You made the php part so painless, and I have to thank you for that. Realizing that php was already installed on my Mac made me say “Oh! Freakin’ awesome!”

So painless that the second half was just vague enough that it’s been one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in my life. It seems no one knows for sure how mysql is supposed to be installed on a mac. Those who step up to the plate, tackle its flaws with few words, and/or in a game of telephone someone starts thinking that you’re using linux and then none of the commands they’re telling you to use work.

There were a number of problems. The most infamous: Error 2002: Can’t connect to local MySQL server through socket ‘/etc/mysql.sock’ (2)

How many times did people tell me to move .cnf files from my local folder in to /var? Files that I never had in the first place. And why were all the error logs always completely blank? Some people tried resorting to creating a blank file to no avail. Others tried explaining that the mysql user didn’t have permissions to its own files. …Seriously? Why the F*** not? Plenty more people explained, like yourself, that you had to change the .sock location in the php.ini, but there was no .sock file anywhere in /tmp or /var/mysql. Where is it? I don’t know.

A week is a long time to get hazed with errors and bad fixes. Somehow, miraculously, I understood this morning how to get MAMP.info’s package working, and I think I’m just going to settle for that. I’m still interested, I suppose in making my install of mysql work (if for no other reason that it’s taking up hard drive space now), but I honestly think it just WON’T let me.