I’m using Rocky Linux 9.6 and I need to update MariaDB to version 10.11, which is necessary for Joomla 6, the latest release of this CMS I use, to work.
Rocky uses MariaDB 10.5 by default, but it has a module for version 10.11. When I enable this module:
$$ dnf module enable mariadb:10.11
Webmin now tells me I can update:
An update to mariadb from 10.5.27-1.el9_5.0.2 to 10.11.10-1.module+el9.6.0+31841+9417776a is available
My question is whether I can update from Webmin without any problems while keeping the current databases as they are, since I’ve read some tutorials that say several more operations are required.
We don’t maintain Mariadb, so we’re probably not the best people to ask on the topic (the Mariadb docs are probably the right place to go, unless your OS has docs about it).
But, minor version updates do not require any extra steps beyond upgrading the package and restarting the service (which happens automatically when upgrading via your OS package manage). With semantic versioning, minor versions are not expected to break compatibility with config files or data files, so nothing is needed but a restart.
Major version upgrades do require some extra steps, and you should read the Mariadb documentation on the topic carefully before embarking on such a project.
I want to clarify that Webmin is just using your system package manager. It is not doing anything extra or different from you running dnf commands yourself.
I recommend caution when reading random guides on the internet. There’s a lot of idiots (and idiot AIs) running loose on the web, and nobody can stop them from making web pages. Confirm with upstream docs, at the very least. And, in this case, those random tutorials are either wrong, or talking about something you are not talking about (a major version upgrade is different from a minor version upgrade).