diff --git a/buildout/mysql-instance/buildout.cfg b/buildout/mysql-instance/buildout.cfg
index 99aedf83aef65b7201ba269192350f4515f448c5..2965daa942ae50545ab8c06a6c87cb9229e23226 100644
--- a/buildout/mysql-instance/buildout.cfg
+++ b/buildout/mysql-instance/buildout.cfg
@@ -10,11 +10,11 @@ parts =
 [configuration]
 mysql_port = 10002
 mysql_host = 127.0.0.1
-mysql_datadir = ${buildout:directory}/var/mysql
+mysql_datadir = ${buildout:var-directory}/mysql
 mysql_pid = ${:mysql_datadir}/mysql.pid
 mysql_sock = ${:mysql_datadir}/mysql.sock
-mysql_error_log = ${buildout:directory}/var/log/mysql.err.log
-mysql_cnf_file = ${buildout:directory}/var/etc/my.cnf
+mysql_error_log = ${buildout:log-directory}/mysql.err.log
+mysql_cnf_file = ${buildout:etc-directory}/my.cnf
 
 [mysql-bin]
 recipe = collective.recipe.template
@@ -32,20 +32,19 @@ input = ${buildout:directory}/mysql-instance/templates/mysqld.in
 output = ${buildout:directory}/bin/mysqld
 
 [mysql-cnf]
-depends = ${etc-directory:command}
 recipe = collective.recipe.template
 input = ${buildout:directory}/mysql-instance/templates/my.cnf.in
 output = ${configuration:mysql_cnf_file}
 
 [mysql-instance]
-depends = ${log-directory:command}
 recipe = plone.recipe.command
 command =
-    ${software_definition:mysql_software}/bin/mysql_install_db --datadir=${configuration:mysql_datadir}
+    mkdir -p ${configuration:mysql_datadir}
+    ${buildout:bin-directory}/mysql_install_db --datadir=${configuration:mysql_datadir}
 
 [start-mysql-instance]
 recipe = plone.recipe.command
-command = ${buildout:bin-directory}/mysqld &
+command = ${buildout:bin-directory}/mysqld --defaults-file=${configuration:mysql_cnf_file} &
 update-command = ${:command}
 
 [stop-mysql-instance]
diff --git a/buildout/official.cfg b/buildout/official.cfg
index 6e873f29b229a41c817b46026e5b4118942a67dc..56a0aaa315ea81992ec93e888b3ae0a4406b292f 100644
--- a/buildout/official.cfg
+++ b/buildout/official.cfg
@@ -14,6 +14,10 @@ extends =
   zope-2.8/buildout.cfg
   zope-instance/buildout.cfg
 
+var-directory = ${:directory}/var
+etc-directory = ${:var-directory}/etc
+log-directory = ${:var-directory}/log
+
 versions = versions
 find-links =
     http://download.zope.org/distribution/
@@ -53,13 +57,12 @@ command =
   echo "Required header files: ${requirements:development}"
 update-command = ${:command}
 
-[etc-directory]
-recipe = plone.recipe.command
-command = mkdir -p ${buildout:directory}/var/etc
-
-[log-directory]
+[create-directories]
 recipe = plone.recipe.command
-command = mkdir -p ${buildout:directory}/var/log
+command =
+  mkdir -p ${buildout:etc-directory}
+  mkdir -p ${buildout:var-directory}
+  mkdir -p ${buildout:log-directory}
 
 [software_definition]
 mysql_software = ${mysql-tritonn-5.0:location}