DATABASES Signal 476
MariaDB: Promote getting to 10k GitHub stars in server log and client prompt
A contributor proposed a pull request to MariaDB's server repository that would insert a line asking users to star the project on GitHub into both the MariaDB client welcome banner and the server startup log.
If merged, this would embed marketing text directly into operational interfaces that engineers rely on for clarity, potentially adding noise to log parsing and client output. The PR is designed to be cherry-pickable to older releases, meaning it could appear in production environments broadly. The proposal also signals a precedent for using server logs and client prompts as promotional channels.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
The PR adds a promotional line to the MariaDB client prompt and server log asking users to help reach 10k GitHub stars.
The change is structured to be easily cherry-picked to older MariaDB releases and the text is intended to be swappable later.
A reviewer raised concerns about the promotional nature and the risk of stale messaging once the star goal is met.
THE READ
What elseif makes of it.
The pull request proposes modifying two user-facing surfaces in MariaDB: the client connection banner and the server log output. When a user connects via the MariaDB monitor client, they would see an additional line reading "Please help get to 10k stars at https://github.com/MariaDB/Server" alongside the standard copyright and version information. The server log would receive a similar note line at startup. This is a behavioral change to interfaces that operators and developers interact with routinely, and any tooling that parses or matches against client banners or log lines could be affected.
The PR author explicitly designed the change to be easy to cherry-pick to older releases, which means the promotional text could propagate beyond the main branch into maintained older versions. The author also states the text could later be changed to promote something else once MariaDB surpasses MySQL in GitHub stars, indicating the mechanism is intended to be reusable for future campaigns rather than a one-time addition. This raises the question of whether server logs and client prompts are appropriate channels for ongoing promotional messaging.
A contributor reviewing the PR, ParadoxV5, pushed back on the idea, noting that promotional plugs are not always welcomed and flagging the risk of a stale message remaining in the codebase after the 10k star goal is achieved. The PR author responded that whether a plug is welcome depends on the specific plug, suggesting the proposal is still under discussion rather than universally accepted within the project.
The PR was filed against the main branch and includes a test plan that involves starting the server and connecting with the client to observe the new output. A buildbot failure in an unrelated test (server_audit) was noted by the author and attributed to a separately filed issue (MDEV-37501). No release notes were provided for the PR, which is consistent with it being an early-stage proposal rather than a finalized change.
This event was carried by only a single feed (Hacker News), and the available material is limited to the GitHub PR page itself. There is no evidence of broader community consensus, maintainer approval, or merge status. Engineers should treat this as a proposal under review rather than a confirmed change, and any concern about log noise or client output pollution should be directed to the PR discussion.
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