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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.
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.
Not really. But Slackware is probably the only distro I'd consider running. Most other distros have so much bloat and dependency on scripts that modifying anything breaks stuff. I really dislike how far things have changed from the 2.0 kernel days.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
yes, as it shows that a important distro, known to not doing risky decisions and taking stability as a main goal, will make what everyone thinks but little admit
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.
An important change in the distro affecting hundreds of users is based on a poll from only 59 people?
A sample size of 59 is more than sufficient. A more important concern is whether the sample is representative, and whether the question is biased in some way.
People often greatly overestimate the importance of sample size in polling, but increasing the sample size usually makes little difference. For instance, if you are conducting a political poll by phone, you need to consider that Democrats are more likely to be home, more likely to answer the phone (rather than let to go to an answering machine), and more willing to talk to pollsters. You also need to consider that Republicans are more likely to have multiple phone numbers, and are more likely to actually vote. Properly accounting for these factors will improve your results far more than increasing your sample size.
> 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.
Modifying things in CentOS, Debian, Fedora, and Ubuntu isn't a simple task to get it all right. In Slackware it is definitely simpler.
Oh, the topic? I use Postgres.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
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)
No actually. I'm more of a BSD fan.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
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
you clearly don't know what you are talking about!
to be stable doesn't mean that system is old or outdated, means that it works always. slackware software versions are as updated as other distros, but they will only update the software is its known that will not bring problems! nobody wants a Xorg server that is full of bugs or that cant be used with nvidia or ati/amd drivers. In slackware, after one upgrade, the system will continue to work... not all distros can say the same.
check the distro timeline, its not a month or 2, only debian is close to that, the others is a lot more... and even that, slackware first releases were usable, most of the first releases of the other distros were barely usable, and they were using better software and tools.
please remember that what other distros released as their first version is totally different from what you have today... yet slackware is almost the same, the software is new (its even newer than debian in most cases) but the concept is almost the same as the original one. That is not a bug, its a feature, what worked in that time, still works today.
You can see in the timeline that most distros disappeared, but you cant see how each distro changed nor the problems they had... go read about the a.out to elf migration in each distro to learn why slackware is looked as a very stable distro.
slackware may not be a top distro, but slackware never tried to be that, never tried to grab the desktop window users, like most other distros... slackware is for those that want to learn, those that want control, those who want a stable system. If you aren't one of this, please go to other distro, after all, each distro have its own market niche.
Today, many people want a windows like distro, like ubuntu or mint, but that doesnt mean that the users that want to learn have disappeared. yes, after installing slackware, you need to configure some things... but its YOUR system, you take the decisions, you enable or disable things! not someone in ubuntu or fedora or gnome developement cycle that thinks what you should or should not use.
Higuita