Understanding MySQL 8.0 Clone Plugin: Architecture, Implementation, and Comparison with Xtrabackup
This article explains the MySQL 8.0 Clone plugin introduced in version 8.0.17, compares it with Xtrabackup, details its five‑step cloning process, describes the code structure across SQL, plugin, and InnoDB layers, and outlines the page‑archiving subsystem used to track dirty pages during cloning.