Fresh Debian Install Fails to Install MySQL

[MinisterPhobia]

---

I recently did a fresh Debian install on a server that I run. It's a long story as to why a fresh install was needed, but, the short version is that the old harddrive is failing and when replacing it, it was decided to move from a single drive to an SSD based mirror. The process of moving everything over was being a pain in the ass, so, a fresh install was done to prevent any more downtime and get things back up and running asap.

Anyways, with the new server up and running, I start going about reinstalling programs and getting things back up and running. First step is to get the webserver serving pages again. Apache and PHP went in without any issues, but mysql is proving to be a nightmare, and I can't find any good reason why.

"apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client" works without any errors. It downloads and installs everything that one would expect, except that after the process completes, nothing works. My first thought was that the path was hooped, so, I tried running things directly, only to find that the files simply aren't there.

There is no mysql process running, there is no control script in init.d, and none of the other files that one would expect to exist appear to be anywhere.

I've tried reinstalling. I've tried removing and installing again. I've tried purging and installing again. Short of doing a manual install, I've done everything that I can think of to get mysql up and running.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

This is a fresh Debian 64bit install on an Intel based system, and apt-get shows everything as up to the latest version (including mysql).

[elija]

It sounds like an odd issue and one I've never encountered!

I'm wondering if things are being installed to a different place to what you expect. What happens if you run the following as root

updatedb
locate -i mysql

The first command might take a little while

[MinisterPhobia]

I get the following results:

/etc/mysql
/etc/bash_completion.d/mysqladmin
/etc/mysql/conf.d
/etc/mysql/my.cnf
/usr/bin/mysql_config
/usr/include/mysql
/usr/include/mysql/decimal.h
/usr/include/mysql/errmsg.h
/usr/include/mysql/keycache.h
/usr/include/mysql/m_ctype.h
/usr/include/mysql/m_string.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_alloc.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_attribute.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_config.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_dbug.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_dir.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_getopt.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_global.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_list.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_net.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_no_pthread.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_pthread.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_sys.h
/usr/include/mysql/my_xml.h
/usr/include/mysql/mysql.h
/usr/include/mysql/mysql_com.h
/usr/include/mysql/mysql_embed.h
/usr/include/mysql/mysql_time.h
/usr/include/mysql/mysql_version.h
/usr/include/mysql/mysqld_ername.h
/usr/include/mysql/mysqld_error.h
/usr/include/mysql/plugin.h
/usr/include/mysql/sql_common.h
/usr/include/mysql/sql_state.h
/usr/include/mysql/sslopt-case.h
/usr/include/mysql/sslopt-longopts.h
/usr/include/mysql/sslopt-vars.h
/usr/include/mysql/typelib.h
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient.a
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient.la
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.16
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient.so.16.0.0
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient_r.a
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient_r.la
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient_r.so
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient_r.so.16
/usr/lib/libmysqlclient_r.so.16.0.0
/usr/lib/mysql
/usr/lib/mysql/plugin
/usr/lib/mysql/plugin/ha_example.a
/usr/lib/mysql/plugin/ha_example.la
/usr/lib/mysql/plugin/ha_example.so
/usr/lib/mysql/plugin/ha_example.so.0
/usr/lib/mysql/plugin/ha_example.so.0.0.0
/usr/lib/mysql/plugin/ha_innodb_plugin.a
/usr/lib/mysql/plugin/ha_innodb_plugin.la
/usr/lib/qt4/plugins/sqldrivers/libqsqlmysql.so
/usr/share/mysql-common
/usr/share/aclocal/mysql.m4
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient-dev
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient16
/usr/share/doc/libqt4-sql-mysql
/usr/share/doc/mysql-client
/usr/share/doc/mysql-common
/usr/share/doc/mysql-server
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient-dev/EXCEPTIONS-CLIENT.gz
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient-dev/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient-dev/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient-dev/copyright
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient-dev/examples
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient-dev/examples/udf_example.c.gz
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient16/EXCEPTIONS-CLIENT.gz
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient16/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient16/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/libmysqlclient16/copyright
/usr/share/doc/libqt4-sql-mysql/LGPL_EXCEPTION.txt
/usr/share/doc/libqt4-sql-mysql/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/libqt4-sql-mysql/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/libqt4-sql-mysql/copyright
/usr/share/doc/mysql-client/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/mysql-client/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/mysql-client/copyright
/usr/share/doc/mysql-common/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/mysql-common/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/mysql-common/copyright
/usr/share/doc/mysql-server/changelog.Debian.gz
/usr/share/doc/mysql-server/changelog.gz
/usr/share/doc/mysql-server/copyright
/usr/share/lintian/overrides/mysql-common
/usr/share/man/man1/mysql_config.1.gz
/usr/share/mysql-common/internal-use-only
/usr/share/mysql-common/internal-use-only/_etc_init.d_mysql
/usr/share/mysql-common/internal-use-only/_etc_logrotate.d_mysql-server
/usr/share/mysql-common/internal-use-only/_etc_mysql_debian-start

I've removed the list of results that originate on the old hardrive that's been replaced as well as the imported website results residing in /home. This is otherwise a complete list.

Anyways, as you can see, there was certainly some attempt at an install, but it fell short somewhere, and I can't figure out why.

[elija]

Try running

apt-cache search mysql

and if there is a package called mysql-server-5.1 (the version may differ), try installing that after uninstalling mysql-server and running an

apt-get update

if you haven't already run that.

[MinisterPhobia]

Okay, this time I've got some more concrete errors...

I tried an apt-get "remove" command on the existing mysql install, and it didn't work, but, a "purge" worked and removed things. When I went to reinstall, I got some errors that I haddn't gotten before.

l# apt-get purge mysql-server-5.1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libhtml-template-perl mysql-server-core-5.1
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  mysql-server-5.1*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 15.0 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
(Reading database ... 43268 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing mysql-server-5.1 ...
Purging configuration files for mysql-server-5.1 ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...

# apt-get purge mysql-client-5.1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
  libnet-daemon-perl libdbi-perl libhtml-template-perl mysql-server-core-5.1 libdbd-mysql-perl libplrpc-perl
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  mysql-client-5.1*
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
After this operation, 26.5 MB disk space will be freed.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
(Reading database ... 43182 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing mysql-client-5.1 ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
#

This first error was from the psuedo-gui when the installer asked me to set the mysql root password:

 â Unable to set password for the MySQL "root" user                                                                                                                                                         â
 â                                                                                                                                                                                                          â
 â An error occurred while setting the password for the MySQL administrative user. This may have happened because the account already has a password, or because of a communication problem with the MySQL  â
 â server.                                                                                                                                                                                                  â
 â                                                                                                                                                                                                          â
 â You should check the account's password after the package installation.                                                                                                                                  â
 â                                                                                                                                                                                                          â
 â Please read the /usr/share/doc/mysql-server-5.1/README.Debian file for more information.

Then, after exiting that, there were some more errors. Here's the output from command to prompt:

# apt-get install mysql-server-5.1 mysql-client-5.1
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Suggested packages:
  libterm-readkey-perl tinyca
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  mysql-client-5.1 mysql-server-5.1
0 upgraded, 2 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 0 B/16.7 MB of archives.
After this operation, 41.5 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Preconfiguring packages ...
Selecting previously deselected package mysql-client-5.1.
(Reading database ... 43121 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking mysql-client-5.1 (from .../mysql-client-5.1_5.1.49-3_amd64.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package mysql-server-5.1.
Unpacking mysql-server-5.1 (from .../mysql-server-5.1_5.1.49-3_amd64.deb) ...
adduser: Warning: The home directory `/var/lib/mysql' does not belong to the user you are currently creating.
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up mysql-client-5.1 (5.1.49-3) ...
Setting up mysql-server-5.1 (5.1.49-3) ...
invoke-rc.d: -----------------------------------------------------
invoke-rc.d: WARNING: 'invoke-rc.d mysql stop' called
invoke-rc.d: during shutdown sequence.
invoke-rc.d: enabling safe mode: initscript policy layer disabled
invoke-rc.d: -----------------------------------------------------
Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld/etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
/etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
.
/var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-5.1.postinst: line 50: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
invoke-rc.d: -----------------------------------------------------
invoke-rc.d: WARNING: 'invoke-rc.d mysql start' called
invoke-rc.d: during shutdown sequence.
invoke-rc.d: enabling safe mode: initscript policy layer disabled
invoke-rc.d: -----------------------------------------------------
/etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
Starting MySQL database server: mysqld/etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
/etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 ./etc/init.d/mysql: line 44: /usr/sbin/mysqld: No such file or directory
 failed!
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.1 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
configured to not write apport reports
                                      Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-server-5.1
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
#

So, while the solution is not yet reached, hopefully someone can help me figure things out at this point.

[elija]

I'm kind of at a loss here. I have never experienced this behaviour so have thrown Debian on a VM and installed mysql-server and mysql-client. Everything went as expected once I remembered to remove the CD from my sources.list and even then it just asked for a CD that I haven't downloaded.

Hopefully someone will be along that can answer you; I will watch this thread though. If you do find the answer, please post back.

[MinisterPhobia]

I think I'm going to end up doing a full reinstall on the server and try again. If it still happens, I'll post again. It'll take me a day or two at least to get access to the server as this isn't a VM.

[cynwulf]

I can't see where you ran "apt-get auto-remove" ?

The missing script "/usr/sbin/mysqld" is part of the "mysql-server-core-5.1" package. Obviously some files are missing and you are not reinstalling them - try this first:

aptitude purge mysql-server-5.1 mysql-server-core-5.1 mysql-client-5.1 
aptitude clean
aptitude update
aptitude -f install
aptitude full-upgrade

aptitude install mysql-server-5.1

ls -l /usr/sbin/mysqld

[MinisterPhobia]

aptitude purge mysql-server-5.1 mysql-server-core-5.1 mysql-client-5.1 
aptitude clean
aptitude update
aptitude -f install
aptitude full-upgrade

This alone fixed the issue. Many thanks.

[elija]

Nice. I really am going to have to investigate aptitude as it seems to handle things more gracefully than apt-get. But it's a hard habit to change.