Differentiate between minimum required MySQL and MariaDB versions

[desrosj]

Currently, there is only one minimum required version defined and checked against for database software when determining if a server is capable of installing and running WordPress. It's currently set at 5.0, though that will hopefully be updated to 5.5 in WordPress 6.5 (see #60036).

This has worked over the past 12+ years without issue, even though WordPress supports running either MySQL or MariaDB. This is due to the fact that MariaDB versions previously followed MySQL's numbering scheme with each release representing a fully-functional drop-in replacement.

However, in 2012 this changed when MariaDB jumped from version 5.5 to 10.0, where they have continued to increment from (the current LTS version is 10.11, and current short term support version is 11.2).

In the near future when support for any version of MariaDB > 5.5 is dropped, this check will become useless, because MySQL 5.7, 8.0, 8.1, etc. will always be lower than 10.0, 10.11, 11.0, etc.

An additional angle to this problem is ​a recent proposal to add support for SQLite. The most recent version of that software is 3.44.2. SQLite is not a drop-in replacement in the same way MariaDB is. But with that and other challenges to adding support aside, no versions of SQLite would work in WordPress today (even with the minimum currently set at 5.0).

The relevant code should be updated to ensure that the correct minimum version for the current database type is used when checking a server is properly equipped to run WordPress.

Follow up to #60036.

[desrosj]

I'm going to punt this to Future Release. I did not get to dedicate the time I anticipated during this cycle.

[johnbillion]

This will need some updates on the .org side too. Currently ​there's a mysql argument sent to the update check which will need to be expanded to include the database type.

[ottok]

+1 to being more explicit on recommending newer MariaDB versions