Bug#843891: akonadi-server: This solution worked for me

[Moritz Strohm <ncc1988@posteo.de>]

Package: akonadi-server
Version: 1.13.0-2+deb8u1
Followup-For: Bug #843891

I had the same problem, also with the following error:

stderr: "/usr/sbin/mysqld: Error on realpath() on '/var/lib/mysql-files' (Error
2)
161113 11:11:26 [ERROR] Failed to access directory for --secure-file-priv.
Please make sure that directory exists and is accessible by MySQL Server.
Supplied value : /var/lib/mysql-files
161113 11:11:26 [ERROR] Aborting


I solved this problem the following way:

- first I gained root privileges in a shell (often named "console" in graphical
desktop environments). Root privileges can be gained either by invoking the
"su" command and entering the root password or by invoking the command "sudo
bash" and entering your own password. The latter method has to be configured
and isn't available by default in Debian.

- After I gained root privileges I created the folder /var/lib/mysql-files by
invoking the mkdir command like this: mkdir -p /var/lib/mysql-files

- Then I returned to KMail and clicked the button to start Akonadi which then
started without mourning and KMail was usable again. The same shoudl work for
KAddressbook, KOrganizer and other KDE personal information programs.


Have a nice day :)


To Debian package maintainers:

Can the invocation of the mkdir command be added to the installation routine
for the akonadi-server package or the installation routine for the mysql-server
package? Circumventing this bug is clearly a problem for non-technical users of
Debian.


Regards
Moritz Strohm



-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.6
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable'), (500, 'oldstable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.utf8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.utf8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages akonadi-server depends on:
ii  akonadi-backend-mysql           1.13.0-2+deb8u1
ii  libakonadiprotocolinternals1    1.13.0-2+deb8u1
ii  libboost-program-options1.55.0  1.55.0+dfsg-3
ii  libc6                           2.19-18+deb8u6
ii  libgcc1                         1:4.9.2-10
ii  libqt4-dbus                     4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1
ii  libqt4-network                  4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1
ii  libqt4-sql                      4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1
ii  libqt4-xml                      4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1
ii  libqtcore4                      4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1
ii  libqtgui4                       4:4.8.6+git64-g5dc8b2b+dfsg-3+deb8u1
ii  libstdc++6                      4.9.2-10

akonadi-server recommends no packages.

Versions of packages akonadi-server suggests:
ii  akonadi-backend-mysql       1.13.0-2+deb8u1
pn  akonadi-backend-postgresql  <none>
pn  akonadi-backend-sqlite      <none>

-- no debconf information