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2.4.3 Installing and Using the MySQL Launch Daemon

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

By default, the installation package (DMG) on macOS 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>
            <string>--keyring-file-data=/usr/local/mysql/keyring/keyring</string>
            <string>--early-plugin-load=keyring_file=keyring_file.so</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 d925f05f6d1b6ee5ce5451b596d6baed.

To enable the launchd service, you can either:

Open macOS system preferences and select the MySQL preference panel, and then execute Start MySQL Server.

Figure 2.24 MySQL Preference Pane: Location

The Instances page includes an option to start or stop MySQL, and Initialize Database recreates the data/ directory. Uninstall uninstalls MySQL Server and optionally the MySQL preference panel and launchd information.

Figure 2.25 MySQL Preference Pane: Instances

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 will remove the old startup items that were installed with MySQL server 5.7.7 and below.

Also, upgrading will replace your existing launchd file named com.oracle.oss.mysql.mysqld.plist.

Additional launchd related information:

The plist entries override my.cnf entries, because they are passed in as command line arguments. For additional information about passing in program options, see Section 4.2.2, “Specifying Program Options”.
The ProgramArguments section defines the command line options that are passed into the program, which is the mysqld binary in this case.
The default plist definition is written with less sophisticated use cases in mind. For more complicated setups, you may want to remove some of the arguments and instead rely on a MySQL configuration file, such as my.cnf.
If you edit the plist file, then uncheck the installer option when reinstalling or upgrading MySQL. Otherwise, your edited plist file will be overwritten, and all edits will be lost.

Because the default plist definition defines several ProgramArguments, you might remove most of these arguments and instead rely upon your my.cnf MySQL configuration file to define them. For example:

<?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>
            <string>--keyring-file-data=/usr/local/mysql/keyring/keyring</string>
            <string>--early-plugin-load=keyring_file=keyring_file.so</string>
        </array>
    <key>WorkingDirectory</key>  <string>/usr/local/mysql</string>
</dict>
</plist>

In this case, the basedir, datadir, plugin_dir, log_error, pid_file, keyring_file_data, and --early-plugin-load options were removed from the default plist ProgramArguments definition, which you might have defined in my.cnf instead.

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User Comments

User comments in this section are, as the name implies, provided by MySQL users. The MySQL documentation team is not responsible for, nor do they endorse, any of the information provided here.

Posted by Mark Stevens on July 10, 2015

I had to remove the DOCTYPE line from the plist file as I was getting the error "Invalid property list" when I tried the launchctl command.

Hope this helps.

Posted by Matt Kokidko on February 19, 2019

The doctype line was incorrect on my pkg install for mac. I compared it to another plist file in the same directory and was able to fix it by modifying the section "Apple Computer" to simply read, "Apple".

Line as it was installed and broken: <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple Computer//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

Line modified and working correctly: <!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">