Howto review MySQL queries used in scripts.

Introduction
Due to a recent discussion about the morality of content of vBSEO customers and the encryption of php source code, someone asked me to elaborate on how to review MySQL queries being executed in scripts.

Plain text logging
To be able to do so, you will need to have access to the configuration file of the MySQL server where your database resides on. I have not tested it on the 5.0 version of this software, but in the 4.* series this is possible. According to my default configuration file, this feature also will be depricated in version 5.0.

Let me quote a part of the my.cnf file we are using for our server.

Originally Posted by my.cnf

[mysqld]
skip-innodb
user = mysql
pid-file = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
socket = /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
log-error = /var/log/mysql/mysqld.err
# If set, mysql logs all queries(general query log). This will be deprecated in
# 5.0. This logs all queries, even error queries and is slow.
#log = /var/log/mysql/mysqld-queries.log
#
# If you really need logging, use rather binary logging. Especially when doing
# replication. Read
# file:/usr/share/doc/mysql-*/manual.html.gz#Replication

As you can see here, it only required to uncomment the "log" setting, modifying the appropriate path to the logfile and a restart to enable logging.
Logging of queries is a server intensive process, so it really is only recommended for debugging purpose.

For more information on the subject, these documents i can recommend:

• The General Query Log
• The Binary Log
• mysqlbinlog — Utility for Processing Binary Log Files

References

• my.cnf
• http://dev.mysql.com/

Regards,
xb_

Thank-you for posting this information xb_. It will definitely help to demonstrate that there is absolutely no security risk with vBSEO.

/* Note: As xb_ mentioned, logging SQL queries is an intensive process. Remember to disable it once you have completed your log analysis. */

Juan

Good post, the query logging capability of MySQL is very useful. Not just for analysis, but also for incorporation into a backup regimen.