
As Oracle axes support for GlassFish, MySQL users might want to pay attention - tanglesome
http://parelastic.com/blog/oracle-axes-support-glassfish-mysql-users-might-want-pay-attention
======
pron
The concerns over MySQL might be justified, but have little to do with
GlassFish. GlassFish has never been a popular open source project like Tomcat,
Jetty or JBoss, and probably not as commercially successful as Oracle's own
WebLogic, or IBM's WebSphere, or JBoss. There was really no good reason to
keep it alive, other than as the JEE reference implementation, a role which,
as I understand, it will continue to serve.

Also, the compatibility between different Java EE application servers is far
greater than between different DBs, and migrating from one to the other is
usually very simple.

I do hope (and would like to assume) that only the work on the GlassFish
_server_ will be reduced, while popular subprojects like Jersey[1] will
continue as before.

[1]: [https://jersey.java.net/](https://jersey.java.net/)

~~~
batbomb
Jersey is an integral part of WebLogic as well, so development will assuredly
continue.

From the jersey mailing list:

> Jersey remains the JAX-RS implementation in WebLogic as well as JAX-RS RI in
> GlassFish. The decision to not provide a commercial GF 4.x offering is
> orthogonal to Jersey and JAX-RS development.

> ...and now, just to be safe, I should probably add the standard Oracle
> disclamer :) Here it goes:

> The preceding is intended to outline our general product direction. It is
> intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any
> contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or
> functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.
> The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality
> described for Oracle’s products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.

> Marek

------
PaulHoule
I think the difference is that Glassfish is a piece of garbage. Among the few
people who have heard of it it has a reputation of being the worst application
server you can possibly use.

~~~
strictfp
I haven't used it but there is NO WAY that it is worse than WebSphere.

In any case, my firm belief is that the whole concept of app servers is
flawed. Libs are so much better than frameworks, and app servers are just
horribly clunky frameworks, which take away as much control as possible from
the dev.

Taking control away from devs is a really backwards way of thinking of
development as grunt work, which has been proven time and time again that it
isn't.

Death to all app servers, I say!

~~~
kaffeinecoma
I actually passed on some repeat client work when they insisted on using
WebSphere.

My initial project for them was an eternal struggle to get basic things (XML
parsing, Hibernate, CDI, etc) working in their environment because specific
versions of these things were already included in the app server, and always
ended up conflicting with libs we needed to include for our own app. I
remember it distinctly as one of those times where I just felt helpless to
make anything work.

~~~
hackinthebochs
I was in a similar boat. I abandoned a potentially very lucrative startup
because the owner (my friend's brother) insisted on using Websphere and all
the associated apps (he was a former IBMer). There came a point where some
misconfiguration occurred when attempting to restore a previous version of the
application after that point nothing worked. I tried for days on end to fix
the problems but nothing would compile without massive errors. The piles and
piles of cruft that Websphere added did nothing but obscure the real source of
the issue. Eventually I gave up and said screw it and left.

The startup was already on its last legs at that point, as I was the only
active developer since the other developer I worked with had already left
after getting fed up for other reasons. After I left the startup limped along
for a while but as far as I can tell was abandoned. If they had just used a
more sane environment I could have easily developed the entire thing myself as
it wasn't anything more complicated than a straightforward CMS + payments. I
still kick myself for not making a better case for a more sane environment but
I was wet behind the ears at the time and I didn't trust my instincts in the
face of guys with masters degrees and X years at IBM and other top companies.
I know better now.

------
leef
Pure FUD. Oracle has owned Innodb since 2005 and now that they own the whole
of MySQL impressive releases are coming at a steady clip. To date, Oracle has
been a better steward of MySQL than Sun was.

------
g4m8i7
A lot of the big distros have transitioned to MariaDB already
([https://mariadb.com/kb/en/distributions-which-include-
mariad...](https://mariadb.com/kb/en/distributions-which-include-mariadb/)).
Debian probably will soon as well, which will trickle down into Ubuntu
probably.

I think there's plenty of room outside Oracle if they were to ever shut down
MySQL. I moved to MariaDB, and it really was a drop-in replacement.

~~~
tvon
Compatibility document for the curious:

[https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb-versus-mysql-
compatibility...](https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb-versus-mysql-
compatibility/)

~~~
Shish2k
TL;DR: It's 100% binary compatible, but PHP manages to have problems anyway

/facepalm

~~~
g4m8i7
I think it's only a problem if you're using mysql_ instead of mysqli_.

[https://mariadb.com/kb/en/installation-issues-with-
php5/](https://mariadb.com/kb/en/installation-issues-with-php5/)

Since mysql_ is being deprecated soon (so they say, maybe PHP6 haha), it'd be
good to migrate to mysqli_ anyway.

~~~
generalpf
Shouldn't everyone be on PDO by now? If you're still on mysql[i]_ you must be
used to having problems.

~~~
g4m8i7
Probably. I'm a pretty poor developer. I'm a sysadmin who sometimes writes PHP
apps for work. So, I'll look into PDO. :D

~~~
g4m8i7
lmm: (For some reason your post doesn't have a reply link) These are usually
webapps for department-specific needs, and I generally find PHP to be easier.
I have a few python things that I use on the backend, as well as a plethora of
bash scripts. But, I admit to knowing PHP more than Python. (I'm in a smallish
company, so I end up wearing a lot of hats)

generalpf: I will do so! Do you have any go-to references that you prefer? Or
shall I just dig through the PHP docs?

~~~
generalpf
It's really quite simple, read this and get to work! It also explains the
'why'.

[http://wiki.hashphp.org/PDO_Tutorial_for_MySQL_Developers](http://wiki.hashphp.org/PDO_Tutorial_for_MySQL_Developers)

------
rwmj
Why? MySQL has a well-maintained drop-in replacement outside of Oracle control
(MariaDB). It's even mentioned in the article.

(And no one's ever heard of Glassfish, probably the reason why Oracle are
dropping it)

~~~
tvon
Agreed, every MySQL project I'm on is actually a MariaDB project. While I
prefer Postgres and have arguments to present to clients who rely on MySQL, a
fear of Oracle is not one of those arguments because I just don't think it
matters what happens to MySQL proper.

------
thrillgore
The way they closed down OpenSolaris told me all I needed to know about
Oracle's plans for every other OSS project.

We did use GlassFish with JRuby on a project early on in my career, that's
about it.

------
gmjoe
I wouldn't worry too much, since MariaDB is out there.

I'd love to make the switch from MySQL, except Amazon RDS doesn't support
MariaDB yet. But since they just added PostgreSQL, maybe there's hope?
Presumably MariaDB support would be vastly easier, as easy as a new version of
MySQL?

------
ancarda
I think that would be sufficient motivation to get me to use PostgreSQL. I
doubt I'll go running out to buy an Oracle database when there's sufficient
alternatives (including MariaDB).

------
j_baker
I think what's more likely is that MySQL goes the way of Hudson/Jenkins.
Oracle strangles the open source community and pushes people to use a fork of
the original software. Oracle's in the database business, and I just don't see
any reason for them to kill off one of the most popular databases in the
world. More likely is that they make it serve _their_ purposes to the
exclusion of the open source community's.

------
debacle
I switched over to MariaDB on my most recent Linux install, and honestly have
no idea that the database is different. Moved my Windows install from MySQL to
MariaDB as well. Was a bit more complicated, but not by much.

------
Yhippa
This kind of makes sense; they have WebLogic to sell to enterprise customers.

