Ubuntu 10.x completely remove and clean MySQL installation

In my attempt to move the MySQL datadir I have a messed up MySQL installation. Here's how I've completely removed MySQL 5.1 from Ubuntu 10.x. i have a messed up installation and need to completely remove MySQL and re-install it. Warning, this will delete *everything* associated with MySQL on ubuntu! It does give you a fresh install! using apt: apt-get --purge remove mysql-server apt-get --purge remove mysql-client apt-get --purge remove mysql-common apt-get autoremove apt-get autoclean using aptitude (some people claim aptitude does a better job of removing dependencies): aptitude remove mysql-client aptitude remove mysql-server aptitude remove mysql-common see if anything depends on the installed packages apt-cache rdepends mysql-server apt-cache rdepends mysql-client if you've changed apparmor settings change them back inside here: pico /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld delete preferences(the next find command will delete everything): rm -rf /etc/mysql find all files with "mysql" on / and delete them: find / -iname 'mysql*' -exec rm -rf {} \; after all of the above do a clean install aptitude install mysql-server mysql-client check to see if mysql is running: service mysql status and you should get the response running mysql start/running, process 3296 check with mysqladmin: mysqladmin -u root -p status