How to manage MySQL binary log space (Debian)

So it turns out that what is filling up my root partition is my MySQL binary logs.

A collection of fat files in /var/log/mysql ...

So I had several options:

  • Move the logs to a different partition
  • Increase the size of the root partition
  • Decrease the size of the logs

The first option is probably the most reasonable one. But since I had other plans for the evening I actually went with the last option: decreasing the size of the logs! :roll:

The magic conf is located in /etc/mysql/my.cnf and the magic line is:

Code

expire_logs_days = 5

It was set to 10 but I have no idea why I even need 5 days. Aren't those logs only useful until transactions commit to disk, and replication executes. Oh maybe if you have replicated slaves more than 5 days behind the master??

Edit 2009: You can purge the logs up to a specific file with a statement like this:

Code

PURGE BINARY LOGS TO 'mysql-bin.000666';

Why is my Linux root partition full?

Oh my... nothing puts a server down on its knees more than a root partition with 0% free space. Oh well, ok, maybe being dugg beats it. But still, when you have a full partition, you're in trouble...

First thing is to find what is using that much space. My best bet is to do this:

cd /
du -s *

You may also like du -sh * which will show human readable sizes.

Then you just need to cd into the largest dir and iterate... ;)

USA Immigrant Visa

Today my passport came back in the mail.

It had a cool sticker in it:

That's what happens when you play the green card lottery. Beware: it doesn't only happen to others!! ;)

You play... you wait... you forget about it... you're asked for a lot for paperwork... you forget about it again... and the next thing you know, you end up with a visa inviting you to rave up your whole life! :D

About Apple Design

"Apple's design is supposed to be the ultimate perfection in 21st century computing. We should all learn from them."

I get that a lot when discussing b2evolution's user interface (which, btw, I like to think has improved significantly in version 2.0...)

While I do like what Apple does; while I do think Jonathan Ive is one of the greatest designers of our time; I still need to rant a little before I dive into the present day :>

So here's the top 5 user interaction design "mistakes" I would never have made if I has the final word at Apple's:

  1. A mouse where you never really know when you're going to left or right click, unless you really pay attention;
  2. An iPod that requires up to ten keypresses to exit shuffle mode while listening to a playlist;
  3. A mouse that gives Windows switchers a hard time with no control over acceleration, not even in the most obscure hidden place of the control panel. (Not even from the command line actually);
  4. A wireless keyboard with no numpad (not even an option);
  5. A battery you cannot replace, not even by turning one single screw. (How comes they got that right on the iMacs?)

And I won't even start with the marketing decisions (leaving a lot of features out of the iPod touch, etc.)

Of course, I'd make a lot more other mistakes, but still... Besides what's the use of a personal blog if not for pointless rants... :P

Getting a lot of traffic with BlogRush

By now you must have seen quite a few of those BlogRush widgets in blog sidebars... Heck, there's even one on this blog.

I've put it up almost when it launched despite my skepticism about why the blog world would need yet another badgy widgety thing... but it was a good opportunity for me to test easy integration of widgets in b2evolution.

Then, after all the abuse going on with it, I've been meaning to take it down for quite a while but didn't get to it until today...

Imagine my surprise when I checked my stats "just to make sure" and discovered BlogRush was actually accounting for 29% of my referrals since the beginning of the week! Holly cow! B)

I guess I'll let it live a little longer then... Looks like they have solved the abuse problems!

If you want to give it a try for yourself, there's a 2 minute signup process to register your blog, then you just have to copy/paste some javascript. In b2evolution 2.0, use a Free HTML widget to paste the javascript into your sidebar... ;)