Remove MySQL completely from Mac OSX

rm_mysql.md

just need to handle there being a password mysteriously present, even after reinstall?

go here: https://superuser.com/a/400345/981705 (text pasted at the end of this gist)

missing my.cnf file (leads to localhost binding errors):

for further research: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31413728/connect-mysql-through-localhost-not-working-but-127-0-0-1-is-working

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/10757169/location-of-my-cnf-file-on-macos

on macOS, you'll probably find your my.cnf file in: /usr/local/etc/my.cnf

but you can find out where it might be with: mysql --verbose --help | grep my.cnf https://stackoverflow.com/a/10757261/3044358

Remove MySQL completely

1. Open the Terminal

2. Use mysqldump to backup your databases

3. Check for MySQL processes with: ps -ax | grep mysql

4. Stop and kill any MySQL processes

5. Analyze MySQL on HomeBrew:

   brew remove mysql
   brew cleanup
   

6. Remove files:

   sudo rm /usr/local/mysql
   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/var/mysql
   sudo rm -rf /usr/local/mysql*
   sudo rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
   sudo rm -rf /Library/StartupItems/MySQLCOM
   sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/My*
   

7. Unload previous MySQL Auto-Login:

   launchctl unload -w ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.mysql.plist
   

8. Remove previous MySQL Configuration:

   code /etc/hostconfig
   # Remove the line MYSQLCOM=-YES-
   

9. Remove previous MySQL Preferences:

   rm -rf ~/Library/PreferencePanes/My*
   sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/mysql*
   sudo rm -rf /Library/Receipts/MySQL*
   sudo rm -rf /private/var/db/receipts/*mysql*
   

10. Restart your computer just to ensure any MySQL processes are killed

11. Try to run mysql, it shouldn't work

if you just need to handle removing a password that is mysteriously present, even after reinstall, do this:

Your mysql install is just complaining that you can't connect to the instance on mysql locally as root without using a password. If you forgot the password or don't know what it is, you can reset it as follows:

Kill the current mysql process running (do a ps -efc| more) or something and kill anything that says MySQL with kill <process_id>. A better alternative is to try and simply stop the process gracefully with rcmysql stop
Create a file (ideally in a directory that only root can read) called init.txt with the following text:
UPDATE mysql.user SET Password=PASSWORD('password') WHERE User='root'; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

Launch MySQL in safe mode and passing the init.txt file as parameter as so:

mysqld_safe --init-file=mysql-init.txt &
Now you can kill MySQL once again and restart the service normally (I think Suse uses rcmysql start:

rcmysql start

Connect to the server as you'd normarlly do with:

mysql -u root@localhost -p