Colin Charles Agenda

GNU/Linux distributions matter, and Debian is one of the most popular ones out there in terms of user base. Its an interesting time as MariaDB Server becomes more divergent compared to upstream MySQL, and people go about choosing default providers of the database.

The MariaDB Server original goals were to be a drop-in replacement. In fact this is how its described (“It is an enhanced, drop-in replacement for MySQL”). We all know that its becoming increasingly hard for that line to be used these days.

Anyhow in March 2016, Debian’s release team has made the decision that going forward, MariaDB Server is what people using Debian Stretch get, when they ask for MySQL (i.e. MariaDB Server is the default provider of an application that requires the use of port 3306, and provides a MySQL-like protocol).

All this has brought some interesting bug reports and discussions, so here’s a collection of links that interest me (with decisions that will affect Debian users going forward).

Connectors

• MySQL ODBC in Stretch – do follow the thread
• [debian-mysql] final decision about MySQL r-deps needed / cleaning up the MySQL mess – yes, the MySQL C++ connector is not the same as the MariaDB Connector/C. And let’s not forget the things that depend on the C++ connector, i.e. libreoffice-mysql-connector. Rene Engelhard started this excellent thread with questions that could do with answers.

MariaDB Server

• Don’t include in stretch – bug#837615 – this is about how MariaDB Server 10.0 (note the version – this matters) should be included, but MySQL 5.6 shouldn’t be.
• MariaDB 10.1? – note that Otto Kekäläinen, CEO of the MariaDB Foundation, says the plan is to skip MariaDB Server 10.1 and go straight to MariaDB Server 10.2. As of this writing, MariaDB Server 10.2 is in its first beta released 27 Sep 2016, so are we expecting a few more betas before the release candidate? History shows there were four betas for 10.1 and one release candidate, while there were three betas and two release candidates of 10.0. There is no response here as to what is gained from skipping MariaDB Server 10.1, but one can guess that this has to do with support cycles.
• default-mysql-client forces removal of mysql-server* and mysql-client* – bug#842011 – bug reporter is a bit hostile towards the package team, but the gist is that “mariadb is NOT a drop-in replacement for mysql.” Users are bound to realise this once Debian Stretch gets more mainstream use.
• [debian-mysql] Bug#840855: Bug#840855: mysql-server: MySQL 5.7? – questioning what happens to MySQL 5.7, and this is really a call to action – if you disagree, email the security and release teams now not after Stretch is released! Quoting Clint Byrum, “The release and security teams have decided that MySQL will live only in unstable for stretch due to the perceived complications with tracking security patches in MySQL.”
• [debian-mysql] About packages that depend on mysql-* / mariadb / virtual-mysql-* – in where we find the API-incompatible libmysqlclient, naming conventions, and more.

At Percona Live Amsterdam recently, the conference expanded beyond just its focus areas of MySQL & its ecosystem and MongoDB to also include PostgreSQL and other open source databases (just look at the recent poll). The event was a sold out success.

This will continue for Percona Live Santa Clara 2017, happening April 24-27 2017 – and the call for papers is open till November 13 2016, so what are you waiting for? Submit already!

I am on the conference committee and am looking forward to making the best program possible. Looking forward to your submissions!

• I’m thrilled to naturally be at Percona Live Europe Amsterdam from Oct 3-5 2016. I have previously talked about some of my sessions but I think there’s another one on the schedule already.
• LinuxCon Europe – Oct 4-6 2016. I won’t be there for the whole conference, but hope to make the most of my day on Oct 6th.
• MariaDB Developer’s meeting – Oct 6-8 2016 – skipping the first day, but will be there all day 2 and 3. I even have a session on day 3, focused on compatibility with MySQL, a topic I deeply care about (session schedule)
• OSCON London – Oct 17-20 2016 – a bit of a late entrant, I do have a talk titled “Forking successfully”, and wonder if a branch makes more sense, how to fork, and what happens when parity comes?
• October MySQL London Meetup – Oct 17 2016 – I’m already in London, I wouldn’t miss this meetup for the world! There’s no agenda yet, but I think the discussion should be fun.

This is my very first post on Planet PostgreSQL, so thank you for having me here! I’m not sure if you’re aware, but the PostgreSQL Events page lists the conference as something that should be of interest to PostgreSQL users and developers.

There is a PostgreSQL Day on October 4 2016 in Amsterdam, and if you’re planning on just attending a single day, use code PostgreSQLRocks and it will only cost €200+VAT.

I for one am excited to see Patroni: PostgreSQL High Availability made easy, Relational Databases at Uber: MySQL & Postgres, and Linux tuning to improve PostgreSQL performance: from hardware to postgresql.conf.

I’ll write notes here, if time permits we’ll do a database hackers lunch gathering (its good to mingle with everyone), and I reckon if you’re coming for PostgreSQL day, don’t forget to also signup to the Community Dinner at Booking.com.

A few events, but mostly circling around London:

• Open collaboration – an O’Reilly Online Conference, at 10am PT, Tuesday September 13 2016 – I’m going to be giving a new talk titled Forking Successfully. I’ve seen how the platform works, and I’m looking forward to trying this method out (its like a webminar but not quite!)
• September MySQL London Meetup – I’m going to focus on MySQL, a branch, Percona Server and the fork MariaDB Server. This will be interesting because one of the reasons you don’t see a huge Emacs/XEmacs push after about 20 years? Feature parity. And the work that’s going into MySQL 8.0 is mighty interesting.
• Operability.io should be a fun event, as the speakers were hand-picked and the content is heavily curated. I look forward to my first visit there.

I’m happy to speak at Percona Live Europe Amsterdam 2016 again this year (just look at the awesome schedule). On my agenda:

• Monday Oct 3 Tutorial: Best Practices of MySQL High Availability
• Monday Oct 3 Tutorial: The Complete MariaDB Tutorial
• Wednesday Oct 5 Talk: Securing your MySQL/MariaDB data with my friend, Ronald Bradford.
• Wednesday Oct 5 Talk: Lessons from database failures.

I’m also signed up for the Community Dinner @ Booking.com, and I reckon you should as well – only 35 spots remain!

Go ahead and register now. You should be able to search Twitter or the Percona blog for discount codes :-)