| Michal Schorm | |
|---|---|
| [[Image:|center|250px|Michal Schorm]] | |
| Fedora Information | |
| FAS name: | mschorm |
| Fedora email: | mschorm@fedoraproject.org |
| IRC nick: | mschorm |
| IRC channels: | |
| Fedorapeople page: | https://mschorm.fedorapeople.org |
| Badges (82) | |
                                                                                 
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I am a Senior Software Engineer on the Databases Team at Red Hat, based in the Czech Republic. Since late 2016, I have maintained the MariaDB, MySQL, and ODBC stacks for Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux -- over 20 source packages spanning servers, connectors, drivers, and supporting tools.
I serve as a Board Observer on the MariaDB Foundation Board (elected March 2025), where I represent the Linux distribution perspective in release management and governance decisions. I am the Sponsor (admin) of the @db-sig Fedora package group, and the upstream maintainer of xmlto and mysql-selinux.
I studied FIT VUT Brno (Faculty of Information Technology, Brno University of Technology).
Roles & Recognition
- MariaDB Foundation Board Observer -- elected unanimously, March 2025 (Board meeting minutes)
- MariaDB Sea Lions Champions Nominee -- Ecosystem Impact category, June 2026: "for ensuring a strong Linux distribution perspective in MariaDB Server release management" (link)
- Fedora Proven Packager -- granted by FESCo (ticket)
- @db-sig leader -- centralized access management for the Red Hat Databases team's Fedora packages (discussion)
- Upstream maintainer of xmlto and mysql-selinux
- Interview by Kaj Arno (MariaDB Foundation Chairman), March 2025 -- blog | video
Fedora Packages
I am the main maintainer of MariaDB and MySQL packages and part of their stack. I also maintain the unixODBC package.
I also maintain EmptyEpsilon in RPMFusion (nonfree repository) since November 2020.
Full package dashboard: packager-dashboard.fedoraproject.org/mschorm
Fedora Change Proposals
I have authored 11 Fedora Change Proposals across Fedora 29 through 45:
| Release | Change | Scope | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| F29 | MySQL 5.7 to 8.0 | Self-contained | Complete |
| F32 | MariaDB 10.3 to 10.4 | Self-contained | Complete |
| F34 | MariaDB 10.4 to 10.5 | Self-contained | Complete |
| F40 | MariaDB/MySQL Repackaging | Self-contained | Complete |
| F43 | Package-specific RPM Macros For Build Flags | System-wide | Complete |
| F43 | Switch MySQL default 8.0 to 8.4 | Self-contained | Complete |
| F44 | Remove community-mysql names | Self-contained | Complete |
| F44 | Switch MariaDB default 10.11 to 11.8 | Self-contained | Complete |
| F45 | MariaDB 12.3 | Self-contained | Accepted |
| F45 | MySQL 9.7 | Self-contained | Accepted |
| F45 | ODBC Stack Modernization | Self-contained | Accepted |
The F40 MariaDB/MySQL Repackaging was the largest -- it renamed community-mysql to mysql, introduced versioned package layout as a post-Modularity replacement, and switched the MariaDB default from 10.5 to 10.11. Covered by LWN.net.
The F43 Package-specific RPM Macros For Build Flags is a system-wide infrastructure improvement adding %_pkg_extra_cflags, %_pkg_extra_cxxflags, %_pkg_extra_fflags, and %_pkg_extra_ldflags to redhat-rpm-config, available to every Fedora packager.
The F45 ODBC Stack Modernization replaces static /etc/odbcinst.ini with auto-generated config from drop-in snippets using RPM file triggers.
Packaging Guidelines
Merged PRs to Fedora Packaging Guidelines
| Date | PR | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 2020-08 | #1012 | Added %__cmake_builddir macro documentation to CMake guidelines
|
| 2024-09 | #1394 | Fixed %{?systemd_requires} description to match actual behavior
|
| 2025-08 | #1477 | Enhanced "Compiler Flags" section for %_pkg_extra_* macros
|
| 2025-09 | #1486 | Clarified distinction between run-time scriptlets and build-time scripts |
redhat-rpm-config
PR #336 -- implemented the %_pkg_extra_* macros. A distribution-wide grep found 3,319 occurrences of manual CFLAGS manipulation that this makes unnecessary.
Packaging Committee Issues
- #693 (2017) -- RPM macros documentation update, including
%{_rundir}andrpm --showrc - #1523 (2026) -- Package Review Exception for mariadb12.3 in versioned layout (approved)
Policy Discussions
I have participated in 11+ packaging policy discussions on Fedora mailing lists, including topics such as Users and Groups guidelines, FHS adoption, auto-generated user()/group() Requires, RPM Recommends in buildroot, sysusers UID/GID timing, mass rebuild responsibility, and BUSL license guidance.
Upstream Contributions
MariaDB Server
I have contributed 30 pull requests to MariaDB/server, with 7 merged and 3 currently open. I have also filed 60+ tickets on jira.mariadb.org spanning server, connector-c, connector-odbc, and galera.
Key merged work:
- MDEV-5479 (PR #4874) -- Prevent mysqld from stealing Unix socket of another running instance
- MDEV-39278 (PR #4913) -- Validate .cfg file parser string lengths in InnoDB import
- MDEV-14373 (PR #4872) -- Reject incompatible PLUGIN build mode at configure time
- MDEV-28139 (PR #2033) -- Fix FSF address in GPL-2.0 headers, leading to a 217-file upstream commit
- MDEV-39169 (PR #4856) -- Replace deprecated network functions with modern POSIX equivalents (credited in MariaDB 13.1 preview)
In 2018-2019, I ran a static analysis campaign submitting fixes for CWE-416 use-after-free, double-free, and resource leak issues. I published curated scan results as entry-level tasks for newcomers to MariaDB upstream.
I am credited as contributor in MariaDB release notes spanning versions 10.3.x through 13.1.
MariaDB Connector/C
7 merged PRs on mariadb-connector-c, including memory safety fixes (use-after-free, double-free), GCC 15 compilation fix, UBSan error fixes, and overlinking resolution.
MariaDB Connector/ODBC
2 merged PRs on mariadb-connector-odbc, including a GCC 15 fix that was backported by Debian as an NMU patch.
Galera
3 open PRs on Galera for systemd service enhancement, documentation packaging, and configurable paths. Filed issues for OpenSSL engine deprecation and build failures.
Systematic Upstreaming (MDEV-12646)
I initiated a systematic effort to push Fedora-carried patches into MariaDB upstream, resulting in PRs #372-377 merged into MariaDB 10.2.28, 10.3.19, and 10.4.9. This reduced the downstream maintenance burden for every distribution packaging MariaDB.
Container Images
13 merged PRs on sclorg/mariadb-container and 4 on sclorg/mysql-container, affecting RHEL, CentOS Stream, and Fedora container ecosystems.
Other Upstream
- fedora-selinux/selinux-policy PR #2360 -- synchronized with mysql-selinux upstream
- developer-portal/content -- co-author of the Fedora Developer Portal MariaDB section
- rpminspect-data-fedora -- 3 merged PRs
- content-resolver-input -- 3 merged PRs
- brianmario/mysql2 PR #1432 -- Fix test assertions for TLS-enabled mariadb-connector-c (open)
Cross-Upstream Coordination
KDE Akonadi / MariaDB Crash (July 2026)
I triaged 5 Fedora crash reports where KDE's Akonadi was killing MariaDB too quickly during desktop login/logout, causing SIGABRT crashes affecting 7+ users. I identified three distinct root causes spanning Akonadi, systemd, and MariaDB configuration, filed KDE Bug 522845 and MDEV-40293, and coordinated between KDE (Allen Winter), MariaDB (Daniel Black, Vladislav Vaintroub), and Fedora. The fix was merged to Akonadi within 4 days.
Cross-Distro Patch Flow
- My GCC 15 fix for mariadb-connector-odbc was adopted by Debian as a backport (Oct 2025)
- My team's OpenSSL 3.0 patches were used by the Debian MariaDB maintainer Otto Kekalainen (Debian Bug #1005950)
- The MDEV-12646 upstreaming effort eliminated downstream patches for all distros packaging MariaDB
unixODBC Plugin Directory Standardization
I led a cross-package coordination effort (BZ#1165561) to move unixODBC plugins to a %{_libdir} subdirectory, requiring coordinated updates across unixODBC and approximately 5 dependent Fedora packages, in collaboration with Nick Gorham (unixODBC upstream).
Conferences & Media
Talks
| Event | Date | Title | Links |
|---|---|---|---|
| DevConf.CZ 2020 | Jan 24, 2020, Brno | Fedora from Scratch | slides | video |
| OpenAlt 2025 | 2025, Brno | Teaching databases -- FOSS or proprietary solutions | Submitted, canceled due to illness |
Conference Attendance
| Event | Years | Location |
|---|---|---|
| FOSDEM (+ MariaDB Day, MySQL Day) | 2025, 2026 | Brussels |
| DevConf.CZ | Regular, multiple years | Brno |
| OpenAlt | Regular, multiple years | Brno |
| LinuxDays | Attended | Prague |
| Flock to Fedora | 2024, 2025 | Prague |
| MariaDB Developers Unconference | 2019 | Tampere, Finland |
Media Coverage
My work has been featured in four LWN.net articles:
- MySQL and MariaDB changes coming in Fedora 40 (March 2024)
- The complexity of BUSL transformation (August 2024)
- Fedora's i686 support gets a reprieve (June 2025)
- Finding a successor to the FHS (August 2025)
I was also interviewed by Kaj Arno (MariaDB Foundation Chairman) in March 2025: blog | video.
Community
Mentoring
In January 2025, I offered MariaDB static analysis findings as entry-level tasks for new Fedora contributors -- small, isolated fixes that don't require deep language knowledge.
Documentation
- Co-author of the Fedora Developer Portal MariaDB section
- Author of Fedora Wiki pages: MariaDB, MariaDB_software, MariaDB_package_maintenance, How_to_debug_MySQL_and_MariaDB, MariaDB_C_connector, MariaDB_ODBC_connector
- Maintain the MariaDB_MySQL_software_collaboration_TO-DO_list
Fedora Infrastructure
I contribute to Fedora Infrastructure in a limited capacity since August 2025 -- submitted a PR to infra-docs and fixed the Infrastructure/Meetings wiki page.
Beyond Work
Starship Events
I organized annual "Hvezdna Lod" (Starship) events -- Star Trek-inspired bridge simulator in-person weekend games for youth using the open-source EmptyEpsilon game. I maintain the EmptyEpsilon RPMFusion package and have contributed 7 merged PRs to EmptyEpsilon and its engine SeriousProton (CMake build system improvements).
Related repositories: EmptyEpsilon-tooling
Fedora from Scratch
Fedora from Scratch -- scripts and documentation for installing Fedora without the Anaconda installer, using only fundamental Linux tools. Companion to my DevConf.CZ 2020 talk.
Online Accounts
| Platform | Username | URL |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub | FaramosCZ | https://github.com/FaramosCZ |
| GitLab | mschorm | https://gitlab.com/mschorm |
| GitLab | Faramos | https://gitlab.com/Faramos |
| Codeberg | Faramos | https://codeberg.org/Faramos |
| Fedora (FAS) | mschorm | https://src.fedoraproject.org/user/mschorm |
| Fedora Badges | mschorm | https://badges.fedoraproject.org/user/mschorm |
| MariaDB JIRA | mschorm | https://jira.mariadb.org |
| Matrix | @mschorm:fedora.im |
