package mysql-server-5.7 5.7.26-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 failed to install/upgrade: installed mysql-server-5.7 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 127

[Ben Pintilie]

Tried to carry out a command line upgrade.

Error as follows:

Could not install the upgrades

The upgrade has aborted. Your system could be in an unusable state. A
recovery will run now (dpkg --configure -a).

Setting up mysql-server-5.7 (5.7.26-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) ...
/var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-5.7.postinst: line 191: /usr/share/mysql-common/configure-symlinks: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing package mysql-server-5.7 (--configure):
 installed mysql-server-5.7 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 127
Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-server-5.7

Upgrade complete

The upgrade has completed but there were errors during the upgrade
process.

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 18.04
Package: mysql-server-5.7 5.7.26-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 4.4.0-146.172-generic 4.4.177
Uname: Linux 4.4.0-146-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.9-0ubuntu7.6
Architecture: amd64
Date: Mon May 13 03:20:36 2019
ErrorMessage: installed mysql-server-5.7 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 127
InstallationDate: Installed on 2019-04-01 (41 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu-Server 16.04.6 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20190226)
Logs.var.log.daemon.log:

MySQLConf.etc.mysql.conf.d.mysql.cnf: [mysql]
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: ['auto.cnf', 'mysql', 'ib_logfile0', 'yetiforce', 'performance_schema', 'debian-5.7.flag', 'sys', 'ibdata1', 'ib_logfile1', 'ib_buffer_pool']
ProcCmdline: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.4.0-146-generic root=UUID=5facebc0-572d-4e8e-b427-1133498de5df ro consoleblank=0
Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.6, Python 3.6.7, python3-minimal, 3.6.7-1~18.04
PythonDetails: /usr/bin/python2.7, Python 2.7.15rc1, python-minimal, 2.7.15~rc1-1
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.19.0.5ubuntu2.1
 apt 1.6.10
SourcePackage: mysql-5.7
Title: package mysql-server-5.7 5.7.26-0ubuntu0.18.04.1 failed to install/upgrade: installed mysql-server-5.7 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 127
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to bionic on 2019-05-13 (0 days ago)

[Andreas Hasenack (ahasenack)]

Thanks for filing this bug in Ubuntu.

This is the error:
Setting up mysql-server-5.7 (5.7.26-0ubuntu0.18.04.1) ...
Installing new version of config file /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/mysqld.cnf ...
/var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-5.7.postinst: line 191: /usr/share/mysql-common/configure-symlinks: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing package mysql-server-5.7 (--configure):
 installed mysql-server-5.7 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 127

That file (configure-symlinks) is in the mysql-common package:
$ apt-file search /usr/share/mysql-common/configure-symlinks
mysql-common: /usr/share/mysql-common/configure-symlinks

From elsewhere in your logs, we can see that you had mysql-common installed from another source, mariadb perhaps:
mysql-client-5.7 5.7.26-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
mysql-client-core-5.7 5.7.26-0ubuntu0.18.04.1
mysql-common 10.1.40+maria-1~xenial [origin: unknown]
mysql-server-core-5.7 5.7.26-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

That kind of mix is not supported. Maybe that's something you had from when you installed this machine for the first time, with xenial, and tried out mysql and mariadb, but didn't clean the installation properly before settling on one?

I will mark this bug as invalid for the time being. If you think that's a mistake and that there really is something wrong with the packaging, then please reopen the bug and state your reasons, preferably with steps to reproduce the problem.

Thanks!