[TriLUG] mysql root pw with non-interactive lamp server install?

[Tom Barron]

I'm doing an automated, non-interactive LAMP server install on ubuntu
karmic using the command:

  % sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -q -y install lamp-server^
  
The '^' at the end effects a tasksel interaction and the
DEBIAN_FRONTEND setting runs the whole thing in batch without any popup
screens.

Now the next things I want to do is:

   1. set the mysql root server root password
   2. make a database for my web server
   3. set up a mysql admin user for that database
   
I hit a snag at (1) since there already appears to be a mysql root
password set and I don't know what it is.  'mysql -u root' fails with

ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost' (using password: NO)

And 'mysql -u root -p' fails because I don't know the password that
was set.

Anyone know the way out of this conundrum?

Thanks,

- Tom