E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) while removing mysql completely from ubuntu 20.04

Question

I want to uninstall mysql completely from ubuntu 20.04. sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common -y

But every time got errors.

dpkg: error processing package mysql-server-8.0 (--remove): package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting a removal dpkg: too many errors, stopping Errors were encountered while processing: mysql-server-8.0 Processing was halted because there were too many errors. E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I tried configuring dpkg sudo dpkg --configure -a , but again it says :

dpkg: error processing package mysql-server-8.0 (--configure): package is in a very bad inconsistent state; you should reinstall it before attempting configuration Errors were encountered while processing: mysql-server-8.0

Answer 1

I had the same challenge in xubuntu 20.04. This is what worked for me after several attempts. I hope it helps someone in future.

1. list all files associated with mysql-server

sudo ls -l /var/lib/dpkg/info | grep -i mysql-server 

2. Remove the different file groups.

sudo rm -r /var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-8.0.*
sudo rm -r /var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-core-8.0.* 

3. Run

sudo apt update

Try reinstalling whatsoever you will trying to install.