debconf failed to set mysql5-5 root passphrase

[Sasa Paporovic]

On installing mysql5-5 server with Software-Center debconf ask for the root passphrase.

I give a very long with many special characters to it.

Unfortunally debconf failed with the massage:

"
Unable to set password for the MYSQL "root" user

An error occurred while setting the password for the MySQL administrative user. This may have happened because the account already has a password, or because of a communication problem with the MySQL server.

You should check the account's password after the package installation.

Please read the /usr/share/doc/mysql-server-5.5/README.Debian file for more information.

"

In the case that there is interest of handling this ticket I can give the pasword for reproducing purposes if the ticket can be handeld and keep as private.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: debconf 1.5.46ubuntu1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-22.34-generic 3.5.7.2
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-22-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu9
Architecture: amd64
Date: Sun Jan 13 12:24:14 2013
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/debconf-communicate
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-01-12 (0 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
InterpreterPath: /usr/bin/perl
MarkForUpload: True
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no username)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
SourcePackage: debconf
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Colin Watson (cjwatson)]

Unless proven to be in a lower layer, this is much more likely to be a bug in mysql-5.5's use of debconf than in debconf itself.

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

Thanks for submitting this bug. I"ve marked it as Private - though if you're using that password elsewhere you still won't want to append it here. If the only thing you were going to be giving away with the password is your method for forming passwords, then it might be ok :)

Please feel free to email me at <email address hidden> to discuss how to share the password.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for mysql-5.5 (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Sasa Paporovic (melchiaros)]

Hi Serge, I have had lost the passphrase ion the affected quantal installation. This was the cause why I have not responded.

By accident I have runned into the same problem within a Ubuntu 14.04 server. I have just tried to settup the mysql-server 5.5 with the passphrase:

46937HE."$/ZIawxRFH294

I've got the exact same error message as in the past on quantal.

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

Thanks for the update.

So this was a Ubuntu desktop system, and you used software center to specifically install mysql, and a long password failed to get set?

(If so I'll go ahead and try to reproduce tht tway here>

[Sasa Paporovic (melchiaros)]

Indeed I have mixed up the things here.

The first incidence of this issue was on a 12.10 , desktop, 64bit system and on private hardware. The installation was performed with sofware-center. In past I have thought that this issue was caused by debconf or some other higher compotents, but not directly by mysql.

The new incidence has just happend on a 14.04, server, 64bit system hosted by a provider( original form the german site of the company, but this here in english may be more readable(the S server): http://www.strato-hosting.co.uk/server/virtual/). The settup was not done by me. I have just locked in via SSH to the ready to use system. From there on I have started with building up a LAMP and runned into this issue on command line. [All upgrades are in; proposed excluded].

May be I have time today to retest this issue on 14.04, desktop, 64bit, but in moment I have no VM ready for this.

Today I think that this problem is based directly in mysql, but on the other hand it is surprising to me that I am the only person who reports on this.

[Sasa Paporovic (melchiaros)]

I have tried a littel bit arround with the passphrase from comment #5. the problem seems to be not the longness of the passphrase. It seems to be a problem with one of the special characters in the passphrase.

[Serge Hallyn (serge-hallyn)]

This appears to be happening because of the " in the password. It is only a problem with debconf - I can use " (well, \") jsut fine using mysqladmin -h localhost -u root -p password 46937HE.\"$/ZIawxRFH294