try to change bin log directory: mysql-bin.index not found (Errcode: 13)

As usual, the solution was simple but not obvious: it needed to edit apparmor settings I just added to /etc/apparmor.d/usr.sbin.mysqld a new string with path to target directory: /home/developer/logs/* rw

It works!

/usr/sbin/mysqld: File '/usr/binlogs/mysql-bin.index' not found (Errcode: 13)

It worked for me with:

chown -R mysql:mysql /usr/binlogs/

Just as an FYI for anyone who runs into a similar problem, the solution is basically the same, but the cause of the problem isn't obvious.

After upgrading Debian wheezy, mysql failed to start.

Somehow, I have no idea how, permissions on some of the files in /var/lib/mysql were not owned by the mysql user, thus preventing the server from firing up.

A chown -R mysql.mysql /var/lib/mysql fixed it.

I didn't do anything to mess up mysql, it was a standard:

apt-get update

apt-get upgrade

Something got hinky during the Debian upgrade and manual intervention was needed.