MySQL Error 1153 - Got a packet bigger than 'max_allowed_packet' bytes

Question

I'm importing a MySQL dump and getting the following error.

$ mysql foo < foo.sql 
ERROR 1153 (08S01) at line 96: Got a packet bigger than 'max_allowed_packet' bytes

Apparently there are attachments in the database, which makes for very large inserts.

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This is on my local machine, a Mac with MySQL 5 installed from the MySQL package.

Where do I change max_allowed_packet to be able to import the dump?

Is there anything else I should set?

Just running mysql --max_allowed_packet=32M … resulted in the same error.

Answer 1

You probably have to change it for both the client (you are running to do the import) AND the daemon mysqld that is running and accepting the import.

For the client, you can specify it on the command line:

mysql --max_allowed_packet=100M -u root -p database < dump.sql

Also, change the my.cnf or my.ini file (usually found in /etc/mysql/) under the mysqld section and set:

max_allowed_packet=100M

or you could run these commands in a MySQL console connected to that same server:

set global net_buffer_length=1000000; 
set global max_allowed_packet=1000000000;

(Use a very large value for the packet size.)

Answer 2

As michaelpryor said, you have to change it for both the client and the daemon mysqld server.

His solution for the client command-line is good, but the ini files don't always do the trick, depending on configuration.

So, open a terminal, type mysql to get a mysql prompt, and issue these commands:

set global net_buffer_length=1000000; 
set global max_allowed_packet=1000000000; 

Keep the mysql prompt open, and run your command-line SQL execution on a second terminal..

Answer 3

This can be changed in your my.ini file (on Windows, located in \Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server) under the server section, for example:

[mysqld]

max_allowed_packet = 10M

Answer 4

Re my.cnf on Mac OS X when using MySQL from the mysql.com dmg package distribution

By default, my.cnf is nowhere to be found.

You need to copy one of /usr/local/mysql/support-files/my*.cnf to /etc/my.cnf and restart mysqld. (Which you can do in the MySQL preference pane if you installed it.)