GUI-based version control tool for MySQL

Question

I've been trying to find a change control scheme for the database that makes merges of changes from multiple branches manageable, but every option I find seems overcomplicated. Most people seem to recommend Liquibase but that requires additional manual code-writing to demarcate changesets and it doesn't have a GUI. I've seen a few tools like dbv.php that are cleaner and easier to use, but they always seem to be based around the idea that you'll be using specific platform for the application itself (usually PHP) and that's not workable when my team isn't using that platform for our applications. The only other real alternatives I've seen are to either manually maintain dumps of server scripts in a regular version control system or to do baseline comparisons by hand, but those are both time-consuming and error prone.

What I'm looking for is a tool that:

• Provides a GUI interface
• Can detect conflicts between branches when merging changes, either through a baseline comparison or by maintaining a change history
• Makes no assumptions about what the software that accesses the database is or how it works
• Works with MySQL

Does such a tool exist, or do I have to bite the bullet and use Liquibase?

Answer 1

Providing that you, or your organisation, are ready to pay for it there is Datical DB which is a commercial tool built on top of Liquidbase and provides, amongst other stuff, a GUI interface.

The web site seems a little short of relevant screenshots but one example:

• Multi-platform (Windows, OS-X & Linux)
• Oracle, SQL Server, DB2, MySQL, and PostgreSQL
• "satisfies the most strenuous audit requirements by providing three layers of audit information - detailed change reports, logs, and tracking information for every database"