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

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