mysql.service failed because the control process exited with error code.

These are the steps I took to correct this:

Back up your my.cnf file in /etc/mysql and remove or rename it

sudo mv /etc/mysql/my.cnf /etc/mysql/my.cnf.bak

Remove the folder /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/ using

sudo rm -r /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d/

Verify you don't have a my.cnf file stashed somewhere else (I did in my home dir!) or in /etc/alternatives/my.cnf use

sudo find / -name my.cnf

Now reinstall every thing

sudo apt purge mysql-server mysql-server-5.7 mysql-server-core-5.7

sudo apt install mysql-server

In case your syslog shows an error like "mysqld: Can't read dir of '/etc/mysql/conf.d/'" create a symbolic link:

sudo ln -s /etc/mysql/mysql.conf.d /etc/mysql/conf.d

Then the service should be able to start with sudo service mysql start.

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