package mariadb-server-5.5 install/upgrade/remove returned error exit status 1 due to mysqld restart not being OK

[Pieroxy]

I just clicked on "Install updates" (right click menu on the Software Updater icon on the launcher) and it reported a problem upgrading mariadb...

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: mariadb-server-5.5 5.5.36-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sat May 10 14:04:21 2014
DuplicateSignature: package:mariadb-server-5.5:5.5.36-1:subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
ErrorMessage: subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-29 (11 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20140417)
SourcePackage: mariadb-5.5
Title: package mariadb-server-5.5 5.5.36-1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Pieroxy (pierregrimaud)]

The problem seems to be with dpkg not being able to stop mysqld, as showh when I typed in "sudo apt-get -f upgrade":

 * Stopping MariaDB database server mysqld [fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed.

Then I (naively) tried "sudo killall mysqld" and then tried again. dpkg went a step further and then I got a kernel panic... Trying again as you read this.

[Pieroxy (pierregrimaud)]

Well... Here is what I did next after my reboot:

sudo apt-get update
<lots of things ...>
E: dpkg was interrupted, you must manually run 'sudo dpkg --configure -a' to correct the problem.
pieroxy:~$ sudo dpkg --configure -a
Setting up empathy-common (3.8.6-0ubuntu9.1) ...
Setting up libpanel-applet-4-0 (1:3.8.0-1ubuntu12) ...
Setting up mariadb-server-5.5 (5.5.37-0ubuntu0.14.04.1) ...
 * Stopping MariaDB database server mysqld [fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed.
 * Starting MariaDB database server mysqld [ OK ]
Setting up gettext-base (0.18.3.1-1ubuntu3) ...
<lots of things ...>

and now sudo apt-get upgrade doesn't see anything to upgrade. I wonder in what kind of decayed state my mariadb is right now...

[Pieroxy (pierregrimaud)]

Just so you know, I installed my system last week. So it is a "fresh" install. At your disposal for any help you might need/

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[mevdschee (mevdschee)]

maurits@maurits-Aspire-X3960:~$ sudo apt-get install -f
[sudo] password for maurits:
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Correcting dependencies... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  mariadb-server-5.5
Suggested packages:
  mailx mariadb-test tinyca
The following packages will be upgraded:
  mariadb-server-5.5
1 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
1 not fully installed or removed.
Need to get 0 B/3843 kB of archives.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 167500 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../mariadb-server-5.5_5.5.37-0ubuntu0.14.04.1_amd64.deb ...
 * Stopping MariaDB database server mysqld [fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: warning: subprocess old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: trying script from the new package instead ...
 * Stopping MariaDB database server mysqld [fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed.
dpkg: error processing archive /var/cache/apt/archives/mariadb-server-5.5_5.5.37-0ubuntu0.14.04.1_amd64.deb (--unpack):
 subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1
 * Stopping MariaDB database server mysqld [fail]
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed.
 * Starting MariaDB database server mysqld [ OK ]
Errors were encountered while processing:
 /var/cache/apt/archives/mariadb-server-5.5_5.5.37-0ubuntu0.14.04.1_amd64.deb
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[mevdschee (mevdschee)]

Fresh install here too.. Fixed it by typing:

sudo killall mysqld
sudo apt-get -f install

Hope it helps for you :-)

[Otto Kekäläinen (otto)]

I suspect this is related: https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=752203

Does any of you have mysqld related lines in your syslogs when MariaDB/mysqld fails to restart?

[Otto Kekäläinen (otto)]

Does the issue get fixed to anybody by running 'sudo rm -rf /var/lib/mysql/debian-*.flag' ?

If you encounter this again, please send a copy-paste of the apt-get output. The stuff apport automatically sends is useless in this case, what I really need is the printed output the user sees.

[Otto Kekäläinen (otto)]

Did your syslog contain any line similar to these?

/etc/mysql/debian-start[3138]: Upgrading MySQL tables if necessary.
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3141]: /usr/bin/mysql_upgrade: the '--basedir' option is always ignored
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3141]: Looking for 'mysql' as: /usr/bin/mysql
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3141]: Looking for 'mysqlcheck' as: /usr/bin/mysqlcheck
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3141]: This installation of MySQL is already upgraded to 10.0.9-MariaDB, use --force if you still need to run mysql_upgrade
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3152]: Checking for insecure root accounts.
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3157]: Triggering myisam-recover for all MyISAM tables
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3719]: Upgrading MySQL tables if necessary.
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3722]: /usr/bin/mysql_upgrade: the '--basedir' option is always ignored
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3722]: Looking for 'mysql' as: /usr/bin/mysql
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3722]: Looking for 'mysqlcheck' as: /usr/bin/mysqlcheck
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3722]: This installation of MySQL is already upgraded to 10.0.9-MariaDB, use --force if you still need to run mysql_upgrade
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3733]: Checking for insecure root accounts.
/etc/mysql/debian-start[3738]: Triggering myisam-recover for all MyISAM tables
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: Installation of system tables failed! Examine the logs in
mysqld_safe[5671]: /var/lib/mysql for more information.
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: The problem could be conflicting information in an external
mysqld_safe[5671]: my.cnf files. You can ignore these by doing:
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: shell> /usr/scripts/scripts/mysql_install_db --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: You can also try to start the mysqld daemon with:
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: shell> /usr/sbin/mysqld --skip-grant --general-log &
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: and use the command line tool /usr/bin/mysql
mysqld_safe[5671]: to connect to the mysql database and look at the grant tables:
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: shell> /usr/bin/mysql -u root mysql
mysqld_safe[5671]: mysql> show tables
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: Try 'mysqld --help' if you have problems with paths. Using
mysqld_safe[5671]: --general-log gives you a log in /var/lib/mysql that may be helpful.
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: The latest information about mysql_install_db is available at
mysqld_safe[5671]: https://mariadb.com/kb/en/installing-system-tables-mysql_install_db
mysqld_safe[5671]: MariaDB is hosted on launchpad; You can find the latest source and
mysqld_safe[5671]: email lists at http://launchpad.net/maria
mysqld_safe[5671]:
mysqld_safe[5671]: Please check all of the above before submitting a bug report
mysqld_safe[5671]: at http://mariadb.org/jira
mysqld_safe[5671]:
/etc/init.d/mysql[6513]: 0 processes alive and '/usr/bin/mysqladmin --defaults-file=/etc/mysql/debian.cnf ping' resulted in
/etc/init.d/mysql[6513]: #007/usr/bin/mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
/etc/init.d/mysql[6513]: error: 'Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' (2)'
/etc/i...

[Otto Kekäläinen (otto)]

What if you run 'rm /var/lib/mysql/ib_logfile*' and then try again to install/upgrade MariaDB and run it?

It helps if your /var/log/mysql/error.log contains something like:
InnoDB: Error: log file ./ib_logfile0 is of different size 0 50331648 bytes
InnoDB: than specified in the .cnf file 0 5242880 bytes!

That is a case that easily happens if a newly installed my.cnf does not match the data in /var/lib/mysql

[Jeffrey Bouter (jbouter)]

Fixed it by doing:
dpkg --configure -a
killall mysqld
apt-get install -f

After the apt-get install -f I got the question if I "really wanted to migrate to mariadb" (which I think is weird, since it's what was installed in the first place), after answering "Yes", all went fine.

[Otto Kekäläinen (otto)]

The init file has got some fixes in upstream Debian and I believe they fix this issue as well.

[muqeem saifi (mohdmuqeemkhan3)]

subprocess new pre-installation script returned error exit status 255
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

[Otto Kekäläinen (otto)]

This was fixed in http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-mysql/mariadb-5.5.git/commit/?id=f8035cbf and will enter Ubuntu 14.04 and 14.10 via the stable release update path of 5.5.41.