How can I completely reinstall mysql?

Question

I had to reboot in the middle of a large data import. I only have one mysql database, which has now been corrupted.

How can I completely remove mysql and reinstall it? I've tried apt-get purge mysql-server, then removing /var/lib/mysql/* and reinstalling, but apt-get does not prompt me for a root name and password nor does it recreate the /var/lib/mysql files. How can I reinstall?

score 21 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 24 '11 at 04:24

21

You should do the following:

apt-get purge mysql-server mysql-common mysql-client-<version>
rm -rf /var/lib/mysql
rm -rf /etc/mysql*

Then you can reinstall in full.

answered Dec 24 '11 at 04:24

Karlson

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thanks! also had to add the version to mysql-server- – cwd Dec 24 '11 at 06:11
+1 for mentioning removal of /var/lib/mysql . Keeping that can disallow you performing clean install because it seems it keeps some information about the upgrade. – dimir Feb 26 '16 at 13:08

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 16 '15 at 01:32

1

It's much easier to execute this:

sudo mysqld --initialize

answered Dec 16 '15 at 01:32

Internal Server Error

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mysqld 5.6.30 doesn't seem to have this switch. – 把友情留在无盐 Jan 01 '17 at 01:46

How can I completely reinstall mysql?

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