[development] Minimum MySQL version

[Nancy Wichmann]

Indeed, MySql 6 is actually available to some.  I have already encountered things that don't work as well in 4 as they do in 5.

++1 for me.

Nancy E. Wichmann, PMP


-----Original Message-----
From: development-bounces at drupal.org [mailto:development-bounces at drupal.org]On Behalf Of Larry Garfield
Sent: Sunday, February 10, 2008 2:12 AM
To: development at drupal.org
Subject: [development] Minimum MySQL version

This has been discussed in a few circles, but this seems the optimal place for
it.  I propose that for Drupal 7 we make MySQL 5.0 our minimum MySQL version.

Justification:

Active support for MySQL 4.1 has long-since ended[1].  It is in
legacy/extended support status now only.  The same is true of MySQL 4.0,
which we've already left behind (fortunately).

Now, let's be realistic.  Drupal 7 is most likely a year away from release,
give or take a month.  Like previous versions, it will likely be the premiere
release for a year or so.  In that year, MySQL 4.1 will cease even extended
support, at the end of 2009, just as MySQL 4.1 legacy support ends at the end
of this year.  That means by the time Drupal 7 ships, with PHP 5.2 as a
minimum requirement, MySQL 4.1 will be about as modern as PHP 4.2. :-)

What does MySQL 5 offer us?

1) SQL Views
2) Stored procedures
3) Perhaps most importantly, many many fewer minor versions each with their
own bugs for us to have to work around.
4) The full changelog[2]

I am flexible on which minor version of MySQL 5.0 to target, but a year from
now there will be no point to keeping MySQL 4.1 around anymore.  Let's plan
ahead to make Drupal 7 the "all 5s" release. :-)

[1] http://www.mysql.com/company/legal/lifecycle/#calendar
[2] http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/news-5-0-x.html

--
Larry Garfield                  AIM: LOLG42
larry at garfieldtech.com          ICQ: 6817012

"If nature has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called an idea,
which an individual may exclusively possess as long as he keeps it to
himself; but the moment it is divulged, it forces itself into the possession
of every one, and the receiver cannot dispossess himself of it."  -- Thomas
Jefferson