Install MariaDB 10.4 on Debian 9 (Stretch)

Image courtesy: mariadb.org

Debian 9 (Stretch) software repository contains MariaDB 10.1. Version 10.1 is a little bit old. It's possible to install the latest version of MariaDB (version 10.3 or 10.4) on Debian 9 to get good database performance. Latest versions of MariaDB free from the auto-increment bug. This version is free from Here is the method to install MariaDB 10.4 on Debian 9 when preparing system for Koha installation. This method can apply for a fresh installation of Koha. Don't try this method to install MariaDB on an existing installation of Koha.

Install dirmngr

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common dirmngr

Importing the MariaDB GPG Public Key and install MariaDB
Apply following commands,

sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 0xF1656F24C74CD1D8

sudo add-apt-repository 'deb [arch=amd64,i386,ppc64el] http://espejito.fder.edu.uy/mariadb/repo/10.4/debian stretch main'

sudo apt update

sudo apt-get install mariadb-server

Assign Root password for MySQL
If password asks during the installation process, enter the password in the window. Apply following command, if the password window did not appear during the installation,

sudo mysqladmin -u root password newpass

[Replace 'newpass' with your own new MySQL Root password]

References
https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/installing-mariadb-deb-files/#importing-the-mariadb-gpg-public-key

https://downloads.mariadb.org/mariadb/repositories/#distro=Debian&distro_release=stretch--stretch&mirror=rise&version=10.4