title: Mysqldump launched by cron and password security
body: <p>I wrote a script to backup my MySQL databases using:</p>
  
  <pre><code>mysqldump --opt --all-databases -u user -pmypassword &gt; myDump.sql
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>A cron launches it every night and scp the result to another server.
  <code>mypassword</code> appears in clear in my script, everyone can see it with the appropriate rights. I have been told about /proc issues too (where the cmd run can be seen).</p>
  
  <p>MySQL documentation says:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Specifying a password on the command line should be considered insecure. See Section 7.6, "Keeping Your Password Secure".</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I have not found this magic 7.6 sections anywhere.</p>
  
  <p>What is the good practice to deal with automatic mysqldump and password security?</p>