package mysql-server-5.5 5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Alex Forbes]

Ubuntu 12.04

root@wg-aforbes-l2:~# apt-cache policy mysql-server
mysql-server:
  Installed: 5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
  Candidate: 5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
  Version table:
 *** 5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 0
        500 mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-updates/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-security/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     5.5.22-0ubuntu1 0
        500 mirror://mirrors.ubuntu.com/mirrors.txt/ precise/main amd64 Packages
        500 http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise/main amd64 Packages

What I expected to happen: upgrade to complete and mysql to start.

What actually happened: upgrade failed and mysql no longer starts:

root@wg-aforbes-l2:~# start mysql
start: Job failed to start

Seems to load normally via console, but I was unable to authenticate as root so I'm unsure if it's picking up the mysql db and user table:

root@wg-aforbes-l2:~# mysqld
120612 10:53:13 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
120612 10:53:13 InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
120612 10:53:13 InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use GCC atomic builtins
120612 10:53:13 InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3.4
120612 10:53:13 InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 128.0M
120612 10:53:13 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
120612 10:53:13 InnoDB: highest supported file format is Barracuda.
120612 10:53:13 InnoDB: Waiting for the background threads to start
120612 10:53:14 InnoDB: 1.1.8 started; log sequence number 41505075059
120612 10:53:14 [Note] Server hostname (bind-address): '127.0.0.1'; port: 3306
120612 10:53:14 [Note] - '127.0.0.1' resolves to '127.0.0.1';
120612 10:53:14 [Note] Server socket created on IP: '127.0.0.1'.
120612 10:53:14 [Note] Event Scheduler: Loaded 0 events
120612 10:53:14 [Note] mysqld: ready for connections.
Version: '5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1' socket: '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' port: 3306 (Ubuntu)

aforbes@wg-aforbes-l2:~$ mysql -h 127.0.0.1
ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: mysql-server-5.5 5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-24.39-generic 3.2.16
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-24-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu8
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue Jun 12 10:42:43 2012
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" - Release amd64 (20101007)
Logs.var.log.daemon.log:

Logs.var.log.kern.log:

MySQLConf.etc.mysql.conf.d.mysqld.safe.syslog.cnf:
 [mysqld_safe]
 syslog
MySQLVarLibDirListing: ['ibdata1', 'mysql', 'debian-5.1.flag', 'test', 'mysql_upgrade_info', 'ib_logfile0', 'ib_logfile1', 'performance_schema', 'webgains', 'debian-5.5.flag']
SourcePackage: mysql-5.5
Title: package mysql-server-5.5 5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to precise on 2012-05-01 (41 days ago)

[Alex Forbes (alexforbes)]

I marked this as a duplicate because it's very similar to another problem, but in my case the bad exit status was caused by:

AppArmor parser error for /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld in /etc/apparmor.d/abstractions/nameservice at line 65: Could not open 'abstractions/likewise'

After doing 'touch /etc/apparmor.d/abstractions/likewise' and 'service apparmor restart' I was able to start mysql.

Maybe a bug should be filed against the likewise package for not cleaning up properly, but this box has been upgraded through 10.10 with a mix of vendor and ubuntu packages installed and reinstalled multiple times so I wouldn't feel comfortable laying blame there :-)

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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