BLOBs have performance limits due to the way they are currently handled by mysql. First I will give you a little background info, then describe the problem, and potential solutions.

BLOB is an acronym for Binary Large Object. It is a datatype available in Mysql in 4 different sizes. There are also 4 text data types that are almost the same as BLOBs accept they contain string information instead of binary information. Text also has different comparison characteristics than BLOBs since it is a string oriented type. BLOBs can be used to store JPEG files or any other large binary data. BLOB data types come in 4 sizes: tiny, regular, medium, and long which have size limitations respectively of 25 bytes, 64 KB, 16 MB, and 4GB.

Ok, so here is the issue: when a mysql storage engine returns a BLOB from disk to mysql it has to provide a contiguous buffer where the data is stored and a pointer to that buffer. In other words "The …

The problem Every once in a while it happens. A customer comes to us for a review of their site or application. We have our initial interview and start picking up the signs: they are developing their product alone. They are self-taught, self made men/women. They word certain concepts in slightly strange way. Then, we log [...]

I realized tonight exactly why MySQL’s default behavior of silent truncation bothers me.

It reminds me of people who use a ticketing system and close every ticket as soon as they are done working on the issue instead of actually asking the other party if they are satisfied, because closing more tickets make it look like they’re doing more work.

It reminds me of workers at fast food restaurants who hit the button to make the order disappear as if they have already served me my food, because then their throughput times are faster.

Similarly, with MySQL’s default behavior of silent truncation, it’s as if the database server is saying “the fewer database errors raised, the better.” As in the previous two examples, the metrics do not matter if the quality of service is poor — particularly when the quality of service is poor specifically *because* people are trying to meet the metrics instead of the actual goal …

Aka Arjen's head ;-)
So this was at the conference dinner of Linux.conf.au 2009 in Hobart Tasmania. There's always at least one auction, and for some reason it has become tradition to a) bundle in extras with the original auction item and b) for some of those extras to involve removal of facial hair.

As described earlier, my hair was a package deal with Bdale Garbee's beard, and it was later bundled with Linus Torvalds turning into a barber for the day. So here's the fun in action...
I think Linus did a great job, having practiced previously only on his dog (who did not like it). The organic kernel hack appears bug-free, there was no bleeding, and I even have both my ears still.

In this case it was all even fairly appropriate in "shave for a cure" context, since the target …

Prior to MySQL 5.1, it wasn’t all that easy to find the worst running SQL on a MySQL instance. And truth be told, MySQL still has a ways to go before it’s an effortless process. But, the good news is there are some new aids in MySQL 5.1 and MySQL Enterprise that do make it more efficient to find and troubleshoot bad SQL code that’s hiding inside a MySQL instance. Let’s take a quick tour through these new features and see what help they provide.

Developer.Com has selected MySQL Workbench as the best database tool of 2009!

Competing behind Workbench were:

• Altova DatabaseSpy® 2008
• LINQ (Microsoft® .NET Language Integrated Query)
• SQL Server® 2008 Reporting Services
• Oracle SQL Developer

Seeing this post make the news today really interested me - since I had the (dis)pleasure of being personally involved. In the Australian spirit of 'giving word to the underdog', let me provide some clarity. But before I do - my kudos to Kaj for already following up and correcting himself on the gray details.

The person in question ('KV') was not going to Australia to speak at a conference, but deliver a public training course. To do this, you do need a business visa. Heck, you need a visa if you want to teach in the USA - so those speculators calling Australia some draconian system that doesn't understand Open Source is just wrong. Some departments know it very well. A …

Seeing this post make the news today really interested me - since I had the (dis)pleasure of being personally involved. In the Australian spirit of 'giving word to the underdog', let me provide some clarity. But before I do - my kudos to Kaj for already following up and correcting himself on the gray details.

The person in question ('KV') was not going to Australia to speak at a conference, but deliver a public training course. To do this, you do need a business visa. Heck, you need a visa if you want to teach in the USA - so those speculators calling Australia some draconian system that doesn't understand Open Source is just wrong. Some departments know it very well. A …

Most software changelogs list what’s changed and what bugs are fixed during each upgrade. But when you’re evaluating an upgrade, what you’re typically concerned about is slightly different – it’s a combination of what’s changed and what might have broken. The fixed bugs aren’t as important for most people, who are either using a workaround or aren’t using the software. What people ask is “what do I have to change in my application, and/or make sure I’m not going to run afoul of, in order to use this new version?

Time for a dump of some lessons learnt from my blog posting “On Open Source and Open Competition in a not-so-Open World“.

Let me start by a recap of what the process looked from my point of view:

1. My close colleague gets his visa rejected. He is a seasoned Australia visitor, so I assumed (and still assume) he knew what he was doing.
2. We connect the dots between the rejection and an IM discussion from August 2008 (see comment #29 on my blog), related to competition and Sun employees being let into Australia. Due to the nature of how visa rejections work, I cannot prove this is the case (even with the additional …