# Running MariaDB From the Build Directory

You can run mariadbd directly from the build directory (without doing `make install`).

## Starting mariadbd After Build on Windows

On Windows, the data directory is produced during the build.

The simplest way to start database from the command line is:

1. Go to the directory where mariadbd.exe is located (subdirectory `sql\Debug` or `sql\Relwithdebinfo` of the build directory)
2. From here, execute:

```
mariadbd.exe --console
```

Pass other server parameters on the command line, or store them in a `my.ini` configuraton file and pass `--defaults-file=path\to\my.ini` .

The default search path on Windows for the `my.ini` file is:

* `GetSystemWindowsDirectory()`
* `GetWindowsDirectory()`
* `C:\`
* Directory where the executable is located

## Starting mariadbd After Build on Unix

Copy the following to your '`~/.my.cnf`' file.

There are two lines you have to edit: '`datadir=`' and '`language=`'. Be sure to change them to match your environment.

```ini
# Example MariadB config file.
# You can copy this to one of:
# /etc/my.cnf to set global options,
# /mysql-data-dir/my.cnf to get server specific options or
# ~/my.cnf for user specific options.
# 
# One can use all long options that the program supports.
# Run the program with --help to get a list of available options

# This will be passed to all MariaDB clients
[client]
#password=my_password
#port=3306
#socket=/tmp/mysql.sock

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

# The mariadb server  (both [mysqld] and [mariadb] works here)
[mariadb]
#port=3306
#socket=/tmp/mysql.sock

# The following three entries caused mysqld 10.0.1-MariaDB (and possibly other versions) to abort...
# skip-locking
# set-variable  = key_buffer=16M

loose-innodb_data_file_path = ibdata1:1000M
loose-mutex-deadlock-detector
gdb

######### Fix the two following paths

# Where you want to have your database
datadir=/path/to/data/dir

# Where you have your mysql/MariaDB source + sql/share/english
language=/path/to/src/dir/sql/share/english

########## One can also have a different path for different versions, to simplify development.

[mariadb-10.1]
lc-messages-dir=/my/maria-10.1/sql/share

[mariadb-10.2]
lc-messages-dir=/my/maria-10.2/sql/share

[mysqldump]
quick
set-variable = max_allowed_packet=16M

[mysql]
no-auto-rehash

[myisamchk]
set-variable= key_buffer=128M
```

With the above file in place, go to your MariaDB source directory and execute:

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```bash
./scripts/mariadb-install-db --srcdir=$PWD --datadir=/path/to/data/dir
```

{% endcode %}

* `$PWD` is the environment variable that points to your current directory. If you added `datadir` to your `my.cnf`, you don't have to specify this option.

Now you can start `mariadbd` in the debugger:

```bash
cd sql
ddd ./mariadbd &
```

Or start `mariadbd` on its own:

```bash
cd sql
./mariadbd &
```

After starting up `mariadbd` using one of the above methods (with the debugger or without), launch the client (as root if you don't have any users setup yet).

```bash
../client/mariadb
```

## Using a Storage Engine Plugin

The simplest case is to compile the storage engine into MariaDB:

```
cmake -DWITH_PLUGIN_<plugin_name>=1` .
```

Another option is to point `mariadbd` to the storage engine directory:

```
./mariadbd --plugin-dir={build-dir-path}/storage/connect/.libs
```

<sub>*This page is licensed: CC BY-SA / Gnu FDL*</sub>

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