I'm running Dell's release of Ubuntu on a 10v netbook. I installed Apache2, php, and then attempted to install mysql and mysql-server (mysql-server-5.0), using synaptic. The mysql server failed to install completely, and cannot be removed, with synaptic, Ubuntu version and kernel version DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu DISTRIB_RELEASE=8.04 DISTRIB_CODENAME=hardy DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 8.04.2" Linux mini 2.6.24-24-lpia #1 SMP Wed May 6 17:43:36 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz model name : Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz cpu MHz : 1600.000 cpu MHz : 1600.000 dpkg tells me: # dpkg -C The following packages are in a mess due to serious problems during installation. They must be reinstalled for them (and any packages that depend on them) to function properly: mysql-server-5.0 MySQL database server binaries An attempt to install mysql-server with apt-get results in the following complaints: # apt-get install mysql-server Reading package lists... Done Building dependency tree Reading state information... Done The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required: libnm-util0 Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them. The following NEW packages will be installed: mysql-server 0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded. 1 not fully installed or removed. Need to get 0B/27.4MB of archives. After this operation, 90.1kB of additional disk space will be used. Preconfiguring packages ... Selecting previously deselected package mysql-server-5.0. (Reading database ... 103942 files and directories currently installed.) Preparing to replace mysql-server-5.0 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.1 (using .../mysql-server-5.0_5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.1_lpia.deb) ... /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh: line 84: INITOUTPUT: unbound variable invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed. dpkg: warning - old pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 dpkg - trying script from the new package instead ... /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh: line 84: INITOUTPUT: unbound variable invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed. dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/mysql-server-5.0_5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.1_lpia.deb (--unpack): subprocess new pre-removal script returned error exit status 1 /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh: line 84: INITOUTPUT: unbound variable invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed. /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh: line 84: INITOUTPUT: unbound variable invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed. dpkg: error while cleaning up: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Unpacking mysql-server (from .../mysql-server_5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4_all.deb) ... /etc/lsb-base-logging.sh: line 84: INITOUTPUT: unbound variable invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "stop" failed. invoke-rc.d returned 1 There is a MySQL server running, but we failed in our attempts to stop it. Stop it yourself and try again! dpkg: error processing /var/cache/apt/archives/mysql-server_5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4_all.deb (--unpack): subprocess pre-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: /var/cache/apt/archives/mysql-server-5.0_5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.1_lpia.deb /var/cache/apt/archives/mysql-server_5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4_all.deb E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1) root@mini:~# here is the state of some mysql packages: # apt-show-versions | grep mysql libdbd-mysql-perl/hardy uptodate 4.005-1 mysql-doc-5.0/hardy uptodate 5.0.56-0ubuntu1 mysql-server-5.0/hardy upgradeable from 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.1 to 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4 php5-mysql/hardy uptodate 5.2.4-2ubuntu5.5 mysql-client-5.0/hardy uptodate 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4 libmysqlclient15off/hardy uptodate 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4 mysql-common/hardy uptodate 5.0.51a-3ubuntu5.4