[Koha] Difficulties getting 17.05.01 to talk with MariaDB under Mint 18.1

Sat Jul 1 01:59:02 NZST 2017

And, it is fairly unwise to have a blank root password on a production 
server.  The rood user should actually only be used for administration.  
You should have a different mysql user for each database (one for 
wordpress, one for Koha, one for Moodle, etc.)

I do not know if the issue below gets rectified if there is a root 
password, or what.  But, if you do use a user other than root as your 
Koha mysql user, then it also solves the problem.  And it is much more 
secure and better practice.

And, as Fridolin Somers wrote, we should not be using root as the mysql 
user.  His answer should be marked as the correct one.  All my answer 
did was to allow you to set up an insecure setup, though it had the 
side-effect of getting your stuff working.  That is what happens when 
you focus more on answering the question as-stated instead of giving the 
correct answer.  (Thanks, Fridolin)

So, the question is whether or not the Koha documentation (or the 
process you were following) specifies that you should use a user other 
than root.  It might imply that, but it might be good to state that 
directly.  "In some distros, the root user is also protected against 
being used unwisely by using plugins, thus encouraging the use of an 
alternate mysql user.  While you can disable the plugin and allow root 
access by non-root users, it is still best practice to create a mysql 
user specifically for Koha."

Something along those lines, and then having instructions for setting 
that information when koha is instantiated.  It has been a bit since I 
did that last, but if I remember correctly, you need to put all that in 
the "alternate password" file?

     - Tim

On 6/30/2017 8:32 AM, Fridolin SOMERS wrote:
> You should not use MariaDB root user for Koha but create a dedicated 
> user, usually kohaadmin.
> Indeed, MariaDB root user has no password, like system root user as no 
> password in Linux Mint/Ubuntu
>
> Regards,
>
> Le 30/06/2017 à 13:22, C.J.S. Hayward a écrit :
>> Thank you; worked like a charm!
>>
>> I quoted your email in a comment for breadacrumb purposes. Stupid 
>> question:
>> In Bugzilla, if a defect is essentially resolved by stated 
>> workaround, what
>> is the appropriate resolution? None of the suboptions for "Resolved" 
>> seemed
>> to match giving a workaround.
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 29, 2017 at 8:56 PM, Tim Young <Tim.Young at lightsys.org> 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> This sounds like it is because of an odd "feature" of mysql which is 
>>> not
>>> always present.
>>>
>>> This page: https://askubuntu.com/questions/766334/cant-login-as-mysql-
>>> user-root-from-normal-user-account-in-ubuntu-16-04
>>>
>>> with the answer from "Todor", explains that mysql will change over to
>>> using an auth_socket "plugin."  So, instead of using password
>>> authentication, part of the permission is blocked by unix file-level
>>> permissions.
>>>
>>> The simple solution:
>>>
>>>     sudo mysql -u root
>>>     update mysql.user set plugin = 'mysql_native_password' where
>>> User='root';
>>>     FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
>>>
>>> Then you should be able to connect up as root even if you are not a 
>>> root
>>> user.
>>>
>>> After that, you should be able to run the script.
>>>
>>>      - Tim
>>>
>>>
>>> On 6/29/2017 10:10 AM, C.J.S. Hayward wrote:
>>>
>>>> I posted 
>>>> https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=18852
>>>> and
>>>> Katrin encouraged me to post to the list where it might get more
>>>> attention.
>>>>
>>>> My bug description, very lightly reformatted, is:
>>>>
>>>> As of 17.05.01, I was told there were reports of successful
>>>> installations. However, I have not been able to reproduce such.
>>>>
>>>> I had earlier made a couple of attempts to add Koha to a multipurpose
>>>> appliance, and that remains my end goal. However, when I tried to back
>>>> up, I saw the same issue verbatim.
>>>>
>>>> What I have done today was:
>>>>
>>>> Download a fresh Linux Mint 18.1 ISO.
>>>>
>>>> Build a VirtualBox VM with the ISO, with mostly default features and
>>>> with third-party addons, and also enabling auto-login, but in general
>>>> intended to be a plain vanilla install.
>>>>
>>>> Rebooted; installed Chrome and touched /etc/sudoers, ran "aptitude
>>>> update"; ran "aptitude upgrade", installed MariaDB, and rebooted
>>>> again.
>>>>
>>>> Followed the steps, including a couple of a2enmod enablings, and
>>>> created a virtual site.
>>>>
>>>> I was able to edit passwords in /etc/koha/.../koha-conf.xml, and enter
>>>> the web setup wizard.
>>>>
>>>> However, I experienced identical output from the installer: at a
>>>> certain point, it says:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Software error:
>>>>
>>>> DBIx::Class::Storage::DBI::catch {...} (): DBI Connection failed:
>>>> Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' at
>>>> /usr/share/perl5/DBIx/Class/Storage/DBI.pm line 1492. at
>>>> /usr/share/koha/lib/Koha/Database.pm line 100
>>>>
>>>> For help, please send mail to the webmaster ([no address given]),
>>>> giving this error message and the time and date of the error.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I am having difficulties with MariaDB and my difficulties may be
>>>> contributing to the problem.
>>>>
>>>> My understanding, as inherited from MySQL, is that "mysql -uroot -p",
>>>> for any account that will run it, will check a password and, if you
>>>> have root's password set, will let you into the MySQL root command
>>>> line if and only if you type the password exactly.
>>>>
>>>> The behavior I have observed is that as root "mysql -uroot" does not
>>>> prompt for a password, but just logs you in, and "mysql -uroot -p"
>>>> prompts for a password, but will accept any password, the empty
>>>> password included. However, from an unprivileged account, "mysql
>>>> -uroot -p" prompts for a password, but none of the passwords I've
>>>> tried have worked; I've tried and used values as set in my customized
>>>> koha-conf.xml, and every single password is rejected.
>>>>
>>>> I believe that this command line behavior is a symptom of the same
>>>> problem quoted above: permission is being denied for user
>>>> 'root'@'localhost' where the action in question would be permitted for
>>>> any account with UID 0 and no account with any other UID.
>>>>
>>>> Again, this is after the 17.05.01 release, where it was reported to me
>>>> that some people have had success. The system setup shows a couple of
>>>> my personal idiosyncracies, but is meant to be awfully close to a
>>>> procedure of "Step 1: Create a new Linux Mint VM. Step 2: Install
>>>> Koha." The behavior is the same between the fresh new VM running
>>>> 17.05.01, and an "everything but the kitchen sink" multitool of an
>>>> appliance.
>>>>
>>>> What can I do to let Koha talk to MariaDB as 'root'@'localhost'?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>>>
>>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Koha mailing list  http://koha-community.org
>>> Koha at lists.katipo.co.nz
>>> https://lists.katipo.co.nz/mailman/listinfo/koha
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>