XAMPP Stacks Now Have MariaDB As Default, Any Issues?

[RR456]

Last fall Apache rolled-out a XAMPP stack (version 5.6.14) which, for the first time, had MariaDB and not MySQL as its database.  MariaDB in version 5.6.14 did not interface well the phpMyAdmin in the stack and MariaDB seemed to have instability in the user table that prevented one from adding users.  I gave up and went back to a prior XAMPP stack that had MySQL since it was far more stable and have been using that version as my test environment since.

Last fall this MariaDB instability issue was discussed in thread Favorite DB Managment Tool?

I now notice Apache Download XAMPP is exclusively using MariaDB, and not MySQL, in its current stacks including the stack that has PHP 7.0.3.  It appears if one wishes to use MySQL in a stack you must dig back in the archives.  I've not updated my stack yet because I wanted to inquire if anyone has had bug issues in the current XAMPP stacks available.

Thanks in advance for any input. 

[David_Powers · Accepted solution]

No problems whatsoever.

[RR456]

Thank David for your reply.  Your advice is allows greatly appreciated.

[RR456]

Thanks again David for your input.

I installed version 7.0.3 / PHP 7.0.3 today.  Everything is very stable with the MariaDB Database server version 10.1.10.  A world of difference than last October when they first replaced MySQL with MariaDB.

Thanks again for all the assistance.

[sinious]

I can concur, same version here, whirring away with no (known) issues

[David_Powers]

I spoke too soon.

There's a problem with importing dumpfiles that have been exported from MariaDB.

I had originally installed XAMPP 7.0.1, so I decided to export my databases using phpMyAdmin, uninstall XAMPP, and then install XAMPP 7.0.3. When I tried to reimport the databases, every dumpfile gave me an SQL error. I opened the dumpfiles, and checked the SQL at the point the error was reported. There was nothing wrong with it. After a lot of messing around, I tried importing some dumpfiles that had originally been created on MySQL. They imported without problem.

My final test was to go to the command prompt and import the dumpfile directly into MariaDB. It worked perfectly. I was also able to import into my remote MySQL server a file exported from MariaDB. Again, no problem. So, it would appear that there's something in the current version of phpMyAdmin that's causing grief with imports into MariaDB.

I have filed a bug report with phpMyAdmin: Import reports false SQL error with MariaDB · Issue #12025 · phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin · GitHub

[Rob Hecker2]

There's a problem with importing dumpfiles that have been exported from MariaDB.

I've been using MariaDB for several months and I have had a similar issue. My solution has been to run the SQL script (dump) in MySQL Workbench. My dump is 61 MB and I wasn't sure if MariaDB was the issue or if the file was too large for PHPmyAdmin.

[David_Powers]

It's definitely not a problem with the file being too large for phpMyAdmin. These days, I don't do much work with databases apart from using them to create video training courses.

phpMyAdmin choked on a 9KB backup from one of my courses. It wasn't even a compressed version. Just a plain text dumpfile.

[David_Powers]

A couple of other people have added comments to my bug report on GitHub saying they have encountered the same problem, and phpMyAdmin has now marked the report as a bug. It hasn't been assigned to anyone yet, and there's no indication of when it will be fixed, but most bug reports that I've filed get fixed pretty quickly.

[RR456]

On my stack upgrade it so happened that I exported using the last stack that had MySQL, not MariaDB, so on the reimport this weekend I had no problems.

I'm in a self-hosted environment and since Community Editions are not to be used in production settings, I have a conference call next Monday with MariaDB to discussion a subscription for MariaDB Enterprise 10.1.  The bug being discussed here, should I send this link to my contact at MariaDB so it can be part of the Monday conversation or is this bug pertaining to the Community Edition vis-a-vis phpMyAdmin?

Thanks in advance for any input on my question.

[David_Powers]

I don't know where you get the idea that Community Editions aren't to be used in production settings. MariaDB is a free and open source database system with no restrictions on its use. It depends on what you're planning to run on your server, but unless it's something that requires a high level of maintenance, getting a MariaDB Enterprise subscription is likely to be a costly solution.

As for the bug I've reported, it's in the public domain, so you can raise it with MariaDB if you like. As I mentioned in my bug report, MariaDB imported the dumpfile without problem when I used the command line. I suspect the problem lies with phpMyAdmin, but I don't know how phpMyAdmin handles importing dumpfiles. Until the issue's fixed, I'm rather wary of MariaDB.

[RR456]

I'm rather confused at this point.  I thought Community Editions were a bit of a gamble to use in a production setting because of their possible instability.  That is, our sites' data is mission critical and to have it corrupted by an unstable database server, which I assume could occur, would cause hundreds of thousands of dollars damage.

You wrote in Favorite DB Managment Tool?:

The MariaDB website provides a useful description of the difference between Community and Enterprise editions. The Community Edition focuses on "fast innovation, including both mature, tested enhancements and cutting-edge experimental technologies", whereas the Enterprise edition integrates "the most stable of these advances in a curated, enterprise-grade product, bringing reliability and ease of deployment to customers." In other words, the Community edition is like a public beta; it might have bugs. The Enterprise edition, on the other hand, is meant to be the stable public release.

Most hosting companies are very cautious about updating live servers to the most recent version of open source software. They wait to see if critical bugs surface before committing to updating. It seems as though your experience with XAMPP and MariaDB was a case of XAMPP rushing ahead with buggy versions without thoroughly testing them first.

Thus, I'm unclear as to your phrase "unless it's something that requires a high level of maintenance".  Maintenance, I think, for our setting is not out of the ordinary; but, what I'm attempting to run on our server is a production environment that will have the least chance for bugs that blow up our data.

Therefore, is the test for Community Edition versus Enterprise Edition, how big of chance does one wish to take with their data using the Community Edition?  Should that be the controlling decision-making criteria, I'd view $5,000 annual subscription fee for MariaDB Enterprise, not so much as a "costly solution"; but rather, as an insurance policy.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

[David_Powers]

The likelihood of the Community Edition of either MySQL or MariaDB causing data to be corrupted is very small. The much bigger dangers lie in poorly designed data structures or a catastrophic hard disk failure with no database backup. A $5,000-a-year subscription offers no guarantee against the first problem. If the $5,000 buys you maintained hosting with regular backups, it might be worthwhile. Having said that, I've used the community edition of MySQL for about 15 years without incident.

[RR456]

Thank you David for explaining the matter.  Your discussion much better defined for me the critical differences between the Community and non-Community Editions of both database servers.

Thanks again for all your very valuable assistance.