[matisoffn]

Depends on the operation. For most operations there are backwards compatible options that generally result in a 2-step process.

Soundcloud (I don't work there) developed something in Ruby for online database migrations that copies the table and uses triggers to handle everything. Note that this only works for MySQL. For PostgreSQL or others, the best option is taking a backwards compatible approach.

https://github.com/soundcloud/lhm

[ainhu]

I guess backwards-compatibility in the app is probably the way to go. Thank you for your comment!