Ubuntu Upstart for automatic MySQL start and stop - Part 2

I've done a little change to the upstart script I published in a recent blogpost. The issue is with mysqld_safe which has a few issues it seems, but so far I haven't tracked them down exactly. Anyway, if mysqld_safe is not in your path and you run it with the full path (as I do in the Upstart script which is run by root that may well not have the mysql bin directory in it's path), then mysqld_safe will behave strange in at least 5.5 when called with the full path, i.e.
/mnt/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-file=/etc/mysql/my.cnf &
will not work. If I then put the appropriate directory in my path, like this:
PATH=/mnt/mysql/bin:$PATH
/mnt/mysql/bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-file=/etc/mysql/my.cnf &
It still will not work as expected. In the first case, it complains that it cannot find my_print_defaults, and then just goes on, seemingly using some default values, error logging to /usr/local/mysql/data and trying to run /usr/local/mysql/bin/mysqld, and before you ask, yes I have set things like ledir and basedir in the [mysqld_safe] section in the .cnf file.

Anyway, the fix for all this is to run mysqld_safe with the current directory being the same as basedir (i.e. one step "above" where mysqld_safe is located). To tell Upstart to run in a specific directory, you use the chdir stanza. So my scripted ended up looking like this now:

#
# MySQL Service for Recorded Future
#
description     "MySQL Server"
author          "Anders Karlsson, Recorded Future"

start on (net-device-up
          and local-filesystems
          and runlevel [2345])
stop on runlevel [016]

expect fork
kill timeout 2

# Set variables.
env MYSQL_ETC=/etc/mysql
env MYSQL_PIDFILE=/var/run/mysql.pid
env MYSQL_HOME=/usr/local/mysql5.5
env MYSQL_INSTANCE=my
umask 007

chdir /usr/local/mysql5.5
exec $MYSQL_HOME/bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-file=$MYSQL_ETC/$MYSQL_INSTANCE.cnf >> /tmp/x.out &

post-start script
    loop=600
# Wait for MySQL to start.
    while [ $loop -gt 0 ]; do
        if $MYSQL_HOME/bin/mysqladmin --defaults-file=$MYSQL_ETC/$MYSQL_INSTANCE.cnf ping; then
            break
        fi
        loop=$(($loop - 1))
        sleep 1
    done
    exit 0
end script

# Send a soft SIGTERM to MySQL before Upstart will kill it.
# A Sigterm to mysqld will cause a controlled shutdown.
pre-stop script
    exec kill -SIGTERM `cat $MYSQL_PIDFILE`

# Wait for MySQL to end. Flushing buffers and all.
    loop=600
    while [ $loop -gt 0 ]; do
# If the pidfile is found, then continue waiting.
        if [ -e $MYSQL_PIDFILE ] ; then
            loop=$((loop - 1))
            sleep 1
            continue
        fi
        break
    done
end script

And lastly, again before you ask, don't try the easy way out here:
chdir $MYSQL_HOME
It will not work. And as usual, debugging this with Upstart is nearly impossible. If you try using the above syntax, all you get is an information that the script would not run (and, yes, the console Upstart stanza is more or less useless. Why I cannot tell Upstart to output to the current terminal is beyond me, and why there is no verbose mode, I do not know either).

I will check up the issue with mysqld_safe and send a bug report to MySQL (if it isn't there already). As for upstart, I am so annoyed by it at this point in time, that I'm not sure I have the energy to post a bug report, as I cannot even tell what so-called "feature" is most annoying. But again, this may be because of my limited upstart exposure. Upstart is sure different from working with chef though (which I am also new to). One single, minor, error in chef, and you get an error listing the size of Encyclopedia Britannica. Whereas Upstart on the other side would say something like "job failed", and nothing more, if it was managing the Titanic.

/Karlsson