====== ColumnStore Unofficial Documentation Project manifesto ======

<note warning>
Note that registration of new users doesn't work yet because of issues with Amazon SES. If you want to contribute or comment this wiki, please send an email to:

**columnstore-docs@vettabase.com**

We'll be happy to create a user for you. Thank you for your patience!
</note>

Welcome to ColumnStore Unofficial Documentation Project!

Before we tell you why we started this project, allow us a preamble.

We love MariaDB Knowledge Base. It is not only a great source of information, but also a free documentation project. Where free means [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_as_in_Freedom|free as in freedom]] (as well as beer). This means that:

  * MariaDB KB is distributed with [[https://mariadb.com/kb/en/meta/legal-notices-for-the-knowledge-base/|free licenses]];
  * MariaDB KB is a public wiki that [[https://mariadb.com/kb/en/meta/writing-and-editing-knowledge-base-articles/|anyone can edit]].

If you need insights about the value of these aspects, we recommend [[https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-doc.en.html|Why Free Software Needs Free Documentation]], from the GNU project website.

Some time ago, the MariaDB KB used to contain great documentation for MariaDB ColumnStore as well. But for some reason, it was taken away. At the moment of this writing, the [[https://mariadb.com/kb/en/storage-engines/|storage engines]] category seems to contain a subcategory for ColumnStore, but the link redirects us to the [[https://mariadb.com/docs/columnstore/|MariaDB Enterprise Edition documentation]].

What's the problem with that?

  - The new documentation is marketing-oriented and poor. Most of the KB contents were abandoned.
  - The new documentation seems to only concern the ColumnStore version in the Enterprise Edition.
  - The new documentation doesn't have a free license, and is not a wiki.

That said, here is what Vettabase decided to do.

  * We took the old material, which is still distributed with free licenses, from the Wayback Machine / Internet Archive. The [[https://web.archive.org/web/20230406194546/https://mariadb.com/kb/en/mariadb-columnstore/|most recent version]] available in the Wayback Machine is from the 9th of April 2023, and we copied it.
  * We didn't copy any comments or questions, as they belong to their authors.
  * We make the contents available in this public wiki, on a best effort basis.
  * **We ask the MariaDB Foundation and MariaDB Plc to restore the old contents in the KB, with the original licenses, and keeping the wiki public. That would be the best solution for paying and not paying users, as well as the vendor and the Foundation.**
  * If they do so, we'll happily donate to them any edits made by us. This means that they are allowed to include our edits without crediting us.
  * If this doesn't happen, or before it happens, we will try to keep this MariaDB ColumnStore unofficial documentation available and up to date on a best effort basis.

ColumnStore Unofficial Documentation Project is [[columnstore-documentation-project:legal-notices|distrbuted under free licenses]].

ColumnStore Unofficial Documentation Project is a public wiki, so [[columnstore-documentation-project:contributing|anyone can contribute]].

Go to [[:start|Vettabase ColumnStore Documentation Project home]].

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This Documentation is always work in progress!\\
Current number of pages: {{NUMBEROFPAGES}}
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