MariaDB - cannot login as root : <p>I am trying to setup MariaDB (10.0.29) on Ubuntu (16.04.02). After I installed it and started the process (<code>sudo service mysql start</code>), I cannot login as <code>root</code> even though I originally set the password to blank.</p>

<p>Ie <code>mysql -u root</code> will deny me access. I logged in through <code>sudo mysql</code> and checked the user table, ie. <code>select user, password, authentication_string from mysql.user</code> and as expected:</p>

<pre><code>+---------+----------+-----------------------+ 
| User    | password | authentication_string |
+---------+----------+-----------------------+
| root    |          |                       |
+---------+----------+-----------------------+
</code></pre>

<p>I also created a new user, ie. <code>create user 'test'@'localhost' identified by '';</code> and when I try to do <code>mysql -u test</code> (empty password), it works as expected and logs me in.</p>

<p>The user table looks like this:</p>

<pre><code>+---------+----------+-----------------------+
| User    | password | authentication_string |
+---------+----------+-----------------------+
| root    |          |                       |
| test    |          |                       |
+---------+----------+-----------------------+
</code></pre>

<p>So, can anyone tell me why I cannot login as <code>root</code> with empty password but I can login as <code>test</code>?</p>
