MySQL 5.7 : no more password column!

Maintaining a project like MySQL::Sandbox is sometimes tiring, but it has its advantages. One of them is that everything related to the server setup comes to my attention rather earlier than if I were an average DBA or developer.

I try to keep MySQL Sandbox up to date with every release of MySQL and (to a lesser extent) MariaDB [1]. For this reason, I am used to trying a new release with MySQL Sandbox, and … seeing it fail.

Of the latest changes in MySQL, probably the most disruptive was what happened in MySQL 5.7.6, where the mysql.user table lost the password column.

Yep. No ‘password’ column anymore. And just to make the setup procedure harder, the syntax of SET PASSWORD was changed, and deprecated.

Previously, I could run:

mysql [localhost] {msandbox} (mysql) > select version();  
+-----------+  
| version() |  
+-----------+  
| 5.6.25    |  
+-----------+  
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql [localhost] {msandbox} (mysql) > select host,user,password from user;  
+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+  
| host      | user        | password                                  |  
+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+  
| localhost | root        | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| 127.%     | msandbox    | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| localhost | msandbox    | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| localhost | msandbox_rw | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| 127.%     | msandbox_rw | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| 127.%     | msandbox_ro | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| localhost | msandbox_ro | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| 127.%     | rsandbox    | *B07EB15A2E7BD9620DAE47B194D5B9DBA14377AD |  
+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+  
8 rows in set (0.00 sec)

In the latest releases, though, this fails.

mysql [localhost] {msandbox} (mysql) > select version();  
+-----------+  
| version() |  
+-----------+  
| 5.7.8-rc  |  
+-----------+  
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql [localhost] {msandbox} (mysql) > select host,user,password from user;  
ERROR 1054 (42S22): Unknown column 'password' in 'field list'

Instead of a password column (which was CHAR(41)), we have now an authentication_string column of type TEXT.

+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+  
| host      | user        | authentication_string                     |  
+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+  
| localhost | root        | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| 127.%     | msandbox    | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| localhost | msandbox    | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| localhost | msandbox_rw | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| 127.%     | msandbox_rw | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| 127.%     | msandbox_ro | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| localhost | msandbox_ro | *6C387FC3893DBA1E3BA155E74754DA6682D04747 |  
| 127.%     | rsandbox    | *B07EB15A2E7BD9620DAE47B194D5B9DBA14377AD |  
+-----------+-------------+-------------------------------------------+

Fixing MySQL Sandbox to handle this issue and to be at the same time compatible with previous releases was quite challenging, but in the end I did it. Recent versions of the sandbox can handle all the releases from Oracle, Percona, and MariaDB without showing hiccups.

So, for testing, the issue is solved. Now comes the hard part: when thousands of database administration procedures will break down for lack of the password column. To all the DBAs and database developers out there: good luck!

---

1. 
   

   It is my pleasure to disclose that MariaDB 10.1 runs in MySQL Sandbox 3.0.55+, with only minimal changes.  ↩