Very excited to see this starting. Have been following this thread and the posts on planetmysql and looking at the savannah site.
Am I'm correct that this space is intended for general purpose routines that might be considered "core" to using MySQL, like an extension of the existing pre-built functions?
When I first started following this thread my thought was along the lines of CPAN, where some modules are central to a lot of applications, but there is also space for unique functions that aren't general purpose but would be nice to let folks share. I guess that gets at the namespace question. Perhaps Giuseppe's routines are designed to be in a core "useful everywhere" collection but that the tree functions posted by Jan might be in a separate module that people install separately if they are looking for tree functions.
I had one comment about making the repository useful:
As a user of a ton of CPAN modules I think being able to easily find, or rule out existence of routines is essential to making the routine repository work. If I'm looking for some string manipulation routines, as in Jay's example mysql_srr.str_man_get_string_from_row(), in order for the repository to be useful I need to be able to easily find out if that routine does what I need by searching for some terms that might describe what it does, looking at a brief description and seeing how it's called/used. Having a good search and summaries becomes increasingly important as the library grows. The reference_guide.txt included with the .1 version of sr-lib is just what I'm thinking, but should be more accessible than down inside the tarball.
If I can't find the routine there should be clear information on the various categories, naming conventions etc.
I think a installer that can handle dependencies is key, looking over Giuseppe's array functions I can imagine wanting to use those in other routines but want to be sure that when a user installs something I contributed that there is a check for the appropriate version of the array tools. That almost hints at needing a local registry of installed routine modules, so when something is installed I can verify that general purpose routines version .1 (which includes all array functions) is available. Is there a way to do this nicely with an installer?
OK, going over to Savannah to get myself signed up.
Mike Kruckenberg
Co-author of Pro MySQL (Apress)
http://mike.kruckenberg.com