database apps that ignore sockets? [was: Solution: mysqld fails to run, can't create/find mysql.sock]

[Paul Beard]

On Jan 15, 2012, at 8:17 AM, Chuck Swiger wrote:

> Something looking for a network location specified as a host and port (ie, localhost:3306) is using a TCP socket.  Something looking for /tmp/mysqld.sock is using a UNIX domain socket.
> 
> Changing the path to the UNIX domain socket will have no effect upon the port used by the TCP socket, or vice versa.
> 


Useful clarification but a UNIX domain socket sounds less like networking and more like interprocess communication, i.e., something explicitly tied to a single host. There is a "skip networking" option for MySQL that references the domain socket for use by processes on the same host but doesn't accept connections on port 3306. There's no indication that using localhost will default to a domain socket which will explicitly be looked for in /tmp and if you put it anywhere else, you must specify a hostname to access the TCP socket. 

I'll quote your definition in the bug report as it seems crystal clear. 
--
Paul Beard

Are you trying to win an argument or solve a problem?