Hello everyone

I am a newbie developing a website and am in the process of creating a
database which will serve as a back-end for the registration of users'
details and to handle account activation via the use of php scripts. I really need help with starting MySql. I have scoured various forums and followed instructions from the mysql.com, and other such tutorials.

I am creating the website using dreamweaver on a windows 2000 pc but I am
planning to place it on the linux box where the apache web server will handle it (if you know what I mean). The linux server is where the php and Mysql are installed. Incidentally the php installation is located in the /etc directory - and it works.

I downloaded the Mysql binary file version 4.0.25 recently. Followed the
installation instructions to the letter up to the change of ownership stuff. The files are located in the /usr/local directory.

I tried starting mysqld from the directory but I got an invalid user error message. I checked the syntax again, fixed it and then I only got the mysqld ending rather suddenly. When I checked the error log I saw this:

"Can't start server: Bind on unix socket: Permission denied
Do you already have another mysqld server running on socket:
/usr/local/mysql/mysql.sock"

I changed the socket line in the my.cnf file (see code below - to its default, at least I think that was the default). I vaguely recall it originally being somewhere in a tmp directory.

The following message now appears when I try to start mysqld from the root

"Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /usr/local/mysql/data
STOPPING server from pid file

/usr/local/mysql/data/localhost.localdomain.pid
051004 13:06:26 mysqld ended"

...and this after a brief pause for about 3-5 secs rather than immediately. You will also note that the location of the pid file is diferrent (see code below).

I edited the my.cnf file (and deleted the copy in the /etc directory - not sure if I needed to) and placed it in the same directory as the mysql installation as follows:

[mysqld]
datadir=/usr/local/mysql/data
socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

[mysql.server]
user=name of user (this user also has group privileges in linux)
basedir=/usr/local/mysql

[safe_mysqld]
err-log=/var/log/mysqld.log
pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid

I also deleted other mysql packages (including 4.1.14). At least I think they are all deleted. Only the RPM packages provided by Linux are running.

The strange thing is there are no error messages in the mysql log file) since I made these changes but I still cannot get this thing to run.

I am new to linux and mysql. I am afraid to do anything more to the my.cnf
in case I get any more errors. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks