RE: RedHat and MariaDB

["Mark Allums" <mark@allums.com>]

> From: Henrique de Moraes Holschuh [mailto:hmh@debian.org]
 
> The Debian way is to provide mariadb packages, and keep providing Oracle
> mysql packages.  We'll do away with Oracle mysql when the day comes that
> it
> is unfeasible or extremely undesireable to keep providing them, or nobody
> wants to deal with them.  I _do_ believe this day will come in a 5-year
> timeframe.
> 
> What we would probably do:
> 
> 0. add mariadb packages.
> 
> 1. Rename mysql* to mysql-oracle*, provide msyql-* "transitional" packages
> that depend on the oracle ones first, but accepts the mariadb ones as an
> alternative.
> 
> 2. Someday, *maybe*, if the situation warrants it, change the mysql-*
> packages to point to mariadb packages as the primary (or only?) choice
> instead.  And eventually, remove the mysql-oracle* packages if the situation
> warrants it.  This might never happen, or it might happen soon.
> 
> Obviously, none of this will happen unless someone uploads high-quality
> mariadb packages to Debian unstable as the first step...


This is essentially what the consensus of the discussions I have seen boils down to.  Some distributions, such as Fedora, are "switching."  It's an either/or.  Debian appears to prefer to let the marketplace decide ("marketplace" here used to mean "users").  They will offer a choice as long as it is feasible.

Mark