ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock'

Question

I installed MySQL on Mac OS X Mountain Lion with homebrew install mysql, but when I tried mysql -u root I got the following error:

Answer 1

Run: brew info mysql

And follow the instructions. From the description in the formula:

Set up databases to run AS YOUR USER ACCOUNT with:
    unset TMPDIR
    mysql_install_db --verbose --user=`whoami` --basedir="$(brew --prefix mysql)" --datadir=/usr/local/var/mysql --tmpdir=/tmp

To set up base tables in another folder, or use a different user to run
mysqld, view the help for mysql_install_db:
    mysql_install_db --help

and view the MySQL documentation:
  * http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/mysql-install-db.html
  * http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/default-privileges.html

Hope this helps.