title: MySQL: how do I see which config files are used?
body: <p>In order to reinstall my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MySQL" rel="noreferrer">MySQL</a> database, I deleted /etc/my.cnf</p>
  
  <p>But what are the default settings of MySQL? And how do I see which configuration files are in use?</p>
  
  <p>I can see that <code>mysql --help</code> gives me a list of the current settings. But my real problem here is that I want to modify <code>local-infile</code> and <code>max_allowed_packet</code>.</p>
  
  <p>The help text also states that it reads from the following files: <code>/etc/my.cnf /etc/mysql/my.cnf /opt/local/etc/mysql5/my.cnf ~/.my.cnf</code>. But none of them exist:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; cat /etc/my.cnf /etc/mysql/my.cnf /opt/local/etc/mysql5/my.cnf ~/.my.cnf  
  cat: /etc/my.cnf: No such file or directory
  cat: /etc/mysql/my.cnf: No such file or directory
  cat: /opt/local/etc/mysql5/my.cnf: No such file or directory
  cat: /Users/jesper/.my.cnf: No such file or directory
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Can I create a new configuration file that only contains these settings? 
  And most specific: <strong>How can I see which configuration files that are in use?</strong></p>
  
  <p>Here is the output from <code>mysql --help</code></p>
  
  <pre><code>&gt; mysql --help
  mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.1.40, for apple-darwin10.0.0 (i386) using readline 6.0
  Copyright 2000-2008 MySQL AB, 2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
  
  [...]
  
  Default options are read from the following files in the given order:
  /etc/my.cnf /etc/mysql/my.cnf /opt/local/etc/mysql5/my.cnf ~/.my.cnf 
  The following groups are read: mysql client
  The following options may be given as the first argument:
  --print-defaults    Print the program argument list and exit
  --no-defaults       Don't read default options from any options file
  --defaults-file=#   Only read default options from the given file #
  --defaults-extra-file=# Read this file after the global files are read
  
  Variables (--variable-name=value)
  and boolean options {FALSE|TRUE}  Value (after reading options)
  --------------------------------- -----------------------------
  auto-rehash                       TRUE
  character-sets-dir                (No default value)
  column-type-info                  FALSE
  comments                          FALSE
  compress                          FALSE
  debug-check                       FALSE
  debug-info                        FALSE
  database                          (No default value)
  default-character-set             latin1
  delimiter                         ;
  vertical                          FALSE
  force                             FALSE
  named-commands                    FALSE
  ignore-spaces                     FALSE
  local-infile                      FALSE
  no-beep                           FALSE
  host                              (No default value)
  html                              FALSE
  xml                               FALSE
  line-numbers                      TRUE
  unbuffered                        FALSE
  column-names                      TRUE
  sigint-ignore                     FALSE
  port                              0
  prompt                            mysql&gt; 
  quick                             FALSE
  raw                               FALSE
  reconnect                         TRUE
  socket                            (No default value)
  ssl                               FALSE
  ssl-ca                            (No default value)
  ssl-capath                        (No default value)
  ssl-cert                          (No default value)
  ssl-cipher                        (No default value)
  ssl-key                           (No default value)
  ssl-verify-server-cert            FALSE
  table                             FALSE
  user                              (No default value)
  safe-updates                      FALSE
  i-am-a-dummy                      FALSE
  connect_timeout                   0
  max_allowed_packet                16777216
  net_buffer_length                 16384
  select_limit                      1000
  max_join_size                     1000000
  secure-auth                       FALSE
  show-warnings                     FALSE
  </code></pre>