MySQL 9.7 is the next LTS release from Oracle. It is scheduled for release in mid 2026.

MySQL 9.0 – 9.6 are considered Innovation releases. There is no guarantee that changes made in Innovation releases will transfer to LTS releases, but they may provide a top contour indication of changes. Innovation releases were made on a 3 – 4 month cadence, so we could expect MySQL 9.7 LTS in April 2026.

Innovation release notes:

• MySQL 9.0
• MySQL 9.1
• MySQL 9.2
• MySQL 9.3
• MySQL 9.4
• MySQL 9.5
• MySQL 9.6

I'll set up dev access to a MySQL 9.7 LTS server when it's available.

Provisionally tagging with 4.9.3 milestone in case we need to make changes prior to PHP 8.6 release in Q4 2026 (which provisionally has 4.9.4 milestone).