title: Can't start MySQL5.5 on Ubuntu 12.04 - "dpkg: dependency problems"
body: <p>This appears to be a common problem on 12.04. I've tried everthing in <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1998260&amp;page=3">this thread</a> including:</p>
  
  <pre><code>sudo apt-get clean
  
  sudo apt-get autoclean
  
  sudo apt-get remove --purge mysql-client-5.5 mysql-client-core-5.5 mysql-common mysql-server mysql-server-5.5 mysql-server-core-5.5
  
  sudo apt-get install mysql-server
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I still get the same old error. Installing/starting MySql5.5 looks like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>apt-get install -f mysql-server
  Reading package lists... Done
  Building dependency tree
  Reading state information... Done
  mysql-server is already the newest version.
  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.
  Do you want to continue [Y/n]? Y
  Setting up mysql-server-5.5 (5.5.24-0ubuntu0.12.04.1) ...
  120907 21:37:15 [Note] Plugin 'FEDERATED' is disabled.
  120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
  120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use GCC atomic builtins
  120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3.4
  120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 128.0M
  120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
  120907 21:37:15 InnoDB: highest supported file format is Barracuda.
  120907 21:37:15  InnoDB: Waiting for the background threads to start
  120907 21:37:16 InnoDB: 1.1.8 started; log sequence number 154164236
  120907 21:37:16  InnoDB: Starting shutdown...
  120907 21:37:16  InnoDB: Shutdown completed; log sequence number 154164236
  start: Job failed to start
  invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
  dpkg: error processing mysql-server-5.5 (--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-5.5; however:
    Package mysql-server-5.5 is not configured yet.
  dpkg: error processing 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-5.5
   mysql-server
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>In addition, <code>dpkg-reconfigure mysql-server-5.5</code> returns <code>/usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure: mysql-server-5.5 is broken or not fully installed</code></p>
  
  <p>The ultimate goal here is installing and configuring Gitorious to work with Redmine but I believe the problem is isolated to Ubuntu 12.04 and MySql5.5</p>