After MySQL install via Brew, I get the error - The server quit without updating PID file

Ok, I've searched all over and have spent quite a bit of my time installing, uninstalling, trying various option but without success.

I'm on Mac OS X Lion (10.7.3) and am trying to setup a Python, MySQL.

I successfully installed Python and MySQL via HomeBrew. Python works great.

After MySQL Installation, I followed the first 2 steps - unset and the mysql_install_db commands.

Now, when I try to start mysql "mysql.server start", I get the following error

ERROR! The server quit without updating PID file (/usr/local/var/mysql/Brajeshwar.local.pid).

Brajeshwar is my username on my machine.

Solution

EDIT 2012/09/18: As pointed out by Kane, make sure the mysql database is properly set up before doing anything else. See “PID error on mysql.server start?” for more info.

Original answer kept for history's sake: It most likely is a permissions issue. Check /usr/local/var/mysql/*.err. Mine said:

120314 16:30:14  InnoDB: Operating system error number 13 in a file operation.
InnoDB: The error means mysqld does not have the access rights to
InnoDB: the directory.
InnoDB: File name ./ibdata1
InnoDB: File operation call: 'open'.
InnoDB: Cannot continue operation.
120314 16:30:14 mysqld_safe mysqld from pid file /usr/local/var/mysql/janmoesen.local.pid ended

I also had to do this:

sudo chown _mysql /usr/local/var/mysql/*