Upgrading MySQL to 8.0 on Ubuntu 18.04

Ubuntu 18.04 ships with MySQL 5.7 by default. If you need to move to MySQL 8.0 — for better performance, JSON support, or any other reason — here's how to do it cleanly.

Confirm your current version first:

mysqladmin -u root -p version

Server version: 5.7.30-0ubuntu0.18.04.1

Update system packages

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Download the MySQL APT repository configurator

wget -c https://dev.mysql.com/get/mysql-apt-config_0.8.15-1_all.deb

Verify the file downloaded correctly:

ls

mysql-apt-config_0.8.15-1_all.deb

Install the repository configurator

sudo dpkg -i mysql-apt-config*

An interactive menu will appear. Make sure MySQL Server & Cluster (Currently selected: mysql-8.0) is selected before confirming.

Selecting MySQL 8.0 in the configurator

Confirming the version selection

Install MySQL 8.0

Update the package index and install:

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install mysql-server

During installation, you'll be prompted to set a root password for MySQL. Pick something strong.

Setting the MySQL root password

Click OK. On the next screen, select Use Strong Password Encryption (Recommended).

Selecting the password encryption method

Secure the installation

Run the built-in security script:

mysql_secure_installation

Enter your MySQL root password, then work through the prompts. Here are the recommended answers:

Would you like to setup VALIDATE PASSWORD component? → N
Change the password for root? → N
Remove anonymous users? → Y
Disallow root login remotely? → Y
Remove test database and access to it? → Y
Reload privilege tables now? → Y

Verify the installation

Check that MySQL is running:

systemctl status mysql

● mysql.service - MySQL Community Server
Active: active (running)
Status: "Server is operational"

Confirm the version:

mysqladmin -u root -p version

Server version: 8.0.20

MySQL has been successfully upgraded to 8.0.

If something went wrong

If the installation failed partway through and you want to start fresh, run these commands to wipe everything cleanly:

sudo -i
service mysql stop
killall -KILL mysql mysqld_safe mysqld
apt-get --yes purge mysql-server mysql-client
apt-get --yes autoremove --purge
apt-get autoclean
deluser --remove-home mysql
delgroup mysql
rm -rf /etc/apparmor.d/abstractions/mysql \
       /etc/apparmor.d/cache/usr.sbin.mysqld \
       /etc/mysql \
       /var/lib/mysql \
       /var/log/mysql* \
       /var/log/upstart/mysql.log* \
       /var/run/mysqld
updatedb
exit

Once that's done, you can start the installation process from the top.