I’d recommend you leave it as the default because it requires the System Administrator’s password to start and stop the database.

This page asks if you want to change the directory.

This page contains the instructions for the MySQL Startup software, you can pause to read them or continue with these instructions.

Launch the MySQLStartupItem.pkg and you’ll see the following MySQL Startup Item Installer dialog.

This step requires that you return to the download folder, shown in Step #2 above.

This page tells you that you’ve completed the installation.

Depending on the system, this could take more than a minute.

Enter the valid password and click the OK button to proceed.

This dialog requires the system administrator’s password.

The installation requires that you have a mysql user account on the operating system, and you don’t need to do anything because one exists as part of the default Mac OS X installation. While you can change the installation location, the software installs by default in the /usr/local/mysql directory.

There are fewer options in this installation than the Windows installation.

The following overlay dialog contains your agreement.

This page contains the General Public License (GPL).

This page contains the instructions, you can pause to read them or continue with these instructions.

After launching the executable, you are now on the first page of the Install MySQL 5.5.9 installation application.

Launch the mysql-5.5.9-osx 10.6-x86_64.pkg file, which installs the product.

The open file folder and it will look like the following.

After the download completes, open the file folder in the download directory.

It also configures your $PATH environment to enable you to start and stop the MySQL Daemon. After the step-by-step installation instructions, you’ll find the configuration steps to enable you to access the MySQL Monitor from a terminal session. That’s required because the database is installed with an unsecured anonymous and root account. There were a couple shell syntax tricks beyond the instructions and then you need to configure database. I downloaded the Mac OS X, Version 10.6 (x86, 64-bit) version for this installation. You can refer to this XCode installation and configuration post for those steps. Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.*) need to install XCode and Command Line Tools before installing MySQL.

Install mysql osx