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How to install mysql server 5.5?

Posted on December 11, 2020

I want to install mysql server 5.5 on ubuntu 16.04 but i am getting an error “E: Package ‘mysql-server-5.5’ has no installation candidate”…Can any body guide me how can i install this older version of mysql…Thanks in advance.



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Hi @kbrkhn09,

First download MySQL:

wget https://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQL-5.5/mysql-5.5.56-linux-glibc2.5-x86_64.tar.gz

Uninstall any existing version of MySQL

sudo rm /var/lib/mysql/ -R

Delete the MySQL profile

sudo rm /etc/mysql/ -R

Automatically uninstall mysql

sudo apt-get autoremove mysql* --purge
sudo apt-get remove apparmor

Download version 5.5.51 from MySQL site

wget https://dev.mysql.com/get/Downloads/MySQL-5.5/mysql-5.5.56-linux-glibc2.5-x86_64.tar.gz

Add mysql user group

sudo groupadd mysql

Add mysql (not the current user) to mysql user group

sudo useradd -g mysql mysql

Extract the tar file

sudo tar -xvf mysql-5.5.56-linux-glibc2.5-x86_64.tar.gz

Move it to /usr/local

sudo mv mysql-5.5.56-linux-glibc2.5-x86_64 /usr/local/

Create mysql folder in /usr/local by moving the untarred folder

cd /usr/local
sudo mv mysql-5.5.56-linux-glibc2.5-x86_64 mysql

set MySql directory owner and user group

cd mysql
sudo chown -R mysql:mysql *

Install the required lib package (works with 5.6 as well)

sudo apt-get install libaio1

Execute mysql installation script

sudo scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql

Set mysql directory owner from outside the mysql directory

sudo chown -R root

Set data directory owner from inside mysql directory

sudo chown -R mysql data

Copy the mysql configuration file

sudo cp support-files/my-medium.cnf /etc/my.cnf

Start mysql

sudo bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &
sudo cp support-files/mysql.server /etc/init.d/mysql.server

Set root user password

sudo bin/mysqladmin -u root password '[your new password]'

Add mysql path to the system

sudo ln -s /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysql /usr/local/bin/mysql

Start mysql server

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql.server start
sudo /etc/init.d/mysql.server status

Enable myql on startup

sudo update-rc.d -f mysql.server defaults

Now login using the below command, start MySQL server if it’s not running already

mysql -u root -p

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