I've been following directions here: brew install mysql on mac os and have now run into the same issue both on my home machine and work (both MacBook Pro running OSX 10.7.5 and ZSH): 121031 12:18:03 [ERROR] /usr/local/opt/mysql/bin/mysqld: Error while setting value '/Users/me/.mysql/logs/' to 'log_output' The full output of the error can be found in this gist: https://gist.github.com/3988275 I'm really at a loss for what I'm doing incorrectly or what I need to change. It should be noted that there are no logs for me to check in /usr/local/var/mysql. Any help is greatly appreciated.