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

[aristath]

Ubuntu oneiric (development branch)
tried to install MySQL using
sudo apt-get install mysql-server

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: mysql-server-5.1 (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.19-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Sep 29 21:35:35 2011
ErrorMessage: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
SourcePackage: mysql-5.1
Title: package mysql-server-5.1 (not installed) failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011-09-29 (0 days ago)

[Robie Basak (racb)]

From the attached logs:

Unpacking mysql-server-5.1 (from .../mysql-server-5.1_5.1.58-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb) ...
Aborting downgrade from (at least) 5.5 to 5.1.
If are sure you want to downgrade to 5.1, remove the file
/var/lib/mysql/debian-*.flag and try installing again.
dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/mysql-server-5.1_5.1.58-1ubuntu1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 1

It looks like you've had a future version of mysql-server installed in the past, and you're now trying to install an older version (although current for 11.10).

If this is correct, then could please you clean up the custom installation from the future manually and try again? If this works, please mark this bug as Invalid.

If this is wrong, could you please tell us the history of your mysql-server installation on this server?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for mysql-5.1 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]