MySQL 5.1 on Debian 6 Custom

MySQL 5.1 on Debian 6

Set up MySQL  with a customized data directory and secure the installation with default provided scripts.

# apt-get install mysql-server mysql-client
# mysql_secure_installation
# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
# mkdir /home/mysql
# usermod -d /home/mysql mysql
# mv -R /var/lib/mysql/* /home/mysql

edit /etc/mysql/my.cnf:

...
datadir = /home/mysql
...

Now start MySQL server again

# /etc/init.d/mysql start

If something went wrong, mysql won’t start. Check log files for more details.