How to upgrade MySQL to a New version..?

Question

I have installed mysql using the package management system.I am using ubuntu machine.

After that i have very well configured the server for InnoDB and other server related parameters.

I am using the version

mysql> select version();
+-----------------------+
| version()             |
+-----------------------+
| 5.1.49-1ubuntu8.1-log |
+-----------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

Now i want to upgrade my MySQL server to some Higher version say 5.5. what steps should I follow to accomplish the same...?

Thanks...!

Answer 1

There's a PPA that someone has created which includes MySQL 5.5. Since PPA's are community-contributed, the usual warnings about using with caution apply.

There is a guide in the MySQL docs for some standard practices to follow when upgrading from one version level to another.

Edit:

Here is some information from the mysql_upgrade manual page that should give you an idea of why it's important. This is in response to your comment.

mysql_upgrade examines all tables in all databases for incompatibilities with the current version of MySQL Server. mysql_upgrade also upgrades the system tables so that you can take advantage of new privileges or capabilities that might have been added.

mysql_upgrade should be executed each time you upgrade MySQL. It supersedes the older mysql_fix_privilege_tables script, which has been removed in MySQL 5.5.

If mysql_upgrade finds that a table has a possible incompatibility, it performs a table check and, if problems are found, attempts a table repair.