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I installed mysql 5.5 in /usr/local/mysql . If I apt-get remove the old package, it won't delete the data directory in /var/lib/mysql will it?

UPDATE: Yes it's an official standard generic Ubuntu package

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The one way to know for certain is to inspect the /var/lib/dpkg/info/mysql-server-5.1.postrm script. Without knowing if you are using the official package, or which version of the package, I cannot say with certainty what will happen.

Typically a apt-get remove will not purge any data or configuration scripts. If you want everything to be removed you use apt-get purge.

But why chance it? Make a backup first, and then remove.

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  • I seem rm -rf /var/lib/mysql in a block conditional on if [ "$1" = "purge" -a ! \( -x /usr/sbin/mysqld -o -L /usr/sbin/mysqld \) ]; the n
    – ʞɔıu
    Feb 10, 2011 at 21:54
  • I believe it's intended to remove /var/lib/mysql on purge, but in actual fact it doesn't: serverfault.com/questions/369773/… I can verify that a purge doesn't actually remove the directory in Ubuntu 12.04, MySQL 5.5.
    – davidA
    Jun 21, 2012 at 4:37

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