MySQL Bugs: #17593: Stuck on 3.23: no upgrade path to 4.1

Bug #17593	Stuck on 3.23: no upgrade path to 4.1
Submitted:	20 Feb 2006 19:12	Modified:	23 Feb 2006 9:48
Reporter:	David Spidley	Email Updates:
Status:	Not a Bug	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:		OS:
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any

Description:
I have tried the mailing lists, but have had no luck.

I have a few hundred databases which need converting from latin1 mysql 3.23 to utf-8 mysql 4.1

Since there seems to be no official upgrade path, I am filing a bug.

How to repeat:
1. Have lots of latin1 3.23 databases containing German characters
2. Want to upgrade to utf8 4.1 database
3. Look for upgrade path (and fail)
4. Stay on 3.23

Suggested fix:
Allow an option to convert data to utf8.

Some people (many actually) have suggested writing tools to do this, or hand editing (!) dump files.
Crazy.

We're sorry, but the bug system is not the appropriate forum for 
asking help on using MySQL products. Your problem is not the result 
of a bug.

Support on using our products is available both free in our forums
at http://forums.mysql.com and for a reasonable fee direct from our
skilled support engineers at http://www.mysql.com/support/

Thank you for your interest in MySQL.

This is a bug - there is no upgrade path for me to 4.1.

Try it by steps. 3.23 -> 4.0, 4.0 -> 4.1, and read the manual (http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/upgrading-from-4-0.html) carefully.