The MariaDB filesystem layout

A MariaDB installation is not a single file or even a single directory, so the first stop on our tour is a high-level overview of the filesystem layout. We'll start with Windows and then move on to Linux.

The MariaDB filesystem layout on Windows

On Windows, MariaDB is installed under a directory named with the following pattern:

C:\Program Files\MariaDB <major>.<minor>\

In the preceding command, <major> and <minor> refer to the first and second number in the MariaDB version string. So for MariaDB 10.1, the location would be:

C:\Program Files\MariaDB 10.1\

The only alteration to this location, unless we change it during the installation, is when the 32-bit version of MariaDB is installed on a 64-bit version of Windows. In that case, the default MariaDB directory is at the following location:

C:\Program Files x86\MariaDB <major>.<minor>\

Under the MariaDB directory on Windows, there are four primary directories: bin\, data...