diff --git a/mysql-test/t/init_file.opt b/mysql-test/t/init_file.opt
index 825311dabf2..f6af01ee2c3 100644
--- a/mysql-test/t/init_file.opt
+++ b/mysql-test/t/init_file.opt
@@ -1 +1 @@
---init-file=$MYSQL_TEST_DIR/std_data/init_file.dat
+--init-file=$MYSQL_TEST_DIR/std_data/init_file.dat --log-bin=mariadb-bin
diff --git a/sql/mysqld.cc b/sql/mysqld.cc
index 68587592bc6..105976ddb99 100644
--- a/sql/mysqld.cc
+++ b/sql/mysqld.cc
@@ -6297,7 +6297,8 @@ int mysqld_main(int argc, char **argv)
 
 /**
   Execute all commands from a file. Used by the mysql_install_db script to
-  create MySQL privilege tables without having to start a full MySQL server.
+  create MySQL privilege tables without having to start a full MySQL server
+  and by read_init_file() if mysqld was started with the option --init-file.
 */
 
 static void bootstrap(MYSQL_FILE *file)