[support] Druapal server fatal error: "MySQL server has gone away", but DB server is still up & accessible. Help troubleshooting?

[grantksupport at operamail.com]

On Fri, Jun 13, 2014, at 05:59 AM, Maina wrote:
> Since you adjusted the 'max_allowed_packet' make sure that you restart
> your Web Server. If you already did and still no effect, try running
> the "update.php" file of Drupal and see if that helps.

I decided to simplify matters, and take my current install out of the
equation.

Doing, instead, a completely NEW install from clean source, after a
clean/new install of MariaDB *and* it's datadir&files, I see the SAME
error:

    SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 2006 MySQL server has gone away 

here's what I've done:

which drush
	/srv/www/drush/drush
cd `which drush`
git log | head
	commit c75ae2dc7a40e206c210431fbfda93cc9d1c0109
	Author: Moshe Weitzman <weitzman at tejasa.com>
	Date:   Fri Jun 13 08:39:55 2014 -0400

	    Fix #637. Avoid tput if TERM is 'unknown'

	commit f13c2481214d787978789596b4f54fb9b9e9fdf9
	Merge: fe78e58 87be1ac
	Author: Jonathan Hedstrom <jhedstrom at gmail.com>
	Date:   Tue Jun 10 12:56:42 2014 -0700

drush --version
	Drush Version   :  7.0-dev

export myROOT="/srv/www"
export myPROJ="Drupal7"
export myVER="7.x"
export mySITE="Site Name"
export myMAIL="grantk at localhost"
export mySUBDIR="dev"
export myDB="dTEST01_db"
export myUSRdb="dbUSR"
export myPWDdb="dbPASS
export myUSRadm="admUSR"
export myPWDadm="admPASS"


cd ~
mysqld --version
	mysqld  Ver 10.0.11-MariaDB-log for Linux on x86_64 (Source
	distribution)

mysqladmin --force drop   ${myDB}
mysqladmin         create ${myDB}
mysqlshow
	+--------------------+
	|     Databases      |
	+--------------------+
	| information_schema |
	| mysql              |
	| performance_schema |
	| dTEST01_db         |
	| test               |
	+--------------------+

mysql mysql
  MariaDB [mysql]> 
   GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, CREATE, DROP, INDEX, ALTER,
   LOCK TABLES, CREATE TEMPORARY TABLES ON `dTEST01_db`.* TO
   'dbUSR'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'dbPASS';
   FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
   quit


cd ${myROOT}/${myPROJ}

rm -rf drupal-7*
drush dl drupal
	Project drupal (7.28) downloaded to
	/srv/www/Drupal7/drupal-7.28.                  [success]
	Project drupal contains:                                        
	                                         [success]
	 - 3 profiles: standard, minimal, testing
	 - 4 themes: bartik, stark, seven, garland
	 - 47 modules: overlay, update, path, openid, file, contextual,
	 dblog, options, number, list, text,
	field_sql_storage, field, php, simpletest, shortcut, taxonomy,
	toolbar, search, blog, system, filter,
	locale, poll, color, trigger, book, field_ui, help, aggregator,
	syslog, forum, contact, menu, image,
	translation, user, node, block, profile, comment, tracker,
	dashboard, rdf, statistics,
	drupal_system_listing_incompatible_test,
	drupal_system_listing_compatible_test


cp -af drupal-7.28 ${mySUBDIR}
cd                 ${mySUBDIR}
cd sites/default
cp -af default.settings.php settings.php

cd ${myROOT}/${myPROJ}/${mySUBDIR}
drush -v site-install standard -y --site-name=${mySITE}
--sites-subdir=${mySUBDIR} --site-mail=${myMAIL}
--db-url=mysql://${myUSRdb}:${myPWDdb}@localhost/${myDB}
--account-name=${myUSRadm} --account-pass=${myPWDadm}

	...
	Initialized Drupal 7.28 root directory at /srv/www/Drupal7/dev  
	                     [notice]
	Executing: mysql --defaults-extra-file=/tmp/drush_CLONbD
	--database=dTEST01_db --host=localhost --silent  <
	/tmp/drush_SuniOM
	You are about to create a sites/dev/settings.php file and DROP
	all tables in your 'dTEST01_db' database. Do you want to
	continue? (y/n): y
	Initialized Drupal site dev at sites/dev                        
	                                            [notice]
	Executing: mysql --defaults-extra-file=/tmp/drush_DWuUzk
	--database=dTEST01_db --host=localhost --silent  <
	/tmp/drush_eq6aRt
	Executing: mysql --defaults-extra-file=/tmp/drush_GZ4Tz2
	--database=dTEST01_db --host=localhost --silent  <
	/tmp/drush_gF3Szb
	Undefined offset: 1 site_install.drush.inc:255                  
	                                            [notice]
	Starting Drupal installation. This takes a few seconds ...      
	                                         [ok]
	WD php: Warning: PDOStatement::execute(): MySQL server has gone
	away in DatabaseStatementBase->execute()  [warning]
	(line 2171 of
	/srv/www/Drupal7/dev/includes/database/database.inc).
	WD php: Warning: PDOStatement::execute(): Error reading result
	set's header in                            [warning]
	DatabaseStatementBase->execute() (line 2171 of
	/srv/www/Drupal7/dev/includes/database/database.inc).
	SQLSTATE[HY000]: General error: 2006 MySQL server has gone away 
	                                         [error]
	Command dispatch complete                                       
	                                            [notice]

checking, the mysql server is still up and accessible

	mysqlshow
		+--------------------+
		|     Databases      |
		+--------------------+
		| information_schema |
		| mysql              |
		| performance_schema |
		| dTEST01_db         |
		| test               |
		+--------------------+