Bug #23524 Starting MySQLCouldn't find MySQL manager or server [FAILED]

Description:
Upgrading from 3.xx (whatever RHEL 3 originally comes with) fails out of the box because of the basedir is set to /var/lib in the mysql.server group in /etc/my.cnf

How to repeat:
rpm -Uvh MySQL-shared-compat-5.0.26-0.rhel3.i386.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:MySQL-shared-compat    ########################################### [100%]

rpm -Uvh MySQL-server-standard-5.0.24a-0.rhel3.i386.rpm
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:MySQL-server-standard  ########################################### [100%]
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER !
To do so, start the server, then issue the following commands:
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h harn password 'new-password'
See the manual for more instructions.

Please report any problems with the /usr/bin/mysqlbug script!

The latest information about MySQL is available on the web at
http://www.mysql.com
Support MySQL by buying support/licenses at http://shop.mysql.com
Starting MySQLCouldn't find MySQL manager or server[FAILED]

Suggested fix:
basedir should be /usr (or maybe just left off?) for the RHEL3-specific rpm

or if the old /etc/my.cnf blocked installation of a new one, maybe it should have been renamed to my.cnf.old

Thank you for a problem report. Please, try to repeat with RPMs of a newer version, 5.0.26, and inform about the results.

No feedback was provided for this bug for over a month, so it is
being suspended automatically. If you are able to provide the
information that was originally requested, please do so and change
the status of the bug back to "Open".

I tried it with 5.0.36 - similar result:

[root@EUL0001122 custuser]# rpm -e dovecot
[root@EUL0001122 custuser]# rpm -Uvh MySQL-server-enterprise-gpl-5.0.36-0.rhel4.x86_64.rpm
warning: MySQL-server-enterprise-gpl-5.0.36-0.rhel4.x86_64.rpm: V3 DSA signature: NOKEY, key ID 5072e1f5
Preparing...                ########################################### [100%]
   1:MySQL-server-enterprise########################################### [100%]
PLEASE REMEMBER TO SET A PASSWORD FOR THE MySQL root USER !
To do so, start the server, then issue the following commands:
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root password 'new-password'
/usr/bin/mysqladmin -u root -h EUL0001122 password 'new-password'
See the manual for more instructions.

Please report any problems with the /usr/bin/mysqlbug script!

The latest information about MySQL is available on the web at
http://www.mysql.com
Support MySQL by buying support/licenses at http://shop.mysql.com
Starting MySQLCouldn't find MySQL manager or server[FAILED]

The uname:

[root@EUL0001122 init.d]# uname -a
Linux EUL0001122 2.6.9-42.ELsmp #1 SMP Wed Jul 12 23:32:02 EDT 2006 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Well:

[root@EUL0001122 etc]# mv my.cnf my.cnf.old
[root@EUL0001122 etc]# init.d/mysql start
Starting MySQL                                             [  OK  ]

Wonder which my.cnf it's using now? Never used RedHat before!

I'll continue to dig around...