Roadmap(3)
NAME
DBI::Roadmap - Planned Enhancements for the DBI
Tim Bunce - 12th November 2004
SYNOPSIS
This document gives a high level overview of the future of the Perl DBI
module.
The DBI module is the standard database interface for Perl applica-
tions. It is used worldwide in countless applications, in every kind
of business, and on platforms from clustered super-computers to PDAs.
Database interface drivers are available for all common databases and
many not-so-common ones.
The planned enhancements cover testing, performance, high availability
and load balancing, batch statements, Unicode, database portability,
and more.
Addressing these issues together, in coordinated way, will help ensure
maximum future functionality with minimal disruptive (incompatible)
upgrades.
SCOPE
Broad categories of changes are outlined here along with some ratio-
nale, but implementation details and minor planned enhancements are
omitted. More details can be found in: <http://svn.perl.org/mod-
ules/dbi/trunk/ToDo>
CHANGES AND ENHANCEMENTS
These are grouped into categories and are not listed in any particular
order.
Performance
The DBI has always treated performance as a priority. Some parts of the
implementation, however, remain unoptimized, especially in relation to
threads.
* When the DBI is used with a Perl built with thread support enabled
(such as for Apache mod_perl 2, and some common Linux distributions) it
runs significantly slower. There are two reasons for this and both can
be fixed but require non-trivial changes to both the DBI and drivers.
* Connection pooling in a threaded application, such as mod_perl, is
difficult because DBI handles cannot be passed between threads. An
alternative mechanism for passing connections between threads has been
defined, and an experimental connection pool module implemented using
it, but development has stalled.
* The majority of DBI handle creation code is implemented in Perl.
Moving most of this to C will speed up handle creation significantly.
* The popular fetchrow_hashref() method is many times slower than
fetchrow_arrayref(). It has to get the names of the columns, then cre-
ate and load a new hash each time. A $h->{FetchHashReuse} attribute
would allow the same hash to be reused each time making
fetchrow_hashref() about the same speed as fetchrow_arrayref().
* Support for asynchronous (non-blocking) DBI method calls would enable
applications to continue processing in parallel with database activity.
This is also relevant for GUI and other event-driven applications. The
DBI needs to define a standard interface for this so drivers can imple-
ment it in a portable way, where possible.
These changes would significantly enhance the performance of the DBI
and many applications which use the DBI.
Testing
The DBI has a test suite. Every driver has a test suite. Each is lim-
ited in its scope. The driver test suite is testing for behavior that
the driver author thinks the DBI specifies, but may be subtly incor-
rect. These test suites are poorly maintained because the return on
investment for a single driver is too low to provide sufficient incen-
tive.
A common test suite that can be reused by all the drivers is needed.
It would:
* Improve the quality of the DBI and drivers.
* Ensure all drivers conform to the DBI specification. Easing the
porting of applications between databases, and the implementation of
database independent modules layered over the DBI.
* Improve the DBI specification by clarifying unclear issues in order
to implement test cases.
* Encourage expansion of the test suite as driver authors and others
will be motivated by the greater benefits of their contributions.
* Detect and record optional functionality that a driver has not yet
implemented.
* Improve the testing of DBI subclassing, DBI::PurePerl and the various
"transparent" drivers, such as DBD::Proxy and DBD::Multiplex, by auto-
matically running the test suite through them.
These changes would improve the quality of all applications using the
DBI.
High Availability and Load Balancing
* The DBD::Multiplex driver provides a framework to enable a wide range
of dynamic functionality, including support for high-availability,
failover, load-balancing, caching, and access to distributed data. It
is currently being enhanced but development has stalled.
* The DBD::Proxy module is complex and relatively inefficient because
it's trying to be a complete proxy for most DBI method calls. For many
applications a simpler proxy architecture that operates with a single
round-trip to the server would be simpler, faster, and more flexible.
New proxy client and server classes are needed, which could be sub-
classed to support specific client to server transport mechanisms (such
as HTTP and Spread::Queue). Apart from the efficiency gains, this
would also enable the use of a load-balanced pool of stateless servers
for greater scalability and reliability.
* The DBI currently offers no support for distributed transactions.
The most useful elements of the standard XA distributed transaction
interface standard could be included in the DBI specification. Drivers
for databases which support distributed transactions could then be
extended to support it.
These changes would enable new kinds of DBI applications for critical
environments.
Unicode
Use of Unicode with the DBI is growing rapidly. The DBI should do more
to help drivers support Unicode and help applications work with drivers
that don't yet support Unicode directly.
* Define expected behavior for fetching data and binding parameters.
* Provide interfaces to support Unicode issues for XS and pure Perl
drivers and applications.
* Provide functions for applications to help diagnose inconsistencies
between byte string contents and setting of the SvUTF8 flag.
These changes would smooth the transition to Unicode for many applica-
tions and drivers.
Batch Statements
Batch statements are a sequence of SQL statements, or a stored proce-
dure containing a sequence of SQL statements, which can be executed as
a whole.
Currently the DBI has no standard interface for dealing with multiple
results from batch statements. After considerable discussion, an
interface design has been agreed upon with driver authors, but has not
yet been implemented.
These changes would enable greater application portability between
databases, and greater performance for databases that directly support
batch statements.
Introspection
* The methods of the DBI API are installed dynamically when the DBI is
loaded. The data structure used to define the methods and their dis-
patch behavior should be made part of the DBI API. This would enable
more flexible and correct behavior by modules subclassing the DBI and
by dynamic drivers such as DBD::Proxy and DBD::Multiplex.
* Handle attribute information should also be made available, for the
same reasons.
* Currently is it not possible to discover all the child statement han-
dles that belong to a database handle (or all database handles that
belong to a driver handle). This makes certain tasks more difficult,
especially some debugging scenarios. A cache of weak references to
child handles would solve the problem without creating reference loops.
* It is often useful to know which handle attributes have been changed
since the handle was created (e.g., in mod_perl where a handle needs to
be reset or cloned). This will become more important as developers
start exploring use of the newly added $h1->swap_inner_handle($h2)
method.
These changes would simplify and improve the stability of many advanced
uses of the DBI.
Extensibility
The DBI can be extended in three main dimensions: subclassing the DBI,
subclassing a driver, and callback hooks. Each has different pros and
cons, each is applicable in different situations, and all need enhanc-
ing.
* Subclassing the DBI is functional but not well defined and some key
elements are incomplete, particularly the DbTypeSubclass mechanism
(that automatically subclasses to a class tree according to the type of
database being used). It also needs more thorough testing.
* Subclassing a driver is undocumented, poorly tested and very probably
incomplete. However it's a powerful way to embed certain kinds of func-
tionality 'below' applications while avoiding some of the side-effects
of subclassing the DBI (especially in relation to error handling).
* Callbacks are currently limited to error handling (the HandleError
and HandleSetError attributes). Providing callback hooks for more
events, such as a row being fetched, would enable utility modules, for
example, to modify the behavior of a handle independent of any sub-
classing in use.
These changes would enable cleaner and more powerful integration
between applications, layered modules, and the DBI.
Debugability
* Enabling DBI trace output at a high level of detail causes a large
volume of output, much of it probably unrelated to the problem being
investigated. Trace output should be controlled by the new named-topic
mechanism instead of just the trace level.
* Calls to XS functions (such as many DBI and driver methods) don't
normally appear in the call stack. Optionally enabling that would
enable more useful diagnostics to be produced.
* Integration with the Perl debugger would make it simpler to perform
actions on a per-handle basis (such as breakpoint on execute, break-
point on error).
These changes would enable more rapid application development and fault
finding.
Database Portability
* The DBI has not yet addressed the issue of portability among SQL
dialects. This is the main hurdle limiting database portability for
DBI applications.
The goal is not to fully parse the SQL and rewrite it in a different
dialect. That's well beyond the scope of the DBI and should be left to
layered modules. A simple token rewriting mechanism for five comment
styles, two quoting styles, four placeholder styles, plus the ODBC
"{foo ...}" escape syntax, is sufficient to significantly raise the
level of SQL portability.
* Another problem area is date/time formatting. Since version 1.41 the
DBI has defined a way to express that dates should be fetched in SQL
standard date format (YYYY-MM-DD). This is one example of the more
general case where bind_col() needs to be called with particular
attributes on all columns of a particular type.
A mechanism is needed whereby an application can specify default
bind_col() attributes to be applied automatically for each column type.
With a single step, all DATE type columns, for example, can be set to
be returned in the standard format.
These changes would enable greater database portability for applica-
tions and greater functionality for layered modules.
Intellectual Property
* Clarify current intellectual property status, including a review
of past contributions to ensure the DBI is unemcumbered.
* Establish a procedure for vetting future contributions for any
intellectual property issues.
These changes are important for companies taking a formal approach to
assessing their risks in using Open Source software.
Other Enhancements
* Reduce the work needed to create new database interface drivers.
* Definition of an interface to support scrollable cursors.
Parrot and Perl 6
The current DBI implementation in C code is unlikely to run on Perl 6.
Perl 6 will target the Parrot virtual machine and so the internal
architecture will be radically different from Perl 5.
One of the goals of the Parrot project is to be a platform for many
dynamic languages (including Python, PHP, Ruby, etc) and to enable
those languages to reuse each others modules. A database interface for
Parrot is also a database interface for any and all languages that run
on Parrot.
The Perl DBI would make an excellent base for a Parrot database inter-
face because it has more functionality, and is more mature and extensi-
ble, than the database interfaces of the other dynamic languages.
I plan to better define the API between the DBI and the drivers and use
that API as the primary API for the 'raw' Parrot database interface.
This project is known a Parrot DBDI (for "DataBase Driver Interface").
The announcement can be read in
<http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=20040127225639.GF38394@dansat.data-plan.com>
The bulk of the work will be translating the DBI C and Perl base class
code into Parrot PIR, or a suitable language that generates PIR. The
project stalled, due to Parrot not having key functionality at the
time. That has been resolved but the project has not yet restarted.
Each language targeting Parrot would implement their own small 'thin'
language-specific method dispatcher (a "Perl6 DBI", "Python DBI", "PHP
DBI" etc) layered over the common Parrot DBDI interface and drivers.
The major benefit of the DBDI project is that a much wider community of
developers share the same database drivers. There would be more devel-
opers maintaining less code so the benefits of the Open Source model
are magnified.
PRIORITIES
Transition Drivers
The first priority is to make all the infrastructure changes that
impact drivers and make an alpha release available for driver authors.
As far as possible, the changes will be implemented in a way that
enables driver authors use the same code base for DBI v1 and DBI v2.
The main changes required by driver authors are:
* Code changes for PERL_NO_GET_CONTEXT, plus removing PERL_POLLUTE and
DBIS
* Code changes in DBI/DBD interface (new way to create handles, new
callbacks etc)
* Common test suite infrastructure (driver-specific test base class)
Transition Applications
A small set of incompatible changes that may impact some applications
will also be made in v2.0. See http://svn.perl.org/mod-
ules/dbi/trunk/ToDo
Incremental Developments
Once DBI v2.0 is available, the other enhancements can be implemented
incrementally on the updated foundations. Priorities for those changes
have not been set.
DBI v1
DBI v1 will continue to be maintained on a separate branch for bug
fixes and any enhancements that ease the transition to DBI v2.
RESOURCES AND CONTRIBUTIONS
See <http://dbi.perl.org/contributing> for how you can help.
If your company has benefited from the DBI, please consider if it could
make a donation to The Perl Foundation "DBI Development" fund at
<http://dbi.perl.org/donate> to secure future development.
Alternatively, if your company would benefit from a specific new DBI
feature, please consider sponsoring its development through my consult-
ing company, Data Plan Services. Work is performed rapidly on a fixed-
price payment-on-delivery basis. Contact me for details.
Using such targeted financing allows you to contribute to DBI develop-
ment and rapidly get something specific and directly valuable to you in
return.
My company also offers annual support contracts for the DBI, which pro-
vide another way to support the DBI and get something specific in
return. Contact me for details.
Thank you.
perl v5.8.8 2006-02-07 Roadmap(3)
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