mysql connect problems

[John DeStefano]

I wanted to give a try at enhancing my knowledge and improving my Web
server/sites by adding blog (Mobile Type) and wiki (MediaWIki)
applications.  If you've ever tried to install/configure either of
these two apps on FreeBSD, perhaps you already know the frustration
I've met over the past 24 hours: multiple dependencies, modules,
untold configurations, etc., especially in the case of Mobile Type. 
In fact, if you've got a better suggestion in either case, I wouldn't
be adverse to scrapping one or both packages and starting from scratch
with something else.

Anyway, after much Googling and tinkering, I made some advances but
seem to have come up against a problem in the vein of a very common
theme: MySQL connections in FreeBSD.  Not that I'm blaming the
operating system; I'm quite aware this is more an 'operator error'
than anything else.  Just appears that a lot of FBSD users just
starting out with MySQL or MySQL-dependent packages run into this.

Neither of the two above-mentioned applications can connect to my
MySQL services (access denied in both cases).  I have created
databases and appropriate users for each, and I've tried to grant the
appropriate permissions.  All that seemed to work, but I still can't
connect properly.

At a prompt, if I try to connect to mysql using the '-p' option like this:
# mysql -u root -p
... I can connect.  But if I try to connect without '-p' like this: 
# mysql -u root
... I get an error:
mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
error: 'Access denied for user: 'root'@'localhost' (Using password: NO)'

>From what I can gather, this has to do with setting passwords for
different aliases or incarnations of the host for a single user
(root).  I've tried every solution I've found for adding additional
connection settings for root (including more than one method for
changing the root password).  When I log into mysql as root, use the
mysql database, and run 'select user, password, host from user;' I see
multiple entries for root for different 'host' values ('localhost',
the actual host name, and '%').

I'd appreciate any help at all with this.  Thanks very much.

~John