[thelist] [fwd] MySQL 4.0 released

[Michele Foster]

---------------------------
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 08:57:34 -0400
From: Jay Greenspan <jay at trans-city.com>

This is a forwarded message.  Please don't post multi-part messages to
thelist.

Thanks!
------------------------------


For those interested but not on the MySQL mailing list, this was posted
last night:



MySQL 4.0.0-alpha is now available at:
http://www.mysql.com/downloads/mysql-4.0.html

You can find information about upgrading from MySQL 3.23 to 4.0 at:
http://www.mysql.com/doc/U/p/Upgrading-from-3.23.html

The MySQL 4.0 release includes a lot of new exciting features, like
MySQL as an embedded library, InnoDB (transactions) as standard table
type, UNION, multi table delete and much more.

MySQL 4.0 is basically a 'reconstruction release' that will enable us to
easier add new features to MySQL in the future.  The intention is to
quickly add features list at:

http://www.mysql.com/doc/T/O/TODO_MySQL_4.0.html

and then start to work on the 4.1 branch while 4.0 stabilizes.

Changes in release 4.0.0
------------------------

    * Added documentation for `libmysqld', the embedded MySQL server
      library.  Also added example programs (a `mysql' client and
      `mysqltest' test program) which use `libmysqld'.

    * Removed all Gemini hooks from MySQL.

    * Removed `my_thread_init()' and `my_thread_end()' from mysql_com.h,
      and added `mysql_thread_init()' and `mysql_thread_end()' to
      mysql.h.

    * Secure connections (with SSL).

    * Unsigned `BIGINT' constants now work. `MIN()' and `MAX()' now
      handles signed and unsigned `BIGINT' numbers correctly.

    * New character set `latin_de' which provides correct German sorting.

    * `TRUNCATE TABLE' and `DELETE FROM table_name' are now separate
      functions. One bonus is that `DELETE FROM table_name' now returns
      the number of deleted rows.

    * `DROP DATABASE' now executes a `DROP TABLE' on all tables in the
      database, which fixes a problem with InnoDB tables.

    * Added support for `UNION'.

    * A new `HANDLER' interface to `MyISAM' tables.

    * Added support for `INSERT' on `MERGE' tables. Patch from Benjamin
      Pflugmann.

    * Changed `WEEK(#,0)' to match the calender in the USA.

    * `COUNT(DISTINCT)' is about 30% faster.

    * Speed up all internal list handling.

    * Speed up `IS NULL()' and some other internal primitives.

    * Creating full text indexes are now much faster.

    * Tree-like cache to speed up bulk inserts and
      `myisam_bulk_insert_tree_size' variable.

    * Searching on packed (`CHAR'/`VARCHAR') keys are now much faster.

    * Optimized queries of type: `SELECT DISTINCT * from table_name
      ORDER by key_part1 LIMIT #'

    * `SHOW CREATE TABLE' now shows all table attributes.

    * `ORDER BY ... DESC' can now use keys.

    * `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' "auto-magically" sets up a slave.

    * Renamed `safe_mysqld' to `mysqld_safe'.

    * Added support for symbolic links to `MyISAM' tables. Symlink
      handling is now enabled by default for Windows.

    * `LOAD DATA FROM MASTER' "auto-magically" sets up a slave.

    * Added `SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS' and `FOUND_ROWS()'. This makes it
      possible to know how many rows a query would have returned without
      a `LIMIT' clause.

    * Changed output format of `SHOW OPEN TABLES'.

    * Allow `SELECT expression LIMIT ...'.

    * Added `IDENTITY' as a synonym for `AUTO_INCREMENT' (like Sybase).

    * Added `ORDER BY' syntax to `UPDATE' and `DELETE'.

    * `SHOW INDEXES' is now a synonym for `SHOW INDEX'.

    * Added `ALTER TABLE table_name DISABLE KEYS' and `ALTER TABLE
      table_name ENABLE KEYS' commands.

    * Allow one to use `IN' instead of `FROM' in `SHOW' commands.

    * Allow ANSI SQL syntax `X'hexadecimal-number''

    * Cleaned up global lock handling for `FLUSH TABLES WITH READ LOCK'

    * Fixed problem with `DATETIME = constant' in `WHERE' optimization.

    * Added options `--master-data' and `--no-autocommit' to `mysqldump'
      (Thanks to Brian Aker for this).

    * Added script `mysql_explain_log.sh' to distribution.  (Thanks to
      mobile.de).