Linux vlmmk644 2.6.18-308.8.1.0.1.el5 #1 SMP Tue May 29 20:48:54 EDT 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

software details : drwxr-xr-x 13 maria maria 4096 Jan 27 12:29 mariadb-10.0.0-linux-x86_64

Please quote the previous fragment of the log.

130203 12:20:29 mysqld_safe Starting mysqld daemon with databases from /demarialab1/pocinst/data/dbs
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: The InnoDB memory heap is disabled
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: Mutexes and rw_locks use GCC atomic builtins
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: Compressed tables use zlib 1.2.3
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: Using Linux native AIO
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: CPU supports crc32 instructions
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: Initializing buffer pool, size = 512.0M
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: Completed initialization of buffer pool
InnoDB: Error: auto-extending data file /demarialab1/pocinst/data/dbs/ibdata1 is of a different size
InnoDB: 1152 pages (rounded down to MB) than specified in the .cnf file:
InnoDB: initial 6400 pages, max 0 (relevant if non-zero) pages!
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: Could not open or create data files.
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: If you tried to add new data files, and it failed here,
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: you should now edit innodb_data_file_path in my.cnf back
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: to what it was, and remove the new ibdata files InnoDB created
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: in this failed attempt. InnoDB only wrote those files full of
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: zeros, but did not yet use them in any way. But be careful: do not
130203 12:20:29 InnoDB: remove old data files which contain your precious data!
130203 12:20:29 [ERROR] Plugin 'InnoDB' init function returned error.
130203 12:20:29 [ERROR] Plugin 'InnoDB' registration as a STORAGE ENGINE failed.
130203 12:20:29 [Note] Plugin 'FEEDBACK' is disabled.
130203 12:20:29 [ERROR] Unknown/unsupported storage engine: InnoDB
130203 12:20:29 [ERROR] Aborting

This problem means that you have InnoDB data file /demarialab1/pocinst/data/dbs/ibdata1 which was created with InnoDB settings (particularly, innodb_data_file_path) different from your current settings.

If you are trying to create a new database, remove all existing data files and start from clean datadir.
If you are trying to upgrade from a previous version, use the same InnoDB parameter value that you did before.

For more details, search MySQL manual or other sources (use the text of the error message), this InnoDB limitation has existed for very long time, is not a bug and is not specific for MariaDB.