elevant server option group in an option file. For example:

[mariadb]
...
plugin_maturity = stable

Configuring Plugin Activation at Server Startup
-----------------------------------------------

A plugin will be loaded by default when the server starts if:

* The plugin was installed with the INSTALL SONAME statement.
* The plugin was installed with the INSTALL PLUGIN statement.
* The plugin was installed with the mariadb-plugin utility.
* The server is configured to load the plugin with the --plugin-load-add
option.
* The server is configured to load the plugin with the --plugin-load option.

This behavior can be changed with special options that take the form
--plugin-name. For example, for the server_audit audit plugin, the special
option is called --server-audit.

The possible values for these special options are:

+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Option Value                          | Description                        |
+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| OFF                                   | Disables the plugin without        |
|                                       | removing it from the               |
|                                       | mysql.plugins table.               |
+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| ON                                    | Enables the plugin. If the plugin  |
|                                       | cannot be initialized, then the    |
|                                       | server will still continue         |
|                                       | starting up, but the plugin will   |
|                                       | be disabled.                       |
+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| FORCE                                 | Enables the plugin. If the plugin  |
|                                       | cannot be initialized, then the    |
|                                       | server will fail to start with an  |
|                                       | error.                             |
+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| FORCE_PLUS_PERMANENT                  | Enables the plugin. If the plugin  |
|                                       | cannot be initialized, then the    |
|                                       | server will fail to start with an  |
|                                       | error. In addition, the plugin     |
|                                       | cannot be uninstalled with         |
|                                       | UNINSTALL SONAME or UNINSTALL      |
|                                       | PLUGIN while the server is         |
|                                       | running.                           |
+---------------------------------------+------------------------------------+

A plugin's status can be found by looking at the PLUGIN_STATUS column of the
information_schema.PLUGINS table.

Uninstalling Plugins
--------------------

Plugins that are found in the mysql.plugin table, that is those that were
installed with INSTALL SONAME, INSTALL PLUGIN or mariadb-plugin can be
uninstalled in one of two ways:

* The UNINSTALL SONAME or the UNINSTALL PLUGIN statement while the server is
running
* With mariadb-plugin while the server is offline.

Plugins that were enabled as a --plugin-load option do not need to be
uninstalled. If --plugin-load is omitted the next time the server starts, or
the plugin is not listed as one of the --plugin-load entries, the plugin will
not be loaded.

UNINSTALL PLUGIN uninstalls a single installed plugin, while UNINSTALL SONAME
uninstalls all plugins belonging to a given library.

URL: https://mariadb.com/kb/en/plugin-overview/