MySQL Bugs: #2261: Can't use @user_variable as FETCH target in stored procedure

Bug #2261	Can't use @user_variable as FETCH target in stored procedure
Submitted:	2 Jan 2004 15:37	Modified:	23 Sep 18:30
Reporter:	Peter Gulutzan
Status:	Verified
Category:	Server: General	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	5.0.0	OS:	Linux (SuSE 8.2)
Assigned to:		Target Version:
Triage:	Triaged: D3 (Medium)

Description:
I can say "SELECT ... into @user_variable ..." and I can say "FETCH into local_variable"

but I can't say "FETCH ... into @user_variable". 
 

How to repeat:
delimiter | 
 
mysql> create procedure p23 () begin declare v int; declare c1 cursor for select s1 from

t11; open c1; fetch c1 into v; end| 
Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.00 sec) 
 
mysql> create procedure p24 () begin declare v int; declare c1 cursor for select s1 from

t11; open c1; fetch c1 into @x2; end| 
ERROR 1064 (42000): You have an error in your SQL syntax.  Check the manual that 
corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '@x2; end' at 
line 1

Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not
a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at
http://www.mysql.com/documentation/ and the instructions on
how to report a bug at http://bugs.mysql.com/how-to-report.php

Additional info:

This is a deliberate limitation. Since the current cursor implementation
in stored procedures is a "quick-and-dirty" temporary solution until we
have the real cursors, it was deemed not be worth the time to do fetch
into global variables.

I am changing the status back to "Verified".

It appears that there is no longer a justification (or a justifier)
for a "Won't fix" status. No improvement of cursors has solved the
matter to go away in the five years since the bug was reported.
And, unless I have missed something hidden in the manual,
this never became a documented limitation. And the earlier comment
about "global" variables hints that there may have been misunderstanding,
since this report specifically is about variables of the form
'@user_variable', which are legal in an analogous context, for example
"SELECT 5 INTO @user_variable;".