watch_mysql.pl

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use DBI;
use Data::Dumper qw/Dumper/;

my $query      = shift(@ARGV);
my $dbh        = DBI->connect('dbi:mysql:database=', 'root', 'YoPassword');
my $sth        = $dbh->prepare("SHOW PROCESSLIST");
while (1) {
  $sth->execute();
  my $ret = $sth->fetchall_arrayref();
  $found = 0;
  foreach my $row (@$ret) {
    if ($row->[7] =~ /$query/) {
      $found = 1;
    }
  }
  if ($found == 0) {
    print "Not found!\a\n";
  } else {
    print "Yup, still running!\n";
  }
  sleep(5);
}

I've found this really useful. Use like:

./watch_mysql.pl "alter table x"

This will ring a bell when the query finishes.