Is limited replication by excluding columns possible?

[Erling Westenvik]

Case:

We have a backend MySQL 4.0.20 server with several millions of records in about 50 tables. The number of records increase in the 10 to 100k per day. On another location we are going to have a frontend 4.1.10a server that should have most of the tables, all of the records from those tables, but - and this is for security reasons - not all the columns. I guess the whole thing boils down to:

Question:

If the slave user is granted access only to the columns we would like it to access, will it then create what it can and go on replicating this correct?

Possible answers:

[ ] Yes, as long as columns required for index definitions are accessible.
[ ] No, the master binlog would make the slave flip.
[ ] ..?

Discussion:

Replication is powerful and easy to set up and maintain. Its a bliss! Of course, what I describe should propably not be called 'replication' in the first place. More like 'synchronization'.

The alternative is quite a few manual jobs that would have to do lots of INSERT IGNORE .. SELECT .. queries on scheduled intervals. Not to mention all the required UPDATE and DELETE methods..

So, I just can't let go of the idea until someone tell me I really should, and I wonder if someone has knowledge or done some research on the matter - or maybe tried similar things?

Thanks in advance,
Erling