2.2.8 How and When Updates Are Released

MySQL is evolving quite rapidly here at MySQL AB and we want to share this with other MySQL users. We try to make a release when we have very useful features that others seem to have a need for.

We also try to help out users who request features that are easy to implement. We take note of what our licensed users want to have, and we especially take note of what our extended e-mail supported customers want and try to help them out.

No one has to download a new release. The News section will tell you if the new release has something you really want. See section D MySQL Change History.

We use the following policy when updating MySQL:

• For each minor update, the last number in the version string is incremented. When there are major new features or minor incompatibilities with previous versions, the second number in the version string is incremented. When the file format changes, the first number is increased.
• Production (stable-tested) releases are meant to appear about 1-2 times a year, but if small bugs are found, a release with only bug fixes will be released.
• Working releases/bug fixes to old releases are meant to appear about every 1-8 weeks.
• Binary distributions for some platforms will be made by us for major releases. Other people may make binary distributions for other systems but probably less frequently.
• We usually make patches available as soon as we have located and fixed small bugs. They are usually posted to bugs@lists.mysql.com and are immediately available from our public BitKeeper repositories. They will also be included in the next release.
• Non-critical but annoying bugs will be added to the MySQL source repository and they will be fixed in the next release.
• If there is, by any chance, a fatal bug in a release we will make a new release as soon as possible. We would like other companies to do this, too.

The current production release is Version 4.0; we have already moved active development to Version 4.1 and 5.0. Bugs will still be fixed in the 4.0 version, and critical bugs also in the 3.23 series. We don't believe in a complete freeze, as this also leaves out bug fixes and things that ``must be done.'' ``Somewhat frozen'' means that we may add small things that ``almost surely will not affect anything that's already working.''

MySQL uses a slightly different naming scheme from most other products. In general it's relatively safe to use any version that has been out for a couple of weeks without being replaced with a new version. See section 2.2.6 Which MySQL Version to Use.

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