(C) 2005 by Julia Dubenskaya (julia@cryptocom.ru)
and Sergei Vyshenski (svysh@cryptocom.ru) 
for OpenCA project.

This document can be modified and redistributed along the terms
of the GNU Free Documentation License 1.2 (or newer)
You can obtain a copy at http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.txt

This HOWTO-MySQL-UTF8 text says how to enable 
processing of UTF8-encoded data in MySQL database.
It is meant for persons that are confortable with MySQL 
and are concerned with just enabling UTF8 support on data level.
It says nothing about change of the interface language.
================================================
UTF8 support in MySQL

To provide utf8 support in MySQL databases it is necessary 
to explicitly define database default charset in configuration
file.

The example below implies use of FreeBSD-5.4 and 
MySQL-4.1.13 suite installed from FreeBSD ports collection, 
but basic idea is universal.

If you already have pre-installed MySQL suite then:
1) stop MySQL server
2) go to point 3 below.

To install MySQL suite anew, proceed as follows.

To create a new MySQL database you should:

 As root
 #######

1. Install the following ports for MySQL suite 
(from /usr/ports/databases/):

       mysql41-server
       mysql41-client
     
2. Install the following ports to enable access from perl 
modules to postgre (from /usr/ports/databases/):

       p5-DBI
       p5-DBD-mysql41

3. Create a new directory for mysql databases: 

       mkdir /var/db/mysql
       cd /var/db
       chown mysql:mysql mysql
       chmod 700 mysql 

4. Create a new configuration file /usr/local/etc/my.cnf with lines:

[mysqld]
default-character-set=utf8

5. Edit file /etc/rc.conf to include lines:

mysql_enable="YES"
mysql_limits="YES"
mysql_dbdir="/var/db/mysql"
mysql_args=""

8. Start MySQL server:

/usr/local/etc/rc.d/mysql-server.sh start

9. To check encoding of the datafields say:
   
       mysqladmin variables |grep character_set

If everything is OK you will see many pieces of "utf8" string.
 
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