Why default character_set_server is latin1?

I am using MySQL 5.5 and when I show variables about charset, I have

+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| Variable_name            | Value                      |
+--------------------------+----------------------------+
| character_set_client     | utf8                       |
| character_set_connection | utf8                       |
| character_set_database   | latin1                     |
| character_set_filesystem | binary                     |
| character_set_results    | utf8                       |
| character_set_server     | latin1                     |
| character_set_system     | utf8                       |
| character_sets_dir       | /usr/share/mysql/charsets/ |
+--------------------------+----------------------------+

Should I need to change the character_set_database and character_set_server to utf8?

Think about it:

• You are storing data in the database as latin1

• You are data is handled internally by mysqld as latin1

If data coming from the OS or from the connection is utf8, how is mysqld going to treat it?

Rather than guessing or hoping for the best, you could change the incoming character set behavior. With the exception of information_schema and mysql, take all your databases and set the default character set to utf8:

ALTER DATABASE dbname CHARACTER SET utf8;

If you have a specific colllation to go with it, do this:

ALTER DATABASE dbname COLLATE 'utf8_general_ci';

Here are the collations to choose from:

mysql> select * from information_schema.collations where CHARACTER_SET_NAME = 'utf8';
+--------------------+--------------------+-----+------------+-------------+---------+
| COLLATION_NAME     | CHARACTER_SET_NAME | ID  | IS_DEFAULT | IS_COMPILED | SORTLEN |
+--------------------+--------------------+-----+------------+-------------+---------+
| utf8_general_ci    | utf8               |  33 | Yes        | Yes         |       1 |
| utf8_bin           | utf8               |  83 |            | Yes         |       1 |
| utf8_unicode_ci    | utf8               | 192 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_icelandic_ci  | utf8               | 193 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_latvian_ci    | utf8               | 194 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_romanian_ci   | utf8               | 195 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_slovenian_ci  | utf8               | 196 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_polish_ci     | utf8               | 197 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_estonian_ci   | utf8               | 198 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_spanish_ci    | utf8               | 199 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_swedish_ci    | utf8               | 200 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_turkish_ci    | utf8               | 201 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_czech_ci      | utf8               | 202 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_danish_ci     | utf8               | 203 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_lithuanian_ci | utf8               | 204 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_slovak_ci     | utf8               | 205 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_spanish2_ci   | utf8               | 206 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_roman_ci      | utf8               | 207 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_persian_ci    | utf8               | 208 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_esperanto_ci  | utf8               | 209 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_hungarian_ci  | utf8               | 210 |            | Yes         |       8 |
| utf8_sinhala_ci    | utf8               | 211 |            | Yes         |       8 |
+--------------------+--------------------+-----+------------+-------------+---------+
22 rows in set (0.03 sec)

You could also run

mysql> show collation where charset='utf8';
+--------------------+---------+-----+---------+----------+---------+
| Collation          | Charset | Id  | Default | Compiled | Sortlen |
+--------------------+---------+-----+---------+----------+---------+
| utf8_general_ci    | utf8    |  33 | Yes     | Yes      |       1 |
| utf8_bin           | utf8    |  83 |         | Yes      |       1 |
| utf8_unicode_ci    | utf8    | 192 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_icelandic_ci  | utf8    | 193 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_latvian_ci    | utf8    | 194 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_romanian_ci   | utf8    | 195 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_slovenian_ci  | utf8    | 196 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_polish_ci     | utf8    | 197 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_estonian_ci   | utf8    | 198 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_spanish_ci    | utf8    | 199 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_swedish_ci    | utf8    | 200 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_turkish_ci    | utf8    | 201 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_czech_ci      | utf8    | 202 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_danish_ci     | utf8    | 203 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_lithuanian_ci | utf8    | 204 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_slovak_ci     | utf8    | 205 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_spanish2_ci   | utf8    | 206 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_roman_ci      | utf8    | 207 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_persian_ci    | utf8    | 208 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_esperanto_ci  | utf8    | 209 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_hungarian_ci  | utf8    | 210 |         | Yes      |       8 |
| utf8_sinhala_ci    | utf8    | 211 |         | Yes      |       8 |
+--------------------+---------+-----+---------+----------+---------+
22 rows in set (0.00 sec)

mysql>

To see the individual charset of

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#29649, answer score: 9