[development] Minimum MySQL version

[Larry Garfield]

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