Mysql database backup ...

[Anon]

Hello,

What I want to do is to backup a mysql database, but before doing so, I want to read the old version and read the new version of the database with php. and show to the administrator of my application what are the changes.

So the question is: how can I make a backup of the database so that php can read it.

Thank you.

[[deleted]]

First, backups as never ever made to read from using different applications than the 'restore' application.

If you want to compare two databases, the sanest choice I guess would be to load the 'old' data into a duplicate database, and literally compare the content of the two databases using SQL.

problem: if you have tables without a Primary key, you have no way of finding matching records in both databases quickly. That means doing a sequencial scan, for each record, which means it's time to grab a large cup of coffee and watch the walls melt.

Another, quite simple solution is to do things the other way round.
Right now you are makig lots of changes and then you go back into the table to see what those changes were. That is the Microsoft approach.
Why don't you change whatever app you are using so that it automatically logs the changes to a seperate database/table?
That way a simple query could list all the changes in one go, and at any point in time.