iRedMail — MySQL error after Debian 12 to 13 upgrade

Re: MySQL error after Debian 12 to 13 upgrade

2026-07-29T21:27:12Z

ZhangHuangbin wrote:

- /etc/mysql/debian.cnf is used to perform upgrade by mariadb package.
- You can run "mysql_upgrade" (or "mysql_upgrade --force") command manually.

I see that now in debian-start, sorry. Running mysql_upgrade manually works. But I figured out what the issue is. /etc/mysql/debian.cnf is symlinked to /root/.my.cnf

I see in mariadb's systemd unit file, ProtectHome is set to true (Prevent accessing /home, /root and /run/user) so I assume this is why debian.cnf was inaccessible and it would abort.

Making debian.cnf an actual file (with the text from /root/.my.cnf copy pasted) in /etc/mysql and with the same permissions (600) fixes it and it can then be accessed.

I also realized this isn't a debian 13 issue, one of my mail servers is still on debian 12 and exhibits the same behavior which means these servers were as well when they were on debian 12, i just never noticed. Older iredmail servers I have, debian.cnf is an actual file but on newer ones, it's symlinked to /root/.my.cnf which is inaccessible. I believe due to ProtectHome = true in the mariadb unit file.

Re: MySQL error after Debian 12 to 13 upgrade

2026-07-29T09:10:02Z

- /etc/mysql/debian.cnf is used to perform upgrade by mariadb package.
- You can run "mysql_upgrade" (or "mysql_upgrade --force") command manually.

MySQL error after Debian 12 to 13 upgrade

2026-07-28T23:44:17Z

==== REQUIRED BASIC INFO OF YOUR IREDMAIL SERVER ====
- iRedMail version (check /etc/iredmail-release): 1.8.4
- Deployed with iRedMail Easy or the downloadable installer? downloadable installer
- Linux/BSD distribution name and version: Debian 13.6
- Store mail accounts in which backend (LDAP/MySQL/PGSQL): MySQL
- Web server (Apache or Nginx): nginx
- Manage mail accounts with iRedAdmin-Pro? no
- [IMPORTANT] Related original log or error message is required if you're experiencing an issue.
====

My server was originally on Debian 12 and iRedMail version 1.6.8. I upgraded to Debian 13 today (I had already upgraded to iRedMail 1.8.4 prior). Everything went really smoothly and I followed the guide to fix what needed to be fixed and all went without incident.

The only issue I have, which might not even be an issue and I only noticed it from journald, is with MySQL. (MariaDB version 11.8.6):

Jul 28 19:05:02 *DOMAIN* debian-start[1459]: Could not open required defaults file: /etc/mysql/debian.cnf
Jul 28 19:05:02 *DOMAIN* debian-start[1459]: Fatal error in defaults handling. Program aborted

To be clear, MariaDB is active and running and ready for connections/is functional. I see the same error on another mail server I deployed about two months ago and upgraded from Debian 12 to 13 as well today (it was originally on iRedMail 1.8.2).