What to expect from MySQL 5.4?

MySQL 5.4 has been announced at the opening session of MySQL Conference 2009 and a preview is available for download. This release may look as a compromise between the current 5.1 and the major 6.0 branches, but it includes many (IMHO needed) improvements :

• Sub-query optimizations
• A new query algorythms
• Replication killer features : replication heartbeat and semi-synchronous replication!
• Google SMP patch (even for Solaris x86 and Sparc) and IO patches
• Update of many antiquated defaults in the MySQL Server (like replication-related –master-host and so on…)
• InnoDB improvements (such as scalability up to 16way x86 and up to 64way CMT servers)
• A couple of performance fixes backported from 6.0
• Dtrace integration on supported OSes

The results? 59% faster than 5.1, 40% improvement in read/write test, 71% throughput increase!

For more info, read “A Quick Look at MySQL 5.4”.