Upgrading MySQL 5.5 to 5.7 in Debian

Last Updated October 29, 2018

I know, MySQL 5.5 is quite old, let’s get an upgrade then.

First of all, let’s backup the databases:

mysqldump --all-databases > all_databases.sql

Download the latest APT package repository

wget https://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql-apt-config_0.8.10-1_all.deb

Make sure you download the latest version of the package. Then instal it using dpkg:

sudo dpkg -i mysql-apt-config_0.8.10-1_all.deb

you will be prompted with a dialog box, asking which version to install. If MySQL 5.7 isn’t there, press enter then select the version 5.7 from the list, select OK.

Then run the package update:

sudo apt-get update

you will see the MySQL package is on the list:

Get:5 http://repo.mysql.com jessie/mysql-5.7 Sources [886 B]

Next step is to install the MySQL:

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

This is the most important step you can’t miss, upgrade the existing databases:

sudo mysql_upgrade -u root -p

Final step, restart the database:

sudo /etc/init.d/mysql restart

Done!