Hi,
see how Pair asks users to install and configure phpMyAdmin: http://www.pair.com/support/knowledge_base/authoring_development/tools_of_th...
- they ask users to download config.default.php, modify it, then upload as config.inc.php
- they ask users to run it thru CGI and a PHP CGI wrapper for "proper security", probably to avoid the stealing of MySQL credentials.
- no mention of auth_type='cookie'