MariaDB Community Server 13.0 GA with Expanded Oracle Compatibility and New Features

MariaDB 13.0 Reaches General Availability

MariaDB Community Server 13.0 has officially reached General Availability (GA), signifying its stable release. This version includes new features, deprecations, and performance improvements across various aspects of the database system.

Expanded Oracle Compatibility

To facilitate the migration of Oracle PL/SQL-based enterprise applications, MariaDB 13 now natively supports REF CURSOR types and RECORD types. These can be used in routine parameters and function return values, bringing MariaDB's cursor handling closer to Oracle PL/SQL functionality. Weak and strong REF CURSORs can be opened, fetched, and closed, and used as local variables, package routine parameters, or package function return types. RECORD support allows its use as a stored routine parameter or stored function return type, in addition to local variables, and can be combined with REF CURSORs for structured row data. Currently, neither REF CURSOR nor RECORD are supported as parameters or return types for non-package (global) routines.

Enhanced DML and Query Optimization

MariaDB 13 introduces a RETURNING clause for UPDATE statements, allowing developers to retrieve modified rows directly. This feature, previously available for INSERT and DELETE, can be combined with OLD_VALUE() to get both old and new values in a single database round trip. The RETURNING clause is currently limited to single-table statements. Additionally, query optimization is improved by building on the optimizer hint framework from MariaDB 12, making hints easier to use in complex queries. The framework now automatically assigns query block names to Views, CTEs, and derived tables, enabling targeted hints without explicit QB_NAME() usage. QB_NAME locators also provide a way to specify paths to deeply nested query blocks.

Improved Observability and Administration

For observability and administration, MariaDB 13 makes server configuration and metadata more accessible. The init_rpl_role, which specifies the replication role via a startup option, is now exposed as a system variable. This allows checking the server's replication role directly using SHOW VARIABLES or @@init_rpl_role. Furthermore, the I_S.STATISTICS and I_S.COLUMNS tables now include a CREATE_OPTIONS column, exposing storage-engine-specific index and column options programmatically.