August may have been a holiday month for many, but the MariaDB community certainly didn’t take a break. From Amsterdam to Bengaluru, from deep technical dives to festive dinners, August brought us fresh insights, new collaborations, and plenty of reasons to be excited about the road ahead.
Community Interaction at Linux Foundation’s Open Source Summit in Amsterdam
MariaDB Foundation proudly joined the Open Source Summit in Amsterdam, hosted by the Linux Foundation (LF OSS). Alongside me, Vlad Radu represented the Foundation at our booth – joined by none other than Michael “Monty” Widenius (founder of both MariaDB and MySQL) and Sergei Golubchik (Chief Architect of MariaDB Server).
It’s not every day that a project booth has its original founder on hand to answer questions! A highlight was when Monty enthusiastically accepted an initiative from our neighbours at Zabbix: they had scanned MariaDB’s source code and flagged identifiers that only appeared once – potential bugs. Monty skimmed the list on the spot, spotted a couple of genuine issues, and asked for the list to be emailed. That’s how real community interaction should work: sharp-eyed, generous, and constructive.
● See LinkedIn update
A Fruitful and Joyful Collaboration with MariaDB plc
As Executive Chairman, it fills me with genuine joy to see MariaDB plc’s strong engagement at LF OSS in Amsterdam. Representing plc were two enthusiastic Solution Engineers – Sebastien Giraud, a long-time appreciated colleague, and Natasha Rinaldi, who had only joined two weeks earlier. Both brought energy, expertise, and an open spirit, making a clear statement: plc is deeply committed to building bridges with the wider MariaDB ecosystem.
Our joint dinner at an Indonesian restaurant in Amsterdam summed it up beautifully: in many ways, we can truly feel and act as One MariaDB.
Of course, collaboration isn’t only about camaraderie – it’s also highly technical. One of the standout blog posts I’ve read recently is Elena Stepanova’s clear-eyed look at how MariaDB handles testing, underlining the critical distinction between QA and testing itself. Meanwhile, our own Chief Innovation Officer Daniel Black shared a thought-provoking technical deep dive.
● See Do they even test this?! by Elena Stepanova
● See Deep dive into Clang sanitizer testing with MariaDB (Post Event) by Daniel Black
MariaDB Server Fest Amsterdam
Right alongside LF OSS, we hosted our very own MariaDB Server Fest in Amsterdam.
Monty delivered a session on database migrations: From Locked-In to Lift-Off – Escaping Proprietary Databases with MariaDB, while Sergei explored the cutting edge of AI in Unlocking AI Power with MariaDB Vector: Inside Secrets from the Creator.
From plc’s side, Sebastien wowed the audience with MariaDB Enterprise! The AI-enabled Open Source Database Revolution!!!, clarifying what Enterprise Server offers beyond Community Server.
For my part, I shared our vision of AI:
Don’t ask what AI can do for MariaDB – ask what MariaDB can do for AI.
with apologies to John F. Kennedy
And the answer, in essence, is straightforward.
Large Language Models are vast, read-only neural networks. But the real value – the living, breathing data that organisations actually depend on – sits in relational databases. MariaDB’s mission is to bridge that divide: to make relational data seamlessly available to AI. Whether through RAG applications, vibe coding, or entirely new user-friendly approaches yet to be invented, we aim to ensure that AI can tap into real-world data with the same ease it taps into the internet.
Or, as Voltaire might have put it: if AI had no relational data, it would be necessary to invent it.
The real magic, though, came from the ecosystem. Chiranjit Mitra of Amazon AWS shared insights on Running Highly Available MariaDB with Amazon RDS, sparking a lively debate with Ori Weizman of Silk, who presented The Smart Way to Run Enterprise MariaDB Workloads in the Cloud: Fast, Lean & DevOps-Ready. That’s exactly how Open Source should be: dynamic, collaborative, and challenging!
Videos are on the way – once we’ve processed the 100+ GB filmed on my shiny new Insta360 X5. Watch this space.
● See MariaDB Server Fest Amsterdam
Measurable Quantitative Progress in Adoption
While personal anecdotes and face-to-face exchanges are inspiring, we also care about the hard numbers. Robert Silén has been developing the MariaDB Index, providing solid statistics that confirm a clear upward trend.
As our colleague Ian Gilfillan joked, referencing an xkcd comic: statistical trends should always be taken with a pinch of salt – or rather, interpreted with common sense. But still, the trajectory looks promising.
● See MariaDB Onwards and Upwards in September 2025 by Robert Silén
Feedback Plugin Turned On
To get even more reliable usage data, we’ve activated the MariaDB Feedback Plugin – a simple “phone home” feature in MariaDB Server. It anonymously reports version numbers, platforms, and usage patterns back to mariadb.org, all fully GDPR-compliant. Soon we’ll be able to share richer insights based on these data points.
MariaDB Server Silver Sponsor Onboarding
August also marked a milestone birthday for MariaDB Foundation’s CEO – affectionately dubbed “the Database Queen”. Her reflections on life, community, and MariaDB are well worth a read.
● See What’s After Happily Ever After? by Anna Widenius
But birthdays aside, she’s been hard at work strengthening our sponsor network, securing a wave of new Silver Sponsors. I had the pleasure of interviewing some of them, including Frank Karlitschek of NextCloud – already live on our site.
MariaDB Python Hackathon Bengaluru Launched
Earlier this year we dipped our toes into hackathon waters at CloudFest, followed by our very own AI RAG-focused hackathon in Helsinki. Now, we’re taking it to the next level: Bengaluru, India.
This time the scope is wider – not just AI RAG, but anything at the intersection of Python and MariaDB. The Innovation Track welcomes demo apps showcasing MariaDB features in action, while the Integration Track looks for interfaces connecting MariaDB with developer environments, ORMs, and LLM frameworks.
With over 2,000 registered participants and 100 submitted ideas already, momentum is building fast. There’s still time to join!
● See Build the Future with Python & MariaDB – Win $10,000 and Dinner with the MySQL & MariaDB Founder! by Robert Silén
Coming Up This Autumn: State of MariaDB 2025 Survey
We’ll kick off autumn with a major survey, gathering both quantitative and qualitative insights into how our users work with MariaDB. Expect it to go live at the end of September – keep an eye out!
From community-driven bug spotting to hackathon excitement, from sponsor growth to AI innovation, August was proof that MariaDB is thriving on every front. Onwards and upwards – and see you in September!
