MySQL 5.1 General Availability has been released to the public. While many recommend using it and other don’t, Michael Widenius (Founder and original developer of MySQL) says it might not be worth it yet to upgrade your production databases.
If WTF quotes like,
We have changed the release model so that instead of focusing on quality and features our release is now defined by timeliness and features. Quality is not regarded to be that important.
and
Zero critical bugs is impossible: Sure, zero bugs is desirable. And at times, we internally glorify MySQL’s past, with “production level alpha releases”. Those were the days, but those days also had less complex and less interwoven features, and fewer developers to manage.
I wonder where MySQL is headed.
So as Monty says, you are better off not upgrading to version 5.1 if you do not plan to use its new features, atleast not without testing it for a few weeks.
Links:
Oops, we did it again (MySQL 5.1 released as GA with crashing bugs)
Why You Want to Switch to MySQL 5.1
MySQL 5.1 Stability
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Tags: michael widenius, mysql, MySQL 5.1, MySQL 5.1 GA
Monty is responsible for Maria, which isn’t in 5.1. Monty’s points are all valid, but they’re nothing new. They’re just saying what every DBA and sysadmin knows — that the first GA of a release isn’t perfect.
It was like that with the first release of 4.0, and 4.1, and 5.0.
Also, the point about testing it for a few weeks — *no* upgrade should be done without adequate testing!
I can tell you that we have clients using 5.1 in production, and have been for a few months. They tested, found it to suit their needs, and use it, without random unexpected crashes (we did have one 5.1 server crash when we were doing lots of DW stuff and used too much memory, but that’s our own fault, and would have happened in 5.0).
While I agree with all the points made, I don’t see them as anything other than “I need to do my job responsibly as a DBA, to make sure that this release will work in this environment.” That includes looking at the release notes in the manual to see what’s changed, to see if it’s worth an upgrade, and testing, to make sure there isn’t some odd bug that just happens to be snagged by this particular environment.
Zero critical bugs *is* impossible, for just about any complex software. It’s not a WTF that it’s mentioned, but perhaps it’s a bad PR move. Honesty and transparency is a good thing though.
I’m just wondering though: Which production systems would you install an upgrade on without actually testing for a few weeks?
@Sheeri
Thanks a lot for your views. For your last question, the last link in my article is perhaps the answer
http://www.mysqlperformanceblog.com/2008/06/30/mysql-51-stability/