MySQL "Zombie"-table, cannot delete

I have two MySQL servers, running master/slave replication.
At one point i had to write huge general.log on the slave.

I had the glorious idea to write it to the datadir of MySQL. Mock me.
Later I removed that file.
Now MySQL insists on having a table mysql.general_log which never was a table but a logfile. I found out because my cron-mysqldump sends complaints:

#> mysqldump mysql > /home/mysqldump/mysqldump.sql
Error: Couldn't read status information for table general_log ()
mysqldump: Couldn't execute 'show create table `general_log`': Table 'mysql.general_log' doesn't exist (1146)

So I tried this by hand:

mysql> show create table mysql.general_log;
ERROR 1146 (42S02): Table 'mysql.general_log' doesn't exist

and tried to drop the table:

mysql> drop table general_log;
ERROR 1051 (42S02): Unknown table 'general_log'

Also tried:

#> mysqlcheck --repair mysql

to no avail.

following this link i found something about ib* files. So I did

#> service mysqld stop
#> mv mysql/data/ib* mysql.off/data/
#> service mysqld start
#> 

Now mysqldump complained about another missing table. It is just a .frm file without accompaning MYD and MYI. Reverted changes.

result of test alex_sf postetd:

mysql> SET GLOBAL general_log = 'OFF';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> use mysql;
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Database changed
mysql> CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `general_log` (
    ->   `event_time` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
    ->   `user_host` mediumtext NOT NULL,
    ->   `thread_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
    ->   `server_id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL,
    ->   `command_type` varchar(64) NOT NULL,
    ->   `argument` mediumtext NOT NULL
    -> ) ENGINE=CSV DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COMMENT='General log';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.02 sec)

mysql> DROP TABLE general_log;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> exit
Bye
[root@server ~]# mysqldump mysql > /home/mysqldump/mysqldump.sql
Error: Couldn't read status information for table general_log ()
mysqldump: Couldn't execute 'show create table `general_log`': Table 'mysql.general_log' doesn't exist (1146)

I tried to re-initialize the DB and used a dump from the other MySQL instance, which does not show this error:

#> mysql_install_db
#> service mysqld start
#> /usr/bin/mysql_secure_installation
#> mysqldump mysql > /home/mysqldump/mysqldump.sql

Result: some minor error, cant remember.
now i use the "clean" mysqldump again:

#> mysql < /home/mysqldump/mysqldump.master.sql
#> mysqldump mysql > /home/mysqldump/mysqldump.sql
Error: Couldn't read status information for table general_log ()
mysqldump: Couldn't execute 'show create table `general_log`': Table 'mysql.general_log' doesn't exist (1146)

Et voila, the bug is in the mysqldump. grep grep grep ....

Result of alex_sfs second test:

mysql> use mysql;
Reading table information for completion of table and column names
You can turn off this feature to get a quicker startup with -A

Database changed
mysql> CREATE TABLE `general_log` (
    ->       `event_time` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,    ->       `user_host` mediumtext NOT NULL,
    ->       `thread_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
    ->       `server_id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL,
    ->       `command_type` varchar(64) NOT NULL,
    ->       `argument` mediumtext NOT NULL
    ->     ) ENGINE=CSV DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COMMENT='General log';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> exit
Bye
[root@ns235265 mysql]# mysqldump mysql > /home/mysqldump/mysqldump.sql
Error: Couldn't read status information for table slow_log ()
mysqldump: Couldn't execute 'show create table `slow_log`': Table 'mysql.slow_log' doesn't exist (1146)

after that i realized i hadn' dropped the table:

mysql> DROP TABLE general_log;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> exit
Bye
[root@server ~]# mysqldump mysql > /home/mysqldump/mysqldump.sql
Error: Couldn't read status information for table general_log ()
mysqldump: Couldn't execute 'show create table `general_log`': Table 'mysql.general_log' doesn't exist (1146)

Im starting to think that DB is done for...

Solution 1:

There's a bug reported here with mysqldump that could be causing this. Create the table definition, and then try your dump again:

CREATE TABLE `general_log` (
      `event_time` timestamp NOT NULL DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ON UPDATE CURRENT_TIMESTAMP,
      `user_host` mediumtext NOT NULL,
      `thread_id` int(11) NOT NULL,
      `server_id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL,
      `command_type` varchar(64) NOT NULL,
      `argument` mediumtext NOT NULL
    ) ENGINE=CSV DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COMMENT='General log';