MariaDB 11.8 is LTS

Confirming what you probably already expected: MariaDB Server 11.8 will be a long-term support release.

Now a Release Candidate – GA in May

With MariaDB Vector as the lead new feature, MariaDB 11.8 succeeds the previous LTS MariaDB 11.4 from a year ago.

As of now, MariaDB 11.8 is at the Release Candidate stage, with GA planned for May.

Lots of new features since MariaDB 11.4

MariaDB 11.8 has about 60 features, large and small, on top of the previous LTS, MariaDB 11.4. At our recent MariaDB Day on 1 Feb 2025 in Brussels, MariaDB Corporation Chief Architect Sergei Golubchik gave an overview of 11.8. I suggest you browse his slides and/or listen to his 31 minutes long presentation on YouTube. Eight highlights:

Vector Search
Optimiser improvements
Duration of TIMESTAMP fields increased from 2038 (13 years from now) to 2106 (81 years from now)
Compatibility improved with MySQL, with Oracle Database, and with the SQL standard
UUID v4 and v7 added
Security improvements such as a PARSEC authentication plugin
Improvements to backup and replication
Ease of use features for convenience

Expect yearly LTS releases, going forward

Let me reiterate our commitment to yearly LTS releases, which we announced a year ago. We think a yearly cadence corresponds to what our user base expects – not too frequent to update, not too seldom to cause long waits for new functionality.

Having yearly LTS releases is a decision done in collaboration with MariaDB Corporation who is the main source of bug fixes and maintenance. It is also a joint interest between us and the Linux distributions. We do want the Linux distros to get access to fresh new functionality. You will hear me repeating this over and over: We’re proud of our Vector functionality, and 11.8 will be the first opportunity to access it, for those using MariaDB Server through Linux distributions.

Expect quarterly rolling feature releases, going forward

Let me also reiterate our commitment to quarterly rolling releases, also according to our policy. This illustration should make it clear that we are delivering new functionality on the GA level on a quarterly basis. The y axis indicates new functionality, the x axis is time.

MariaDB 12: Slightly adjusted numbering scheme

The numbering of the releases going forward is intended to reflect the combined yearly – quarterly cycle, where the next release after 11.8 will be the MariaDB 12 series. As functionality grows, we will release 12.0, 12.1, 12.2, and 12.3. Each of them will have new features. The first three are released as rolling GA releases, with no bug maintenance releases after GA. The fourth and final release of the MariaDB 12 series, MariaDB 12.3, will become the following LTS release.

New Maintenance Policy with three levels

As part of announcing MariaDB 11.8 as LTS (long-term maintenance), we have also updated our Maintenance Policy on mariadb.org/about/#maintenance-policy. The “S” in “LTS” standing for “support” obviously is open for interpretation, so let me be specific and state that this policy defines how long the code base is maintained and how long binaries are built. Support in the form of having someone to turn to for help in resolving problems and answering questions is a different thing, offered for instance on MariaDB.com.

MariaDB has three maintenance durations: Community, Enterprise, and Extended. The Community binaries are available for download at mariadb.org/download/ (and mariadb.com/downloads/). Enterprise binaries, including an extended maintenance option, are available from MariaDB.com.