RE: mariadb uninstall/reinstall-Solved

[larry owens]

Thanks to all for your help.  Dan's suggestion (below) worked.
Larry

-Original Message-
From: Dan Ritter [mailto:d...@randomstring.org] 
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2017 11:04 AM
To: larry owens
Cc: debian-user@lists.debian.org
Subject: Re: mariadb uninstall/reinstall

On Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 08:36:33AM -0700, larry owens wrote:
> Colleagues
> 
> I've been a loyal Debian user since (I believe) release 4.  I also use
> Debian as the basis for a college course I teach in C programming so the
> students get 'nix exposure in addition to C.  As is my custom I typically
> wait a few months after a new release and then convert to the new Debian.
I
> am just finishing the upgrade to Stretch and have run into an issue.
> Somehow as part of the conversion for my LAMP server I screwed up the
Maria
> db.  After trying to repair the installation I have decided to remove and
> reinstall.  Unfortunately I have been unable to find a set of instructions
> to safely remove Maria.  Can anyone point me to a working process (the
one's
> on the web currently don't seem to work).  TIA

You can think of it as being three parts:

1. the mariadb program files

2. the configuration for mariadb, some of which is setup
automatically by Debian on install, and some of which you may
have (or may have to) configure yourself.

3. the database data files

apt-get remove mariadb
will remove the program files, leaving (2) and (3) alone.

apt-get purge mariadb
will remove the program files and the existing
configuration, leaving (3) alone

apt-get install mariadb
will install the program files and re-create the basic
configuration.

If you want the database datafiles to go away, after doing
a purge, you should delete them. They are probably in
/var/lib/mysql or /var/lib/mariadb, but you could have directed 
the database to put them elsewhere.

-dsr-

Re: mariadb uninstall/reinstall

[Alberto Luaces]

Cindy-Sue Causey writes:

> I was wondering about that. I a-sumed maybe it tried to over-purge
> other important packages the way that happens sometimes.

There is no risk: only explicitly named packages are purged.  The rest
are deleted on demand.

-- 
Alberto

Re: mariadb uninstall/reinstall

[Dan Ritter]

On Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 08:36:33AM -0700, larry owens wrote:
> Colleagues
> 
> I've been a loyal Debian user since (I believe) release 4.  I also use
> Debian as the basis for a college course I teach in C programming so the
> students get 'nix exposure in addition to C.  As is my custom I typically
> wait a few months after a new release and then convert to the new Debian.  I
> am just finishing the upgrade to Stretch and have run into an issue.
> Somehow as part of the conversion for my LAMP server I screwed up the Maria
> db.  After trying to repair the installation I have decided to remove and
> reinstall.  Unfortunately I have been unable to find a set of instructions
> to safely remove Maria.  Can anyone point me to a working process (the one's
> on the web currently don't seem to work).  TIA

You can think of it as being three parts:

1. the mariadb program files

2. the configuration for mariadb, some of which is setup
automatically by Debian on install, and some of which you may
have (or may have to) configure yourself.

3. the database data files

apt-get remove mariadb
will remove the program files, leaving (2) and (3) alone.

apt-get purge mariadb
will remove the program files and the existing
configuration, leaving (3) alone

apt-get install mariadb
will install the program files and re-create the basic
configuration.

If you want the database datafiles to go away, after doing
a purge, you should delete them. They are probably in
/var/lib/mysql or /var/lib/mariadb, but you could have directed 
the database to put them elsewhere.

-dsr-

Re: mariadb uninstall/reinstall

[Cindy-Sue Causey]

On 9/14/17, Alberto Luaces  wrote:
> "larry owens" writes:
>
>> Colleagues
>>
>
> [...]
>
>> Unfortunately I
>> have been unable to find a set of instructions to safely remove
>> Maria. Can anyone point me to a working process (the one's on the web
>> currently don't seem to work). TIA
>
> Hi, as long as you installed it from Debian packages, you only have to
> purge (as opposed to only remove) its packages and then reinstall.


I was wondering about that. I a-sumed maybe it tried to over-purge
other important packages the way that happens sometimes.

Larry, it might others help you if you gave a hint or two about the
methods you found online that didn't work. Others may know of
successful work-arounds if they hear more about what misfired. You
never know, you may have even stumbled onto a bug.. :)

Cindy :)
-- 
Cindy-Sue Causey
Talking Rock, Pickens County, Georgia, USA

* runs with duct tape *

Re: mariadb uninstall/reinstall

[Alberto Luaces]

"larry owens" writes:

> Colleagues
>

[...]

> Unfortunately I
> have been unable to find a set of instructions to safely remove
> Maria. Can anyone point me to a working process (the one's on the web
> currently don't seem to work). TIA

Hi, as long as you installed it from Debian packages, you only have to
purge (as opposed to only remove) its packages and then reinstall.

Populating the new database is the real work, in my opinion.

-- 
Alberto

mariadb uninstall/reinstall

[larry owens]

Colleagues

I've been a loyal Debian user since (I believe) release 4.  I also use
Debian as the basis for a college course I teach in C programming so the
students get 'nix exposure in addition to C.  As is my custom I typically
wait a few months after a new release and then convert to the new Debian.  I
am just finishing the upgrade to Stretch and have run into an issue.
Somehow as part of the conversion for my LAMP server I screwed up the Maria
db.  After trying to repair the installation I have decided to remove and
reinstall.  Unfortunately I have been unable to find a set of instructions
to safely remove Maria.  Can anyone point me to a working process (the one's
on the web currently don't seem to work).  TIA

Larry