As you might noticed there are no recent MySQL Community versions available for download from MySQL Download Area This applies both to binaries (which is expected with new polices) but also to the source files which were promised to be available.
So what is if you would like to use recent MySQL code while staying with community version ? I chatted with Monty on this topic today.
Download sources from MySQL FTP Site I have no idea why this location is not advertised on download pages but it really has sources for all recent releases, both for Unix and Windows.
Use MySQL Supplied by Distribution Vendor. Some vendors already offering MySQL 5.0.30 – Gentoo, Ubuntu and Debian at the time of this writing. Fedora might also get update soon.
Use Bitkeeper Tree If you would like absolutely recent version this is a way to go. The address for MySQL 5.0 is
bk://mysql.bkbits.net/mysql-5.0 (HowTo Docs) Note version you find where is untested and might be broken so be careful. In theory you can also pull all previous releases by their tags but in practice it requires licensed BitKeeper version which few people have access to.
What is about free MySQL Enterprise Version ? Well at the time of this writing as far as I know source tree for Enterprise and Community version is the same so there is no difference. Once split will really happen we’ll see if it would be available.
What is about Binaries ? As I mentioned some Linux distributions already include up to date MySQL versions, this obviously means binaries are available as well. If you’re using other Linux distribution, other Unix or Windows operation system you should ether build one yourself, find binaries from truster third party or hire someone, (for example us) to build ones for you.
About Peter Zaitsev
Kaj,
1) Where can I find what exactly those “community patches” you refering to mean/contains? Ie, what is being added to the enterprise source for 5.0.30 before it becomes a “community source” (or the other way around, what will I miss if I download and compile enterprise 5.0.30 on my own)?
2) The problem is not that the source is available through some dir on the ftp server at mysql.com (point 6 in your comments), the problem is that mysql tries to hide this on the download pages. When I go to the download pages there is not a single word that a more recent release version might exist in a dir on the ftp. If mysql were more open about this then this split of enterprise vs community wouldnt have been such issue as it has turned out to be today.
Peter, yes, there have also been more frequent releases than once every two months; I was pointing out that this is not yet an unusually long gap between Community releases. We won’t go longer than we’ve done historically sometimes unless the next one is after the end of February. One is planned before then. Subject to change, of course. Even Enterprise doesn’t yet get all the builds planned for it. Both are still changing and it’s too soon to judge either based on the limited time so far.
What 5.0 Community is missing most is not build frequency. It’s the added features from community members that it’s supposed to contain. This is one key to what makes Community different from Enterprise and it’s currently completely absent, so it’s no surprise that it just looks like less frequent bug fix builds so far.
Do make sure that MySQL has any community patches that you want included in the Community server. One way to guarantee that they won’t be there is not to give them to MySQL so they can be added (but this doesn’t mean that MySQL will always add them, they might conflict with some other planned feature, so creating a future compatibility problem).
Wait and see is the best I can suggest for now. The world isn’t ending, just changing a bit. Check back in six months if you want a more accurate picture of what to expect longer term. Meanwhile, please forgive the irregularities as the pieces and how they fit together are put into their proper places.
Apachez, see this from Brian Acker: http://krow.livejournal.com/472126.html and ask him just what Community patches from Jeremy Cole he merged if you’re curious.
The web site is just doing what it’s always done in this, linking to the source of only the builds MySQL is distributing. Maybe this will change. Could just be “work in progress”.
James.
At this point community vs Enterprise build split has not happen so Community builds are really same as Enterprise builds so far (with version name changes etc). So do not put it as Build team is overloaded building even enterprise binaries this argument would not work. It is also not what Kaj is saying
It was deliberate choice to stop publishing these builds as community builds even if it would not be much more work.
If Enterprise and Community trees really would be different that would be different story and this is how it should have been done – declare the split and release community version even with some minimal changes and go from where.
But I guess there was no time for that, Q4 numbers required some boosting or something similar so Community/Enterprise plan was rushed ahead without enough resources allocated for community part.
I would not be surprised if real tree split would not happen for a while longer – it is expensive to manage two trees.
In any case I think you’re arguing with wrong person here. I do not like the move (mainly the fact information about where to get the sources and binaries for enterprise source binaries for free is not communicated) I do not think “it is free if you can find it” is good spirit for Open Source product. My post is simply to cover this lack of information and tell where you can get recent MySQL versions
The source-only Community Server build 5.0.33 has been released today to test source-only releases. The next binary community release is the one I referenced above, expected sometime in February, subject to change.
I think the whole idea of not providing free binaries for the community edition is seriously stupid whose long-term repercussions have not been thought out. This is obviously a decision which has been made by an accountant, and as far as I am concerned accountants should NOT be allowed to MAKE decisions – their purpose in life is to carry out the decisions made by others. Bean counters just count the beans made by others, they do not make any beans themselves.
I, like many thousands (if not millions) of developers started in web development by downloading and trying out all the necessary tools for free (but spending lots of money on books). As my development PC runs Windows and does not have a C compiler I could not do this without the binaries being available. I have been develping my own software in my own time and at my own expense for several years now, with the hope that one day I can have a product that I can sell to paying customers. It is those customers who will require commercial licences for their DBMS, not me as a developer working at home. I am not running an application which requires a commercial license, I am merely an application developer working to a very tight budget.
The software that I developed was originally MySQL-only. I did not supply connectivity to PostgreSQL until Windows binaries became freely available. I did not supply connectivity to Oracle until Windows binaries became freely available. I can only write software using the tools which I can install on my PC, and pre-comnpiled binaries are an absolute MUST. If I cannot downoad and install a DBMS for free on my PC then I cannot support that DBMS in my software. MySQL therefore loses the option of selling commercial licenses to the users of my software.
The amount of money that MySQL will save by not producing binaries is NOTHING compared to the loss of goodwill in the open source community. Potential web developers will not be able to download and install MySQL for free as they can with Apache and PHP, therefore will not be able to develop with and gain knowledge of that DBMS. They will of course switch to PostgreSQL as the only viable alternative. The software which they develop will therefore be PosgreSQL-only, and that will be the DBMS they will recommend to others. The number of developers with MySQL experience will decrease, which means that the number of applications which use MySQL will decrease, which means that the opportunity for commercial licenses for MySQL will decrease.
This is a bad move by MySQL, and the loss of goodwill in the open source community will turn out to be much, much more than the cost of providing binaries for free.
Just an FYI that should clear things up. New from Kaj Arno’s blog:
http://www.planetmysql.org/kaj/?p=84
“MySQL continues providing Windows binaries for free
Contrary to some reports in the community, MySQL will continue providing binaries both for Windows and other operating systems. All our download pages, including those for MySQL 5.0, have binaries today, and will continue to have them.
The source-only releases we introduced with 5.0.33 (and will continue to provide in the future)are just in addition to the binary-and-source releases. The current latest binary-and-source MySQL Community Server release is 5.0.27, and I expect MySQL 5.0.35 Community Server to be released as binary-and-source within a month, both for Windows and our other platforms. This is as we always planned it, and tried to communicate it. I am sorry our communication has not been clear enough.”
%.033 windows binaries are available from here
http://www.webyog.com/blogs/peterlaursen/index.php?showentry=78
If I want to get the newest version of anything, I use google
. And find you there! 
Please tell how can i upload mysql data in control panel ? this is big problem for me ? help me
I still would hope information of sources availability would be circulated widely (ie mentioned on Community download pages) but I can see you not doing it for sales reasons.
People should make the switch to Postgresql its free, fast and more reliable than Mysql