@@ -113,8 +113,10 @@ jobs:
         image: ${{ matrix.db-type }}:${{ matrix.db-version }}
         ports:
           - 3306
+        # Ping over TCP, to wait for the TCP server rather than the Unix socket.
+        # MariaDB 11.0 dropped the `mysqladmin` symlink, so pick the client the image ships.
         options: >-
-          --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping"
+          --health-cmd="${{ matrix.db-type == 'mariadb' && ! contains( fromJSON('["5.5", "10.0", "10.1", "10.2", "10.3"]'), matrix.db-version ) && 'mariadb-admin' || 'mysqladmin' }} ping -h 127.0.0.1 --protocol=tcp"
           --health-interval="30s"
           --health-timeout="10s"
           --health-retries="5"
 
@@ -73,8 +73,10 @@ jobs:
         image: ${{ inputs.db-type }}:${{ inputs.db-version }}
         ports:
           - 3306
+        # Ping over TCP, to wait for the TCP server rather than the Unix socket.
+        # MariaDB 11.0 dropped the `mysqladmin` symlink, so pick the client the image ships.
         options: >-
-          --health-cmd="mysqladmin ping"
+          --health-cmd="${{ inputs.db-type == 'mariadb' && ! contains( fromJSON('["5.5", "10.0", "10.1", "10.2", "10.3"]'), inputs.db-version ) && 'mariadb-admin' || 'mysqladmin' }} ping -h 127.0.0.1 --protocol=tcp"
           --health-interval="30s"
           --health-timeout="10s"
           --health-retries="5"
 
@@ -80,10 +80,13 @@ services:
       - ./tools/local-env/mysql-init.sql:/docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/mysql-init.sql
       - mysql:/var/lib/mysql
 
+    # Ping over TCP: the client resolves the literal `localhost` to the Unix socket, which the
+    # temporary `--skip-networking` server used to initialise a cold volume answers long before
+    # the real server listens on port 3306.
     healthcheck:
       test: [
         'CMD-SHELL',
-        'if [ "$LOCAL_DB_TYPE" = "mariadb" ]; then case "$LOCAL_DB_VERSION" in 5.5|10.0|10.1|10.2|10.3) mysqladmin ping -h localhost || exit $$?;; *) mariadb-admin ping -h localhost || exit $$?;; esac; else mysqladmin ping -h localhost || exit $$?; fi'
+        'if [ "$LOCAL_DB_TYPE" = "mariadb" ]; then case "$LOCAL_DB_VERSION" in 5.5|10.0|10.1|10.2|10.3) mysqladmin ping -h 127.0.0.1 --protocol=tcp || exit $$?;; *) mariadb-admin ping -h 127.0.0.1 --protocol=tcp || exit $$?;; esac; else mysqladmin ping -h 127.0.0.1 --protocol=tcp || exit $$?; fi'
       ]
       timeout: 5s
       interval: 5s
 
@@ -11,9 +11,9 @@ local_env_utils.ensure_env_file();
 
 dotenvExpand.expand( dotenv.config() );
 
-// Create wp-config.php. This verifies the database connection, so retrying it doubles as the
-// readiness probe: the mysql healthcheck pings the container's own socket, which the temporary
-// server used to initialise a cold volume answers before the real server listens on TCP.
+// Create wp-config.php. This verifies the database connection, so retrying it keeps
+// `env:install` working on its own, without `env:start` having waited for the mysql
+// container to report healthy first.
 wp_cli_retry(
 	`config create --dbname=wordpress_develop --dbuser=root --dbpass=password --dbhost=mysql --force --config-file="wp-config.php"`,
 	{