MediaWiki: “1048: Column ‘old_id’ cannot be null”

Erik-Jan — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:27:56 +0000

If you get this error with MediaWiki (or any other software) you should look at the properties of your table structure. Most probable is that an “auto_increment” is missing. This problem took me quite a while to find, especially because of lots of people on the web come up with the weirdest explanations and solutions, like simply reinstalling and re-importing the data. Not fun if you are in a hurry and have a table with 7.5 million text files.

MySQL: Error No. 1033 Incorrect information in file: ‘filename’

Erik-Jan — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:41:05 +0000

This is one of those ‘OMG Eriky, you saved my ass!’ posts.

You probably came here after searching for this error. Before you try anything else, check if your /tmp directory exists and if it has the right permissions. If not, create it and do a “chmod 777 /tmp”. MySQL will give you the weirdest errors if it can not use the /tmp folder.

If this does not help, check your /etc/mysql/my.cnf. There could be a line somewhere, stating which directory to use as a temporary directory. Create that directory, or remove/change the line so MySQL uses your /tmp folder instead.

Erik-Jan van Baaren » Software

MediaWiki: “1048: Column ‘old_id’ cannot be null”

MySQL: Error No. 1033 Incorrect information in file: ‘filename’