MySQL install troubles.

[Jeff Schroeder]

Eric:

> The installation didn't create the socket file, and I'm not sure how
> to, but I don't think it should be starting this badly on a fresh
> install. Can anyone provide me with guidance here?

What user are you running MySQL as?  What user installed/owns the files?

If you have a "clean" install of MySQL and run something 
like 'mysql_install_db' to set up the initial database, those files 
will be in /var/lib/mysql (or wherever) and owned by the user who just 
executed that command.  Say that's 'root'.

Then when you start the MySQL process, it's probably running as 
user 'mysql' and doesn't have the right privileges to open or write the 
files it needs.

I'm not sure if that's your problem, but it's a good place to start 
looking.

HTH,
Jeff