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Tammy Bisetti
5,761 PointsMysql vs MariaDB
I installed community version of MySQL from Oracle in the DataBase videos and used it to successfully design a database. Subsequently I have had to remove it from my computer due to some permission problems updating it and connecting it to the server. I am now moving on to study PHP where I am prompted to download XAMPP in which the "M" supposedly stands for MySQL per the videos but upon further research, the download suggested from apacheFriends now includes MariaDB in it's place because Sunsystems I think was purchased by Oracle or something and there is some sort of fued going on. It appears that MariaDB and MySQL had started out being completely compatible but now ar diverging. It seems from my research that MariaDB is faster and being developed into a better product with more features, but If there are compatibility problems, can I run it and still take all the mysql lessons with it and is it in the minority as far as what is being used in the real world? My question is wat is the best configuration of these programs to install if I want to continue with PHP lessons and MySQL lessons and which one is the best to install My SQL or Maria DB? Can I install XAMPP and My SQL Workbench and have both or ? Confused! Also, I am running Windows 10., which version should I be installing? The PHP installation video seems outdated so I can't tell which is the right version..
2 Answers
bothxp
16,510 PointsHi Tammy,
That's an interesting question and one that I'd been thinking about when I came to start looking at the newer SQL courses on Treehouse.
Like you in the past I'd downloaded and setup MySQL and the MySQL Workbench when I completed the Database Foundations course taught by Andrew Chalkley but soon afterwards a friend who is a professional PHP developer started telling me that I should take a look at MariaDB instead.
If I understand the history correctly: MySQL was created by a company called 'MySQL AB', back in 1995. Sun Microsystems bought the 'MySQL AB' company in 2008. Then in 2010 Oracle bought 'Sun Microsystems'.
At which point due to the fear that it was not in Oracle's best interested to continue developing MySQL along it's open source principles, many MySQL developers jumped ship, forking MySQL into MariaDB.
In theory MariaDB is supposed to be a drop in replacement for MySQL, but in practice it does appear that they may be diverging. A good example being that i have seen a lot of talk of MySQL Workbench no longer working correctly with MariaDB. I also find it interesting that MySQL Workbench is no longer listed on the MariaDB clients page.
Most PHP devs that I know seem to just use PHPMyAdmin, but I've only used it a couple of times so I can't really comment on it.
Maybe Hampton Paulk or Alena Holligan can offer some advice.
Alan Matthews
10,161 PointsTammy,
You should be able to install almost any database on your system, dependent upon your OS version and a few other factors. The Database Foundations course on Treehouse has steps to install the MySQL and Workbench on Windows and OSX, so I would follow those steps. You should be able to use which ever database the PHP course recommends as well.
I do a lot of Rails development, and I've used the SQLite database that is a Rails default, Postgresql mainly, and have played around with MongoDB on my machine as well. So, just because you have one db installed on your machine doesn't mean you can't have others. There is no right or wrong setup per say.
I will add that you might come across more hurdles as far as configurations go using a Windows machine. Windows and OS's based on Unix (Linux distros, Mac OSX) are separate ecosystems and largely don't work well with each other. If you not attached to any framework you want to learn, you might look into tutorials that teach .NET development.
As far as what versions of databases you should install, I'd recommend whichever version is compatible with Windows 10. Older versions of db's might not have certain features used in a tutorial that uses new versions of said db.
Hope this helps!