ERROR 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

[Brook Hurd]

After installing Redhat 3 Enterprise Edition I made sure MySQL was part
of the install.

When I tried to start MySQL I got the following error:
ERROR 2002: Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket
'/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (2)

The /var/lib/mysql directory did not exist.  Even after creating the
folder, as suggested by this mailing list archives, it didn't help.  The
folder permissions are root.root.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling MySQL from the Redhat RPMs and I
still got the error.  I even read previous e-mails and found little
help.  

Any suggestions on what to do to make this work?  I am at a loss.


The following packages are installed:

[root at W-pai-2077 mysql]# rpm -qa | grep mysql
mysql-3.23.58-15.RHEL3.1
mysql-bench-3.23.58-15.RHEL3.1
php-mysql-4.3.2-19.ent
libdbi-dbd-mysql-0.6.5-5
mysql-devel-3.23.58-15.RHEL3.1
mod_auth_mysql-20030510-1.ent
[root at W-pai-2077 mysql]# rpm -qa | grep MySQL
MySQL-shared-3.23.58-1
perl-DBD-MySQL-2.1021-3
qt-MySQL-3.1.2-13.4
MySQL-python-0.9.1-6
[root at W-pai-2077 mysql]#