Can't connect to local MySQL server through so

Question

I recently tried installing MySQL with homebrew (brew install mysql) and when I try to run it I get the following error:

ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

There is no /tmp/mysql.sock nor a /var/lib/mysql.sock.

I've searched and haven't found any mysql.sock file.

How can I fix this?

Answer 1

You'll need to run mysql_install_db - easiest way is if you're in the install directory:

$ cd /usr/local/Cellar/mysql/<version>/ 
$ mysql_install_db

Alternatively, you can feed mysql_install_db a basedir parameter like the following:

$ mysql_install_db --basedir="$(brew --prefix mysql)"

Answer 2

I got the same error and this is what helped me:

$ln -sfv /usr/local/opt/mysql/*.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents
$launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
$mysql -uroot
mysql>

Answer 3

1) If you are able to see "mysql stopped" when you run below command;

brew services list

2) and if you are able to start mysql with below command;

mysql server start

then, adding mysql to services will fix your problem. With this method, mysql will start as service when your operating system started. To do so you can run below command;

brew services start mysql

After that, you can restart your operating system and try connecting to mysql. I did the same and stop receiving below error;

ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

I hope this helps.

Answer 4

Just to add to these answers, In my case I had no local mySQL server, it was running inside a docker container. So the socket file does not exist and will not be accessible for the "mysql" client.

The sock file gets created by mysqld and mysql uses this to communicate with it. However if your mySql server is not running local, it does not require the sock file.

By specifying a host name/ip the sock file is not required e.g.

mysql --host=127.0.0.1 --port=3306 --user=xyz --password=xyz

Answer 5

After installing macos mojave, had to wipe mysql folder under /usr/local/var/mysql and then reinstall via brew install mysql otherwise permission related things would come up all over the place.

Answer 6

Since I spent quite some time trying to solve this and always came back to this page when looking for this error, I'll leave my solution here hoping that somebody saves the time I've lost. Although in my case I am using mariadb rather than MySql, you might still be able to adapt this solution to your needs.

My problem

is the same, but my setup is a bit different (mariadb instead of mysql):

Installed mariadb with homebrew

$ brew install mariadb

Started the daemon

$ brew services start mariadb

Tried to connect and got the above mentioned error

$ mysql -uroot
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

My solution

find out which my.cnf files are used by mysql (as suggested in this comment):

$ mysql --verbose --help | grep my.cnf
/usr/local/etc/my.cnf ~/.my.cnf
                        order of preference, my.cnf, $MYSQL_TCP_PORT,

check where the Unix socket file is running (almost as described here):

$ netstat -ln | grep mariadb
.... /usr/local/mariadb/data/mariadb.sock

(you might want to grep mysql instead of mariadb)

Add the socket file you found to ~/.my.cnf (create the file if necessary)(assuming ~/.my.cnf was listed when running the mysql --verbose ...-command from above):

[client]
socket = /usr/local/mariadb/data/mariadb.sock

Restart your mariadb:

$ brew services restart mariadb

After this I could run mysql and got:

$ mysql -uroot
ERROR 1698 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'

So I run the command with superuser privileges instead and after entering my password I got:

$ sudo mysql -uroot
MariaDB [(none)]>

---

Notes:

1. I'm not quite sure about the groups where you have to add the socket, first I had it [client-server] but then I figured [client] should be enough. So I changed it and it still works.

2. When running mariadb_config | grep socket I get: --socket [/tmp/mysql.sock] which is a bit confusing since it seems that /usr/local/mariadb/data/mariadb.sock is the actual place (at least on my machine)

3. I wonder where I can configure the /usr/local/mariadb/data/mariadb.sock to actually be /tmp/mysql.sockso I can use the default settings instead of having to edit my .my.cnf (but I'm too tired now to figure that out...)

4. At some point I also did things mentioned in other answers before coming up with this.