Steve, >> >> so unless it's of real use to others I might just continue to support it >> myself. >> I'm already packaging up other internal apps using a portage overlay. >>
I had several clients deploying mysql server clusters in large webfarms at the start of this year and investigated the options for commercial support of mysql under gentoo at that time. This investigation included attending the mysql 2004 user conference and talking to several decision makers within mysql along with conversations with other gentoo developers and some discussion on the gentoo-dev ml. To summarize: a) Mysql would not support gentoo unless the tree was somehow stable. This meant either GLEP19 would have to become a reality or I would need to maintain a generic commercial mysql profile/overlay for the indefinite future. If I could provide either of these options, mysql would perform their own testing and eventually add gentoo to the list of supported platforms. b) Waiting or assisting GLEP19 seemed to be unlikely to reach maturity in any reasonable time so I dropped that approach. c) I started setting up the overlay/profile and commited some initial revisions to cvs, but after talks with wolf10k2 and the rest of the releng team was convinced that I was getting myself into more work than I could handle on my own. At the same time that I was working on the above, mysql was announcing partnerships with Dell and Redhat, such that if a commercially supported server running those platforms ever went down, mysql would take over complete responsibility for bringing the system back online (even if that meant bringing in dell and redhat techs to form a combined force). Eventually my clients decided that the cost/benefit ratio of maintaining a 100% gentoo server farm vs a hybrid redhat on db servers, gentoo on everything else farm was such that the hybrid approach was the only realistic course to take. As a systems administrator and developer, the result was a real frustration for me - but sometimes you have to live with such compromises. I thought I had removed the commercial-mysql profile from CVS. If I havent, I sincerely apologize and will clean it up asap. >> FYI - if you deploy an app which is non-gpl which links against mysql libs >> then >> you need to deploy against a commercial version of mysql. >> this is built and maintained in binary format by mysql - and requires >> username/password to download. >> OK. It sounds like you really dont care about their supporting the binaries, you are just trying to fulfill your legal responsibilities. In that case, perhaps it does make sense to add some kind of new ebuild or profile. However, I dont think it would have broad appeal. The source built standard gentoo mysql ebuilds are quite good. In fact, I prefer them over having to maintain the commercial ones. Probably 99% of the interest in commercial binaries is for support, especially with mysql 5 and database clusters. I dont see your ebuilds or profiles really addressing that. Sincerely, Matt -- gentoo-dev@gentoo.org mailing list
