Comparison Tool for MySQL data base schemas
This isn't the a very sexy answer but mysqldump &amp; sdiff.

mysqldump -u root -p --no-data -h oldHost databases db1 db2 db3 &gt; /tmp/old.sql
mysqldump -u root -p --no-data -h newHost databases db1 db2 db3 &gt; /tmp/new.sql
sdiff /tmp/old.sql /tmp/new.sql


sdiff will give you a side by side comparison with differences paired w/ a > or &lt; indicator.  I've found this to be useful in the exact scenario you describe.

The example supposes you have the new schema initialized on a different host, but this certainly isn't a requirement.  It could be a different instance (e.g. port) on the same host or the same instance with different database names.