Mac OS X, MySQL Preference Pane doesn't work

Question

I downloaded and installed MySQL 5.1.47 for OS X 10.6 using the DMG archive:

mysql-5.1.47-osx10.6-x86_64.dmg

I also installed MySQL.prefPane and MySQLStartupItem.pkg. MySQL.prefPane is a Preference Pane. The problem is, whenever I attempt to start/stop MySQL from the Preference Pane, System Preferences just hangs. It runs at about 50% CPU forever, eventually I have for force quit System Preferences. The same thing happens if I toggle "Automatically Start MySQL Server on Startup". Basically the MySQL Preference Pane is not functional.

Note that I have no problem starting MySQL from the command line:

sudo /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe

I have tried reinstalling MySQL and the Preference Pane. I'm using the standard installation location, nothing out of the ordinary. Every time the MySQL Preference Pane just hangs.

I'm doing this on a Macbook Pro (Intel) running OS X 10.6.3. There are no old versions of MySQL on this machine.

Follow-up: Well it's now January 2012 so I figure I'd check to see if this has been fixed. I tried the latest MySQL 5.5.20 on OS X 10.6.8 and it's still broken - same behavior, it just hangs (had to force quit). I tried Jamie Wong's and carloandaya's suggestions, both did not work.

Answer 1

Under OS X Lion the following worked for me:

edit /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server

change lines ~ 46 & 47

basedir=
datadir=

to

basedir=/usr/local/mysql
datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data

Answer 2

For anyone still encountering this problem, see: http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=53232

Specifically, here's Rembert Oldenboom's response:

Issue still exists with mysql 5.5.8 on brand new on mbp i7 2.8. With the comments of others the fix was easy:

Edit /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server Search for "Set some defaults" about 4 lines down, replace the line

basedir=.

with

basedir=/usr/local/mysql

Then search for "Set pid file if not given" about 3 lines down, replace the line

mysqld_pid_file_path=$datadir/`hostname`.pid

with

mysqld_pid_file_path=$datadir/`/bin/hostname`.pid

Now the prefPane will work.