# OK, I want to set the sql_mode variable for my session upon connection.
# It's easy to do manually:

mysql> set sql_mode='STRICT_ALL_TABLES';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

# I don't want to type that every time, though; I want to alias 'mysql' to automatically set it.

[dave@rasputin:~]$ mysql --help | grep -i var
  -O, --set-variable=name
                      Change the value of a variable. Please note that this
                      option is deprecated; you can set variables directly with
                      --variable-name=value.

# Ah, OK, so --sql_mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES then, that's easy...

[dave@rasputin:~]$ mysql --sql_mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES
mysql: unknown variable 'sql_mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES'

# Sorry, what?

# Let's try --set-variable, even though it's deprecated...
[dave@rasputin:~]$ mysql --set-variable=sql_mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES
mysql: unknown variable 'sql_mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES'
[dave@rasputin:~]$ mysql --set-variable=sql_mode STRICT_ALL_TABLES
mysql: unknown variable 'sql_mode'

# Maybe it needs to be sql-mode, when passed as an option
[dave@rasputin:~]$ mysql --sql-mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES
mysql: unknown variable 'sql-mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES'

# OK, it doesn't seem to work.

# Maybe if I put it in ~/.my.cnf (I don't really want to do it that way, I want it done via
# an alias in my .profile which is replicated to all boxes I use, but let's try anyway):

[dave@rasputin:~]$ grep sql_mode .my.cnf
sql_mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES
[dave@rasputin:~]$ mysql
mysql: unknown variable 'sql_mode=STRICT_ALL_TABLES'

# I'm lost.

# Versions:
[dave@rasputin:~]$ mysql -V
mysql  Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.51a, for debian-linux-gnu (x86_64) using readline 5.2
[dave@rasputin:~]$ mysql -e 'select version()'
+-----------------------+
| version()             |
+-----------------------+
| 5.0.51a-24+lenny4-log |
+-----------------------+