Can anyone explain localhost phenomenon?

[Charles Bradshaw]

On: Mon, 04 Feb 2013 06:29:56 -0500, Adam wrote:

> On Sun, 2013-02-03 at 15:42 +0100, Gabor Gombas wrote:
> > IIRC MySQL tries to use an UNIX socket instead of TCP for connecting to
> > the server when it sees the "localhost" string. If e.g. sendmail runs
> > chrooted, then it won't see the MySQL server's socket, therefore it
> > won't be able to connect.
> 
> What happens if, instead of the literal "localhost", you say
> "127.0.0.1".  Hi-jacking the localhost string seems wrong, but it might
> be accepted/well-known behavior at this point.  And possibly buried 
> in the MySQL library [and not in SASL; in fact, I'd wager that is true.
> Shortcuts and general funny-business is pretty much MySQL's primary
> prerogative].
> 

Yes 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost works... it's down to somebodies ghost in
the machine then!