Mysql – How to install MySQL server on Mac (OS X 10.6.8) from command line

I had this exact same problem (although I'm on Mac OS X 10.5.8) with all the same error messages.

It turned out the problem was that when the computer was turned on, MySQL was not started automatically.

I solved it by manually starting MySQL:

prompt$ sudo mysqld -u root <secure password goes here!>

Note the sudo: MySQL wouldn't let me start up the server without root access to both the computer and MySQL itself (not that I'm complaining, but it was just frustrating until I figured that out). Also note that the program is mysqld, not mysql.

After running that command, everything works fine for me.

@Phil's Answer and @Mr.Brownstone's Answer should suffice for your question, so +1 for both of them.

For the following, let's assume you are logging in with username myuser

Once you have connected to mysql, you should run the following query:

SELECT USER(),CURRENT_USER();

• USER() reports how you attempted to authenticate in MySQL
• CURRENT_USER() reports how you were allowed to authenticate in MySQL

Sometimes, they are different. This may give you insight into why you are allowed to login to mysql.

Here is another query you need to run:

SELECT CONCAT('''',user,'''@''',host,'''') dbuser,password
FROM mysql.user WHERE user='myuser';

This will show you the ways in which you are allowed to login as myuser.

If you see 'myuser'@'localhost', then you can authenticate from within the DB Server.

If you see 'myuser'@'127.0.0.1' and do not see 'myuser'@'localhost', then you can authenticate from within the DB Server again but you must specify the --protocol=tcp from the command line.

If you see 'myuser'@'%', then you can do remote logins from any server.

If you see 'myuse'r@'10.20.30,%', then you can do remote logins only the from 10.20.30.% netblock.

Once you see what 'mysql.user' has for your user, you may want to allow or restrict myuser from logggin in one way and not the other.

If you simply want to check if the password for myuser is whateverpassword, you can do the following:

SELECT COUNT(1) Password_is_OK FROM mysql.user
WHERE user='myuser'
AND password=PASSWORD('whateverpassword');

You can check from the command line as follows:

PASSWORDISOK=`mysql -uroot -p... -ANe"SELECT COUNT(1) Password_is_OK FROM mysql.user WHERE user='myuser' AND password=PASSWORD('whateverpassword')"`

If you are not root and want to test myuser only, you can do this:

PASSWORDISOK=`mysqladmin -umyuser -pwhateverpassword ping | grep -c "mysqld is alive"`

If you get 1, password for myuser is verified as good.