Table of Contents
This section provides a snapshot of the MySQL development roadmap, including major features implemented or planned for MySQL 4.0, 4.1, 5.0, and 5.1. The following sections provide information for each release series.
The production release series is MySQL 4.0, which was declared stable for production use as of Version 4.0.12, released in March 2003. This means that future 4.0 development will be limited only to making bug fixes. For the older MySQL 3.23 series, only critical bug fixes will be made.
Active MySQL development currently is taking place in the MySQL 4.1 and 5.0 release series. This means that new features are being added to MySQL 4.1 and MySQL 5.0. Both 4.1 and 5.0 are available now in alpha status.
Before upgrading from one release series to the next, please see the notes at Upgrade.
Plans for some of the most requested features are summarized in the following table.
Feature | MySQL version |
Unions | 4.0 |
Subqueries | 4.1 |
R-trees | 4.1 (for MyISAM tables) |
Stored procedures | 5.0 |
Views | 5.0 or 5.1 |
Cursors | 5.0 |
Foreign keys | 5.1 (already implemented in 3.23 for InnoDB) |
Triggers | 5.1 |
Full outer join | 5.1 |
Constraints | 5.1 |
Long awaited by our users, MySQL Server 4.0 is now available in production status.
MySQL 4.0 is available for download from http://www.mysql.com/ and from our mirrors. MySQL 4.0 has been tested by a large number of users and is in production use at many large sites.
The major new features of MySQL Server 4.0 are geared toward our existing business and community users, enhancing the MySQL database software as the solution for mission-critical, heavy-load database systems. Other new features target the users of embedded databases.
Speed enhancements
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Embedded MySQL Server introduced
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InnoDB storage engine as standard
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New functionality
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Standards compliance, portability, and migration
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Internationalization
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Usability enhancements |
In the process of implementing features for new users, we have not forgotten
requests from our loyal community of existing users.
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The news section of this manual includes a more in-depth list of features. See News-4.0.x.
The libmysqld embedded server library makes MySQL Server suitable for a vastly expanded realm of applications. By using this library, developers can embed MySQL Server into various applications and electronics devices, where the end user has no knowledge of there actually being an underlying database. Embedded MySQL Server is ideal for use behind the scenes in Internet appliances, public kiosks, turnkey hardware/software combination units, high performance Internet servers, self-contained databases distributed on CD-ROM, and so on.
Many users of libmysqld will benefit from the MySQL Dual Licensing. For those not wishing to be bound by the GPL, the software is also made available under a commercial license. The embedded MySQL library uses the same interface as the normal client library, so it is convenient and easy to use. See libmysqld.