How to auto-load MySQL on startup on OS X Yosemite / El Capitan

Justin picture Justin · Oct 21, 2014 · Viewed 58.9k times · Source

After upgrading OS X my install of MySQL stopped loading on startup.

This walk-through on MySQL says:

"The Startup Item installation adds a variable MYSQLCOM=-YES- to the system configuration file /etc/hostconfig. If you want to disable the automatic startup of MySQL, change this variable to MYSQLCOM=-NO-."

So, I opened that file and it says:

# This file is going away 
AFPSERVER=-NO- 
AUTHSERVER=-NO-
TIMESYNC=-NO-
QTSSERVER=-NO-
MYSQLCOM=-YES-

I assume OSX dev's added the # This file is going away but I'm not certain.

If that is the case, what is the proper way to start MySQL on startup on OSX Yosemite?

Answer

Justin picture Justin · Oct 21, 2014

This is what fixed it:

First, create a new file: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mysql.mysql.plist

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<plist version="1.0">
  <dict>
    <key>KeepAlive</key>
    <true />
    <key>Label</key>
    <string>com.mysql.mysqld</string>
    <key>ProgramArguments</key>
    <array>
      <string>/usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe</string>
      <string>--user=mysql</string>
    </array>        
  </dict>
</plist>

Then update permissions and add it to launchctl:

sudo chown root:wheel /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mysql.mysql.plist
sudo chmod 644 /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mysql.mysql.plist
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mysql.mysql.plist