[Mageia-dev] HEADSUP: mariadb available for testing

Tue Nov 15 00:38:22 CET 2011

Maarten Vanraes a écrit :
+> Hi all,
+>
+> mariadb-5.5.15-0.mga2 should be hitting the mirrors soon (at cauldron
+> core/updates_testing). It's purpose is to be an alternative to mysql. for that
+> reason, mariadb packages provide also the similar mysql targets.
+>
+> mariadb is intended to be a drop-in replacement for mysql, it goes so far to
+> actually have the same files and ABI's as mysql. after looking at their forking
+> process (it's not actually a full fork, they start from mysql and then patch),
+> i've seen that it's actually very good for a drop-in replacement. There are a
+> few differences ( http://kb.askmonty.org/en/mariadb-versus-mysql-compatibility
+> ) but they are minor. I've done a few minor tests with amarok, akonadi, drupal
+> and phpmyadmin (and of course mysql client).
+>
+> NOTE: mariadb provides actually most storage engines mysql provides as well,
+> but also the original and unpatched MyISAM and InnoDB engines from mysql. On
+> top of that, it has some extra storage engines. XtraDB, which is the drop-in
+> replacement storage engine for Innodb, is essentially an innodb with extra
+> patches from various sources, like google, facebook, etc... ( see
+> http://kb.askmonty.org/en/mariadb-versus-mysql-features )
+>
+> I've chosen to use mkrel 0 atm, because it's not a released version yet, I've
+> talked extensively to mariadb developers, and they mentioned that they did 5.3
+> and 5.5 in parallel, so that 5.5 should be released as beta pretty soon. When
+> i talked about our release schedule, they did mention that mariadb-5.5 should
+> be final before februari.
+>
+> My plan is as follows:
+> 1. provide testing package [DONE]
+> 2. clean up spec file from mysql and file some patches upstream [DONE]
+> 3. provide newer testing package when it's released as a alpha/beta
+> 4. if testing is satisfactory (not breaking buildsystem or mysql) submit to
+> core/release and get more testing.
+> 5. if final 5.5 release is on time, have mariadb into mageia2
+>
+> now there, we have a few options:
+>
+> considering that mariadb is essentially mysql + extra features, if we ship
+> both mysql and mariadb, we should ensure that normal users don't go from
+> mariadb to mysql. (if a storage engine would be used that's NOT in mysql,
+> suddenly a few databases might not work, even though the data is still there.)
+>
+> A. provide both but with vendor preference
+> making sure one of them both is preferred should be ok, since they conflict
+> anyway, if a user installs the non-preferred one, she knows what she's doing.
+> ( I think a note could be added here for warning purposes )
+>
+> B. only use mariadb anymore
+> =>  That's the easiest and safest option...
+> _IF_ mariadb works well. (which i'm sure we'll see in our testing)
+> (IMHO, if it worked for libreoffice, i don't see why not for mariadb)
+>
+>
+> any opinions? testings? problems?
+>
+>    
+I think it is a great idea, from all I've read.
+I've already been thinking of installing it in place of mysql.
+
+As for the options, I'm inclined to prefer a choice (option A), since 
+some users could have problems with either, given that there are some 
+(minor) incompatibilities.
+But if we have only one, at least those preferring the other could 
+always go upstream.
+
+As for what was done with Libreoffice/Openoffice, the obsolete forced me 
+to install upstream versions to have both installed.  They have no file 
+conflict.
+One can even have installed (but not run at the same time) different 
+versions of upstream Libreoffice at the same time.  (They recommend 
+doing that for testing.)
+
+-- 
+André
+
+