title: mysql var/lib/mysql directory doesn't exist, can't start mysql server
body: <p>I have read many a forum post and hopeful solution to the problem I am having with getting my own mysql server to start and work properly, but none so far have worked. Many of the forum posts I've read make reference to a /var/lib/mysql folder, as do some of the errors I receive, such as when I run</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ mysqld
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>on Terminal using a Mac and receive the following error</p>
  
  <pre><code>2013-06-03 00:40:46 0 [Warning] TIMESTAMP with implicit DEFAULT value is deprecated. Please use --explicit_defaults_for_timestamp server option (see documentation for more details).
  2013-06-03 00:40:46 1851 [Warning] Can't create test file /var/lib/mysql/Alexs-MacBook-Pro-3.lower-test
  2013-06-03 00:40:46 1851 [Warning] Can't create test file /var/lib/mysql/Alexs-MacBook-Pro-3.lower-test
  mysqld: Can't change dir to '/var/lib/mysql/' (Errcode: 2 - No such file or directory)
  2013-06-03 00:40:46 1851 [ERROR] Aborting
  
  2013-06-03 00:40:46 1851 [Note] Binlog end
  2013-06-03 00:40:46 1851 [Note] mysqld: Shutdown complete
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I have deleted everything related to MySQL and reinstalled MySQL, both from a dmg file and from an unzipped tar.gz file from the MySQL downloads page. Nothing has worked. The strange this is that I was using MySQL and the MySQL Workbench only days ago, when suddenly it started giving me this error when I ran the following command</p>
  
  <pre><code>$ mysql
  
  ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/tmp/mysql.sock' (2)
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I can't even start the daemon using mysqld_safe... I need a walkthrough of what to do from here to get the MySQL server correctly running again. </p>