MySQL slow query log

[rolling]

What/where is the "data directory" exactly? And is starting mysqld with the --log-slow-queries[=file_name] command necessary if I've modified the my.cnf file and restarted mysqld?).

1. The data directory is defined EITHER by the variable datadir in the [mysqld] section of my.cnf OR when MySQL was built. In our case the datadir would appear to default to /var/lib/mysql/.
   
   After executing:
   mysql>CREATE DATABASE roottext;
   mysql>USE roottext;
   mysql>CREATE TABLE hack (conf VARCHAR(80));
   mysql>SELECT * INTO OUTFILE '/path/to/mysql/datadir/my.cnf' FROM hack
   mysql>QUIT
   
   We create a my.cnf in /var/lib/mysql/roottext if we do not specify /path/to/mysql/datadir/
   
2. When you restarted mysqld or restarted your VPS, MySQL reloaded using the new configuration in my.cnf, so you've fulfilled that criteria

[erb5]

Thank you!