The error generally looks like the following:
Can't connect: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)
The usual fix for these errors is to go through the MySQL post installation process as documented below: (note this is also documented on the mysql documentation site)
shell> groupadd mysql
shell> useradd -g mysql mysql
shell> gunzip < mysql-VERSION.tar.gz | tar -xvf -
shell> cd mysql-VERSION
shell> ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/mysql
shell> make
shell> make install
shell> scripts/mysql_install_db
shell> chown -R root /usr/local/mysql
shell> chown -R mysql /usr/local/mysql/var
shell> chgrp -R mysql /usr/local/mysql
shell> cp support-files/my-medium.cnf /etc/my.cnf
shell> /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &
If your version of MySQL is older than 4.0, use safe_mysqld rather than mysqld_safe
If you want more ideas, then read on. Below is how I have documented the MySQL installation process on servers within my own organisation:
Create a new my.cnf in your /etc directory,
containing the following directives:
[mysqld]
datadir=/export/data
log=/var/log/mysql-messages
# move the compressed archive from it's
download location into a convenient build area
cd /usr/src && mv /home/user/mysql-standard-4.0.13-pc-linux-i686.tar.gz .
# extract and create a symlinked mysql directory
tar -zxvf mysql-standard-4.0.13-pc-linux-i686.tar.gz
ln -s mysql-standard-4.0.13-pc-linux-i686 mysql
# create new mysql user
/usr/sbin/groupadd mysql
/usr/sbin/useradd -g mysql mysql
# create a data directory
mkdir /export/data
# build the default mysql databases
cd /usr/src/mysql
scripts/mysql_install_db
chown -R root .
chown -R mysql data
chown -R mysql /export/data
chgrp -R mysql .
# finally, symlink to mysql's usual location
cd /usr/local/
ln -s /usr/src/mysql mysql
# end of mysql installation
# start server
bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &
note that this means that any upgrades to the
mysql installation will atomatically fall into place,
so long as they are symlinked to /usr/src/mysql
as was explained at the beginning of this section.
Hope that helps,
Christo
