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2.1.2.1. Choosing Which Version of MySQL to Install

The first decision to make is whether you want to use a production (stable) release or a development release. In the MySQL development process, multiple release series co-exist, each at a different stage of maturity.

Production Releases

MySQL 4.1, 4.0, and 3.23 are old releases that are no longer supported.

See http://www.mysql.com/about/legal/lifecycle/ for information about support policies and schedules.

Normally, if you are beginning to use MySQL for the first time or trying to port it to some system for which there is no binary distribution, use the most recent General Availability series listed in the preceding descriptions. All MySQL releases, even those from development series, are checked with the MySQL benchmarks and an extensive test suite before being issued.

If you are running an older system and want to upgrade, but do not want to take the chance of having a nonseamless upgrade, you should upgrade to the latest version in the same release series you are using (where only the last part of the version number is newer than yours). We have tried to fix only fatal bugs and make only small, relatively "safe" changes to that version.

If you want to use new features not present in the production release series, you can use a version from a development series. Be aware that development releases are not as stable as production releases.

We do not use a complete code freeze because this prevents us from making bugfixes and other fixes that must be done. We may add small things that should not affect anything that currently works in a production release. Naturally, relevant bugfixes from an earlier series propagate to later series.

If you want to use the very latest sources containing all current patches and bugfixes, you can use one of our source code repositories (see Section 2.9.3, "Installing MySQL Using a Development Source Tree"). These are not "releases" as such, but are available as previews of the code on which future releases are to be based.

The naming scheme in MySQL 5.7 uses release names that consist of three numbers and a suffix; for example, mysql-5.7.1-m1. The numbers within the release name are interpreted as follows:

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.

Release names also include a suffix to indicates the stability level of the release. Releases within a series progress through a set of suffixes to indicate how the stability level improves. The possible suffixes are:

All releases of MySQL are run through our standard tests and benchmarks to ensure that they are relatively safe to use. Because the standard tests are extended over time to check for all previously found bugs, the test suite keeps getting better.

All releases have been tested at least with these tools:

We also perform additional integration and nonfunctional testing of the latest MySQL version in our internal production environment. Integration testing is done with different connectors, storage engines, replication modes, backup, partitioning, stored programs, and so forth in various combinations. Additional nonfunctional testing is done in areas of performance, concurrency, stress, high volume, upgrade and downgrade.