6 ms·

The Future of MySQL

30 points by datums 17y ago

james2vegas 17y ago
but actually, I don't. Or rather, I do, in the negative sense. I'd like it to die from a combination of owner neglect or malice from Oracle and death by a thousand forks.
- mahmud 17y ago
  Good on you having an alternative database for your business use-case. But just because you don't use it doesn't mean you should wish for its demise and deny it to others.
bcl 17y ago
Monty talked a little about Oracle at his talk at LinuxFest Northwest. Video can be found here - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1431407 http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1431407 Basically, he said Oracle owns MySQL in name only. Most of the brains behind it are already working with him on MariaDB or Brian Aker on Drizzle. He promised that MariaDB would remain binary compatible with MySQL.
- jdbeast00 17y ago
  i guess this is why i don't get the whole ruckus surrounding the oracle purchase of sun. Can't some other entity just takeover the responsibilities (under different branding) if oracle decides to let mysql flounder?
  - spudlyo 17y ago
    Yes. Although there would be some setbacks, the MySQL documentation for example is not under an open source license.
hvs 17y ago
I suppose that you should care if you use it and rely on it for production applications. But if you use a commercial database (or one of the other OSS databases -- is Postgres any good?) then this doesn't really affect you at all.
- davidw 17y ago
  Postgres is very good. So much so that many of us use it instead of Mysql in any case:-)
  - shiranaihito 17y ago
    It may well be very good, but it's much more painful to set up and get running than MySQL.
    - davidw 17y ago
      No it isn't: apt-get install postgresql Then a few commands to create databases and users and things, and you're good.
      - tdavis 17y ago
        Have the shipped configs improved to the point that you get a production database out of the gate? I've been using (and loving) psql for years, but I've never once trusted the default postgresql.conf.
        tsuraan 17y ago
        Under Gentoo, at least, the default postgresql.conf is still garbage. limit of 100 connections, hardly any shared memory, really nothing about it is good. I don't think shipping a good config file is possible though; we need a good config file generator, that looks at kernel configuration and hardware configuration and makes a good config based off that. It doesn't look like such a thing exists though.
mahmud 17y ago
If you're a U.S. company dependant on MySQL to run your business, tell the DOJ about it so they "have a talk" with Oracle about not killing it. For those that are worried about the future of OSS software as part of the Oracle / Sun deal, and the affect (both good and bad) it may have on their business, the US Department of Justice is encouraging companies that are dependent on MySQL / Java to contact them and tell them how the deal may affect their business. The more information the department gets, the better equipped they will be in deciding what their recommendation for the deal will be.
- rbanffy 17y ago
  "If you're a U.S. company dependant on MySQL to run your business, tell the DOJ about it so they "have a talk" with Oracle about not killing it." MySQL is free software (free as in freedom). Oracle can't kill it. They can try all they want, the codebase belongs to all its users.
  - garnet7 17y ago
    "MySQL could be killed, but for Open Source that just means it would branch and be reborn a day or a week later mostly intact and protected by nerds who would by then be very, very angry." -- Cringely http://www.cringely.com/2009/04/sunset/ http://www.cringely.com/2009/04/sunset/
  - deleted 17y ago
    [deleted]
TweedHeads 17y ago
No, I shouldn't care. If mysql dissappears there is postgresql and many other open source options. All you should do is have an easy way to port all your data/code to the new database, which you should already have such backup plan, right? Hosting providers should be aware and prepared to switch databases too.
rbanffy 17y ago
It's free software, right? Why would Oracle be in any obligation to support and put money in it? And why would Oracle not supporting it be any kind of problem anyway?
- jasonkester 17y ago
  Imagine any large software product, open source or otherwise, with 10+ years of history and a large team behind it. Now imagine that large team disbanded and assigned to other projects. That's the problem of Oracle not supporting it. There is this myth of large open source projects being built collectively by thousands of individual developers in their bedrooms. It doesn't actually work that way. MySQL has a large onsite development team that until recently drew their salary from Sun. If their new bosses decided to pull the plug, that would be a big deal.
blasdel 17y ago
Oracle owns a bit more than the name -- they have full copyright over the mainline source! They are the only party that can sell commercial licenses to the mainline GPL code. All community forks will have to be GPL-only.

30 points by datums 17y ago

but actually, I don't. Or rather, I do, in the negative sense. I'd like it to die from a combination of owner neglect or malice from Oracle and death by a thousand forks.

mahmud 17y ago
Good on you having an alternative database for your business use-case. But just because you don't use it doesn't mean you should wish for its demise and deny it to others.

bcl 17y ago

Monty talked a little about Oracle at his talk at LinuxFest Northwest. Video can be found here - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1431407 http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/1431407 Basically, he said Oracle owns MySQL in name only. Most of the brains behind it are already working with him on MariaDB or Brian Aker on Drizzle. He promised that MariaDB would remain binary compatible with MySQL.

jdbeast00 17y ago
i guess this is why i don't get the whole ruckus surrounding the oracle purchase of sun. Can't some other entity just takeover the responsibilities (under different branding) if oracle decides to let mysql flounder?
- spudlyo 17y ago
  Yes. Although there would be some setbacks, the MySQL documentation for example is not under an open source license.

hvs 17y ago

I suppose that you should care if you use it and rely on it for production applications. But if you use a commercial database (or one of the other OSS databases -- is Postgres any good?) then this doesn't really affect you at all.

davidw 17y ago
Postgres is very good. So much so that many of us use it instead of Mysql in any case:-)
- shiranaihito 17y ago
  It may well be very good, but it's much more painful to set up and get running than MySQL.
  - davidw 17y ago
    No it isn't: apt-get install postgresql Then a few commands to create databases and users and things, and you're good.
    - tdavis 17y ago
      Have the shipped configs improved to the point that you get a production database out of the gate? I've been using (and loving) psql for years, but I've never once trusted the default postgresql.conf.
      - tsuraan 17y ago
        Under Gentoo, at least, the default postgresql.conf is still garbage. limit of 100 connections, hardly any shared memory, really nothing about it is good. I don't think shipping a good config file is possible though; we need a good config file generator, that looks at kernel configuration and hardware configuration and makes a good config based off that. It doesn't look like such a thing exists though.

mahmud 17y ago

If you're a U.S. company dependant on MySQL to run your business, tell the DOJ about it so they "have a talk" with Oracle about not killing it. For those that are worried about the future of OSS software as part of the Oracle / Sun deal, and the affect (both good and bad) it may have on their business, the US Department of Justice is encouraging companies that are dependent on MySQL / Java to contact them and tell them how the deal may affect their business. The more information the department gets, the better equipped they will be in deciding what their recommendation for the deal will be.

rbanffy 17y ago
"If you're a U.S. company dependant on MySQL to run your business, tell the DOJ about it so they "have a talk" with Oracle about not killing it." MySQL is free software (free as in freedom). Oracle can't kill it. They can try all they want, the codebase belongs to all its users.
- garnet7 17y ago
  "MySQL could be killed, but for Open Source that just means it would branch and be reborn a day or a week later mostly intact and protected by nerds who would by then be very, very angry." -- Cringely http://www.cringely.com/2009/04/sunset/ http://www.cringely.com/2009/04/sunset/
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]

TweedHeads 17y ago

No, I shouldn't care. If mysql dissappears there is postgresql and many other open source options. All you should do is have an easy way to port all your data/code to the new database, which you should already have such backup plan, right? Hosting providers should be aware and prepared to switch databases too.

rbanffy 17y ago

It's free software, right? Why would Oracle be in any obligation to support and put money in it? And why would Oracle not supporting it be any kind of problem anyway?

jasonkester 17y ago
Imagine any large software product, open source or otherwise, with 10+ years of history and a large team behind it. Now imagine that large team disbanded and assigned to other projects. That's the problem of Oracle not supporting it. There is this myth of large open source projects being built collectively by thousands of individual developers in their bedrooms. It doesn't actually work that way. MySQL has a large onsite development team that until recently drew their salary from Sun. If their new bosses decided to pull the plug, that would be a big deal.

blasdel 17y ago

Oracle owns a bit more than the name -- they have full copyright over the mainline source! They are the only party that can sell commercial licenses to the mainline GPL code. All community forks will have to be GPL-only.