MySQL Bugs: #85828: Rename 'expire_logs

Bug #85828	Rename 'expire_logs_days'
Submitted:	6 Apr 2017 9:34	Modified:	6 Apr 2017 9:43
Reporter:	Jon Stephens	Email Updates:
Status:	Verified	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Server: Replication	Severity:	S3 (Non-critical)
Version:	8.0.1	OS:	Any
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	binlog, usability

Description:
With the addition of binlog_expire_logs_seconds (see BUG#71697), we have two system variables with similar functions but inconsistent names, the other being expire_logs_days.

How to repeat:
See Description.

Suggested fix:
Rename 'expire_logs_days' as 'binlog_expire_logs_days' to make it consistent with 'binlog_expire_logs_seconds'. Suggest we do this rather than the other way round as they both apply to binary logging behaviour and thus should both carry the 'binlog_' prefix.

Hello Jon Ji,

Thank you for the report and feedback!

Thanks,
Umesh

I think renaming expire_logs_days could have a big impact on users, so I think this should not be done in 8.0

I would prefer to rename binlog_expire_logs_seconds to expire_logs_seconds.

Or to add expire_logs_seconds as an alias to binlog_expire_logs_seconds and binlog_expire_logs_days as an alias to expire_logs_days.  We could then deprecate expire_logs_days and remove it in the major version after the next (too early to do this in the next major version, so we need to do this in MySQL 8 + 2).

Hi Jean-François,

1. There are over 1600 mysqld options and variables. Since we don't have any namespacing for these as such, we have to make do with prefixes. Most options and variables affecting binary logging use 'binlog' as a prefix. So it's more consistent to rename expire_logs_days.

2. We have a deprecation procedure that, in the event my suggestion is adopted, will be followed. We will not simply drop the old name for the new one without giving users fair warning and time to make changes in their configurations and applications. 

cheers

jon.