mysql_install_db gives FATAL ERROR: Could not find my-default.cnf

Question

I've download MySQL and I'm trying to setup the MySQL grant tables, but when I type: ``` scripts/mysql_install_db --basedir=/usr/local ``` I get the error above. I'm not sure how to fix it, as `my-default.cnf` is in the `support_files` directory and I believe I'm setting the `basedir` correctly. (This is on mac btw)

Accepted Answer

(I'm assuming you're using Homebrew, since I hit the same issue trying to do the same thing on Homebrew on my macbook)

I believe you need to point it to the actual mysql directory in the cellar as its basedir, not at /usr/local (since that's just things symlinked from the cellar dir).

So, in my case, I had to use:

```
$ mysql_install_db --basedir=/usr/local/Cellar/mysql/5.6.10
```

mysql_install_db gives FATAL ERROR: Could not find my-default.cnf

Solution

Problem