update.php fails -- no output on MySQL, $conf empty + cache_clear_all() missing

confirmed: only in HEAD.

the symptom is a totally blank page -- no output, when run on MySQL >= 4.1. unfortunately, i ran into this same bug and debugged it on my own. then i searched the queue and found this issue. ;) whoops.

anyway, indeed, the bug is that update_fix_access_table() is trying to use variable_get() and variable_set(). unfortunately, it's being called before drupal_bootstrap(), so those functions aren't really available. worse yet, when variable_set() attempts to call cache_clear_all(), the script (silently) crashes, since cache.inc hasn't been included yet.

i considered trying to just include cache.inc first, but that still doesn't solve the problem of the variables we're looking at and setting not really being there. so, instead, i moved update_fix_access_table() to *after* the call to drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_FULL).

to confirm that this is safe, i just did the following:

1. dropped my test DB
2. edited database.4.1.mysql to comment out the utf8 definition for the {access} table
3. loaded the modified database.4.1.mysql
4. created 1st account
5. ran my patched update.php

given that, the update started producing output again. ;) moreover, after the update ran, i had: update_access_fixed b:1; in my {variable} table. and, best of all, a mysqldump showed me that the {access} table was now utf8.

so, unless i'm missing something truly mysterious about drupal_bootstrap(), my patched version of update.php seems to do all the right things.

Excellent work. Only question was: does the relocated function something which would stop bootstrapping? No, it only converts the access table to UTF-8, so the only possible problem could be that in some very, very unfortunate and arcane case the admin finds himself denied. This is so improbable that RTBC.

Committed to HEAD. Thanks a bunch!