mysql_upgrade man, and upgrade/install info missing manditory information

[Chris H]

Greetings,
 I recently performed an upgrade/update, which required upgrading mysql-server from
mysql-server-5.5.30 --> mysql-server-5.5.32. At the end of the process, the message
indicated it was necessary to perform mysql_ugrade(1). Doing so, led to the following:
mysql_upgrade -u root --verbose
Looking for 'mysql' as: mysql
Looking for 'mysqlcheck' as: mysqlcheck
FATAL ERROR: Upgrade failed

_extremely_ informative -- no?
So what to do? A quick check of the server, and the databases indicate all appear to
normal. Conclusion; dismiss the mysql_upgrade(1) as being broken, and forget about it.
The man(1) pages reveal nothing pertinent, in fact they are essentially the same page
as: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/mysql-upgrade.html
with one _major_ exception; the user comments at the end. In particular; the one at
the end:
mysql_upgrade -u root -p

The -p makes all the difference. But unlike:
mysql -u root add
ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
The omission of the -p does _not_ provide an informative error, as mysql, and all
of it's other utilities _do_.
Please make references to this in both the mysql_upgrade(1) man(1) page && the
install/upgrade message emitted at the end of the install/upgrade.
Additional reference: http://forums.freebsd.org/showthread.php?t=40884

Thank you for all your time, and consideration.

--chris