Debian 13 / Zoneminder 1.38 Installscript => Missing Database password for zmuser

[speefak]

Hello, first of all, many thanks for your work and the new release. I have an installation script:

URL

I used it to install ZoneMinder 1.38 on a Debian 13 system, and I noticed that the installation did not complete cleanly. During the installation, I received a message that the ZoneMinder package was not installed correctly

          zoneminder (1.38.0~20260206.97-trixie) wird eingerichtet ...
          detected systemd
          Detected db service is mariadb.service
          Checking for db
          Db exists.
          Updating permissions for user zmuser@localhost
          DBI connect('database=zm;host=localhost','zmuser',...) failed: Access denied for user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password:
           YES) at /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Database.pm line 115.
          DBI connect('database=zm;host=localhost','zmuser',...) failed: Access denied for user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password:
           YES) at /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Database.pm line 115.
          08.02.2026 09:23:21.047852 zmupdate[8426].ERR [ZoneMinder::Database:119] [Error reconnecting to db: errstr:Access denied fo
          r user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password: YES) error val:]
          08.02.2026 09:23:21.048296 zmupdate[8426].ERR [ZoneMinder::Database:119] [Error reconnecting to db: errstr:Access denied fo
          r user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password: YES) error val:]
          DBI connect('database=zm;host=localhost','zmuser',...) failed: Access denied for user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password:
           YES) at /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Database.pm line 115.
          08.02.2026 09:23:21.049373 zmupdate[8426].ERR [ZoneMinder::Database:119] [Error reconnecting to db: errstr:Access denied fo
          r user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password: YES) error val:]
          Unable to connect to DB. ZM Cannot continue.
          BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Config.pm line 150.
          Compilation failed in require at /usr/bin/zmupdate.pl line 75.
          BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/bin/zmupdate.pl line 75.
          Error updating db. Trying with super-user privileges
          DBI connect('database=zm;host=localhost','zmuser',...) failed: Access denied for user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password:
           YES) at /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Database.pm line 115.
          DBI connect('database=zm;host=localhost','zmuser',...) failed: Access denied for user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password:
           YES) at /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Database.pm line 115.
          08.02.2026 09:23:21.240517 zmupdate[8427].ERR [ZoneMinder::Database:119] [Error reconnecting to db: errstr:Access denied fo
          r user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password: YES) error val:]
          08.02.2026 09:23:21.240936 zmupdate[8427].ERR [ZoneMinder::Database:119] [Error reconnecting to db: errstr:Access denied fo
          r user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password: YES) error val:]
          DBI connect('database=zm;host=localhost','zmuser',...) failed: Access denied for user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password:
           YES) at /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Database.pm line 115.
          08.02.2026 09:23:21.241896 zmupdate[8427].ERR [ZoneMinder::Database:119] [Error reconnecting to db: errstr:Access denied fo
          r user 'zmuser'@'localhost' (using password: YES) error val:]
          Unable to connect to DB. ZM Cannot continue.
          BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/share/perl5/ZoneMinder/Config.pm line 150.
          Compilation failed in require at /usr/bin/zmupdate.pl line 75.
          BEGIN failed--compilation aborted at /usr/bin/zmupdate.pl line 75.
          Failed updating db. Please try manually by running: sudo zmupdate.pl
          dpkg: Fehler beim Bearbeiten des Paketes zoneminder (--configure):
           »installiertes post-installation-Skript des Paketes zoneminder«-Unterprozess gab den Fehlerwert 1 zurück
          Fehler traten auf beim Bearbeiten von:
           zoneminder

It seems that the password for the database user zmuser was either not set or set incorrectly:

I then changed the database password for zmuser as follows (read dbpass from zm.conf file):

ZM_PASS=$(grep '^ZM_DB_PASS=' /etc/zm/zm.conf | sed 's/^ZM_DB_PASS= *//; s/ *$//')
sudo mysql -e "ALTER USER 'zmuser'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY ${ZM_PASS@Q}; FLUSH PRIVILEGES;"

[connortechnology]

What's with the @q?

You have done something weird here. Not much I can help with.

[speefak]

${ZM_PASS@Q} is a Bash feature (since Bash 4.4) that takes the content of the variable ZM_PASS and returns it safely quoted and properly escaped so it can be used inside double quotes in an SQL command.

It automatically:

wraps the value in "
escapes dangerous characters inside (", $, `, \) correctly

Example:

ZM_PASS='abc"def$ghi`123'

Without @q → broken SQL:

IDENTIFIED BY abc"def$ghi`123

With ${ZM_PASS@Q} → correct & safe:

IDENTIFIED BY "abc"def$ghi`123"

Bottom line:

${var@Q} is the modern, recommended way in Bash scripts to safely insert passwords / secrets into SQL commands (or ssh, eval, etc.) without SQL injection or shell quoting problems.
That’s why you see it very often in ZoneMinder install scripts and similar security-sensitive code.

[connortechnology]

Neat. You learn something every day.
Problem remains, you don't have the right credentials in /etc/zm.conf or one of the files in /etc/zm/conf.d.

[speefak]

Try using a simple password like "test123" for testing or setup DB manually => https://speefak.spdns.de/oss_lifestyle/mysql-befehle/