Database bindings

[Ryan Schmidt]

> On Jul 27, 2014, at 8:54 AM, Craig Treleaven <ctreleaven at macports.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi:
> 
> My myth* ports need Perl, Python and Php bindings to the database. Up to now, I've used mysql5 for the database and the relevant ports for the bindings defaulted to the same--life was good!  But all good things change and we want to phase out mysql5.  Now...life is a little less good.
> 
> The 'binding' ports are:
> 
> py27-mysql
> variants  [+]mariadb55, mysql4, mysql51, mysql55, mysql56, percona55
> 
> p5.16-dbd-mysql
> variants  mariadb, mysql4, [+]mysql5, mysql51, mysql55, percona
> 
> php54-mysql
> variants  mariadb, mysql4, mysql5, mysql51, mysql55, mysql56, [+]mysqlnd, percona
> 
> Issues:
> py-mysql and p-dbd-mysql default to different databases.
> 
> There are inconsistencies in the naming of the maria and percona variants:  mariadb55 v. mariadb and percona55 v. percona.

Agreed, the names should be made consistent. The assumption was that there would be separate versioned ports for mariadb an percona, hence the change to versioned suffixes for these variants in some ports. The variant names should probably be made consistent.


> p5-dbd-mysql doesn't offer a mysql56 variant.

Missing variants should be added.


> Now that we have maria10.0 and maria10.1 ports, should we not have matching variants -- maria, maria10.0 and maria10.1?

I'd like to avoid giving users the impression that "mariadb" would be the correct variant to use for mariadb support. "mariadb55" makes it clearer that it's an older version.


> From my point of view, it would be ideal if these bindings were subports instead of variants so that I can ensure that users get the right bindings.  Either that or MacPorts needs to pick one database and version as THE ONE.  I know this has been debated but (to my knowledge) not resolved.

They shouldn't be subports; they should remain variants. There should be no problem if the bindings use a different library than the server. e.g. php54-mysql built using mysql55 should have no problem talking to a mariadb server since they all speak the same mysql protocol.