package mysql-server-5.1 (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Joe Prema]

Failed during installation of Myth Backend
Front aend was installed first

ProblemType: Package
Architecture: i386
Date: Wed Dec 15 22:03:17 2010
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ErrorMessage: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: mysql-server-5.1 (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-22.69-generic
SourcePackage: mysql-dfsg-5.1
Title: package mysql-server-5.1 (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-22-generic i686

[Clint Byrum (clint-fewbar)]

Hi Joe, thanks for taking the time to file this bug report and help us make Ubuntu better.

Unpacking mysql-server-5.1 (from .../mysql-server-5.1_5.1.37-1ubuntu5.5_i386.deb) ...
Your account has expired; please contact your system administrator
chfn: PAM authentication failed
adduser: `/usr/bin/chfn -f MySQL Server mysql' returned error code 1. Exiting.
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/mysql-server-5.1_5.1.37-1ubuntu5.5_i386.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1

This message suggests that there is a problem with the 'mysql' user. Is it possible you already have a user called 'mysql' and that it has been disabled in some way?

Try running

sudo passwd -S mysql

The fields are described as such in the man page of passwd:

       -S, --status
           Display account status information. The status information consists of 7 fields. The first field is the users login name. The second field indicates if the user
           account has a locked password (L), has no password (NP), or has a usable password (P). The third field gives the date of the last password change. The next four
           fields are the minimum age, maximum age, warning period, and inactivity period for the password. These ages are expressed in days.

If the user's password hasn't been updated in a long time, you can try manually updating it as root then re-running the configuration. If you are sure the user owns no files on disk, you can also try deleting it and letting the configuration re-create the user.

If any of this fails horribly, please paste the results here and let us know.

Marking Incomplete pending response from Joe.

[Chuck Short (zulcss)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!