Dave Howorth wrote:
> I'm trying to upgrade DBD::mysql and having trouble with the anonymous
> user for the test database. When I run the install the tests fail with
> messages like:
>
> DBI connect('test','',...) failed: Access denied for user:
> 'root@localhost' (Using password: NO) at t/50chopblanks.t line 57
> Cannot connect: Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using
> password: NO)
Look at the error message. The tests are attempting to log into mysql as user
root@localhost with no password.
<snip>
> According to the mysql manual:
>
> "The DBD::mysql installation runs a number of tests. These tests require
> being able to connect to the local MySQL server as the anonymous user
> with no password. If you have removed anonymous accounts or assigned
> them passwords, the tests fail."
This is from <http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/perl-installation.html>.
The manual is wrong. By default, the tests do not specify the user or
password. With neither specified, mysql will use defaults. If the current
unix user (when using CPAN, this is usually root, as in your case) exists as
user@localhost in mysql, that is the default. If user@localhost does not
exist, then the anonymous user, ''@localhost, is the next option, if it exists.
> I haven't changed the anonymous user accounts AFAIK. I did add some
> extra accounts. My mysql.user table looks like this:
>
> mysql> select host,user,password,select_priv from user;
> +--------------------+----------------+------------------+-------------+
> | host | user | password | select_priv |
> +--------------------+----------------+------------------+-------------+
> | localhost | root | 5b3e0551192fc0ec | Y |
> | suse3.lmb.internal | root | 5b3e0551192fc0ec | Y |
> | localhost | | | N |
> | suse3.lmb.internal | | | N |
> | % | test | 378b243e220ca493 | N |
> | % | test@localhost | 378b243e220ca493 | N |
> | localhost | test | 378b243e220ca493 | N |
> +--------------------+----------------+------------------+-------------+
> 7 rows in set (0.00 sec)
The next to last row, user = test@localhost, host = %, makes no sense and
should probably be dropped. I'd also recommend reconsidering whether you
really need test@%, from a security standpoint. If you do need an external
test user, you may still be able to restrict the hosts from which test can
connect to something less than every machine in the world. Also, as you've
gone to the trouble of creating a test user, you should consider whether you
really need the anonymous user anymore. I think most of us delete the
anonymous user accounts at the same time as we give root a password, again for
security reasons. Passwordless access to mysql just doesn't seem safe.
> There's also a user comment on the mysql manual:
>
> "Note that if you've been a good doobie and already changed the root
> password then the DBD::mysql tests will fail."
This is accurate, but fixable. You run CPAN as root (needed for the install
part), so the tests default to connecting as root@localhost. You need to
override that default to make the tests work.
> This fits my circumstances; I have indeed given root a password and a
> .my.cnf file. I don't want to take it away again - it seems pretty
> tedious if I have to change root's password every time I want to upgrade
> modules that use mysql.
>
> Is the user comment correct and if so, is there anything I can do to
> make test installation work as normal? I don't understand why changing
> root's password affects the anonymous user.
It doesn't, but you aren't using the anonymous user.
<snip>
Dave Howorth also wrote:
> Jochen Wiedmann wrote:
>
>> On 6/21/05, Dave Howorth <dhoworth@stripped> wrote:
>>
>>> No. I should have mentioned that I'm using CPANPLUS for the install so
>>> there's no opportunity to interact. If I run the tests manually, I can
>>> edit mysql.mtest to the user 'test' that I added, but I don't understand
>>> why the default CPAN installation isn't working. I thought it was all
>>> supposed to default to the anonymous user?
>>
>> There is a possibility to interact, which was designed spefically with
>> CPAN installations in mind: Write your own "mysqlconfig". Should be
>> documented in the INSTALL section.
>
> Well after having cpan run and then going back and investigating what
> went wrong, you can change something. But mysql_config is already
> installed in /usr/bin by SuSE so that's not really something that should
> be edited by a user. There should be something elsewhere in a
> user-alterable part of the file system, which is why I bodged it by
> editing mysql.mtest.
I agree. Editing mysql_config to fix this problem isn't a very good idea.
It's overkill, and it's a maintenance and security headache.
> But my main issue is that none of this should be necessary. It should
> just install automatically using the default mysql anonymous accounts.
> Why is that not working?
DBD::mysql has always been a pain to install via CPAN. If you install it
manually, you are prompted for a valid mysql user and password to use to
access the test db, but CPAN doesn't prompt you, leaving those options set to
their defaults (undef). Fortunately, the defaults can be altered via command
line switches to `perl Makefile.PL`, and there is a way to set those in CPAN.
First, you need to enter
cpan> o conf makepl_arg "--testuser=test --testpass=passwd"
(substituting the real password for test@localhost in place of "paswd"). Then
enter
cpan> install DBD::mysql
Now the test scripts should connect as test@localhost using the correct
password, so you should get valid test results.
I haven't used CPANPLUS much yet, so I'm not sure how to accomplish this there.
> Thanks and regards,
> Dave
Michael
