diff --git a/elements/mariadb-dev/README.md b/elements/mariadb-dev/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5b0b0f763
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/mariadb-dev/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Installs mariadb devel package
+
+This is a separate element because different devel packages are installed for
+mysql and for mariadb.
diff --git a/elements/mariadb-dev/element-provides b/elements/mariadb-dev/element-provides
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..063f2a84b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/mariadb-dev/element-provides
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+mysql-dev
diff --git a/elements/mariadb-dev/environment.d/20-mariadb b/elements/mariadb-dev/environment.d/20-mariadb
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..b099e45dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/mariadb-dev/environment.d/20-mariadb
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+# The mariadb download url arch values are not the same as ours
+if [ $ARCH = "i386" ]; then
+    MARIADB_ARCH=x86
+else
+    MARIADB_ARCH=$ARCH
+fi
+export MARIADB_ARCH
diff --git a/elements/mariadb-dev/install.d/03-mariadb-dev b/elements/mariadb-dev/install.d/03-mariadb-dev
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..1fd8b2c90
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/mariadb-dev/install.d/03-mariadb-dev
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -eux
+
+install-packages libmariadb-dev
+
+# TODO: fedora mysql_config has to be tweaked to exclude probes_mysql lib
+# https://mariadb.atlassian.net/browse/MDEV-5793
+FILE=$(which mysql_config)
+if $FILE --libs_r | grep probes_mysql;then
+  sed -i.orig "s/-lprobes_mysql//" $FILE
+fi
diff --git a/elements/mariadb-dev/pre-install.d/05-mysql-mariadb-repo b/elements/mariadb-dev/pre-install.d/05-mysql-mariadb-repo
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..65bce3c6a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/mariadb-dev/pre-install.d/05-mysql-mariadb-repo
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -e
+set -o xtrace
+
+# repo urls
+# 5.5 version is used instead of 10.0 (which is already out) because of
+# dependency issues - python-mysql depends on mariadb-libs which conflicts
+# with mysql-galera-server pkg
+# http://yum.mariadb.org/5.5/fedora20-amd64
+# http://yum.mariadb.org/5.5/fedora20-x86
+# http://yum.mariadb.org/5.5/rhel6-amd64
+# http://yum.mariadb.org/5.5/rhel6-x86
+# http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/mariadb/repo/5.5/ubuntu saucy main
+# http://mirror.jmu.edu/pub/mariadb/repo/5.5/debian wheezy main
+
+DISTRO=`lsb_release -si` || true
+
+if [ "$DISTRO" == "RedHatEnterpriseServer" ];then
+  DIST_DIR="rhel"
+else
+  DIST_DIR=$(echo "$DISTRO"|tr A-Z a-z)
+fi
+
+function add_yum_repo() {
+  ver=`lsb_release -sr`
+
+  cat > /etc/yum.repos.d/mariadb.repo <<eof
+[mariadb]
+name = MariaDB
+baseurl = http://yum.mariadb.org/5.5/$DIST_DIR$ver-$MARIADB_ARCH
+gpgkey=https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
+gpgcheck=1
+eof
+  rpmkeys --import https://yum.mariadb.org/RPM-GPG-KEY-MariaDB
+}
+
+function add_apt_repo() {
+  local codename=`lsb_release -sc`
+  # http://keyserver.ubuntu.com is used both for debian and ubuntu
+  apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 0xcbcb082a1bb943db
+  add-apt-repository "deb  http://mariadb.mirror.iweb.com//repo/5.5/$DIST_DIR $codename main"
+  apt-get update
+}
+
+if [[ "RedHatEnterpriseServer CentOS Fedora" =~ "$DISTRO" ]]; then
+  add_yum_repo
+elif [[ "Ubuntu Debian" =~ "$DISTRO" ]]; then
+  add_apt_repo
+else
+  echo "Distribution '$DISTRO' is not supported"
+  exit 1
+fi
diff --git a/elements/mysql-dev/README.md b/elements/mysql-dev/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c956a4115
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/mysql-dev/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+Installs mysql devel package
+
+This is a separate element because different devel packages are installed for
+mysql and for mariadb.
diff --git a/elements/mysql-dev/install.d/03-mysql-dev b/elements/mysql-dev/install.d/03-mysql-dev
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..62cac0603
--- /dev/null
+++ b/elements/mysql-dev/install.d/03-mysql-dev
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+
+set -eux
+
+install-packages libmysqlclient-dev
diff --git a/elements/os-svc-install/element-deps b/elements/os-svc-install/element-deps
index 9770f9ba6..07c3d0477 100644
--- a/elements/os-svc-install/element-deps
+++ b/elements/os-svc-install/element-deps
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
+mysql-dev
 pip-and-virtualenv
 pip-manifest
diff --git a/elements/os-svc-install/install.d/04-os-svc-install b/elements/os-svc-install/install.d/04-os-svc-install
index e2880766b..0cc526aea 100755
--- a/elements/os-svc-install/install.d/04-os-svc-install
+++ b/elements/os-svc-install/install.d/04-os-svc-install
@@ -1,9 +1,6 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -eux
 
-# Mysqlclient-dev is needed for MySQL-python which os-svc-install installs.
-install-packages libmysqlclient-dev
-
 install -m 0755 -o root -g root $(dirname $0)/../bin/os-svc-install /usr/local/bin/os-svc-install
 install -m 0755 -o root -g root $(dirname $0)/../bin/os-svc-daemon  /usr/local/bin/os-svc-daemon
 install -m 0755 -o root -g root $(dirname $0)/../bin/os-db-create   /usr/local/bin/os-db-create