June 10, 2016 - [Detailed release notes](https://issues.jboss.org/browse/DBZ/fixforversion/12329661)
## 0.2.1
June 10, 2016 - [Detailed release notes](https://issues.jboss.org/browse/DBZ/fixforversion/12330752)
### Backwards-incompatible changes
* Correted the names of the Avro-compliant Kafka Connect schemas generated by the MySQL connector for the `before` and `after` fields in its data change events. Consumers that require knowledge (by name) of the particular schemas used in 0.2 events may have trouble consuming events produced by the 0.2.1 (or later) connector. ([DBZ-72](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-72))
### Fixes
* The MySQL connector's plugin archive now contains the MySQL JDBC driver JAR file required by the connector.([DBZ-71](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-71))
* Completely redesigned the structure of event messages produced by MySQL connector and stored in Kafka topics. Events now contain an _envelope_ structure with information about the source event, the kind of operation (create/insert, update, delete, read), the time that Debezium processed the event, and the state of the row before and/or after the event. The messages written to each topic have a distinct Avro-compliant Kafka Connect schema that reflects the structure of the source table, which may vary over time independently from the schemas of all other topics. See the [documentation](http://debezium.io/docs/connectors/mysql#events) for details. This envelope structure will likely be used by future connectors. ([DBZ-50](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-50), [DBZ-52](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-52), [DBZ-45](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-45), [DBZ-60](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-60))
* MySQL connector handles deletion of a row by recording a delete event message whose value contains the state of the removed row (and other metadata), followed by a _tombstone event_ message with a null value to signal *Kafka's log compaction* that all prior messages with the same key can be garbage collected. See the [documentation](http://debezium.io/docs/connectors/mysql#events) for details. ([DBZ-44](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-44))
* Changed the format of events that the MySQL connector writes to its schema change topic, through which consumers can access events with the DDL statements applied to the database(s). The format change makes it possible for consumers to correlate these events with the data change events. ([DBZ-43](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-43), [DBZ-55](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-55))
* MySQL connector supports *high availability* MySQL cluster topologies. See the [documentation](http://debezium.io/docs/connectors/mysql) for details. ([DBZ-37](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-37))
* MySQL connector now by default starts by performing a *consistent snapshot* of the schema and contents of the upstream MySQL databases in its current state. See the [documentation](http://debezium.io/docs/connectors/mysql#snapshots) for details about how this works and how it impacts other database clients. ([DBZ-31](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-31))
* MySQL connector can be configured to *exclude*, *truncate*, or *mask* specific columns in events. ([DBZ-29](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-29))
* MySQL connector events can be serialized using the [Confluent Avro converter](http://docs.confluent.io/3.0.0/avro.html) or the JSON converter. Previously, only the JSON converter could be used. ([DBZ-29](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-29), [DBZ-63](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-63), [DBZ-64](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-64))
* DDL parsing framework identifies table affected by statements via a new listener callback. ([DBZ-38](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-38))
* The `database.binlog` configuration property was required in version 0.1 of the MySQL connector, but in 0.2 it is no longer used because of the new snapshot feature. If provided, it will be quietly ignored. ([DBZ-31](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-31))
* MySQL connector now properly parses `COMMIT` statements, the `REFERENCES` clauses of `CREATE TABLE` statements, and statements with `CHARSET` shorthand of `CHARACTER SET`. ([DBZ-48](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-48), [DBZ-49](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-49), [DBZ-57](https://issues.jboss.org/projects/DBZ/issues/DBZ-57))