Disable MySQL general logging without restarting?

Question

Can I disable general logging completely without restarting the server?

Because, per the documentation:

SET sql_log_bin = {0|1}

Disables or enables binary logging for the current connection (sql_log_bin is a session variable) if the client has the SUPER privilege. The statement is refused with an error if the client does not have that privilege.

Can I enable/disable general log without restarting MySQL?

Solution

For anyone using 5.1 now, you can use these commands (had to look them up and this Q&A came up)

SET GLOBAL log_output='TABLE'; #or FILE

SET GLOBAL general_log='OFF'; #or ON

SET GLOBAL slow_query_log='ON'; #or OFF

TABLE will store them in the mysql.general_log and mysql.slow_log tables instead of files which is nice in development for reviewing and truncating.

Comments

[zeflex]

Thanks for informations. Are the confs saved after a server reboot ?

[timetofly]

@zeflex no, you have to add it to the my.cnf file to keep the settings.