I found that AppArmor was the culprit by examining the syslog, and was able to successfully change the mysql data location by following this process.<\/p>\n
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Please note that, in files edited below, lines starting with + were added, and lines starting with – were removed. You should not actually type\/paste the + signs when adding lines to these files.<\/p>\n
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I cloned the mysql directory to the new location:<\/p>\n
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sudo rsync -av \/var\/lib\/mysql \/new_dir<\/p>\n
Then I edited the datadir line in \/etc\/mysql\/my.cnf:<\/p>\n
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sudo vi \/etc\/mysql\/my.cnf<\/p>\n
-datadir = \/var\/lib\/mysql<\/p>\n
+datadir = \/new_dir\/mysql<\/p>\n
Then I edited \/etc\/apparmor.d\/usr.sbin.mysqld:<\/p>\n
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sudo vi \/etc\/apparmor.d\/usr.sbin.mysqld<\/p>\n
– \/var\/lib\/mysql\/ r,<\/p>\n
– \/var\/lib\/mysql\/** rwk,<\/p>\n
+ \/new_dir\/mysql\/ r,<\/p>\n
+ \/new_dir\/mysql\/** rwk,<\/p>\n
Then I restarted mysql.<\/p>\n
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More info here<\/p>\n