MySQL upgrade on Ubuntu - any heads ups? I am needing to upgrade MySQL on Ubuntu, it is a production server and naturally cautious.

My many googles look to be essentially saying that I need to :


Backup my current mysql database and tables/data
Uninstall current mysql 
Install new MYSQL 5+
Restore Databases/ tables and data
Hope and Pray I got it right ?? 


Something doesn't seem right, sounds like a lot of down time and risk

Am I missing something, or any simple solutions?

Upgrading from MySQL 4 to 5 on Ubuntu 10

Many Thanks,

Rob
The upgrade process depends on how you installed your mysql distribution.

If you installed the ubuntu mysql distribution you don't need to upgrade that way (but always create the backup copy of all your dbs!). You need to upgrade that way only if you installed the mysql.com mysql distribution (ex. tar.gz).

If you installed mysql packages distributed by ubuntu (you can check it running dpkg -l | grep -i mysql-server) you may just need to use the ubuntu package manager to upgrade mysql.