I also encountered that problem and couldn't find the issue in the pre-/postinst or any other script so i did an ugly workaround to complete the update. At your terminal enter:
[root@host] sleep 0.1 && chown mysql:mysql /var/lib/mysql/* -R; & [root@host] aptitude safe-upgrade The following partially installed packages will be configured: mysql-server mysql-server-5.5 No packages will be installed, upgraded, or removed. 0 packages upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded. Need to get 0 B of archives. After unpacking 0 B will be used. Setting up mysql-server-5.5 (5.5.33+dfsg-0+wheezy1) ... [ ok ] Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld. [ ok ] Starting MySQL database server: mysqld . . . .. [info] Checking for tables which need an upgrade, are corrupt or were not closed cleanly.. Setting up mysql-server (5.5.33+dfsg-0+wheezy1) ... [root@host] fg And then enter "CTRL-C" to stop chowning. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org