Migrating mysql4 to etch

[Marek Podmaka <marki@marki-online.net>]

hi all,

I want to upgrade one of my servers from sarge to etch, but it is
running mysql4.0 with more than 100 customer databases. As I see there
is no mysql4.0 package in etch.

What will happen if I put mysql-server on hold while upgrading? Would
it make any problem? If not and upgrade is possible, what about
security? I read somewhere that security updates will be available for
sarge for about 1 year. But what about sarge packages in etch? Would
they get update?

If the previous is not possible, has anyone migrated mysql4.0 with
many customer databases? Is it possible to do it without customers
noticing? I mean without the need to modify their php scripts. The
issue here is different encoding of their databases. I don't insist on
having the correct charset set, but I want it to to "just work" (as in
mysql4.0 - without the db knowing in which charset are data). So is
there any combination of default charset for tables and default client
(connection) charset that would work for all databases?

    Thanks


-- 
  bYE, Marki