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.

A while back, I realised that com.apple.bird was getting too large and it was easy to purge it. I had to do this again.

The app I use to see where my space is going is OmniDiskSweeper. Its free, and I highly recommend it.

I use Arq to handle backups (in addition to Backblaze, and CrashPlan), and today I noticed that ~/Library/Arq/ had a huge (32.7GB) Cache.noindex. Apparently it is safe to delete, so that’s what I have done.

I also notice a large /Library/Backblaze.bzpkg – 8.1GB – and apparently you can’t delete it. The penalty you pay for keeping offsite backups?

Anyway, I suddenly have a lot more free space. Its annoying that I’ll have to keep track of all this from time to time, as one has to occasionally perform some housekeeping of one’s Mac.

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 think we can all agree that globalisation has won, and we live in a flat world.

However when it comes to consuming media, we still live in a world of regional restrictions. Rights are not issued globally, and rights owners see this as milking every last penny by ensuring that regional restrictions apply. This is not just true for the movie world, but also the music world, and generally the book world. Apparently the entertainment industry is one of the last holdouts in realising that we live in a truly globalised world.

Yesterday I read an interview in the FT with Kate Tempest, a writer/rapper whom I’ve not heard of. I immediately hopped onto iTunes, searched Apple Music and started playing her tunes from her album Let Them Eat Chaos – Kate Tempest. This was a success and I’d discovered a new artist.

A few months back I was in a bar (the recently shuttered La Conserverie) in Paris, speaking to a Japanese friend, and I was telling her that I did know some J-Pop; growing up it wasn’t too far fetched you would listen to some songs that made the mainstream English radio stations. One example was Utada Hikaru’s First Love. The French friend who was there said he’d love to hear it, so I fired up iTunes on my phone, and tried in vain to find the song, and realised its not in the catalogue (don’t worry, YouTube saved the day). This was a failure, and I didn’t get to reminisce properly.

Just last week, I fired up Netflix (now blocking all VPN traffic, an almost impossible thought two years ago, with VPN providers giving up the fight nowadays) and started streaming The Mirror Has Two Faces. I stopped around the half way mark and switched countries only to realise that now I’ll have to wait to be in the same geographical location again to continue watching the movie! I’d mark this as a failure because it hurts the user experience; it isn’t Netflix’s fault, it is the entertainment industry.

I still listen to an old song that I like, that resides on my drive and not in the cloud — Puff Daddy featuring Jimmy Page – Come With Me from the Godzilla soundtrack. It’s not on Apple Music, but it is available with Amazon Prime Music, that comes for free with an Amazon Prime subscription! I’d mark this as a failure since I’d expect my music collection to be available in one place, not scattered across various services.

We’re living in an increasingly globalised world. We have friends from all over the world. We’re travelling more frequently. This is all supposed to be a good thing – exposure to the world. Why hasn’t the entertainment industry caught up yet? Would they prefer everyone just focused on content piracy? Region restrictions do not work in a globalised world.

• 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.