Observations by Kaj Arnö @Sun

Google Summer of Code 2008 Update

Monday, November 24th, 2008

phpMyAdmin and MySQL Forge, along with the MySQL Build Farm initiative were the main MySQL related benefactors of Google Summer of Code 2008. phpMyAdmin got BLOB Streaming support and a simplified setup script, MySQL Forge got RSS and Atom feeds and the MySQL Build Farm got a test schedule.

Directly mentored by phpMyAdmin originator Marc Delisle, GSoC student Raj Kissu Rajandran completed the BLOB streaming support in phpMyAdmin. This is how he describes his project goals (which are now achieved):

It is often common to come across a website, especially a blog, that is built on a pairing of MySQL and PHP. Seeing as how most of those who run such websites on the Internet do not have access to a Shell account or have experience in managing applications from the command-line, applications like phpMyAdmin were built to allow the administration of MySQL databases through the convenience of a
web-base interface. Not to long ago, third-party support for streaming BLOB data was added to MySQL. This feature greatly simplifies the management of streaming content (audio, video) in and out of the database. Being both an avid programmer and frequent user of MySQL, I have decided to take upon the task of adding support for managing this feature in phpMyAdmin. The purpose of this document is to describe this feature and it’s implementation and propose that Google fund its
implementation in phpMyAdmin through the Summer of Code 2008 program.

Raj’s code is now integrated into phpMyAdmin, and he has gained phpMyAdmin committer status. More info:

Mentored by Michal Čihař, GSoC student Piotr Przybylski set out to rewrite the phpMyAdmin setup script. Piotr set out (and achieved) these goals:

Current phpMyAdmin setup script does its job but it isn’t easy to use by inexperienced users. Rewriting it would give them a simple setup wizard which would lead them though the entire configuration, showing only the most important options. On top of that, it would offer an automatic creation of control user and required databases, as well as automated update of existing tables in case these already exist. Advanced users would be able to switch to full configuration wizard and would also benefit from automated control user creation and database setup.

Piotr’s code is integrated into mainline (but he still has some cleanup of the security checks to do). More info:

Mentored by MySQL Forge’s originator Jay Pipes, GSoC student Robert van der Mast developed an RSS and Atom feed for MySQL Forge. His now completed goals were set out as follows:

I will develop a RSS and Atom feeds system for MySQL Forge (http://forge.mysql.com), so that MySQL Forge users can easily track new items on Forge by just using their RSS/Atom reader. The feeds will be cached to save unnecessary server load.

Robert’s code is integrated into mainline Forge 2.0 code. More info:

Mentored by Adam Porter, GSoC student Charles Song implemented a Test Scheduler for the MySQL Build Farm Initiative. This is part of the Skoll project at the University of Maryland, “A Process and Infrastructure for Distributed Continuous Quality Assurance“. His now-achieved goal:

The MySQL Build Farm Initiative seeks to create an automated environment that tests MySQL in multiple configurations over a powerful, virtual computing grid provided by community member’s local machines.

Links:

Other MySQL related GSoC2008 projects are listed on http://code.google.com/p/google-summer-of-code-2008-mysql/downloads/list where this is the list of all eleven projects:

  • A front end to the mysqlslap program
  • Mysql query analyzing tool
  • Adding parallelism to mysqldump
  • MyBS extension for PHP
  • A Test Scheduler for the MySQL Build Farm Initiative
  • Memcached for MySQL Query Cache
  • RBAC system system for MySQL server
  • phpMyAdmin setup script rewrite
  • BLOBStreaming Support for phpMyAdmin
  • MySQL Forge GSoC project code by Robert van der Ma

Other references:

Posted in Architecture of Participation, MySQL, Summer of Code | No Comments »

Moving from MySQL’s Contributor License Agreement (CLA) to Sun’s Contributor Agreement (SCA)

Wednesday, October 1st, 2008

Today is Good News Day. In addition to my note on Ivan Nikitin’s improved health, I have good news for our current and potential code contributors:

We have moved from having used MySQL AB’s own Contributor License Agreement (CLA) to now using the Sun’s Contributor Agreement (SCA), which is shorter and easier.

I’ve been asked about our contributor licensing on several occasions, such as back in July, at MySQL Camp in Bangalore, India, as Parvesh mentioned in his blog.

The MySQL Contributor License Agreement (CLA) was an agreement that we asked patch and feature contributors to sign in order to allow us to use their contributions in MySQL Server, which is licensed both under GPL and under our commercial license. The CLA required that the contributors transfer the copyright of their code to MySQL, while of course retaining a perpetual license to use their code in any way they wanted.

Some of our community members objected to having to transfer the copyright to MySQL. And we took it as our homework to double and triple check whether we really need that strong rights from a legal perspective, when Sun could do with the more light-weight SCA (Sun Contributor Agreement). I’m happy to note that this double-and-triple checking is completed, and we’re going to the simpler and clearer SCA. Moreover, the SCA guarantees that your contribution will always be made available as open source. Not that we ever had the intention of revoking that, but I’m sure the contributors will appreciate this guarantee in the SCA.

The whole MySQL Community Team and the MySQL Entineering Team hope that this news is greeted warmly by the greater contributor community. I encourage further feedback as to how we can continue to remove barriers to our community and best collaborate and encourage an “Architecture of Participation”.

You can find information about the Sun Contributor Agreement and general
information about the contributor process online at the Contribute section of the MySQL Forge
and take a look at the SCA on Sun’s website.

In addition, as a contributor, you can choose to digitally sign the SCA via the MySQL Forge’s online contribution system.

Do note that those who already have signed the CLA need to submit the SCA form, if they want their future contributions be covered by the SCA.

To be specific: For those contributors who previously signed the MySQL Contributor License Agreement, your contributions will continue to be governed under the CLA. If you wish to instead have your contributions covered under the new Sun Contributor Agreement (recommended) we encourage you to resubmit under the online SCA form and your contributions will then be covered under the SCA.

Thanks to Jay Pipes for driving this CLA-to-SCA process!

Links:

Posted in Architecture of Participation, GPL, Licensing, MySQL | 4 Comments »