How can I make MySQL on Linux behave like Windows or Mac OS X in terms of case sensitivity?

How MySQL's Case Sensitivity Impacts Database Operations on Different Servers

The MySQL database system handles identifier case sensitivity based on the underlying file system, leading to inconsistencies between operating systems. For instance, Windows and Mac OS X MySQL servers are case-insensitive, while Linux servers are case-sensitive. This can cause issues when migrating databases from other platforms to Linux.

Solution: Configuring Case Insensitivity on Linux

Fortunately, MySQL provides a configuration option called "lower_case_table_names" to address this problem. By setting this variable to 1 in the MySQL config file, database and table names will be stored in lowercase on disk and comparisons made case-insensitive. This effectively emulates the behavior of case-insensitive operating systems like Windows and Mac OS X.

Why the "read-only" Variable May Appear in Webmin

In some cases, users may encounter a "read-only" error when attempting to modify the "lower_case_table_names" variable in the MySQL Server console in Webmin. This is because Webmin may not have sufficient permissions to make changes to the config file.

Alternative Approach

If setting "lower_case_table_names" to 1 is not feasible due to database errors or file system limitations, another option is to modify the MySQL service startup script to include this configuration change. This approach avoids modifying the config file directly and ensures the change takes effect every time the service is started.

By implementing one of these solutions, you can configure MySQL on Linux to behave in a case-insensitive manner, similar to Windows and Mac OS X servers. This eliminates discrepancies caused by case-dependent table names in queries and allows for seamless database operations across different platforms.

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