Using MySQL in an OpenBSD environment If you are installing MySQL for the first time, you have to create a default database first. In order to create the database, please run @PREFIX@/bin/mysql_install_db You will need to tune the values in the my.cnf file (examples available in @PREFIX@/share/mysql). By default, the _mysql user, and so the mysqld processes run in the login(1) class of "daemon". On a busy server, it may be advisable to put the _mysql user and processes in their own login(1) class with tuned resources, such as more open file descriptors etc. For example, add this to the login.conf(5) file: mysql:\ :openfiles-cur=1024:\ :openfiles-max=2048:\ :tc=daemon: Rebuild the login.conf.db file if necessary: # cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf And start the server like this: if [ -x @PREFIX@/bin/mysqld_safe ] ; then su -c mysql root -c '@PREFIX@/bin/mysqld_safe >/dev/null 2>&1 &' echo -n ' mysql' fi mysqld_safe(1) is the recommended way to start a mysqld server, it creates the directory for the socket and adds some safety features such as restarting the server when an error occurs and logging runtime information to an error log file. Options may be passed in the [mysqld_safe] section of my.cnf. Note that the classes in login.conf(5) are used by login(1); they do not apply to normal process startup, hence the use of su(1). For larger servers and dedicated database servers, these numbers and memory limits (e.g. datasize and stacksize) may also need to be increased. Please report any changes and experiences to the package maintainers so that we can update this file for future versions.