Can MySQL fulltext search be adapted to search for partial words?

Question

I implemented MySQL fulltext search and worked perfect.
Now the client wants that partial matches be found by the search, for example the term 'base' should match 'database'.
I know the whole idea of fulltext search is based on word delimiters, and searching for full words.
I know I most likely will have to use an undesirable LIKE '%$term%' which will ruin the sweetness and performance of the fulltext search.
So, is there any hope?
Thanks in advance.

PS: I'm user http://stackoverflow.com/users/151053/petruza, I had openID authentication on my own site, but my host went down recently, so I can't log in through it, so I'm using this kind of alias.

Answer 1

Did you hear of Sphinx? It integrates nicely with MySQL, and is a powerful (and fast!) full text indexer.

You will love it.

(no they don't pay me)