diff --git a/utils/gen-common-flags b/utils/gen-common-flags
index 4dbbf92c3..a1e1fde1a 100755
--- a/utils/gen-common-flags
+++ b/utils/gen-common-flags
@@ -92,7 +92,6 @@ gen-pkgconf-flags OPENSSL             openssl
 gen-pkgconf-flags OPUS                opus
 gen-pkgconf-flags SPANDSP             spandsp
 gen-pkgconf-flags LIBJWT              libjwt
-gen-pkgconf-flags MYSQL               mysqlclient
 gen-pkgconf-flags LIBHIREDIS          hiredis
 gen-pkgconf-flags LIBPCAP             libpcap
 
@@ -112,3 +111,10 @@ if pkg-config --atleast-version=2.3 liburing; then
   gen-pkgconf-flags LIBURING liburing
   echo "CFLAGS_LIBURING += -DHAVE_LIBURING"
 fi
+
+# alternative MySQL/MariaDB
+if pkg-config --exists libmariadb; then
+  gen-pkgconf-flags MYSQL libmariadb
+else
+  gen-pkgconf-flags MYSQL mysqlclient
+fi