I realize this is an old one, but we just got hit by the same problem when "unattended upgrades" installed the latest 5.5.52 security fix on Ubuntu 14.04 last night. (http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-3078-1/)
160914 6:37:33 InnoDB: 5.5.52 started; log sequence number 50715712437 ERROR: 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'ALTER TABLE user ADD column Show_view_priv enum('N','Y' ) CHARACTER SET utf8 NOT ' at line 1 160914 6:37:33 [ERROR] Aborting This took our application down, so we resorted to putting back an upgrade. -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1210380 Title: package mysql-server-5.5 5.5.32-0ubuntu0.12.04.2 failed to install/upgrade: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/mysql-5.5/+bug/1210380/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs