Can't start MySQL5.5 on Ubuntu 12.04 - "dpkg: dependency problems"

Question

This appears to be a common problem on 12.04. I've tried everthing in this thread including:

sudo apt-get clean  sudo apt-get autoclean  sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-client-5.5 mysql-client-core-5.5 mysql-common mysql-server mysql-server-5.5 mysql-server-core-5.5  sudo apt-get install mysql-server 

I still get the same old error. Installing/starting MySql5.5 looks like this:

apt-get install -f mysql-server Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done mysql-server is already the newest version. 0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. 2 not fully installed or removed. After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used. Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y Setting up mysql-server-5.5 (5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ... 120907 21:37:15 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled. 120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled 120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use GCC atomic builtins 120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3.4 120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 128.0M 120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool 120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: highest supported file format is Barracuda. 120907 21:37:15  InnoDB: Waiting for the background threads to start 120907 21:37:16 InnoDB: 1.1.8 started; log sequence number 154164236 120907 21:37:16  InnoDB: Starting shutdown... 120907 21:37:16  InnoDB: Shutdown completed; log sequence number 154164236 start: Job failed to start invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed. dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.5 (--configure):  subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server:  mysql-server depends on mysql-server-5.5; however:   Package mysql-server-5.5 is not configured yet. dpkg: error processing mysql-server (--configure):  dependency problems - leaving unconfigured No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.  Errors were encountered while processing:  mysql-server-5.5  mysql-server 

In addition, dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.5 returns /usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure: mysql-server-5.5 is broken or not fully installed

The ultimate goal here is installing and configuring Gitorious to work with Redmine but I believe the problem is isolated to Ubuntu 12.04 and MySql5.5

Answer 1

I found solution with this step:

WARNING: the following step will DELETE your existing data! please backup first!!!

$ sudo apt-get --yes autoremove --purge mysql-server-5.5  $ sudo apt-get --yes autoremove --purge mysql-client-5.5  $ sudo apt-get --yes autoremove --purge mysql-common  $ sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql /etc/mysql ~/.mysql    $ sudo deluser mysql  $ sudo apt-get autoclean  $ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade  $ sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.5 mysql-client-5.5 

NOTE: when you get 'dpkg: error...' please run step below:

$ sudo dpkg --configure -a 

good luck!

Answer 2

The fix from the Ubuntu forums:

This is what worked for me, though I was doing an install and not an upgrade, so I didn't care about the existing database.

I removed all the mysql application again, then I went and deleted my /var/lib/mysql directory. Keep in mind, if you have an existing database there, you will lose it. You might want to move it to another location.

After removing that directory, I installed again and it worked perfect. So something in the /var/lib/mysql directory was my problem. See if that works for you.