The Skoll Client retrieves a set of commands from the Skoll Server to compile and test MySQL; these commands are UNIX shell commands. My Google Summer of Code project is to work on the Java Skoll Client, I spent a great deal of time and effort getting these shell commands to run well in Java. Running shell commands in Java is not always straightforward, here are some techniques I learned to get the job done.

Use Java's ProcessBuilder class instead of Runtime class for Java 5.0+ projects. There are two reasons. First, ProcessBuilder has redirectErrorStream() method that automatically merges the standard output and standard error together so the output of a command would make more sense and more importantly the process won't freeze if the developer doesn't clear the error output stream. Second, the environment() method returns a nice Map the developer can use to manipulate the environment in which the command should run. Unfortunately, I must …

KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS LAST WEEK

• Finished per test runtime information collection modifications.
• Collected and analyzed per test runtime information for a few suspicious configurations and tests.
• Refactored and cleaned up source code.

KEY TASKS THAT STALLED LAST WEEK

• None

KEY CONCERNS

• None

TASKS IN THE UPCOMING WEEK

• Refactor and clean up source code.
• Update JavaDoc.

Problem Statement : 386 GB of MySQL 5.0 Compressed MyISAM tables (Merge engine used)  need to be migrated to MySQL 5.1 Compressed/Partitioned tables. Also we had to add a few new columns and change the datatype of few existing columns.

Initial plan : Setup the MySQL 5.1 database with the schema with partitioning to which the data needs to be migrated and then run scripts to copy the .MYD ,.MYI and .frm files to the 5.1 database. Disable the keys using “Alter table <> disable keys“. Then migrate the data using the insert into newtable select * from old table. Then to compress the tables run myisampack and myisamchk.

As per plan we started the migration process. The plan worked perfectly though a bit on the slower side for most of the tables. For few of the tables, the import process kept dragging on and on. It was well past a week since the import was started and the system …

Malaysian Airlines has impressed me, yet again. Last week, in The Star, they reported that Sharul Isahak, a MAS employee, has helped save the airlines close to RM70 million (about USD$21 million), thanks to his use of open source software.

The software is meant to help airline maintenance, i.e. to keep track of parts and records of maintenance works. The web-based solution, is E-Promis (read the blog entry, its pretty interesting, as he takes you through the planning stages - it also seems like he’s still the only developer).

?This meant looking at open-source solutions. Instead of platforms such as Microsoft or Sun, we chose LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP)?

I couldn’t help but grin …

A concise compilation of today's news of interest to TheAquarium readers:

Maatkit version 2152 is ready for download. This release is also known as the “is this project really alive?” release. We thought we should delay until MySQL released a new Community Server version. Just kidding – it has nothing to do with that.

At OSCON, Sun had a huge booth. I mentioned that before, and I was part of the show. During booth opening hours, members of all Sun communities (Open Solaris, Glassfish, OpenJDK, MySQL) addressed the audience with technical presentations.

I was very impressed by these two booklets that were given away to whomever wanted them. They are short, well written, with the sort of practical information that a beginner wants to find immediately.

It's nice to hold them, but books are heavy, especially if you are traveling 6,000 miles with hand luggage only. So it's very nice to find them in the OpenSolaris site.

• Getting started with OpenSolaris 2008.05
• …

Why do we continue to lust after Apple products when Apple treats us like two-year olds? READ MORE

Anybody out there know more that one language?

We’ve got gettext going in the drizzle source now, and although we don’t have all the strings marked yet, we do have a start, and it’s time to get going on translating!

If you’d like to help out, just head over to launchpad, pick a language and get going! You may want to go to your launchpad settings and pick your preferred languages first, though, else the list of offered languages might be a little odd.

I’m guessing the easiest ones will be “English (Australia), English (Canada) and English (United Kingdom)” … but I could be wrong…

…

I should be faster with publishing slides but things are how they are. The slides from my OSCON2008 talk are now published at Percona Presentation Pages.
Enjoy

Entry posted by peter | 4 comments

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