Invalid default value for 'create_date' timestamp field

Question

That is because of server SQL Mode - NO_ZERO_DATE.

From the reference: NO_ZERO_DATE - In strict mode, don't allow '0000-00-00' as a valid date. You can still insert zero dates with the IGNORE option. When not in strict mode, the date is accepted but a warning is generated.

If you generated the script from the MySQL workbench.

The following line is generated

SET @OLD_SQL_MODE=@@SQL_MODE, SQL_MODE='TRADITIONAL,ALLOW_INVALID_DATES';

Remove TRADITIONAL from the SQL_MODE, and then the script should work fine

Else, you could set the SQL_MODE as Allow Invalid Dates

SET SQL_MODE='ALLOW_INVALID_DATES';

TIMESTAMP has a range of '1970-01-01 00:00:01' UTC to '2038-01-19 03:14:07' UTC (see doc). The default value must be within that range.

Other odd, related, behavior:

CREATE TABLE tbl1 (
    ts TIMESTAMP);  
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

CREATE TABLE tbl2 (
    ts TIMESTAMP,
    ts2 TIMESTAMP);
ERROR 1067 (42000): Invalid default value for 'ts2'

CREATE TABLE tbl3 (
    ts TIMESTAMP,
    ts2 TIMESTAMP DEFAULT '1970-01-01 00:00:01');
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.01 sec)

Side note, if you want to insert NULLS:

CREATE TABLE tbl4 (
    ts TIMESTAMP NULL DEFAULT NULL);

In ubuntu desktop 16.04, I did this:

1. open file: /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf in an editor of your choice.

2. Look for: sql_mode, it will be somewhere under [mysqld].

3. and set sql_mode to the following:

   NO_ZERO_IN_DATE,ERROR_FOR_DIVISION_BY_ZERO,NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION

4. Save and then restart mysql service by doing:

   sudo service mysql restart