MySQL problem after upgrade

[Michael Satterwhite]

I've just done the upgrade to 9.10. Most things went very smoothly, but I've 
got a snag. MySQL isn't running, and I can't figure out why.

When I run mysqld_safe (as root, of course), I get the following messages:

 mysqld_safe Logging to syslog.
 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
 mysqld_safe mysqld from pid file /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid ended

Looking at syslog, I do see a statement that I should run mysql_upgrade. I 
tried to do that, but it failed with the message Can't connect to local MySQL 
server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2) when trying to connect
Note that the .sock file doesn't exist.

Can anyone offer any help? I'd appreciate it greatly.

In syslog, I have the following messages from trying to run mysqld_safe:

mysqld_safe: Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
kernel: [58516.376931] type=1503 audit(1261581313.299:112): operation="open" 
pid=9681 parent=9564 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="r::" 
denied_mask="r::" fsuid=0 ouid=0 name="/sys/devices/system/cpu/"
kernel: [58516.377792] type=1503 audit(1261581313.299:113): operation="open" 
pid=9681 parent=9564 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="::r" 
denied_mask="::r" fsuid=0 ouid=1000 name="/home/michael/.my.cnf"
mysqld: 091223  9:15:13 [Warning] The syntax '--log' is deprecated and will be 
removed in MySQL 7.0. Please use '--general_log'/'--general_log_file' instead.
mysqld: 091223  9:15:13 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
mysqld: /usr/sbin/mysqld: Table 'mysql.plugin' doesn't exist
mysqld: 091223  9:15:13 [ERROR] Can't open the mysql.plugin table. Please run 
mysql_upgrade to create it.
mysqld: 091223  9:15:13  InnoDB: Started; log sequence number 0 883394962
mysqld: 091223  9:15:13 [ERROR] /usr/sbin/mysqld: unknown option '--skip-bdb'
mysqld: 091223  9:15:13 [ERROR] Aborting
mysqld:
mysqld: 091223  9:15:13  InnoDB: Starting shutdown...
mysqld: 091223  9:15:14  InnoDB: Shutdown completed; log sequence number 0 
883394962
mysqld: 091223  9:15:14 [Warning] Forcing shutdown of 1 plugins
mysqld: 091223  9:15:14 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld: Shutdown complete
mysqld:
mysqld from pid file /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid ended