Just want to point you at a new bug-fix release of XAMPP for Mac OS X. This version fixes control panel issues with Mac PowerPC computers.

Get the new version at http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp-macosx.html

In his blog Does the GPL Matter? In a Word, Yes, Stephen O'Grady makes the significant point that the dual-licensing model has a major drawback:

Sun/MySQL can only include patches and contributions if they fully own the copyright to those changes.

This gives forks like Drizzle, OurDelta, Percona and MariaDB a major advantage over the Sun version: they can include the best patches from all over. And it is clear that the momentum is building.

In a follow-up blog, Stephen asks: "what would the implications be if MySQL, of all projects, were forced to abandon the dual-licensing model it had long championed?"

Thinking about this, there is something that really bothers me:
…

One of the things that repeatedly seem to puzzle users about the DRBD is the question of whether to use internal or external metadata. Remember, DRBD sets aside a small area on a local disk (on every cluster node) where it keeps the Activity Log, the quick-sync bitmap, data generation UUIDs, and a few other bits and pieces for local housekeeping.

The specific aspect that is to be discussed here is the Activity Log. Without going into too much detail, let’s be satisfied with the factoid that DRBD …

As a consultant I would be rich if I made money every time when asking “Have you checked the MySQL error log?”

Today’s special found in a 13GB MySQL server error log.

090819 22:49:37InnoDB: Warning: difficult to find free blocks from
InnoDB: the buffer pool (1101071 search iterations)! Consider
InnoDB: increasing the buffer pool size.
InnoDB: It is also possible that in your Unix version
InnoDB: fsync is very slow, or completely frozen inside
InnoDB: the OS kernel. Then upgrading to a newer version
InnoDB: of your operating system may help. Look at the
InnoDB: number of fsyncs in diagnostic info below.
InnoDB: Pending flushes (fsync) log: 0; buffer pool: 0
InnoDB: 167 OS file reads, 1 OS file writes, 1 OS fsyncs
InnoDB: Starting InnoDB Monitor to print further
InnoDB: diagnostics to the standard output.
090819 22:49:37InnoDB: Warning: difficult to find free blocks from
InnoDB: the buffer pool (1101051 search iterations)! Consider
InnoDB: increasing …

MySQL Connector/Net 6.1.1, a new version of the all-managed .NET driver
for MySQL has been released. This is a beta release and is intended to
introduce you to the new features and enhancements we are planning. This
release should not be used in a production environment.

It is now available in source and binary form from
[http://dev.mysql.com/downloads/connector/net/6.1.html] and mirror sites
(note that not all mirror sites may be up to date at this point of time
- if you can't find this version on some mirror, please try again later
or choose another download site.)

This release introduces a couple of exciting new features.

• Website Configuration Dialog -- This is a new wizard that is activated
  by clicking a button on the toolbar at the top of the solution explorer.
  …

Drizzle. You can integrate it into your architecture.

MySQL / Postgres / Oracle. You have to integrate your architecture to fit them.

It is time to update the MySQL Cluster exam. The current exam was written when the Cluster software was at version 5.1 and 7.0.5 is available for download. Reviewing the old exam questions shows some of them are badly dated.

But updating the exam requires more than simple edits of the questions. The MySQl 5.1 Cluster DBA Certification Study Guide is the book to use for studying for the exam. And having a study guide is a vital tool for those of us who prefer to self study for an exam. Sadly, some of the authors are no longer with Sun and I am sure those still around have minimal spare cycles in their schedule.

And it would be a waste of time if the revised exam is based on a version of software that is soon to be superseded. The Cluster product has …

In the beginning, error handling in MySQL code was a straightforward process. There was your C function my_error(int nr, int MyFlags, char* format, ...)that would simply put the error on a queue for you, ready to be returned to the client at the right time. The two last arguments work just like printf. You can easily check whether the current thread threw an error by reading THD::is_error(). It is very simple and very hard to get wrong.
Later down the line, however, the need has surfaced for something more. If module A asks module B to do something as part of the execution of module A, module B might set a critical error since this would be the right thing to do had it not been part of A's execution. Then later A might call on module C to do something, but there might be code inside C that is not being executed because it notices that somewhere something went wrong and bails out.

An example (from …

Giuseppe Maxia writes about the availability of the active development/test ("pushbuild") MySQL binaries for users—on multiple platforms.

This is a wonderful step forward in bringing greater openness to current MySQL development and in bringing greater value to the MySQL user community!  

Every once in a while, I get to sound like a royal arse in front of a customer by saying something “I know” to be true about Pentaho that isn’t.  Usually, this is a REALLY good thing because it’s usually some limitation, or Gotcha that existed in the product that has magically disappeared with the latest release.  The danger of open source is that these things can change underneath you quickly, without any official fan fare and leave you looking like a total dolt at a customer site.  Bad for consultants like me who are constantly having to keep up with extraordinarily fast product development.  Good for customers because they get extraordinarily fast product development.

One of these experiences, which I was absolutely THRILLED to look like a dolt about, was

“If you use variables for database connection information, the password will be clear text in kettle.properties.”  …