Remove MySQL completely from Mac OSX

rm_mysql.md

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:

   # Edit this file: /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

rm_mysql_apple_silicon.md

Remove MySQL completely (Apple Silicon Version)

• brew remove mysql
• rm -rf /opt/homebrew/var/mysql
• brew install mysql
• mysql.server start
• mysql -uroot

This was very helpful. I also had to do:

rm /usr/local/etc/my.cnf

Something I had done previously had resulted in a my.cnf file that prevented MySQL from working (I was getting the dreaded ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2) error).

This helped. I also had the ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2) and also had to remove rm /usr/local/etc/my.cnf.

Thanks.

Thanks bro! This helped

Do reboot else it wont work

This helped immensely a couple months ago, and I finally went back to document the fix in my field manuals for Homebrew and Valet Plus:

• https://manuals.gravitydept.com/develop/command-line/brew
• https://manuals.gravitydept.com/develop/environment-setup/valet-plus

I did all the process and worked then I installed again the mysql

$ brew install mysql
$ brew tap homebrew/services
$ brew services run mysql

And everything start work until today, where I tried to run my local website (as any other day) and I got:

ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

After that, every answer that I tried takes me to another error and so on. This is not the first time that happened and the only solution is re-install everything. So I was wondering if anyone have any idea why this could be happening. I don't want to run the entire process every time that mysql decide crash, but I want fix the problem or at least understand what is going on.
sequelize/cli#572

hey dear you can fix your problem by running
mysql.server start

Has anyone managed to solve this? This happened suddenly to me, and mysql server became unstable, and I couldn't connect to it (giving the same error mentioned).? and would I face this still even if I reinstalled?

Regarding Step 6:

sudo rm -rf /Library/PreferencePanes/My*

Is it necessary to use such a wildcard here, instead of a more explicit pattern? MySQL can't be the only thing (now, or in the future) that a user might have in /Library/PreferencePanes that begins with My, right?

Thanks a lot. I followed the same procedure. But when I typed mysql I was getting ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock'. I used sudo rm -rf /usr/local/bin/mysql*. That worked.

Can you clarify on step 4? I try killing the process but it mysqld won't die it'll show up under a new id

@QubeChan — I had the some problem. Documented here: https://manuals.gravitydept.com/develop/command-line/brew

I skipped it and didn't have issues with the remaining steps.

Thanks for posting

It saved my many days. thanks

Thank you. Great post! Saved a lot of time

Good post. I defaulted to install DBngin and it worked for me.

Thanks this got it all working!

Helped a lot, thank you!

After long searching , i solved this issue , downloaded official mac os community file from :- https://dev.mysql.com/downloads/file/?id=492745
it worked for mac os Catalina 10.15 , check this link :- https://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-osx-excerpt/5.7/en/osx-installation-pkg.html , they also mentioned required packages to run mysql on mac os , specially "/tmp/mysql.sock" at bottom .

Saved my behind.

This was very helpful. I also had to do:

rm /usr/local/etc/my.cnf

Something I had done previously had resulted in a my.cnf file that prevented MySQL from working (I was getting the dreaded ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2) error).

Apparently, this config file can live in several places: /etc/my.cnf, OR /etc/mysql/my.cnf OR ~/.my.cnf. My particular install had placed it at /etc/my.cnf as well, but thought I'd drop the other options here in case anybody else is down this same rabbit hole as me one day.

Thanks to OP @vitorbritto for the great gist as well!

Thanks, it worked :-)

Thanks

how do we do step 8... removing the line part

Thanks a lot. It would have been good if I got this article first. I would have saved about 5 hours :-(

Thank you so much. I wish I had landed up on this page much earlier. I struggled so much. This is an excellent page, Thanks 👍

Thank you! Very helpful!

Thank you very much. It is notoriously difficult to uninstall mysql data. Your tutorial did the trick! 👍

subl /etc/hostconfig`
has a hanging backtick

👍

thank you very much

Thank you , it's help a lot !

Aaah, Thanks man!

Thank you

Nice work! Thank you

subl /etc/hostconfig`
has a hanging backtick

Also, not everyone has sublime text. Better to simply say "edit this file".

This is very helpful! Thank you!

On the Apple Silicon:

brew remove mysql
rm -rf /opt/homebrew/var/mysql
brew install mysql
mysql.server start
mysql -uroot

subl /etc/hostconfig`
has a hanging backtick

Also, not everyone has sublime text. Better to simply say "edit this file".

Thanks @commadelimited, gist updated.

subl /etc/hostconfig`
has a hanging backtick

Thanks @lexjacobs, gist updated.

When setting up my Apple M1 Macbook Pro I was experiencing the issue of the following error message being thrown:

Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

My fix was to modify the MySQL config file:

nano /usr/local/etc/my.cnf

Append the following lines:

tmpdir=/tmp
user=root

Then run:

brew services restart mysql@5.7

This fixed my issue, and I was then able to connect successfully with my DB client.

@seemly Thanks for this

Thanks <3

This was very helpful. I also had to do:

rm /usr/local/etc/my.cnf

Something I had done previously had resulted in a my.cnf file that prevented MySQL from working (I was getting the dreaded ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2) error).

Thank you! This was what I needed!

Awesome Thanks 😊🙌🏻

saved my day! Thank you :)

Thank god for your beautiful ass mate, I was looking for this for like an hour

Append the following lines to:

• /opt/homebrew/etc/my.cnf

• /opt/homebrew/Cellar/mysql@5.7/5.7.37/.bottle/etc/my.cnf

tmpdir=/tmp
user=root

Thanks @seemly it's worked , i spend 8 hours searching .

@seemly you saved me with these Comment : here

Thanks for this awesome guide.
@tnorthcutt's reply helped a lot!

Thanks, it worked!!

Thanks

nice

sudo rm -rf /opt/homebrew/etc/my.cnf

does the trick for me

it works, i remove MySQL 8 successfully.
Thanks

When setting up my Apple M1 Macbook Pro I was experiencing the issue of the following error message being thrown:

Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)

My fix was to modify the MySQL config file:

nano /usr/local/etc/my.cnf

Append the following lines:

tmpdir=/tmp
user=root

Then run:

brew services restart mysql@5.7

This fixed my issue, and I was then able to connect successfully with my DB client.

This works!

On the Apple Silicon:

brew remove mysql
rm -rf /opt/homebrew/var/mysql
brew install mysql
mysql.server start
mysql -uroot

just running this already fixed it for me

I installed mysql v5 through package.
How can I uninstall that?

Thanks it worked for me

Thanks, it help a lot

Great Job!!! It worked for me !!!

Thanks, it worked!

Thank you very much, finnaly this method is solved my problem!

OMG! Needed this for hours. Finally found this. Thank you!

Thnaks, it worked !

brew remove mysql rm -rf /opt/homebrew/var/mysql brew install mysql mysql.server start mysql -uroot
this would work , but I noticed that there is another version of mysql on my mac:
> mysql -V mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.7.24, for osx11.1 (x86_64) using EditLine wrapper
Later use this command :type -a mysql
It shows that anaconda3 installed a old version automatically.Ops....
mysql is /opt/anaconda3/bin/mysql
Remove it , then reinstall.

@seemly god bless you! I spend about 8 hours to look for an answer that could help me