Comment 6 for bug 674413

Adding the debian-sys-maint user by hand fixed most of my problems:
==== Maria commands
version for the right syntax to use near '-sys-maint@localhost identified by 'j8KmNWOAiZuPbnfr'' at line 1
MariaDB [(none)]> grant all on *.* to 'debian-sys-maint'@localhost identified by 'j8KmNWOAiZuPbnfr';
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

MariaDB [(none)]> exit
Bye
db:~# /etc/init.d/mysql stop
Stopping MariaDB database server: mysqld.
db:~# tail /var/log/syslog
Nov 12 22:07:30 db mysqld: 101112 22:07:30 [Warning] Access denied for user 'debian-sys-maint'@'localhost' (using password: NO)
Nov 12 22:10:01 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:01 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld: Normal shutdown
Nov 12 22:10:01 db mysqld:
Nov 12 22:10:01 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:01 [Note] Event Scheduler: Purging the queue. 0 events
Nov 12 22:10:03 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:03 InnoDB: Starting shutdown...
Nov 12 22:10:07 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:07 InnoDB: Shutdown completed; log sequence number 45356
Nov 12 22:10:07 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:07 [Note] PrimeBase XT Engine shutdown...
Nov 12 22:10:07 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:07 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld: Shutdown complete
Nov 12 22:10:07 db mysqld:
Nov 12 22:10:07 db mysqld_safe: mysqld from pid file /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid ended
db:~# /etc/init.d/mysql start
Starting MariaDB database server: mysqld . ..
Checking for corrupt, not cleanly closed and upgrade needing tables..
db:~# tail /var/log/syslog

==== Syslog output
Nov 12 22:10:51 db mysqld_safe: Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /var/lib/mysql
Nov 12 22:10:51 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:51 [Warning] options --log-slow-admin-statements, --log-queries-not-using-indexes and --log-slow-slave-statements have no effect if --log_slow_queries is not set
Nov 12 22:10:51 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:51 [Note] PrimeBase XT (PBXT) Engine 1.0.11-7 Pre-GA loaded...
Nov 12 22:10:51 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:51 [Note] Paul McCullagh, PrimeBase Technologies GmbH, http://www.primebase.org
Nov 12 22:10:52 db mysqld: InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
Nov 12 22:10:52 db mysqld: InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use GCC atomic builtins
Nov 12 22:10:52 db mysqld: InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3
Nov 12 22:10:52 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:52 InnoDB: highest supported file format is Barracuda.
Nov 12 22:10:52 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:52 Percona XtraDB (http://www.percona.com) 1.0.12-12.1 started; log sequence number 45356
Nov 12 22:10:52 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:52 [Note] Event Scheduler: Loaded 0 events
Nov 12 22:10:52 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:52 [Note] /usr/sbin/mysqld: ready for connections.
Nov 12 22:10:52 db mysqld: Version: '5.2.3-MariaDB-mariadb87-log' socket: '/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock' port: 3306 (MariaDB - http://mariadb.com/)
Nov 12 22:10:53 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2871]: Upgrading MySQL tables if necessary.
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:54 [Warning] Statement may not be safe to log in statement format. Statement: ALTER TABLE general_log
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY event_time TIMESTAMP NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY user_host MEDIUMTEXT NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY thread_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY server_id INTEGER UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY command_type VARCHAR(64) NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY argument MEDIUMTEXT NOT NULL
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: 101112 22:10:54 [Warning] Statement may not be safe to log in statement format. Statement: ALTER TABLE slow_log
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY start_time TIMESTAMP NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY user_host MEDIUMTEXT NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY query_time TIME NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY lock_time TIME NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY rows_sent INTEGER NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY rows_examined INTEGER NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY db VARCHAR(512) NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY last_insert_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY insert_id INTEGER NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY server_id INTEGER UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
Nov 12 22:10:54 db mysqld: MODIFY sql_text MEDIUMTEXT NOT NULL
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: /usr/bin/mysql_upgrade: the '--basedir' option is always ignored
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: Looking for 'mysql' as: /usr/bin/mysql
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: Looking for 'mysqlcheck' as: /usr/bin/mysqlcheck
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: Phase 1/3: Fixing table and database names
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: Processing databases
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: information_schema
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: Phase 2/3: Checking and upgrading tables
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: Processing databases
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: information_schema
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.columns_priv OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.db OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.event OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.func OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.help_category OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.help_keyword OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.help_relation OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.help_topic OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.host OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.ndb_binlog_index OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.plugin OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.proc OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.procs_priv OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.servers OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.tables_priv OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.time_zone OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.time_zone_leap_second OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.time_zone_name OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.time_zone_transition OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.time_zone_transition_type OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: mysql.user OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: Phase 3/3: Running 'mysql_fix_privilege_tables'...
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2875]: OK
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2890]: Checking for insecure root accounts.
Nov 12 22:10:54 db /etc/mysql/debian-start[2894]: Triggering myisam-recover for all MyISAM tables
db:~#