If you don't brush and floss, you're gonna get an abscess – same with MySQL updates

With little than six months to spell earlier support for type 5.7 of relational database MySQL runs out, it appears users are ignoring recommendations to upgrade.

Figures from Percona Monitoring and Management show that betwixt 40 and 50 percent of MySQL users stay connected type 5.7 contempt mainstream support ending connected 31 October, 2023.

Users who consciousness type 5.7 is not surgery truthful doesn't request fixing could beryllium successful for immoderate nasty shocks successful nan agelong term, said Dave Stokes, exertion evangelist astatine Percona.

"It is for illustration nan group who don't brushwood and floss each day: yet they're going to get abscesses. It's going to beryllium a batch much achy down nan roadworthy moreover if nan intermediate results whitethorn not beryllium apparent," he told The Register.

According to trading and income research institution 6Sense, MySQL has astir 45 percent stock of nan relational database market, pinch astir 176,000 customers. It sits 2nd only to Oracle connected nan DB Engines ranking, supra Microsoft's SQL Server.

For users considering nan upgrade, location are immoderate method differences betwixt nan 5.7 and 8.0 (the adjacent iteration) that users should beryllium alert of, Stokes said. "The 'group-by' connection was rewritten. A batch of customers struggle pinch rewriting those. The original type of MySQL didn't really travel nan SQL standard. It benignant of connected its ain made immoderate assumptions that weren't ever true. Now, if you're making those aged assumptions, and they're not existent anymore, and immoderate of you are getting different results, that's benignant of a shock," he said.

He recommended customers usage MySQL Shell and nan util.checkforserverupgrade usability checks to emblem out-of-date features aliases settings.

"Sticking pinch 5.7 is OK, but it is simply a method indebtedness you really don't person to motion up for and 8.0 features are much than capable to make you want to move over," Stokes said.

MySQL was authored by Swedish machine intelligence Michael "Monty" Widenius successful 1995. It became portion of Sun Microsystems successful 2008 and past moved to Oracle erstwhile it bought Sun successful 2010. Oracle has declined nan opportunity to return portion successful this piece.

Peter Zaitsev was an early MySQL worker who went connected to recovered Percona. He has virtually written nan book connected high-performance MySQL, moving pinch high-profile users including Facebook. Other salient MySQL fans see Uber, Twitter and Netflix.

"In caller years, information scares astir unsupported versions, saying that it tin beryllium a superior problem, get a batch of attraction among high-end from enterprises," said Zaitsev. "But a batch of different users look to consciousness free to lapse. They commencement reasoning astir upgrades months, moreover years aft nan package has gone past its extremity of life. It is not very good, but that is reality. But pinch MySQL 5.7, unfortunately, that is going to beryllium moreover worse because nan assistance to upgrade to 8 is benignant of higher."

• MariaDB's Xpand offers PostgreSQL compatibility without nan forking drama
• Trino and dbt unfastened root information devices snuggle person pinch integrated SaaS
• FerretDB 1.0 offers caller attack to unfastened root archive databases
• AWS dragged complete lengthy downtime to migrate PostgreSQL DBaaS

The differences are, compared pinch moving from 5.6 to 5.7, that MySQL will let much incompatibility and region much features. It besides changes whether users tin revert backmost to earlier iterations should thing spell wrong.

"MySQL 5.7, it was improbable location are immoderate breaking changes successful nan insignificant release," Zaitsev said. "But that is not nan lawsuit pinch MySQL 8. You whitethorn find definite things which were location earlier don't activity aliases activity differently. As you upgrade to MySQL 8, you not only person to do nan upgrade successful position of software, you besides request to upgrade your processes to woody pinch that situation."

Carl Olofson, investigation vice president astatine IDC, said users looking to displacement from MySQL 5.7 to 8 mightiness coming an opportunity for MariaDB, nan MySQL fork.

"Any benignant of alteration for illustration that, nary matter really trivial it whitethorn seem, it's going to impact installing nan caller type connected parallel servers, moving parallel testing, checking to spot if there's immoderate information conversion that needs to beryllium done. That's a batch of work. If you're going to spell done that overmuch work, it's not that overmuch much activity to displacement providers," he told The Register.

Inevitably, MariaDB agreed. Manjot Singh, section CTO, said: "We're astir apt nan astir compatible replacement database. But I would differentiate america and opportunity we haven't been a fork [of MySQL] for a very agelong time."

He said nan institution had won customers done nan migration but was getting them arsenic from AWS Aurora, from Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server. MariaDB's SkySQL DBaaS could backmost up MySQL databases during nan transition, he pointed out.

On nan different hand, Zaitsev said he was not expecting a batch of SQL users to displacement from 5.7 to MariaDB alternatively of MySQL 8.0.

Whoever is right, nan deadline is improbable to change, truthful users person a determination to make aliases consequence experiencing immoderate achy decay. ®