MySQL Bugs: #59615: Incomplete/conflicting build/platform information

Bug #59615	Incomplete/conflicting build/platform information
Submitted:	19 Jan 2011 16:57	Modified:	19 Jan 2011 18:31
Reporter:	Peter Laursen (Basic Quality Contributor)	Email Updates:
Status:	Closed	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: Documentation	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	5.5 (at least)	OS:	Any
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	qc

Description:
Windows XP and 2003 are listed as supported here
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/supported-os.html

And there are some compilation details for various Windows versions and Microsoft compilers here
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/mysql-sourcebuild-excerpt/5.0/en/windows-source-build.html

One detail is missing: If Visual Studio 2010 is used for compilation Win XP and 2003 will require Servicepack 1 or higher. If no Servicepack is installed on those OS's Windows will abort the server executable with the message that 'mysqld.exe is not a valid Win32 program'.

How to repeat:
Actually I have not tried building MySQL on VS2010 and running on XP with no Servicepack installed.  But we experienced this ourselves with our own programs after switching to VS2010 - and you will easily google similar for lots of programs (they continue to come as vendors will switch to VS 2020).

Also I do not know with what VS version the binaries currently distributed by MySQL are compiled.  

Suggested fix:
Something to watch and detail in docs - and in case you use VS 2010 or plan to you should be aware of this. Docs should be updated/detailed but exactly how depends on what build environment you use currently and plan to use for the future.

To our experience some people are reluctant to install Service packs on a Windows Server system (all reports we have are with 2003 and none are with XP, where people seem to be less scared of Servicepacks)

clarification:

The two pages together say that "you can build on VS 2003 and higher" and "it will run on XP/2003".

But if you build on VS 2010 it will not run on XP/2003 unless Servicepack 1 or higher is installed.

wrong category corrected!

Sorry, but why do you compare supported OSes for 5.5 with compilation instructions for 5.0?

As far as I remember 5.5 can not be compiled with VS 2003 or 2005... http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/source-installation.html mentions VS 2008 or later. Also I do not think that plain XP or 2003 without service packs should be used :)

So, for version 5.5, please, clarify, what exactly you want to be added to the documentation? Exact service packs for XP and 2003 that must be installed?

OK .. I may have made a mistake.  My last link was a link related to 5.0 server.  Where will I find similar details for 5.1 and 5.5?

Anyway: if compiled on VS 2010 MySQL (any version) will not run on XP/2003 without at least SP1.

I noticed my mistake myself. Google did not respect my search string "mysql 5.5' :-(