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Before we begin, you need r00t access to key Apache, PHP and MySQL configuration files.
Let’s start with the apache config. The location paths may differ based on your server setup. Look around and be sure that you are editing real config files and not the templates.
Apache Config - /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
AddDefaultCharset UTF-8
PHP Config – /etc/php.ini
default_charset = "utf-8"
MySQL Config - /etc/my.cnf
[client]
default-character-set=utf8
[mysqld]
character-set-server=utf8
default-character-set=utf8
default-collation=utf8_unicode_ci
init-connect='SET NAMES utf8'
character-set-client = utf8
Restart the above services once these updates have been applied.
Confirm if UTF-8 is Enabled:
# mysql –uroot –hlocalhost –p
# show variables like 'c%'
The above output should be:
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| character_set_client | utf8 |
| character_set_connection | utf8 |
| character_set_database | utf8 |
| character_set_filesystem | binary |
| character_set_results | utf8 |
| character_set_server | utf8 |
| character_set_system | utf8 |
| collation_connection | utf8_general_ci |
| collation_database | utf8_unicode_ci |
| collation_server | utf8_unicode_ci |
| completion_type | 0 |
| concurrent_insert | 1 |
| connect_timeout | 5 |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
It is possible that after these updates, PHP will continue to decode a UTF-8 character set in the form of question marks. Eg: ????
The solution is to call mysql_query() immediately after mysql_connect() has attempted a connection to the database.
$db_ = @mysql_connect (HOST, USER, PASSWORD, TRUE) or die("Could not connect");
mysql_query('SET NAMES utf8');
mysql_select_db(DB, $db_);
(Note the mysql_query('SET NAMES utf8'); above)
// Other db connect info here
// To be continued
Howto override php.ini through htaccess
Let’s start with the apache config. The location paths may differ based on your server setup. Look around and be sure that you are editing real config files and not the templates.
Apache Config - /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf
AddDefaultCharset UTF-8
PHP Config – /etc/php.ini
default_charset = "utf-8"
MySQL Config - /etc/my.cnf
[client]
default-character-set=utf8
[mysqld]
character-set-server=utf8
default-character-set=utf8
default-collation=utf8_unicode_ci
init-connect='SET NAMES utf8'
character-set-client = utf8
Restart the above services once these updates have been applied.
Confirm if UTF-8 is Enabled:
# mysql –uroot –hlocalhost –p
# show variables like 'c%'
The above output should be:
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Variable_name | Value |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| character_set_client | utf8 |
| character_set_connection | utf8 |
| character_set_database | utf8 |
| character_set_filesystem | binary |
| character_set_results | utf8 |
| character_set_server | utf8 |
| character_set_system | utf8 |
| collation_connection | utf8_general_ci |
| collation_database | utf8_unicode_ci |
| collation_server | utf8_unicode_ci |
| completion_type | 0 |
| concurrent_insert | 1 |
| connect_timeout | 5 |
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
It is possible that after these updates, PHP will continue to decode a UTF-8 character set in the form of question marks. Eg: ????
The solution is to call mysql_query() immediately after mysql_connect() has attempted a connection to the database.
$db_ = @mysql_connect (HOST, USER, PASSWORD, TRUE) or die("Could not connect");
mysql_query('SET NAMES utf8');
mysql_select_db(DB, $db_);
(Note the mysql_query('SET NAMES utf8'); above)
// Other db connect info here
// To be continued
Howto override php.ini through htaccess
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