Ubuntu 16.04 can't rebuild mySQL

Question

I am trying to do a clean reinstall of mySQL for various reasons. I have followed several posts here, and on stack exchange, particularly this ask ubuntu post, however, every time I go through the steps I end at the same result.

Setting up mysql-client (5.7.20-0ubuntu0.16.04.1) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server:
 mysql-server depends on mysql-server-5.7; however:
  Package mysql-server-5.7 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package mysql-server (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                                                                          Processing tri
ggers for libc-bin (2.23-0ubuntu9) ...
Processing triggers for systemd (229-4ubuntu21) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ...
Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-server-5.7
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

I am absolutely stumped at this point...

update:

root@DESKTOP-UTQ3IFA:~# apt-get install -f
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
2 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0 B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up mysql-server-5.7 (5.7.20-0ubuntu0.16.04.1) ...
invoke-rc.d: could not determine current runlevel
 * Stopping MySQL database server mysqld                                                                         [ OK ]
/var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-5.7.postinst: line 143: /usr/share/mysql-common/configure-symlinks: No such file or directory
dpkg: error processing package mysql-server-5.7 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mysql-server:
 mysql-server depends on mysql-server-5.7; however:
  Package mysql-server-5.7 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package mysql-server (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
No apport report written because the error message indicates its a followup error from a previous failure.
                                                                                                          Errors were encountered while processing:
 mysql-server-5.7
 mysql-server
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

You have an extremely broken system. – womble Nov 27 '19 at 00:37 — womble, Nov 27 '19 at 00:37
@womble It's presumably fixed or gone by now. :-p – ceejayoz Nov 27 '19 at 01:31 — ceejayoz, Nov 27 '19 at 01:31

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Nov 11 '17 at 02:19

Try to completely clear all mysql packages out

sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get update
sudo dpkg -r mysql-client-5.7
sudo dpkg -r mysql-server-5.7
sudo dpkg -r libmysqlclient20:i386
sudo dpkg -r libmysqlclient20:amd64
sudo dpkg -r libmysqlclient18:amd64
sudo dpkg -r mysql-common
sudo dpkg -r mysql

Then re-install

Ubuntu 16.04 can't rebuild mySQL

1 Answers1