Fw: Announcing MySQL 5.0 Release Candidate

I tought this could be interesting for PostgreSQL marketing. It's about the
upcoming MySQL 5.0 release. They have done quite a bit to make MySQL more
standards compliant (see "SQL strict mode") -- probably requested by anyone
migrating from a real but more expensive DBMS.

They also claim "XA Distributed Transactions" -- have they implemented
two-phase commit? Nevertheless, this is what we currently have in the
release notes:

> Two-Phase Commit (2PC): long in demand for WAN applications and
> heterogenous data centers using PostgreSQL, this feature allows
> ACID-compliant transactions across widely separated servers.

Perhaps the term "distributed transactions" should be added? Or XA? Those
are probably more buzzword style than two-phase commit.

Best Regards,
Michael Paesold

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kaj Arnö" <kaj(at)mysql(dot)com>
To: <announce(at)lists(dot)mysql(dot)com>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 6:41 PM
Subject: Announcing MySQL 5.0 Release Candidate

Dear user of MySQL,

I'm proud and excited to announce the first Release Candidate of MySQL
5.0. This milestone signals that we are nearing what is certainly the
most important release in MySQL's history.

MySQL 5.0 has new functionality that I hope will be welcomed, adopted,
and put to productive use by the community of MySQL users -- you. On the
commercial side, MySQL AB is getting a lot of good vibes from new
enterprise customers who are beginning to understand the impact MySQL
can have on their IT infrastructure and costs of running
mission-critical applications.

The betas of MySQL 5.0 have already been downloaded two million times,
and have thus been tested extensively in a lot of different scenarios.
From the feedback we get from our community, we know it is already in
production use at numerous sites. Go get your own copy at
http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html

Without question, MySQL 5.0 is the most ambitious release to date for
MySQL AB. Of course, everything we do at MySQL centers around our three
priorities of Performance, Reliability, and Ease of Use. Version 5.0 of
MySQL is certainly true to these company-wide imperatives.

Key new features of MySQL 5.0 come in three groups:

a) ANSI SQL standard features formerly unknown to MySQL
b) ANSI SQL standard compliance of existing MySQL features
c) New MySQL Storage Engines, Tools and Extensions

The new ANSI SQL features include:

- Views (both read-only and updatable views)
- Stored Procedures and Stored Functions, using the SQL:2003 syntax,
which is also used by IBM's DB2
- Triggers (row-level)
- Server-side cursors (read-only, non-scrolling)

Implementing ANSI SQL standard ways of using existing MySQL features
means there will be fewer unpleasant surprises ("gotchas") for those
migrating to MySQL from other database systems:

- Strict Mode: MySQL 5.0 adds a mode that complies with standard SQL
in a number of areas in which earlier versions did not; we now do
strict data type checking and issue errors for all invalid dates,
numbers and strings as expected
- INFORMATION_SCHEMA: An ANSI SQL-compliant Data Dictionary for
accessing metadata, in parallel to the MySQL specific SHOW
commands
- Precision Math: A new library for fixed-point arithmetic, giving
high accuracy for financial and mathematical operations
- VARCHAR Data Type: The maximum effective length of a VARCHAR column
has increased to 65,532 bytes; also, stripping of trailing whitespace
no longer occurs

New MySQL Storage Engines, Tools and Extensions are:

- XA Distributed Transactions
- ARCHIVE Storage Engine for storing large amounts of data without
indexes in a very small footprint, intended for historical data that
may be needed for future audit compliance (Sarbanes Oxley or
otherwise)
- FEDERATED Storage Engine for accessing data ín tables of remote
databases rather than in local tables (only in MAX version)
- Instance Manager: a tool to start and stop MySQL Server, even remotely

To find out more details on what's new in MySQL 5.0, follow the pointers
from http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/mysql-5-0-nutshell.html

To find out the changes specific to MySQL 5.0.13 in relation to 5.0.12,
see http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/news-5-0-13.html

MySQL 5.0 is also reflected in our GUI tools and Connectors:

MySQL Administrator 1.1.3 and MySQL Query Browser 1.1.15 are aware of
the new MySQL 5.0 features, can be used to write and test stored
procedures, create views, include them in scheduled backups and much more.

The latest shipping versions of our Connectors work with MySQL 5.0, and
all connectors (MySQL Connector/ODBC, Connector/J and Connector/NET)
will support all flagship features before 5.0 goes GA.

We're pleased that we've reached a point of stability where it's been a
while since we received a significant inflow of bugs that drastically
impacted a large number of users. Of course, we recognize we haven't
crossed the finish line yet, so we still very much need your involvement
to ensure that MySQL 5.0 is the best that it possibly can be.

With MySQL 5.0 being that stable, I encourage you to do all of your new
database development using MySQL 5.0:

1. Download 5.0 from http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html
2. Use the new features you need
3. Report any issues you find through our bug-reporting system at
http://bugs.mysql.com/.

To show our appreciation for your efforts, we'll be fixing the bugs you
find as fast as we can.

And, to provide a little extra motivation, we will be giving away Apple
iPod nanos, and even full conference passes to our 2006 MySQL Users
Conference, to those who deliver the most valuable feedback. Read more
on http://dev.mysql.com/mysql_5_contest.html . Without your involvement
and your excellent input, we at MySQL wouldn't be able to do our job: to
produce high-quality database software for you to trust and use.

I look forward to your input

- in our MySQL Forums at http://forums.mysql.com/
- in the bug database at http://bugs.mysql.com/
- in our mailing lists at http://lists.mysql.com/
- in the PlanetMySQL blog aggregation via
http://www.planetmysql.org/newfeed.php
- in the User Comments of our manual at
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql/en/index.html
(specifically for Documentation comments)
- and in the form of downloads from
http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/5.0.html

Thank you -- we look forward to hearing back from you -- not just about
bugs but any feedback on how MySQL can help support you.

Kaj Arnö
VP Community Relations
MySQL AB