max_connections

Hi all,

I can't seem to change my max_connections variable in mysql.
If I try to do it through the client I get this.
mysql> set global max_connections=500;
ERROR 1064: You have an error in your SQL syntax near
'max_connections=500' at line 1

Then put
set-variable = max_connections=300
in the my.cnf and restarted mysql.

I did
show variables;
and I get
| max_connections | 100

Why aren't these attempts working?