When I tried to start mysql I got this message:

/usr/local/bin> mysql
ERROR 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

So I thought it was the server that was not running, and I did:

/usr/local/bin> mysqld
bash: mysqld: command not found

I tried it as root:

/usr/local/bin> su
Password:
/usr/local/bin # mysql
ERROR 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

Another time the same error message, and for mysqld:

/usr/local/bin # mysqld
Fatal error: Please read "Security" section of the manual to find out how to run mysqld as root!
041129 20:11:07 Aborting

041129 20:11:07 mysqld: Shutdown Complete

I tried with mysqld_safe and:

/usr/local/bin # mysqld_safe
Starting mysqld-max daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
041129 20:12:07 mysqld ended

loads of different error messages and no idea what to do with them.

Could anyone please help me starting the mysql daemon.

Thanks in advance.
Alex.

Check that the user your mysql server is running as (usually mysql) has read and write access to the database files. This is the most common cause.

I'd begin by doing

and then

I did:

Albatross:/usr/local/bin # mysql_install_db --user=mysql
Installing all prepared tables
041129 20:41:44 /usr/sbin/mysqld-max: Shutdown Complete


PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER !
This is done with:
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h Albatross password 'new-password'
See the manual for more instructions.

NOTE: If you are upgrading from a MySQL <= 3.22.10 you should run
the /usr/bin/mysql_fix_privilege_tables. Otherwise you will not be
able to use the new GRANT command!


You can test the MySQL daemon with the benchmarks in the 'sql-bench' directory:
cd sql-bench ; perl run-all-tests

Please report any problems with the /usr/bin/mysqlbug script!

The latest information about MySQL is available on the web at
http://www.mysql.com
Support MySQL by buying support/licenses at https://order.mysql.com

And then:

Albatross:/usr/local/bin # mysqld_safe --user=mysql
Starting mysqld-max daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
041129 20:43:12 mysqld ended

It still doesn't work, and if I must check that mysql user has read and write access, how should I do that?

Please help me.
Thanks.
Alex.

Check the permissions with:
ls -l /path/to/mysql/data

I've checked the read and write permissions of /var/lib/mysql and have changed the owner, group and mo to root, root and 777. I've tried again and nothing new happened, the same messages are shown and the daemon doesn't start.

Could someone please give an idea?

Thanks all.
Alex.

What user is mysql running as?
Try:
chown -R mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql
chmod -R 755 /var/lib/mysql
find /var/lib/mysql -type f -exec chmod -R 640 {} \;
/etc/init.d/msyqld restart

I usually start it by running:
/etc/init.d/mysql start
Never tryed just running "mysql", until now, and I got exactly the same message as you.