Why the strange Ubuntu MySQL version?

Question

On my local desktop I'm running Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty. I've got mysql-server installed, the version is "5.1.30really5.0.75-0ubuntu10.2" that's a very strange version string. Why is it "...really...." ?

Answer 1

This is the ChangeLog entry from packages.ubuntu.com that first mentiones the name:

mysql-dfsg-5.0 (5.1.30really5.0.75-0ubuntu1) jaunty; urgency=low

  * No change upload. Rebuild so that libmysqlclient15-dev is again available
    in jaunty. mysql-dfsg-5.1_5.1.30-2ubuntu1 provided a libmysqlclient15-dev
    transitional package. -2ubuntu2 doesn't provide libmysqlclient15-dev
    anymore. (LP: #316280).

 -- Mathias Gug <...>  Tue, 13 Jan 2009 13:24:13 -0500

Before that it's name was:

mysql-dfsg-5.0 (5.0.75-1ubuntu1) jaunty; urgency=low

For further details you might want to read up on the Ubuntu Policy (just the first Google hit I got) or even ask Mathias Gug :)

Answer 2

It probably means that they took 5.0.75 and ported in the latest security fixes without the enhancements and minor non-security bug fixes. RedHat used to do that all the time and it drove me nuts because they didn't announce it in the version number like that.

Answer 3

5.1.30really5.0.75-0ubuntu10.2 is the Ubuntu package name.

mysql -V

mysql  Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.75, for debian-linux-gnu (x86_64) using readline 5.2

So the Mysql version is actually 5.0.75