MariaDB Gets a Foundation

When Oracle bought MySQL and dropped the ball, Monty Widenius et al. forked the database code and started MariaDB. It's been improving and seeing releases since, but today brought the exciting news that a new foundation has been formed to defend the GPL, organize developmental, and manage the release process.

In a blog post today Michael 'Monty' Widenius, David Axmark, and Allan Larsson announced the MariaDB Foundation and said that 1 Million Euros has been raised to do it. In fact, board elections will be as soon as February.

In its mission statement, the MariaDB Foundation exists to improve database technology, including standards implementation, interoperability with other databases, and building bridges to other types of database such as transactional and NoSQL. To deliver this the Foundation provides technical work in reviewing, merging, testing, and releasing the MariaDB product suite. The Foundation also provides infrastructure for the MariaDB project and the user and developer communities.

Axmark was quoted as saying, "The time is right for an independent organisation to to safeguard the interests of MariaDB users and developers as we head towards MariaDB 10." Widenius said of the development, "Tens of millions of users rely on MariaDB and MySQL and they have more to thank than just all the excellent developers and persons helping to package and distribute MariaDB and MySQL. MariaDB exists thanks to the strength of the GPL and the efforts of the organizations who defend it such as our friends at the Software Freedom Conservancy and the Free Software Foundation Europe. The MariaDB Foundation will provide leadership on technical, legal, and policy matters of interest to all the community."

According to the announcement:

The MariaDB Foundation is a non-stock corporation that has applied for the US 501(c)(3) status, with so far 8 founders and 2 sponsors having pledged support, and more in discussion. In February 2013 the founders will appoint board members and confirm the bylaws. Until then the interim officers of the Foundation are:

* Andrew Katz, Chief Operating Officer and Legal Counsel
* Monty Widenius, Chief Technology Officer
* Niall McCarthy, Foundation Development

The Foundation welcomes new founders and sponsors. All enquiries to foundation 'at' mariadb (dot) org.

Some tidbits from the About MariaDB include:

* MariaDB is based on MySQL and is available under the terms of the GPL v2 license.
* It's developed by the MariaDB community with Monty Program Ab as its main steward.
* MariaDB is kept up to date with the latest MySQL release from the same branch.
* In most respects MariaDB will work exactly as MySQL.
* The current stable MariaDB release is MariaDB 5.5.28a.