Removing (or trying to) BerkeleyDB from Fedora

[David Cantrell]

On Thu, Jan 08, 2015 at 09:32:04AM -0500, Josh Boyer wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 9:18 AM, Chris Adams <linux at cmadams.net> wrote:
> > Once upon a time, Jan Staněk <jstanek at redhat.com> said:
> >> The topic of BerkeleyDB v6 in Fedora was already discussed at this list
> >> [1], and it turned out that peaceful cooperation of multiple libdb
> >> versions in system is very problematic. As some packages cannot use
> >> newer versions, we are basically stuck with v5 - unless we get rid of it
> >> altogether or find another solution.
> >
> > Why does v6 having an incompatible license mean we should get rid of v5?
> > BerkeleyDB is widely used because it meets a need, and v5 meets that
> > need in a license-compatible way for many programs.  What benefit is
> > there in trying to remove it?
> 
> In addition to Chris' question, shouldn't this effort be driven
> upstream first?  I'm concerned that removing BerkeleyDB from these
> packages within Fedora will become a series of ever-lasting
> micro-forks.  Also, is there a recommended replacement for libdb?

It's not a drop-in replacement, but I have seen sqlite be a viable option
for projects wanting some database library and wanting a stable API.  Many
upstream projects that can use berkdb have grown sqlite support as an
option.

-- 
David Cantrell <dcantrell at redhat.com>
Manager, Installer Engineering Team
Red Hat, Inc. | Westford, MA | EST5EDT