Pip & My Sequel Trouble

PHP

MySQL

Ok, it's actually PHP 4.4.7 and MySQL 5.0.x!

On my Mac Mini (Intel) I've got Mac OS X 10.4.10 and it comes with it's own Apache Server, in fact all Mac OSX distributions have Apache built in.

I don't remember, but apparently sometime I had installed PHP 4.4.7 and PHP 5 (to use both) I wanted to get MySQL on it because I wanted to start developing some serious web stuff locally...

Since the unfortunate total disappearance a month ago of the last web host I had used... and subsequently lost everything I was working on because I was developing it on their server(s) -- Bad mistake: Not backing anything up just because I didn't have MySQL!

So I got the latest MySQL 5.0.45 release for Mac OS X in the easy installer package format.

PHPMyAdmin

I proceeded to install it and checked to see if it worked with PHP 5 using PHPMyAdmin.

AND... Giddy it worked!

Now I go into the Terminal.app Unix Shell Application and type:

sudo cp /etc/httpd/php4.httpd.conf /etc/httpd/httpd.conf

Switch to PHP 4 and reload the PHPMyAdmin... And I'm Greeted with:

Error

MySQL said:

#2002 - The server is not responding (or the local MySQL server's socket is not correctly configured)

What On Earth!!

I have no idea what that really means...

So I spent the good part of four days researching and trying a bunch of crap to get it to work... by changing the php.ini file by changing the line...

; Default socket name for local MySQL connects. If empty, uses the built-in
; MySQL defaults.
mysql.default_socket =

TO:

; Default socket name for local MySQL connects. If empty, uses the built-in
; MySQL defaults.
mysql.default_socket =/tmp/mysql.sock

Restart the Apache Server and try to reload PHPMyAdmin...

And to no avail I still see...

Error

MySQL said:

#2002 - The server is not responding (or the local MySQL server's socket is not correctly configured)

So after taking a break and coming back I think of linking the mysql socket to where PHP 4 is looking for it....

mysql

MySQL Support	enabled
Active Persistent Links	0
Active Links	0
Client API version	4.1.22
MYSQL_MODULE_TYPE	external
MYSQL_SOCKET	/var/mysql/mysql.sock
MYSQL_INCLUDE	-I/usr/include/mysql
MYSQL_LIBS	-L/usr/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient

... In... /var/mysql/mysql.sock

And The info for PHP 5, which works with MySQL is:

mysql

MySQL Support	enabled
Active Persistent Links	0
Active Links	0
Client API version	5.0.19
MYSQL_MODULE_TYPE	external
MYSQL_SOCKET	/tmp/mysql.sock
MYSQL_INCLUDE	-I/usr/local/php5/include/mysql
MYSQL_LIBS	-L/usr/local/php5/lib/mysql -lmysqlclient

So why not create an alias linking /var/mysql/mysql.sock to /tmp/mysql.sock

Not being so fluent in Unix Command-Line stuff, I struggled to figure out how to do this and found this site... Here's what I did (the clean and easy to follow version):

1. Create 'mysql' folder in /var/
2. Create A Link Of /tmp/mysql.sock As /var/mysql/mysql.sock
3. Restart The Apache Server

The Commands:

$ sudo mkdir /var/mysql/
$ sudo ln /tmp/mysql.sock /var/mysql/mysql.sock
$ sudo apachectl graceful
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd gracefully restarted

And ooh-la-la it works!

Sure it's probably a bit unorthadox, and PHP 4 only has Client API for 4.1.22... but MySQL doesn't change much on the front-end I'm assuming so it should be pretty good.

Everything was confirmed working after creating and editing the same table in MySQL 5 using PHP 4 and PHP 5

Update:

It has come to my attention that though the above may work... it may not work as well as it should...

Because I've run into the instance where the link I would create using $ sudo ln /tmp/mysql.sock /var/mysql/mysql.sock would disappear from /var/mysql/mysql.sock when switching from PHP 4 to PHP 5 and back to PHP 4 again after I restart somewhere in between I think.

I'm not sure where it is breaking down... but there's a couple more robust solutions that I'd suggest... and that is to change the standard link using the ln command to a symbolic link using the ln -s command in terminal.

So now the commands would now be:

$ sudo mkdir /var/mysql/
$ sudo ln -s /tmp/mysql.sock /var/mysql/mysql.sock
$ sudo apachectl graceful
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd gracefully restarted

Or you can do what I did, and just make the folder /var/mysql a symbolic link... which is a little less work:

$ sudo ln -s /tmp/ /var/mysql/
$ sudo apachectl graceful
/usr/sbin/apachectl graceful: httpd gracefully restarted

Note: if you want to do the above there can't be a folder /var/mysql/ already, you'll need to delete it. This can be done using:

$ rm -r /var/mysql/

These commands should work better because of the difference between a hard link and a symbolic link...

A hard link (ln) disappears if the linked-to file disappears... and a symbolic link (ln -s) remains even if the linked-to file disappears and for this situation is what we need since mysql.sock seems to disappear somewhere along the lines of a restart or as described above.

Plus, since symbolic links allow you to have a folder point to another destination folder you can do $ sudo ln -s /tmp/ /var/mysql/

Disclaimer: I take no responsibility for what happens to your system if you use these instructions. Though I have been able to use this methods successfully your results may vary. It is highly advisable you backup any files before changing or modifying them.