You're right, running mysqld_safe is the problem. However, after a quick bit of further research, even Debian isn't running mysqld_safe anymore as they now default to systemd in version 8. So this isn't even a problem in that distribution unless you make it one.
Debian 8 only has mysql 5.6 available through backports. That has a systemd service unit, written in 2014 by Akhil Mohan of Oracle. That service unit invokes mysqld_safe, though, in classic systemd House of Horror fashion.
You're right, again, even though you linked arm64 file lists instead of amd64. The 5.6 backport does have that unit file, but the badly written one from Oracle. I guess you shouldn't use Debian (-:
