MariaDB 13.0.1

MariaDB 13.0 — A New Era for the Community Server

MariaDB 13.0.1 is a Release Candidate (RC) of the next major series in the MariaDB Community Server line. Building on the foundation of MariaDB 12.3, version 13.0 introduces several entirely new features and improvements. While RC releases are not recommended for production use, they offer a preview of what's coming in the stable GA release.

New Features in MariaDB 13.0

• REF CURSOR Support — The new TYPE .. IS REF CURSOR syntax adds support for ref cursors, enabling more flexible stored procedure result handling.
• Audit Plugin Timestamp Format — You can now specify a custom timestamp format for the audit plugin log, making log parsing and integration more flexible.
• CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE — The long-requested CREATE OR REPLACE TABLE syntax is now supported, allowing atomic table creation or replacement without separate DROP and CREATE statements.
• System Variables Show Deprecation Status — INFORMATION_SCHEMA.SYSTEM_VARIABLES now indicates whether a variable is deprecated, helping DBAs plan upgrades.
• Engine-Specific Create Options — Both INFORMATION_SCHEMA.STATISTICS and INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS now show engine-specific create options, improving visibility into storage engine behavior.
• Optimizer Trace Improvements — The optimizer trace output now includes the optimizer statistics used during query planning, making performance tuning more transparent.
• InnoDB Log Archive — The new innodb_log_archive variable makes InnoDB preserve the write-ahead log in a continuous sequence of files instead of overwriting a ring buffer. This enables point-in-time recovery and incremental backups.
• Optimizer Hint in Routines — Optimizer hints can now be used in routine parameters and functions, giving developers finer control over query execution plans.

Performance and Usability Enhancements

• Faster MEMORY Table Indexes — Unique indexes over NULL columns in MEMORY tables (including temporary tables) are now significantly faster.
• PERFORMANCE_SCHEMA Digest Hash — A new hash function for digest computation is faster than MD5 and compatible with FIPS mode.
• Increased binlog_row_event_max_size — The default value for binlog_row_event_max_size has been increased to 64 KB, improving binary log efficiency.
• Global default_master_connection — The default_master_connection variable can now be set at the global level, simplifying replication configuration.
• CHANGE MASTER Improvements — CHANGE MASTER and SHOW SLAVES STATUS now show Master_Server_Id, making replication monitoring more informative.

Important Notes

MariaDB 13.0.1 is a Release Candidate, not a General Availability (GA) release. It should not be used in production environments. The team recommends testing it in development and staging environments to evaluate the new features and ensure compatibility with your applications.

The MariaDB 13.0 series represents a rolling release from MariaDB 12.3, incorporating new capabilities while maintaining backward compatibility. The GA release is expected to follow once the RC phase concludes.

MariaDB 13.0.1 is available for download now on the MariaDB website.