diff --git a/package/mariadb/mariadb.mk b/package/mariadb/mariadb.mk
index 23822187c3..e8ccf7a2a9 100644
--- a/package/mariadb/mariadb.mk
+++ b/package/mariadb/mariadb.mk
@@ -48,8 +48,12 @@ MARIADB_CONF_OPTS += -DCMAKE_CROSSCOMPILING=1
 MARIADB_CONF_OPTS += -DENABLE_DTRACE=0
 
 ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_MARIADB_SERVER),y)
+ifeq ($(BR2_PACKAGE_MARIADB_SERVER_EMBEDDED),y)
 MARIADB_CONF_OPTS += -DWITH_EMBEDDED_SERVER=ON
 else
+MARIADB_CONF_OPTS += -DWITH_EMBEDDED_SERVER=OFF
+endif
+else
 MARIADB_CONF_OPTS += -DWITHOUT_SERVER=ON
 endif
 
diff --git a/package/mysql/Config.in b/package/mysql/Config.in
index 2abf5daecb..66bd0faa57 100644
--- a/package/mysql/Config.in
+++ b/package/mysql/Config.in
@@ -54,6 +54,12 @@ config BR2_PACKAGE_MARIADB_SERVER
 	help
 	  Install the mariadb server on the target.
 
+config BR2_PACKAGE_MARIADB_SERVER_EMBEDDED
+	depends on BR2_PACKAGE_MARIADB_SERVER
+	bool "mariadb embedded server"
+	help
+	  Install the mariadb embedded server on the target.
+
 endif
 
 if BR2_PACKAGE_ORACLE_MYSQL