So, I'm rolling out a fresh mysql server the other day, as I've done many times before, and ran into some odd behaviour. I downloaded a fresh set of RPM's from oracle's download page and did my usual:
# yum install MySQL-*-5.6.11*.rpm -y
# mysql_install_db
# mysql_secure_installation
And then I got the root password prompt. Now usually you just hit enter because the root password is blank. But it wasn't taking that today. Wiped the DB, erased and reinstalled, still didn't take the empty password. Until I did:
# ls -al
total 366900
dr-xr-x---. 4 root root 4096 May 20 12:08 .
dr-xr-xr-x. 24 root root 4096 May 20 11:26 ..
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 23010735 May 20 11:07 MySQL-client-5.6.11-2.linux_glibc2.5.x86_64.rpm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 4554269 May 20 11:07 MySQL-devel-5.6.11-2.linux_glibc2.5.x86_64.rpm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 112519557 May 20 11:08 MySQL-embedded-5.6.11-2.linux_glibc2.5.x86_64.rpm
-rw-------. 1 root root 192 May 20 12:00 .mysql_secret
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 56354288 May 20 11:09 MySQL-server-5.6.11-2.el6.x86_64.rpm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 88319899 May 20 11:10 MySQL-server-5.6.11-2.linux_glibc2.5.x86_64.rpm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2389748 May 20 11:10 MySQL-shared-5.6.11-2.linux_glibc2.5.x86_64.rpm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 5180812 May 20 11:10 MySQL-shared-compat-5.6.11-2.linux_glibc2.5.x86_64.rpm
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 72675691 May 20 11:11 MySQL-test-5.6.11-2.linux_glibc2.5.x86_64.rpm
#
Wait, what's that ".mysql_secret" file?! I didn't put that there. Apparently it did... Turns out, upon initial install of the MySQL Packages, it runs an the mysql_install_db automatically... and then it sets the password to something random.
# cat .mysql_secret
# The random password set for the root user at Mon May 20 12:00:16 2013 (local time): mS2tzW4Z
So, you'd think that you can still run mysql_secure_installation, but you can use that password. Except that you end up getting the message "ERROR 1862 (HY000): Your password has expired. To log in you must change it using a client that supports expired passwords." Which is apparently the normal text client. So, feel free to reset your password the old fashion way:
# mysql -u root -pmS2tzW4Z
Welcome to the MySQL monitor. Commands end with ; or \g.
Your MySQL connection id is 6
Server version: 5.6.11
Copyright (c) 2000, 2013, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.
Type 'help;' or '\h' for help. Type '\c' to clear the current input statement.
mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'root'@'localhost' = PASSWORD('ub3rS3cureP455word!');
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
mysql> FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)
Then you can run mysql_secure_installation and enjoy your new MySQL Install.
