OurSQL Foundation launches to support MySQL developers

MySQL compatibility

As the “stem” of the LAMP stack, MySQL’s primary connection point is PHP for powering websites. It also integrates with Node.js and Python for backend logic, Docker connects for containerization. Management is delivered and streamlined via MySQL Workbench and phpMyAdmin. For performance, Redis provides caching, Hibernate offers Java ORM, and Grafana is in place for visualisation and Nginx is also in the mix.

This community organisation will support the growth and use of MySQL as an open source database and collaborate with all players in the market, including cloud Oracle, to see MySQL succeed with the next generation of developers and applications.

The official line on hyperscaler wannabe company Oracle is that it is not a member of this foundation. 

“The OurSQL Foundation will be supportive to Oracle’s goals around MySQL, but it is also independent. This will allow the Foundation to take a long-term view around MySQL as a technology, regardless of any developments or changes in the wider market. The goal for The OurSQL Foundation is to ensure that the broad MySQL ecosystem has a bright future, independent of Oracle,” stated the group.

501(c)(6), if you please

The OurSQL Foundation has been created as a 501(c)(6) – see below – non-profit organisation to represent the companies working around MySQL and compatible technologies as part of their deployments, as well as those businesses and partners that support MySQL use with services or products.

A US legal classification term, 501(c)(6) is a tax-exempt nonprofit organisation representing business leagues, chambers of commerce, and professional trade associations to improve business conditions.

The Foundation has been developed to support the broader community and ecosystem. Following the Foundation’s creation, the community will look into how to support and collaborate around potential member needs in the future.

The OurSQLFoundation supports users, customers, partners and providers to collaborate around MySQL as a database technology, as well as supporting their own goals and objectives. By bringing together multiple companies and interested organisations in one place, it will provide a future voice for that community around the issues and opportunities that they want to cover.

According to the official statement behind this story, this collaboration “may” include:

• Support for a vendor-neutral governance model for the Foundation, where participation is evaluated on merit, opening the door for companies and individuals to get involved and contribute to the ecosystem around MySQL.
  
• Stewardship for the development of shared community assets – this could include community-focused information and assets that would provide insight to the community, such as a public bug database for shared issue tracking, a portal for tools and open source projects around MySQL, or a transparency log for security patches.
  
• A central location for collaboration around the future for MySQL, representing the overall community rather than any one company or provider. This will support collaboration for users and companies around data and applications, as well as healthy competition between those companies that build products that work alongside MySQL. This is expected to include both dedicated virtual events and resources at physical events.
  
• Development of education and training materials that the community wants to see to engage the next generation around MySQL. This may include training courses, certification and partnerships with academia, based on potential opportunities and support as a whole.

“This Foundation will provide a platform to promote and support MySQL as a database, fostering collaboration across everyone looking to contribute to the broad MySQL ecosystem,” said Vadim Tkachenko, co-founder at Percona.

Tkachenko says the foundation will “pool resources and provide guidance” around where MySQL fits into the technology landscape today, something that has been missing over the past few years. 

“By bringing the community together under the banner of an independent Foundation, we can demonstrate that MySQL has a valid and vibrant future ahead of it. The OurSQL Foundation will be a neutral organisation that will support MySQL as a technology, helping the community as a whole to grow and succeed in parallel with Oracle’s renewed focus on MySQL community development,” added Tkachenko.

The Foundation will follow the model that other open source foundations have taken to provide an independent, vendor-neutral space for mutual collaboration and assistance. 

“Open source involves collaboration and finding ways to give back, so that we can learn and meet our challenges together. Doing my part involves blogging and speaking around MySQL, and maintaining the Planet for the MySQL Community news aggregator. I support The OurSQL Foundation as a continuation of this effort, providing the community with a vendor-neutral forum to collaborate and to make sure MySQL keeps allowing us to meet our challenges in the years to come,” said Jean-Francois Gagné, MySQL expert and independent consultant.

It will be a separate legal entity that manages events, resource repositories, and adoption efforts on behalf of the community, growing the number of individuals who use and interact around MySQL, as well as providing a collective voice on the MySQL roadmap and future developments. 

The Foundation will start by creating Committee Groups to support the organisation’s work around events, collaboration and support for using MySQL.

MariaDB Foundation connection

The OurSQL Foundation is fully independent of any specific technology vendor or provider, compared to MariaDB Foundation, which concentrates on MariaDB as a technology.

“Any company in the MySQL community ecosystem can get involved and play a role in supporting the future for this area, so that MySQL and compatible products can compete in the market on their merits. This supports user choice, based on the principles of open source software. This approach aims to keep user needs at the forefront of this market, rather than any one vendor that is responsible for the project,” stated the Foundation.

The OurSQL Foundation thinks MySQL has a valid long-term future as long as it provides value to those who use it. The challenge (says the group) is that this value has not been supported vocally in the market outside the close open source community that already exists. Building 

The OurSQL Foundation provides a way for users, customers, partners, and vendors to share their insights around where MySQL is a great fit for today’s technology problems, as well as respond to updates and developments around the database as they arise.