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Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO) and non-PGO builds

Starting with Percona Server for MySQL 8.4.10-10, Percona publishes a mixture of Profile-Guided Optimization (PGO) and non-PGO builds. With PGO, the compiler uses profiling data from representative workloads to guide optimization, which can improve throughput and reduce latency for typical database workloads compared with non-PGO builds.

To install Percona Server for MySQL, see Install Percona Server for MySQL from repositories.

Benefits of PGO builds

PGO builds are a good default when they are available for your platform. Advantages include the following:

  • Higher performance for typical workloads — Hot code paths are optimized using profiling data from representative database workloads, which can improve query throughput and reduce latency compared with non-PGO builds.

  • No application changes — PGO is a compile-time optimization. You install and run Percona Server for MySQL the same way as a non-PGO build; no extra configuration is required.

  • Production-oriented packaging — When Percona publishes PGO builds for a platform, they are intended for production use where performance matters.

Considerations for non-PGO builds

A non-PGO build is not inferior by design. You may receive or choose one for reasons such as the following:

  • Platform availability — Percona does not yet publish a PGO build for every operating system, architecture, or installation method. In those cases, the non-PGO package is the supported option.

  • Consistency with an existing environment — Use a non-PGO build when you need to match binaries in a test, staging, or support scenario that already runs a non-PGO package (for example, before validating an upgrade path).

  • Custom source builds — If you compile Percona Server for MySQL yourself, you control whether PGO is enabled. A non-PGO build may be appropriate when you are not using Percona’s profiling workflow or when you need a simpler reproducible build for development.

  • Workload mismatch (uncommon) — PGO optimizes for the workloads used during profiling. If your workload is highly unusual and differs sharply from typical OLTP-style database traffic, performance gains may be smaller. This is uncommon in practice; most production deployments still benefit from PGO when it is available.

When both PGO and non-PGO builds are published for the same platform, prefer the PGO build for production unless one of the considerations above applies.

Which build you receive

In most cases, you do not choose PGO or non-PGO at install time. The build type depends on how Percona packages Percona Server for MySQL for your operating system, architecture, and installation method (APT, DNF/YUM, binary tarball, or Docker). Some platforms ship PGO-enabled packages; others ship non-PGO builds while PGO support is rolled out across the release matrix.

See the Percona downloads page and the Percona Software and Platform Lifecycle page for supported platforms for this release.

Build from source

To control whether PGO is used, compile Percona Server for MySQL yourself. See Compile Percona Server for MySQL from Source.