install mysql - has no installation candidate

Question

I used to install mysql 5.6 in this way.. But now..

# echo "deb http://repo.mysql.com/apt/debian/ $(lsb_release -sc) mysql-5.6" >> /etc/apt/sources.list && echo "deb-src http://repo.mysql.com/apt/debian/ $(lsb_release -sc) mysql-5.6" >> /etc/apt/sources.list && apt-get update

# apt-get install mysql-server-5.6
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Package mysql-server-5.6 is a virtual package provided by:
  mysql-community-server 5.6.29-1debian8 [Not candidate version]

E: Package 'mysql-server-5.6' has no installation candidate

I need to reinstall mysql 5.6. Have tried this

# apt-get install --reinstall mysql-community-server
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Reinstallation of mysql-community-server is not possible, it cannot be downloaded.

Originally it was installed with

apt-get install mysql-server-5.6

Answer 1

If you navigate the http://repo.mysql.com/apt/debian/pool/ repo, you'll find various versions available.

It looks like mysql-server-5.6 was a metapackage, which is not there any longer.

However, to discover the actual package name for installation, just do:

apt-cache search mysql-server

and the actual package name for installation should appear.

Answer 2

sudo apt install mariadb-server

Answer 3

After you've added the repo, search it using the madison option for apt-cache - ie, apt-cache madison mysql-server - it will tell you what versions are available from what repos (from your sources.list* stuff)

Answer 4

I have had the problem of fetching mysql-5.6 for my developers' workstations (which run a more recent distro that no longer has the version I need). After much fighting and failing with source files I went hunting for the *.deb files, installed them manually and then marked them for holding.

I found the packages I wanted in http://repo.mysql.com/apt/ubuntu/pool/mysql-5.6/m/mysql-community/, but there are debian versions as well.

Download your required version of (you don't need all but I like to have them)

• libmysqlclient18
• mysql-common
• mysql-community-client (depends on common)
• mysql-community-server (depends on client)
• mysql-client
• mysql-server

Install them manually using sudo dpkg -i <deb-file>. There has to be a better way of doing this, dpkg does not resolve dependencies automatically.

When you hit a dependency quandary, run sudo apt-get -f install and cross your fingers that it'll resolve the marked dependencies (I can't help any further but to say hunt down the package and install it manually also).

Retry installing the failed package installations.

Lastly, hold your versions with sudo apt-mark hold <package-name> ... In my case it was easy:

sudo apt-mark hold mysql-{common,community-{client,server}}

This process has been performed in a virtualized test environment and it has worked so far