs or for replication.
# note: if you are setting up a replication slave, see README.Debian about
#       other settings you may need to change.
#server-id      = 1
#log_bin            = /var/log/mysql/mysql-bin.log
expire_logs_days    = 10
max_binlog_size         = 100M
#binlog_do_db       = include_database_name
#binlog_ignore_db   = include_database_name
#
# * InnoDB
#
# InnoDB is enabled by default with a 10MB datafile in /var/lib/mysql/.
# Read the manual for more InnoDB related options. There are many!
#
# * Security Features
#
# Read the manual, too, if you want chroot!
# chroot = /var/lib/mysql/
#
# For generating SSL certificates I recommend the OpenSSL GUI "tinyca".
#
# ssl-ca=/etc/mysql/cacert.pem
# ssl-cert=/etc/mysql/server-cert.pem
# ssl-key=/etc/mysql/server-key.pem



[mysqldump]
quick
quote-names
max_allowed_packet  = 16M

[mysql]
#no-auto-rehash # faster start of mysql but no tab completition

[isamchk]
key_buffer      = 16M

#
# * IMPORTANT: Additional settings that can override those from this file!
#   The files must end with '.cnf', otherwise they'll be ignored.
#
!includedir /etc/mysql/conf.d/

Answer 1

Most obvious posibilities:

• error in my.cnf -- I would need to see exactly what is in your my.cnf file
• my.cnf is in the wrong location
• mysql server doesn't read my.cnf because of the command-line settings
• mysql server overrides the settings from my.cnf with the command-line settings

Show what's in your my.cnf file, what's its path, and how exactly you restart the server, and I will ellaborate on my answer.

UPDATE: You shouldn't use value "2" on UNIX (or any system that has case-sensitive file system)

From the manual ( http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/identifier-case-sensitivity.html ):

If you are using MySQL on only one platform, you do not normally have to change the lower_case_table_names variable from its default value. However, you may encounter difficulties if you want to transfer tables between platforms that differ in file system case sensitivity. For example, on Unix, you can have two different tables named my_table and MY_TABLE , but on Windows these two names are considered identical. To avoid data transfer problems arising from lettercase of database or table names, you have two options:

Use lower_case_table_names=1 on all systems. The main disadvantage with this is that when you use SHOW TABLES or SHOW DATABASES , you do not see the names in their original lettercase.

Use lower_case_table_names=0 on Unix and lower_case_table_names=2 on Windows . This preserves the lettercase of database and table names. The disadvantage of this is that you must ensure that your statements always refer to your database and table names with the correct lettercase on Windows. If you transfer your statements to Unix, where lettercase is significant, they do not work if the lettercase is incorrect.

Exception : If you are using InnoDB tables and you are trying to avoid these data transfer problems, you should set lower_case_table_names to 1 on all platforms to force names to be converted to lowercase.

What are you trying to accomplish? Why do you want to set it to 2?

Answer 2

I guess the my.cnf location is dependent on the way you have installed your mysql server. I had a similar issue, set lower_case_table_names=1 in /etc/mysql/ dir. By mysql was picking it up. The problem was way I had installed it. I had downloaded xampp zip and unzipped it at /opt/ . If you have done the same you need to add the variables to my.cnf to

/opt/lampp/etc/my.cnf

code looks like this:

[mysqld]
lower_case_table_names = 1
user        = nobody
port        = 3306
...

Hope this helps