mysql root account stopped working

[Viktor Rosenfeld <rosenfel@informatik.hu-berlin.de>]

Hello,

yesterday's `apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade` broke mysql.  I
used to have the root account passwordless, but now this doesn't work
anymore.  mysql -u root is giving me

	ERROR 1045: Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using
	password: NO)

and on shutdown I get

	Stopping MySQL database server: mysqld/usr/bin/mysqladmin:
	connect to server at
	'localhost' failed
	error: 'Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using
	password: NO)'
	...failed
	        You don't seem to have the right password in
		/root/.my.cnf
		Killing MySQL database server by signal: mysqld.
		
This will prevent a clean system shutdown, too.

Is there an new option, that prevents passwordless root accounts or has
the interpretation of the host table recently changed?

Thanks,
Viktor
-- 
Viktor Rosenfeld
WWW: http://www.informatik.hu-berlin.de/~rosenfel/