How To Set lower_case_table_names In MySQL On Ubuntu — 2024

So I wanted to show how to set lower_case_table_names in MySQL on Ubuntu.

This is a really niche issue, I encountered it recently when trying to deploy an application that used MySQL 8.0.36 running on Ubuntu. The issue was that the application required lower case table names, something that MySQL doesn’t do by default and is a bit of a pain to rectify.

I’ll explain more in the intro!

Before we jump in, I’ve also written this post on my website in case you prefer reading over there!

Introduction

So to explain a bit more, by default MySQL doesn’t enable lower case table names. This can be a problem for an application that expects it. And is an even bigger pain to fix, essentially requirement a complete uninstall and reinstall of MySQL.

If you didn’t know MySQL is a popular and open-source database system. Efficiently storing and organising your data. It’s most widely used in web applications and uses the time proven SQL (Structured Query Language) to manage.

Setup

So a big more about my environment! I’m running MySQL 8.0.36 on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. I’m going this simple because it offers the best stability and security at the moment.