Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (13)

OS RH Enterprise V4 (kernel 2.5.9-5.EL), Perl 5.8.5, DBI-1.46, DBD-MySQL-2.9004-3.1, MySQL 4.1.7 installed 

I can access/update MySQL db via webmin (port 10000) and SQLyog (port 3306) without any problem.

When I try to connect to MySQL db via ; 
     my $hndl = DBI->connect("DBI:mysql:$database", $user, $password) or db_err("Unable to contect to $database", $DBI::errstr);

I get the following message : "Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock' (13)"

Socket in question does exist in /var/lib/mysql and all directories involved is completely open (777).  I've other servers up 
and running without any problem (albeit different versions).  Did I miss something?  Any help/ideas is greatly appreciated! 

Arthur