Question

I found that utf-8 is the standard , but Mysql doesn’t fully support utf-8(4bytes) .

Now here is my situation.
My collation variables of mysql show latin1 but the encoding mechanism in “database.yml”(rails) is utf8 .

I have a database with around 20 tables and around 1k rows in each table.
I am using Mysql 5.0 , ruby 1.8.7 and rails 3 .

I would like to support at least a few non printable charters.
What would be the best option ?

1. Should I change the whole database to utf-8 ( converting is painful and also mysql fully doesn’t support utf-8).
2. Should I change the encoding mechanism in “database.yml” to latin1 ( will the new setting be compatible with old data that is already stored ).
3. Is there any other solution ?

Thank you.

Answer 1

I think that the :encoding field in database.yml
is just what is used when creating a new database.

It won’t break your app if you change this field

(in fact I think it won’t do anything, unless you use rake db:create)

I suggest, if your app is targeting anyone outside of the US or western europe
you should be using utf8.
I find it surprising that Ubuntu still ships with the default as latin1.

This may be “optimised” for space
but causes a hassle for almost anyone with a client facing website.

There are various links on google for how to convert your database to UTF8
http://www.devcha.com/2008/03/convert-existing-mysql-database-from.html

something like

/* convert the default character set (used for new tables) */
ALTER DATABASE db_name DEFAULT CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

/* convert a specific table */
ALTER TABLE db_table CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_general_ci;

of course….

always back up your data, and try it out on a staging machine first