Proposal to make MariaDB the default MySQL variant in Ubuntu 25.04

[Neal Gompa]

On Thu, Sep 19, 2024 at 7:36 PM Otto Kekäläinen <otto at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Ubuntu devs,
>
> The MariaDB Server, a fork of MySQL created in response to it being
> acquired by Oracle, has been the default MySQL variant in Debian since
> 2016. Starting from Debian 9 "Stretch" in 2017, MariaDB has been the
> only MySQL variant in stable Debian releases. The situation has been
> similar in the Fedora and SuSE ecosystems — currently Ubuntu is the
> only major Linux distribution that ships Oracle MySQL at all.
>
> I think it is now time for Ubuntu to follow suit and at least make
> MariaDB the default in the Ubuntu 25.10 cycle, and potentially remove
> MySQL in some later release.
>
> The 25.04 development cycle is not yet open, but I am submitting this
> proposal now, as it would be an ideal time to plan and decide ahead,
> and execute immediately at the start of the 25.04 dev cycle in early
> November.
>
>

For what it's worth, on the Fedora side, we no longer consider MariaDB
and MySQL substitutable. The two platforms have now diverged enough
that we've untangled them and now ship them both as equal SQL server
offerings. I would recommend the same for Debian and Ubuntu.

Quote from the Fedora Linux 40 Change[1]:

> Since MySQL 8.0 and circa MariaDB 10.5, the differences grew significantly
> and so it does not make sense anymore to provide 'mysql' names
> (= 'mysql' RPM Provides: ) by MariaDB package(s).

IMO, it is not worth it to maintain the illusion that MariaDB is a
"MySQL" implementation anymore.

[1]: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Changes/F40_MariaDB_MySQL_repackaging



--
Neal Gompa (FAS: ngompa)