new responsibility

while we start to wind up development of connector/odbc 5.1, i will also be taking on responsibility for libmysql, the c library that defines the client interface to mysql, and the mysql command-line utilities. there are about 120 active bugs in those areas right now, so the first task will be getting that down to a more manageable number.

after that, the field will open up for new development. i know that an asynchronous interface to libmysql is on some people’s wishlist, and there are other areas where i think that libmysql could be cleaned up in general.

but the idea that i think is the most exciting is to build a scripting language into the mysql command-line client, such as lua. this would allow us to rewrite many of the utility scripts and perhaps even other command-line clients (like mysqldump) in lua, so they would be easier to work with and more naturally cross-platform.

i should be careful to note that this does not mean that we are abandoning connector/odbc development (again). it is just that 5.1 has been a huge leap forward in closing most of the gaps in its functionality, and the remaining features are both not numerous and not that widely used.