I was successfully able to install MySQL 5.5 on OS X 10.6 according to the following steps. Download MySQL Community Server 5.5.8 for Mac OS X. I chose to download Mac OS X ver. 10.6 (x86, 64-bit), DMG Archive . The DMG archive is nice as it has a startup package that installs a MySQL control panel (although it dosn’t work from the start without tweaking). Open the DMG archive and execute the mysql-5.5.8-osx10.6-x86_64.pkg. I had no issues with installation although the ReadMe.txt file suggests that problems may occur. After successful installation, execute the MySQLStartupItem.pkg. This will install the MySQL Startup startup items. This should complete successfully. Next, install the MySQL preferences pane by double-clicking the MySQL.prefPane item in the mounted drive. This will install the MySQL preferences item, although MySQL cannot yet be started through it. First, the mysql.server file must be edited by hand to specify the location of the base directory. At a te...