Installing MySQL without root access

Question

I am trying to install MySQL without root permissions. I ran through the following steps:

1. Download MySQL Community Server 5.5.8 Linux - Generic Compressed TAR Archive
2. Unpack it, for example to: /home/martin/mysql

3. Create a my.cnf file in your home directory. The file contents should be:

   [server]
   user=martin
   basedir=/home/martin/mysql
   datadir=/home/martin/sql_data
   socket=/home/martin/socket
   port=3666
   

4. Go to the /home/martin/mysql directory and execute:

   ./scripts/mysql_install_db --defaults-file=~/my.cnf --user=martin --basedir=/home/martin/mysql --datadir=/home/martin/sql_data --socket=/home/martin/socket
   

5. Your MySQL server is ready. Start it with this command:

   ./bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-file=~/my.cnf &
   

When I try to change the password of MySQL it gives the error:

Cannot connect to mysql server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock'

How can I change this path and see whether the mysql.sock is created or not?

Answer 1

change the socket=/home/martin/socket to /tmp/mysql.sock

Answer 2

You should follow the guide http://www.bluecrownsoftware.com/article/271/Installing-MySQL-without-Root-Access-on-Linux.

Then start the command line with:

mysql --socket={yourpath}/yourname.sock

Answer 3

You should name your my.cnf file ~/.my.cnf for it to be picked up by mysqladmin. Also, you will need to add the following configuration to the ~/.my.cnf file:

[client]
socket=/home/martin/socket

Answer 4

If you define host and port, changing of the password should work in one line:

/home/martin/mysql/bin/mysqladmin -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3666 -u root password 'mypass'