/usr/libexec/mysqld: Can’t create/write to file ‘/tmp/’ (Errcode: 13)

by Vivek Gite [Last updated: April 20, 2007]

Q. I’m using Red Hat enterprise Linux version 4.0 and MySQL version 4.20. Monit has recently notified me following error:
mysqld' failed to start.

A detailed log from /var/log/mysqld.log file:

/usr/libexec/mysqld: Can't create/write to file '/tmp/ibCfJwf1' (Errcode: 13)
070420 10:07:58 InnoDB: Error: unable to create temporary file; errno: 13
070420 10:07:58 [ERROR] Can't init databases
070420 10:07:58 [ERROR] Aborting

070420 10:07:58 [Note] /usr/libexec/mysqld: Shutdown complete

/etc/init.d/mysql start command returned following output:
Initializing MySQL database: [ OK ]
Timeout error occurred trying to start MySQL Daemon.
Starting MySQL: [FAILED]

How do I fix this problem?

A. MySQL is not able to access your /tmp directory to wirte and create temporary files. Make sure /tmp is owned by root and sticky bit is set on /tmp directory. Type the following commands to fix the error:
# chown root:root /tmp
# chmod 1777 /tmp
# /etc/init.d/mysqld start

Now mysql should start without a problem.

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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 khmer 08.30.08 at 2:31 am

Oh, dear. Thank you so much. You have save the day. I had this problem and found your site on Google and it works!!! thank you so much

2 Amit Shah 10.31.08 at 1:49 pm

Thank a lot for posting answer. I had this problem and found your site on Google and its solve my problem!!!

3 JosK 11.07.08 at 2:00 pm

THX!

4 EF 11.15.08 at 10:04 pm

It’s not solving my problem. It’s still not starting. The same error shows up in the log file :(

5 Geen 11.26.08 at 1:50 am

Didn’t fix mine either although my error was slightly different:
081127 2:38:09 [Warning] Can’t create test file /var/lib/mysql/bobby.lower-test
081127 2:38:09 [Warning] Can’t create test file /var/lib/mysql/bobby.lower-test
/usr/libexec/mysqld: Can’t change dir to ‘/var/lib/mysql/’ (Errcode: 13)
081127 2:38:09 [ERROR] Aborting

WHo can help me with this?

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