Enabling log in MySQL 5.6 prevents server from starting

Question

I've installed MySQL 5.6.15 on Mac OSX via Homebrew.

I've added the following lines to my.cnf to enable query logging, but the MySQL server is unable to restart with the new lines. How can we solve the problem?

Added to my.cnf

general_log=1
log=/var/log/mysql-query.log

Error:

Starting MySQL
. ERROR! The server quit without updating PID file (/usr/local/var/mysql/me-MacBook-Air.local.pid).

Entire my.cnf

# For advice on how to change settings please see
# http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/server-configuration-defaults.html

[mysqld]

general_log=1
log=/var/log/mysql-query.log

# Remove leading # and set to the amount of RAM for the most important data
# cache in MySQL. Start at 70% of total RAM for dedicated server, else 10%.
# innodb_buffer_pool_size = 128M

# Remove leading # to turn on a very important data integrity option: logging
# changes to the binary log between backups.
# log_bin

# These are commonly set, remove the # and set as required.
# basedir = .....
# datadir = .....
# port = .....
# server_id = .....
# socket = .....

# Remove leading # to set options mainly useful for reporting servers.
# The server defaults are faster for transactions and fast SELECTs.
# Adjust sizes as needed, experiment to find the optimal values.
# join_buffer_size = 128M
# sort_buffer_size = 2M
# read_rnd_buffer_size = 2M 

sql_mode=NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION,STRICT_TRANS_TABLES 

Answer 1

The log option is deprecated since 5.6.1, and you're using 5.6.15.

Use general_log_file instead:

general_log_file=/var/log/mysql-query.log

Answer 2

Quotes are missing from the path to log file (May be helpful for noobs)

and the exact configuration in my.cnf is:

# General Query Log
general_log=1
general_log_file="/var/log/mysql-query.log"

Answer 3

There is bug in MySQL 5.6 version. Even mysqld show as :

    Default options are read from the following files in the given order:
C:\Windows\my.ini C:\Windows\my.cnf C:\my.ini C:\my.cnf c:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.ini c:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.cnf 

Realy settings are reading in following order :

    Default options are read from the following files in the given order:
C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.ini C:\Windows\my.ini C:\Windows\my.cnf C:\my.ini C:\my.cnf c:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.ini c:\Program Files (x86)\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.cnf

Check file: "C:\ProgramData\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.6\my.ini"

Hope it help somebody.