FOSDEM 2023: MariaDB Reflections

Finally, a face to face FOSDEM! The encounters invigorated day-to-day work for all of MariaDB Foundation, even those of us not present in Brussels.

Withdrawal symptoms

With three years since last time, it felt like it was about time to see the familiar FOSDEM faces live again. Finally, last weekend gave us a chance to do what one had come to take for granted – meet in packed devrooms, hear the latest, chat in corridors, exchange thoughts and make plans at Brussels cafés and restaurants.

Back with MySQL

The MariaDB, MySQL and Friends room was back together in one room, having been separated virtually.

MariaDB 11.0 – new optimizer, new major version series

With MariaDB 10.0.0 having been released over ten years ago (12 Nov 2012), you may ask yourself when there will be MariaDB 11.0.0. If so, I can answer you: Today.

You can now download MariaDB Server 11.0 Alpha preview from our dedicated download page and check out the release notes.

Time has passed …

Of course, we have a better reason for going with a new first number in a release other than ten years having passed. Significant new features. Significant incompatibilities with earlier versions.

Going for a Code of Conduct

It may be long overdue, but based on recent events, we have launched Code of Conduct project at MariaDB Foundation. Our aim is to get your feedback and define a CoC, ideally by end of January, if we see convergence.

In the meantime, if we see unacceptable behaviour on the MariaDB mailing list or elsewhere, we will take action. We want to extend our apology to those who have had unpleasant experiences, about which we have done nothing in the past.

As for the code of conduct wording, our goal is to keep it short. Lofty goals often trigger distractive debates;

Congratulations, MRDB – MariaDB plc!

Today, MariaDB Corporation announced that it completed its merger, landing on NYSE as “MRDB”. With MariaDB Corporation being our founding member as well as our primary code contributor, we want to congratulate what is now MariaDB plc for this remarkable achievement.

Joint goals

MariaDB Foundation and MariaDB Corporation, while independent entities, share a joint interest in the development and adoption of MariaDB Server. In the new scenario with what is now to be referred to as MariaDB plc being a publicly traded company, we expect further interest in MariaDB Server by the ecosystem and community.

MariaDB 10.11 is LTS

Important news: MariaDB 10.11, which just was declared RC, is a long-term maintenance version. The industry standard term to refer to that concept is LTS (as in long-term support), and we too use this term for the releases that get a significantly longer lifetime of bug fixes.

We are announcing MariaDB 10.11 as LTS for a number of reasons:

Firstly, the purpose of an LTS is to reassure users – and, in particular, Linux distros – that a certain version will receive regular updates long-term, for the lifetime of their product.

Contribution Wish List

Would you like to contribute to the MariaDB Server code base, its feature set, its quality? Here’s what you can do to help – in other words, here’s our Contribution Wish List

Scratching your own itch

The assumption around code contributions is usually that the code contributor extends the product in a direction that corresponds to the contributor’s own needs, which in turn are close to the needs of other users. “Scratching your own itch” is the phrase commonly used.

Some itches are more for the common good

That said, we have also been approached by potential providers of contributions that would take a more general approach.

Hired: Chief Contributions Officer

Openness, Adoption, Continuity: That’s the mantra of three words MariaDB Foundation uses to describe its mission. At the core of Openness are contributions of code to MariaDB Server. The good news: We are now putting more resources into contributions, by hiring Andrew “LinuxJedi” Hutchings as Chief Contribution Officer, starting today Monday 15 Aug 2022.

A senior position

As you can see already from Andrew’s title, it’s a senior position. When we opened up the position, we were fully aware that only a handful of candidates can fulfil our requirements of experience on the code base.

An intra-pandemic Staff Meeting

Well over two years ago was the last time the MariaDB Foundation staff had met. That was at FOSDEM, in February 2020. Thus, no big surprise, one of our topmost goals for 2022 was to have a staff meeting, face to face. It’s about time to oil the social relationships, to work together without connection issues, to be reminded of how work and life can be in a world where Covid isn’t the top issue.

In other words: we planned a post-pandemic Staff Meeting.

The outcome was different. 

Choosing the venue

But let us start from the beginning, from the original euforia.