Hi,
Mandrake 9.2 and MySQL 4.0.15 here.

I try to enable InnoDB. I didn't have my.cnf so I start with copying /usr/share/mysql/my-medium.cnf to /etc/my.cnf

The section below is from my "my.cnf" file:

# Uncomment the following if you are using InnoDB tables
#innodb_data_home_dir = /var/lib/mysql/
innodb_data_file_path = ibdata1:10M:autoextend
#innodb_log_group_home_dir = /var/lib/mysql/
#innodb_log_arch_dir = /var/lib/mysql/
# You can set .._buffer_pool_size up to 50 - 80 %
# of RAM but beware of setting memory usage too high
#innodb_buffer_pool_size = 16M
#innodb_additional_mem_pool_size = 2M
# Set .._log_file_size to 25 % of buffer pool size
#innodb_log_file_size = 5M
#innodb_log_buffer_size = 8M
#innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit = 1
#innodb_lock_wait_timeout = 50

I cannot uncomment any of the above lines except "innodb_data_file_path". Uncommenting any other causes the following at the error log and server does not start:

ERROR: unknown variable 'innodb_data_home_dir=/var/lib/mysql

Where did I go wrong?

You shouldn't have to mess with a configuration file at all
to use innodb tables as long as you are using any 4.X+ version
of MySQL (which you are).

The way you create an innodb table is:

create table <table_name> (

it should be innodb_data_file_path first

You have also to be sure that your mysql version support innodb


try a select version()
and
show variables like 'innobd%'

to see it

You can also check
http://www.lasso-developpeur.net/us/...tab=db&lang=us

To see how to configur INNODB var in MySql

You shouldn't have to mess with a configuration file at all
to use innodb tables as long as you are using any 4.X+ version
of MySQL (which you are).

The way you create an innodb table is:

create table <table_name> ( blah blah blah ) TYPE=INNODB;

Then do a 'show tables;' and you'll see that the table has
been created.

show variables... returns empty result set. you must ne right. I will be checking for another version.
Thank you

create/alter table with type=innodb seems to work, no error messages, but "show create table" reports the type is myIsam yet.
I'll be discarding the mysql coming along with the distro and download -max version from mysql.
Thank you for the help

Mysql will not show an error message if innodb is not present it will simply create a myisam table instead