Functionality added or changed:

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A new status variable, Queries, indicates the number of statements executed by the server. This includes statements executed within stored programs, unlike the Questions variable which includes only statements sent to the server by clients. (Bug#41131)
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Performance of SELECT * retrievals from INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS was improved slightly. (Bug#38918)
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Previously, index hints did not work for FULLTEXT searches. Now they work as follows:

For natural language mode searches, index hints are silently ignored. For example, IGNORE INDEX(i) is ignored with no warning and the index is still used.

For boolean mode searches, index hints with FOR ORDER BY or FOR GROUP BY are silently ignored. Index hints with FOR JOIN or no FOR modifier are honored. In contrast to how hints apply for non-FULLTEXT searches, the hint is used for all phases of query execution (finding rows and retrieval, grouping, and ordering). This is true even if the hint is given for a non-FULLTEXT index. (Bug#38842)