Do you want to apply for a MySQL project under Google Summer of Code?
Please read these instructions carefully, then.

State the project you want to tackle in the application title.

Using a title like John Doe's info or application for MySQL are unlikely to attract the mentors attention or to make a good first impression.

State your view of the project

Simply repeating what is in the ideas page won't get you any marks. Say what you would like to do in your own words.

Explain why we should choose you

And be persuasive! The best way to persuade us is by showing a clear analysis of the project. A list of famous names that have praised your work will not impress us.

Don't over-represent yourself

…

64 bit MySQL (5.0) is now integrated into OpenSolaris. It will be available in build 87. 64 bit should work with 32 bit generated data-files and vice versa, although MySQL recommends you to do a full dump and reload, at least in production.

To enable the 64 bit server in SMF do:

% svcadm disable mysql:version_50
% svccfg                                               
svc:> select mysql:version_50
svc:/application/database/mysql:version_50> setprop mysql/enable_64bit=true
svc:/application/database/mysql:version_50> quit
% svcadm refresh mysql:version_50
% svcadm enable mysql:version_50

Also check out the latest Netbeans 6.1 beta with integrated MySQL support.

Week three was rather short, with 3 public holidays around here intervening…

(See this post for background information on MySQL Function of the Day)

Week Three:

• Wednesday, March 19, 2008: PASSWORD()
• Tuesday, March 2, 2008: FIND_IN_SET()

Week Two:

• Wednesday, March 12, 2008: ELT()
• Thursday, March 13, 2008: IF()
• Friday, March 14, 2008: REPEAT()
• Monday, March 17, 2008: …

I’m still looking for new entries. I get quite a few suggestions, but not all of them make it into quiz questions. Do send in your suggestions!

In mysql>, you already know that hitting return on this:

SELECT 1+1, 2+2;

returns this:

+-----+-----+
| 1+1 | 2+2 |
+-----+-----+
|   2 |   4 |
+-----+-----+

What happens if you instead hit return after the following line?

SELECT 1+1, 2+2\\g

or this one?

SELECT 1+1, 2+2\\G

Show hint

Hint: Fire up an instance of mysql> and read the messages at the start of the session. (and while there, also type in the examples. They won’t do any damage).

Show answer

Answer: \g works just the same as ; .

\G does the same thing, too, but the output is displayed “vertically”, i.e. with one column name/field value per line. This is …

While visiting the CeBit Trade Show in Hannover on 2008-03-06, Kaj and myself stopped by the booth of our new employer for meetings with some of our new colleagues. During our stay, they performed a short video interview with us (in German), to get our take on the MySQL acquisition and what this means to us and our users - it is now available from the Sun@CeBit2008 pages. Enjoy!

I'm often asked what interview questions should be asked of a new DBA you are considering to hire. Mistakes in a DBA hire can cost an organization a lot of money and hurt morale. There are a lot of factors that determine how well a DBA will fit into an environment. I thought I would share some of the things I consider when I interview a new DBA. These questions can be asked to any type of

How do you return a dataset using MySQL Proxy?
This being a common task, as many that we will see in these pages, it is worth implementing with a function.
When you return a dataset, there are two main cases:

• Returning a single row with just one column. For example, when you need to give the user a simple message;
• Returning one or more rows with several columns. This is much more useful, and covers case like displaying help information, or creating a tabular set of information.

The first case is quite simple:

function simple_dataset (header, message)
proxy.response.type = proxy.MYSQLD_PACKET_OK
proxy.response.resultset = {
    fields = {
        {type = proxy.MYSQL_TYPE_STRING, name = header}
    },
    rows = {
        { message}
    }
}
return …

Wed 26 March at 2pm GMT/3pm CET we will present a new webinar on MySQL for Online Applications. Details and registration are here.

MySQL finds its sweet spot in online and web 2.0 application, because of the scalability reliability and the ease of use of the server. In a typical approach, users start with a simple architecture, with one server, then they need to scale in order to support the increasing number of users and the demand for more computer resources.

During the presentation, we will talk about the common ways to scale-out, how to provide high availability and about the common components of a web 2.0 solution and its interaction with the database.

The Q&A will be posted on this blog.

Matthew Aslett and I are in San Francisco for the next few days at the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC). We will be moderating a total of three panels this year. Matthew’s panel on the the state of the open source database market is especially interesting, given that we are days away from publishing a report on the same topic (more details on that in a day or two). For those of you reading this blog entry from OSBC, I am hoping you’ll attend the panels listed below…

Tuesday, March 25, 11:30am - 12:20pm
The Future of the Operating System
Raven Zachary, Research Director, Open Source, The 451 Group (Moderator)
Dirk Hohndel, Chief Linux and Open Source Technologist, Intel
James Hughes, Sun Fellow & VP, Sun Microsystems
Roger Levy, …