Brian Aker is rebuilding MySQL in the image of the Apache Web Server, and is studying what it is that developers actually use in MySQL. To that end, he expects to deliver Drizzle, a complete fork of the MySQL codebase, sometime next year.
For now, Drizzle is developing smoothly in four-month windows. “The focus is the restructuring of the code and enabling others to write the features they actually need,” said Aker. That means tossing out most of the typical features, such as authentication and stored procedures, found in a modern database.

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