package.mysql-server-5.7.20-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1

[Marco Abiuso]

Upgrade complains about
[ERROR] Unknown variable 'log_slow_queries=/var/log/mysql/mysql-slow.log'

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 16.04
Package: mysql-server-5.7 5.7.20-0ubuntu0.16.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-137.186-generic 3.13.11-ckt39
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-137-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.1-0ubuntu2.14
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Dec 28 12:20:26 2017
ErrorMessage: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-06-13 (2024 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120424.1)
Logs.var.log.daemon.log:

Logs.var.log.mysql.error.log:
MySQLConf.etc.mysql.conf.d.mysql.cnf: [mysql]
MySQLConf.etc.mysql.conf.d.mysqld_safe_syslog.cnf:
 [mysqld_safe]
 syslog
MySQLConf.etc.mysql.conf.d.mysqldump.cnf:
 [mysqldump]
 quick
 quote-names
 max_allowed_packet = 16M
MySQLConf.etc.mysql.mysql.conf.d.mysqld_safe_syslog.cnf:
 [mysqld_safe]
 syslog
MySQLVarLibDirListing: ['mysqld-relay-bin.index', 'bdv_beta', 'mysql', 'marketshare_drupal7', 'bdv', 'links', 'mysqld-relay-bin.000001', 'mediamarket', 'debian-5.5.flag', 'marketshare', 'maxisoft', 'wp', 'italtin', 'phpmyadmin', 'gallery', 'reteabbraccio', 'wiki', 'performance_schema', 'ib_logfile1', 'ib_logfile0', 'shopdev', 'ibdata1', 'shop', 'marketshare_drupal7@002ddev', 'mysql_upgrade_info', 'marketshare_stats', 'test']
ProcCmdline: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-3.13.0-137-generic root=/dev/mapper/ubuntu12lts64-root ro
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.18.4ubuntu1.3
 apt 1.2.24
SourcePackage: mysql-5.7
Title: package mysql-server-5.7 5.7.20-0ubuntu0.16.04.1 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to xenial on 2017-12-28 (0 days ago)

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Hi Marco,
here from your log:
ERROR: Unable to start MySQL server:
2017-12-28T11:20:26.058037Z 0 [ERROR] unknown variable 'log_slow_queries=/var/log/mysql/mysql-slow.log'
2017-12-28T11:20:26.064217Z 0 [ERROR] Aborting
Please take a look at https://wiki.debian.org/Teams/MySQL/FAQ for tips on fixing common upgrade issues.
Once the problem is resolved, run apt-get --fix-broken install to retry.

You can find much more data on old [2] into new [1], but the TL;DR is that this config is deprecated and now called slow-query-log. Non custom configs are auto-upgraded, but custom configs need to be handled by the admin.

[1]: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/slow-query-log.html
[2]: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.6/en/server-options.html#option_mysqld_log-slow-queries

[Christian Ehrhardt  (paelzer)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better.

On upgrading a service this service has to be restarted to pick up the fixes.
Rather rarely a real issue occurs that the newer version does e.g. fail with the formerly working configuration.
But most of the time what happens is, that a service was installed, but stays unconfigured or experimented with but left in a broken state.

Now on any update of the related packages that service has to be restarted, but since its config is incomplete/faulty it fails to restart.
Therefore the update of that package has to consider itself incomplete.

Depending on your particular case there are two solutions:
- either remove the offending package if you don't want to continue using it.
- Or if you do want to keep it please fix the configuration so that re-starting the service will work.

Since it seems likely to me that this is a local configuration problem, rather than a bug in Ubuntu, I'm marking this bug as Incomplete.

If indeed this is a local configuration problem, you can find pointers to get help for this sort of problem here: http://www.ubuntu.com/support/community

Or if you believe that this is really a bug, then you may find it helpful to read "How to report bugs effectively" http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/bugs.html. We'd be grateful if you would then provide a more complete description of the problem, explain why you believe this is a bug in Ubuntu rather than a problem specific to your system, and then change the bug status back to New.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for mysql-5.7 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]