So, the MySQL (and Drizzle) ALTER TABLE syntax allows you to easily change the default value of a column. For example:

CREATE TABLE t1 (answer int);
ALTER TABLE t1 ALTER answer SET DEFAULT 42;

So, you create a TIMESTAMP column and forgot to set the default value to CURRENT_TIMESTAMP. Easy, just ALTER TABLE:

create table t1 (a timestamp);
alter table t1 alter a set default CURRENT_TIMESTAMP;

(This is left as another exercise for the reader as to what this will do – again, maybe not what you expect)

Here’s a nice challenge for you. What does the following do (or error out on?):

CREATE TABLE t1 (a int);
CREATE TABLE t2 (b int);
ALTER TABLE t1 RENAME t3, RENAME t2, RENAME t4;

I’d be interested to know what a) you think it does and then b) if you were surprised when you went and typed it into your RDBMS of choice.

What is the big deal, you may ask?  Well, read on and all shall be revealed, intrepid reader ; )
As I mentioned an earlier post, our new test-runner – dbqp – allows us to define testing ‘modes’ which all utilize the same system and server management code.

One only has to define a testManager (what does a test look like / how to organize tests) and a testExecutor (how to execute / evaluate a test).  The aim is for dbqp to be a one-stop shop for test execution and to provide a clean and simple way to manage and expand this.

I have just added –mode=randgen to the test-runner.  The random query generator is a significant part of Drizzle’s testing strategy and we use a large number of tests with the …

Welcome to the second edition of Last Week in Drizzle.  The diff of the trunk between last Friday and right now is just under 23,000 lines in size, so I will do my best to summarise the important parts of this.

Replication

A lot of great work has gone into solidifying replication this week.  The slave code has not been merged yet since it has been triggering bugs in the Solaris compiler (see further down this post) but we plan to have it included in the next few hours ready for RC2.  For a quick summary of our current progress I turn to Patrick Crews:

“In our testing, we create a master-slave setup, then run the transaction log tests that we have been using since we first started beating on the trx log.

There are a variety of different grammars that produce transactions (autocommit=off) and …

Welcome to the second edition of Last Week in Drizzle.  The diff of the trunk between last Friday and right now is just under 23,000 lines in size, so I will do my best to summarise the important parts of this.
Replication
A lot of great work has gone into solidifying replication this week.  The slave code has not been merged yet since it has been triggering bugs in the Solaris compiler (see further down this post) but we plan to have it included in the next few hours ready for RC2.  For a quick summary of our current progress I turn to Patrick Crews:

"In our testing, we create a master-slave setup, then run the transaction log tests that we have been using since we first started beating on the trx log.

There are a variety of different grammars that produce transactions (autocommit=off) …

These are exciting times for the Drizzle team.  We just released our first RC and things are finally coming together into some awesome new features.  I’m excited to bring you latest news from the replication front:

Where to begin?  Well, many moons ago, Brian sent David Shrewsbury and myself out on the task of making the transaction_log plugin rock solid.  This plugin provides a file-based log that captures the server’s state via protobuf messages.  After much blood, sweat, and tears (and *many* bugs), we accomplished our task with *plenty* of help from …

The latest version of Sun Studio, which is a terrible name for something which is a compiler and not an IDE, which has now been re-titled Solaris Studio in an attempt to underscore even more its general uselessness, has added a new antifeature to its installer.

It requires X.

You know one of the things that makes MySQL better than Oracle? You can install it in 5 minutes and you don't have to launch a Java GUI.

You know when it makes sense to launch a Java GUI to install server software?

NEVER

EPIC FAIL 

It has been a while since we have done one of these so I thought I might try and resurrect the tradition.  So here is my first “Last Week in Drizzle”.

Replication

The original plan for replication was to use a Tungsten Replicator based solution to transfer the transaction logs (similar to MySQL’s binary logs).  Unfortunately this can’t be completed in time for the GA release so we have switched to a master-slave solution similar to MySQL.  The Tungsten solution is still something we plan to finish though.

Replication events are stored using Google Protocol Buffer messages in an InnoDB table, these events are read by the slave, stored locally and applied.  The advantage of the Google Protocol Buffer messages is a script or program …

It has been a while since we have done one of these so I thought I might try and resurrect the tradition.  So here is my first "Last Week in Drizzle".
Replication
The original plan for replication was to use a Tungsten Replicator based solution to transfer the transaction logs (similar to MySQL's binary logs).  Unfortunately this can't be completed in time for the GA release so we have switched to a master-slave solution similar to MySQL.  The Tungsten solution is still something we plan to finish though.

Replication events are stored using Google Protocol Buffer messages in an InnoDB table, these events are read by the slave, stored locally and applied.  The advantage of the Google Protocol Buffer messages is a script or program can be …

drizzle> select concat(char(0xe299a5,0xe29da4,0xe299a5), ‘ Happy Valentine\’s Day ‘, char(0xe299a5,0xe29da4,0xe299a5)) as Message\G

*************************** 1. row ***************************
Message: ♥❤♥ Happy Valentine’s Day ♥❤♥
1 row in set (0 sec)

I may be British, but I am no MI6 spy (and I’m certainly no Sean Connery).  Although the 007 reference is still relevant because we are nearing the first GA release of Drizzle7.

This week is a special week for many reasons.  First of all, probably the most obvious, it is Valentine’s day (yes guys, the flower shop is still open, run before she finds out you forgot!).

Probably not quite as important, depending on your relationship status, is Drizzle’s first RC release will be out over the next couple of days.  The amount of work that has gone into Drizzle is …