problems with mysqldump

junebug

i am trying to set up a script that uses mysqldump to email a backup of the database to a user. i cannot make mysqldump work however. from a command line it is fine. if i use system() it returns 2. if i use passthru is it returns 2. if i use exec it returns an empty array. i even tried it like this:

$t = mysqldump --password=xxxxxxxx general;
echo $t;

and got no result. i know that this last way should work because a simple call to ls works. if anyone can give me some help with this i would be so thankful.

thanks in advance.

[deleted]

Have you tried giving the path to mysqldump?

exec("/path/to/mysqldump bladebla");

Anon

still doesn't work. i even tried writing a shell script, which does work, and then calling the shell script from php and it still doesn't work. this should work shouldn't it:

system("/usr/bin/mysqladmin --password=xxxxxx general > /home/chris/dump.sql", $t);

i want to use passthru so i get the dump in a variable that i can manage but even dumping to a file would be helpful.

any other advice? thanks for giving me at least something to look at.

chris

adrianl

Did you check whether the mysql user has the sufficient privilege to use mysqldump ? ie, if you log in as 'dolphin', but the mysql user is 'whale', then you need to use "mysqldump -uwhale -ppassword general > general.sql"

btw, your script above says 'mysqladmin' - I assume that's a typo ? Try this php shell script and see (it works on my system)

------- snip ------

#!/usr/local/bin/php -q
<?php

system("/path/to/mysqldump -p<password> general > general.db", $t);
echo "$t\n";

Remember to chmod 755 the script first.

cheers.

Anon

still doesn't want to take. i doubt anyone is still reading this far down but if anyone has any help or suggestions, i would be very thankful.

[deleted]

One more thin to try, put:

error_reporting(E_ALL);

just in front of the system call.
That will report any and all errors that may have been supressed before.

adrianl

Question: are you trying to run 'mysqldump' via a php script or a shell script ?

If via a php script, then you should check if php was compiled with 'safe-mode' on. If that yes, then you can only run your php scripts off the specified directory. For more info, check out Chap 4 (Security) of the PHP manual.

cheers.