I've seen recent attempts at blog posts to show how to get started at hacking on an OpenStack project.  Unfortunately they seem to have over-complicated the issue for new users.  As part of the Core Infrastructure team it is my job to make submitting, reviewing and merging code easier for developers.  This includes documenting that process, so here goes :)

1. You need a Launchpad account and need to be joined to the Openstack team.  You can also join the team of one of the many subprojects if you want to.  Make sure Launchpad has your SSH key, Gerrit (the code review system) uses this.
2. Sign the CLA as outlined in section 3 of the How To Contribute wiki page …

We’re giving away three full conference passes (worth $995 each) to the Percona Live MySQL Conference and Expo, and you can win one simply by sharing the conference with your friends and colleagues! Second prize is one of ten copies of the new High Performance MySQL, 3rd Edition (worth $55 each), the recently released update to the popular second edition!

This year’s MySQL Conference and Expo will be the best ever, with a better lineup of talks and speakers than ever before.  It’s the one event you should not miss if you’re at all interested in MySQL.  We really want you to be there — and that’s why we’re giving away free tickets and books, and making it easy for you …

I am writing a specification for updating pt-online-schema-change. The outline of the changes I want to make is here: http://www.percona.com/docs/wiki/ptdev:blueprints:redesign-pt-online-schema-change

The idea is to make the tool Do The Right Thing, with features such as automatically throttling its operation to avoid causing replicas to lag. Many of the features and improvements are similar to those added to the newly rewritten pt-table-checksum.

If you have any comments on it, please write to the mailing list with your suggestions. Thanks!

My earlier blog post was wrong, our block of rooms for the conference is still available past the 12th of March. However, there are apparently zero rooms available in the Hyatt other than our reserved block, and our block discount will expire soon (I’m a little hazy on the exact details, because I thought it was the 12th). What I have been told in no uncertain terms is this: “If you know anyone who plans to attend the conference and needs a hotel room, they should book IMMEDIATELY in our room block or they will not be able to get a room in the Hyatt either at a reasonable rate or at all.“

Please don’t ask me to help — I’m not involved in this, just trying to get the information out there. The logistics are beyond my ken.

Update: apparently the room discount rate ends on the 19th when our reservation on the block of rooms …

With apologies to Planet MySQL readers. This post is about MySQL, but it is not technical, and probably not at all interesting to many of my usual readers. But it didn't fit in a tweet...

The Open Invention Network announced that its members have agreed to broaden the scope of the "protection" that it offers its members against software patent attacks against "The Linux System". Simon Phipps, a former Sun collague whom I follow on Twitter, covered the OIN in a very informative InfoWorld piece:

read more

If you haven’t yet signed up for the Percona Live: MySQL Conference & Expo in Santa Clara, CA the week of April 9, now is the time. Friends of SkySQL can save 10% off their registration fee by using the discount code “SKY-PL12” upon registration. As well, if you reserve a room at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara before March 18th, you can take advantage of Percona's special conference room rate for the conference - be sure to ask for their discounted room rate when you register!

And if you do join us at Percona Live, stick around on Friday for a day of free training and consulting around the MySQL & MariaDB databases as well as related technologies at the SkySQL & MariaDB: Solutions Day for the …

In the past few years, hackers, hacktivists and criminals have targeted millions of databases. Any information you own is at risk.

Join GreenSQL’s live webinar and learn the actions required in order to protect your invaluable information and that of your customers.

Security expert David Maman, Founder and CTO of GreenSQL, the Unified Database Security Company, will cover the following topics:

-         Advanced database hacking methods

-         Common database security threats

-         How to protect databases from SQL injection attacks

-         Separation of …

This site will be under construction for the next time.

I’ll speak at the Shenandoah Ruby Users Group meeting next week in Harrisonburg, Virgina. I’m preparing a brand-new talk for this, called “Seven Things To Know About MySQL Performance.” Hopefully my copies of the new High Performance MySQL, 3rd Edition will have arrived by then and I can give one away!

The meetup is free and friendly. If you’re in the area, you oughta be there!

Further Reading:

• New Ruby Conference: Ruby on Ales 2011
• Speaking at the Southern Computer Measurement Group …

I would make a note that /var/lib/mysql isn’t always the datadir; it can be configured to be anyway. Much better to do SELECT @@datadir; and find out for certain.