[debian-mysql] MySQL server and client virtual packages

[Gunnar Wolf]

James Page dijo [Fri, Aug 01, 2014 at 10:57:44AM +0100]:
> (...)
> The wider intent is that all maintainers of packages that depend on
> mysql-server or mysql-client are encouraged to add as alternative
> dependencies the virtual packages virtual-mysql-server[1] or
> virtual-mysql-client[2].
> 
> This will enable the alternative MariaDB and Percona packages to
> satisfy the dependency. MySQL 5.5, MariaDB 5.5 and PXC 5.5 are all
> binary-compatible and most likely to work with any program that
> currently uses MySQL in Debian. If you prefer some of the non-Oracle
> versions of MySQL, you can even default to one of them using syntax
> like for example 'Depends: mariadb-server | virtual-mysql-server'.

Hi James,

My question in this regard is how long do we expect them to be
binary-compatible. Being PXC and MariaDB forks, they will likely drift
away from MySQL (and from each other). Binary compatibility might
break, and also SQL compatibility might break as each introduces new
features or behaviours. Don't you think this can put us in a situation
where packages will become insta-buggy?