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1.6. MySQL 4.1 in a Nutshell

MySQL Server 4.0 laid the foundation for new features implemented in MySQL 4.1, such as subqueries and Unicode support, which were desired by many of our customers.

MySQL Server 4.1 is currently in production status, and binaries are available for download at http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/mysql/4.1.html. All binary releases pass our extensive test suite without any errors on the platforms on which we test. See Section B.1, “Changes in Release 4.1.x (Production)”.

For those wishing to use the most recent development source for MySQL 4.1, we also make our Bazaar repositories publicly available. See Section 2.9.3, “Installing from the Development Source Tree”.

The following features were added in MySQL 4.1.

  • Support for subqueries and derived tables:

  • Speed enhancements:

    • Faster binary client/server protocol with support for prepared statements and parameter binding. See Section 17.6.4, “C API Prepared Statements”.

    • BTREE indexing is supported for HEAP tables, significantly improving response time for nonexact searches.

  • Added functionality:

    • CREATE TABLE tbl_name2 LIKE tbl_name1 allows you to create, with a single statement, a new table with a structure exactly like that of an existing table.

    • The MyISAM storage engine added support for OpenGIS spatial types for storing geographical data. See Chapter 16, Spatial Extensions.

    • Support was added for replication over SSL connections.

    • Support for a number of additional storage engines was implemented in the MySQL 4.1 release series:

      Note

      These engine were implemented at different points in the development of MySQL 4.1. Please see the indicated sections for particulars in each case.

  • Standards compliance, portability, and migration:

    • The enhanced client/server protocol available beginning with MySQL 4.1.1 provides the ability to pass multiple warnings to the client, rather than only a single result, making it much easier to track problems that occur in operations such as bulk data loading.

    • SHOW WARNINGS shows warnings for the last command. See Section 12.4.5.26, “SHOW WARNINGS Syntax”.

  • Internationalization and Localization:

    • To support applications that require the use of local languages, the MySQL software added extensive Unicode support through the utf8 and ucs2 character sets.

    • Definition of character sets by column, table, and database. This allows for a high degree of flexibility in application design, particularly for multi-language Web sites. See Section 9.1, “Character Set Support”.

    • Per-connection time zones support, allowing individual clients to select their own time zones when necessary.

  • Usability enhancements:

    • The addition of a server-based HELP command that can be used to get help information for SQL statements. This information is always applicable to the particular server version being used. Because this information is available by issuing an SQL statement, any client can access it. For example, the help command of the mysql command-line client has been modified to have this capability.

    • The improved client/server protocol allows multiple statements to be issued with a single call, and for returning multiple result sets. See Section 17.6.12, “C API Support for Multiple Statement Execution”.

    • The syntax INSERT ... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE ... was implemented. This allows you to update an existing row if the insert would have caused a duplicate value for a primary or unique index. See Section 12.2.4, “INSERT Syntax”.

    • The aggregate function GROUP_CONCAT(), added the capability to concatenate column values from grouped rows into a single result string. See Section 11.11, “Functions and Modifiers for Use with GROUP BY Clauses”.

The News section of this manual includes a more in-depth list of MySQL 4.1 features. See Section B.1, “Changes in Release 4.1.x (Production)”.