[debian-mysql] Bug#915130: mariadb-server-10.1: mariadb ignores debconf value root_password

[Yannik Sembritzki]

Package: mariadb-server-10.1
Version: 10.1.37-0+deb9u1
Severity: normal

Dear Maintainer,

it used to be possible to specify a root password pre-installation by
setting the debconf value root_password and root_password again like
this:

debconf-set-selections <<< "mysql-server mysql-server/root_password password secret"
debconf-set-selections <<< "mysql-server mysql-server/root_password_again password secret"

However, the password is not being set:
+-----------+------+----------+-------------+
| Host      | User | Password | plugin      |
+-----------+------+----------+-------------+
| localhost | root |          | unix_socket |
+-----------+------+----------+-------------+

I have purged all mariadb packages (including mysql database files) before trying this.

Using

debconf-set-selections <<< "maria-db-10.1 mysql-server/root_password password secret"
debconf-set-selections <<< "maria-db-10.1 mysql-server/root_password_again password secret"

does not work either (same results as above).

Instructions regarding the root_password debconf value are still present
in the package control/postinst file, however I have not found out yet
why this functionality is broken in this version.

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 9.6
  APT prefers stable
  APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)

Kernel: Linux 4.9.0-8-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=de_DE.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=de_DE.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages mariadb-server-10.1 depends on:
ii  adduser                   3.115
ii  debconf [debconf-2.0]     1.5.61
ii  galera-3                  25.3.19-2
ii  gawk                      1:4.1.4+dfsg-1
ii  init-system-helpers       1.48
ii  iproute2                  4.9.0-1+deb9u1
ii  libaio1                   0.3.110-3
ii  libc6                     2.24-11+deb9u3
ii  libdbi-perl               1.636-1+b1
ii  libpam0g                  1.1.8-3.6
ii  libstdc++6                6.3.0-18+deb9u1
ii  libsystemd0               232-25+deb9u6
ii  lsb-base                  9.20161125
ii  lsof                      4.89+dfsg-0.1
ii  mariadb-client-10.1       10.1.37-0+deb9u1
ii  mariadb-common            10.1.37-0+deb9u1
ii  mariadb-server-core-10.1  10.1.37-0+deb9u1
ii  passwd                    1:4.4-4.1
ii  perl                      5.24.1-3+deb9u5
ii  psmisc                    22.21-2.1+b2
ii  rsync                     3.1.2-1+deb9u1
ii  socat                     1.7.3.1-2+deb9u1
ii  zlib1g                    1:1.2.8.dfsg-5

Versions of packages mariadb-server-10.1 recommends:
ii  libhtml-template-perl  2.95-2

-- debconf information:
  mariadb-server-10.1/nis_warning:
  mariadb-server-10.1/old_data_directory_saved:
  mariadb-server-10.1/postrm_remove_databases: false