Can't log into new mariadb install

This is a pristine install. Before I could just set it all up easily with:

mariadb-secure-installation

but when I run it, I get:

NOTE: RUNNING ALL PARTS OF THIS SCRIPT IS RECOMMENDED FOR ALL MariaDB
SERVERS IN PRODUCTION USE! PLEASE READ EACH STEP CAREFULLY!

In order to log into MariaDB to secure it, we'll need the current
password for the root user. If you've just installed MariaDB, and
haven't set the root password yet, you should just press enter here.

Enter current password for root (enter for none):
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysql/mysql.sock' (111)
Enter current password for root (enter for none):

This is not where '#find / -type s' shows the socket it is

"/run/mysql/mysql.sock" Is the output of that command for mysql related lines.

I have a 32 bit version of slackware15 (also a fresh install) and that worked just fine.

So it is strange that this one does not.

I can stop and start as below, and everything seems to start up ok.

root@slack64:/etc/rc.d# ./rc.mysqld start
root@slack64:/etc/rc.d# 231221 04:45:01 mysqld_safe Logging to '/var/lib/mysql/slack64.####.org.err'.
231221 04:45:02 mysqld_safe Starting mariadbd daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql

Suggestions?

Thanks,
Chris