Description:
MySQL 8.2.0 and 8.0.35 were released on the 25/10/2023.
With them the release notes refer to more features which are present in these versions which are being deprecated.
Software changes over times so old features may need to be removed. MySQL is no exception. MySQL also has a long list of features which are deprecated but it's hard to keep track of them, when they were deprecated and of more interest the intended timeframe/version where they may be removed. The removal dates are clearly more likely to vary but it's good to have a good idea of when the end date is likely to happen.
Why? Tooling may need to be updated if the features are related to MySQL server management. App code may need to be adapted if this is client code that needs to change. Basically work is required to ensure that when a new update of MySQL appears it can be used easily.
Also bear in mind that people managing MySQL from large to small may run multiple versions so tooling of all kinds needs to be aware of the differences and potentially for each specific feature. This is problematic.
With MySQL 5.7 now EOL we can forget about that version.
I would not expect feature removal in later 8.0.X versions for compatibility reasons.
However, I would expect that when the innovation release versions stabalise (in 8.4?) then at that point more features may have actually been removed, and before we get there more may be expected to be removed. So it seems that we need to start to get a good idea of where application or MySQL management changes are needed to ensure that moving to the latest stable GA release is always possible.
How to repeat:
Go through MySQL 8.0 release notes for the last 35 versions and check for deprecation references. Do the same for 8.1, 8.2+. You will see there are many.
Suggested fix:
Provide a per major version list of features which are deprecated.
Something like:
- https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/deprecated-features.html
- https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.1/en/deprecated-features.html
- https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.2/en/deprecated-features.html
For each feature indicate
- description
- version the feature was deprecated
- if possible the way to workaround the deprecation
- if possible an indication of when the feature will be removed
Making the feature deprecation clearer it's easier to see what work will be needed to handle the changes and to plan accordingly.
