lower_case_table_names=1 on Ubuntu 18.04 doesn't let mysql to start

Question

I have installed mysql community server 8.013 on ubuntu 18.04 and I have the following issue. I want to set lower_case_table_names=1 in order to have case insensitive table

Answer 1

You need to reinit MySQL data directory. According to https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/identifier-case-sensitivity.html lower_case_table_names can only be configured when initializing the server.

You can do it using this script https://github.com/igrmk/ubuntu-reinit-mysql.

Please note that your data will be DESTROYED! So create a backup before running it.