Will “Index WP MySQL For Speed” Stay Robust in Future Updates?

  • Resolved Maxime Michaud

    (@maximemichaud)


    2 months, 1 week ago

    Hello OllieJones,

    I noticed from your profile that you are a core contributor, and although I haven’t verified further, it has raised some questions for me.

    I have been aware of this WordPress issue for years, and I only recently started using your plugin on a very critical large-scale store.

    My first question is about the future updates: What would happen if an update breaks the functionality provided by your plugin? I understand that the WordPress schema is not supposed to change and that the development cycle is open source and predictable, but I’m looking for some reassurance. There’s little risk, right? And you’ll be there to update the plugin if needed, won’t you? ??

    Secondly, why wasn’t this integrated directly into the core of WordPress? Given that WordPress powers a significant portion of the web, a simple modification like this could arguably benefit the planet more than individual efforts by prominent activists. It would save a lot of CPU time and human effort. So, why hasn’t such a straightforward enhancement been integrated into the core? It reminds me of the situation with WooCommerce HPOS—glad to see continuous improvement, but it seems we are still far from what could be achieved.

    Lastly, off-topic, I noticed the translation for the plugin seems to be in order, and it appears correct. I could validate it as I have been translating since my teenage years, though I need to familiarize myself with the WP translation platform. I have experience with Notepad++, Weblate, and Crowdin.

    Thank you for your insights and looking forward to your feedback!

    Best regards,

    Maxime Michaud

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  • Thread Starter Maxime Michaud

    (@maximemichaud)

    I just saw the mention of a GitHub issue on another support topic.
    https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/132
    It’s a shame that it’s not being taken seriously. Personally, I don’t consider it dangerous. Despite being a major schema change that shouldn’t be taken lightly, I believe that a good large-scale implementation, with the right checks, couldn’t hurt for the benefit of WordPress.

    Plugin Author OllieJones

    (@olliejones)

    Thanks for your questions, Maxime Michaud.

    There will come a time, I hope, when MySQL 5.7 and MariaDB 10.3 become WordPress’s minimum supported versions of the database management system. Those are the first versions that offer support for the InnoDB Barracuda storage engine and retire the older Antelope engine. After that happens it will be feasible to add into core the indexing changes in this plugin. Very little would make me happier than having the need for this plugin go away.

    In the three-year lifetime of this plugin there haven’t been any DDL changes (schema changes) to the core tables. I’m about to add support for some WooCommerce specific tables after working with some large store operators.

    Will I be around to maintain it forever? Well, no. I am seventy years old and this is a labor of love. It would be great if a younger person offered to maintain it. And, my writeups of what it does have been as transparent as I can make them; no mysterious SQL voodoo magic, just solid evidence-based indexing.

    https://www.plumislandmedia.net/index-wp-mysql-for-speed/tables_and_keys/

    https://www.plumislandmedia.net/index-wp-mysql-for-speed/wordpresss-prefix-keys/

    I hope this answers some of your concerns.

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