Cannot connect to MySQL 4.1+ using old authenticat

Question

I'm trying to connect to a mySQL database at http://bluesql.net, but when I try to connect, it gives this error:

Connect Error (2000) mysqlnd cannot connect to MySQL 4.1+ using old authentication

I've looked into this, and it has to do with some old password scheme used before MySQL 4.1. Newer versions have the option to use old passwords, which I've read may cause this problem.

I'm running php 5.3, and connecting with mySQLi (new mysqli(...)). I'm hoping I can do something in the code to connect to the DB at bluesql.net - clearly I don't control how their database is set up. Downgrading php versions isn't an option.

Anyone have any ideas?

Answer 1

If you do not have control of the server

I just had this issue, and was able to work around it.

First, connect to the MySQL database with an older client that doesn't mind old_passwords. Connect using the user that your script will be using.

Run these queries:

SET SESSION old_passwords=FALSE;
SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('[your password]');

In your PHP script, change your mysql_connect function to include the client flag 1:

define('CLIENT_LONG_PASSWORD', 1);
mysql_connect('[your server]', '[your username]', '[your password]', false, CLIENT_LONG_PASSWORD);

This allowed me to connect successfully.

Edit: as per Garland Pope's comment, it may not be necessary to set CLIENT_LONG_PASSWORD manually any more in your PHP code as of PHP 5.4!

Edit: courtesy of Antonio Bonifati, a PHP script to run the queries for you:

<?php const DB = [ 'host' => '...', # localhost may not work on some hosting 
    'user' => '...',
    'pwd' => '...', ]; 

if (!mysql_connect(DB['host'], DB['user'], DB['pwd'])) {
    die(mysql_error());
} if (!mysql_query($query = 'SET SESSION old_passwords=FALSE')) {
    die($query);
} if (!mysql_query($query = "SET PASSWORD = PASSWORD('" . DB['pwd'] . "')")) {
    die($query);
}

echo "Excellent, mysqli will now work"; 
?>