Project FAQ
Who's behind LucidDB?
LucidDB is the result of collaboration between LucidEra, Inc. (a software startup)
and The Eigenbase
Project (a non-profit organization). Much of the technology was
adapted from an earlier venture (Broadbase Software, which produced
the industry's first turn-key data mart product). LucidEra acquired
the rights to this codebase, integrated it into the pluggable DBMS
framework provided by Eigenbase, and contributed the result (LucidDB)
back to Eigenbase as open-source software under the terms of the
GPL. Eigenbase provides project hosting resources such as source control,
as well as coordination with other projects.
Does LucidEra intend to sell support or commercial licenses for
LucidDB?
No. LucidEra uses LucidDB as one important component among many in its
on-demand analytics platform. LucidEra also makes LucidDB available to
anyone else who wants to use or redistribute it under the terms of the
GPL. Leaders in both the open-souce and software-as-a-service areas
realize that the value of software is in how it can be put to use, not
in how its availability can be restricted for profit via a
license. LucidEra achieves the best of both worlds by using an
open-source development model to support its on-demand business
model. This development model includes making standards-based
components such as LucidDB available for use and enhancement by the
open-source community.
Why not just use an existing open-source database such as MySQL?
Other open-source databases are great for transaction processing, but
very limited when it comes to advanced business intelligence
requirements. LucidDB is purpose-built for flexible, high-performance
analytics, including integrated ETL and OLAP capabilities, with very
little administration required.
How can I become a contributor?
There are many ways to contribute, including code, documentation,
testing, integration with other projects, and evangelism. If you like
to hack, you can start with using LucidDB's
extensibility features to create useful components such as
user-defined function libraries and data source connectivity plugins,
and then move on into deeper parts of the system if that's where your
interests lie. Before committer privileges can be granted to the
source control system, a standard contributor agreement is required by
The Eigenbase Project.