# Switching Between Different Installed MariaDB Versions

This article is about managing many different installed MariaDB versions\
and running them one at a time. This is useful when doing benchmarking,\
testing, or for when developing different MariaDB versions.

This is most easily done using the tar files from [mariadb.org/download/](https://mariadb.org/download/).

## Stopping a Preinstalled MySQL/MariaDB From Interfering With Your Tests

If MySQL/MariaDB is already installed and running, you have two options:

1. Use test MariaDB servers with a different port & socket.

* In this case you are probably best off creating a specific section for\
  MariaDB in your `~/.my.cnf` file.

2. Stop mysqld with `/etc/rc.d/mysql stop` or `mariadb-admin shutdown`.

Note that you don't have to uninstall or otherwise remove MySQL!

## How to Create a Binary Distribution (tar File)

Here is a short description of how to generate a tar file from a source distribution. If you have [downloaded](https://downloads.askmonty.org/mariadb/) a binary tar file, you can skip this section.

The steps to create a binary tar file are:

* Decide where to put the source. A good place is under `/usr/local/src/mariadb-5.#`.
* [Get the source](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/clients-and-utilities/server-client-software/download/getting-the-mariadb-source-code)
* [Compile the source](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/server-management/install-and-upgrade-mariadb/compiling-mariadb-from-source)
* [Create the binary tar ball](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/server-management/install-and-upgrade-mariadb/compiling-mariadb-from-source/legacy-guides/creating-the-mariadb-binary-tarball).

You will then be left with a tar file named something like:`mariadb-11.0.1-MariaDB-linux-x86_64.tar.gz`

## Creating a Directory Structure for the Different Installations

Install the binary tar files under `/usr/local/` with\
the following directory names (one for each MariaDB version you want to use), for example:

* `mariadb-10.5`
* `mariadb-10.6`
* `mariadb-10.11`
* `mariadb-11.0`
* `mariadb-11.1`

The above assumes you are just testing major versions of MariaDB. If you are\
testing specific versions, use directory names like `mariadb-11.0.1`

With the directories in place, create a symlink named `mariadb` which points\
at the `mariadb-XXX` directory you are currently testing. When you want to\
switch to testing a different version, just update the symlink.

Example:

```bash
cd /usr/local
tar xfz /tmp/mariadb-11.0.1-linux-systemd-x86_64.tar.gz
mv -vi mariadb-11.0.1-MariaDB-systemd-linux-x86_64 mariadb-11.0
ln -vs mariadb-11.0 mariadb
```

## Setting Up the Data Directory

When setting up the data directory, you have the option of either using a\
shared database directory or creating a unique database directory for each\
server version. For testing, a common directory is probably easiest. Note that\
you can only have one `mysqld` server running against one data\
directory.

### Setting Up a Common Data Directory

The steps are:

1. Create the `mysql` system user if you don't have it already!\
   (On Linux you do it with the `useradd` command).
2. Create the directory (we call it `mariadb-data` in the example below) or\
   add a symlink to a directory which is in some other place.
3. Create the `mysql` permission tables with [mariadb-install-db](https://mariadb.com/docs/server/clients-and-utilities/deployment-tools/mariadb-install-db).

```bash
cd /usr/local/
mkdir mariadb-data
cd mariadb
./bin/mariadb-install-db --no-defaults --datadir=/usr/local/mariadb-data
chown -R mysql mariadb-data mariadb-data/*
```

The reason to use `--no-defaults` is to ensure that we don't inherit incorrect options from some old `my.cnf`.

### Setting Up Different Data Directories

To create a different `data` directories for each installation:

```bash
cd mariadb
./scripts/mariadb-install-db --no-defaults
chown -R mysql mariadb-data mariadb-data/*
```

This will create a directory `data` inside the current directory.

If you want to use another disk, you should run this command:

```bash
cd mariadb
ln -s path-to-empty-directory-for-data data
./scripts/mariadb-install-db --no-defaults --datadir=./data
chown -R mysql mariadb-data mariadb-data/*
```

## Running a MariaDB Server

The normal steps are:

```bash
rm mariadb
ln -s mariadb-# mariadb
cd mariadb
./bin/mysqld_safe --no-defaults --datadir=/usr/local/mariadb-data &
```

## Setting Up a .my.cnf file for Running Multiple MariaDB Versions

If you are going to start/stop MariaDB a lot of times, you should create\
a `~/.my.cnf` file for the common options you are using.

The following example shows how to use a non-standard TCP-port and socket (to\
not interfere with a main MySQL/MariaDB server) and how to setup different\
options for each main server:

```ini
[client-server]
socket=/tmp/mysql.sock
port=3306
[mysqld]
datadir=/usr/local/mariadb-data

[mariadb-11.0]
# Options for MariaDB 11.0
[mariadb-11.1]
# Options for MariaDB 11.1
```

If you create an `~/.my.cnf` file, you should start`mysqld` with `--defaults-file=~/.my.cnf` instead of `--no-defaults` in the examples above.

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