It is unsafe to use MYSQL_PWD. The "mysql" client uses the file named in the MYSQL_HISTFILE environment variable to save the command line history. The default value of the history file is "$HOME/.mysql_history", where $HOME is the value of the HOME environment variable. All MySQL programs take many different options, however, each MySQL program provides a --help option that you can use to get a complete description of the program's different options. For example, try mysql --help. You can override the default options for all standard clients with an options file. The following table briefly describes MySQL programs: myisamchk Usage program that describes, checks, optimizes, and repairs MySQL tables. make_binary_release Make a binary version of compiled MySQL. This can be sent using FTP to "/pub/mysql/Incoming" on the ftp.tcx.se website for the convenience of other MySQL users.