The InnoDB Plugin introduces named file formats to improve compatibility between database file formats and various InnoDB versions.
To create new tables that require a new file format, you
must enable the new “Barracuda” file format, using the
configuration parameter innodb_file_format
.
The value of this parameter will determine whether it will be
possible to create a table or index using compression or the new
DYNAMIC
row format. If you omit
innodb_file_format
or set it to “Antelope”,
you preclude the use of new features that would make your database
inaccessible to the built-in InnoDB in MySQL 5.1 and prior releases.
You can set the value of innodb_file_format
on the command line
when you start mysqld
, or in the option file
my.cnf
(Unix operating systems) or
my.ini
(Windows). You can also change it
dynamically with the SET GLOBAL
command.
Further information about managing file formats is presented in Chapter 4, InnoDB File Format Management.
This is the User’s Guide for InnoDB Plugin 1.0.6 for MySQL 5.1, generated on March 4, 2010 (rev 673:680M).