How to use Perl to change a mysql password - mysql

Question

I need to change a few mysql passwords using a Perl script. The following works when changing database entries, but when I modified it for mysql user changes, it resets them to a blank password. It would also be nice to 'flush privileges' at the end of it, but I haven't found the method for that.
#!/usr/bin/perl
use DBI;
use strict;
my $newpass = "newpass";
my $driver = "mysql";
my $database = "mysql";
my $dsn = "DBI:$driver:database=$database";
my $dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, 'root', 'mysql' ) or die $DBI::errstr;
my $sth = $dbh->prepare("update user set password='$newpass' where User='admin'");
$sth->execute() or die $DBI::errstr;
$sth->finish();
$dbh->{AutoCommit} = 0;
$dbh->commit or die $DBI::errstr;

Answer 1

You're missing a couple of steps.
Use the PASSWORD() command and used 'admin' and not 'root' and also add flush priv's.
I rewrote the script for you, here:
#!/usr/bin/perl
use DBI;
use strict;
my $newpass = "newpass";
my $driver = "mysql";
my $database = "mysql";
my $dsn = "DBI:$driver:database=$database";
my $dbh = DBI->connect($dsn, 'root', 'mysql' ) or die $DBI::errstr;
$dbh->{AutoCommit} = 0;
my $sth = $dbh->prepare("update user set password=PASSWORD('$newpass') where User='root'");
$sth->execute() or die $DBI::errstr;
$dbh->do('FLUSH PRIVILEGES') or die $DBI::errstr;
$sth->finish();
$dbh->commit or die $DBI::errstr;

Answer 2

You'll want to use the SET PASSWORD syntax:
SET PASSWORD FOR 'username'#'localhost' = PASSWORD('cleartext password');

Answer 3

Change this:
my $sth = $dbh->prepare("update user set password='$newpass' where User='admin'");
Into this:
my $sth = $dbh->prepare("update mysql.user set Password=Password('$newpass')
where User='admin' and Host='localhost'");