Software update: MySQL 4.0.17

MySQL, the popular open source SQL database, has been able to add another new number to its now quite long list of released versions. We are talking about release number 4.0.17, which fixes a lot of bugs from version 4.0.16. The complete list is here† We limit ourselves to the heading ‘Functionality added or changed’:

• `mysqldump’ no longer dumps data for `MERGE’ tables. (Bug #1846)
• `lower_case_table_names’ is now forced to 1 if the database directory is located on a case-insensitive file system. (Bug #1812)
• Symlink creation is now disabled on systems where `realpath()’ doesn’t work. (Before one could use `CREATE TABLE .. DATA DIRECTORY=..’ even if `HAVE_BROKEN_REALPATH’ was defined. This is now disabled to avoid problems when running `ALTER TABLE’).
• Inserting a negative `AUTO_INCREMENT’ value in a `MyISAM’ table no longer updates the `AUTO_INCREMENT’ counter to a big unsigned value. (Bug #1366)
• Added four new modes to `WEEK(…, mode)’ function. *Note `WEEK(date,mode)’: Date and time functions. (Bug #1178)
• Allow `UNION DISTINCT’ syntax.
• `mysql_server_init()’ now returns 1 if it can’t initialize the environment. (Previously `mysql_server_init()’ called `exit(1)’ if it could not create a key with `pthread_key_create()’. (Bug #2062)
• Allow spaces in Windows service names.
• Changed the default Windows service name for `mysqld’ from `MySql’ to `MySQL’. This should not affect usage, because service names are not case sensitive.
• When you install `mysqld’ as a service on Windows systems, `mysqld’ will read startup options in option files from the option group with the same name as the service name. (Except when the service name is `MySQL’).

[break]As usual, MySQL is available in many flavors. You can choose your favorite variant here investigate.