After upgrading my MacBook to the latest macOS Sequoia version, my MySQL database server completely stopped functioning. I keep encountering the following connection error whenever I try to access the database:
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (61)
I’ve attempted multiple troubleshooting methods including restarting the MySQL service, checking system preferences, and verifying installation paths. The socket file seems to be missing or inaccessible. Has anyone else experienced similar MySQL connectivity problems after updating to macOS Sequoia? What steps should I take to restore my local MySQL server functionality? Any guidance would be greatly appreciated as this is blocking my development work.
Had this exact problem when I upgraded to Sequoia a few weeks ago. Turns out Sequoia changes how macOS handles socket files and security permissions. First, check your /tmp directory permissions - Sequoia sometimes resets these during major updates. Run ls -la /tmp and look for the mysql.sock file. If it’s missing, your MySQL daemon isn’t starting because of permission conflicts. I had to modify my /etc/my.cnf file to explicitly set the socket path to /tmp/mysql.sock and make sure the mysql user had proper write permissions. Then I restarted MySQL with sudo mysqld_safe --user=mysql and the connection worked immediately. The key here is fixing the underlying permission structure that Sequoia modified, not just restarting services like other solutions suggest.
Sequoia broke my MySQL setup too, but a different fix worked for me. The socket issue usually means MySQL can’t write to /tmp because of the new security restrictions. Try changing the socket location in my.cnf to somewhere like /usr/local/mysql/tmp/ instead of /tmp. Also check if you’ve got multiple MySQL versions installed - Sequoia sometimes messes with PATH variables so the wrong version might be trying to start.
I encountered a similar issue after upgrading to Sequoia. The upgrade seemed to disrupt how MySQL interacts with the system services. To resolve this, I first terminated any lingering MySQL processes using sudo pkill -f mysql. I also checked for and removed any leftover .pid files in the /usr/local/mysql/data/ directory. Moreover, I reinstalled the MySQL startup configurations using /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server install. Since the MySQL System Preferences pane was malfunctioning post-update, I handled it entirely through the terminal. This process ensured that the socket file was properly generated at startup, restoring MySQL functionality.
Hit this same issue after updating to Sequoia last month. MySQL stops working because the OS upgrade messes with permissions or socket paths. First, check if MySQL’s actually running - use brew services list for Homebrew installs or sudo launchctl list | grep mysql for system installs. Mine had stopped completely. Try starting it manually with sudo /usr/local/mysql/support-files/mysql.server start and check the error log at /usr/local/mysql/data/ to see what’s failing. If it’s a socket path issue, update your MySQL config to point to the right location or create a symlink. When nothing else works, a clean Homebrew reinstall usually fixes it.