Is it Possible to downgrade from MySQL 5 to MySQL 4 - Ran into problem...BIG TIME

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#1 Sat, 04/21/2007 - 18:07
Blueforce

Is it Possible to downgrade from MySQL 5 to MySQL 4 - Ran into problem...BIG TIME

Hi Joe, and all you other guys.

Is it possible to downgrade to MySQL 4 on a Fedora Core 6 box with Virtualmin Pro.

We was transfering all sites we host from our old FC4 box to our new FC6 both running VM Pro and ran into BIG problems with MySQL 5. Version 5 incompatible to version 4 and earlier and the change in behavior for joins gives me lots of problem... and when doing some googling on this problem I see there is a lot of folks with the same problem. And it doesen't look like there is a "workaround" for this. They suggest rewriting your code, which I understand is the best thing.

The solution for me is (hopefully) the possibility to downgrade to MySQL 4. At this point there's no time to recode all our pages. We have to have all sites moved to the new server by Monday night. (Our ecommerce/webshop alone contains about 1300 files with lots of MySQL queries)

Now all sites is back on the old server due to MySQL 5 breaking the sites/code!

Regards, Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

THANKS !!!!!!!!!!

Have been struggling with all this for 36 hours now....

I have no data in MySQL 5, ALL data is MySQL 4.1.20

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

I'm uploading wholly untested packages now. I hope you're on i386? You didn't mention architecture, so I built for 386 first. x86_64 is building now, should be ready in half an hour or so.

Ah, finished uploading the 386 packages...Grab the packages here:

http://software.virtualmin.com/gpl/mysql4/fc6/i386/

Uninstall MySQL 5 and then install the MySQL 4 packages. These cannot sit side-by-side (building packages that could do so is a monumental undertaking, and there's no way I could do it on short notice...and without someone throwing lots of money at me!). But I get the impression you don't care about MySQL 5.

If you are running on x86_64, give it a bit more time. I'll ping this thread when they're uploaded.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Oh, yeah...You're going to have to make sure any remnants of MySQL 5 are removed from the system after uninstalling. If there's anything in /var/lib/mysql, you'll need to get rid of it. It'd be asking for trouble to leave MySQL 5 data lying around during the switch to version 4.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Oh, yeah...You're going to have to make sure any remnants of MySQL 5 are removed from the system after uninstalling. If there's anything in /var/lib/mysql, you'll need to get rid of it. It'd be asking for trouble to leave MySQL 5 data lying around during the switch to version 4.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Thanks,

Yes i'm on i386.

All files are downloaded.

How do I uninstall MySQL 5 without ending up like last time I was told to do a yum remove ending up with a almost totally deleted box *smile*

Can you just give me some short advice, for how to safely remove and then how I install the MySQL4, should they go in a specific order?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Oh, yeah...You're going to have to make sure any remnants of MySQL 5 are removed from the system after uninstalling. If there's anything in /var/lib/mysql, you'll need to get rid of it. It'd be asking for trouble to leave MySQL 5 data lying around during the switch to version 4.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Thanks,

Yes i'm on i386.

All files are downloaded.

How do I uninstall MySQL 5 without ending up like last time I was told to do a yum remove ending up with a almost totally deleted box *smile*

Can you just give me some short advice, for how to safely remove and then how I install the MySQL4, should they go in a specific order?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

That's also potentially a hard problem. ;-)

yum remove mysql might do the trick...I just realized, though that you'll also need PHP rebuilt, if your scripts are in PHP. This is going to get ugly. You're traveling in uncharted waters here.

Anyway...let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Removing MySQL can probably be done safely with:

rpm -qa | grep mysql

rpm -e whatever the previous command listed

This rpm -e command will probably be:

rpm -e mysql mysql-server mysql-devel php-mysql

But there might be more packages than that.

Once that's done, you can install the new ones (probably, though there might be some extra dependencies). And finally, we'll need to build the PHP MySQL bindings. I'll have to figure out how to do that for you...

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Oh, yeah...You're going to have to make sure any remnants of MySQL 5 are removed from the system after uninstalling. If there's anything in /var/lib/mysql, you'll need to get rid of it. It'd be asking for trouble to leave MySQL 5 data lying around during the switch to version 4.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Thanks,

Yes i'm on i386.

All files are downloaded.

How do I uninstall MySQL 5 without ending up like last time I was told to do a yum remove ending up with a almost totally deleted box *smile*

Can you just give me some short advice, for how to safely remove and then how I install the MySQL4, should they go in a specific order?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

That's also potentially a hard problem. ;-)

yum remove mysql might do the trick...I just realized, though that you'll also need PHP rebuilt, if your scripts are in PHP. This is going to get ugly. You're traveling in uncharted waters here.

Anyway...let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Removing MySQL can probably be done safely with:

rpm -qa | grep mysql

rpm -e whatever the previous command listed

This rpm -e command will probably be:

rpm -e mysql mysql-server mysql-devel php-mysql

But there might be more packages than that.

Once that's done, you can install the new ones (probably, though there might be some extra dependencies). And finally, we'll need to build the PHP MySQL bindings. I'll have to figure out how to do that for you...

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Ok... somehow i'm not sleepy any more :-)

Feels like i'm walking on very thin ice here!

I have a (maybee silly) question.
Is there some other way to get these things set up from a new install? If I uninstall MySQL and PHP, and then uninstall or reinstall Virtualmin... Don't the install.sh then pick up the missing things? or am I totally wrong here?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Oh, yeah...You're going to have to make sure any remnants of MySQL 5 are removed from the system after uninstalling. If there's anything in /var/lib/mysql, you'll need to get rid of it. It'd be asking for trouble to leave MySQL 5 data lying around during the switch to version 4.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Thanks,

Yes i'm on i386.

All files are downloaded.

How do I uninstall MySQL 5 without ending up like last time I was told to do a yum remove ending up with a almost totally deleted box *smile*

Can you just give me some short advice, for how to safely remove and then how I install the MySQL4, should they go in a specific order?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

That's also potentially a hard problem. ;-)

yum remove mysql might do the trick...I just realized, though that you'll also need PHP rebuilt, if your scripts are in PHP. This is going to get ugly. You're traveling in uncharted waters here.

Anyway...let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Removing MySQL can probably be done safely with:

rpm -qa | grep mysql

rpm -e whatever the previous command listed

This rpm -e command will probably be:

rpm -e mysql mysql-server mysql-devel php-mysql

But there might be more packages than that.

Once that's done, you can install the new ones (probably, though there might be some extra dependencies). And finally, we'll need to build the PHP MySQL bindings. I'll have to figure out how to do that for you...

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Ok... somehow i'm not sleepy any more :-)

Feels like i'm walking on very thin ice here!

I have a (maybee silly) question.
Is there some other way to get these things set up from a new install? If I uninstall MySQL and PHP, and then uninstall or reinstall Virtualmin... Don't the install.sh then pick up the missing things? or am I totally wrong here?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

The ONLY thing hosted on that box at the time is our own mail, and I can just point the mail back to our old box again during this time...

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Oh, yeah...You're going to have to make sure any remnants of MySQL 5 are removed from the system after uninstalling. If there's anything in /var/lib/mysql, you'll need to get rid of it. It'd be asking for trouble to leave MySQL 5 data lying around during the switch to version 4.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Thanks,

Yes i'm on i386.

All files are downloaded.

How do I uninstall MySQL 5 without ending up like last time I was told to do a yum remove ending up with a almost totally deleted box *smile*

Can you just give me some short advice, for how to safely remove and then how I install the MySQL4, should they go in a specific order?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

That's also potentially a hard problem. ;-)

yum remove mysql might do the trick...I just realized, though that you'll also need PHP rebuilt, if your scripts are in PHP. This is going to get ugly. You're traveling in uncharted waters here.

Anyway...let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Removing MySQL can probably be done safely with:

rpm -qa | grep mysql

rpm -e whatever the previous command listed

This rpm -e command will probably be:

rpm -e mysql mysql-server mysql-devel php-mysql

But there might be more packages than that.

Once that's done, you can install the new ones (probably, though there might be some extra dependencies). And finally, we'll need to build the PHP MySQL bindings. I'll have to figure out how to do that for you...

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Ok... somehow i'm not sleepy any more :-)

Feels like i'm walking on very thin ice here!

I have a (maybee silly) question.
Is there some other way to get these things set up from a new install? If I uninstall MySQL and PHP, and then uninstall or reinstall Virtualmin... Don't the install.sh then pick up the missing things? or am I totally wrong here?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

<i>Is there some other way to get these things set up from a new install? If I uninstall MySQL and PHP, and then uninstall or reinstall Virtualmin... Don't the install.sh then pick up the missing things? or am I totally wrong here?</i>

And if you do so, which version of MySQL will be installed? Somebody has to <i>build</i> those packages, if you don't want the ones that come from the Fedora Core 6 software repository (even our custom PHP4 packages are built to talk to MySQL 5, as provided by FC6...so, it won't work in your case, either).

If you need MySQL 4 on Fedora Core 6, we have to build it. If you then want PHP to talk to that MySQL version, we'll have to build it, too. Things get complicated when we go against the defaults in the OS, which is why we avoid it as much as possible.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Oh, yeah...You're going to have to make sure any remnants of MySQL 5 are removed from the system after uninstalling. If there's anything in /var/lib/mysql, you'll need to get rid of it. It'd be asking for trouble to leave MySQL 5 data lying around during the switch to version 4.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Thanks,

Yes i'm on i386.

All files are downloaded.

How do I uninstall MySQL 5 without ending up like last time I was told to do a yum remove ending up with a almost totally deleted box *smile*

Can you just give me some short advice, for how to safely remove and then how I install the MySQL4, should they go in a specific order?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

That's also potentially a hard problem. ;-)

yum remove mysql might do the trick...I just realized, though that you'll also need PHP rebuilt, if your scripts are in PHP. This is going to get ugly. You're traveling in uncharted waters here.

Anyway...let's cross that bridge when we come to it. Removing MySQL can probably be done safely with:

rpm -qa | grep mysql

rpm -e whatever the previous command listed

This rpm -e command will probably be:

rpm -e mysql mysql-server mysql-devel php-mysql

But there might be more packages than that.

Once that's done, you can install the new ones (probably, though there might be some extra dependencies). And finally, we'll need to build the PHP MySQL bindings. I'll have to figure out how to do that for you...

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Ok... somehow i'm not sleepy any more :-)

Feels like i'm walking on very thin ice here!

I have a (maybee silly) question.
Is there some other way to get these things set up from a new install? If I uninstall MySQL and PHP, and then uninstall or reinstall Virtualmin... Don't the install.sh then pick up the missing things? or am I totally wrong here?

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

<i>Is there some other way to get these things set up from a new install? If I uninstall MySQL and PHP, and then uninstall or reinstall Virtualmin... Don't the install.sh then pick up the missing things? or am I totally wrong here?</i>

And if you do so, which version of MySQL will be installed? Somebody has to <i>build</i> those packages, if you don't want the ones that come from the Fedora Core 6 software repository (even our custom PHP4 packages are built to talk to MySQL 5, as provided by FC6...so, it won't work in your case, either).

If you need MySQL 4 on Fedora Core 6, we have to build it. If you then want PHP to talk to that MySQL version, we'll have to build it, too. Things get complicated when we go against the defaults in the OS, which is why we avoid it as much as possible.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Hi,

I told you it was a stupid question... :-)

Ok, the reason for all my questions is that my problem here is NOT caused by any of your software, and I was just thinking if there was some &quot;shortcut&quot; to get this to work. And mainly to NOT give you guys more problems to solve.

I really appreciate all the help we get from you!

Do you think this is the way to go... or should I once more extend our contract for our old box, so I can rewrite those sites to be compatible with MySQL 5. It's a rather big job, but on the other hand I don't know how much work YOU have to put in to get MySQL 4 working on/with FC6.

I'm also is in a rather tight time frame here, the old box is supposed to get &quot;killed&quot; in two days (by the 24th).

I Don't know how much work or time it would take to get MySQL 4, PHP and all other stuff it involves up and running. I think I need about one day to move the domains. I can't do backup and restore on all the domains. Some of them needs to be moved/updated manually. So this gives me just one day for MySQL 4. And of course, to get it to work I NEED your support, and I can't take for granted that you guys are there to &quot;fix&quot; this for me in this short time.

So... it end up with this question, is it possible to get this up and running in, lets say 12 hours, if so, it leavs me time for transfering the domains. If not, I'm stuck for another month with the old server. This gives me a month to upgrade/rewrite our code to work with MySQL 5.

What do you think, should I go for MySQL 4 and the dedline by the 24 of April. Or should I go the &quot;safe&quot; way ???

Regards,
Leif

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Joe
Joe's picture

Hey Leif,

Downgrading MySQL can be a serious challenge...but in your case, I'm assuming you don't have any new data in the MySQL 5 database? That's the biggest problem with downgrading is getting the data to go downward (data that takes advantage of new features are impossible to import into the older version).

Let me see if I can build MySQL 4 packages for you real quick. I'll let you know in about an hour whether it'll be easy or not.

--

Check out the forum guidelines!

Sun, 06/07/2009 - 07:02
Blueforce

Joe,

Have you hade time to check if it's possible to do this?

Or could you just give me a hint on when you have time to check this up, would be nice to know because i'm starting to get these horrible thoughts of getting a couple hours of sleep... thats not a good thought ;-)

(time here in Sweden is now 5:45am)

Regards,
Leif

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