connecting to mysql from cygwin

Question

I can successfully connect to MySQL from a DOS prompt, but when I try to connect from cygwin, it just hangs.

$/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.1/bin/mysql -u root -p

What's wrong?

Answer 1

I just came across this, and when I read someone's mention of it being a windows/DOS command that you run in cygwin I did a which mysql and that gave me:

$ which mysql
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.5/bin/mysql

So I ran the cygwin Setup.exe searched for "mysql" and installed the latest "mysql client". Now which mysql looks like:

$ which mysql
/usr/bin/mysql

And the MySQL command works in cygwin :)

Though it's an old question, it would be nice to have the actual answer here, as people (like myself) might still stumble across it.

If your attempts to run the MySQL client from Cygwin return the following error:

$ mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysql.sock' (2)

Then you can fix it by adding the explicit -h 127.0.0.1 options to the command line, as in:

$ mysql -u root -p -h 127.0.0.1

Updates based on comments:

To avoid specifying -h 127.0.0.1 on the command line every time you connect, you can add:

[client]
host=127.0.0.1

to the file /etc/my.cnf

On some installations of Cygwin, specifying the host with -h might not be enough. If so, try also specifying:

--protocol=tcp

or add

protocol=tcp

to the config file.