[mythtv-users] Moving frontend/backend to a new machine

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Thu, Dec 19, 2013 at 8:02 PM, Rich West <Rich.West at wesmo.com> wrote:
....
> Not lucky at all.

Perhaps you have enough experience to know better, and
know what to do, and not to do, but posting such advice on
a forum that will be archived, and searched in the future,
and used without fully understanding all (and more) of
the following is just asking for trouble down the road.

For anyone who is not a DBA, use the supplied scripts.
It is just the right advice for most.

Potential issues by copying binary files (not complete,
just what I thought of):

* If the mysql versions are different, you may have to
  perform specific upgrade steps (which may require
  reading all release notes).
* Different versions may have initialized with differing
  system files.  Replacing those files may result
  in brokeness.
* The db engines (available/defaulted to) may be
  different.  You may not be able to read the data.
* If you are migrating to/from mysql/mariadb (and
  if you are not aware, most distros are changing),
  you may need to perform specific migration steps.
  (and while mysql/mariadb currently are mostly
  compatible, even at the file level, both have indicated
  future incompatible changes may occur).
* If the system endianess is different, most likely the
  database will be broken by moving binary files.
* If the mysql configuration specifies different locations
  for various directories and files you will end up with
  various brokeness
* Not copying the appropriate my.cnf (or my.cnf.d)
  configuration options may result in brokeness.
  Copying those files without understanding may
  also result in brokeness.

Yes, an experienced DBA, with years of failing to
follow all of those steps (and lots more), and learning
from each, can just "copy files".  For everyone else,
use the scripts.