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Longest Running Linux Distribution Slackware Adopts MariaDB
First time accepted submitter Gerardo Zamudio writes with the news that Ur-distribution Slackware is replacing MySQL with MariaDB. From an update posted to the Slackware news feed yesterday: "This shouldn't really be a surprise on any level. The poll on LQ showed a large majority of our users were in favor of the change. It's my belief that the MariaDB Foundation will do a better job with the code, be more responsive to security concerns, and be more willing to work with the open source community. And while I don't think there is currently any issue with MySQL's licensing of the community edition for commercial uses, several threads on LQ showed that there is confusion about this, whereas with MariaDB the freedom to use the software is quite clear." (Here's a link to the mentioned poll.)
MariaDB sucks. I'll stick with MS Access. Best. Database. Ever.
Is mentioning "Longest Running Linux Distribution" vital in the context?
A 59 user poll without the option repeatedly mentioned in the comments (which was to dump all of them) at a site pretty much devoted to answering easy linux questions (ie, newbies...)
Who fucking cares? It's not a big deal, at all, for anyone running Slackware.
An important change in the distro affecting hundreds of users is based on a poll from only 59 people?
I don't think you're supposed to ship your software with MariaDB or MySQL.
...blaze the trail that nobody wants to follow. Good for them.
Here in the real world Slackware blows as a VM and is irrelevant to the future of cloud computing.
Say what? Cloud computing is nothing more then a marketing name, which nobody really cares about (except those selling the magical cloud).
Also, Slackware isn't any worse then Windows, Solaris or Fedora as a VM, so your comment makes even less sense.
I'm starting to think GNU is the problem with "GNU/Linux" these days.
No, but the interface bindings are shipped.
MySQL proceeded to piss off a whole bunch of developers by changing their bindings to GPL a few years back.
#!/bin/csh cat $0
> Let's say I'm making a program that is for idiots....that is supposed to just work,
That's your responsibilty like it's always has been. It doesn't matter if it's your own code or depedencies. The fact that things like package managers and Installshield scripts exist doesn't alter the fact that you still have to roll up your sleeves and do the relevant work.
The GPL doesn't alter this. Even the requirement to distribute source code of derivative works doesn't impact this. It's an entirely separate problem.
It's a total red herring.
Although supporting a relational database server is not for dummies regardless of what Balmer or Ellison will try to tell you. It doesn't matter "how well supported" it is.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Given the way that Oracle operates, this move is pretty obvious. If anything, the question should be what took them so long.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
Just make an installer for your app that silently downloads and installs mysql, easy as that.
The mariadb c connector license is LGPL, the mysql one is GPL. Not a lot of companies will create a derivative work of the database server, but a lot will want to link against the client api.
Here in the real world Slackware blows as a VM and is irrelevant to the future of cloud computing.
Right. This is why I have Slackware VMs all over the place, with uptimes in the hundreds of days.
Oh, and "cloud" computing can be based on any distribution - not just Ubuntu or Fedora. Slackware is ideal for this, since it is (IMHO) much easier to personalize, manage and configure on a daily basis.
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
I used Arch for over a year and really liked it. One day I decided to try Slackware. Biggest improvement was not having to constantly update. Arch is great but it turns out I didn't really need rolling release. Additionally less (admittedly) minor issues with Slackware. Arch is a great distro but Slackware is better (for me).
The problem is that it's not at all clear that MariaDB is a viable alternative either, IMHO.
They have rewritten a lot of the internals, but are still committed to complete compatibility with MySQL. That is going to take a lot of developer resources. Do they have the backing they need to continue long term development?
Their main claim to legitimacy seem to be that MySQL founder Monty is now leading development of MariaDB... But MySQL was always terrible. If you asked whether people wanted to return to the "good old days" of MySQL development, they'd answer an empathic no.
I'd want to see more big players come out and say "yeah, we'll contribute to this", and not just "yeah, that's cool".
For now, our small firm will probably keep legacy applications on Percona Server, and avoid MySQL completely for new applications.
It would be more accurate to say that VM support for Slackware is not nearly as good as other mainstream Linux distros. VMWare and VirtualPC for example don't have packages for slackware guests as they do for Redhat and Windows which can introduce performance issues. A quick Googling shows the reverse to be true, that getting VM programs to run with Slackware as the host is not as well supported either and requires more hands on effort to get them running.
If I were planning to run Linux in a VM (or the reverse as the host), slackware would not be my first choice unless I was attempting to migrate and existing system from physical to virtual.
Oracle works on linux does it not?
If your program is for idiots, use SQLite or another embedded database. They are a lot better suited for the job.
You don't need a pick-up truck for grocery shopping, you don't need a full-blown database for most applications.
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Been using slackware from day one, looks like it's finally time to move on.
when Amazon offers MariaDB, I will know its time to embrace it. For now, I will stick with Mysql. I think MariaDB is "my" future, but not this year. Why won't it just get bought up by Larry Ellison or worse?
Help eliminate stupid speeding tickets
Back in the early 90s I was working on a project that had a really large database (about 10,000 rows.) My coworkers were doing the user interface, and I was doing backend data interfaces. I spent a day learning enough SQL and Informix to do what we needed, but management didn't want to spring for $5K for an Informix software license, so I built the pieces I needed out of the standard Unix sort and join. It worked well enough, though it took an extra week or two because there are lots of slightly different versions of join out there (between v7, BSD, SystemV, SunOS, v8, maybe gnu by then, etc.) The alternative would have been to use dbm / Berkeley db stuff to get all the b-trees and such, but our data spent most of its time sorted in text files, so it was easier to build shell scripts and occasional awk to glue commands together rather than writing it in C.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
"As a first distro, where you want everything to just work first time, I can readily recommend Linux Mint." - Are you kidding me? I DL'd the latest Linux Mint (XFCE) version and installed it on my Father-in-law's computer.
Grief right from the beginning with it partitioning, then not wanting to install to the partition then more headaches from there.
I was very disappointed...
Your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
SQLite just called and wants you to take back your stale information back!
We sell a product using SQLite and have literally tens of thousands of installs with an error level low enough that our half dozen or so support staff keep up nicely. True, we use Post GRES on our central servers, but even there the admin requirements are quite reasonable...
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
It's a perfectly viable alternative to MySQL. The emphasis is on MySQL. Nobody's saying that you should replace a real DB server with it, but if you want to get away from Oracle, you can, and there's a strong possibility that it will actually be better.
A hundred posts and nobody has asked if it's webscale yet?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."