LinuxQuestions.org - Having problems installing MySQL on red hat 9. Cannot find mysql.sock

Hi,

I previously wanted to upgrade MySQL but after receiving errors (mostly dependency errors) and realizing that my current MySQL version is the last tested version for the Red Hat 9 distribution, I finally decided to leave MySQL as is.
Unfortunately, while trying to install, I probably caused MySQL to no longer work properly. So I am trying to uninstall and reinstall but receiving errors.

//Checking which Mysql packages i need to uninstall
[oferu@localhost oferu]$ rpm - qa | grep -i mysql
perl-DBD-MySQL-2.1021-3
mysql-server-3.23.58-1.9
mysql-3.23.58-1.9

//Uninstall
[oferu@localhost oferu]$ rpm -e --nodeps perl-DBD-MySQL
[oferu@localhost oferu]$ rpm -e --nodeps mysql-server
[oferu@localhost oferu]$ rpm -e --nodeps mysql
[oferu@localhost oferu]$

//Now I have no mysql packages installed
[oferu@localhost /]$ rpm - qa | grep -i mysql
[oferu@localhost oferu]$

//Install (installing this way did not work)
[root@localhost forms]# apt-get install mysql
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
perl-DBD-MySQL
The following NEW packages will be installed:
mysql perl-DBD-MySQL
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 removed and 2 not upgraded.
Need to get 185kB/6156kB of archives.
After unpacking 17.0MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n] Y
Err http://ayo.freshrpms.net redhat/9/i386/os/ perl-DBD-MySQL 2.1021-3
404 Not Found
Failed to fetch http://ayo.freshrpms.net//redhat/9/i...021-3.i386.rpm 404 Not Found
E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?
[root@localhost forms]#

//Installing with rpms seems to work
//perl-DBD-MySQL - From the above (in bold) I looked for version 2.1021-3
[root@localhost temp]# rpm -i --nodeps perl-DBD-MySQL-2.1021-3.i386.rpm perl-DBD-MySQL-2.1021-3.i386.rpm
warning: package perl-DBD-MySQL = 2.1021-3 was already added, replacing with perl-DBD-MySQL <= 2.1021-3
[root@localhost temp]#

//mysql - (I am assuming that this is the mysql server package). I found that 3.23.58-1.9 is the latest stable version for red hat 9 distribution

[root@localhost temp]# rpm -i mysql-3.23.58-1.9.i386.rpm mysql-3.23.58-1.9.i386.rpm
warning: package mysql = 3.23.58-1.9 was already added, replacing with mysql <= 3.23.58-1.9
[root@localhost temp]#

//Installing MySQL-Client. I could not find the same version as the above //install (3.23.58-1.9). I hope 3.23.58-1 is close enough.
//Following did not work so added --force

[root@localhost temp]# rpm -i MySQL-client-3.23.58-1.i386.rpm MySQL-client-3.23.58-1.i386.rpm
warning: MySQL-client-3.23.58-1.i386.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 5072e1f5
warning: package MySQL-client = 3.23.58-1 was already added, replacing with MySQL-client <= 3.23.58-1
file /usr/bin/mysql from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/bin/mysqlbinlog from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/bin/mysqlcheck from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/bin/mysqldump from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/bin/mysqlimport from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/bin/mysqlshow from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/share/man/man1/mysql.1.gz from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/share/man/man1/mysqlaccess.1.gz from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/share/man/man1/mysqladmin.1.gz from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/share/man/man1/mysqldump.1.gz from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9
file /usr/share/man/man1/mysqlshow.1.gz from install of MySQL-client-3.23.58-1 conflicts with file from package mysql-3.23.58-1.9

//With --force seemed to work
[root@localhost temp]# rpm -i --force MySQL-client-3.23.58-1.i386.rpm MySQL-client-3.23.58-1.i386.rpm
warning: MySQL-client-3.23.58-1.i386.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 5072e1f5
warning: package MySQL-client = 3.23.58-1 was already added, replacing with MySQL-client <= 3.23.58-1
[root@localhost temp]#

//Now I have new packages installed
[oferu@localhost /]$ rpm - qa | grep -i mysql
MySQL-client-3.23.58-1
mysql-3.23.58-1.9
perl-DBD-MySQL-2.1021-3
[oferu@localhost /]$

//My question - Trying to run MySQL - I am receiving an error
[root@localhost /]# mysql
ERROR 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)
[root@localhost /]#

//I have no file named mysql.sock anywhere (fn is a search alias)
[root@localhost /]# fn sock | grep -i mysql
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/libmysql_r/viosocket.c
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/libmysql/.deps/viosocket.Plo
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/libmysql/viosocket.c
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/libmysql/.libs/viosocket.o
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/libmysql/viosocket.o
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/libmysql/viosocket.lo
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/ndb/src/common/util/socket_io.cpp
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/ndb/include/util/socket_io.h
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/vio/viosocket.c
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/vio/.deps/viosocket.Po
./usr/local/mysql-4.1.5-gamma/vio/viosocket.o
[root@localhost /]#

In addition, although it seems I have re-installed mysql:
/sbin/service mysql start
mysql: unrecognized service

Can someone help with this error message?

Thanks,
Ofer