first 5.1 production version of the popular open source database.
MySQL 5.1.30 is recommended for use on production systems.
MySQL 5.1 provides a number of new enhancements including:
- Table and index partitioning
- Row-based and mixed replication
- Built-in job scheduler
- Improved XML handling with XPath support
- New SQL diagnostic aids and performance utilities
- The return of the embedded library (libmysqld)
For a more complete look at what's new in MySQL 5.1, please see
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/mysql-nutshell.html
Update: Oops, we did it again (MySQL 5.1 released as GA with crashing bugs)