myisampack(1)


NAME

   myisampack - generate compressed, read-only MyISAM tables

SYNOPSIS

   myisampack [options] file_name ...

DESCRIPTION

   The myisampack utility compresses MyISAM tables.  myisampack works by
   compressing each column in the table separately. Usually, myisampack
   packs the data file 40%--70%.

   When the table is used later, the server reads into memory the
   information needed to decompress columns. This results in much better
   performance when accessing individual rows, because you only have to
   uncompress exactly one row.

   MySQL uses mmap() when possible to perform memory mapping on compressed
   tables. If mmap() does not work, MySQL falls back to normal read/write
   file operations.

   Please note the following:

   *   If the mysqld server was invoked with external locking disabled, it
       is not a good idea to invoke myisampack if the table might be
       updated by the server during the packing process. It is safest to
       compress tables with the server stopped.

   *   After packing a table, it becomes read only. This is generally
       intended (such as when accessing packed tables on a CD).

   Invoke myisampack like this:

       shell> myisampack [options] file_name ...

   Each file name argument should be the name of an index (.MYI) file. If
   you are not in the database directory, you should specify the path name
   to the file. It is permissible to omit the .MYI extension.

   After you compress a table with myisampack, you should use myisamchk
   -rq to rebuild its indexes.  myisamchk(1).

   myisampack supports the following options. It also reads option files
   and supports the options for processing them described at
   Section 4.2.3.3.1, "Command-Line Options that Affect Option-File
   Handling".

   *   --help, -?

       Display a help message and exit.

   *   --backup, -b

       Make a backup of each tables data file using the name
       tbl_name.OLD.

   *   --character-sets-dir=path

       The directory where character sets are installed. See Section 9.5,
       "Character Set Configuration".

   *   --debug[=debug_options], -# [debug_options]

       Write a debugging log. A typical debug_options string is
       d:t:o,file_name. The default is d:t:o.

   *   --force, -f

       Produce a packed table even if it becomes larger than the original
       or if the intermediate file from an earlier invocation of
       myisampack exists. (myisampack creates an intermediate file named
       tbl_name.TMD in the database directory while it compresses the
       table. If you kill myisampack, the .TMD file might not be deleted.)
       Normally, myisampack exits with an error if it finds that
       tbl_name.TMD exists. With --force, myisampack packs the table
       anyway.

   *   --join=big_tbl_name, -j big_tbl_name

       Join all tables named on the command line into a single packed
       table big_tbl_name. All tables that are to be combined must have
       identical structure (same column names and types, same indexes, and
       so forth).

       big_tbl_name must not exist prior to the join operation. All source
       tables named on the command line to be merged into big_tbl_name
       must exist. The source tables are read for the join operation but
       not modified. The join operation does not create a .frm file for
       big_tbl_name, so after the join operation finishes, copy the .frm
       file from one of the source tables and name it big_tbl_name.frm.

   *   --silent, -s

       Silent mode. Write output only when errors occur.

   *   --test, -t

       Do not actually pack the table, just test packing it.

   *   --tmpdir=path, -T path

       Use the named directory as the location where myisampack creates
       temporary files.

   *   --verbose, -v

       Verbose mode. Write information about the progress of the packing
       operation and its result.

   *   --version, -V

       Display version information and exit.

   *   --wait, -w

       Wait and retry if the table is in use. If the mysqld server was
       invoked with external locking disabled, it is not a good idea to
       invoke myisampack if the table might be updated by the server
       during the packing process.

   The following sequence of commands illustrates a typical table
   compression session:

       shell> ls -l station.*
       -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my         994128 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYD
       -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my          53248 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYI
       -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my           5767 Apr 17 19:00 station.frm
       shell> myisamchk -dvv station
       MyISAM file:     station
       Isam-version:  2
       Creation time: 1996-03-13 10:08:58
       Recover time:  1997-02-02  3:06:43
       Data records:              1192  Deleted blocks:              0
       Datafile parts:            1192  Deleted data:                0
       Datafile pointer (bytes):     2  Keyfile pointer (bytes):     2
       Max datafile length:   54657023  Max keyfile length:   33554431
       Recordlength:               834
       Record format: Fixed length
       table description:
       Key Start Len Index   Type                 Root  Blocksize    Rec/key
       1   2     4   unique  unsigned long        1024       1024          1
       2   32    30  multip. text                10240       1024          1
       Field Start Length Type
       1     1     1
       2     2     4
       3     6     4
       4     10    1
       5     11    20
       6     31    1
       7     32    30
       8     62    35
       9     97    35
       10    132   35
       11    167   4
       12    171   16
       13    187   35
       14    222   4
       15    226   16
       16    242   20
       17    262   20
       18    282   20
       19    302   30
       20    332   4
       21    336   4
       22    340   1
       23    341   8
       24    349   8
       25    357   8
       26    365   2
       27    367   2
       28    369   4
       29    373   4
       30    377   1
       31    378   2
       32    380   8
       33    388   4
       34    392   4
       35    396   4
       36    400   4
       37    404   1
       38    405   4
       39    409   4
       40    413   4
       41    417   4
       42    421   4
       43    425   4
       44    429   20
       45    449   30
       46    479   1
       47    480   1
       48    481   79
       49    560   79
       50    639   79
       51    718   79
       52    797   8
       53    805   1
       54    806   1
       55    807   20
       56    827   4
       57    831   4
       shell> myisampack station.MYI
       Compressing station.MYI: (1192 records)
       - Calculating statistics
       normal:     20  empty-space:   16  empty-zero:     12  empty-fill:  11
       pre-space:   0  end-space:     12  table-lookups:   5  zero:         7
       Original trees:  57  After join: 17
       - Compressing file
       87.14%
       Remember to run myisamchk -rq on compressed tables
       shell> ls -l station.*
       -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my         127874 Apr 17 19:00 station.MYD
       -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my          55296 Apr 17 19:04 station.MYI
       -rw-rw-r--   1 monty    my           5767 Apr 17 19:00 station.frm
       shell> myisamchk -dvv station
       MyISAM file:     station
       Isam-version:  2
       Creation time: 1996-03-13 10:08:58
       Recover time:  1997-04-17 19:04:26
       Data records:               1192  Deleted blocks:              0
       Datafile parts:             1192  Deleted data:                0
       Datafile pointer (bytes):      3  Keyfile pointer (bytes):     1
       Max datafile length:    16777215  Max keyfile length:     131071
       Recordlength:                834
       Record format: Compressed
       table description:
       Key Start Len Index   Type                 Root  Blocksize    Rec/key
       1   2     4   unique  unsigned long       10240       1024          1
       2   32    30  multip. text                54272       1024          1
       Field Start Length Type                         Huff tree  Bits
       1     1     1      constant                             1     0
       2     2     4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
       3     6     4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
       4     10    1                                           3     9
       5     11    20     table-lookup                         4     0
       6     31    1                                           3     9
       7     32    30     no endspace, not_always              5     9
       8     62    35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
       9     97    35     no empty                             7     9
       10    132   35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
       11    167   4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
       12    171   16     no endspace, not_always, no empty    5     9
       13    187   35     no endspace, not_always, no empty    6     9
       14    222   4      zerofill(1)                          2     9
       15    226   16     no endspace, not_always, no empty    5     9
       16    242   20     no endspace, not_always              8     9
       17    262   20     no endspace, no empty                8     9
       18    282   20     no endspace, no empty                5     9
       19    302   30     no endspace, no empty                6     9
       20    332   4      always zero                          2     9
       21    336   4      always zero                          2     9
       22    340   1                                           3     9
       23    341   8      table-lookup                         9     0
       24    349   8      table-lookup                        10     0
       25    357   8      always zero                          2     9
       26    365   2                                           2     9
       27    367   2      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
       28    369   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
       29    373   4      table-lookup                        11     0
       30    377   1                                           3     9
       31    378   2      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
       32    380   8      no zeros                             2     9
       33    388   4      always zero                          2     9
       34    392   4      table-lookup                        12     0
       35    396   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)               13     9
       36    400   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9
       37    404   1                                           2     9
       38    405   4      no zeros                             2     9
       39    409   4      always zero                          2     9
       40    413   4      no zeros                             2     9
       41    417   4      always zero                          2     9
       42    421   4      no zeros                             2     9
       43    425   4      always zero                          2     9
       44    429   20     no empty                             3     9
       45    449   30     no empty                             3     9
       46    479   1                                          14     4
       47    480   1                                          14     4
       48    481   79     no endspace, no empty               15     9
       49    560   79     no empty                             2     9
       50    639   79     no empty                             2     9
       51    718   79     no endspace                         16     9
       52    797   8      no empty                             2     9
       53    805   1                                          17     1
       54    806   1                                           3     9
       55    807   20     no empty                             3     9
       56    827   4      no zeros, zerofill(2)                2     9
       57    831   4      no zeros, zerofill(1)                2     9

   myisampack displays the following kinds of information:

   *   normal

       The number of columns for which no extra packing is used.

   *   empty-space

       The number of columns containing values that are only spaces. These
       occupy one bit.

   *   empty-zero

       The number of columns containing values that are only binary zeros.
       These occupy one bit.

   *   empty-fill

       The number of integer columns that do not occupy the full byte
       range of their type. These are changed to a smaller type. For
       example, a BIGINT column (eight bytes) can be stored as a TINYINT
       column (one byte) if all its values are in the range from -128 to
       127.

   *   pre-space

       The number of decimal columns that are stored with leading spaces.
       In this case, each value contains a count for the number of leading
       spaces.

   *   end-space

       The number of columns that have a lot of trailing spaces. In this
       case, each value contains a count for the number of trailing
       spaces.

   *   table-lookup

       The column had only a small number of different values, which were
       converted to an ENUM before Huffman compression.

   *   zero

       The number of columns for which all values are zero.

   *   Original trees

       The initial number of Huffman trees.

   *   After join

       The number of distinct Huffman trees left after joining trees to
       save some header space.

   After a table has been compressed, the Field lines displayed by
   myisamchk -dvv include additional information about each column:

   *   Type

       The data type. The value may contain any of the following
       descriptors:

       *   constant

           All rows have the same value.

       *   no endspace

           Do not store endspace.

       *   no endspace, not_always

           Do not store endspace and do not do endspace compression for
           all values.

       *   no endspace, no empty

           Do not store endspace. Do not store empty values.

       *   table-lookup

           The column was converted to an ENUM.

       *   zerofill(N)

           The most significant N bytes in the value are always 0 and are
           not stored.

       *   no zeros

           Do not store zeros.

       *   always zero

           Zero values are stored using one bit.

   *   Huff tree

       The number of the Huffman tree associated with the column.

   *   Bits

       The number of bits used in the Huffman tree.

   After you run myisampack, you must run myisamchk to re-create any
   indexes. At this time, you can also sort the index blocks and create
   statistics needed for the MySQL optimizer to work more efficiently:

       shell> myisamchk -rq --sort-index --analyze tbl_name.MYI

   After you have installed the packed table into the MySQL database
   directory, you should execute mysqladmin flush-tables to force mysqld
   to start using the new table.

   To unpack a packed table, use the --unpack option to myisamchk.

COPYRIGHT

   Copyright 2007-2008 MySQL AB, 2008-2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc.,
   2010-2015 MariaDB Foundation

   This documentation is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
   modify it only under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
   published by the Free Software Foundation; version 2 of the License.

   This documentation is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU
   General Public License for more details.

   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
   with the program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
   51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA or see
   http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

SEE ALSO

   For more information, please refer to the MariaDB Knowledge Base,
   available online at https://mariadb.com/kb/

AUTHOR

   MariaDB Foundation (http://www.mariadb.org/).





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