(mysql.info.gz) Choosing version
Info Catalog
(mysql.info.gz) Which version
(mysql.info.gz) Which version
(mysql.info.gz) Choosing distribution format
2.1.2.1 Choosing Which Version of MySQL to Install
..................................................
The first decision to make is whether you want to use a production
(stable) release or a development release. In the MySQL development
process, multiple release series co-exist, each at a different stage of
maturity:
* MySQL 5.0 is the newest development release series and is under
very active development for new features. Alpha releases have been
issued to allow more widespread testing.
* MySQL 4.1 is the current stable (production-quality) release
series. New releases are issued for bugfixes. No new features are
added that could diminish the code stability.
* MySQL 4.0 is the previous stable (production-quality) release
series. New releases are issued for bugfixes. No new features are
added that could diminish the code stability.
* MySQL 3.23 is the old stable (production-quality) release series.
This series is retired, so new releases are issued only to fix
critical bugs.
We don't believe in a complete freeze, as this also leaves out bugfixes
and things that "must be done." "Somewhat frozen" means that we may add
small things that "almost surely will not affect anything that's
currently working." Naturally, relevant bugfixes from an earlier series
propagate to later series.
Normally, if you are beginning to use MySQL for the first time or trying
to port it to some system for which there is no binary distribution, we
recommend going with the production release series. Currently this is
MySQL 4.1. All MySQL releases, even those from development series, are
checked with the MySQL benchmarks and an extensive test suite before
being issued.
If you are running an old system and want to upgrade, but don't want to
take the chance of having a non-seamless upgrade, you should upgrade to
the latest version in the same release series you are using (where only
the last part of the version number is newer than yours). We have tried
to fix only fatal bugs and make small, relatively safe changes to that
version.
If you want to use new features not present in the production release
series, you can use a version from a development series. Note that
development releases are not as stable as production releases.
If you want to use the very latest sources containing all current
patches and bugfixes, you can use one of our BitKeeper repositories.
These are not "releases" as such, but are available as previews of the
code on which future releases will be based.
The MySQL naming scheme uses release names that consist of three
numbers and a suffix; for example, `mysql-4.1.2-alpha'. The numbers
within the release name are interpreted like this:
* The first number (`4') is the major version and also describes the
file format. All Version 4 releases have the same file format.
* The second number (`1') is the release level. Taken together, the
major version and release level constitute the release series
number.
* The third number (`2') is the version number within the release
series. This is incremented for each new release. Usually you
want the latest version for the series you have chosen.
For each minor update, the last number in the version string is
incremented. When there are major new features or minor
incompatibilities with previous versions, the second number in the
version string is incremented. When the file format changes, the first
number is increased.
Release names also include a suffix to indicates the stability level of
the release. Releases within a series progress through a set of
suffixes to indicate how the stability level improves. The possible
suffixes are:
* `alpha' indicates that the release contains some large section of
new code that hasn't been 100% tested. Known bugs (usually there
are none) should be documented in the News section. News.
There are also new commands and extensions in most alpha
releases. Active development that may involve major code changes
can occur in an alpha release, but everything will be tested
before issuing a release. For this reason, there should be no
known bugs in any MySQL release.
* `beta' means that all new code has been tested. No major new
features that could cause corruption in old code are added. There
should be no known bugs. A version changes from alpha to beta
when there haven't been any reported fatal bugs within an alpha
version for at least a month and we have no plans to add any
features that could make any old command unreliable.
* `gamma' is a beta that has been around a while and seems to work
fine. Only minor fixes are added. This is what many other
companies call a release.
* If there is no suffix, it means that the version has been run for a
while at many different sites with no reports of bugs other than
platform-specific bugs. Only critical bugfixes are applied to the
release. This is what we call a production (stable) or `General
Availability' (GA) release.
MySQL uses a naming scheme that is slightly different from most other
products. In general, it's relatively safe to use any version that has
been out for a couple of weeks without being replaced with a new
version within the release series.
All releases of MySQL are run through our standard tests and benchmarks
to ensure that they are relatively safe to use. Because the standard
tests are extended over time to check for all previously found bugs,
the test suite keeps getting better.
All releases have been tested at least with:
An internal test suite
The `mysql-test' directory contains an extensive set of test cases.
We run these tests for virtually every server binary. See
MySQL test suite for more information about this test suite.
The MySQL benchmark suite
This suite runs a range of common queries. It is also a test to
see whether the latest batch of optimizations actually made the
code faster. MySQL Benchmarks.
The `crash-me' test
This test tries to determine what features the database supports
and what its capabilities and limitations are. MySQL
Benchmarks.
Another test is that we use the newest MySQL version in our internal
production environment, on at least one machine. We have more than
100GB of data to work with.
Info Catalog
(mysql.info.gz) Which version
(mysql.info.gz) Which version
(mysql.info.gz) Choosing distribution format
automatically generated byinfo2html