How do I turn off the mysql password validation?

It seems that I may have inadvertently loaded the password validation plugin in MySQL 5.7. This plugin seems to force all passwords to comply to certain rules.

I would like to turn this off.

I've tried changing the validate_password_length variable as suggested here to no avail.

mysql> SET GLOBAL validate_password_length=4;
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec)

mysql> SET PASSWORD FOR 'app' = PASSWORD('abcd');
ERROR 1819 (HY000): Your password does not satisfy the current policy requirements

I would like to either unload the plugin or neuter it somehow.

Here is what I do to remove the validate password plugin:

1. Login to the mysql server as root mysql -h localhost -u root -p
2. Run the following sql command: uninstall plugin validate_password;
3. If last line doesn't work (new mysql release), you should execute UNINSTALL COMPONENT 'file://component_validate_password';

I would not recommend this solution for a production system. I used this solution on a local mysql instance for development purposes only.