mariadb

What’s New in MariaDB 12

Cristian Buleandra

Cristian Buleandra

— 1 min read

Here is a summary of the key updates in MariaDB from versions 12.0 to 12.2

MariaDB 12.x Series Summary

  • Latest release: 12.2 (Preview)
  • 12.1 is the current rolling release candidate.
  • 12.0 is the first general availability (GA) version of the 12.x line.
  • Focus areas: performance scalability, optimizer enhancements, replication, and advanced SQL compatibility.

MariaDB 12.2 (Released: September 23, 2025)

New Features / Enhancements

  • Added TO_NUMBER() and TRUNC() SQL functions.
  • Introduced Global Temporary Tables for session-specific data handling.
  • Added optimizer hints [NO_]ROWID_FILTER and [NO_]INDEX_MERGE.
  • Extended INFORMATION_SCHEMA with new views and columns:
    • TRIGGERED_UPDATE_COLUMNS
    • PARAMETER_DEFAULT in INFORMATION_SCHEMA.PARAMETERS
  • Improved replication handling between tables of different structures.

MariaDB 12.1 (Released: August 7, 2025)

Performance / Scalability

  • Introduced segmented key cache for Aria (aria_pagecache_segments).
  • Improved metadata locking (MDL) scalability.
  • Added parallel replication support for Galera replicas.
  • Enabled buffered logging in the audit plugin for better I/O efficiency.
  • Optimized vector distance computations for analytics workloads.

Compatibility / SQL Features

  • Added support for the caching_sha2_password authentication plugin.
  • Introduced Oracle-style outer join syntax (+).
  • Added associative arrays and DECLARE TYPE support in stored routines.
  • JSON depth limit removed — JSON nesting is now unrestricted.

MariaDB 12.0 (Released: August 7, 2025)

Security

  • Added support for passphrase-protected keys.
  • Implemented SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION command.
  • Added SHA2 encryption support to the file_key_management.so plugin.

Data Types / Expressions

  • Fixed incorrect evaluation in expressions such as ROW(stored_func(),1) = ROW(1,1).

Stored Routines / SQL

  • Added support for weak SYS_REFCURSOR type.

Clients & Tools

  • mariadb client gained a new --script-dir option for specifying custom script paths.

Bug Fixes

  • Incorporated all fixes from MariaDB 11.8.2 and 11.8.3.
  • Fixed unstable optimizer hint tests and Galera foreign key checks during IST apply.

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