(mysql.info.gz) User names

(mysql.info.gz) User Account Management
 
 5.6.1 MySQL Usernames and Passwords
 -----------------------------------
 
 A MySQL account is defined in terms of a username and the client host
 or hosts from which the user can connect to the server. The account
 also has a password.  There are several distinctions between the way
 usernames and passwords are used by MySQL and the way they are used by
 your operating system:
 
    * Usernames, as used by MySQL for authentication purposes, have
      nothing to do with usernames (login names) as used by Windows or
      Unix.  On Unix, most MySQL clients by default try to log in using
      the current Unix username as the MySQL username, but that is for
      convenience only. The default can be overridden easily, because
      client programs allow any username to be specified with a `-u' or
      `--user' option. Because this means that anyone can attempt to
      connect to the server using any username, you can't make a
      database secure in any way unless all MySQL accounts have
      passwords.  Anyone who specifies a username for an account that
      has no password will be able to connect successfully to the server.
 
    * MySQL usernames can be up to 16 characters long. Operating system
      usernames might have a different maximum length. For example, Unix
      usernames typically are limited to eight characters.
 
    * MySQL passwords have nothing to do with passwords for logging in
      to your operating system.  There is no necessary connection
      between the password you use to log in to a Windows or Unix
      machine and the password you use to access the MySQL server on
      that machine.
 
    * MySQL encrypts passwords using its own algorithm. This encryption
      is different from that used during the Unix login process.  MySQL
      password encryption is the same as that implemented by the
      `PASSWORD()' SQL function.  Unix password encryption is the same
      as that implemented by the `ENCRYPT()' SQL function.  See the
      descriptions of the `PASSWORD()' and `ENCRYPT()' functions in
       Encryption functions.  From version 4.1 on, MySQL employs
      a stronger authentication method that has better password
      protection during the connection process than in earlier versions.
      It is secure even if TCP/IP packets are sniffed or the `mysql'
      database is captured.  (In earlier versions, even though passwords
      are stored in encrypted form in the `user' table, knowledge of the
      encrypted password value could be used to connect to the MySQL
      server.)
 
 
 When you install MySQL, the grant tables are populated with an initial
 set of accounts. These accounts have names and access privileges that
 are described in  Default privileges, which also discusses how
 to assign passwords to them.  Thereafter, you normally set up, modify,
 and remove MySQL accounts using the `GRANT' and `REVOKE' statements.
  `GRANT' GRANT.
 
 When you connect to a MySQL server with a command-line client, you
 should specify the username and password for the account that you want
 to use:
 
      shell> mysql --user=monty --password=GUESS DB_NAME
 
 If you prefer short options, the command looks like this:
 
      shell> mysql -u monty -pGUESS DB_NAME
 
 There must be _no space_ between the `-p' option and the following
 password value.   Connecting.
 
 The preceding commands include the password value on the command line,
 which can be a security risk.   Password security.  To avoid
 this, specify the `--password' or `-p' option without any following
 password value:
 
      shell> mysql --user=monty --password DB_NAME
      shell> mysql -u monty -p DB_NAME
 
 Then the client program will print a prompt and wait for you to enter
 the password.  (In these examples, DB_NAME is _not_ interpreted as a
 password, because it is separated from the preceding password option by
 a space.)
 
 On some systems, the library call that MySQL uses to prompt for a
 password automatically limits the password to eight characters.  That
 is a problem with the system library, not with MySQL.  Internally,
 MySQL doesn't have any limit for the length of the password.  To work
 around the problem, change your MySQL password to a value that is eight
 or fewer characters long, or put your password in an option file.
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