[[mariadb|MariaDB]] is based on [[http://mysql.com|MySQL]] and is
[[http://downloads.askmonty.org|available]] under the terms of the
[[mariadb-license|GPL v2 license]].
It's developed by the [[community|MariaDB community]] with [[http://www.montyprogram.com|Monty Program Ab]] as its main steward.
MariaDB is kept [[mariadb-road-map|up to date]] with the latest MySQL release from the same branch.
In most respects MariaDB will work [[mariadb-versus-mysql-compatibility|exactly as MySQL]]: all commands, interfaces, libraries and APIs that exist in MySQL also exist in MariaDB. There is no need to convert databases to switch to MariaDB. MariaDB is a true [[mariadb-versus-mysql-compatibility|drop in replacement]] of MySQL! Additionally, MariaDB has a lot of nice [[mariadb-versus-mysql-features|new features]] that you can take advantage of.
//See the [[mariadb-faq|MariaDB FAQ]] for more information.//
The current stable MariaDB release is [[what-is-mariadb-52|MariaDB 5.2]].\\
The previous stable release is [[what-is-mariadb-51|MariaDB 5.1]].\\
The development release is [[what-is-mariadb-53|MariaDB 5.3]] which is now in beta.
== See also
* [[mariadb-versus-mysql-features|MariaDB versus MySQL - Features]]
* [[mariadb-versus-mysql-compatibility|MariaDB versus MySQL - Compatibility]]
* [[what-is-in-the-different-mariadb-releases|What is in the different MariaDB releases]]
* [[release-notes|MariaDB Release Notes]]
