mariadb-syntax-system-versioned-tables

MariaDB System-Versioned Tables and Application-Time Periods

Native row-history, point-in-time queries, and bitemporal modelling. A MariaDB-only feature set since 10.3+. MySQL has no equivalent ; PostgreSQL has periods but no system-versioning. Read this skill before hand-rolling audit tables, before designing GDPR-compliant history retention, or before assuming MySQL behaviour applies.

Quick Reference

• WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING is MariaDB-only. MySQL has neither system-versioning nor application-time periods. PostgreSQL has periods but no system-time. NEVER port these patterns to either without a rewrite.
• Default row_start / row_end precision is transaction-id (BIGINT UNSIGNED) on InnoDB. ALWAYS declare them as TIMESTAMP(6) when you need wall-clock time-travel.
• Transaction-precision tables CANNOT use PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME. Choose timestamp precision when you plan to partition.
• Without PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME the history grows in the same physical structure as live rows. ALWAYS plan retention up front.
• DELETE HISTORY FROM t BEFORE SYSTEM_TIME 'ts' is the GDPR-friendly purge. Requires the DELETE HISTORY privilege.
• TRUNCATE TABLE is BLOCKED on system-versioned tables (error 4137). Use DELETE HISTORY FROM t to wipe history, DELETE FROM t to remove current rows.
• Plain SELECT * FROM t returns only current rows. NEVER add FOR SYSTEM_TIME AS OF NOW() to "be safe" ; it is redundant and slower.
• Application-time periods (10.4+) describe business-time (valid_from/valid_to). System-time describes when the row was written. NEVER confuse the two.
• Bitemporal = WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING + a user PERIOD FOR application_time(...) clause. Since 10.5+. FOR PORTION OF works on application-time only, NEVER on system_time.
• INTERVAL ... AUTO (10.9.1+) auto-rotates history partitions. Prefer it on 10.11+ over manual ALTER TABLE ... REORGANIZE PARTITION.

Decision Tree : When to Use Each Feature

Need to track changes over time ?
|
+- Track "when was this row written / corrected" (audit log, soft-delete, time-travel debugging)
|     => WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING        (system-time)
|
+- Track "when does this fact apply in the real world" (contracts, prices effective Jan-Mar)
|     => PERIOD FOR application_time   (application-time, 10.4+)
|
+- Both : audited contracts, regulatory bitemporal model
      => WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING + PERIOD FOR application_time  (10.5+)

Choosing system-time precision ?
|
+- Wall-clock time travel ("show me the row as of 2026-01-01")  => TIMESTAMP(6)
|
+- Transaction-precise auditing, no time-travel UI              => BIGINT UNSIGNED (default)
|
+- Need PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME                                 => TIMESTAMP(6) (mandatory)

History retention strategy ?
|
+- Small table, hand-purge ok            => DELETE HISTORY FROM t BEFORE SYSTEM_TIME 'ts'
|
+- Predictable retention window          => PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME INTERVAL 1 MONTH
|
+- Auto-rotate, no DBA action             => PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME INTERVAL 1 HOUR AUTO  (10.9.1+)
|
+- Size-bounded rotation                  => PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME LIMIT 100000

Core Syntax

Simplest form

-- 10.3+
CREATE TABLE accounts (
  id      INT PRIMARY KEY,
  balance DECIMAL(15,2)
) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING;

row_start and row_end are implicit. The columns are hidden from SELECT * and addressed via pseudo-columns ROW_START / ROW_END. Default precision is BIGINT UNSIGNED transaction-id on InnoDB.

Explicit timestamp-precision form

-- 10.3+
CREATE TABLE accounts (
  id        INT PRIMARY KEY,
  balance   DECIMAL(15,2),
  row_start TIMESTAMP(6) GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW START,
  row_end   TIMESTAMP(6) GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW END,
  PERIOD FOR SYSTEM_TIME (row_start, row_end)
) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING;

ALWAYS choose this form when you need :

• Human-readable timestamps in time-travel queries
• PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME (transaction-precision rules out partitioning)
• Compatibility with SQL:2011 standard wording

Adding versioning to an existing table

-- 10.3+
ALTER TABLE accounts ADD SYSTEM VERSIONING;

-- with explicit timestamp columns
ALTER TABLE accounts
  ADD COLUMN row_start TIMESTAMP(6) GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW START,
  ADD COLUMN row_end   TIMESTAMP(6) GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW END,
  ADD PERIOD FOR SYSTEM_TIME (row_start, row_end),
  ADD SYSTEM VERSIONING;

Removing versioning

ALTER TABLE accounts DROP SYSTEM VERSIONING;

History rows survive as ordinary rows visible to plain SELECT. ALWAYS purge with DELETE HISTORY first if compliance requires the history to be discarded.

Time-Travel Queries : FOR SYSTEM_TIME

-- 10.3+
SELECT * FROM accounts FOR SYSTEM_TIME AS OF TIMESTAMP '2026-01-01 00:00:00';
SELECT * FROM accounts FOR SYSTEM_TIME AS OF TRANSACTION 12345;
SELECT * FROM accounts FOR SYSTEM_TIME BETWEEN '2026-01-01' AND '2026-04-30';
SELECT * FROM accounts FOR SYSTEM_TIME FROM '2026-01-01' TO '2026-05-01';  -- end-exclusive
SELECT * FROM accounts FOR SYSTEM_TIME ALL;

Semantic differences :

Clause	Inclusivity	Use case
AS OF expr	point-in-time	"show me row state at this instant"
BETWEEN a AND b	inclusive on both ends	"all versions overlapping this window"
FROM a TO b	inclusive-start, exclusive-end	half-open ranges, day-bucket reporting
ALL	every version ever recorded	full audit dump

AS OF TRANSACTION n ONLY works when the table uses BIGINT-precision (transaction-id) versioning.

The session variable system_versioning_asof applies an implicit AS OF to all queries in the session. Use sparingly ; it is a debugging convenience, NOT a production access pattern.

PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME

Without partitioning, history rows are appended to the same physical pages as current rows. Over months this degrades scans on current data. Use one of three rotation strategies :

-- 10.3+ : explicit partitions
CREATE TABLE audit_log (event_id BIGINT, payload TEXT) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING
  PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME (
    PARTITION p_hist HISTORY,
    PARTITION p_cur  CURRENT
  );

-- 10.3+ : size-bounded rotation
CREATE TABLE audit_log (event_id BIGINT, payload TEXT) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING
  PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME LIMIT 100000 (
    PARTITION p0 HISTORY,
    PARTITION p1 HISTORY,
    PARTITION pcur CURRENT
  );

-- 10.3+ : time-bounded rotation
CREATE TABLE audit_log (event_id BIGINT, payload TEXT) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING
  PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME INTERVAL 1 MONTH (
    PARTITION p0 HISTORY,
    PARTITION p1 HISTORY,
    PARTITION p2 HISTORY,
    PARTITION pcur CURRENT
  );

-- 10.9.1+ : auto-managed time-bounded partitions
CREATE TABLE audit_log (event_id BIGINT, payload TEXT) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING
  PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME INTERVAL 1 HOUR AUTO;

-- 10.9.1+ : auto with start anchor and seed-count
CREATE TABLE audit_log (event_id BIGINT, payload TEXT) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING
  PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME INTERVAL 1 MONTH
    STARTS '2026-01-01 00:00:00' AUTO PARTITIONS 12;

-- 10.9.1+ : auto size-bounded
CREATE TABLE audit_log (event_id BIGINT, payload TEXT) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING
  PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME LIMIT 1000 AUTO;

Rules :

• Exactly ONE CURRENT partition is required.
• At least ONE HISTORY partition is required.
• LIMIT n partitions are filled up to n rows, then the next HISTORY partition receives subsequent rows.
• INTERVAL partitions rotate by wall-clock ; the STARTS clause sets the anchor.
• AUTO (10.9.1+) creates new HISTORY partitions automatically as needed. Toggle with ALTER TABLE ... PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME INTERVAL 1 HOUR AUTO; (enable) or by re-issuing without AUTO (disable).
• ALWAYS combine PARTITION BY SYSTEM_TIME with timestamp-precision columns. Transaction-precision is incompatible with partitioning.

History Pruning : DELETE HISTORY

-- 10.3+
DELETE HISTORY FROM accounts;                                   -- wipes all history
DELETE HISTORY FROM accounts BEFORE SYSTEM_TIME '2025-01-01';   -- timestamp purge
DELETE HISTORY FROM accounts BEFORE SYSTEM_TIME TRANSACTION 9999;

Requires the DELETE HISTORY privilege, which is separate from DELETE. ALWAYS grant it explicitly to GDPR-compliance roles ; NEVER fold it into the default app-user role.

Partitioned tables let you drop entire history partitions in O(1), which is cheaper than DELETE HISTORY :

-- 10.3+
ALTER TABLE audit_log DROP PARTITION p0;

Application-Time Periods (10.4+)

-- 10.4+
CREATE TABLE prices (
  product_id INT,
  price      DECIMAL(10,2),
  valid_from DATE NOT NULL,
  valid_to   DATE NOT NULL,
  PERIOD FOR validity (valid_from, valid_to)
);

-- chop a period out
DELETE FROM prices
  FOR PORTION OF validity FROM '2026-03-01' TO '2026-04-01';

-- update a window only
UPDATE prices
  FOR PORTION OF validity FROM '2026-03-01' TO '2026-04-01'
  SET price = 9.99;

PERIOD FOR period_name (start_col, end_col) rules :

• Both columns MUST be DATE, DATETIME, or TIMESTAMP of the same width.
• Both columns are implicitly NOT NULL.
• An invisible CHECK constraint enforces start_col < end_col.
• TIME and YEAR columns are NOT allowed.

FOR PORTION OF semantics on DELETE :

Range vs row	Result
Complete overlap	row removed
Partial overlap	row shrunk to non-overlap remainder
Range fully inside row	row split into two rows

FROM ... TO ... expressions MUST be constants (not parameters, not expressions referencing the row). Multi-table DELETE is NOT supported under FOR PORTION OF.

UPDATE ... FOR PORTION OF rules :

• Cannot SET the two period columns themselves.
• Cannot reference period values in the SET expression.
• FROM ... TO ... must be constant.

WITHOUT OVERLAPS constraint (10.5.3+) :

-- 10.5.3+
ALTER TABLE prices ADD PRIMARY KEY (product_id, validity WITHOUT OVERLAPS);

Prevents two rows with the same product_id from having overlapping validity periods.

Bitemporal Tables (10.5+)

Combine WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING and PERIOD FOR application_time(...) on different column-pairs :

-- 10.5+
CREATE TABLE contracts (
  contract_id  INT,
  party        VARCHAR(120),
  terms        TEXT,
  valid_from   DATE NOT NULL,
  valid_to     DATE NOT NULL,
  row_start    TIMESTAMP(6) GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW START INVISIBLE,
  row_end      TIMESTAMP(6) GENERATED ALWAYS AS ROW END   INVISIBLE,
  PERIOD FOR application_time (valid_from, valid_to),
  PERIOD FOR SYSTEM_TIME      (row_start, row_end)
) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING;

Read this as :

• system-time : "when did the database know this row" (audit dimension)
• application-time : "when is the contract effective in the real world" (business dimension)

NEVER use FOR PORTION OF system_time ; it raises a syntax error. Only application-time supports portion-of DML.

ALTER and Schema Evolution

system_versioning_alter_history (ERROR | KEEP) controls whether ALTER TABLE on a versioned table is rejected or allowed with history-accuracy compromised :

-- 10.3+
SET SESSION system_versioning_alter_history = KEEP;
ALTER TABLE accounts ADD COLUMN currency CHAR(3);
SET SESSION system_versioning_alter_history = DEFAULT;

ALWAYS read the variable's caveat : the history rows acquire the new column with NULL (or the column's default). You CANNOT reconstruct historical values for columns that did not exist at the time.

NEVER drop row_start or row_end columns directly. Drop versioning first :

ALTER TABLE accounts DROP SYSTEM VERSIONING;
ALTER TABLE accounts DROP COLUMN row_start, DROP COLUMN row_end, DROP PERIOD FOR SYSTEM_TIME;

Column-Level Versioning

Exclude columns from versioning when their churn is high but irrelevant to audit (e.g. cached counters) :

-- 10.3+
CREATE TABLE users (
  id           INT PRIMARY KEY,
  email        VARCHAR(255),
  login_count  INT WITHOUT SYSTEM VERSIONING
) WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING;

A change to login_count does NOT produce a history row.

Pseudo-Columns and Implicit Columns

When row_start and row_end are implicit (simplest-form WITH SYSTEM VERSIONING without an explicit declaration), they remain hidden from SELECT * but are addressable :

SELECT id, ROW_START, ROW_END FROM accounts FOR SYSTEM_TIME ALL;

MariaDB 11.7+ supports converting implicit columns to explicit row_start/row_end columns without rebuild ; older versions require ALTER TABLE ... ADD COLUMN ... with rebuild and re-population.

Reference Files

• references/methods.md : complete grammar for all clauses, variables, privileges, version table.
• references/examples.md : 10+ working CREATE / SELECT / DELETE / UPDATE examples with version annotations.
• references/anti-patterns.md : 8+ real-world traps with WHY they fail and the correct alternative.