diff --git a/5.5/Dockerfile b/5.5/Dockerfile
index 6946e63..b4750e1 100644
--- a/5.5/Dockerfile
+++ b/5.5/Dockerfile
@@ -4,11 +4,25 @@ FROM debian:jessie
 # add our user and group first to make sure their IDs get assigned consistently, regardless of whatever dependencies get added
 RUN groupadd -r mysql && useradd -r -g mysql mysql
 
-# install "pwgen" for randomizing passwords
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pwgen && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+# add gosu for easy step-down from root
+ENV GOSU_VERSION 1.7
+RUN set -x \
+	&& apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates wget && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
+	&& wget -O /usr/local/bin/gosu "https://github.com/tianon/gosu/releases/download/$GOSU_VERSION/gosu-$(dpkg --print-architecture)" \
+	&& wget -O /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc "https://github.com/tianon/gosu/releases/download/$GOSU_VERSION/gosu-$(dpkg --print-architecture).asc" \
+	&& export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)" \
+	&& gpg --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys B42F6819007F00F88E364FD4036A9C25BF357DD4 \
+	&& gpg --batch --verify /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc /usr/local/bin/gosu \
+	&& rm -r "$GNUPGHOME" /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc \
+	&& chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gosu \
+	&& gosu nobody true \
+	&& apt-get purge -y --auto-remove ca-certificates wget
 
 RUN mkdir /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
 
+# install "pwgen" for randomizing passwords
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pwgen && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 RUN apt-key adv --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 430BDF5C56E7C94E848EE60C1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A
 
 RUN echo 'deb http://repo.percona.com/apt jessie main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/percona.list
@@ -26,8 +40,13 @@ RUN { \
 	&& apt-get install -y \
 		percona-server-server-$PERCONA_MAJOR=$PERCONA_VERSION \
 	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
-	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql \
-	&& mkdir /var/lib/mysql
+# comment out any "user" entires in the MySQL config ("docker-entrypoint.sh" or "--user" will handle user switching)
+	&& sed -ri 's/^user\s/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
+# purge and re-create /var/lib/mysql with appropriate ownership
+	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql && mkdir -p /var/lib/mysql /var/run/mysqld \
+	&& chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql /var/run/mysqld \
+# ensure that /var/run/mysqld (used for socket and lock files) is writable regardless of the UID our mysqld instance ends up having at runtime
+	&& chmod 777 /var/run/mysqld
 
 # comment out a few problematic configuration values
 # don't reverse lookup hostnames, they are usually another container
@@ -37,9 +56,9 @@ RUN sed -Ei 's/^(bind-address|log)/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
 
 VOLUME ["/var/lib/mysql", "/var/log/mysql"]
 
-COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
+RUN ln -s usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh # backwards compat
+ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
 
 EXPOSE 3306
 CMD ["mysqld"]
diff --git a/5.5/docker-entrypoint.sh b/5.5/docker-entrypoint.sh
index d0e9284..ea896b9 100755
--- a/5.5/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/5.5/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -17,9 +17,21 @@ for arg; do
 	esac
 done
 
+_datadir() {
+	"$@" --verbose --help --log-bin-index=`mktemp -u` 2>/dev/null | awk '$1 == "datadir" { print $2; exit }'
+}
+
+# allow the container to be started with `--user`
+if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" -a "$(id -u)" = '0' ]; then
+	DATADIR="$(_datadir "$@")"
+	mkdir -p "$DATADIR"
+	chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
+	exec gosu mysql "$BASH_SOURCE" "$@"
+fi
+
 if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 	# Get config
-	DATADIR="$("$@" --verbose --help --log-bin-index=`mktemp -u` 2>/dev/null | awk '$1 == "datadir" { print $2; exit }')"
+	DATADIR="$(_datadir "$@")"
 
 	if [ ! -d "$DATADIR/mysql" ]; then
 		if [ -z "$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" -a -z "$MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD" -a -z "$MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD" ]; then
@@ -29,10 +41,9 @@ if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 		fi
 
 		mkdir -p "$DATADIR"
-		chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
 
 		echo 'Initializing database'
-		mysql_install_db --user=mysql --datadir="$DATADIR" --rpm
+		mysql_install_db --datadir="$DATADIR" --rpm
 		echo 'Database initialized'
 
 		"$@" --skip-networking &
@@ -112,8 +123,6 @@ if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 		echo 'MySQL init process done. Ready for start up.'
 		echo
 	fi
-
-	chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
 fi
 
 exec "$@"
diff --git a/5.6/Dockerfile b/5.6/Dockerfile
index 0fb2041..cde207b 100644
--- a/5.6/Dockerfile
+++ b/5.6/Dockerfile
@@ -4,11 +4,25 @@ FROM debian:jessie
 # add our user and group first to make sure their IDs get assigned consistently, regardless of whatever dependencies get added
 RUN groupadd -r mysql && useradd -r -g mysql mysql
 
-# install "pwgen" for randomizing passwords
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pwgen && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+# add gosu for easy step-down from root
+ENV GOSU_VERSION 1.7
+RUN set -x \
+	&& apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates wget && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
+	&& wget -O /usr/local/bin/gosu "https://github.com/tianon/gosu/releases/download/$GOSU_VERSION/gosu-$(dpkg --print-architecture)" \
+	&& wget -O /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc "https://github.com/tianon/gosu/releases/download/$GOSU_VERSION/gosu-$(dpkg --print-architecture).asc" \
+	&& export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)" \
+	&& gpg --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys B42F6819007F00F88E364FD4036A9C25BF357DD4 \
+	&& gpg --batch --verify /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc /usr/local/bin/gosu \
+	&& rm -r "$GNUPGHOME" /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc \
+	&& chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gosu \
+	&& gosu nobody true \
+	&& apt-get purge -y --auto-remove ca-certificates wget
 
 RUN mkdir /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
 
+# install "pwgen" for randomizing passwords
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pwgen && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 RUN apt-key adv --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 430BDF5C56E7C94E848EE60C1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A
 
 RUN echo 'deb http://repo.percona.com/apt jessie main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/percona.list
@@ -26,8 +40,13 @@ RUN { \
 	&& apt-get install -y \
 		percona-server-server-$PERCONA_MAJOR=$PERCONA_VERSION \
 	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
-	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql \
-	&& mkdir /var/lib/mysql
+# comment out any "user" entires in the MySQL config ("docker-entrypoint.sh" or "--user" will handle user switching)
+	&& sed -ri 's/^user\s/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
+# purge and re-create /var/lib/mysql with appropriate ownership
+	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql && mkdir -p /var/lib/mysql /var/run/mysqld \
+	&& chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql /var/run/mysqld \
+# ensure that /var/run/mysqld (used for socket and lock files) is writable regardless of the UID our mysqld instance ends up having at runtime
+	&& chmod 777 /var/run/mysqld
 
 # comment out a few problematic configuration values
 # don't reverse lookup hostnames, they are usually another container
@@ -37,9 +56,9 @@ RUN sed -Ei 's/^(bind-address|log)/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
 
 VOLUME ["/var/lib/mysql", "/var/log/mysql"]
 
-COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
+RUN ln -s usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh # backwards compat
+ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
 
 EXPOSE 3306
 CMD ["mysqld"]
diff --git a/5.6/docker-entrypoint.sh b/5.6/docker-entrypoint.sh
index d0e9284..ea896b9 100755
--- a/5.6/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/5.6/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -17,9 +17,21 @@ for arg; do
 	esac
 done
 
+_datadir() {
+	"$@" --verbose --help --log-bin-index=`mktemp -u` 2>/dev/null | awk '$1 == "datadir" { print $2; exit }'
+}
+
+# allow the container to be started with `--user`
+if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" -a "$(id -u)" = '0' ]; then
+	DATADIR="$(_datadir "$@")"
+	mkdir -p "$DATADIR"
+	chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
+	exec gosu mysql "$BASH_SOURCE" "$@"
+fi
+
 if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 	# Get config
-	DATADIR="$("$@" --verbose --help --log-bin-index=`mktemp -u` 2>/dev/null | awk '$1 == "datadir" { print $2; exit }')"
+	DATADIR="$(_datadir "$@")"
 
 	if [ ! -d "$DATADIR/mysql" ]; then
 		if [ -z "$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" -a -z "$MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD" -a -z "$MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD" ]; then
@@ -29,10 +41,9 @@ if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 		fi
 
 		mkdir -p "$DATADIR"
-		chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
 
 		echo 'Initializing database'
-		mysql_install_db --user=mysql --datadir="$DATADIR" --rpm
+		mysql_install_db --datadir="$DATADIR" --rpm
 		echo 'Database initialized'
 
 		"$@" --skip-networking &
@@ -112,8 +123,6 @@ if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 		echo 'MySQL init process done. Ready for start up.'
 		echo
 	fi
-
-	chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
 fi
 
 exec "$@"
diff --git a/5.7/Dockerfile b/5.7/Dockerfile
index 62e1a0f..c8733b5 100644
--- a/5.7/Dockerfile
+++ b/5.7/Dockerfile
@@ -4,11 +4,25 @@ FROM debian:jessie
 # add our user and group first to make sure their IDs get assigned consistently, regardless of whatever dependencies get added
 RUN groupadd -r mysql && useradd -r -g mysql mysql
 
-# install "pwgen" for randomizing passwords
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pwgen && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+# add gosu for easy step-down from root
+ENV GOSU_VERSION 1.7
+RUN set -x \
+	&& apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates wget && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
+	&& wget -O /usr/local/bin/gosu "https://github.com/tianon/gosu/releases/download/$GOSU_VERSION/gosu-$(dpkg --print-architecture)" \
+	&& wget -O /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc "https://github.com/tianon/gosu/releases/download/$GOSU_VERSION/gosu-$(dpkg --print-architecture).asc" \
+	&& export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)" \
+	&& gpg --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys B42F6819007F00F88E364FD4036A9C25BF357DD4 \
+	&& gpg --batch --verify /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc /usr/local/bin/gosu \
+	&& rm -r "$GNUPGHOME" /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc \
+	&& chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gosu \
+	&& gosu nobody true \
+	&& apt-get purge -y --auto-remove ca-certificates wget
 
 RUN mkdir /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
 
+# install "pwgen" for randomizing passwords
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pwgen && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 RUN apt-key adv --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 430BDF5C56E7C94E848EE60C1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A
 
 RUN echo 'deb http://repo.percona.com/apt jessie main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/percona.list
@@ -26,8 +40,13 @@ RUN { \
 	&& apt-get install -y \
 		percona-server-server-$PERCONA_MAJOR=$PERCONA_VERSION \
 	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
-	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql \
-	&& mkdir /var/lib/mysql
+# comment out any "user" entires in the MySQL config ("docker-entrypoint.sh" or "--user" will handle user switching)
+	&& sed -ri 's/^user\s/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
+# purge and re-create /var/lib/mysql with appropriate ownership
+	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql && mkdir -p /var/lib/mysql /var/run/mysqld \
+	&& chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql /var/run/mysqld \
+# ensure that /var/run/mysqld (used for socket and lock files) is writable regardless of the UID our mysqld instance ends up having at runtime
+	&& chmod 777 /var/run/mysqld
 
 # comment out a few problematic configuration values
 # don't reverse lookup hostnames, they are usually another container
@@ -37,9 +56,9 @@ RUN sed -Ei 's/^(bind-address|log)/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
 
 VOLUME ["/var/lib/mysql", "/var/log/mysql"]
 
-COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
+RUN ln -s usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh # backwards compat
+ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
 
 EXPOSE 3306
 CMD ["mysqld"]
diff --git a/5.7/docker-entrypoint.sh b/5.7/docker-entrypoint.sh
index 2c6821c..fc6aed2 100755
--- a/5.7/docker-entrypoint.sh
+++ b/5.7/docker-entrypoint.sh
@@ -17,9 +17,21 @@ for arg; do
 	esac
 done
 
+_datadir() {
+	"$@" --verbose --help 2>/dev/null | awk '$1 == "datadir" { print $2; exit }'
+}
+
+# allow the container to be started with `--user`
+if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" -a "$(id -u)" = '0' ]; then
+	DATADIR="$(_datadir "$@")"
+	mkdir -p "$DATADIR"
+	chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
+	exec gosu mysql "$BASH_SOURCE" "$@"
+fi
+
 if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 	# Get config
-	DATADIR="$("$@" --verbose --help 2>/dev/null | awk '$1 == "datadir" { print $2; exit }')"
+	DATADIR="$(_datadir "$@")"
 
 	if [ ! -d "$DATADIR/mysql" ]; then
 		if [ -z "$MYSQL_ROOT_PASSWORD" -a -z "$MYSQL_ALLOW_EMPTY_PASSWORD" -a -z "$MYSQL_RANDOM_ROOT_PASSWORD" ]; then
@@ -29,7 +41,6 @@ if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 		fi
 
 		mkdir -p "$DATADIR"
-		chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
 
 		echo 'Initializing database'
 		"$@" --initialize-insecure
@@ -117,8 +128,6 @@ if [ "$1" = 'mysqld' -a -z "$wantHelp" ]; then
 		echo 'MySQL init process done. Ready for start up.'
 		echo
 	fi
-
-	chown -R mysql:mysql "$DATADIR"
 fi
 
 exec "$@"
diff --git a/Dockerfile.template b/Dockerfile.template
index 42b9f05..0d5a254 100644
--- a/Dockerfile.template
+++ b/Dockerfile.template
@@ -4,11 +4,25 @@ FROM debian:jessie
 # add our user and group first to make sure their IDs get assigned consistently, regardless of whatever dependencies get added
 RUN groupadd -r mysql && useradd -r -g mysql mysql
 
-# install "pwgen" for randomizing passwords
-RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pwgen && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+# add gosu for easy step-down from root
+ENV GOSU_VERSION 1.7
+RUN set -x \
+	&& apt-get update && apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends ca-certificates wget && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
+	&& wget -O /usr/local/bin/gosu "https://github.com/tianon/gosu/releases/download/$GOSU_VERSION/gosu-$(dpkg --print-architecture)" \
+	&& wget -O /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc "https://github.com/tianon/gosu/releases/download/$GOSU_VERSION/gosu-$(dpkg --print-architecture).asc" \
+	&& export GNUPGHOME="$(mktemp -d)" \
+	&& gpg --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys B42F6819007F00F88E364FD4036A9C25BF357DD4 \
+	&& gpg --batch --verify /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc /usr/local/bin/gosu \
+	&& rm -r "$GNUPGHOME" /usr/local/bin/gosu.asc \
+	&& chmod +x /usr/local/bin/gosu \
+	&& gosu nobody true \
+	&& apt-get purge -y --auto-remove ca-certificates wget
 
 RUN mkdir /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d
 
+# install "pwgen" for randomizing passwords
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y pwgen && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*
+
 RUN apt-key adv --keyserver ha.pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv-keys 430BDF5C56E7C94E848EE60C1C4CBDCDCD2EFD2A
 
 RUN echo 'deb http://repo.percona.com/apt jessie main' > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/percona.list
@@ -26,8 +40,13 @@ RUN { \
 	&& apt-get install -y \
 		percona-server-server-$PERCONA_MAJOR=$PERCONA_VERSION \
 	&& rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/* \
-	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql \
-	&& mkdir /var/lib/mysql
+# comment out any "user" entires in the MySQL config ("docker-entrypoint.sh" or "--user" will handle user switching)
+	&& sed -ri 's/^user\s/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
+# purge and re-create /var/lib/mysql with appropriate ownership
+	&& rm -rf /var/lib/mysql && mkdir -p /var/lib/mysql /var/run/mysqld \
+	&& chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql /var/run/mysqld \
+# ensure that /var/run/mysqld (used for socket and lock files) is writable regardless of the UID our mysqld instance ends up having at runtime
+	&& chmod 777 /var/run/mysqld
 
 # comment out a few problematic configuration values
 # don't reverse lookup hostnames, they are usually another container
@@ -37,9 +56,9 @@ RUN sed -Ei 's/^(bind-address|log)/#&/' /etc/mysql/my.cnf \
 
 VOLUME ["/var/lib/mysql", "/var/log/mysql"]
 
-COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /
-
-ENTRYPOINT ["/docker-entrypoint.sh"]
+COPY docker-entrypoint.sh /usr/local/bin/
+RUN ln -s usr/local/bin/docker-entrypoint.sh /entrypoint.sh # backwards compat
+ENTRYPOINT ["docker-entrypoint.sh"]
 
 EXPOSE 3306
 CMD ["mysqld"]