mysql update failed to restart the service

Last night my TaoLinux server had updated it's mysql with yum. After the 
update, the service was restarted, which failed due to a timeout, which 
was caused by the startup script failing to use mysqlping due to lack of 
privileges. It seems I encountered this bug

   https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=108779

What is strange, because the update installed last night

   mysql-3.23.58-2.3

is mentioned as a fix for that particular bug:

   http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2004-569.html

I resolved the problem for now by commenting out the mysqlping section 
from the startup script:

--<snip>--
ping="/usr/bin/mysqladmin -uUNKNOWN_MYSQL_USER ping"
#(peter 20041022) removed because ping does not work without passwd
#if !([ -n "`$ping 2> /dev/null`" ]); then
   #echo "Timeout error occurred trying to start MySQL Daemon."
   #action $"Starting $prog: " /bin/false
#else
   action $"Starting $prog: " /bin/true
#fi
--</snip>--

Now mysql starts ok, but I'd like to know how to repair the startup 
script properly, as mysqlping does not seem to work with dummy or real 
users without passwords:

   /usr/bin/mysqladmin -uUNKNOWN_MYSQL_USER ping
   /usr/bin/mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
   error: 'Access denied for user: 'UNKNOWN_MYSQL_USER@localhost' (Using
   password: NO)'
   /usr/bin/mysqladmin -uroot ping
   /usr/bin/mysqladmin: connect to server at 'localhost' failed
   error: 'Access denied for user: 'root@localhost' (Using password: NO)'
   /usr/bin/mysqladmin -uroot -p ping
   Enter password:
   mysqld is alive

Should I create a dummy account for just this purpose? This is a bit 
scary, as the password must be give with the mysqlping command as a 
paramter. But if so, what kind of privileges should I give the user?


Regards,
Peter