What Is New in MySQL 8.0 The name of the MySQL Dolphin (our logo) is “Sakila,”  which was chosen from a huge list of names suggested by users in our “Name the Dolphin”  contest. The winning name was submitted by Ambrose Twebaze, an Open Source software developer from Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Africa. According to Ambrose, the feminine name Sakila has its roots in SiSwati, the local language of Eswatini. Sakila is also the name of a town in Arusha, Tanzania, near Ambrose’s country of origin, Uganda. This section summarizes what has been added to, deprecated in, and removed from MySQL 8.0. A companion section lists MySQL server options and variables that have been added, deprecated, or removed in MySQL 8.0; see Section 1.4, “Server and Status Variables and Options Added, Deprecated, or Removed in MySQL 8.0” . The following features have been added to MySQL 8.0: • Data dictionary.   MySQL now incorporates a transactional data dictionary that stores information about database objects. In previous MySQL releases, dictionary data was stored in metadata files and nontransactional tables. For more information, see Chapter 14,  MySQL Data Dictionary . • Atomic data definition statements (Atomic DDL).   An atomic DDL statement combines the data dictionary updates, storage engine operations, and binary log writes associated with a DDL operation into a single, atomic transaction. For more information, see Section 13.1.1, “Atomic Data Definition Statement Support” . • Upgrade procedure.   Previously, after installation of a new version of MySQL, the MySQL server automatically upgrades the data dictionary tables at the next startup, after which the DBA is expected to invoke  mysql_upgrade  manually to upgrade the system tables in the  mysql  schema, as well as objects in other schemas such as the  sys  schema and user schemas. • Security and account management.   These enhancements were added to improve security and enable greater DBA flexibility in account management: •The grant tables in the  mysql  system database are now  InnoDB  (transactional) tables. Previously, these were  MyISAM  (nontransactional) tables. The change of grant table storage engine underlies an accompanying change to the behavior of account-management statements. Previously, an account- management statement (such as  CREATE USER  or  DROP USER ) that named multiple users could succeed for some users and fail for others. Now, each statement is transactional and either succeeds for all named users or rolls back and has no effect if any error occurs. The statement is written to the binary log if it succeeds, but not if it fails; in that case, rollback occurs and no changes are made. For more information, see Section 13.1.1, “Atomic Data Definition Statement Support” . 9 As of MySQL 8.0.16, the server performs the tasks previously handled by  mysql_upgrade . After installation of a new MySQL version, the server now automatically performs all necessary upgrade tasks at the next startup and is not dependent on the DBA invoking  mysql_upgrade . In addition, the server updates the contents of the help tables (something  mysql_upgrade  did not do). A new  --upgrade server option provides control over how the server performs automatic data dictionary and server upgrade operations. For more information, see Section 2.11.3, “What the MySQL Upgrade Process Upgrades” . •Features Added in MySQL 8.0 •Features Deprecated in MySQL 8.0 •Features Removed in MySQL 8.0 1.3 What Is New in MySQL 8.0 Features Added in MySQL 8.0