[wp-hackers] Re: Changing MySQL minimum version

[Austin Matzko]

On 11/30/06, Brian Layman <Brian at thecodecave.com> wrote:
> I haven't joined this conversation to any degree, because it seems that we
> are arguing from a vacuum.  How can anyone answer whether or not it is safe
> to upgrade until someone provides proof that a roll out of 4.1 based WP is
> feasible.  Nobody has asking questions like "Who are the top 20 must popular
> webhosts and what version of MySQL are they running?".  If everyone else has
> upgraded and 1and1.com is the exception, then perhaps it should be
> considered even if 1and1 is as big as they say they are.  I doubt 1and1 is
> the sole exception.

I don't know how to determine the most popular hosts, but
Wordpress.org recommends [1] the following hosts, which according to
their sites use the listed version of MySQL:

- Bluehost: 4.1
- AN Hosting: [can't find]
- Yahoo: 4.1.12
- Dreamhost: 5.0
- Laughing Squid: 4.1.2

By the way, I have a number of sites on a budget host that still uses
3.23, so we're going to cause a disruption to some people anyways.

> > Is there a compelling reason to choose 4.0 over 4.1?
> Not, in my mind, for WP 2.1.  Even if a sub-query allows some whiz bang
> feature that could be thrown in at the last minute, the cost of all of the
> sites that cannot upgrade, I suspect, would be too great.  And it's getting
> pretty late in the game to start rewriting stuff to wrap it in "if version <
> 4.1" statements.

Aren't there advantages to announcing the minimum version *before*
including features that require it?  It would give people time to make
the db change before errors start appearing.

[1] http://wordpress.org/hosting/