MySQL is SO irritating in its timestamp limitations, in that you can only have one default timestamp column. (Update 6/12/2013: in version 5.6.x, this restriction will be lifted, so I hear)
However, you *can* trick MySQL like this.
You can use only one of the definitions in one table. Create both timestamp columns like so:
create table test_table( id integer not null auto_increment primary key, stamp_created timestamp default '0000-00-00 00:00:00', stamp_updated timestamp default now() on update now() );
Note that it is necessary to enter null into both columns during insert:
mysql> insert into test_table(stamp_created, stamp_updated) values(null, null); Query OK, 1 row affected (0.06 sec) mysql> select * from t5; +----+---------------------+---------------------+ | id | stamp_created | stamp_updated | +----+---------------------+---------------------+ | 2 | 2009-04-30 09:44:35 | 2009-04-30 09:44:35 | +----+---------------------+---------------------+ 2 rows in set (0.00 sec) mysql> update test_table set id = 3 where id = 2; Query OK, 1 row affected (0.05 sec) Rows matched: 1 Changed: 1 Warnings: 0 mysql> select * from test_table; +----+---------------------+---------------------+ | id | stamp_created | stamp_updated | +----+---------------------+---------------------+ | 3 | 2009-04-30 09:44:35 | 2009-04-30 09:46:59 | +----+---------------------+---------------------+ 2 rows in set (0.00 sec)