What database to use
TypeORM supports the following databases:
- MySQL
- MariaDB
- PostgreSQL
- MS SQL Server
- sql.js
- MongoDB
- Oracle (experimental)
Considering that in this book we are already using PostgreSQL with Sequelize and MongoDB with Mongoose, we decided to use MariaDB with TypeORM.
About MariaDB
MariaDB is an open source, community-driven project led by some of the original developers of MySQL. It was forked from MySQL when Oracle acquired the latter with the intention of keeping it free and open under the GNU General Public License.
The original idea of the project was to act as a drop-in replacement for MySQL. This remains largely true for version up to 5.5, while MariaDB kept its version numbers in sync with the MySQL ones.
Nevertheless, newer versions, starting with versions 10.0, have slightly diverted from this approach. It’s still true, though, that MariaDB still focuses on being highly compatible with MySQL and sharing the same API.