Colin Charles Agenda

I’ve been seriously swamped in these last few weeks. Relocating (from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur) has been interesting. Not to mention that all the work that’s still around…

I should mention that I am now Sun, having signed all paperwork a few weeks back. It just dawned on me when I picked up my ID card today from the Sun KL offices. No email address yet, but our @mysql.com addresses will continue to work (they’re on my business cards).

Which brings me to the fact that I am also sporting new business cards (no direct-line number, yet - still waiting on its creation), and they have an interesting logo on the back!

MySQL/Sun logo

At the conference, if folk are still giving out “older” MySQL cards, keep them - they’re collector’s items now. Me? I’ll be bringing my new ones ;)

Technorati Tags: sun, mysql, logo

Licensing tends to be a common question, when it comes to giving a talk on MySQL. More recently, some have asked me if MySQL will be relicensed under the CDDL? Some ask why we’re GPLv2 and not GPLv3 yet? And some, genuinely want to know the merits of writing for BSD-based software (PostgreSQL) or GPL-based software (MySQL).

While I am not a soothsayer, I am pretty sure we will not be relicensing MySQL under the CDDL (might make for a good April 1 joke though?). What seems like a logical progression is to probably go GPLv3, from our current GPLv2 stance.

And Sun supports the GPLv3 just as it does many other licenses. Take for example, the recently released Open Service Tag. Its released under a GPLv3 license. Contributing to it, requires signing the Sun Contributor’s Agreement (SCA), which is largely similar to MySQL’s current CLA.

So, what is Open Service Tag? Its a small application, that provides a network-based product identifier, and it speaks XML. You can tag a device, and the information automatically becomes available over a network. It looks like inventory management made easy. Read more at Steve Wilson’s blog entry, about IT asset tracking.

It runs on Linux, and Mac OS X (release notes don’t mention OS X 10.5, Leopard, but it worked on my laptop just fine), and soon it will run on Windows too.

I can envision myself using it, when my lab is setup again (still waiting for some furniture to arrive, so most computers are still in boxes), to keep track of what kind of hardware I own…

It probably helps the MySQL DBA or sys-admin keep track of large installations just as well. Asset management and tracking is important, in these days where IT budgets are being cut, and as IT becomes even more efficient (think virtualization, more cycles on newer hardware, et al). What do you currently use for asset management?

Technorati Tags: open service tag, sun, gplv3, mysql, licensing

Friday, 28/03/2008, is when the Sun-NUS Open Source Day occurs, from noon-6pm. If you’re in Singapore, I can highly recommend you attending. Pre-register now, if you’d like.

Come see me, talk about how you can contribute to MySQL. Especially in a time when students in Singapore will find it useful, to learn, seeing that the Summer of Code applications are in its last lap.

Its at the National University of Singapore. I understand that there might be a DTrace User Group meeting sometime in the evening (i.e. post-6pm). I’ll definitely be at that, or other events if necessary.

I’m reachable at +6-012-204-3201, preferring to get an SMS instead of a call (roaming costs a bit).

See you Friday afternoon!

The agenda (which I can’t seem to find easily online, is pasted here for posterity):
12:00pm onwards Registration
1:00pm - 1:15pm Opening Remark
Prof Ooi Beng Chin, Dean,
School of Computing , NUS
1:15pm - 2:00pm Sun & Open Source
Matt Thompson, Senior Director,
Developer Outreach, Sun Microsystems
2:00pm - 2:30pm Java-Open Source Journey and road ahead
2:30pm - 3:00pm JavaFX - Demos and highlights
3:00pm - 3:30pm Open Solaris - a model for Open Source community
3:30pm - 4:00pm Open source IDE for Desktop/Mobile and Enterprise
applications(Netbeans 6.0)
4:00pm - 4:15pm Tea Break
Breakout Track 1:
Venue: Venue: Seminar Room 2 (SR2, COM1-02-04)
4:15pm - 5:00pm Learning & Growing the Open Source way
5:00pm - 5:45pm Building Web 2.0 applications and best practises
Breakout Track 2:
Venue: Seminar Room 3B (SR3B, COM1-02-13)
4:15pm - 5:00pm Paying It Forward: Harnessing the MySQL Contributory Resources
5:00pm - 5:45pm Open Source Operating Systems - a closer look with
Open Solaris

Technorati Tags: sun, sun-nus, national university of singapore, open source day, mysql

On Thursday, the day before the long weekend (Friday being Good Friday, following week Monday being Easter Monday), the Melbourne MySQL Meetup group met, for an event that was not our usual meetup, but that of a Meetup Mashup.

Held at RMIT, I spoke about the recent purchase, what changes, what doesn’t, and how we’re 100% committed to making the same great product even better. After that, Gary Pendergast, spoke about how the support is run, and how nothing changes there, except its becoming beefier! We also had a Sun Campus Ambassador, Zhiqi Tao speak about the campus ambassador program, and how he evangelises Sun technologies at universities (his particular one, being Melbourne University). There is also apparently an RMIT ambassador, who missed the meeting.

After the talk, a pocket of us headed to dinner at the Oxford Scholar. There was much beer to be had, and there was food too. Good thing I remembered that I had picked up my camera earlier that day, so I did manage to take a few snaps. Below, are those that stayed till almost eleven, when we realised that it was about time to start catching our relevant trains and trams to head home (remember kids, no drinking and driving).

The Stragglers: (l-r) Colin Charles, Tristan Penman, Gary Pendergast, Zhiqi Tao

Thanks Sun for getting the tab! It was a good time, and even during dinner, we were mashing up, moving around from seat to seat, to participate in more conversations.

Things learnt that day?

• Community edition install on Vista failed for a user, who complained a lot. He then decided to try the Enterprise version, which surprisingly worked on Vista. He wonders why we ship a broken Community edition. We assured him its not broken. Another community member chimed in suggesting that it was really the fact that one needed to be an administrator on Vista, and obviously start the MySQL server as an administrator. Likely, this could have been the issue…
• Our manuals aren’t straightforward enough. I beg to differ, thinking they’re the best manuals out there for an open source project (because we have a fabulous docs team). However, maybe a “user installation guide” like you get with traditional packaged software might make sense? I don’t know, I’ll try a install on Vista the moment I can get my virtual machine working (VirtualBox Beta 3 on Mac OS X fails miserably), and take plenty of screenshots soon (all thanks to Skitch, naturally).
• Python is being taught at Melbourne University, having usurped C or Java for students. Python allows focus on the algorithms, and the concepts, rather than other bits, like memory allocation and so forth. Interesting to know that this is the basis of The Melbourne Model.
• Enterprise users should not be filling in the web feedback form, but filing a support request. There’s no way for those answering the web feedback form to know if you’re a customer or not, so standard canned responses tend to be the norm, especially if it surrounds installation issues.
• There is lots of interest for basic talks, on introduction to databases, inducting someone using MySQL from the ground up. I think this makes a lot of sense, and needs work, clearly (kind of like free training)…

Technorati Tags: mysql, sun, meetup mashup, melbourne

All in Melbourne, keep the evening of Thursday, 20 March 2008, free. Why? We’re having a Meetup Mashup, right here in Melbourne, Australia. This is the Sun and MySQL tour around the world!

Details:
Date: 20th March
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: RMIT University (Swanston St)
Room: 10.08.04

Contact Tristan on 0422 501 726 for directions to the venue. (or me, at 0412 593 292 if you have any questions, etc.)

After we’re done at RMIT, discussing the recent acquisition (you’re guaranteed to see Support Engineer Gary Pendergast, and me speak, and answer questions), we’ll head over to the bar nearby, and grab some grub. Its a great opportunity to come and get your questions answered!

Are you already part of the MySQL Meetup in Melbourne? If not, check out the Melbourne MySQL User Group.

P/S: To all those in Sydney, there are plans to have one possibly in early April. Interested? Why not drop me an email or leave a comment.

No, its not alphabet soup. Just some notes from the session at the Sun Tech Days. I’ve not looked at DTrace much (my only look into instrumentation, has been from SystemTap, which doesn’t deal with applications), but plan on doing so soon… I’ve managed to get OpenSolaris Developer Preview 2 installed in VirtualBox, so it can only start being more fun from here…

Want to learn more about DTrace and MySQL? Then come to the MySQL Conference & Expo 2008, in Santa Clara, California, because on Thursday, Ben Rockwood, from Joyent, will be presenting a session on DTrace and MySQL (read the abstract, its good). The talk covers the fact that you can get useful information currently, even without the embedded probes in current versions of MySQL. For more DTrace and MySQL tips, don’t hesitate to read Joyeur, Joyent’s weblog.

DtTace, Web 2.0, Java, AJAX, PHP and the rest (notes from the talk)
by Peter Karlsson, Solaris Technology Evangelist

DTrace now has providers for a large number of languages: JavaScript, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby. Perl is on the way.

MySQL 6.0 will have DTrace support; PostgreSQL already has this in Solaris currently. If building from source, there’s a flag that needs to be enabled. A lot of work was done thanks to a community member.

You need a Solaris kernel. Ported to OS X and FreeBSD. Supports “dynamic instrumentation”. D is the dynamic language, used to script instrumentation

Very common request? Find how much time is spent in a given function. The thread local variable (self->variable = expression;) - nowadays, you can be running two threads coming down in the same function call. DTrace - so this is great for multi-threaded debugging.

PHP doesn’t have DTrace integrated, so, get the Coolstack PHP.

DTrace probes have been added to Mozilla to help debug JavaScript applications. This is available in Firefox 3 (in beta now). There is also a generic DTrace framework, that isn’t just JavaScript only - the networking parts of Firefox, to look at how DNS lookups work, etc. all can be instrumented via DTrace.

Further reading? DTrace and PHP, demonstrated.

Technorati Tags: dtrace, php, javascript, mysql

I didn’t get to attend many sessions at the Tech Days, as I was mainly meeting with people, or at the PostgreSQL on Solaris booth (figures someone from MySQL should’ve been there too). I had plenty of interesting conversations with Tom Daly; we met by chance since I had a blue MySQL shirt and he figured he’d be cheeky and offer me a PostgreSQL one.

I was going to take a photo with him today, but he called me from the airport last night to say he had to go back. Oh well.

Laurie Wong, and me

Instead, you get a photo of Laurie and me (MySQL cap, PostgreSQL on Solaris t-shirt). I’ll blog later about the sessions that I did attend - I wish I could’ve done so earlier but staying at the Sheraton in Darling Harbour, meant that there was no in-room Internet access. Wireless was available in the lobby or business center, but on the first floor where I was staying, your only options were dialup. In 2008.

The Tech Days is an interesting event. At MySQL, we’d have called this a “structured MySQL Camp”. Or maybe the Japan User Conference. Either way, it was interesting, and I learned a lot about OpenSolaris, Containers, DTrace, NetBeans and Java. So much so, I’m looking into toying with Java again (something I promised myself, I wouldn’t do, in the new millennium).

From a database perspective? Talks on PostgreSQL and MySQL, another on JavaDB, an Oracle booth (giving away a Wii to lucky winners) in the expo hall. Truly, impressive.

Oh, and the Atlassian offices are right next to the Sheraton. Now, that would be a seriously cool place to get an office. I got to peek into the office from the outside, and truly impressed. I actually recognised the Aeron chairs during my walk, and only upon coming back later, realised it was Atlassian.

I’m at the Sun Tech Days Australia 2008, these few days, in Sydney, Australia. Its March 4th - 6th, and if you’d like to catch up, it looks like there are free evenings, from the agenda. At the event, I’ll be the guy donning MySQL attire, of course ;)

Expect blog posts, photos (I’ve got my pocket camera), and more soon. Don’t know if my expensive room at the Sheraton Four Points has free Internet (how much you want to bet, it doesn’t).

If you want to meet me, or catch up, don’t hesitate calling me at +61433 580 941.

Technorati Tags: sun tech days, sydney, australia