Ok I have a query that entails a sub-query it works in 4.1 and higher but I have to get it to work in 4.0 environment. The query is kind of straight forward, I don't think I need to post the table structure, but please request If you think other wise.
SELECT *
FROM
(SELECT * FROM `user` `s_u` LIMIT 2) `u`
LEFT OUTER JOIN `user_genre` `ug` ON(`u`.`user_id` = `ug`.`user_id`)
LEFT OUTER JOIN `sub_genre` `sg` ON(`sg`.`sub_genre_id` = `ug`.`sub_genre_id`)
LEFT OUTER JOIN `genre` `g` ON(`sg`.`genre_id` = `g`.`genre_id`)
ORDER BY `u`.`date_added` DESC, `g`.`genre_id`;

basically I'm trying to join a bunch of tables together and LIMIT by something else. Obviously the problem is:
FROM
(SELECT * FROM `user` `s_u` LIMIT 2) `u`

Is there a way to do this without using a subquery. Please any help or ideas will be greatly apreciated.

which two users? you have no ORDER BY for the LIMIT so you are getting any random two users

if you know which two, there might be another way to do this

the LIMIT 2 is a random number, sorry for being unclear, it was just a development/test query in the real thing I would put an ORDER BY.
so to refine the query, I will order by the date that a user was added
SELECT *
FROM
(SELECT * FROM `user` `s_u`ORDER BY `s_u`.`added` LIMIT 10) `u`
LEFT OUTER JOIN `user_genre` `ug` ON(`u`.`user_id` = `ug`.`user_id`)
LEFT OUTER JOIN `sub_genre` `sg` ON(`sg`.`sub_genre_id` = `ug`.`sub_genre_id`)
LEFT OUTER JOIN `genre` `g` ON(`sg`.`genre_id` = `g`.`genre_id`)
ORDER BY `u`.`date_added` DESC, `g`.`genre_id`;

any help or links will greatly appreciated

well since you need to get it to work in the version previous to the version previous to the version previous to the current version, you can do it if you query the 10 users separately, and then do this --