Hi,

I use the following routine in a package to connect to a MySQL database on a Linux system (with a lot of debugging stuff to solve my problem): 
sub db_connect {
    my $self = shift;

    my $errStr;
    my $testStr;
    my $dbh;
    eval {
        local $SIG{ALRM} = sub { die "timeout\n" }; # NB: \n required
        alarm 10;
        $dbh = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:".$self->{DB_NAME}.":".$self->{
+DB_HOSTNAME}.":".$self->{DB_PORT}, $self->{DB_USERNAME}, $self->{DB_P
+ASSWORD}, { PrintError => 0 });
        if (defined($dbh)) {
            $testStr = "[Database handle SET]";
        }
        else {
            $errStr = "Unable to connect to database: ".$DBI::errstr;
            $testStr = "[Database handle NOT SET]";
        }
        alarm 0;
    };
    if ($@ eq "timeout\n") {
        # Timeout
        $errStr = "Connection to database timed out";
    }
    elsif ($@) {
        # Unknown error
        $errStr = "Unknown error: ".$@;
    }

    my $result = defined($dbh);
    if (!$result) {
        $errStr .= " [dbh DEFINED]".$testStr;
    }
    else {
        $errStr .= " [dbh UNDEFINED]".$testStr;
        $self->log_comment("ERROR: db_connect => ".$errStr);
    }
    return $result;
}

[download]
I use a timeout on the database connect, the parameters to the DBI->connect routine are OK. Almost always the connection is succesful, but sometimes this line shows up in the logfile:

2002-07-30 21:48:31: ERROR: db_connect => dbh UNDEFINED

So the DBI->connect failed, but I don't know why. It seems to me that $errStr should always have a value and when the connect does NOT timeout, $testStr also. But the logfile shows otherwise!

I am missing something... but what and where?

TIA, Marcel

In reply to DBI connect problem by Marcello

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