If you need to create a my.cnf file because you keep getting a max_allowed_packet error, use your favorite text editor (TextWrangler?) and create a text file at:
/Applications/MAMP/Library/my.cnf
And put the following text in the file:
[mysqld]
max_allowed_packet=32M
You can change the packet size to whatever you want so Drupal works. This usually only happens to me when I try and import a dump and the cache tables are all full. I usually empty all tables that start with ‘cache’ (including the ‘cache’ table) before I export all tables. That cuts the size of the sql file down by about 5-10x depending on your cache settings.
Of course, this post assumes you’re running a Mac with MAMP installed.
