Joomla 1.5 code page

[efibrk]

I was tried to install Joomla 1.5 from the CPanel
I see that the code page that Fantastico has been chosen to the joomla database is "latin1_swedish_ci".
I dont understand why this code page is the default and not "utf8_general_ci" that the Joomla 1.5 has fitted a special to it.
In latin1_swedish_ci code page I can't write in my language.
And it is a lot of work to change manually all the code page of the all tables and all the fields. I hope that you will  listen to me, and will change the code page or at least let me the option to choose the requested code page before the installation take place.
Another option is to examine the default code page of the systems database in the server, and set accordingly the joomla database.

respectfully yours,
Effi

[dexus]

Yes, Joomla 1.5 requires utf8 db encoding, and Fantastico should always create db and set all tables to utf8 for Joomla 1.5.

[Mahendra]

I see that the code page that Fantastico has been chosen to the joomla database is "latin1_swedish_ci".

What is the value of the following MySQL variables on your server?

• character_set_server
• collation_server

[efibrk]

I see. In my system:

character_set_server =latin1
collation_server =latin1_swedish_ci

interesting that the value of "character set connection", "character set client", "collation connection" is "utf8_unicode_ci".

Can I change it from the phpMyAdmin? or other place in Cpanel?  or i need to send a request, to the my supporter in the server?

thanking you in advance,
Effi

[Aric]

You need to ask your host to edit the default values. Typically this can be done in /etc/my.cnf -- Note that depending on your server setup, you may be able to change these values yourself by adding a my.cnf file to your home directory. However, you should speak with your host before trying that.

[efibrk]

Hi Mahendra  & Aric,

Thank you very much,
on yours detailed help.

Effi

[dexus]

You need to ask your host to edit the default values. Typically this can be done in /etc/my.cnf -- Note that depending on your server setup, you may be able to change these values yourself by adding a my.cnf file to your home directory. However, you should speak with your host before trying that.

But we dont' wan't to change server default. All other scripts can have UTF8 characters in Latin1 database except Joomla 1.5, so I think that only Fantastico instalation for Joomla 1.5 should always create UTF-8 database.

[Aric]

Well that is up to you, of course. As noted, if you customer prefers to do so, they can set a different default if they need to do so.

Is there some reason you need MySQL's default set to the Swedish variant of the latin1 encoding scheme?

Regards,

Aric

[dexus]

Well I don't really know... Why is that a MySQL default? Most providers don't change that default... All our servers have latin1 charset as default and all scripts of all clients can put utf8 characters to latin1 database, except Joomla 1.5.

I read somwhere that if database charset is set to utf8 it will just be larger and slower because every character will be treated as utf8 multi-byte character and there is no need that database have a charset by default utf8. That should be set as default only for languages and tables or just columns that will actually have more than 50% utf8 specific characters, and if some language have just a few specific unicode letters than it's better to use a latin1 database because it will be faster and will use less space... I don't know is this actually the truth.

I just can't find a way for .my.cnf to work per user, it's just ignored or in some cases with some settings in it Fantastico couldn't even install a script, it just creates empty database, when I for example put this in .my.cnf in user dir...

Code:

[client]
user="user"
pass="****"

character_set_database = utf8
collation_database = utf8_unicode_ci
character_set_server = utf8
collation_server = utf8_unicode_ci

[Aric]

Actually, that "default" was cPanel's doing as I understand it, not MySQL's. And the only reason it was set that way is because cPanel used to default to the first item in the list of collations. Which at the time on many servers was latin1_swedish, which unless you have Swedish clients is probably not what you want. ;-) I'm not sure how brand new installs of cPanel are managed (those that get MySQL 5 installed by default).

Instead of trying to modify the client section of your main my.cnf file, try creating a my.cnf file in the user's home directory with the needed configuration and see if that helps.

Beyond that, I recommend discussing the setup you'd like to use with your NOC or cPanel Inc. They may be able to help you getting your preferred settings working.

Regards,

Aric

[dexus]

Actually, that "default" was cPanel's doing as I understand it, not MySQL's.

No, that is MySQL's default.

Instead of trying to modify the client section of your main my.cnf file, try creating a my.cnf file in the user's home directory with the needed configuration and see if that helps.

I didn't modify main my.cnf file, I did put this file in user's home dir, but I can't get that to work.

[efibrk]

You need to ask your host to edit the default values. Typically this can be done in /etc/my.cnf -- Note that depending on your server setup, you may be able to change these values yourself by adding a my.cnf file to your home directory. However, you should speak with your host before trying that.

I talk with my supporter, and I got that answer:

You should be able to do it from phpMyAdmin without hassle. Changing global server variables is not possible I'm afraid.

Is it any way in the installation of fantastico to change the code page of the database to UTF8, immediately after created it? I understand that it summed up in one SQL query.
I think that will solve the problem without be depending in the kindness of the supporter.

Effi

[dexus]

I see that this is still not fixed...

Fantastico still create database with server default charset, disregarding the fact that Joomla 1.5 requires utf8 database.

Fantastico should always create database with utf8 charset and collation for Joomla 1.5.

The same problem is with phpBB3 that also by default expect that database is utf8. Luckly that can be changed in phpBB3 config file but in Joomla that can not be changed, so Fantastico can not be used for Joomla 1.5 instalation...

Please fix this.

Thanks.