forgot to include everyone on this response - sorry.
when building PHP using
>> (I) ./configure --with-mysql --with-mysqli --with-pdo-mysql
>> you currently get a build using the system default libmysql, usually
>> in /us or
>> such. Alternatively PHP can be built using
>> (II) ./configure --with-mysqli=mysqlnd [...]
>> to build the MySQL extensions using the mysqlnd library.
>>
>> I would like to change mysqlnd's config9.m4 file to build PHP using
>> mysqlnd when being called in form (I). Users would still be able to
>> enforce libmysql by passing a path, like /usr.
>>
>> There are two main reasons I see for this:
>> a) Different libmysql versions have slightly different behavior,
>> which shows in our tests. We can't have both, a good test coverage
>> and cover all these differences. By using mysqlnd we have a clear
>> behavior every PHP developer can rely on.
>> b) We provide different extensions (pecl/mysqlnd_*) which
>> improve/extend mysqlnd functionality. By having mysqlnd as default
>> these are better usable by users.
>>
>> Opinions?
>>
>> Yes, do it!!!
>
> Also; while we're talking about it; can we do something about the default
> socket location OR change configuring it in 3 places for pdo_mysql; mysqli;
> mysql?! Maybe a mysqlnd_default_socket - or autoconf magic (for instance
> RedHat/CentOS MySQL provided RPM's default to: /var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock;
> Ubuntu/Debian default is: /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock, lastly is the current
> php default and mysql source default of /tmp/mysql.sock). It seems like it
> could do a quick check either by platform or check to see if it is already
> there to change the default on build. Only reason for bringing this up is
> that I've been burned a few times on this one (for instance pdo_mysql is
> configured but mysqli was not for the default socket locations).
>
> Regards,
>
> Mike
>