Deploy MySQL/MariaDB on demand in a C# application

Question

I'm creating a lightweight bug tracker, and I'm really having difficulties with people that don't know how to deploy and connect to a MySQL database on their own.

What they should do is to create their database, and run my SQL source to create the tables required. They need to know the port, username, password and name of their database.

During this process, they also have to provide their own MySQL server... and compatible MySQL Connector... which also have to be compatible with my Mono .Net 2.0 environment (this is a bug tracker for Unity).

In the beginning, while my users are trying the application, I just want all this to go away. I don't want any ports, usernames, passwords to begin with.

Later, when they've opted to use my bugtracker, I'll accept that they need to know the port of the server, and maybe click their way through a "server creation process", to create a server that is separate from the demo application.

I'm playing with the thought of switching to SQLite, but according to peoples recommendations, this is best suited for single-user applications. That doesn't sound like a proper bug-tracker situation to me. With SQLite nobody will be able to scale their volume up.

Is there a way to include a whole MySQL/MariaDB server with my application and deploy it by the click of a button?

SQLite is fine for demos and initial evaluation, where there's just going to be one person playing with it anyway. — Michael Hampton, May 09 '15 at 15:04
Well... I could do both... and then facilitate a migration operation. That is... if there's no way to deploy MariaDB automatically. — Steinbitglis, May 09 '15 at 15:25
If it were easy to "deploy MariaDB automatically" we would all be out of work. This isn't something your application should be doing at all anyway. — Michael Hampton, May 09 '15 at 15:32
It's not true Michael... there's use for us, beyond deploying MariaDB manually. — Steinbitglis, May 09 '15 at 16:34

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered May 11 '15 at 18:23

If my application had been GPL compatible, I could have used libmysqld. Alternatively I could also paid Oracle for a commercial license.

There are also tons of other database systems out there.

Since my application isn't too complex, it seems that using a mixture of SQLite and the MySQL Connector (which does not require GPL) might be the best alternative. I also need to worry that my users will be DB admins, so changing away from MySQL and RDBMS could actually be quite unpopular.

Deploy MySQL/MariaDB on demand in a C# application

1 Answers1