Index merge optimization (with OR) and table joins

[Stuart Brooks]

Hi,

I have been having a hassle getting the index_merge to work as expected when I am joining 2 tables on MySQL 5.0.19. The following example should make it clear:

Table A
key1 (primary key)
key2
some_data

Table B
key1 (indexed)
key2 (indexed)
more_data

SELECT a.key1,a.key2,b.more_data
FROM A as a JOIN B as b ON ((a.key1=b.key1) OR (a.key2=b.key2))
WHERE (a.key1=10);

This works as expected. An EXPLAIN yields :
a; const; PRIMARY
b; index_merge; key1,key2

However if I make the WHERE clause a range (or remove it altogether):

SELECT a.key1,a.key2,b.more_data
FROM A as a JOIN B as b ON ((a.key1=b.key1) OR (a.key2=b.key2))
WHERE (a.key1<10) #optional

I end up with...
a; range; PRIMARY
b; ALL; none

which is a brute force attack on table b. Am I missing something here, I would have expected it to use an index merge on table b in both cases. Is there a way to force it to use the index merge?

Regards
Stuart