What are the new features in MySQL 9.6?
Rebooter.S
3 min read
Preface
On January 20, 2026, the MySQL official website released multiple new versions for the first quarter of 2026, including: MySQL 9.6.0 Innovation, MySQL 8.4.8 LTS, and MySQL 8.0.45.
It is important to note that with the upcoming release of MySQL 9.7.x LTS in the next quarter, and the end of life for MySQL 8.0.x versions, users are officially advised to upgrade to the 8.4.x version as soon as possible.
Overview of New Features
MySQL 9.6 Key New Features
| Feature Category | Main Feature | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Security & Auditing | Audit Log Componentization | The audit log has been split into an independent component, making installation, management, and maintenance easier. |
| Security & Auditing | Classic Hash Function Componentization | The MD5() and SHA1() functions have been moved to a separate classic_hashing component, improving security flexibility. |
| Replication & Logging | New GTID Set Data Structure | Provides a more modern and efficient library for processing Global Transaction Identifiers (GTIDs). |
| Replication & Logging | Enhanced InnoDB Log Writer Thread | Intelligently adjusts default behavior based on whether binary logging is enabled and the number of available CPUs. |
| Data Management | JSON Duality Views DML Tags | Allows specifying permitted or forbidden DML operations for each underlying table within the view definition. |
| Data Management | InnoDB Row ID Generation Optimization | Generates unique row IDs more efficiently for tables without a primary key. |
| Observability | Performance Schema Enhancements | Adds the TEMPORARY_ACCOUNT_LOCKS table for viewing temporarily locked accounts. |
| Observability | Log Telemetry | Enables telemetry data collection for slow query logs and general logs. |
MySQL 8.4.8 Update: Key Fixes and Enhancements
Summary: Explore the MySQL 8.4.8 release featuring critical bug fixes, security updates with OpenSSL 3.0.18, and InnoDB logging enhancements for improved database stability and performance.
| Module | Change Type | Specific Content |
|---|---|---|
| Compilation Configuration | Bug Fix | Fixed an issue where the CMake macro MYSQL_CHECK_PROTOBUF reported an error due to duplicate target creation when using the system protobuf. |
| Server Configuration | Bug Fix | Fixed an issue where the value of mysqlx_port set via the graphical configuration interface was not correctly persisted to the my.ini file. |
| InnoDB Storage Engine | Feature Enhancement | InnoDB redo log error messages now include the current LSN (Log Sequence Number) and redo log capacity information. MONITOR output has also been enhanced to display this information, facilitating troubleshooting and performance monitoring. |
| Optimizer | Bug Fix | Fixed issues related to Common Table Expressions (CTEs), specific SQL query execution, and SHOW CREATE TABLE. Also resolved the problem where queries using REGEXP took longer to execute in prepared statement mode compared to direct execution. |
| Software Packages | Security Update | Upgraded the bundled OpenSSL library to version 3.0.18 to incorporate the latest security patches and functional improvements. |
| Pluggable Authentication | Behavior Standardization | Fixed inconsistent error messages returned when connecting to the MySQL server with a non-existent username. It now consistently returns an “Access denied for user” error, regardless of username length or MySQL version. |
| Security | Bug Fix | Resolved an authentication-related issue. |
| Other | Multiple Bug Fixes | Fixed several stability-impacting issues including cluster connection, thread pool blocking, and GTID gaps. |
MySQL 8.4.8, as an LTS version, focuses on stability and reliability.
MySQL AI
Last year marked MySQL’s 30th anniversary. In October, MySQL launched a new branch called MySQL AI, based on the Enterprise Edition, which integrates MySQL Enterprise Edition with AI plugins.
Reference
- https://github.com/sqlflash/Awesome-Text2SQL-Dataset
- https://github.com/eosphoros-ai/Awesome-Text2SQL
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