can't install mariadb 10.1 on raspbian stretch

Question

after several attempts to install mariadb on Raspbian stretch i am still stuck on the same error:

Setting up mariadb-server-10.1 (10.1.23-9+deb9u1) ...
Job for mariadb.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status mariadb.service" and "journalctl -xe" for details.
invoke-rc.d: initscript mysql, action "start" failed.
● mariadb.service - MariaDB database server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2018-09-03 16:01:27 CEST; 106ms ago
  Process: 2581 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g root -d /var/run/mysqld (code=exited, status=226/NAMESPACE)

Sep 03 16:01:26 maniot systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB database server...
Sep 03 16:01:27 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Control process exited, code=ex…s=226
Sep 03 16:01:27 maniot systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB database server.
Sep 03 16:01:27 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Sep 03 16:01:27 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Hint: Some lines were ellipsized, use -l to show in full.
dpkg: error processing package mariadb-server-10.1 (--configure):
 subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of mariadb-server:
 mariadb-server depends on mariadb-server-10.1 (>= 10.1.23-9+deb9u1); however:
  Package mariadb-server-10.1 is not configured yet.

dpkg: error processing package mariadb-server (--configure):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 mariadb-server-10.1
 mariadb-server
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)

the contents of systemctl status mariadb.service is:

● mariadb.service - MariaDB database server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service; enabled; vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Mon 2018-09-03 16:01:27 CEST; 2min 59s ago
  Process: 2581 ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/install -m 755 -o mysql -g root -d /var/run/mysqld 

Sep 03 16:01:26 maniot systemd[1]: Starting MariaDB database server...
Sep 03 16:01:27 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Control process exited, code=exited s
Sep 03 16:01:27 maniot systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB database server.
Sep 03 16:01:27 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Sep 03 16:01:27 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

and the contents of journalctl -xe is:

Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: cron.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/cron.service, ignoring: Operation not supporte
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: systemd-udevd.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/systemd-udevd.service, ignoring: Oper
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: avahi-daemon.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/avahi-daemon.service, ignoring: Operat
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: ssh.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/ssh.service, ignoring: Operation not supported
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: php7.0-fpm.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/php7.0-fpm.service, ignoring: Operation 
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: rsyslog.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/rsyslog.service, ignoring: Operation not su
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: rpcbind.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/rpcbind.service, ignoring: Operation not su
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: dphys-swapfile.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/dphys-swapfile.service, ignoring: Op
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: dbus.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/dbus.service, ignoring: Operation not supporte
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: console-setup.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/console-setup.service, ignoring: Oper
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: fake-hwclock.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/fake-hwclock.service, ignoring: Operat
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: keyboard-setup.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/keyboard-setup.service, ignoring: Op
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: system-systemd\x2dfsck.slice: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/system-systemd\x2dfsck.slice, 
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: mnt-hdd.mount: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/mnt-hdd.mount, ignoring: Operation not suppor
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: run-rpc_pipefs.mount: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/run-rpc_pipefs.mount, ignoring: Operat
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: networking.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/networking.service, ignoring: Operation 
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: run-user-1001.mount: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/run-user-1001.mount, ignoring: Operatio
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: sys-kernel-config.mount: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/sys-kernel-config.mount, ignoring: 
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: system-getty.slice: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/system-getty.slice, ignoring: Operation 
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Control process exited, code=exited status=226
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: Failed to start MariaDB database server.
-- Subject: Unit mariadb.service has failed
-- Defined-By: systemd
-- Support: https://www.debian.org/support
-- 
-- Unit mariadb.service has failed.
-- 
-- The result is failed.
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Unit entered failed state.
Sep 03 17:02:26 maniot systemd[1]: mariadb.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.

Please, can anybody tell me what is going wrong? best regards, Nicolas

Answer 1

Your snippet from your journal shows that all visible services have a problem to start properly. They all complain:

xxx.service: Failed to set invocation ID on control group /system.slice/xxx.service, ignoring: Operation

I haven't seen such a message before. So it seems you have a general problem not only with mariadb. You also told that you updated the kernel. You don't tell how do you do that but if you used rpi-update then that would not have made things better. It isn't a good idea to execute rpi-update unless yo exactly know why to do this or told by a developer to do it for testing. On github - rpi-update You will find:

Even on Raspbian you should only use this with a good reason. This gets you the latest bleeding edge kernel/firmware. There is always the possibility of regressions. Bug fixes and improvements will eventually make their way into new Raspbian releases and apt-get when they are considered sufficiently well tested. A good reason for using this would be if you like to help with the testing effort, and are happy to risk breakages and submit bug reports. These testers are welcome.

With the information we have it is nearly impossible to see what was going wrong. To fix it may take more effort than to start again with a fresh flashed image. Then try to install mariadb with:

rpi ~$ sudo apt update
rpi ~$ sudo apt full-upgrade

Reboot.

rpi ~$ sudo apt install mariadb-server

And if needed on this RasPi

rpi ~$ sudo apt install mariadb-client

If there are some problems with this then please ask first here.