Specifying Program Options The server attempted to start using  /usr/local/mysql/var/tonfisk.err  as the error log, but then shut down. Examining the last few lines of this file shows the reason: Because the  --log-error  option supplies a default value, you must use an equal sign to assign a different value to it, as shown here: When the  mysql  client reads this file, these entries are parsed as  --host --user  or  --host=--user , with the result shown here: However, in option files, an equal sign is not assumed. Suppose the  my.cnf  file is as shown here: Trying to start  mysql  in this case causes a different error: A similar error would occur if you were to write  host tonfisk  in the option file rather than host=tonfisk . Instead, you must use the equal sign: Now the login attempt succeeds: Now the server has been started successfully, and is logging errors to the file  /usr/local/mysql/var/ my-errors.err . Similar issues can arise when specifying option values in option files. For example, consider a  my.cnf  file that contains the following: shell>  tail /usr/local/mysql/var/tonfisk.err 2013-09-24T15:36:22.278034Z 0 [ERROR] Too many arguments (first extra is ’my-errors’). 2013-09-24T15:36:22.278059Z 0 [Note] Use --verbose --help to get a list of available options! 2013-09-24T15:36:22.278076Z 0 [ERROR] Aborting 2013-09-24T15:36:22.279704Z 0 [Note] InnoDB: Starting shutdown... 2013-09-24T15:36:23.777471Z 0 [Note] InnoDB: Shutdown completed; log sequence number 2319086 2013-09-24T15:36:23.780134Z 0 [Note] mysqld: Shutdown complete shell>  mysqld_safe --log-error=my-errors & [1] 31437 shell> 080111 22:54:15 mysqld_safe Logging to ’/usr/local/mysql/var/my-errors.err’. 080111 22:54:15 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /usr/local/mysql/var shell> [mysql] host user shell>  mysql ERROR 2005 (HY000): Unknown MySQL server host ’--user’ (1) [mysql] user jon shell>  mysql mysql: unknown option ’--user jon’ [mysql] user=jon shell>  mysql Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g. Your MySQL connection id is 5 Server version: 8.0.25 Source distribution Type ’help;’ or ’\h’ for help. Type ’\c’ to clear the buffer. 355