[Maria-developers] Rewrite of the free documentation to make it about MariaDB, not MySQL

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Henrik Ingo

16 Sep 2009 16 Sep '09

9:17 p.m.

Daniel I glanced through some of the commits today and noticed Kristian committing the new version of MySQL 5.1.38 documentation (man pages and other free docs). The docs seem to include lots of references to where you can download MySQL rpm's, where you can buy MySQL support, Suns support lifecycle policies, etc. As part of your documentation work, could you be in touch with Kristian and find out how you could help in cleaning that up. Meaning: Either remove such sections, or replace with relevant MariaDB information. While at it, I'd like to review the Readme file of MariaDB. Could you help me with that (ie extract it from bzr and work with me to rewrite it - so that I can just participate by email). The Readme file we should fix before GA release. The other docs are only semi-urgent. henrik -- email: henrik.ingo@avoinelama.fi tel: +358-40-5697354 www: www.avoinelama.fi/~hingo book: www.openlife.cc

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Daniel Bartholomew

17 Sep 17 Sep

8:31 p.m.

New subject: [Maria-developers] Rewrite of the free documentation to make it about MariaDB, not MySQL

On Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:17:56 +0300, Henrik Ingo wrote: Henrik> Daniel Henrik> Henrik> I glanced through some of the commits today and noticed Kristian Henrik> committing the new version of MySQL 5.1.38 documentation (man Henrik> pages and other free docs). Henrik> Henrik> The docs seem to include lots of references to where you can Henrik> download MySQL rpm's, where you can buy MySQL support, Suns Henrik> support lifecycle policies, etc. As part of your documentation Henrik> work, could you be in touch with Kristian and find out how you Henrik> could help in cleaning that up. Meaning: Either remove such Henrik> sections, or replace with relevant MariaDB information. I've now pulled lp:~maria-captains/maria/maria-5.1-merge and I'll take a look at the docs over the next few days and work with Kristian on getting the changes merged in. Henrik> While at it, I'd like to review the Readme file of MariaDB. Henrik> Could you help me with that (ie extract it from bzr and work Henrik> with me to rewrite it - so that I can just participate by Henrik> email). The lp:~maria-captains/maria/maria-5.1-merge README contains the entire text of the lp:maria README plus a bunch of other stuff, including notices for various pieces of included software and the licenses those pieces of code use. Most of these notices are fairly short, but some are quite long (in the case of innochecksum.c, the entire text of the GPLv2 is included). I don't know if all of these notices are needed. If there are any of these notices which can be removed, it would simplify the README. In the case of innochecksum.c in particular, if that notice is needed I think it would be better if we just point people to the COPYING file, which contains the GPLv2 text instead of putting a complete copy of GPLv2 in the README file. To get things started, I've attached the two README files (named so you know which branch they come from). The additions are pretty easy to spot by just viewing the files side-by-side, even easier with a graphical diff viewer like meld. Henrik> The Readme file we should fix before GA release. The other docs Henrik> are only semi-urgent. Agree. -- Daniel Bartholomew

Henrik Ingo

19 Oct 19 Oct

10:57 a.m.

New subject: [Maria-developers] Rewrite of the free documentation to make it about MariaDB, not MySQL

On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Daniel Bartholomew wrote:

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Henrik> While at it, I'd like to review the Readme file of MariaDB. Henrik> Could you help me with that (ie extract it from bzr and work Henrik> with me to rewrite it - so that I can just participate by Henrik> email).

The lp:~maria-captains/maria/maria-5.1-merge README contains the entire text of the lp:maria README plus a bunch of other stuff, including notices for various pieces of included software and the licenses those pieces of code use. Most of these notices are fairly short, but some are quite long (in the case of innochecksum.c, the entire text of the GPLv2 is included). I don't know if all of these notices are needed.

It seems they are needed for legal reasons (that's why MySQL keeps them here too). We should keep them, but there can be some whitespace between the "real text" and the when licenses start.

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If there are any of these notices which can be removed, it would simplify the README. In the case of innochecksum.c in particular, if that notice is needed I think it would be better if we just point people to the COPYING file, which contains the GPLv2 text instead of putting a complete copy of GPLv2 in the README file.

Seems unnecessary yes, if it's GPL it's GPL. Maybe at this point it makes sense to keep the licenses identical to how they are in MySQL though. (The list is long even if removing GPL.)

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To get things started, I've attached the two README files (named so you know which branch they come from). The additions are pretty easy to spot by just viewing the files side-by-side, even easier with a graphical diff viewer like meld.

Thanks. I've attached an edited version here. I've also attached a diff which should make clear what changes I made. The key changes is to write about MariaDB more as an independent product, not "a branch of MySQL", while still being a drop-in replacement. Other than that added links to MariaDB material and removed links to mysql.com. Monty, could you review.

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Henrik> The Readme file we should fix before GA release. The other docs Henrik> are only semi-urgent.

Agree.

henrik -- email: henrik.ingo@avoinelama.fi tel: +358-40-5697354 www: www.avoinelama.fi/~hingo book: www.openlife.cc

Michael Widenius

11:51 a.m.

New subject: [Maria-developers] Rewrite of the free documentation to make it about MariaDB, not MySQL

Hi!

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"Henrik" == Henrik Ingo writes:

Henrik> On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Daniel Bartholomew wrote: Henrik> While at it, I'd like to review the Readme file of MariaDB. Henrik> Could you help me with that (ie extract it from bzr and work Henrik> with me to rewrite it - so that I can just participate by Henrik> email). <cut> Henrik> Thanks. I've attached an edited version here. I've also attached a Henrik> diff which should make clear what changes I made. The key changes is Henrik> to write about MariaDB more as an independent product, not "a branch Henrik> of MySQL", while still being a drop-in replacement. Other than that Henrik> added links to MariaDB material and removed links to mysql.com. Henrik> Monty, could you review. <cut> -Documentation about MySQL can be found at: -http://dev.mysql.com/doc I think we need to say something about the MySQL manual as we don't have a full MariaDB documentation yet. Something like: As MariaDB is a full replacement of MySQL, the MySQL manual at http://dev.mysql.com/doc can also be used with MariaDB. <cut> +Note that MariaDB is available specifically only under the version 2 of the GNU +General Public License (GPLv2). (Ie. without the "any later version" clause.) +This is inherited from MySQL. Please see MySQL's README file for more +information. See the MySQL README file in the MySQL distribution ... -- For a list of developers and other contributors, see the Credits - appendix. I think we should keep that. We could also add: You can also do 'SHOW authors' to get a list of active contributors. -A local copy of the MySQL Reference Manual can be found in the Docs -directory in GNU Info format. You can also browse the manual online or -download it in any of several formats from -http://dev.mysql.com/doc Keep the above. The distribution packages should include the MySQL manual, so the above is accurate. -************************************************************ -IMPORTANT: -Bug or error reports regarding MariaDB should be sent to -https://bugs.launchpad.net/maria -Bugs in the MySQL code can also be sent to http://bugs.mysql.com -*************************************************************************** I would keep the above section (as it's embedded with **** and easly noticable) and remove the earlier section that is embedded in a lot of text that no one is reading. Should we add that one can also join the project on the #maria channel on freenode ? Regards, Monty

Henrik Ingo

2 Nov 2 Nov

3:54 p.m.

New subject: [Maria-developers] Rewrite of the free documentation to make it about MariaDB, not MySQL

Back from vacation, taking another stab at this. On Mon, Oct 19, 2009 at 11:51 AM, Michael Widenius wrote:

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Henrik> On Thu, Sep 17, 2009 at 9:31 PM, Daniel Bartholomew wrote: Henrik> While at it, I'd like to review the Readme file of MariaDB. Henrik> Could you help me with that (ie extract it from bzr and work Henrik> with me to rewrite it - so that I can just participate by Henrik> email).

<cut>

Henrik> Thanks. I've attached an edited version here. I've also attached a Henrik> diff which should make clear what changes I made. The key changes is Henrik> to write about MariaDB more as an independent product, not "a branch Henrik> of MySQL", while still being a drop-in replacement. Other than that Henrik> added links to MariaDB material and removed links to mysql.com.

Henrik> Monty, could you review.

I implemented all suggestions (easiest way :-), except:

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-A local copy of the MySQL Reference Manual can be found in the Docs -directory in GNU Info format. You can also browse the manual online or -download it in any of several formats from -http://dev.mysql.com/doc

Keep the above. The distribution packages should include the MySQL manual, so the above is accurate.

I didn't check, but unless something changed I think the MySQL manual is *not* part of our packages currently? The reasons we once decided to omit it was that: - Most people browse the online docs anyway - MySQL manual is not Free so we may just as well learn to live without it - You are allowed to distribute the MySQL manual "disseminated together with the software", which is kind of true for MariaDB, but a hostile lawyer could argue that MariaDB is not MySQL, so we wouldn't fullfil that requirement. Attached is the edited version. Daniel, can you take ownership of this now. I'll comment by email if needed. (But don't expect to have anything to add.) henrik -- email: henrik.ingo@avoinelama.fi tel: +358-40-5697354 www: www.avoinelama.fi/~hingo book: www.openlife.cc

Daniel Bartholomew

3 Nov 3 Nov

6:34 a.m.

New subject: [Maria-developers] Rewrite of the free documentation to make it about MariaDB, not MySQL

On Mon, 2 Nov 2009 16:54:52 +0200, Henrik Ingo wrote: Henrik> Back from vacation, taking another stab at this. Welcome back! <cut> Henrik> I didn't check, but unless something changed I think the MySQL Henrik> manual is *not* part of our packages currently? AFAIK this is correct. The only pieces of documentation we are allowed to use (under the terms of GPLv2) are the fill_help_tables.sql file and some INSTALL... files. There might also be a couple others that I can't remember right now. Henrik> The reasons we once decided to omit it was that: Henrik> - Most people browse the online docs anyway Henrik> - MySQL manual is not Free so we may just as well learn to Henrik> live without it Henrik> - You are allowed to distribute the MySQL manual "disseminated Henrik> together with the software", which is kind of true for MariaDB, Henrik> but a hostile lawyer could argue that MariaDB is not MySQL, so Henrik> we wouldn't fullfil that requirement. I can see how this could bite us, so I agree with Henrik that we should not distribute the complete MySQL manual. Henrik> Attached is the edited version. Henrik> Henrik> Daniel, can you take ownership of this now. I'll comment by Henrik> email if needed. (But don't expect to have anything to add.) I made some further modifications to Henrik's version of the README. My changes mainly focused on cleaning up the text (e.g. fixing a few instances of what I considered to be awkward phrases and needless duplication, and re-arranging things slightly for a better logical flow). I've created a branch of lp:maria on launchpad (my first one!). For now the only difference is my modified version of the README file: lp:~dbart/maria/maria-5.1-docmods I've also attached it to this email so Henrik can easily review it. -- Daniel Bartholomew Monty Program - http://askmonty.org

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Daniel Bartholomew
Henrik Ingo
Michael Widenius