diff -pu mysql-5.1-bk/storage/innobase/handler/ha_innodb.cc mysql-5.1-bug21704/storage/innobase/handler/ha_innodb.cc
--- mysql-5.1-bk/storage/innobase/handler/ha_innodb.cc	2007-12-11 16:32:09.000000000 +0200
+++ mysql-5.1-bug21704/storage/innobase/handler/ha_innodb.cc	2008-01-02 15:43:18.000000000 +0200
@@ -7865,6 +7865,15 @@ bool ha_innobase::check_if_incompatible_
 		return COMPATIBLE_DATA_NO;
 	}
 
+	/* Check that columns were not renamed, because there is no
+	mechanism for updating column names in the InnoDB data
+	dictionary (and in InnoDB foreign key definitions) when
+	column names are updated in the MySQL data dictionary. */
+	if (info->used_fields & HA_CREATE_USED_NEW_COLUMN_NAME) {
+
+		return(COMPATIBLE_DATA_NO);
+	}
+
 	/* Check that auto_increment value was not changed */
 	if ((info->used_fields & HA_CREATE_USED_AUTO) &&
 		info->auto_increment_value != 0) {
diff -pu mysql-5.1-bk/sql/handler.h mysql-5.1-bug21704/sql/handler.h
--- mysql-5.1-bk/sql/handler.h	2007-12-11 16:32:09.000000000 +0200
+++ mysql-5.1-bug21704/sql/handler.h	2008-01-02 15:43:18.000000000 +0200
@@ -322,6 +322,7 @@ enum enum_binlog_command {
 #define HA_CREATE_USED_CONNECTION       (1L << 18)
 #define HA_CREATE_USED_KEY_BLOCK_SIZE   (1L << 19)
 #define HA_CREATE_USED_TRANSACTIONAL    (1L << 20)
+#define HA_CREATE_USED_NEW_COLUMN_NAME  (1L << 21)
 
 typedef ulonglong my_xid; // this line is the same as in log_event.h
 #define MYSQL_XID_PREFIX "MySQLXid"
diff -pu mysql-5.1-bk/sql/sql_table.cc mysql-5.1-bug21704/sql/sql_table.cc
--- mysql-5.1-bk/sql/sql_table.cc	2007-12-17 14:39:54.000000000 +0200
+++ mysql-5.1-bug21704/sql/sql_table.cc	2008-01-02 15:44:32.000000000 +0200
@@ -5191,7 +5191,10 @@ compare_tables(TABLE *table,
     if (my_strcasecmp(system_charset_info,
 		      field->field_name,
 		      new_field->field_name))
-      field->flags|= FIELD_IS_RENAMED;      
+    {
+      field->flags|= FIELD_IS_RENAMED;
+      create_info->used_fields|= HA_CREATE_USED_NEW_COLUMN_NAME;
+    }
 
     /* Evaluate changes bitmap and send to check_if_incompatible_data() */
     if (!(tmp= field->is_equal(new_field)))