MariaDB Binary tarballs are named following the pattern: mariadb-VERSION-OS.tar.gz. Be sure to download the correct version for your machine.

To install the binaries, unpack the distribution into the directory of your choice and run the mysql_install_db script.

In the example below we install MariaDB in the /usr/local/mysql directory (this is the default location for MariaDB for many platforms). However any other directory should work too.

We install the binary with a symlink to the original name. This is done so that you can easily change MariaDB versions just by moving the symlink to point to another directory.

Ensure you use the correct my.cnf files

MariaDB searches for the configuration files '/etc/my.cnf' (on some systems '/etc/mysql/my.cnf') and '~/.my.cnf'. If you have an old my.cnf file (maybe from a system installation of MariaDB or MySQL) you need to take care that you don't accidentally use the old one with your new binary .tar installation.

The normal solution for this is to ignore the my.cnf file in /etc when you use the programs in the tar file.

This is done by creating your own .my.cnf file in your home directory and telling mysql_install_db, mysqld_safe and possibly mysql (the command-line client utility) to only use this one with the option '--defaults-file=~/.my.cnf'. Note that this has to be first option for the above commands!

Installing MariaDB as root in /usr/local/mysql

If you have root access to the system, you probably want to install MariaDB under the user and group 'mysql' (to keep compatibility with MySQL installations):

groupadd mysql
useradd -g mysql mysql
cd /usr/local
tar -zxvpf /path-to/mariadb-VERSION-OS.tar.gz
ln -s mariadb-VERSION-OS mysql
cd mysql
./scripts/mysql_install_db --user=mysql
chown -R root .
chown -R mysql data

The symlinking with ln -s is recommended as it makes it easy to install many MariaDB version at the same time (for easy testing, upgrading, downgrading etc).

If you are installing MariaDB to replace MySQL, then you can leave out the call to mysql_install_db. Instead shut down MySQL. MariaDB should find the path to the data directory from your old /etc/my.cnf file (path may vary depending on your system).

To start mysqld you should now do:

./bin/mysqld_safe --user=mysql &
or
./bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf --user=mysql &

To test connection, modify your $PATH so you can invoke client such as mysql, mysqldump, etc.

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/mysql/bin/

You may want to modify your .bashrc or .bash_profile to make it permanent.

Installing MariaDB as not root in any directory

Below, change /usr/local to the directory of your choice.

cd /usr/local
gunzip < /path-to/mariadb-VERSION-OS.tar.gz | tar xf -
ln -s mariadb-VERSION-OS mysql
cd mysql
./scripts/mysql_install_db --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf

If you have problems with the above gunzip command line, you can instead, if you have gnu tar, do:

tar xfz /path-to/mariadb-VERSION-OS.tar.gz

To start mysqld you should now do:

./bin/mysqld_safe --defaults-file=~/.my.cnf &

Auto start of mysqld

You can get mysqld (the MariaDB server) to autostart by copying the file mysql.server file to the right place.

cp support-files/mysql.server /etc/init.d/mysql.server

The exact place depends on your system. The mysql.server file contains instructions of how to use and fine tune it.

For systemd installation the mariadb.service file will need to be copied from the support-files/systemd folder to the /usr/lib/systemd/system/ folder.

cp support-files/systemd/mariadb.service /usr/lib/systemd/system/mariadb.service

Please refer to the systemd page for further information.

Post installation

After this, remember to set proper passwords for all accounts accessible from untrusted sources, to avoid exposing the host to security risks! Also consider using the mysql.server to start MariaDB automatically when your system boots.

Our MariaDB binaries are similar to the Generic binaries available for the MySQL binary distribution. So for more options on using these binaries, the MySQL 5.5 manual entry on installing generic binaries can be consulted.

For details on the exact steps used to build the binaries, see the compiling MariaDB section of the KB.