Progress reporting for ALTER TABLE

I just finished my last MariaDB 5.3 feature before we go beta:

Progress reporting for ALTER TABLE, LOAD DATA INFILE etc.

This is a feature that I think every MySQL user who has ever waited for an ALTER TABLE to finish has wanted for a long time! I know people who have written scripts to monitor the size of the result files to try to estimate how much an ALTER TABLE has progressed.

Progress reporting means that:

• There is a new column Progress in SHOW PROCESSLIST which shows the total progress (0-100 %)
• INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PROCESSLIST has three new columns which allow you to see in which process stage we are and how much of that stage is completed:
• STAGE
• MAX_STAGE
• PROGRESS_DONE (within current stage).
• The client receives out-of-band progress messages which it can display to the user to indicate how long the command will take!

Progress reporting is enabled by default in the new mysql client. When enabled, for every supported command you get a progress report like:

MariaDB [test]> alter table my_mail engine=maria;
Stage: 1 of 2 'copy to tmp table' 5.37% of stage done

MariaDB 5.3 also includes a modified mytop which shows progress for the running commands.

This feature is now pending a review. It will be pushed into MariaDB 5.3 tomorrow.

You can find a full documentation of this feature in the knowledgebase.

Open Oceans new fund has closed

Open Ocean's new Fund celebrated with pitching competition - I'll give the winner Black vodka as much as he/she can carry (inside and outside)!

I am delighted that we now have been able to launch our new Open Ocean Fund. With 40 M euro (60M USD) in first closing, the race is now on to identify new disruptive start ups, that we with Community and Open Source strategy and proper funding, can help drive for similar success as achieved with MySQL.

In my mind a vital part of entrepreneurship is to be able to combine work with fun!

For this reason we decided to launch a pitching competition, where we bring the winning team to Finland, both for good worktime with our team, but also for some social time and nice summer activities.

On top of the boat trip and crayfish party already mentioned in the news item, I add here an additional personal price. During the evening party I will offer our guests with a chance to taste some (or a lot) of one of my personal favorites: The Finnish Black Vodka. And, the next morning, as a gift to take home, I will provide the winner with Black Vodka - as much as he/she can carry - to take home as a souvenir. Something that should help to remember the trip, and something enabling the entrepreneur(s) to share the fun with family, friends and colleagues!