Comment 2 for bug 318154

sh -x /etc/init.d/mysql start shows a bunch of:

+ ping_alive=0
+ ps_alive=0
+ mysqld_get_param pid-file
+ /usr/sbin/mysqld --print-defaults
+ tr \n
+ grep -- --pid-file
+ tail -n 1
+ cut -d= -f2
+ pidfile=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
+ [ -f /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid ]
+ [ check_alive = check_alive -a 0 = 1 ]
+ [ check_alive = check_dead -a 0 = 0 -a 0 = 0 ]
+ [ nowarn = warn ]
+ return 1
+ log_progress_msg .
+ :
+ sleep 1
+ mysqld_status check_alive nowarn
+ /usr/bin/mysqladmin --defaults-file=/etc/mysql/debian.cnf ping
+ ping_output=/usr/bin/mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
error: 'Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)'
Check that mysqld is running and that the socket: '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' exists!