2.1.2.3. How and When Updates Are Released
MySQL is evolving quite rapidly and we want to share new
developments with other MySQL users. We try to produce a new
release whenever we have new and useful features that others
also seem to have a need for.
We also try to help users who request features that are easy
to implement. We take note of what our licensed users want,
and we especially take note of what our support customers want
and try to help them in this regard.
No one is required to download a new
release. The News section helps you determine whether the new
release has something you really want. See
Appendix D, MySQL Change History.
We use the following policy when updating MySQL:
Releases are issued within each series. For each release,
the last number in the version is one more than the
previous release within the same series.
Production (stable) releases are meant to appear about 1-2
times a year. However, if small bugs are found, a release
with only bugfixes is issued.
Working releases/bugfixes to old releases are meant to
appear about every 4-8 weeks.
Binary distributions for some platforms are made by us for
major releases. Other people may make binary distributions
for other systems, but probably less frequently.
We make fixes available as soon as we have identified and
corrected small or non-critical but annoying bugs. The
fixes are available immediately from our public BitKeeper
repositories, and are included in the next release.
If by any chance a fatal bug is found in a release, our
policy is to fix it in a new release as soon as possible.
(We would like other companies to do this, too!)
