diff --git a/README b/README
index dde3203..f0ef1ed 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ installed, specifically it must have nagios::plugin::deploy functionality.
 
 You will need to have activated storedconfigs on the puppetmaster.
 
+You need to ensure that the PATH environment variable contains the appropriate
+directories else the root password will not be set correctly to the requested
+value. Since the variable is empty by default when running puppet, you need to
+have something similar to this somewhere in your manifests:
+
+    Exec { path => '/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin' }
+
 Special Notes
 =============
 
diff --git a/files/scripts/CentOS/setmysqlpass.sh b/files/scripts/CentOS/setmysqlpass.sh
index 01d8fbf..b643edb 100644
--- a/files/scripts/CentOS/setmysqlpass.sh
+++ b/files/scripts/CentOS/setmysqlpass.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,26 @@
 
 test -f /root/.my.cnf || exit 1
 
+must_have ()
+{
+    # Here, using "which" would not be appropriate since it also depends on
+    # PATH being set correctly. The type builtin command is unaffected by the
+    # environment.
+    type $1 >/dev/null
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+        echo "Command '$1' not found, did you correctly set PATH ? Its current value is: $PATH" >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+}
+
+# Since this script is doing something rather unsafe with the database, we want
+# to be really careful to have all the necessary tools before doing anything so
+# that we don't end up in an inconsistent state.
+must_have sleep
+must_have mysql
+must_have killall
+must_have chown
+
 rootpw=$(grep password /root/.my.cnf | sed -e 's/^[^=]*= *\(.*\) */\1/')
 
 /sbin/service mysqld stop
diff --git a/files/scripts/Debian/setmysqlpass.sh b/files/scripts/Debian/setmysqlpass.sh
index f7d5357..f4ebee6 100644
--- a/files/scripts/Debian/setmysqlpass.sh
+++ b/files/scripts/Debian/setmysqlpass.sh
@@ -2,6 +2,27 @@
 
 test -f /root/.my.cnf || exit 1
 
+must_have ()
+{
+    # Here, using "which" would not be appropriate since it also depends on
+    # PATH being set correctly. The type builtin command is unaffected by the
+    # environment.
+    type $1 >/dev/null
+    if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+        echo "Command '$1' not found, did you correctly set PATH ? Its current value is: $PATH" >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+}
+
+# Since this script is doing something rather unsafe with the database, we want
+# to be really careful to have all the necessary tools before doing anything so
+# that we don't end up in an inconsistent state.
+must_have sleep
+must_have mysql
+must_have killall
+must_have ls
+must_have chown
+
 rootpw=$(grep password /root/.my.cnf | sed -e 's/^[^=]*= *\(.*\) */\1/')
 
 /etc/init.d/mysql stop