# Running MariaDB as root

MariaDB should never be run as the system root user (this is unrelated to the MariaDB root user). If it is, any user with the `FILE` privilege can create or modify any files on the server as root.

If you attempt to run the server (`mariadbd`) as root, MariaDB normally returns the error **Fatal error: Please read "Security" section of the manual to find out how to run mariadbd as root!**. If you need to override this restriction, start `mariadbd` with the [user=root](/docs/server/server-management/starting-and-stopping-mariadb/mariadbd-options.md#--user) option.

Better practice, and the default in most situations, is to use a separate user, exclusively used for MariaDB. In most distributions, this user is called `mysql`.

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