MySQL discontinued on IBM i

[erich_hieden]

Just found an announcment by MySQL from last tuesday, were they stated that they discontinue the IBM i distributions. From version 5.1.54 onwards IBMDB2i storage engine is not supported anymore (change list).

How is Zend going to react to that? Is there any chance that MySQL will work on IBM i in the future?

Regards

[aaronbartell]

Since it has been exactly two weeks since this was posted, and since I just installed MySQL and ZendSvr on my IBM i, I am curious if Zend would be willing to comment on this thread?

Not looking for much. Something that acknowledges the Oracle action would suffice for now, and a timeline for a more formal response.

Thanks,
AaronBartell.com

[kentatzend]

Zend cannot comment on what is an issue between IBM and Oracle .....

[aaronbartell]

Thanks for taking the time to respond Kent.

If MySQL wasn't PHP's primary database backend I would agree that Zend could just "wait it out". But given that is not the case, and given IBM i customers are running their core business on the machine; if Zend chooses to not handle this with great care, then much of the good work you have done to date could be for naught because trust for the long-term will be lost. Washing your hands of the matter is not an option, and that is how I read your response.

AaronBartell.com

[kentatzend]

So first of all the current MySQL we ship works and runs. So it's not an urgent issue to be addressed today. The only real issue is *if* a new version of MySQL comes out *and* it's not backward compatible *or* some application starts taking advantage of that new feature, then it might not run on IBM i. But that is probably at least a year or so off (just my guess but ..).

Who knows what will happen by then. IBM and Oracle may come to an agreement. IBM may take the Open Source code themselves and make any changes/patches needed to run on IBM i and contribute them back to OS and then build it and make it available. IBM may contract with some third party to build it and make it available. Applications may start supporting DB2.

Kent

[aaronbartell]

What involvement does Zend have in the conversation with IBM? Can anything be divulged?

[kentatzend]

I have said all I can say ....

[aseiden]

As I understand the issue, all that's been discontinued by Oracle is MySQL's db2 for IBM i storage engine. This storage engine allows MySQL applications to access db2. If support for this storage engine is not restored by Oracle, then as Kent said, perhaps another organization could pick up the slack. (That said, I'm not going to rush into heavy use of the storage engine till this issue is resolved.)

MySQL itself can run on the IBM i even without the db2 storage engine. I recall that in 2004 or 2005, before there was any official support for MySQL on IBM i, developers were compiling MySQL from source code so that it could run on the IBM i (i5 at that time). In fact, one of our IBM i servers is still running an old MySQL binary created in that prehistoric time.

Therefore, I have confidence in the IBM i's ability to run standard MySQL-based applications, such as WordPress, now and in the future.

If Kent or anyone else can find a flaw in this reasoning, please add your comments. This is an important issue for the community.

Best,
Alan Seiden

[erich_hieden]

That's not completely true Alan. Besides discontiuing the storage engine, there won't be any IBM i builds from MySQL anymore. So to get a new build you will have to do it on your own (as you already said).

That's exactly the point where I'm wondering what Zend is going to do. Which MySQL version are they going to bundle with ZendServer in future? The last build for IBM i (5.1.52)? Or none at all? Or will they or IBM do it themselves? As I see it, Kent (and anyone else at Zend) won't/can't tell us anymore at the moment.

What should we do since we rely heavily on the future of MySQL and the IBMDB2i storage engine. Shall we port to DB2 and don't use MySQL anymore (which should also be faster as a nice side effect), or shall we wait till IBM/Zend/Oracle comes up with new info?

Regards

[kentatzend]

Zend has no plans to discontinue shipping the copy of MySQL we currently ship. So right now everything works and probably will for quite some time. Nothing going on between Oracle and IBM affects Zend's ability to ship MySQL as it is open source. So really nothing changes except I guess *if* you wanted formal support for MySQL from Oracle which is no longer offered.

*If* in the future there should be some need for an updated Version of MySQL then we will have to figure out something but I think between IBM and Zend there is more than enough "horse power" to solve that problem.

Kent