The MySQL directory `${MYSQL_DATADIR}' should be owned by the user `${MYSQL_USER}' and group `${MYSQL_GROUP}'. This can be done with: chown -R ${MYSQL_USER}:${MYSQL_GROUP} ${MYSQL_DATADIR} If this is a new installation, please remember to set a password for the MySQL root user! This is done by running both: ${PREFIX}/bin/mysqladmin -u root -p password 'new-password' ${PREFIX}/bin/mysqladmin -h `hostname` -u root -p password 'new-password' (The "Enter password:" prompt is asking for the existing password. As there is no existing password, just press Return.) See the manual for more instructions.