letters from the open source trenches - postgres community

Selena Deckelmann

PostgreSQL Global Development GroupMajor Contributor

User Group Liaison

We know the world is changing.

http://mashable.com/2009/03/30/microsoft-encarta-to-close/

“People today seek and consume information in considerably different ways than the past.”

“Seven-Eleven Japan... pushes buying decisions down to the salesclerks at

its 13,000 Japanese stores.”

More than 200,000 salesclerks make informed decisions, using software

and the scientific method, about what to buy, and when.

Wall Street Journal, April 25, 2011“Leadership in IT, Four Questions Every CEO Should Ask About IT”

How do we get so many people to

collaborate?

• Revision control

• Peer review

• Public discussion forums

Ingredients

Open source pwns collaboration.

Postgrespwns collaboration that

produces awesome code.

What is Postgres?

• Database Management System

• Relational Database

• ANSI-SQL:2008 standard 160 of 179 core conformance features

• PostGIS

• Collaborative software development platform

http://www.postgresql.org/about/featurematrix

“An operating system without sound-drivers.”

Databases are:

What is the PostgreSQL Global Development Group?

PostgreSQL Global Development Group

• ~300 developers contribute per year

• 1000s on discussion/review mailing lists

• Major user group communities in Japan, US, Brazil, Europe, Russia

Who makes up the Postgres community?

Free SoftwareCommons

Co-Developer

ExtendingCo-Developer

Deployer-Developer

User

From http://webmink.com/essays/community-types/

Free SoftwareCommons

Co-Developer

ExtendingCo-Developer

Deployer-Developer

User

From http://webmink.com/essays/community-types/

}Postgres has alwaysfocused here

{Where weare growingthe fastest

Free SoftwareCommons

Co-Developer

ExtendingCo-Developer

Deployer-Developer

User

{WhereMySQLfocused

From http://webmink.com/essays/community-types/

}Where theyare growingnow

Some PostgreSQL Global Development Group Sponsors

All hiring, all seeking open source software skills.

Using PostgreSQL.

“[C]ommunities are composed of individuals who collaborate toward a common goal but do not share a common employer and are not governed by an employment hierarchy.”

The Role of Participation Architecture in Growing Sponsored Open Source CommunitiesJoel West and Siobhán O’Mahony

“Companies or foundations that run open source project are not software firms, they are community management firms whose communities happen to make software. “

http://eaves.ca/2006/12/17/community-management-as-open-sources-core-competency/

Proprietary Development

http://momjian.us/main/writings/pgsql/adoption_and_trends.pdf

Open Source Development

http://momjian.us/main/writings/pgsql/adoption_and_trends.pdf

• Revision control

• Peer review

• Public discussion forums

We require these tools.

Development work

• Revision control - We share our git repos: http://git.postgresql.org

• Peer review - our tool for patch review: http://commitfest.postgresql.org

• Public Discussion Forums - hackers list: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org

Results

• Yearly releases

• Reputation for excellent code

• Growing developer community

• Reputation for rejecting patches

9.1 beta 1

(Monday!)

Key pre 9.1 Features

• Transactional DDL

• Recursive queries

• Built-in replication (async AND sync in 9.1)

• Multiple-language support for database-side programming

DO  $$HAI        BTW  Calculate  pi  using  Gregory-­‐Leibniz  series        BTW  This  method  does  not  converge  particularly  quickly...        I  HAS  A  PIADD  ITZ  0.0        I  HAS  A  PISUB  ITZ  0.0        I  HAS  A  ITR  ITZ  0        I  HAS  A  T1        I  HAS  A  T2        I  HAS  A  PI  ITZ  0.0        I  HAS  A  ITERASHUNZ  ITZ  1000          IM  IN  YR  LOOP                T1  R  QUOSHUNT  OF  4.0  AN  SUM  OF  3.0  AN  ITR                T2  R  QUOSHUNT  OF  4.0  AN  SUM  OF  5.0  AN  ITR                PISUB  R  SUM  OF  PISUB  AN  T1                PIADD  R  SUM  OF  PIADD  AN  T2                ITR  R  SUM  OF  ITR  AN  4.0                BOTH  SAEM  ITR  AN  BIGGR  OF  ITR  AN  ITERASHUNZ,  O  RLY?                        YA  RLY,  GTFO                OIC        IM  OUTTA  YR  LOOP        PI  R  SUM  OF  4.0  AN  DIFF  OF  PIADD  AN  PISUB        VISIBLE  "PI  R:  "        VISIBLE  PI        FOUND  YR  PIKTHXBYE$$  LANGUAGE  PLLOLCODE;

• Unlogged tables Less consistency for better performance with ephemeral data, and NoSQL buzzword compliance

• Writable Common Table ExpressionsRecursive queries that update data

• Per-Column CollationsTrue multi-language support (e.g. sorting words in Farsi and Swedish correctly in the same table, in separate columns)

Things other databases also do:Hot in 9.1!

• SE-PostgresMandatory Access Control integration with SE-Linux

• ExtensionsCREATE EXTENSION framework for easily installing, removing and updating extensions to Postgres.And launch of PGXN network: http://pgxn.org

Things we are first to do:Hot in 9.1!

• Synchronous replicationCreate synchronous standby databases to prevent data loss. Includes "transaction-controlled synchronous commit"

• SQL-MEDEasy-to-use remote data source access that enables transparent usage as a table (SELECT and JOIN)

• K-Nearest-Neighbor IndexingPermits doing an indexed search of "what's near me".

Things we are first to do:Hot in 9.1!

We still have bugs.

We still have an epic todo list.

We still need people of every ability.

So, how do you get involved?

Download 9.1 Beta 1!(on Monday)

Commitfest tool

http://bit.ly/pgdevnow

Volunteer.Blog, answer email, join #postgresql, write documentation, test features,make things with Postgres, tweet,

help organize meetings, create olypug,give a talk, do a translation...

Change the world with us.

Thanks!

Contact me: selena@postgresql.org

Twitter: @selenamarie

Blog: http://chesnok.com

Credits:

Bruce Momjian (Proprietary vs Open Source development style)

Joshua Tolley (PL/LOLCODE)