having massive difficulty just getting rid of mysql

[Robert P. J. Day]

  on a test 10.04 system, all i want to do is remove all traces of
mysql, then re-install to start fresh, and i'm going slowly bonkers.
first, it took me over 1/2 hour just to remove all mysql-related
packages, even though i saw nothing that had mysql as a dependency.

  now i'm at the point where i think i've re-installed the packages i
want, but any attempt to start the mysql server simply hangs the
terminal i'm trying to start it in.

  "ps -ef" shows that "start mysql" is running, but running "mysql -u
root -p" says i can't connect to my mysql server.  i'm running out of
ideas.  i would be happy to blast every trace of mysql, then
re-install it from scratch, but i thought i did that, and it's still
brain-damaged and refuses to start properly.

  i'm open to suggestions.

rday

-- 

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                               Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA

        Top-notch, inexpensive online Linux/OSS/kernel courses
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn:                               http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
========================================================================