For our fall schema change release we’re going to fix the issues listed in this Schema change, 2013-10-14 fix version. This schema change, much like our previous fall schema changes, is going to be a little lighter than our spring changes. The two big changes that you should be aware of are:
- MBS-6046: Remove PUID support. PUIDs have been deprecated for quite some time in favor of using AcoustID. This change completes our switchover to AcoustID.
- MBS-6068: Remove _name tables. With NGS we introduced tables that isolated all of the name strings for a given table, in order to reduce duplicate strings in our database. Sadly, this proved to be more pain that gain, so we’re going to remove them. This will make writing queries for our schema much easier. Sadly, this means that if you use the MusicBrainz database directly, (as opposed to using our Web Service, which we recommend) then you will likely need to update your SQL queries.
The rest of the changes will have a much smaller impact: Adding a disambiguation column for areas, adding places, and adding the ability to mark a relationship as deprecated. We’re also making some minor changes to our non-replicated tables that will not be visible to our Live Data Feed users, but are more convenient to make during a schema change.
The scheduled date for this release is Monday, 14th October, 2013.
MetaBrainz Blog 
Hello,
For the _name tables, Will you support the existing tables for some time after the 14th October?
So systems can adapt smoothly.
Thanks.
Hi Damien, there will be no backwards compatibility. From 14th October onwards, those tables will entirely cease to exist. I suggest that if you want backwards compatibility, you might want to look into creating views somehow.