check-unused-keys: A tool to interact with INDEX_STATISTICS

With the growing adoption of Google’s User Statistics Patch**, the need for supporting scripts has become clear. To that end, we’ve created check-unused-keys, a Perl script to provide a nicer interface than directly querying the INFORMATION_SCHEMA database.

check-unused-keys can be invoked and used as follows:

%> check-unused-keys --help
Usage:
     check-unused-keys [OPTIONS]
     Options:
       -d, --databases=<dbname>  Comma-separated list of databases to check
       -h, --help                Display this message and exit
       -H, --hostname=<hostname> The target MySQL server host
       --ignore-databases        Comma-separated list of databases to ignore
       --ignore-indexes          Comma-separated list of indexes to ignore
                                     db_name.tbl_name.index_name
       --ignore-tables           Comma-separated list of tables to ignore
                                     db_name.tbl_name
       --options-file            The options file to use
       -p, --password=<password> The password of the MySQL user
       -i, --port=<portnum>      The port MySQL is listening on
       -s, --socket=<sockfile>   Use the specified mysql unix socket to connect
       -t, --tables=<tables>     Comma-separated list of tables to evaluate
                                     db_name.tbl_name
       --[no]summary             Display summary information
       -u, --username=<username> The MySQL user used to connect
       -v, --verbose             Increase verbosity level
       -V, --version             Display version information and exit
     Defaults are:
     ATTRIBUTE                  VALUE
     -------------------------- ------------------
     databases                  ALL databases
     help                       FALSE
     hostname                   localhost
     ignore-databases           No default value
     ignore-indexes             No default value
     ignore-tables              No default value
     options-file               ~/.my.cnf
     password                   No default value
     port                       3306
     socket                     No default value
     summary                    TRUE
     tables                     No Default Value
     username                   No default value
     verbose                    0 (out of 2)
     version                    FALSE

** FULLTEXT indexes are not taken into account by this patch, so be wary. And, as always, sanity check the suggestions and test thoroughly before making changes to production.