MySQL opens its labs to the community. Users who want to test the early builds, before they are released for general availability can get them from MySQL Labs.

There is a detailed announcement that warns against using these binaries in production, but encourages everyone to test them. A companion tutorial explains how to use the snapshots to test the InnoDB plugin, which was released recently, and it is included in the latest MySQL 5.1 binaries.

MySQL, the most popular open source database, releases today, November 27, 2008, its version 5.1 GA (General Availability). Downloads are available for all operating systems. Version 5.1 introduces several enhancements to the already rich set of features. Most notable are partitioning, row based replication, the event scheduler, a new plugin infrastructure, and logs on demand.

There are more new features, but the general improvement is better performance and manageability. Many users have already adopted MySQL 5.1 in production. Their feedback has been reported in the MySQL technical articles. Check them out. MySQL 5.1 is ready for prime time!

MySQL 5.1 is almost ready for prime time, but in the meantime some brave users have already started putting it to work in production environment. MySQL wants to hear from these intrepid souls. The MySQL 5.1 use Case competition is under way. We want feedback from users who have found a practical usage for 5.1 features, and also from the ones who have met usability challenges.

Two articles have already been published from the competition submissions. One showing a popular soccer team using MySQL 5.1 and one proposing a creative way of managing large storage. More articles will come with your feedback

If you are using MySQL 5.1 in production, please let us know!