MySQL 5.1.29 - Last RC - small changes

MySQL 5.1.29 is available. This is the last RC. Yes. You heard me right. The long wait is almost over. The next release will be GA. Sharpen your tools, and get ready to use partitions, row-based replication, and the event scheduler in production without that uneasy sense of guilt that you feel when using non-GA software.

There are a few small changes in MySQL 5.1.29.

SHOW PROFILES

It was already in a preview, but now SHOW PROFILES is available in 5.1 binaries. As you may recall, it is not active by default. It becomes active when the session variable profiling is set.
This feature is going to be very useful when measuring the impact of partitioning or RBR on your queries. I will do some testing soon.

Logging

Log on demand is one of the main features of MySQL 5.1. It means that you can enable and disable general logs and slow query logs without restarting the server. You can also change the log file names, again without a restart.
What was missing was the ability of setting a log file name in the options file, without actually starting the logging. The old option log, could set the general log file name, but it will also start the logging immediately. If you want to set the log file name without activating the logging, now you can use general_log_file=filename or slow_query_log_file=file_name in the options file. These features were already available as system variables, but not as startup options.

Row-base logging safety

From this version, setting the binlog format for a session will require the SUPER privilege.
This change was decided to make it consistent with similar events. If you want to stop or enable the binary log, you can use SET SQL_LOG_BIN=0, but only if you have the SUPER privilege. Both suspending the binary logging and changing its format are affecting replication, and as such, the SUPER privilege is required.

For the complete list of changes affecting MySQL 5.1.29, please look at the manual.