Hi Julien,
thanks a lot for the input!
Michael
PS: I've fixed Lionel's email address now, something went wrong when I
copy-pasted it into my previous email.
On 25/03/2022 09.18, Julien Nabet wrote:
Hello,
Here are some thoughts about Base.
Some years ago, there was some decision to reduce our Java dependency (a
very good thing).
Main point was to replace HSQLDB part by another database (there are
good ones like MySQL/MariaDB and Postgresql) but which also allowed
embedding, with a compatible license and with a not dead community, so
Firebird was chosen.
In addition to Lionel (who is the Base expert for those who don't
already know it), there have been 2 people who mainly worked on it:
Andrzej J.R. Hunt and Tamas Bunth. The last one had even implemented a
tool to migrate automatically from HSQLDB to Firebird.
Andrzej left Firebird part long time ago and Tamas left some years after
him (just to be clear, I see no pb here, each one has his
life/constraints/desire/whatever)
In parallel, Firebird has been put "in production" as by default
embedded database and automatic migration set as by default. A lot of
bugtrackers have been created and even if some part has been fixed,
there were too much.
So I first put in experimental automatic migration part then Firebird by
default + creation part (you can still open a Firebird embedded in non
experimental).
Now we use HSQLDB 1.8 which is quite old and Firebird support is not
ready, the pb is Lionel has far less availability and there's no one who
replaced him. I gave a try to tackle some bugs but I'm not brainy enough
to fix harder ones.
Firebird is not the only pb, charts aren't displayed anymore in reports
and the whole reports part is dependent on old Java external components.
There are also address books pbs:
- Mac one (eg : leaks but not only this, Alex may tell more about this
I suppose)
- Thunderbird one can't be used anymore after Mork->Sqlite migration.
I also think about Base stumbling on some specific functions added to
standard SQL by some databases which can be workaround sometimes but not
always.
So yes, hiring 1 or 2 people on Base part could be relevant unless we'd
like to abandon Base. Just to put it clearly here too, I'm not speaking
for me since I already got a job and above all, wouldn't be able to do
this job, I'm rather thinking about Lionel (if he agrees of course! :-)).
I really think a strong decision (hiring people or abandon it) should be
made instead of letting it rot.
PS1: I'm adding Robert and Alex here since they're the main QA for Base
part and may provide extra info.
PS2: Lionel, don't hesitate to complete (or correct if I made some
mistakes) what I said.
On 25/03/2022 06:50, Michael Weghorn wrote:
Hi Paolo,
thanks for the updated draft and integrating my references to meta bugs.
Another potential focus area might be Base (the database module).
Alex mentioned it in another thread (that had a different main focus)
[1] and I've heard from time to time that it isn't in the best shape.
There's tdf#120062 [2] as a meta bug for database related bugs and
enhancements.
I'm not using Base myself, though, and don't have any overview of its
current status.
I've seen Julien doing some work there recently. Maybe he, Lionel or
anybody else might be able to say more on whether it would make sense
to consider that as a potential area to be worked on by TDF in-house
developers.
Best regards,
Michael
[1]
https://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/board-discuss/2022/msg00060.html
[2]
https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/showdependencytree.cgi?id=120062&hide_resolved=1
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