Oninit
Talk to an expert →

Informix Error -553: Mkdbsdir not found in $INFORMIXDIR/bin. Consult your installation instructions.

Cause and resolution

Mkdbsdir not found in $INFORMIXDIR/bin. Consult your installation instructions.

An executable program, mkdbsdir, is used to create the initial contents of the database directory during a CREATE DATABASE statement. It is distributed with the database server and should be found in the bin subdirectory of the directory that the INFORMIXDIR environment variable names, but it was not. Check the setting of INFORMIXDIR, and then consult with the person who installed the software.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-553 fires during CREATE DATABASE when the server needs to run the mkdbsdir helper executable (which creates a new database directory's initial contents) and can't find it in $INFORMIXDIR/bin.

  1. INFORMIXDIR set incorrectly, per the official guidance's first suggested check — pointing at the wrong installation, or a directory that isn't a complete Informix install.
  2. An incomplete or corrupted Informix installation, missing bin/mkdbsdir even though INFORMIXDIR itself is set correctly.
  3. A permissions issue preventing the server process from seeing/executing mkdbsdir, even though the file exists on disk.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Check the setting of INFORMIXDIR, per the official guidance:
    echo "$INFORMIXDIR"
ls "$INFORMIXDIR/bin/mkdbsdir"
  2. Consult with whoever installed the software, per the official guidance, if INFORMIXDIR is correct but the file is genuinely missing — this points to an incomplete installation needing repair or reinstallation.
  3. Confirm execute permission on mkdbsdir for the server's OS user, if the file exists but the error persists.
Examples
Checking the installation
$ echo "$INFORMIXDIR"
/opt/informix
$ ls -l /opt/informix/bin/mkdbsdir
ls: /opt/informix/bin/mkdbsdir: No such file or directory

Confirms an incomplete installation under the currently configured INFORMIXDIR.

Diagnostic Checks
  1. Verify INFORMIXDIR points at the intended installation.
  2. Confirm bin/mkdbsdir exists and is executable under that directory.
Related Errors / Related Topics

No closely related error codes are cross-referenced for -553 in this set yet.

An installation-integrity problem, not a SQL issue — check INFORMIXDIR and the presence of bin/mkdbsdir before retrying CREATE DATABASE.