Mysql – Changing MySQL tmpdir kills InnoDB functionality

I've got a query that keeps failing because I don't have enough temporary space available. So, I created a directory on a different partition at /data/tmp, chmoded this directory to 777, and updated my.cnf to read: tmpdir = /data/tmp. I'm able to restart the daemon without a hitch, and no errors reported in the logs. This is all the logs show upon restarting the daemon:

Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 /etc/mysql/debian-start[3166]: Upgrading MySQL tables if necessary.
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 /etc/mysql/debian-start[3169]: /usr/bin/mysql_upgrade: the '--basedir' option is always ignored
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 /etc/mysql/debian-start[3169]: Looking for 'mysql' as: /usr/bin/mysql
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 /etc/mysql/debian-start[3169]: Looking for 'mysqlcheck' as: /usr/bin/mysqlcheck
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 /etc/mysql/debian-start[3169]: This installation of MySQL is already upgraded to 5.1.41, use --force if you still need to run mysql_upgrade
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 /etc/mysql/debian-start[3176]: Checking for insecure root accounts.
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 /etc/mysql/debian-start[3180]: Triggering myisam-recover for all MyISAM tables
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [93900.335357] type=1503 audit(1300380305.417:117):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_1.MYI"
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [93900.335453] type=1503 audit(1300380305.417:118):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_1.MYI"
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [93900.335553] type=1503 audit(1300380305.417:119):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_1.MYI"
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [93900.335591] type=1503 audit(1300380305.417:120):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_1.MYI"
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [93900.335628] type=1503 audit(1300380305.417:121):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_1.MYI"
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [93900.335731] type=1503 audit(1300380305.417:122):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_1.MYI"
Mar 17 16:45:05 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [93900.335893] type=1503 audit(1300380305.417:123):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_1.MYI"
Mar 17 16:55:32 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [94526.730200] type=1503 audit(1300380932.157:125):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_0.MYI"
Mar 17 16:55:32 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [94526.753333] type=1503 audit(1300380932.177:126):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_0.MYI"
Mar 17 16:55:40 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [94534.677693] type=1503 audit(1300380940.107:127):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_0.MYI"
Mar 17 16:55:40 Casala-Dev-LX01 kernel: [94534.837802] type=1503 audit(1300380940.267:128):  operation="mknod" pid=3164 parent=1 profile="/usr/sbin/mysqld" requested_mask="c::" denied_mask="c::" fsuid=104 ouid=104 name="/data/tmp/#sql_c54_0.MYI"

When I login to the database, however, InnoDB tables just don't work. I keep getting the error, ERROR 1286 (42000): Unknown table engine 'InnoDB'. MyISAM tables work just fine. I read here that this might be an issue with the size specified for innodb_buffer_pool_size, so I tried a range of sizes, all the way down to 32M. Regardless of this setting though, the daemon continues to start correctly, the InnoDB engine fails silently (confirmed through SHOW ENGINES;), and I continue to grow more frustrated.