serg, --base64-output=always, or just --base64-output - both has been planned for deprecation are buggy to produce unparsable output.

Hi Andrei,

I have implemented your suggested MTR test to compare --base64-output=auto against no specification.

The full patch is here

The buildbot link is here

Could you please compose summaries for each of the remained option values for 10.6.

Fix is implemented in 10.5.11 with no merge conflict observed when cherry-picking to 10.6.

10.6 Patch: https://github.com/MariaDB/server/commit/13e782eb84441d0c2ba1ce9d0109a7534d1995fa

Documentation updates for 10.6 to come.

MySQL 8.0 removed the 'always' option from --base64-output, and this fix follows that trend and removed the option from MariaDB. Additionally, now when --base64-output is specified, a value must be specified with it. When the flag is provided without a value, an error is presented.