Kmail / PIM / Akonadi fails to start following an otherwise smooth upgrade from Leap 15.5 to 15.6, and I’m hoping someone can help as my limited understanding of Kmail & Akonadi software design is exhausted. These symptoms seem superficially similar to those reported in After Leap upgrade 15.5 to 15.6. Akonadi fails to start
The Akonadi self-test report appears below.
Attempting to start the Kmail client results in the usual client window, but it eports “The Akonadi personal informational management service is not operational” and clicking the Details button yields nothing. It’s still possible to partially configure a user, but the problem is obviously much deeper.
A MYsql socket demon (mysqld) is running, and the Services Manager shows both the MariaDB server (mariadb) and D-Bus (dbus) are in “Active (Running)” state.
However manually stopping & restarting akonadi produces this error:
~> akonadictl stop
Akonadi is not running.
~> akonadictl start
org.kde.pim.akonadictl: Starting Akonadi Server…
org.kde.pim.akonadictl: done.
Connecting to deprecated signal QDBusConnectionInterface::serviceOwnerChanged(QString,QString,QString)
david@Ulysses:~> org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: Starting up the Akonadi Server…
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: database server stopped unexpectedly
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: Database process exited unexpectedly during initial connection!
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: executable: “/usr/sbin/mysqld”
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: arguments: (“–defaults-file=/home/david/.local/share/akonadi/mysql.conf”, “–datadir=/home/david/.local/share/akonadi/db_data/”, “–socket=/run/user/1000/akonadi/mysql.socket”, “–pid-file=/run/user/1000/akonadi/mysql.pid”)
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: stdout: “”
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: stderr: “”
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: exit code: 1
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: process error: “Unknown error”
org.kde.pim.akonadiserver: Shutting down AkonadiServer…
org.kde.pim.akonadicontrol: Application ‘/usr/bin/akonadiserver’ exited normally…
^C
At various times I’ve seen hints that QT6 should be present too, but only QT5 (and libQt5Sql5-mysql) is installed.
And finally, here’s the result of an Akonadi self-test:
Akonadi Server Self-Test Report===============================
Test 1: SUCCESS
Database driver found.
Details: The QtSQL driver ‘QMYSQL’ is required by your current Akonadi server configuration and was found on your system.
File content of ‘/home/david/.config/akonadi/akonadiserverrc’:
[Debug]
Tracer=null
[%General]
Driver=QMYSQL
[QMYSQL]
Host=
Name=akonadi
Options=“UNIX_SOCKET=/run/user/1000/akonadi/mysql.socket”
ServerPath=/usr/sbin/mysqld
StartServer=true
Test 2: SUCCESS
Akonadi is not running as root
Details: Akonadi is not running as a root/administrator user, which is the recommended setup for a secure system.
Test 3: SUCCESS
MySQL server found.
Details: You have currently configured Akonadi to use the MySQL server ‘/usr/sbin/mysqld’.
Make sure you have the MySQL server installed, set the correct path and ensure you have the necessary read and execution rights on the server executable. The server executable is typically called ‘mysqld’; its location varies depending on the distribution.
Test 4: SUCCESS
MySQL server is executable.
Details: MySQL server found: /usr/sbin/mysqld Ver 10.11.9-MariaDB for Linux on x86_64 (MariaDB package)
Test 5: ERROR
MySQL server log contains errors.
Details: The MySQL server error log file ‘/home/david/.local/share/akonadi/db_data/mysql.err’ contains errors.
File content of ‘/home/david/.local/share/akonadi/db_data/mysql.err’:
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] Starting MariaDB 10.11.9-MariaDB source revision 0e8fb977b00983d98c4c35e39bc1f36463095938 server_uid 3WTHVoeodKIyNVq7TAq17iolf3U= as process 6516
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Warning] option ‘innodb-log-buffer-size’: unsigned value 1048576 adjusted to 2097152
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.13
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] InnoDB: Number of transaction pools: 1
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] InnoDB: Using crc32 + pclmulqdq instructions
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] InnoDB: Using Linux native AIO
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, total size = 128.000MiB, chunk size = 2.000MiB
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] InnoDB: Buffered log writes (block size=512 bytes)
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [ERROR] InnoDB: Upgrade after a crash is not supported. The redo log was created with MariaDB 10.6.18. You must start up and shut down MariaDB 10.7 or earlier.
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [ERROR] InnoDB: Plugin initialization aborted with error Generic error
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] InnoDB: Starting shutdown…
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [ERROR] Plugin ‘InnoDB’ registration as a STORAGE ENGINE failed.
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [Note] Plugin ‘FEEDBACK’ is disabled.
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [ERROR] Unknown/unsupported storage engine: innodb
2025-04-08 13:44:14 0 [ERROR] Aborting
Test 6: SUCCESS
MySQL server default configuration found.
Details: The default configuration for the MySQL server was found and is readable at /etc/xdg//akonadi/mysql-global.conf.
File content of ‘/etc/xdg//akonadi/mysql-global.conf’:
Global Akonadi MySQL server settings,
These settings can be adjusted using $HOME/.config/akonadi/mysql-local.conf
Based on advice by Kris Köhntopp kris@mysql.com
[mysqld]
strict query parsing/interpretation
TODO: make Akonadi work with those settings enabled
sql_mode=strict_trans_tables,strict_all_tables,strict_error_for_division_by_zero,no_auto_create_user,no_auto_value_on_zero,no_engine_substitution,no_zero_date,no_zero_in_date,only_full_group_by,pipes_as_concat
sql_mode=strict_trans_tables
DEBUGGING:
log all queries, useful for debugging but generates an enormous amount of data
log=mysql.full
log queries slower than n seconds, log file name relative to datadir (for debugging only)
log_slow_queries=mysql.slow
long_query_time=1
log queries not using indices, debug only, disable for production use
log_queries_not_using_indexes=1
measure database size and adjust innodb_buffer_pool_size
SELECT sum(data_length) as bla, sum(index_length) as blub FROM information_schema.tables WHERE table_schema not in (“mysql”, “information_schema”);
NOTES:
Keep Innob_log_waits and keep Innodb_buffer_pool_wait_free small (see show global status like “inno%”, show global variables)
#expire_logs_days=3
#sync_bin_log=0
Use UTF-8 encoding for tables
character_set_server=utf8
collation_server=utf8_general_ci
use InnoDB for transactions and better crash recovery
default_storage_engine=innodb
memory buffer InnoDB uses to cache data and indexes of its tables (default:128M)
Larger values means less I/O
innodb_buffer_pool_size=128M
Create a .ibd file for each table (default:0)
innodb_file_per_table=1
Write out the log buffer to the log file at each commit (default:1)
innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=2
Buffer size used to write to the log files on disk (default:1M for builtin, 8M for plugin)
larger values means less I/O
innodb_log_buffer_size=1M
Size of each log file in a log group (default:5M) larger means less I/O but more time for recovery.
innodb_log_file_size=64M
# error log file name, relative to datadir (default:hostname.err)
log_error=mysql.err
print warnings and connection errors (default:1)
loose_log_warnings=2
Convert table named to lowercase
lower_case_table_names=1
Maximum size of one packet or any generated/intermediate string. (default:1M)
max_allowed_packet=32M
Maximum simultaneous connections allowed (default:100)
max_connections=256
The two options below make no sense with prepared statements and/or transactions
(make sense when having the same query multiple times)
Memory allocated for caching query results (default:0 (disabled))
loose_query_cache_size=0
Do not cache results (default:1)
loose_query_cache_type=0
Do not use the privileges mechanisms
skip_grant_tables
Do not listen for TCP/IP connections at all
skip_networking
The number of open tables for all threads. (default:64)
table_open_cache=200
How many threads the server should cache for reuse (default:0)
thread_cache_size=3
wait 365d before dropping the DB connection (default:8h)
wait_timeout=31536000
We use InnoDB, so don’t let MyISAM eat up memory
key_buffer_size=16K
[client]
default-character-set=utf8
Test 7: SKIP
MySQL server custom configuration not available.
Details: The custom configuration for the MySQL server was not found but is optional.
Test 8: SUCCESS
MySQL server configuration is usable.
Details: The MySQL server configuration was found at /home/david/.local/share/akonadi/mysql.conf and is readable.
File content of ‘/home/david/.local/share/akonadi/mysql.conf’:
Global Akonadi MySQL server settings,
These settings can be adjusted using $HOME/.config/akonadi/mysql-local.conf
Based on advice by Kris Köhntopp kris@mysql.com
[mysqld]
strict query parsing/interpretation
TODO: make Akonadi work with those settings enabled
sql_mode=strict_trans_tables,strict_all_tables,strict_error_for_division_by_zero,no_auto_create_user,no_auto_value_on_zero,no_engine_substitution,no_zero_date,no_zero_in_date,only_full_group_by,pipes_as_concat
sql_mode=strict_trans_tables
DEBUGGING:
log all queries, useful for debugging but generates an enormous amount of data
log=mysql.full
log queries slower than n seconds, log file name relative to datadir (for debugging only)
log_slow_queries=mysql.slow
long_query_time=1
log queries not using indices, debug only, disable for production use
log_queries_not_using_indexes=1
measure database size and adjust innodb_buffer_pool_size
SELECT sum(data_length) as bla, sum(index_length) as blub FROM information_schema.tables WHERE table_schema not in (“mysql”, “information_schema”);
NOTES:
Keep Innob_log_waits and keep Innodb_buffer_pool_wait_free small (see show global status like “inno%”, show global variables)
#expire_logs_days=3
#sync_bin_log=0
Use UTF-8 encoding for tables
character_set_server=utf8
collation_server=utf8_general_ci
use InnoDB for transactions and better crash recovery
default_storage_engine=innodb
memory buffer InnoDB uses to cache data and indexes of its tables (default:128M)
Larger values means less I/O
innodb_buffer_pool_size=128M
Create a .ibd file for each table (default:0)
innodb_file_per_table=1
Write out the log buffer to the log file at each commit (default:1)
innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit=2
Buffer size used to write to the log files on disk (default:1M for builtin, 8M for plugin)
larger values means less I/O
innodb_log_buffer_size=1M
Size of each log file in a log group (default:5M) larger means less I/O but more time for recovery.
innodb_log_file_size=64M
# error log file name, relative to datadir (default:hostname.err)
log_error=mysql.err
print warnings and connection errors (default:1)
loose_log_warnings=2
Convert table named to lowercase
lower_case_table_names=1
Maximum size of one packet or any generated/intermediate string. (default:1M)
max_allowed_packet=32M
Maximum simultaneous connections allowed (default:100)
max_connections=256
The two options below make no sense with prepared statements and/or transactions
(make sense when having the same query multiple times)
Memory allocated for caching query results (default:0 (disabled))
loose_query_cache_size=0
Do not cache results (default:1)
loose_query_cache_type=0
Do not use the privileges mechanisms
skip_grant_tables
Do not listen for TCP/IP connections at all
skip_networking
The number of open tables for all threads. (default:64)
table_open_cache=200
How many threads the server should cache for reuse (default:0)
thread_cache_size=3
wait 365d before dropping the DB connection (default:8h)
wait_timeout=31536000
We use InnoDB, so don’t let MyISAM eat up memory
key_buffer_size=16K
[client]
default-character-set=utf8
Test 9: SUCCESS
akonadictl found and usable
Details: The program ‘/usr/bin/akonadictl’ to control the Akonadi server was found and could be executed successfully.
Result:
akonadictl 5.24.5 (23.08.5)
Test 10: ERROR
Akonadi control process not registered at D-Bus.
Details: The Akonadi control process is not registered at D-Bus which typically means it was not started or encountered a fatal error during startup.
Test 11: ERROR
Akonadi server process not registered at D-Bus.
Details: The Akonadi server process is not registered at D-Bus which typically means it was not started or encountered a fatal error during startup.
Test 12: SKIP
Protocol version check not possible.
Details: Without a connection to the server it is not possible to check if the protocol version meets the requirements.
Test 13: ERROR
No resource agents found.
Details: No resource agents have been found, Akonadi is not usable without at least one. This usually means that no resource agents are installed or that there is a setup problem. The following paths have been searched: ‘/usr/share/akonadi/agents’. The XDG_DATA_DIRS environment variable is set to ‘/home/david/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/local/share:/usr/share’; make sure this includes all paths where Akonadi agents are installed.
Directory listing of ‘/usr/share/akonadi/agents’:
akonadiindexingagent.desktop
akonotesresource.desktop
archivemailagent.desktop
birthdaysresource.desktop
contactsresource.desktop
davgroupwareresource.desktop
etesyncresource.desktop
ewsmtaresource.desktop
ewsresource.desktop
followupreminder.desktop
googleresource.desktop
icaldirresource.desktop
icalresource.desktop
imapresource.desktop
knutresource.desktop
kolabresource.desktop
maildirresource.desktop
maildispatcheragent.desktop
mailfilteragent.desktop
mailmergeagent.desktop
mboxresource.desktop
migrationagent.desktop
mixedmaildirresource.desktop
newmailnotifieragent.desktop
notesagent.desktop
notesresource.desktop
openxchangeresource.desktop
pop3resource.desktop
sendlateragent.desktop
tomboynotesresource.desktop
unifiedmailboxagent.desktop
vcarddirresource.desktop
vcardresource.desktop
Environment variable XDG_DATA_DIRS is set to ‘/home/david/.local/share/flatpak/exports/share:/var/lib/flatpak/exports/share:/usr/local/share:/usr/share’
Test 14: SUCCESS
No current Akonadi server error log found.
Details: The Akonadi server did not report any errors during its current startup.
Test 15: SUCCESS
No previous Akonadi server error log found.
Details: The Akonadi server did not report any errors during its previous startup.
Test 16: SUCCESS
No current Akonadi control error log found.
Details: The Akonadi control process did not report any errors during its current startup.
Test 17: SUCCESS
No previous Akonadi control error log found.
Details: The Akonadi control process did not report any errors during its previous startup.