#1698 - Access denied for user 'root'@'localhost'

sudo mysql --user=root mysql

CREATE USER 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost' IDENTIFIED BY 'some_pass';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'phpmyadmin'@'localhost' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

CREATE USER 'phpmyadmin'@'%' IDENTIFIED BY 'some_pass';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'phpmyadmin'@'%' WITH GRANT OPTION;
FLUSH PRIVILEGES;

# dbc_dbuser: database user
#       the name of the user who we will use to connect to the database.
dbc_dbuser='phpmyadmin'

# dbc_dbpass: database user password
#       the password to use with the above username when connecting
#       to a database, if one is required
dbc_dbpass='some_pass'

sudo apt-get -y install mariadb-server mariadb-client
sudo mysql_secure_installation (answer to some interactive questions):
    Enter current password for root (enter for none): <enter>
    Set root password: n
    Remove anonymous users: n
    Disallow root login remotely: n
    Remove test database and access to it: n
    Reload privilege tables now: Y

sudo apt-get purge mysql-server mysql-client mysql-common mysql-server-core-5.5 mysql-client-core-5.5
sudo rm -rf /etc/mysql /var/lib/mysql
sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean

sudo apt-get -y install phpmyadmin (and answer some interactive questions)
    Configuring phpmyadmin:
        Web server to reconfigure automatically: apache2
        Configure database for phpmyadmin with dbconfig-common: Yes
        MySQL application password for phpmyadmin: <blank>

sudo ln -s /etc/phpmyadmin/apache.conf /etc/apache2/conf-available/phpmyadmin.conf
sudo a2enconf phpmyadmin.conf
sudo service apache2 restart

sudo dpkg-reconfigure phpmyadmin
<Ok>
Reinstall database for phpmyadmin: <Yes>
Connection method for MySQL database server for phpmyadmin: TCP/IP
Host name of the MySQL database server for phpmyadmin: localhost
Port number for the MySQL service: 3306
MySQL database name for phpmyadmin: phpmyadmin
<Ok>
MySQL username for phpmyadmin: root
MySQL application password for phpmyadmin: pass  # OR ANY PASSWORD YOU WANT
Password confirmation: pass
Name of the database's administrative user: root
Web server to reconfigure automatically: apache2
An error occurred while installing the database: ignore

username: root
password: pass