A bug exists within mysql-4.0.x that causes the root user to be limited to making 40 connections to the server per hour (not concurrent connections just 40 per hour). It also reports the wrong error when the limit is reached. This bug has been fixed in 4.1 and 5.0 but they didn't back-port the patch to the 4.0 series. Unfortunately I am still stuck with 4.0 for at least a little while longer so I hope that these two patches can be added to the portage version of MySQL. Both patches are posted and discussed in this mysql bug report: http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=9947 Reproducible: Sometimes Steps to Reproduce: 1.Make too many connections to a MySQL 4.0.x server in an hour 2. 3. Actual Results: ERROR 1203: User root has already more than 'max_user_connections' active connections
4.0 isn't supported by upstream anymore, and I'd like to not support it in Gentoo anymore either. Please upgrade.