I remember when MariaDB was first released, it and MySQL were compatible
replacements for one another and this assumption was baked into plenty of
other packages. Is this still true, and if not are there plans to
coordinate with other packages to update things like client connector
dependencies?
As can be found here:
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/what-is-the-goal-of-mariadb/
MariaDB is not a drop-in replacement for MySQL anymore. They are "on the
user level, broadly compatible".
From devel POV it means, you has to choose, agains which you will compile
your software.
From user POV it means, you shouldn't easily cross a functionality which
differ, but they are there.
From upstream POV it means, they ususaly has to write their code in such a
way, it will compile fine with both. (That mostly meant stop using symbols
out of specification and stop using hardcoded paths)
MariaDB has now both connector C and ODBC in Fedora, which should be used
with it, rather than mysql-connector-odbc. On the other hand,
mysql-connector-odbc was changed to build back against MySQL (instead of
MariaDB)
Nowadays, all of the (applicable) software in F27+ is being compiled
against MariaDB.
I still try to support installing client X server packages one from MariaDB
and other from MySQL, as well as using connectors vice versa. (That's one
thing a Fedora CI will help me greatly in the future)
Did I answered your question?
If not, try it retry with "--verbose", please :)
--
Michal Schorm
Associate Software Engineer
Core Services - Databases Team
Red Hat