MySQL Reference Manual - 4.0.20

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2.1.2.3 How and When Updates Are Released

MySQL is evolving quite rapidly here at MySQL AB and we want to share new developments with other MySQL users. We try to make a release when we have very useful features that others seem to have a need for.

We also try to help out users who request features that are easy to implement. We take note of what our licensed users want to have, and we especially take note of what our extended email-supported customers want and try to help them out.

No one has to download a new release. The News section will tell you if the new release has something you really want. See section MySQL Change History.

We use the following policy when updating MySQL:

Releases are issued within each series. For each release, the last number in the version is one more than the previous release within the same series.
Production (stable) releases are meant to appear about 1-2 times a year. However, if small bugs are found, a release with only bugfixes will be issued.
Working releases/bugfixes to old releases are meant to appear about every 4-8 weeks.
Binary distributions for some platforms are made by us for major releases. Other people may make binary distributions for other systems, but probably less frequently.
We make fixes available as soon as we have identified and corrected small or non-critical but annoying bugs. The fixes are available immediately from our public BitKeeper repositories, and will be included in the next release.
If by any chance a fatal bug is found in a release, we will make a new release as soon as possible. (We would like other companies to do this, too!)