FYI on MySQL and Alpha ... from the MySQL mailing list.  It looks like
things may be in better shape right now.

>> Anyone running on 64bit architecture? (Alpha?) If so, what OS and what
kind 
>> of stability are you running into?

sinisa@mysql.com wrote:
> Monty has found some bugs in gcc for Alpha, and he has circumvented
> them in latest 3.23 releases.
> 
> You can safely use latest 3.23 release on Linux Alpha.