First, shutdown the MySQL database and login as the root user on your Gentoo system.

/etc/init.d/mysql stop

After that you have to start MySQL in a way that ignores the current grant tables. Grant tables are used to authorise access to users.

mysqld --skip-grant-tables

Now, reset the root password

mysqladmin -u root flush-privileges password "newpwd"
mysqladmin -u root -h localhost flush-privileges password "newpwd"

With this brand new password set, shutdown MySQL.

mysqladmin -u root -p shutdown

Now it's time to bring your MySQL server back up for production use. You should never leave your server running with --skip-grant-tables enabled for that is a big security risk!

/etc/init.d/mysql start

That's all. Now don't forget your root password again. And if you do, you know where to find the tutorial on how to fix it.

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