dpkg: error processing package mysql-server

Question

When I try to install mysql-server, an error comes like:

dpkg: error processing package mysql-server (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigure         


        

Answer 1

i face same error due to problem in my upgrade from ubuntu 18.04 to ubuntu 20.04 , what i did is get mariadb instead also make sure when you do pruge mysql that if asked you to remove dbs in the dir tell it not to delete the dbs so you will have your old databases with no data loss

what i did was this cmds

sudo apt-get purge mysql*
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install mariadb-server

Answer 2

All of the answers I've been able to find for this question have been of the form "purge your Mysql install and re-install it." But in my case, I already have a working/active Mysql install. For me, the reason why dpkg --configure -a fails is because Mysql is already installed. Why dpkg thinks that the postinstall script needs to be run for my already-installed-and-upgraded Mysql I may never know, but it does.

After considerable time scouring for answers, I found a solution that should work if there are others who already have a working Mysql 5.7 and just want to get past this bogus postinstall script. You can edit the postinstall script directly as (on Ubuntu):

sudo vi /var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-5.7.postinst

And then, on the second line, just add exit 0 and then run dpkg again and you should get something like:

$ sudo dpkg --configure -a         
Setting up mysql-server-5.7 (5.7.28-0ubuntu0.18.04.4) ...

You definitely would not want to follow these instructions if your Mysql installation had not previously completed (there's a reason that the postinstall script insists on running). But for those who might end up with dpkg in a wonky state, as I have, the above can save you a lot of time purging and reinstalling an already-working version of Mysql.

Answer 3

dpkg returning an error code 1 doesn't mean anything specific but it usually has to do with dependency issues. In your case, you tried to install two versions/instances of the same package i.e. mysql-server and mysql-server-5.7. So do the following to remove any redundant dependency issues and install a functioning mysql package

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get purge mysql*
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -f
sudo apt-get install mysql-server-5.7
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

this should fix the problem at hand. But in the future, have care about the package names you add after sudo apt-get install since the wrong list of package names - for example redundant entries in the list - results in failure to install either of the packages or worse - you might even find yourself wading through the hellish depths of #DEPENDENCY-HELL

Answer 4

This should help

sudo apt-get purge mysql*
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

And now reinstall mysql

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

Answer 5

To solve the dependency issue, try:

sudo apt-get purge
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get check

And reinstall the package again by: sudo apt-get install mysql-server.

^{Source: Thread: Dpkg: Dependency problems - leaving unconfigured.}

Other commands to try:

sudo apt-get install -f
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo dpkg --configure -a 

Related: How can I Resolve dpkg dependency? at Ask Ubuntu.

Answer 6

If you're on a VPS or similar, your error may be due to lack of RAM.

Running apt-upgrade seems to require some RAM, so it may force-close mysql, hence the problem to recover from the error.

Try:

1) Stop mysql manually before any apt-upgrade

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql stop

2) Fix:

sudo dpkg --configure mysql-server-X.X

(if version not known, use just mysql-server to find out (will not fix error)

3) Check:

sudo apt-get upgrade

Start mysql manually if it wasn't started by apt.