Weird mySQL behavior in Ubuntu 10.10 - mysql

I'm having some serious trouble with a freshly installed copy of mySQL server under Ubuntu 10.10. I installed with apt and supplied a password at that time. Installation went fine, but the server is behaving very strangely.
First, to test the database, I created a php file with
mysql_connect("localhost", "root", "myPassword") or die(mysql_error());
where myPassword is the one I entered when it asked, during installation. That gave me an access denied error. I tried to shell into the mySQL server to pursue a solution I read about. The normal syntax didn't work, and to get anything but "access denied", I had to do
mysql -u root password myPassword
However, instead of a mysql shell, it just spits out a list of parameters and variables. So at this point, I'm stumped; I haven't worked with mySQL through a command line in a couple of years, but none of this behavior is familiar, and I can't find a way to interact with the server.
Any help would be appreciated.

The mysql command-line parameter for supplying a password is -p, not password. You should also leave out spaces. For example:
mysql -uroot -pmyPassword
If you don't want to risk your password being exposed...
mysql -uroot -p
...will prompt you for your password and hide the characters as you type them.

If you have apparmor installed (this is default) it can cause problems when you go outside the narrowly-defined defaults set up by ubuntu.
The things that mysql is allowed to touch is defined here: /etc/apparmor.d/abstractions/mysql
If you've put your socket file elsewhere, you would get an access-denied message.
To look at things more closely, run your mysql client like so:
strace -e file mysql <blah blah>
This will print out any system-level file operations on stderr. You can then see exactly which operation is causing the permissions error. If you don't see an issue, you might use -e network instead, to see network operations.

Related

How do I automate mysqladmin, and mysql_secure_installation queries with .mylogin.cnf?

I am looking at automating a couple things when installing MySQL to a new host using a Chef server. These include:
mysqladmin -u root password {password_here}
mysql_secure_installation
I've created a .mylogin.cnf file with two login-paths, admin (which is root user), and mysqluser (non root user).
My issues are that I can't get (or understand how) .mylogin.cnf to create the DB users and password; and I can't automate the mysql_secure_installation using --defaults-file=.mylogin.cnf (assuming that's how the --defaults-file works) even though it's not specifying a login-path. Initially I was running the mysql queries via command line to harden the service, but was told that mysql_secure_installation uses --no-defaults, and --defaults-file to automate this particular task, but haven't found much online about those arguments.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?
The option --defaults-file is NOT used for setting/changing options in whichever tool you are running. This file is only used for specifying connection options (ie: host, username, socket, etc). For mysql_secure_installation specifically, you might try --use-default which, according to the manual, is used for unattended execution. In MySQL 5.7, a random root password is generated and printed in the error log. Simply grep this file for that password in your Chef script, then connect to MySQL and run whatever commands you need to create new users, dbs, etc. FYI, the generated root password is expired so when you connect, you have to change it first before you can do anything else.

Can't login to unix mysql user

I'm trying to login to my mysql user created by the MySQL installation in bash shell.
So the command I'm trying to do is:
sudo -i -u mysql
But, it does nothing (nothing printed out in the console, not connected to any user whatsoever, etc...).
EDIT: The return value of the command is 1 though.
Here is the mysql user line in the /etc/passwd file:
mysql:x:89:89::/var/lib/mysql:/bin/false
I'm running on ArchLinux 64bit and the user I'm trying to connect to is local (no connection to a remote server whatsoever).
I'm trying to understand why I can login with any other user (like postgres, root, ...) but not mysql.
Hope you can help!
This is intended behaviour. When you compare the /etc/passwd line with other lines you'll notice that the user mysql has /bin/false setup as the shell while others have usually /bin/sh or sth. similar.
When you sudo to mysql you actually get a login for about a millisecond or so and then his "shell" gets executed. /bin/false immediately returns with rc=1 (that's the only purpose of the false command).
This is some kind of "trick" to prevent users from logging in as user mysql although the account is otherwise fully operational.
The user mysql may even have a valid password and be enabled but due to his odd shell setting you cannot login as him. Sometimes these technical users have /usr/bin/passwd set as their shell. Then you can only sudo to that user and change his password, nothing else.

Security of passwords in bash subcommands

I've heard that directly inputting your password on the command line is a bad idea, because anyone could see the "secret" in
mysql -u root -psecret
by browsing history.
I have a password for my MySQL database stored in a text file with limited read permissions, and was wondering if it is safe to access it in the following way:
mysql -u root -p$(cat ~/.mysql_pass)
Browsing history, I see the command printed, not the literal value. So it seems like it's working the way I want it to.
I'm sure there are better ways of handling passwords, I would just like to know whether or not this one is leaving my password completely out in the open.
You've suggested using the following:
mysql -u root -p$(cat ~/.mysql_pass)
However, the subcommand will be expanded before mysql is executed and so even if this isn't available in the command history, it's entirely possible for someone to view the process list just after invocation and see your password.
I think a better approach is to use a mysql client options file and have the mysql command read the password from the options file.
Just type mysql -u root -p and you'll get a prompt to enter your password and it won't be stored in the history.

Avoiding MySQL1044 error

I am trying to learn PHP and MySQL and while I reached a chapter on MySQL I was asked to create a database using this command:
CREATE DATABASE publications;
After I typed it in the mysql console I got this error:
ERROR 1044(42000):Access denied for user ''#localhost' to database 'root'
I am already logged in to my administrator account so I think the privileges should't be a problem.I have installed with the XAMPP package.
How can this be solved?
It could be possible that you upgraded your version of EasyPHP or you did something to disable the root password. If that is the case, you should try reestablishing a password for root. Had the same problem and that's how I solved it.
Go to http://localhost/xampp/ and set the appropriate passwords (in Security tab). If you use mysql client program, make sure you call it with appropriate credentials: mysql -u <username> -p <password>. Username will mostly be root until you create some new accounts.
Then I suggest you use phpMyAdmin for experimenting with MySQL (it should be at http://localhost/phpmyadmin/ )
This is getting a little confused - let me try to answer this.
Mysqladmin is a command line client for administering your mysql database system - you normally don't need to run it once you have mysql working. The shell command line interface to the mysql server is mysql. (If you don't know how to run a shell command line, that's another problem. Also, if you're on Windows, say so, since that has its own challenges.) The arguments are:
mysql -u username -ppassword databasename
if you are running this command on the same server as mysql. Note the lack of space after the -p - that is important.
So, type the above line to invoke the command line interface to mysql. Then you can type your mysql commands. Things like show tables, desc tablename, etc., will work. That is they will work unless you have an authentication problem. But you will know you have an authentication problem because when you tried to run mysql as above, it will fail with some error, like "Access denied for user 'abc'#'localhost' (using password: YES)". This is a nice descriptive error message that points you exactly where the problem is.
Does that help?
You can go back to using xampp or anything else once you've made sure that you know the right parameters by checking with the command line. (Always check with the command line when strangeness happens - it's so much easier than trying to debug through other interfaces.)

connecting to mysql from cygwin

I can successfully connect to MySQL from a DOS prompt, but when I try to connect from cygwin, it just hangs.
$/cygdrive/c/Program\ Files/MySQL/MySQL\ Server\ 5.1/bin/mysql -u root -p
What's wrong?
I just came across this, and when I read someone's mention of it being a windows/DOS command that you run in cygwin I did a which mysql and that gave me:
$ which mysql
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.5/bin/mysql
So I ran the cygwin Setup.exe searched for "mysql" and installed the latest "mysql client". Now which mysql looks like:
$ which mysql
/usr/bin/mysql
And the MySQL command works in cygwin :)
Though it's an old question, it would be nice to have the actual answer here, as people (like myself) might still stumble across it.
If your attempts to run the MySQL client from Cygwin return the following error:
$ mysql -u root -p
Enter password:
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysql.sock' (2)
Then you can fix it by adding the explicit -h 127.0.0.1 options to the command line, as in:
$ mysql -u root -p -h 127.0.0.1
Updates based on comments:
To avoid specifying -h 127.0.0.1 on the command line every time you connect, you can add:
[client]
host=127.0.0.1
to the file /etc/my.cnf
On some installations of Cygwin, specifying the host with -h might not be enough. If so, try also specifying:
--protocol=tcp
or add
protocol=tcp
to the config file.
Assuming that you have a native Windows build of MySQL, there is a terminal emulation incompatibility between DOS (command prompt) windows and bash. The prompt for mysql isn't showing up.
To confirm this, type a command and return - it will probably work, but the prompt and the echo of the command (what you're typing) is getting lost.
There may be a workaround in either the CYGWIN sytem properties or in bash, but I've never taken the time to work this one out.
Other answers lack the following key detail:
Cygwin has two shells:
Default: c:\cygwin\bin\mintty.exe
Basic: c:\cygwin\Cygwin.bat (which launches c:\cygwin\bin\bash.exe)
The Win32 MySQL can write properly to #2, but not #1, because Win32 MySQL cannot probe stdin properly (thanks #PeterNore)
Want to know if you're using Win32 MySQL? Use which, e.g.
$ which mysql
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.1/bin/mysql
Bonus: Cygwin guide to overcoming path problems (thanks #Dustin)
I posted a solution/workaround here:
enter key sometimes not recognized in windows apps under cygwin
Run bash from the cmd.exe executable and then mysql will work inside bash.
Create a shortcut for cmd.exe on your desktop.
Open up the properties for the shortcut and change the startup directory to the cygwin bin directory (usually C:\cygwin\bin).
Add "/c bash.exe" to the end of the command in the target parameter.
This will run bash under the windows cmd.exe environment and when you attempt to run mysql it will execute as you would expect. This is working under windows 7 but has not been tested in any other version.
Put cygwin bin directory in path env variable.
Use command window by running cmd
Run bash -l in cmd window
Then MySQL can be run without problem.
Svend Hansen's answer is the right one:
Install windows mysql server files (from mysql-5.5.25-win32.msi for example)
Install Cygwin mysql client with cygwin installer (setup.exe)
Connect to your server in a cygwin window using cygwin client "mysql -u[user] -p[Password] -h[host]", in my case "mysql -uroot -pXXXX -h127.0.0.1"
I think that when the question was posted, the cygwin setup did not provide mysql components, which is solved now.
Althoug Svend Hansen answer has some points, another thing is the PATH in Environment variables - if the path to mysql is before that of cygwin
which mysql
will show
/cygdrive/c/Program Files/MySQL/MySQL Server 5.5/bin/mysql
otherwise it will show the cygwin client.
As reference Wikipedia says:
Some programs may add their directory to the front of the PATH
variable's content during installation, to speed up the search process
and/or override OS commands.
Download Cygwin
Install mysql client app
create an alias in .bashrc file
alias mysql='mysql -h 127.0.0.1'
execute source .bashrc
Now you can connect to mysql
mysql -u user -p
I have created a semi-fix for this that satisfies me.
I ran cygwin.bat in cmd.exe, then typing mysql in- everything worked fine.
I realized right there that the problem was mintty.
Easy solution? Download Console2, and under settings you can point
it to the cygwin shell. Restart Console2, run mysql and the output
appears.
This is advantageous anyways, because Console2 has a more robust interface/customization than Mintty. I really like the transparency and color mapping options.
Do This:
just copy ur mysql.exe from C:\Program Files\MySQL\MySQL Server 5.5\bin
paste this mysql.exe in C:\cygwin\usr\local\bin
now run which mysql, It will
Disclaimer: The following solved this issue for me under MinTTY on MinGW/MSYS. From research, I believe this same root cause affects Cygwin as well.
Answer is posted here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/23164362/1034436
In a nutshell, you'll need to prepend your mysql command with winpty's console.exe (or have aliases that does so). This solution worked with native Windows MySQL executables and not a special cygwin/mingw build. You do, however, have to compile winpty, but that was simple and painless, and worked as per their documentation for me.
Note: This also solved my issue with several other native Windows console applications, namely Python and Mercurial with OpenSSH.
Reinstall cygwin and during reinstallation search for mysql in packages, install the mysql client and then it would work fine.
Found this question today 2018-03-18 looking for some answers to
ERROR 2002 (HY000): Can't connect to local MySQL server through socket '/var/run/mysql.sock' (2 "No such file or directory")
The file /etc/my.conf references config files in /etc/my.cnf.d
I added this to /etc/my.cnf.d/client.cnf:
[client]
host=127.0.0.1
protocol=tcp
After that I was able to access the local windows MySQL instance from a cygwin terminal using mysql -u root -p