This is just a re-sending the issue reported already at https://mariadb.atlassian.net/browse/MDEV-6870 to make it more visible, since there is no respond yet. There was an issue [1] in mysql and mariadb prior to 5.5.40 if socket or fifo files were used as general_log and slow query log files. That issue was fixed by a commit in [2], so currently it is not possible to use other than regular files as log files. I'd like to bring this issue to attention of mariadb developers as well, since our customer is asking for specifically this functionality – to be able to use FIFO file as general_log file. Is it really unacceptable? [1] http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=67088 [2] http://bazaar.launchpad.net/~mysql/mysql-server/5.5/revision/4688