SuSE

As I said, look for port 3306 in "netstat -tln". I don't know whether the socket file will be left behind for unknown reasons but the server is not actually running.

And look for the log file for hints as I mentioned above.

I have looked for port 3306 in "netstat -tln" but it doesn't exist. The server is not running, i couldn't open the log files using '/var/log/mysql' or '/usr/local/var' (i found this on mysql manuals) - it came up with no such file or directory.

I was able to find out the version of mysql server on my box using 'mysqld -v' (mysqld ver 4.0.18 for suse -linux on i686 (source distribution)). But i can't make a trace file because my version doesn't end with debug ( according to the manuals debug versions are the only ones you can make a trace file for).
Any suggestions on this?

Some body mentioned on the user comments that mysqld to run, the directory (Slackware Users, from source)
/var/run/mysql/
must exists and owned by mysql user. I couldn't find slackware under the above directory, actually i couldn't find it at all. Do you know whether this is neccessary for the version i'm using or could it have a different name?

There was a mention that mysql must be enabled in slackware for mysqld to run. Any suggestion on this?

Thanks again for all your help.
regards,
Paul

I ran exactly into this problem when I used the SuSE MySQL server RPM some years ago. That's why I said you need to dig out where the log files are kept, as the exact error messages are recorded in there. They will give you a clue as to what is wrong and why the server won't start. You don't need to do an strace -- that's too low-level for normal use. Errors phrased in a way like "Cannot open 'xxx.frm'" in the log file are indications of permission/ownership problems for instance. If you don't have the log file ready, I think it will not be possible for us here to offer any concrete help to your problem as there are just too many reasons the server will not start.

Quote the output of "mysqld --help", the section showing the variables. In particular, I would like to see the values for "datadir", "log", "log-error" and "socket". If possible, quote the entire section. It may help locate where your log files are kept.

The output of "mysqld --help" is as follows:
"datadir": /var/lib/mysql/
"log": (No default value)
"log-error: there is no values here
"socket": /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

I'm going to post the entire section soon.
regards,
sybella

Quote the output of "mysqld --help", the section showing the variables. In particular, I would like to see the values for "datadir", "log", "log-error" and "socket". If possible, quote the entire section. It may help locate where your log files are kept.[/QUOTE]

The entire section of "mysqld --help" is as follows:

basedir /usr/
sync-frm TRUE
bind-address (No default value)
console FALSE
chroot (No default value)
character-sets-dir /usr/share/mysql/charsets/
datadir /var/lib/mysql/
default-character-set latin1
enable-locking FALSE
enable-pstack FALSE
gdb FALSE
init-file (No default value)
log (No default value)
language /usr/share/mysql/english/
local-infile TRUE
log-bin (No default value)
log-bin-index (No default value)
log-isam myisam.log
log-update (No default value)
log-slow-queries (No default value)
log-slave-updates FALSE
low-priority-updates FALSE
master-host (No default value)
master-user test
master-port 3306
master-connect-retry 60
master-retry-count 86400
master-info-file master.info
master-ssl FALSE
master-ssl-key (No default value)
master-ssl-cert (No default value)
master-ssl-capath (No default value)
master-ssl-cipher (No default value)
myisam-recover OFF
memlock FALSE
disconnect-slave-event-count 0
abort-slave-event-count 0
max-binlog-dump-events 0
sporadic-binlog-dump-fail FALSE
new FALSE
old-protocol 10
pid-file /var/lib/mysql/linux.pid
log-error
port 3306
report-host (No default value)
report-user (No default value)
report-password (No default value)
report-port 3306
rpl-recovery-rank 0
relay-log (No default value)
relay-log-index (No default value)
safe-user-create FALSE
server-id 1
show-slave-auth-info FALSE
concurrent-insert TRUE
skip-grant-tables FALSE
skip-slave-start FALSE
relay-log-info-file relay-log.info
slave-load-tmpdir /tmp/
socket /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock
sql-bin-update-same FALSE
sql-mode OFF
temp-pool TRUE
tmpdir /tmp
external-locking FALSE
use-symbolic-links TRUE
symbolic-links TRUE
log-warnings FALSE
warnings FALSE
back_log 50
binlog_cache_size 32768
connect_timeout 5
delayed_insert_timeout 300
delayed_insert_limit 100
delayed_queue_size 1000
flush_time 0
ft_min_word_len 4
ft_max_word_len 254
ft_max_word_len_for_sort 20
ft_stopword_file (No default value)
interactive_timeout 28800
join_buffer_size 131072
key_buffer_size 16777216
long_query_time 10
lower_case_table_names 0
max_allowed_packet 1047552
max_binlog_cache_size 4294967295
max_binlog_size 1073741824
max_connections 100
max_connect_errors 10
max_delayed_threads 20
max_heap_table_size 16777216
max_join_size 4294967295
max_relay_log_size 0
max_seeks_for_key 4294967295
max_sort_length 1024
max_tmp_tables 32
max_user_connections 0
max_write_lock_count 4294967295
bulk_insert_buffer_size 8388608
myisam_block_size 1024
myisam_max_extra_sort_file_size 268435456
myisam_max_sort_file_size 2147483647
myisam_repair_threads 1
myisam_sort_buffer_size 8388608
net_buffer_length 8192
net_retry_count 10
net_read_timeout 30
net_write_timeout 60
open_files_limit 0
query_alloc_block_size 8192
query_cache_limit 1048576
query_cache_size 0
query_cache_type 1
query_prealloc_size 8192
read_buffer_size 131072
read_rnd_buffer_size 262144
record_buffer 131072
relay_log_space_limit 0
slave_compressed_protocol FALSE
slave_net_timeout 3600
range_alloc_block_size 2048
read-only FALSE
slow_launch_time 2
sort_buffer_size 524280
table_cache 64
thread_concurrency 10
thread_cache_size 0
tmp_table_size 33554432
thread_stack 196608
transaction_alloc_block_size 8192
transaction_prealloc_size 4096
wait_timeout 28800
default-week-format 0

regards,
Sybella

Ok. "ls -l" the content of "/var/lib/mysql" and "/var/log" then

Sorry cbkihong, i didn't understand the above message. Are you asking me whethere "ls -l" is the content of "/var/lib/mysql" and "/var/log"? if thats the question, i don't know the answer.
regards,
sybella