1. Debian Stretch password-less problem and missing debian-sys-maint
Latest installation for MariaDB in Debian Stretch leaves installation without root password and without debian-sys-maint user.
This is problematic because:
- Having no MySQL root password makes your system weaker.
- It also provides more opportunities to shoot yourself.
At the same time, if you run recommended script to close mysql_secure_installation plus additional recommendations, you endup having a password protected MySQL root but, because there is no debian-sys-maint, it creates problems with scripts like /etc/init.d/mysql and similar that relies on having debian-sys-maint created and fully declared at /etc/mysql/debian.cnf
In essense, closing/securing your MySQL root account implies also creating a debian-sys-maint.
2. How to fix MySQL root password-less and debian-sys-maint with Core-Admin
Update your installation and run the following script:
crad-update.pyc -u
crad-update.pyc -g
crad-mysql-server-install.pyc
It will ask for root password. Enter the one that was already configured or the one you want to configure in the case it is still password-less.