[jaunty] kubuntu-desktop drags in mysql-server-5.0

[Reinhard Tartler]

Prequesites: clean ubuntu-server install, upgraded to jaunty, no desktop nor xorg related packages

Symptom: apt-get install kubuntu-desktop drags in mysq-server-5.0.

why on earth does KDE4 need to drag in a mysql server by default?!

feel free to reassign to a more appropriate package.

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

Akonadi, the PIM (and other stuff) storage backend requires mysqld. While it does not use the global mysql server (I guess it actually could if the user wishes to) it starts it's own instance of mysqld.

In addition to that Amarok 2 will/does use the non-daemon mysql version, which as a matter of fact will require mysql 5.1

Getting this resolved is going to be fun and needs a lot of cross team collaboration.

For future reference I will try to list the requirements:
* Akonadi needs mysqld (as well as runtime data) ... currently it uses mysql-server, hardlinks mysqld-akonadi to mysqld (to differ the apparmor profiles)
* Amarok needs libmysql 5.1 at compile time
* Amarok needs mysql 5.1 runtime data at runtime

[Reinhard Tartler (siretart)]

I have no idea what akonadi is doing, but depending on mysql as storage backend does not sound to me as a smart move. Perhaps it could alternatively use a more lightweight database backend like sqlite3 or something?

as developer, I see the following options:

- change akonadi to use sqlite3
- remove akonadi from kubuntu-desktop
- change mysql packaging to provide a package with an unconfigured mysqld binary and move the debconf mangement to some mysql-config package, similar to the exim4 packaging.

[Harald Sitter (apachelogger)]

I don't have the insight why upstream chose mysql, but I think it is because of the scalability. Akonadi is meant to be unified storage for mails, calendars, notes, contacts... actually it could store pretty much anything. Amarok 1 is using sqlite by default, which caused a lot of problems with a large music collection (>15k) in Akonadi you can pretty easy have that amount of data, so that probably supported the decision as well.
On a side note I'd like to mention that the original idea was to use mysql embedded, but upstream decided against it because it doesn't work properly in mysql 5.0. However Amarok is using mysql that way, so maybe we could convince Akonadi upstream to do the same.

So the first option is rather impossible because there wouldn't be enough QA IMHO, the second one isn't either because KDEPim is supposed to start using Akonadi in the upcoming 4.2 release (which is going to be shipped in 9.04), the third option seems most sensible right now.

[Scott Kitterman (kitterman)]

Based on the discussion in the Server Team meeting, I think we need the "change mysql packaging to provide a package with an unconfigured mysqld binary and move the debconf mangement to some mysql-config package, similar to the exim4 packaging" option.

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

This has been fixed with the most recent akonadi update.