[#MDEV-31561] MariaDB-server-compat complicates server upgrade from 10.x to 11.x on CentOS/RHEL 7

Let's have some 10.x server installed on CentOS 7:

$ sudo yum install MariaDB-server

...

Complete!

$ sudo rpm -qa | grep Maria

MariaDB-common-10.5.21-1.el7.centos.x86_64

MariaDB-server-10.5.21-1.el7.centos.x86_64

MariaDB-compat-10.5.21-1.el7.centos.x86_64

MariaDB-client-10.5.21-1.el7.centos.x86_64

If we are trying to upgrade to any higher 10.x, then as usual, server will refuse to upgrade because we explicitly forbid it to do so, while the rest will upgrade.

$ sudo yum upgrade MariaDB-common MariaDB-server MariaDB-compat MariaDB-client

...

Updated:

  MariaDB-client.x86_64 0:10.11.4-1.el7.centos                 MariaDB-common.x86_64 0:10.11.4-1.el7.centos                 MariaDB-compat.x86_64 0:10.11.4-1.el7.centos

Failed:

  MariaDB-server.x86_64 0:10.5.21-1.el7.centos                                                MariaDB-server.x86_64 0:10.11.4-1.el7.centos

$ sudo rpm -qa | grep Maria

MariaDB-server-10.5.21-1.el7.centos.x86_64

MariaDB-compat-10.11.4-1.el7.centos.x86_64

MariaDB-common-10.11.4-1.el7.centos.x86_64

MariaDB-client-10.11.4-1.el7.centos.x86_64

So, we need to remove MariaDB-server, as the error text demands, and install the new server instead. That works.

$ sudo yum remove MariaDB-server

...

Removed:

  MariaDB-server.x86_64 0:10.5.21-1.el7.centos

Complete!

$ sudo yum install MariaDB-server

...

Installed:

  MariaDB-server.x86_64 0:10.11.4-1.el7.centos

Complete!

But if we are instead trying to upgrade to 11.x, it doesn't just refuse to upgrade the server and upgrades the other 3 packages; it also installs MariaDB-server-compat and MariaDB-client-compat for dependencies.

Dependency Installed:

  MariaDB-client-compat.noarch 0:11.0.2-1.el7.centos                                          MariaDB-server-compat.noarch 0:11.0.2-1.el7.centos

Updated:

  MariaDB-client.x86_64 0:11.0.2-1.el7.centos                  MariaDB-common.x86_64 0:11.0.2-1.el7.centos                  MariaDB-compat.x86_64 0:11.0.2-1.el7.centos

Failed:

  MariaDB-server.x86_64 0:10.11.4-1.el7.centos                                                MariaDB-server.x86_64 0:11.0.2-1.el7.centos

And now removal of MariaDB-server no longer works.

$ sudo yum remove MariaDB-server

...

ERROR with transaction check vs depsolve:

MariaDB-server >= 11.0.0 is needed by (installed) MariaDB-server-compat-11.0.2-1.el7.centos.noarch

** Found 2 pre-existing rpmdb problem(s), 'yum check' output follows:

MariaDB-client-11.0.2-1.el7.centos.x86_64 has installed conflicts MariaDB-server < ('0', '11.0.0', None): MariaDB-server-10.11.4-1.el7.centos.x86_64

MariaDB-server-compat-11.0.2-1.el7.centos.noarch has missing requires of MariaDB-server >= ('0', '11.0.0', None)

Instead, the user needs to remove explicitly 10.x server and 11.x server-compat, only then it works. This is odd, because even the error says that compat packages require server 11.x. They shouldn't have succeeded to install maybe, but if they got installed, they shouldn't mind removal of 10.x server which they have no relation to.

As I understand, the problem only affects old distributions which don't distinguish requirements from recommendations (RHEL/CentOS 7 for sure, maybe old SLES too), so it may be acceptable just to document it. Maybe the error text about a manual upgrade could mention something as well.

[MDEV-31561] MariaDB-server-compat complicates server upgrade from 10.x to 11.x on CentOS/RHEL 7 Created: 2023-06-27 Updated: 2023-06-27
Status:	Open
Project:	MariaDB Server
Component/s:	Documentation, Packaging, Platform RedHat
Affects Version/s:	11.0, 11.1
Fix Version/s:	11.0, 11.1

[MDEV-31561] MariaDB-server-compat complicates server upgrade from 10.x to 11.x on CentOS/RHEL 7 Created: 2023-06-27 Updated: 2023-06-27