Title: PBXT now unsupported in MySQL/MariaDB
Author: Robin H. Johnson <robbat2@gentoo.org>
Content-Type: text/plain
Posted: 2013-06-01
Revision: 4
News-Item-Format: 1.0
Display-If-Installed: dev-db/mysql
Display-If-Installed: dev-db/mysql-cluster
Display-If-Installed: dev-db/mariadb
Display-If-Installed: dev-db/mariadb-galera
Display-If-Installed: dev-db/percona-server
Display-If-Installed: dev-db/google-mysql

The PBXT/PrimeBase engine is unsupported upstream in MySQL & MariaDB for some
time now [1]. It is no longer built in the upstream MariaDB 5.5 binaries[2][3]
and if it is enabled in a source build, it fails many tests [4].

In light of this, the MySQL team has decided to mask it in
profiles/base/package.use.mask for all relevant packages.
>=dev-db/mysql-5.5 pbxt
>=dev-db/mariadb-5.5 pbxt
>=dev-db/mysql-cluster-5.5 pbxt # overlay
>=dev-db/mariadb-galera-5.5 pbxt # overlay
>=dev-db/percona-server-5.5 pbxt # overlay
>=dev-db/google-mysql-5.5 pbxt # overlay

All users who have data stored in PBXT-backed tables MUST convert the tables
to another format BEFORE upgrading to MySQL/MariaDB 5.5, as the tables will
become inaccessible otherwise.

We will continue to allow it to be built in the 5.0/5.1 series, to make the
above data migration easy, but we strongly encourage all users to move their
data out of the PBXT engine.

If you need to check for PBXT tables easily, look in your MySQL/MariaDB
datadir for any files with a .xt extension.

1. https://lists.launchpad.net/pbxt-discuss/msg00134.html
2. http://www.bytebot.net/blog/archives/2012/05/25/mariadb-5-5-has-deprecated-pbxt
3. https://kb.askmonty.org/en/about-pbxt/
4. https://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=471616#c1