[Bug 194305] databases/mariadb55-server (probably mysql too) ignores datadir directive in my.cnf

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https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=194305

--- Comment #21 from MMacD <scratch65535 at att.net> ---
in rx to Kubilay's 18:

As I said to Markus, for my part just re-enabling datadir in my.cnf without
doing anything else solves 99% of the problem.  find / -name is very good at
locating things that aren't where they're expected to be.  As long as they can
be moved when found, there's no real problem, just inconvenience.

And I very much agree with Markus that a default my.cnf should be supplied
--and sample ones for different configs as well: there's nothing like having
good examples in front of you when you're trying to work out how to do
something.  If desired, the samples could probably be nicked from the Windows
port. 

But re-enabling datadir in my.cnf, while a sufficiently complete patch from my
perspective, is not really the best from a general perspective.

I hope we can agree that practice should never contradict documentation. 
Documentation should always provide information, not fairy tales or
misinformation.

So if /var/db is to be the place for all databases, then at a minimum hier(7)
must be re-written to reflect that.  But I'd mildly prefer, with Markus, that
/var/lib/mysql be used as a transient staging area (which would be hier(7) and
MySQL/MariaDB docs conformant).

Confirming /var/db as the official home would increase entropy, which doesn't
seem like a good idea:  per hier(7), /var is dedicated to "multi-purpose log,
temporary, transient, and spool files".  Making it also the home of non-system
databases is hard to understand, given the stated (and somewhat obvious to
inspection) purpose of /var and the constantly reinforced /usr/local
convention.  

Most people familiar with the /usr/local convention would expect the database
files to be in /usr/local/mysql/data|databases, not /var.  Even people who know
that maintainers put db files into /var/db would not be surprised to find a new
release announcing that it was putting them in /usr/local/mysql/data instead
because /usr/local is a stronger and thus anti-entropic convention.  It's "more
expected".

The less entropy, the better, and the sooner the better.  But for the moment,
just having a functional datadir directive in my.cnf is enough for me.  I can
bear the messiness and entropy if everyone else can.

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