ERROR 1045 (28000): Access denied for user 'debian-sys-maint'@'localhost' (using password: YES)

The problem is that your init scripts use debian-sys-maint, and that record in the db is either gone or changed.

You need to put it back.

 1.
    Kill off all running mysql processes
 2.
    Get the password from /etc/mysql/debian.cnf
 3.
    sudo mysqld –skip-grant-tables –user=root
 4.
    UPDATE mysql.user SET Password = PASSWORD('thepassword') WHERE User = 'debian-sys-maint';
 5.
    quit out, then restart mysql. This can also be handy for setting/resetting the mysql root user pass