Chapter 3 Installing a MySQL Launch Daemon

OS X uses launch daemons to automatically start, stop, and manage processes and applications such as MySQL.

Note

Before MySQL 5.6.26, the OS X builds installed startup items instead of launchd daemons. However, startup items do not function as of OS X 10.10 (Yosemite). The OS X builds now install launchd daemons.

By default, the installation package (DMG) on OS X installs a launchd file named /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.oracle.oss.mysql.mysqld.plist that contains a plist definition similar to:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
    <key>Label</key>             <string>com.oracle.oss.mysql.mysqld</string>
    <key>ProcessType</key>       <string>Interactive</string>
    <key>Disabled</key>          <false/>
    <key>RunAtLoad</key>         <true/>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>         <true/>
    <key>SessionCreate</key>     <true/>
    <key>LaunchOnlyOnce</key>    <false/>
    <key>UserName</key>          <string>_mysql</string>
    <key>GroupName</key>         <string>_mysql</string>
    <key>ExitTimeOut</key>       <integer>600</integer>
    <key>Program</key>           <string>/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
        <array>
            <string>/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld</string>
            <string>--user=_mysql</string>
            <string>--basedir=/usr/local/mysql</string>
            <string>--datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data</string>
            <string>--plugin-dir=/usr/local/mysql/lib/plugin</string>
            <string>--log-error=/usr/local/mysql/data/mysqld.local.err</string>
            <string>--pid-file=/usr/local/mysql/data/mysqld.local.pid</string>
        </array>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>  <string>/usr/local/mysql</string>
</dict>
</plist>

Note

Some users report that adding a plist DOCTYPE declaration causes the launchd operation to fail, despite it passing the lint check. We suspect it's a copy-n-paste error. The md5 checksum of a file containing the above snippet is 60d7963a0bb2994b69b8b9c123db09df.

To enable the launchd service, you can either:

• Click Start MySQL Server from the MySQL preference pane.

  Figure 3.1 MySQL Preference Pane: Location

  
  
  

  Figure 3.2 MySQL Preference Pane: Usage

  
  
  

• Or, manually load the launchd file.

  shell> cd /Library/LaunchDaemons
  shell> sudo launchctl load -F com.oracle.oss.mysql.mysqld.plist

• To configure MySQL to automatically start at bootup, you can:

  shell> sudo launchctl load -w com.oracle.oss.mysql.mysqld.plist

Note

When upgrading MySQL server, the launchd installation process removes the old startup items that were installed with MySQL server 5.6.25 and earlier.