On Sat, 2010-03-06 at 11:24 -0500, Tom Horsley wrote: > I'm starting to play around with MySQL and PHP on fedora 12. > > With Fedora's fanatical devotion to churning out latest > versions of everything, I'm just wondering what the rate > of new MySQL versions that are non-backward compatible > has been like. > > Would I be better off using mysqldump and restoring databases > across fedora releases as time goes on, or is just restoring the > /var/lib/mysql datadir sufficient to retore databases most > of the time? > > Just curious about the best way to approach backups if I > actually accumulate any useful data in these experiments... ---- you should have a regular plan to mysqldump your data (either database by database or the entire system or both). The fact that you have been able to migrate up or down merely by allowing mysql to handle the changes from version to version by altering the files in /var/lib/mysql directory merely trades on good fortune but if the conversions fail, the damage may be imperceptible for some time. the best way to approach backups has always been dumping the database - nothing has changed there and is highly unlikely to change in the foreseeable future. As for 'Fedora's fanatical devotion to churning out latest versions of everything' - despite the negative characterization you seemingly want to attach to it, is it actually possible that you don't understand what the mission of Fedora is? Just in case you missed it... http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Overview If Fedora objectives don't track with your needs, there are plenty of other distributions available, some of which might track your needs more closely. Craig -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean. -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines