Re: Bug #3924: Create Database with another encoding as the encoding from postgres

Joe <dev@freedomcircle.net> writes:
> I can understand that creating a LATIN2, EUC_CN or some other encoding
> in a LATIN1 cluster may cause problems, but don't quite see how UTF-8
> can be a problem since in essence it includes the others.  Perhaps
> someone can provide further explanation?

The locale setting implies a specific encoding.  UTF8 may contain all
the same characters that, say, LATIN1 does, but it's not anywhere near
representationally the same, and locale-dependent functions will do the
wrong thing if they are fed UTF8 when they are expecting LATIN1.

> Assuming this situation will remain as is in the immediate future, what
> are my options?  The 8.3 cluster has a LATIN1 database that must stay
> that way (at least for a while).

Why does it have to be LATIN1?  If your answer is "my client code deals
in LATIN1", just set client_encoding = LATIN1.  You could do that with
ALTER DATABASE SET or possibly ALTER USER SET so that it's transparent
to the clients.

            regards, tom lane