Can't default date to CURRENT_TIMESTAMP in MySQL 5.5

I am not able to set Current_timestamp as default value. My Mysql version is 5.5.47.

Query is

ALTER TABLE `downloads` ADD `date` DATETIME NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ;

While it is working fine on my local DB with mysql V5.6.56.

From the MySQL 5.5 manual:


You cannot set the default for a date column to be the value of a
function such as NOW() or CURRENT_DATE. The exception is that you can
specify CURRENT_TIMESTAMP as the default for a TIMESTAMP column.

Therefore, what you want to achieve will work in MySQL 5.5 if you add a TIMESTAMP column instead of a DATE column.

The changes in 5.6.x that allow the functionality are documented here, and I'll quote the relevant summary for completeness:


As of MySQL 5.6.5, TIMESTAMP and DATETIME columns can be automatically
initializated and updated to the current date and time (that is, the
current timestamp). Before 5.6.5, this is true only for TIMESTAMP, and
for at most one TIMESTAMP column per table.

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#132951, answer score: 31