Comment 2 for bug 317441

Additional info
using kubuntu 9.04
from update log:
Removing mysql-server ...
Processing triggers for libc6 ...
ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
(Reading database ... 122059 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace mysql-server-5.1 5.1.30-2ubuntu1 (using .../mysql-server-5.1_5.1.30-2ubuntu3_i386.deb) ...
 * Stopping MySQL database server mysqld
   ...done.
 * Stopping MySQL database server mysqld
   ...done.
Unpacking replacement mysql-server-5.1 ...
Processing triggers for man-db ...
Setting up mysql-server-5.1 (5.1.30-2ubuntu3) ...
 * Stopping MySQL database server mysqld
   ...done.
 * Starting MySQL database server mysqld
   ...fail!
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.1 (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
A package failed to install. Trying to recover:
Setting up mysql-server-5.1 (5.1.30-2ubuntu3) ...
 * Stopping MySQL database server mysqld
   ...done.
 * Starting MySQL database server mysqld
   ...fail!
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.1 (--configure):
 subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-server-5.1