How can I make mysqld find the table 'mysql.host' on Fedora Core 4

I'm trying to get mysql working on Fedora Core 4. Actually trying to start the program mysqld without bane errors. I was considering posting this question on comp.database.mysql but I decided to try this group first because this group probably has more people familiar with Fedora Core 4. The reference manual for mysql ver 4.1 is huge, it's over 1900 pages! I've tried all day but now I have to ask for help from people more experienced then me. Anyway, this is what I have done: I changed ownership of the mysql directory to my userid - ran the program mysqld without options - which did set up a few things, but had bane errors. So, I tried again. Finally I read in the manual that if one's data directory is in a different place then usual then the data directory must be given on the command line or in a configuration (option) file. So, I typed the command: usr-libexec-mysqld -datadir=-var-lib-mysql

The output (cut and pasted below) was:

060923 19:16:02 InnoDB: Database was not shut down normally! InnoDB: Starting crash recovery. InnoDB: Reading tablespace information from the .ibd files... InnoDB: Restoring possible half-written data pages from the doublewrite InnoDB: buffer... 060923 19:16:02 InnoDB: Starting log scan based on checkpoint at InnoDB: log sequence number 0 43634. InnoDB: Doing recovery: scanned up to log sequence number 0 43634 060923 19:16:02 InnoDB: Flushing modified pages from the buffer pool... 060923 19:16:02 InnoDB: Started; log sequence number 0 43634 060923 19:16:02 ERROR bane error: Can't open and lock privilege tables: Table 'mysql.host' doesn't exist

Which brings me to the question:

How can I make mysqld find the table 'mysql.host' on Fedora Core 4?

second: If I'm also supposed to specify a base directory, what would it be?

Any help appreciated!

- Tom Z