One significant improvement is the extension of the TIMESTAMP lifespan from 2038 to 2106, allowing for an additional 80 years and safeguarding existing data against overflow issues. Furthermore, the default character set has been updated from latin1 to utf8mb4, supporting modern Unicode and ensuring compatibility with global applications.
MariaDB 11.8 also prioritizes security with the introduction of the PARSEC authentication plugin, which embodies advanced authentication practices. Backup and restore operations have been accelerated with parallel processing capabilities, significantly boosting efficiency for database administrators.
Replication performance has seen substantial enhancements, including faster transaction commits and automatic transaction abortion for blocked replication, which improves overall availability. The release also boasts improved observability features, offering more statistics for system monitoring and enhanced usability for database administrators.
In addition to these major updates, MariaDB 11.8 LTS brings various user-requested refinements, such as improved Oracle compatibility and adjustments for system versioned tables. Upgrading to this latest version is designed to be simple and quick, making it accessible for both new and existing users.
In summary, MariaDB 11.8 LTS is a feature-rich release that combines user-requested enhancements with forward-looking capabilities like MariaDB Vector, all while ensuring backward compatibility. Organizations are encouraged to plan their upgrade to take advantage of these advancements.
Next Steps:
- Assess your current MariaDB implementation and consult with your team about the upgrade process.
- Review the detailed changes and improvements available on the official MariaDB website to ensure a smooth transition.
- Consider the potential benefits of integrating MariaDB Vector into your existing applications to leverage AI capabilities effectively
MariaDB 11.8 LTS released
MariaDB 11.8 LTS is the long-term support release for 2025, offering comprehensive support for MariaDB Vector along with various updates driven by user feedback. This version encompasses all additions made since 11.4, integrating updates from 11.5, 11.6, and 11.7, along with new features that have not been previously released. MariaDB 11.8 LTS is the inaugural long-term support version to incorporate support for MariaDB Vector, facilitating similarity search on extensive datasets for contemporary AI and machine learning applications.
The lifespan of timestamps has been extended from 2038 to 2106, ensuring the integrity of existing data while providing an additional 80 years to address timestamp overflow issues. Applications have reached a global scale, utilizing Unicode as the standard character set, which ensures that MariaDB is entirely compatible with multilingual, international applications.
