I have successfully installed apache+php+mysql on my linode, however I am a little unsure has to how to change the root password for the SQL server (or add other accounts for that matter).

Does anybody have any insight?

Simple answer:

shell_prompt> mysql -u root
mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR ''@'localhost' = PASSWORD('new_password');
mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR ''@'my_host_name' = PASSWORD('newpassword');

Check here - http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/Default_privileges.html - for the definitive answer.

Before you set the passwords, you need to have run the setup program (mysql_install_db) to build and initialse the grant tables Some distros (notably RedHat) run mysql_install_db during the install, some leave it to you to do it later (for example - Gentoo). Guidance here - http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/Unix_post-installation.html

_________________
/ Peter

It's not working for some reason. I keep getting:



Any ideas?

Edit: Oh yes, that's using the command:

Looks like it's trying to use a password even though you have not specified the '-p' option. You cound have a password set in /etc/my.cnf or ~/.my.cnf (or whatever it is on your system).

Try:

shell_prompt> mysql -u root -p

But just press [return] at the password prompt.

Thanks buddy, good thinking