MySQL 5.7 installation error `mysqld: Can't create/write to file '/var/lib/mysql/is_writable'`

Question

I am trying to install MySQL 5.7 on Ubuntu 14.04.

Following are the steps I followed:

rm -rf /var/lib/mysql
mkdir -p /var/lib/mysql
cd
wget http://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql-apt-config_0.7.2-1_all.deb
dpkg -i mysql-apt-config_0.7.2-1_all.deb
apt-get update
apt-get -y install mysql-server

All the steps run perfectly except for the last one. It gives me the following error:

mysqld: Can't create/write to file '/var/lib/mysql/is_writable' (Errcode: 13 - Permission denied)
2016-05-10T02:10:24.219279Z 0 [ERROR] --initialize specified but the data directory exists and is not writable. Aborting.
2016-05-10T02:10:24.219530Z 0 [ERROR] Aborting

Following is the complete log of the error:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  apparmor libaio1 libapparmor-perl libapparmor1 libmecab2 mysql-client
  mysql-common mysql-community-client mysql-community-server psmisc
Suggested packages:
  apparmor-profiles apparmor-docs apparmor-utils
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  apparmor libaio1 libapparmor-perl libapparmor1 libmecab2 mysql-client
  mysql-common mysql-community-client mysql-community-server mysql-server
  psmisc
0 upgraded, 11 newly installed, 0 to remove and 2 not upgraded.
Need to get 27.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 215 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://repo.mysql.com/apt/ubuntu/ trusty/mysql-5.7 mysql-common amd64 5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04 [261 kB]
Get:2 http://repo.mysql.com/apt/ubuntu/ trusty/mysql-5.7 mysql-community-client amd64 5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04 [7307 kB]
Get:3 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main libaio1 amd64 0.3.109-4 [6364 B]
Get:4 http://repo.mysql.com/apt/ubuntu/ trusty/mysql-5.7 mysql-client amd64 5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04 [12.4 kB]
Get:5 http://repo.mysql.com/apt/ubuntu/ trusty/mysql-5.7 mysql-community-server amd64 5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04 [19.5 MB]
Get:6 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main libapparmor1 amd64 2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3 [25.5 kB]
Get:7 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main libapparmor-perl amd64 2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3 [26.8 kB]
Get:8 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates/main apparmor amd64 2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3 [319 kB]
Get:9 http://repo.mysql.com/apt/ubuntu/ trusty/mysql-5.7 mysql-server amd64 5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04 [12.4 kB]
Get:10 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/main psmisc amd64 22.20-1ubuntu2 [53.2 kB]
Get:11 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty/universe libmecab2 amd64 0.996-1.1 [244 kB]
Fetched 27.8 MB in 0s (35.1 MB/s)
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously unselected package libaio1:amd64.
(Reading database ... 21277 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../libaio1_0.3.109-4_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libaio1:amd64 (0.3.109-4) ...
Selecting previously unselected package mysql-common.
Preparing to unpack .../mysql-common_5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking mysql-common (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
Selecting previously unselected package mysql-community-client.
Preparing to unpack .../mysql-community-client_5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking mysql-community-client (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
Selecting previously unselected package mysql-client.
Preparing to unpack .../mysql-client_5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking mysql-client (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libapparmor1:amd64.
Preparing to unpack .../libapparmor1_2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libapparmor1:amd64 (2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libapparmor-perl.
Preparing to unpack .../libapparmor-perl_2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libapparmor-perl (2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package apparmor.
Preparing to unpack .../apparmor_2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking apparmor (2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3) ...
Selecting previously unselected package psmisc.
Preparing to unpack .../psmisc_22.20-1ubuntu2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking psmisc (22.20-1ubuntu2) ...
Selecting previously unselected package libmecab2.
Preparing to unpack .../libmecab2_0.996-1.1_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libmecab2 (0.996-1.1) ...
Selecting previously unselected package mysql-community-server.
Preparing to unpack .../mysql-community-server_5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking mysql-community-server (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
Selecting previously unselected package mysql-server.
Preparing to unpack .../mysql-server_5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking mysql-server (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-16) ...
Setting up libaio1:amd64 (0.3.109-4) ...
Setting up mysql-common (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
Setting up mysql-community-client (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
Setting up mysql-client (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
Setting up libapparmor1:amd64 (2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3) ...
Setting up libapparmor-perl (2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3) ...
Setting up apparmor (2.8.95~2430-0ubuntu5.3) ...
invoke-rc.d: policy-rc.d denied execution of start.
invoke-rc.d: policy-rc.d denied execution of reload.
Setting up psmisc (22.20-1ubuntu2) ...
Setting up libmecab2 (0.996-1.1) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-16) ...
Setting up mysql-community-server (5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04) ...
mysqld: Can't create/write to file '/var/lib/mysql/is_writable' (Errcode: 13 - Permission denied)
2016-05-10T02:10:24.219279Z 0 [ERROR] --initialize specified but the data directory exists and is not writable. Aborting.
2016-05-10T02:10:24.219530Z 0 [ERROR] Aborting

dpkg: error processing package mysql-community-server (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server:
 mysql-server depends on mysql-community-server (= 5.7.12-1ubuntu14.04); however:
  Package mysql-community-server is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package mysql-server (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.19-0ubuntu6.7) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-16) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-community-server
 mysql-server
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

Can someone please suggest me a solution for the error? Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

You need to make sure that your data directory is owned by the mysql user and belongs to the mysql group. I've forgotten to do this before as well when setting up MySQL. It should work if you do:

sudo chown mysql /var/lib/mysql
sudo chgrp mysql /var/lib/mysql

Here's the MySQL documentation.