mysqld_multi is now officially my 'white whale'

I am setting up multiple instances of mysql 5.5 server on a single host and trying to manage the instances using the mysqld_multi tool. Ia m able to get each instance to run without issue when I start each manually via nthe following command. Code: mysqld_safe --datadir=/var/lib/mysql --pid-file=/var/lib/mysql/$HOSTNAME.pid --socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock --port=3306 &   mysqld_safe --datadir=/usr/local/mysql/var2 --pid-file=/usr/local/mysql/var2/$HOSTNAME.pid2 --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock2 --port=3308 & mysqld_safe --datadir=/usr/local/mysql/var3 --pid-file=/usr/local/mysql/var2/$HOSTNAME.pid3 --socket=/tmp/mysql.sock3 --port=3309 & Code: netstat -ntpl | grep mysql tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:3306                0.0.0.0:*                  LIS tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:3308                0.0.0.0:*                  LIS tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:3309                0.0.0.0:*                  LIS I have also verified seperate instances are running using ps -eaf, but will spare you the output. When I try to run them with the mysqld_multi I get: Code: mysqld_multi start 1-3 --verbose WARNING: mysqld_safe is being used to start mysqld. In this case you may need to pass "ledir=..." under groups [mysqldN] to mysqld_safe in order to find the actual mysqld binary. ledir (library executable directory) should be the path to the wanted mysqld binary. /etc/my.cnf Code: [mysqld_multi] mysqld        =/usr/bin/mysqld_safe mysqladmin    =/usr/bin/mysqladmin [mysqld1] port            = 3306 socket          = /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock skip-external-locking key_buffer_size = 16K max_allowed_packet = 1M table_open_cache = 4 sort_buffer_size = 64K read_buffer_size = 256K read_rnd_buffer_size = 256K net_buffer_length = 2K thread_stack = 128K [mysql2] socket          =/tmp/mysql.sock2 port            =3308 pid-file        =/usr/local/mysql/var2/$HOSTNAME.pid2 datadir        =/usr/local/mysql/var2 [mysql3] socket          =/tmp/mysql.sock3 port            =3309 pid-file        =/usr/local/mysql/var3/$HOSTNAME.pid3 datadir        =/usr/local/mysql/var3 any tips to help trouble shoot this or configuration pointers would be appreciated

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