Of The XY Problem, VVV & SQL Pro

Josh Pollock - July 08, 2015

I recently worked on a really large migration from another CMS to WordPress. The database was really huge and I couldn’t get it to import into the MySQL server in my local dev environment, which I use VVV for.

I spent a while trying to adjust my PHP and nginx config to allow the really big import. I couldn’t make it work, and never did, as I realized I had fallen for the old XY problem.

My problem started as “I need import a database.” Then it became “my PHP settings don’t allow large amounts of POST data.” Then it became “my nginx settings, I think, are stopping me from importing a large file.” I kept getting farther from my goal.

When I went back to my original problem, I realized that I was using the wrong tool. This is what the XY problem tends to blind us from — our tools can too easily become our problem instead of fixing it.

So, I tried out a few other SQL tools, until I got Sequel Pro to work. But that’s not the point.

The point is that as much as I tell people to beware the XY problem, it still creeps out and bites me in the butt from time to time. Be vigilant!

For future reference, this is how you connect to VVV’s MySQL server using Sequel.

vvv-sequel-pro

See: https://github.com/Varying-Vagrant-Vagrants/VVV/wiki/Connecting-to-MySQL