MySQL and MariaDB

[SaranacLake]

I've heard lots of conflicting things about open-source database over the last couple of years, and am curious what everyone here thinks?!

First off, there are lots of people saying that using MySQL is dangerous because Oracle now owns it and it may become a paid-to-use application.  Other say this is FUD.

Then there is MariaDB.  The fact that the creator of MySQL forking off to create MariaDB says a lot.

So why would a person want to use one versus the other?  It seems like most webhosts still offer MySQL.  And I think there is slightly better support for MySQL vs MariaDB, although it seems like most user forums on the Internet are gone - short of ones like this.

I am building an ecommerce site and startup business, and I do NOT want to get into a situation where I get stuck with licensing costs or other issues due to some mega corporation trying to extract $$$ out of me!

Finally there is the technical issue of which database is better?

Any thoughts on all of this?

 

[requinix]

1 hour ago, SaranacLake said:

First off, there are lots of people saying that using MySQL is dangerous because Oracle now owns it and it may become a paid-to-use application.  Other say this is FUD.

Oracle acquired it almost a decade ago.

1 hour ago, SaranacLake said:

Then there is MariaDB.  The fact that the creator of MySQL forking off to create MariaDB says a lot.

No, it doesn't.

1 hour ago, SaranacLake said:

So why would a person want to use one versus the other?  It seems like most webhosts still offer MySQL.  And I think there is slightly better support for MySQL vs MariaDB, although it seems like most user forums on the Internet are gone - short of ones like this.

 

You can very safely pretend that MariaDB is MySQL.

1 hour ago, SaranacLake said:

I am building an ecommerce site and startup business, and I do NOT want to get into a situation where I get stuck with licensing costs or other issues due to some mega corporation trying to extract $$$ out of me!

You won't.

1 hour ago, SaranacLake said:

Finally there is the technical issue of which database is better?

No.

[SaranacLake]

4 hours ago, requinix said:

You can very safely pretend that MariaDB is MySQL.

You won't.

No.

Are you saying that the difference between MariaDB and MySQL is negligible?

If so, why did MariaDB fork off other than because of maybe open-source purists?

If you were me would you stick with using MySQL for my business or switch to MariaDB?

 

[benanamen]

1 hour ago, SaranacLake said:

If you were me would you stick with using MySQL for my business or switch to MariaDB?

It just doesn't matter. MariaDB is a drop-in replacement for MySQL. If you really want to head down this path you might as well throw in the "What about Percona?" which is another drop-in replacement fork of MySQL.

Edited September 6, 2019 by benanamen

[requinix]

3 hours ago, SaranacLake said:

Are you saying that the difference between MariaDB and MySQL is negligible?

Yes, with one exception: currently all versions MariaDB claim to be MySQL v5.5, which can cause problems.

Stick with MySQL, but if you really just cannot get over your paranoia then I would recommend Percona over MariaDB.

3 hours ago, SaranacLake said:

If so, why did MariaDB fork off other than because of maybe open-source purists?

Probably.

3 hours ago, SaranacLake said:

If you were me would you stick with using MySQL for my business or switch to MariaDB?

If you were starting from scratch then I would actually suggest PostgreSQL instead, but if you need the MySQL family then I would say you should just stay with the original version.

[SaranacLake]

1 hour ago, requinix said:

If you were starting from scratch then I would actually suggest PostgreSQL instead, but if you need the MySQL family then I would say you should just stay with the original version.

Funny you should mention PostgreSQL...

Back in the day, PostgreSQL was light-years ahead of MySQL on really the only "enterprise" open-source database.  Then in the early 2000s MySQL lessened the gap.

I have been tempted to go with PostgreSQL, but my fear is that there doesn't seem to be any place to get active support.

I can come to sites like PHPFreaks - one of the remaining active forums on the Internet - and get some help with MySQL, but what do i do when I need help with PostgreSQL?

And what would be the benefits of going with PostgreSQL considering it have less users and less support?

Like your idea but those are my concerns...

 

 

[kicken]

I personally don't and haven't used PostgreSQL (most using SQL Server for work), but I see references to it enough that I would expect the community around to to be large enough that support shouldn't be a big issue.   The [postgresql] tag on stack overflow seems reasonably active at least.

Most of my knowledge about it is outdated at this point.  I seem to recall back in my early days people recommending it over mysql because it had proper foreign key and sub-query support but mysql has since add both of those.  I think I saw something recently about it having a json datatype, but might be mis-remembering.  I remember that sounding potentially useful though.

 

[SaranacLake]

11 minutes ago, kicken said:

I personally don't and haven't used PostgreSQL (most using SQL Server for work), but I see references to it enough that I would expect the community around to to be large enough that support shouldn't be a big issue.   The [postgresql] tag on stack overflow seems reasonably active at least.

Most of my knowledge about it is outdated at this point.  I seem to recall back in my early days people recommending it over mysql because it had proper foreign key and sub-query support but mysql has since add both of those.  I think I saw something recently about it having a json datatype, but might be mis-remembering.  I remember that sounding potentially useful though.

 

Long long ago (e.g. late 90s or earlier 2000s), PostgreSQL's advantage was that it had triggers, stored procedures, and cursors among other things.

I still think PostgreSQL is more "enterprise" than MySQL, but I too am out of touch with it.

As to your earlier comment, maybe this is an age thing, but I grew up learning on user forums like PHP Freaks where you can start a thread and have a (friendly) conversation with others.

 

I don't consider StackExchange or Reddit or Quorum to be the same things - besides sites like StackExchange seem to be *antagonistic* at best?!

If you know of any user forums that are active as this site but dealing with PostgreSQL, please do tell.

I searched on "PostgreSQL forums" last night, and the only one that I saw which wasn't vacant, had a few posts this year, then all the rest from 2018 and before.  (Um, there are dozens of new threads on PHPFreaks each day!)

Sounds like MySQL is probably where I should focus for now, but I'm open to other suggestions.

Thanks to everyone here for the help either way!  🙂

 

[Barand]

3 hours ago, kicken said:

I think I saw something recently about it having a json datatype,

So does MySQL as from version 5.7