mysqlimport: Error: 1045, Access denied

Question

Does anyone know why I get this error when running mysqlimport?

mysqlimport -u someone -pwhatever --columns=a,b,c,d,e bar /var/tmp/baz.sql
mysqlimport: Error: 1045, Access denied for user 'someone'@'%' (using password: YES), when using table: baz

However...

mysql -u someone -pwhatever
Welcome to the MySQL monitor.  Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 199
Server version: 5.1.41-3ubuntu12.10 (Ubuntu)

Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.

mysql> show grants;
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Grants for someone@%                                                                                   |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| GRANT USAGE ON *.* TO 'someone'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY PASSWORD '*BLAHBLAHBLAH' |
| GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `bar`.* TO 'someone'@'%'                                          |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
2 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

Answer 1

OK, it turns out that the FILE privilege is a "global" privilege, which apparently means you can't selectively enable it on certain databases, tables. etc. That's why my previous grant statement on bar.* had no effect:

GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON `bar`.* TO 'someone'@'%' 

You need to grant FILE privileges on *.*:

GRANT FILE ON *.* to 'someone'@'%';

Hope this helps someone.