Remove MariaDB (MySQL) Databases

Question

How do I completely remove MariaDB so I can reset the root password?

Sorry? What does the 1st have to do with the 2nd? And even if you did mean to reset the password for connecting to the database and not the root password: what does that have to do with removing mariadb? — Rinzwind, Aug 03 '16 at 08:23
I used apt-get I need to pretty much reset all the passwords to it but think Ive broken it to the stage a complete reset is easier than doing it manually — SteamPunk_Devil, Aug 03 '16 at 08:34
Re-installing the packages won't reset the database or its configuration though. This sounds like an XY Problem. I think your question would be better along the lines of: “I broke my MariaDB installation and probably need to reset its root password. So far I tried […] to achieve that but it wasn't successful/seems to have made things worse. How can I proceed?” I won't vote to close it as unclear because there's a helpful answer though. — David Foerster, Aug 04 '16 at 10:13

score 42 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 28 '17 at 19:23

42

First, create a backup of {database}:

mysqldump -u {user} -p {database} > /home/$USER/Documents/backup.sql

To remove any trace of mariadb installed through apt-get:

sudo service mysql stop
sudo apt-get --purge remove "mysql*"
sudo rm -rf /etc/mysql/

and it is all gone. Including databases and any configuration file.

To check if anything named mysql is gone do a

sudo updatedb

and a

locate mysql

It should be fairly empty (maybe some manual pages or a connector). If though you see a my.cnf amongst the results remove that too.

edited Aug 28 '17 at 19:23

Zanna

72,471

answered Aug 03 '16 at 08:46

Rinzwind

310,127

// , I know this is Ask Ubuntu, but do you have any ideas for how to do this without using the package manager? – Nathan Basanese Nov 06 '18 at 00:37
That depends on the OS you want it for. – Rinzwind Nov 06 '18 at 06:28

score -1 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 20 '23 at 06:13

This is what worked for me on Kali Linux:

sudo dpkg --get-selections | grep mysql   
sudo dpkg --get-selections | grep mariadb

Remove all the packages found by the above commands.

sudo dpkg --force depends --purge mysql-common

I found these libraries:

libdbd-mariadb-perl             install
libmariadb-dev                  install
libmariadb-dev-compat               install
libmariadb3:amd64               install
libmariadbd-dev                 install
libmariadbd19:amd64             install
mariadb-backup                  install
mariadb-client                  install
mariadb-client-core             install
mariadb-common                  install
mariadb-plugin-provider-bzip2           install
mariadb-plugin-provider-lz4         install
mariadb-plugin-provider-lzma            install
mariadb-plugin-provider-lzo         install
mariadb-plugin-provider-snappy          install
mariadb-server-core             install
mariadb-test-data   
default-libmysqlclient-dev:amd64        install
default-libmysqld-dev:amd64         install
default-mysql-client-core           install
mysql-common                    deinstall
python3-mysqldb                 install

To remove them run

sudo apt autoremove                                        
sudo apt autoclean

If any conflict comes up, you can use the dpkg command to remove a package and then reinstall if needed.

Please don't post answers if you don't understand what you're doing. This answer can potentially make machines unbootable. — aggregate1166877, May 27 '24 at 00:46

Remove MariaDB (MySQL) Databases

2 Answers2