Problems in starting mysql server

Question

I'm trying to start the mysql server on fedora 12. service mysqld start gives me an error:

MySQL Daemon failed to start.
Starting MySQL:                                        [FAILED]

More details

[root@localhost mysql]# which mysql
/usr/bin/mysql


[root@localhost mysql]# mysql --version
mysql  Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.1.46, for redhat-linux-gnu (x86_64) using readline 5.1

What am I doing wrong?

And also I get a weird pop in the notification area regarding some security threat

SELINUX is preventing /usr/libexec/mysqld "read" access on plugin.frm

Answer 1

Looks like SELinux is preventing MySQL from reading the database files. Try:

restorecon -rF /var/lib/mysql

which will ensure the contexts are set properly on the database files.

Also have a look in /var/log/mysqld.log to see if there are any useful messages.

Answer 2

In addition to Richard Fearn's answer, which correctly diagnoses the problem (+1 for that), the following:

If it is a server/development environment, you might consider disabling SELinux entirely, since it's more of a burden than it does good. On a normal desktop, I'd recommend against doing that though.

I suggest you read the following carefully if you're thinking about disabling it.: http://www.crypt.gen.nz/selinux/disable_selinux.html