Author: mysqlpp
Date: Wed Aug 6 21:35:26 2008
New Revision: 2324
URL: http://svn.gna.org/viewcvs/mysqlpp?rev=2324&view=rev
Log:
Added more detail to the history section, and gave a better indication
of the library's current status.
Modified:
trunk/doc/userman/intro.dbx
Modified: trunk/doc/userman/intro.dbx
URL:
http://svn.gna.org/viewcvs/mysqlpp/trunk/doc/userman/intro.dbx?rev=2324&r1=2323&r2=2324&view=diff
==============================================================================
--- trunk/doc/userman/intro.dbx (original)
+++ trunk/doc/userman/intro.dbx Wed Aug 6 21:35:26 2008
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<?xml version="1.0" encoding='UTF-8'?>
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE sect1 PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook V4.3//EN"
"http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.3/docbookx.dtd";>
@@ -22,36 +22,79 @@
<sect2 id="history">
<title>A Brief History of MySQL++</title>
- <para>MySQL++ was created in 1998 by Kevin Atkinson. It started out
- MySQL-specific, but there were early efforts to try and make it
- database-independent, and call it SQL++. This is where the old
- library name “sqlplus” came from. This is also why the
- old versions prefixed some class names with “Mysql” but
- not others: the others were supposed to be the database-independent
- parts.</para>
+ <para>MySQL++ was created in 1998 by Kevin Atkinson. It started
+ out MySQL-specific, but there were early efforts to try and
+ make it database-independent, and call it SQL++. This is where
+ the old library name “sqlplus” came from. This
+ is also why the old versions prefixed some class names with
+ “Mysql” but not others: the others were supposed to
+ be the database-independent parts. All of Kevin’s releases
+ had pre-1.0 version numbers.</para>
- <para>Then in 1999, Sinisa Milivojevic unofficially took over
- maintenance of the library, releasing versions 1.0 and 1.1. (All of
- Kevin’s releases were pre-1.0 point releases.) Kevin gave over
- maintenance to Sinisa officially with 1.2, and ceased to have any
- involvement with the library’s maintenance. Sinisa went on to
- maintain the library through 1.7.9, released in mid-2001. Since
- Sinisa is an employee of <ulink url="http://www.mysql.com/";>MySQL
- AB</ulink>, it seems to be during this time that the dream of
- multiple-database compatibility died.</para>
+ <para>Then in 1999, <ulink url="http://www.mysql.com/";>MySQL
+ AB</ulink> took over development of the library. In the beginning,
+ <ulink url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Widenius";>Monty
+ Widenius</ulink> himself did some of the work, but later gave it
+ over to another MySQL employee, Sinisa Milivojevic. MySQL released
+ versions 1.0 and 1.1, and then Kevin gave over maintenance to
+ Sinisa officially with 1.2, and ceased to have any involvement
+ with the library’s maintenance. Sinisa went on to maintain
+ the library through 1.7.9, released in mid-2001. It seems to be
+ during this time that the dream of multiple-database compatibility
+ died, for obvious reasons.</para>
- <para>With version 1.7.9, MySQL++ went into a period of stasis,
- lasting over three years. During this time, Sinisa ran the
- MySQL++ mailing list and supported its users, but made no new
- releases. There were many patches submitted during this period,
- some of which were ignored, others which were just put on the
- MySQL++ web site for people to try. A lot of these patches were
- mutually-incompatible, and not all of them gave a fully-functional
- copy of MySQL++.</para>
+ <para>With version 1.7.9, MySQL++ went into a period of
+ stasis, lasting over three years. (Perhaps it was the
+ ennui and retrenchment following the collapse of <ulink
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble";>the
+ bubble</ulink> that caused them to lose interest.) During this
+ time, Sinisa ran the MySQL++ mailing list and supported its users,
+ but made no new releases. Contributed patches were either ignored
+ or put up on the MySQL++ web site for users to try, without any
+ official blessing.</para>
- <para>In early August of 2004, the current maintainer (Warren
- Young) got fed up with this situation and took over. He released
- 1.7.10 later that month.</para>
+ <para>The biggest barrier to using MySQL++ during this period
+ is that the popular C++ compilers of 2001 weren’t all
+ that compatible with the C++ Standard. As a result, MySQL++
+ used many nonstandard constructs, to allow for compatibility
+ with older compilers. Each new compiler released in the
+ following years increased compliance, either warning
+ about or rejecting code using pre-Standard constructs.
+ In particular, <ulink url="http://gcc.gnu.org/";>GCC</ulink>
+ was emerging from the mess following the <ulink
+ url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_Compiler_Collection#EGCS";>EGCS
+ fork</ulink> during this time. The fork was healed officially
+ in 1999, but there’s always a delay of a few years between
+ the release of a new GCC and widespread adoption. The post-EGCS
+ versions of GCC were only beginning to become popular by 2001,
+ when development on MySQL++ halted. As a result, it became
+ increasingly difficult to get MySQL++ to build cleanly as newer
+ compilers came out. Since MySQL++ uses templates heavily, this
+ affected end user programs as well: MySQL++ code got included
+ directly in your program, so any warnings or errors it caused
+ became your program’s problem.</para>
+
+ <para>As a result, most of the patches contributed to the MySQL++
+ project during this period were to fix up standards compliance
+ issues. Because no one was bothering to officially test and bless
+ these patches, you ended up with the worst aspects of a <ulink
+
url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cathedral_and_the_Bazaar";>bazaar</ulink>
+ development model: complete freedom of development, but no guiding
+ hand to select from the good stuff and reject the rest. Many of the
+ patches were mutually incompatible. Some would build upon other
+ patches, so you had to apply them in the proper sequence. Others
+ did useful things, but didn’t give a fully functional copy of
+ MySQL++. Figuring out which patch(es) to use was an increasingly
+ frustrating exercise as the years wore on, and newer GCCs became
+ popular.</para>
+
+ <para>In early August of 2004, Warren Young got fed up with this
+ situation and took over. He released 1.7.10 later that month,
+ which did little more than make the code build with GCC 3.3 without
+ warnings. Since then, with a little help from his friends on the
+ Net, MySQL++ has lost a lot of bugs, gained a lot of features,
+ gained a few more bugs, lost them again... MySQL++ is alive and
+ healthy now.</para>
</sect2>
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