MARIADB-ACCESS(1)

💖 MARIADB-ACCESS(1) 💖

okay bestie, so this is a page from the MariaDB Database System manual, and it's literally about the mariadb-access client. strap in 💅

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✨ NAME ✨

mariadb-access — the client for checking access privileges, and yes, the tea is that mariadb-access is now a symlink to mariadb-access. no I'm not joking, that's what it says. iconic behavior honestly.

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🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

mariadb-access [host_name [user_name [db_name]]] [options]

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so mariadb-access is a diagnostic tool written by Yves Carlier, and what it does is check the access privileges for a host name, user name, and database combo. slay.

⚠️ important vibe check: mariadb-access checks access using only the user, db, and host tables. it does not check table, column, or routine privileges specified in the tables_priv, columns_priv, or procs_priv tables. so don't come for it about those, it's not its job bestie 😭

invoke mariadb-access like this:

shell> mariadb-access [host_name [user_name [db_name]]] [options]

mariadb-access supports the following options. all of them. every single one. we're not skipping any 👑

• --help, -? — display a help message and exit. your lil "what do I do" button 🫶
• --brief, -b — generate reports in single-line tabular format. compact queen ✨
• --commit — copy the new access privileges from the temporary tables to the original grant tables. lowkey crucial: the grant tables must be flushed for the new privileges to take effect. (for example, execute a mariadb-admin reload command.) no flush, no effect, no cap 🚨
• --copy — reload the temporary grant tables from original ones.
• --db=db_name, -d db_name — specify the database name.
• --debug=N — specify the debug level. N can be an integer from 0 to 3.
• --host=host_name, -h host_name — the host name to use in the access privileges.
• --howto — display some examples that show how to use mariadb-access. tutorial era 🎀
• --old_server — connect to a very old MySQL server (before MySQL 3.21) that does not know how to handle full WHERE clauses. grandma server support fr fr 👵
• --password[=password], -p[password] — the password to use when connecting to the server. if you omit the password value following the --password or -p option on the command line, mariadb-access prompts for one.

🚨 specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. see Section 5.3.2.2, "End-User Guidelines for Password Security".

• --plan — display suggestions and ideas for future releases. manifesting ✨
• --preview — show the privilege differences after making changes to the temporary grant tables.
• --relnotes — display the release notes.
• --rhost=host_name, -H host_name — connect to the MariaDB server on the given host.
• --rollback — undo the most recent changes to the temporary grant tables. ctrl+z energy 💅
• --spassword[=password], -P[password] — the password to use when connecting to the server as the superuser. if you omit the password value following the --spassword or -p option on the command line, mariadb-access prompts for one.

🚨 specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. see Section 5.3.2.2, "End-User Guidelines for Password Security".

• --superuser=user_name, -U user_name — specify the user name for connecting as the superuser. main character energy 👑
• --table, -t — generate reports in table format.
• --user=user_name, -u user_name — the user name to use in the access privileges.
• --version, -v — display version information and exit.

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okay so here's the part where it gets a lil DIY 🔧 if your MariaDB distribution is installed in some non-standard location, you must change the location where mariadb-access expects to find the mariadb client. edit the mariadb-access script at approximately line 18. search for a line that looks like this:

$MYSQL     = '/usr/local/bin/mariadb';    # path to mariadb executable

change the path to reflect the location where mariadb actually is stored on your system. and if you don't do this? a Broken pipe error will occur when you run mariadb-access. so like, do it 🙈

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💜 COPYRIGHT 💜

Copyright 2007-2008 MySQL AB, 2008-2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc., 2010-2025 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 02110-1335 USA or see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

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🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

For more information, please refer to the MariaDB Documentation, available online at https://mariadb.com/docs/

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⭐ AUTHOR ⭐

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

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and that's the whole page bestie, no notes 💅 this was MariaDB 11.8, dated 5 March 2025, and yeah the header said MARIADB-ACCESS(1) up top and the footer said it again at the bottom, so now you know the whole lore 🦋 mwah, go check some privileges 🎀