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 2.18 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 2.19 MySQL Preference Pane: Instances

Or, manually load the launchd file.

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

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

$> 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 5.7.7 and below.

Upgrading also replaces 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 6.2.2, “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 is overwritten, and all edits are 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.