MySQL Bugs: #112955: START REPLICA doc in 8.1 points to 8.2.

Bug #112955	START REPLICA doc in 8.1 points to 8.2.
Submitted:	3 Nov 2023 15:49	Modified:	6 Nov 2023 14:16
Reporter:	Jean-François Gagné	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: Documentation	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	8.1	OS:	Any
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
Hi,

the START REPLICA doc in 8.1 [1] points to 8.2, see How to repeat for details.  I would expect, like for 8.0 and 8.2, that 8.1 has its own version of the doc.

[1]: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.1/en/start-replica.html

I quickly checkedin the LTS and Innovation versions blog post [2], and I did not find a reference indicating that only the latest Innovation version would have its own doc.

[2]: https://blogs.oracle.com/mysql/post/introducing-mysql-innovation-and-longterm-support-lts-...

Many thanks for looking into this,

Jean-François Gagné

How to repeat:
# Below shows that 8.1 doc redirect to 8.2 (302 Moved Temporarily).
$ wget https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.1/en/start-replica.html
--2023-11-03 11:43:49--  https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.1/en/start-replica.html
Resolving dev.mysql.com (dev.mysql.com)... 2600:140a:a000:3a6::2e31, 2600:140a:a000:3a1::2e31, 23.58.163.162
Connecting to dev.mysql.com (dev.mysql.com)|2600:140a:a000:3a6::2e31|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Moved Temporarily
Location: https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.2/en/start-replica.html [following]
--2023-11-03 11:43:50--  https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.2/en/start-replica.html
Reusing existing connection to [dev.mysql.com]:443.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
[...]

# 8.0 does not redirect, nor does 8.2
$ wget https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/start-replica.html
--2023-11-03 11:44:46--  https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.0/en/start-replica.html
Resolving dev.mysql.com (dev.mysql.com)... 2600:140a:a000:3a6::2e31, 2600:140a:a000:3a1::2e31, 23.58.163.162
Connecting to dev.mysql.com (dev.mysql.com)|2600:140a:a000:3a6::2e31|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
[...]

$ wget https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.2/en/start-replica.html
--2023-11-03 11:45:21--  https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/8.2/en/start-replica.html
Resolving dev.mysql.com (dev.mysql.com)... 2600:140a:a000:3a1::2e31, 23.58.163.162
Connecting to dev.mysql.com (dev.mysql.com)|2600:140a:a000:3a1::2e31|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
[...]

Hello Jean-François,

Thank you for the report and feedback.

regards,
Umesh

Example where 8.1 docs would be useful: Bug#112958.

Posted by developer:
 
The MySQL 8.1 Manual can be found on the Archive page, https://dev.mysql.com/doc/index-archive.html. Any other URLs pointing to the 8.1 Manual are being redirected to the 8.2 Manual now that MySQL 8.2 has been released.

Thanks Stefan for pointing me to the archive.

I find a little weird that 8.1 doc is now "archived".  I understand there is not supposed to be any release in the 8.1 branch, the only upgrade path from 8.1 being 8.2 and higher, but I think it sends the wrong message about the "support" of 8.1.  The 8.1 doc being archives can be interpreted as 8.1 and other innovation releases (IR) being "lower value" than LTS.  Also, it will force the Oracle MySQL team keep, in the latest IR doc, all the details of all the previous IRs, which will clutter the manual.  If I am running 8.1 and am looking for something in the doc, I probably do not want all the details of 8.2 and 8.3.

Anyhow, if only keeping the latest IR is the policy of Oracle, it should probably be announced somewhere, and maybe it is a good idea to have a link to this in all the IR docs so people are not "surprised" by the redirection (I am thinking of a banner at the top of each manual pages).  And because there is still work on this (documenting the policy and adding a note to the doc), I think this bug should be reopened (I cannot do this myself).