[mythtv-users] what is mythtv's preferred/recommended database?

[Stephen Worthington]

On Sat, 11 Dec 2021 08:43:58 -0500, you wrote:

>On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 7:47 AM John Hoyt <john.hoyt at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> A while back the mythtv wiki stated a preference for mysql as the default
>> database.  More recently I have been observing that most folks on this list
>> have moved on to mariadb (this could be a vocal minority).
>>
>> What is the preferred/recommended database these days?
>>
>
>It will be interesting to see these replies.  I had the same question a few
>years ago when my mariadb based mythtv could not update due to an issue
>with a recent mariadb update.  We worked through it thanks to the help of
>the fine folks on this mailing list. So the next time I rebuilt my backend
>completely I used the default MySQL and I've been working successfully
>since then.
>
>But like you I see a lot of people prefer mariadb.
>
>Jim A

I changed to Mariadb when MySQL changed from using the readline
library to editline.  In readline, I have my /etc/inputrc set up so
that the up arrow does a history match on characters to the left of
the cursor.  I use this all the time at the bash command prompt, but
also all the time at the mysql command prompt.  This is done in the
readline library, and does not work with editline, so it makes my use
of a MySQL command line much less efficient and harder to use.  Oracle
chose to change libraries due to the licensing of readline.  It
apparently conflicts with their being able to make money out of MySQL.

For reasons such as the above, a lot of distros now default to Mariadb
- RedHat and anything based on it, for example, and Debian.  Ubuntu
defaulting to MySQL still is becoming a bit left behind - I have not
seen anything explaining why they have not changed.

MythTV is agnostic - it will work with whichever of Mariadb or MySQL
is currently installed.  But if you have not installed a database
already when you install MythTV on Ubuntu, the MythTV packages happen
to list MySQL first, so that will be installed.

These are the lines to add to the end of /etc/inputrc to make readline
do history matching in any program that uses readline (which is just
about any program that has a command line):

"\e[A": history-search-backward
"\e[B": history-search-forward

I am not sure why they are not the default, but I add them to any new
Linux system as soon as I can after I install it.  That includes my
Linux based routers (Ubiquiti, OpenWRT).