What’s new in MySQL 9.0

Oracle celebrated the beginning of July with the general availability of three releases of its open source database, MySQL: MySQL 8.0.38, the first update of its long-term support (LTS) version, MySQL 8.4, and the first major version of its 9.x innovation release, MySQL 9.0.

While the v8 releases are bug fixes and security releases only, MySQL 9.0 Innovation is a shiny new version with additional features, as well as some changes that may require attention when upgrading from a previous version.

The new 9.0 versions of MySQL Clients, Tools, and Connectors are also live, and Oracle recommends that they be used with MySQL Server 8.0, and 8.4 LTS as well as with 9.0 Innovation.

New features in MySQL 9.0.0

This initial 9.x Innovation release, Oracle says, is preparation for new features in upcoming releases. But it still contains useful things and can be upgraded to from MySQL 8.4 LTS; the MySQL Configurator automatically does the upgrade without user intervention during MSI installations on Windows.

The major changes include:

• A new Vector datatype is supported in CREATE and ALTER statements.
• JavaScript Stored Programs, which support JavaScript-based stored programs and functions, has come to MySQL Enterprise Edition. JavaScript Stored Programs can call SQL, and SQL can call them.
• MySQL 9.0 Innovation has moved to newer versions of libraries and compilers: Linux 8 and 9 on GCC13, and Boost 1.85.
• In the Event Scheduler, users can now prepare SQL statements CREATE EVENT, ALTER EVENT, and DROP EVENT.

What’s going away in MySQL 9.0

Insecure and elderly SHA-1, after being deprecated in MySQL 8, is gone, and the server now rejects mysql_native authentication requests from older client programs which do not have CLIENT_PLUGIN_AUTH capability. Before upgrading to 9.0, Oracle says, user accounts in 8.0 and 8.4 must be altered from mysql_native_password to caching_sha2_password.

In the Optimizer, ER_SUBQUERY_NO_1_ROW has been removed from the list of errors which are ignored by statements which include the IGNORE keyword. This change can make an UPDATE, DELETE, or INSERT statement which includes the IGNORE keyword raise errors if it contains a SELECT statement with a scalar subquery that produces more than one row.  

What’s next after MySQL 9.0

MySQL is now on a three-month release cadence, with major LTS releases every two years. In October, Oracle says we can expect bug and security releases MySQL 8.4.2 LTS and MySQL 8.0.39, and the MySQL 9.1 Innovation release, with new features as well as bug and security fixes.