The list below details the changes in specific options/variables within MySQL 5.1
bdb-data-direct
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.4)
Default is now not specified
bdb-log-direct
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.4)
Default is now not specified
binlog-format
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.7)
Default is now STATEMENT
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.11)
Default is now STATEMENT
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.28)
Default is now MIXED
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.29)
Default is now STATEMENT
connect_timeout
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.22)
Default is now 5, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.23)
Default is now 10, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
have_partition_engine
Deprecated and replaced with have_partitioning
from version 5.1.6
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.6)
Default is now not specified
innodb
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.35)
Default is now not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.36)
Default is now not specified
innodb_flush_method
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.23)
Default is now fdatasync
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.23)
Default is now fdatasync
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.23)
Default is now fdatasync
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.24)
Default is now fdatasync
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.24)
Default is now fdatasync
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.24)
Default is now fdatasync
key_buffer_size
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.22)
Default is now 8388608, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.23)
Default is now 8388608, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.23)
Default is now 8388608, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
log
Deprecated and replaced with general-log
from version 5.1.29
log-slow-queries
Deprecated and replaced with slow-query-log
from version 5.1.29
long_query_time
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.21)
Default is now 10, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
master-connect-retry
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-host
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-password
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-port
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-ssl
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-ssl-ca
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-ssl-capath
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-ssl-cert
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-ssl-cipher
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-ssl-key
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
master-user
Deprecated from version 5.1.17
max_binlog_cache_size
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.35)
Default is now 4294967295, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.36)
Default is now 18446744073709547520, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
max_connections
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.14)
Default is now 100, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.15)
Default is now 151, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.17)
Default is now 151, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
ndb-nodeid
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.5)
Default is now not specified, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
ndb_autoincrement_prefetch_sz
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.22)
Default is now 32, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.23)
Default is now 1, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
ndb_optimized_node_selection
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.22-ndb-6.33)
Default is now ON
skip-thread-priority
Deprecated from version 5.1.29
table_cache
Deprecated and replaced with table_open_cache
from version 5.1.3
table_definition_cache
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.24)
Default is now 128, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified
Value parameters were changed from version (5.1.25)
Default is now 256, minimum is not specified, maximum is not specified