I was having the same problems trying to get a user added to a new DB, so
here's are the commands I used:
GRANT INSERT, DELETE, UPDATE, SELECT ON *.* TO @localhost IDENTIFIED
BY '';
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;
where and are whatever you need it to be.
I've never had much luck with % as host, so specify
I haven't read Managing and Using MySQL, but I do own (and read cover to
cover) MySQL and mSQL. While it's not a bad book, it's definitely not
for anyone wanting to do anything serious. It's about 460 pages that
covers *two* databases, plus references for half a dozen APIs, which
means they skim m