Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory

[Pranay Nailwal]

error occored during auto update

ProblemType: Package
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: mysql-server-8.0 8.0.25-0ubuntu0.20.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.4.0-72.80-generic 5.4.101
Uname: Linux 5.4.0-72-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.17
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
Date: Sun May 23 13:35:53 2021
ErrorMessage: installed mysql-server-8.0 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
InstallationDate: Installed on 2017-10-19 (1311 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 16.04.3 LTS "Xenial Xerus" - Release amd64 (20170801)
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: ['undo_001', 'binlog.000018', 'binlog.000020', 'auto.cnf', 'binlog.index', 'client-key.pem', 'binlog.000025', '#ib_16384_0.dblwr', 'server-cert.pem', 'binlog.000023', 'client-cert.pem', '#innodb_temp', 'mysql', 'server-key.pem', 'sys', 'binlog.000021', 'undo_002', 'ib_buffer_pool', 'ib_logfile1', 'ibdata1', 'debian-5.7.flag', 'mysql_upgrade_info', 'binlog.000027', 'binlog.000026', 'binlog.000017', 'public_key.pem', '#ib_16384_1.dblwr', 'mysql.ibd', 'binlog.000019', 'performance_schema', 'private_key.pem', 'interview', 'ca-key.pem', 'binlog.000024', 'ib_logfile0', 'ca.pem', 'binlog.000022']
ProcCmdline: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.4.0-72-generic root=UUID=6e48e8fd-2d1d-46a2-b1c6-e6dc790d9af7 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
Python3Details: /usr/bin/python3.8, Python 3.8.5, python3-minimal, 3.8.2-0ubuntu2
PythonDetails: /usr/bin/python2.7, Python 2.7.18, python-is-python2, 2.7.17-4
RelatedPackageVersions:
 dpkg 1.19.7ubuntu3
 apt 2.0.5
SourcePackage: mysql-8.0
Title: package mysql-server-8.0 8.0.25-0ubuntu0.20.04.1 failed to install/upgrade: installed mysql-server-8.0 package post-installation script subprocess returned error exit status 1
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to focal on 2021-03-15 (69 days ago)

Setting up mysql-server-8.0 (8.0.25-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) ...
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
mysqld will log errors to /var/log/mysql/error.log
mysqld is running as pid 26805
Error: Unable to shut down server with process id 26805

2021-05-23T08:04:45.498959Z 0 [System] [MY-013172] [Server] Received SHUTDOWN from user <via user signal>. Shutting down mysqld (Version: 8.0.25-0ubuntu0.20.04.1).
2021-05-23T08:04:47.136531Z 0 [Warning] [MY-011068] [Server] The syntax 'validate password plugin' is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Please use validate_password component instead.
2021-05-23T08:05:52.200064Z 0 [System] [MY-010910] [Server] /usr/sbin/mysqld: Shutdown complete (mysqld 8.0.25-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) (Ubuntu).

[Bryce Harrington (bryce)]

2021-05-23T08:04:45.498959Z 0 [System] [MY-013172] [Server] Received SHUTDOWN from user <via user signal>. Shutting down mysqld (Version: 8.0.25-0ubuntu0.20.04.1).
2021-05-23T08:04:47.136531Z 0 [Warning] [MY-011068] [Server] The syntax 'validate password plugin' is deprecated and will be removed in a future release. Please use validate_password component instead.
2021-05-23T08:05:52.200064Z 0 [System] [MY-010910] [Server] /usr/sbin/mysqld: Shutdown complete (mysqld 8.0.25-0ubuntu0.20.04.1) (Ubuntu).

It looks like the shutdown for restarting to the new mysql took slightly over a minute. My guess is that this exceeded the allowed timeout and thus was erroneously assumed to be a service failure. The log shows another restart the same day which took only 1.5 seconds, so this seems like something intermittent. This behavior looks very similar to bug #1929314, and could well be a duplicate to that.

However, your logs show a more interesting issue. In several places through the logs there is a message:

   locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory

This is probably not anything serious, and most likely unrelated to the upgrade failure. So it is likely of low importance. However, sometimes locale issues can hint at deeper problems so this may be worth further investigation at some point.

For these reasons let's focus this bug report not on the installation timeout, but rather on this locale warning.