diff --git a/debian/control b/debian/control
index bca2393a1aa48..f86849e57413d 100644
--- a/debian/control
+++ b/debian/control
@@ -112,22 +112,44 @@ Depends: libmariadb3 (= ${binary:Version}),
          zlib1g-dev,
          ${misc:Depends},
          ${shlibs:Depends}
-Breaks: libmariadbclient-dev, libmysqlclient-dev
-Replaces: libmariadbclient-dev, libmysqlclient-dev
-Conflicts: libmariadbclient16-dev,
+Breaks: libmariadbclient-dev
+Replaces: libmariadbclient-dev
+Conflicts: libmariadbclient16-dev
+Provides: libmariadbclient-dev
+Description: MariaDB database development files
+ MariaDB is a fast, stable and true multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database
+ server. SQL (Structured Query Language) is the most popular database query
+ language in the world. The main goals of MariaDB are speed, robustness and
+ ease of use.
+ .
+ This package includes development libraries and header files. To allow sources
+ expecting the MariaDB Connector/C to build. Sources that expect the MySQL
+ Client libraries should use files from the libmariadb-dev-compat package.
+
+Package: libmariadb-dev-compat
+Architecture: any
+Multi-Arch: same
+Section: libdevel
+Priority: extra
+Depends: libmariadb-dev (= ${binary:Version}), ${misc:Depends}
+Conflicts: libmariadb-client-lgpl-dev-compat,
+           libmariadbclient-dev-compat,
+           libmysqlclient-dev,
            libmysqlclient10-dev,
            libmysqlclient12-dev,
            libmysqlclient14-dev,
            libmysqlclient15-dev,
            libmysqlclient16-dev
-Provides: libmariadbclient-dev, libmariadbclient-dev-compat, libmysqlclient-dev
-Description: MariaDB database development files
+Provides: libmariadbclient-dev-compat, libmariadb-client-lgpl-dev-compat, libmysqlclient-dev
+Replaces: libmariadbclient-dev-compat, libmariadb-client-lgpl-dev-compat, libmysqlclient-dev
+Description: MariaDB Connector/C, compatibility symlinks
  MariaDB is a fast, stable and true multi-user, multi-threaded SQL database
  server. SQL (Structured Query Language) is the most popular database query
  language in the world. The main goals of MariaDB are speed, robustness and
  ease of use.
  .
- This package includes development libraries and header files.
+ This package includes compatibility symlinks to allow sources expecting the
+ MySQL client libraries to be built against MariaDB Connector/C.
 
 Package: libmariadbd19
 Architecture: any
diff --git a/debian/libmariadb-dev-compat.install b/debian/libmariadb-dev-compat.install
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..7fe10c50f697a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/libmariadb-dev-compat.install
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+usr/lib/*/libmysqlclient.a
+usr/lib/*/libmysqlclient.so
+usr/lib/*/libmysqlclient_r.a
+usr/lib/*/libmysqlclient_r.so
diff --git a/debian/libmariadb-dev-compat.links b/debian/libmariadb-dev-compat.links
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..5079841768103
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/libmariadb-dev-compat.links
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+usr/bin/mariadb_config usr/bin/mysql_config
+usr/share/pkgconfig/mariadb.pc usr/share/pkgconfig/mysqlclient.pc
diff --git a/debian/libmariadb-dev.install b/debian/libmariadb-dev.install
index 7aac84d0000c4..ae26a1e10e99d 100644
--- a/debian/libmariadb-dev.install
+++ b/debian/libmariadb-dev.install
@@ -1,8 +1,6 @@
-usr/bin/mysql_config
+usr/bin/mariadb_config
 usr/include/mysql
-usr/include/mariadb
 usr/lib/*/libmariadb.so
-usr/lib/*/libmysqlclient.so
 usr/lib/*/libmariadbclient.so
 usr/lib/*/libmariadbclient.a
 usr/lib/*/libmysqlservices.a
diff --git a/debian/libmariadb-dev.links b/debian/libmariadb-dev.links
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..14d60027b8a4a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/debian/libmariadb-dev.links
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+usr/include/mysql usr/include/mariadb
+usr/share/man/man1/mysql_config.1.gz usr/share/man/man1/mariadb_config.1.gz
diff --git a/debian/libmariadbd-dev.install b/debian/libmariadbd-dev.install
index 6fe225b15ba11..4608bf6e838cc 100644
--- a/debian/libmariadbd-dev.install
+++ b/debian/libmariadbd-dev.install
@@ -1,3 +1,2 @@
-usr/bin/mariadb_config
 usr/lib/*/libmysqld.a
 usr/lib/*/libmysqld.so