mysql.sock path problem

I have tried everything but keep having problems with the mysql.sock unix socket file. First I installed the normal way (source compile) and kept having problems with the socket. I tried to change the path from the default (/tmp/mysql.sock) to a new path (/usr/local/mysql/socket/mysql.sock). It still didn't work and the documentation says to try a binary install. I did this and it works fine now except for one thing.

When I run "mysqladmin variables" it correctly identifies the socket path (/tmp) but when I try to connect from a browser via PHP, it says that it is unable to connect to msyql via socket /usr/local/mysql/socket/mysql.sock. I have tried to set the socket path both in the invocation of safe_mysqld in the mysql.server script and using a /tmp/my.cnf file but to no avail. Any ideas?

Cheers
Tom