Win a free Percona Live 2013 pass — unveiling riddle hints

Apparently my first attempt at rhyming proved to be unsuccessful: only two courageous men attempted solving the riddle. As I’m pretty sure a free pass would appeal to many, and I do have a few readers for my blog, I must conclude my riddle was just too hard. Obscure, perhaps.

Hope I didn’t scare anyone off. Without further ado I present some hints. This post will update with more hints as the day progresses — please refresh to see changes. I start with two hints.

But first, recap of the riddle:

Who will open your present,

Make you play pleasant,

Tidy your mess,

Do the same for all else?

It has something to do with the MySQL world.

Hint #1: very subtle

I emailed the program committee asking whether anyone happens to know the answer. Nope.

Which is in particular peculiar, because the answer to the riddle is tightly coupled with a member of the committee. That was hint #1.

Hint #2: not entirely subtle

Hint #3: non-subtle

Answer

So Hint #3 removes all doubt: this is mysqlsandbox.

Explanation:

• Who will open your present: mysqlsandbox opens your MySQL tar file by itself. Just point it to the installation. MySQL is your present since it’s free and you want to play with it.
• Make you play pleasent: the “play” word is important here, since we’re playing in the sandbox. We can do anything we like, and are still protected by the boundaries of the sandbox. Also “Make” is a hint for mysqlsandbox’ install commands: make_sandbox, make_replication_sandbox, etc.
• Tidy your mess: your entire MySQL installation is typically placed under one single directory. You don’t need to look for files in /etc, /var/log, /var/lib, … Removing the install is so easy, and everything is very tidy. The port number, the socket file name — all named according to installed version (when not replication setup).
• Do the same for all else: there are several ways to interpret here. My original intent was that it is free, and anyone can use it freely. But also, it will install multiple MySQL servers on your machine and let you play with them. And also, as Andrew suggests, it will work with MySQL, MariaDB & Percona Server.

Winner

Hrvoje is the first to give the right answer, but Andre Moore is the first to give both the right answer as well as a detailed explanation — which satisfies the conditions I set. Therefore, Andrew Moore is the winner. Andrew: if you do not actually need a free ticket (it is non-transferable, much like a plane ticket) – please let us know so we can pass it on to someone else.

Please use comments below

Prize is given to the one who answers both the right answer and the most thoroughly.

Don’t be mad at me

I hope the final answer satisfies you. If not, please be glad I’ve abandoned my plan to release another riddle, even more difficult.