Legacy Delphi systems with Paradox or BDE often look at first glance like a pure database topic. In practice, however, they are tied to reports, forms, permissions, local special tables, and processes that have grown over years.
A migration to MariaDB or another modern database is worthwhile when data consistency, multi-user operation, deployment, and extensibility need to become viable again. What matters is not only the technical target server, but the controlled transfer of the existing logic.
That is why we treat tables, indexes, SQL paths, character sets, transactions, and historically grown special cases as a cohesive modernization package. Only then does a database change become a technical foundation for further steps such as REST, services, or portals.
Especially for applications that have been in use for many years, a phased approach is often more economical than a big bang. Planning these intermediate stages cleanly is what ultimately makes the difference between a successful migration and frantic operational rework.