Extremely Off Topic -- but!

[Roger]

Error is: ERROR 2002 Can't connect to local MYSQL through socket
>> '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)
>>   From installation instructions  I did ln -s /tmp/mysql.sock
>> /private/var/mysql/mysql.sock which is no help.
>
> Error 2002 is usually a permissions/ownership problem. Try:
>
> cd /var/lib/mysql
> touch mysql.sock
> chown mysql:mysql mysql.sock
> chmod 1777 mysql.sock
>
> now make a sym link into /tmp
>
>
Thank you Geoffrey.
I find using Mac terminal is same as Linuxen boxes. Services can be 
treated the same way, sudo service xyz start or stop or restart, but 
deleting-- nope?
I tried the commands  you suggest but did not fix.
I found the culprit though.  Seems as though: if mysql is running during 
a system update, it gets corrupted  in the mysql/data file. So renamed 
/usr/local/mysql/data and reinstalled mysql, reinstalled data and all 
good ---so far.
Trap for the unwary when installing from the terminal.
Roger