diff --git a/utils/mariadb/Makefile b/utils/mariadb/Makefile
index 7f30fbe2a..439ec941f 100644
--- a/utils/mariadb/Makefile
+++ b/utils/mariadb/Makefile
@@ -265,6 +265,7 @@ define Package/mariadb-server
   TITLE:=MariaDB database core server binaries
   MENU:=1
   PROVIDES:=mysql-server
+  USERID:=mariadb=376:mariadb=376
 endef
 
 define Package/mariadb-server/description
@@ -341,10 +342,10 @@ CMAKE_OPTIONS += \
 	-DINSTALL_SCRIPTDIR=bin \
 	-DINSTALL_SQLBENCHDIR="" \
 	-DINSTALL_SUPPORTFILESDIR=share/mysql \
-	-DINSTALL_UNIX_ADDRDIR=/var/run/mysqld.sock \
-	-DMYSQLD_USER=root \
+	-DINSTALL_UNIX_ADDRDIR=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock \
+	-DMYSQLD_USER=mariadb \
 	-DMYSQL_DATADIR=/var/lib/mysql \
-	-DMYSQL_UNIX_ADDR=/var/run/mysqld.sock \
+	-DMYSQL_UNIX_ADDR=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock \
 	-DSKIP_TESTS=ON \
 	-DWITH_ASAN=OFF \
 	-DWITH_EMBEDDED_SERVER=OFF \
@@ -461,10 +462,12 @@ endef
 define Package/mariadb-server/install
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)/usr/bin
 	$(foreach b,$(MARIADB_SERVER),$(call Package/mariadb/install/bin,$(1),$(b));)
+	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)/etc/default
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)/etc/init.d
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)/etc/mysql/conf.d
 	$(INSTALL_BIN) files/mysqld.init $(1)/etc/init.d/mysqld
 	$(INSTALL_CONF) conf/my.cnf $(1)/etc/mysql
+	$(INSTALL_CONF) conf/mysqld.default $(1)/etc/default/mysqld
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)$(PLUGIN_DIR)
 	$(INSTALL_CONF) $(PKG_INSTALL_DIR)$(PLUGIN_DIR)/daemon_example.ini $(1)$(PLUGIN_DIR)
 	$(INSTALL_DIR) $(1)/usr/share/mysql/english
@@ -482,6 +485,7 @@ define Package/mariadb-server-extra/install
 endef
 
 define Package/mariadb-server/conffiles
+/etc/default/mysqld
 /etc/mysql/my.cnf
 $(PLUGIN_DIR)/daemon_example.ini
 endef
diff --git a/utils/mariadb/conf/my.cnf b/utils/mariadb/conf/my.cnf
index ec2ade2c8..effa88a77 100644
--- a/utils/mariadb/conf/my.cnf
+++ b/utils/mariadb/conf/my.cnf
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 [client]
 port		= 3306
-socket		= /var/run/mysqld.sock
+socket		= /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
 
 [mysqld]
-user		= root
-socket		= /var/run/mysqld.sock
+user		= mariadb
+socket		= /var/run/mysqld/mysqld.sock
 port		= 3306
 basedir		= /usr
 
@@ -21,21 +21,21 @@ skip-external-locking
 bind-address		= 127.0.0.1
 
 # Fine Tuning
-key_buffer		= 16M
+key_buffer_size		= 16M
 max_allowed_packet	= 16M
 thread_stack		= 192K
-thread_cache_size       = 8
+thread_cache_size	= 8
 
 # Here you can see queries with especially long duration
 #log_slow_queries	= /var/log/mysql/mysql-slow.log
-#long_query_time = 2
+#long_query_time	= 2
 #log-queries-not-using-indexes
 
 # The following can be used as easy to replay backup logs or for replication.
 #server-id		= 1
-#log_bin			= /var/log/mysql/mysql-bin.log
+#log_bin		= /var/log/mysql/mysql-bin.log
 #expire_logs_days	= 10
-#max_binlog_size         = 100M
+#max_binlog_size	= 100M
 #binlog_do_db		= include_database_name
 #binlog_ignore_db	= include_database_name
 
diff --git a/utils/mariadb/conf/mysqld.default b/utils/mariadb/conf/mysqld.default
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fe9c698ba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/utils/mariadb/conf/mysqld.default
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# The user and group that will run the MySQL server. The user mariadb is
+# automatically created by the mariadb-server package, hence that is the
+# default choice.
+
+#MY_USER=mariadb
+#MY_GROUP=mariadb
+
+# Additional arguments you want to pass to the MySQL server.
+
+#MY_ARGS=""
diff --git a/utils/mariadb/files/mysqld.init b/utils/mariadb/files/mysqld.init
index fcd08d61e..abc99fc7a 100644
--- a/utils/mariadb/files/mysqld.init
+++ b/utils/mariadb/files/mysqld.init
@@ -1,32 +1,53 @@
 #!/bin/sh /etc/rc.common
-# Copyright (C) 2010-2011 OpenWrt.org
+# Copyright (C) 2010-2018 OpenWrt.org
 
 START=95
 STOP=10
 
-SERVICE_DAEMONIZE=1
-SERVICE_WRITE_PID=1
-SERVICE_STOP_TIME=9
-PROG='/usr/bin/mysqld'
+USE_PROCD=1
 
-start() {
+#PROCD_DEBUG=1
+
+MYSQLD=mysqld
+
+DEFAULT=/etc/default/$MYSQLD
+LOGGER="/usr/bin/logger -p user.err -s -t $MYSQLD"
+PROG=/usr/bin/$MYSQLD
+
+unset MY_ARGS MY_GROUP MY_USER
+
+[ -f $DEFAULT ] && . $DEFAULT
+
+my_user="${MY_USER:-mariadb}"
+my_group="${MY_GROUP:-mariadb}"
+
+start_service() {
 	local conf='/etc/mysql/my.cnf'
 	local datadir="$( sed -nE "s/^\s*datadir\s*=\s*('([^']*)'|\x22([^\x22]*)\x22|(.*\S))\s*$/\2\3\4/p" "$conf" )"
 
 	[ -d "$datadir" ] || {
-		logger -s "[ERROR] datadir '$datadir' in '$conf' does not exist"
+		$LOGGER "datadir '$datadir' in '$conf' does not exist"
 		return 1
 	}
 
 	[ -f "$datadir/mysql/tables_priv.MYD" ] || {
-		logger -s "[ERROR] can not detect privileges table, you might need to"
-		logger -s "run 'mysql_install_db --force' to initialize the system tables"
+		$LOGGER "cannot detect privileges table, you might need to"
+		$LOGGER "run 'mysql_install_db --force' to initialize the system tables"
 		return 1
 	}
 
-	service_start "$PROG"
-}
+	mkdir -p /var/lib/mysql
+	chown "$my_user":"$my_group" /var/lib/mysql
+
+	mkdir -p /var/run/mysqld
+	chown "$my_user":"$my_group" /var/run/mysqld
+
+	procd_open_instance
+
+	procd_set_param command $PROG $MY_ARGS
+	procd_set_param pidfile /var/run/mysqld.pid
+	# forward stderr to logd
+	procd_set_param stderr 1
 
-stop() {
-	service_stop "$PROG"
+	procd_close_instance
 }