Hello all, After speaking and investigating with french usenet, i'm still stuck. SOLUTION A : * someone suggested me to use mysqlPP (Pure Perl mysql, that uses unix socket). Did nothing interesting SOLUTION B : PATCHING dbd::mySQL * I tried to apply the patch from http://lists.mysql.com/perl/3006?f=plain, but it's for DBD::mysql v2.9003, that is VERY VERY old (why the hell did the maintainer not apply him. Maybe it's buggy ?). * I tried to apply the patch manually to the last version, and it's a pain, I resigned before the end. + It contains some .c softwares that makes him impossible to be shipped with koha, in C4 directory. It has to be compiled, requires some specific things. SOLUTION C : modifying Koha to have Encode::decode_utf8 everywhere. This solution works fine, i've tested it partially in 2 scripts from admin/, I can have smiley. So, i'm still stuck with the problem, I've spend almost another full day on it. If joshua can reach mySQL guys, or anyone suggest a solution. Note : Tümer don't have the problem (i've checked through a private login he sended to me), Joshua has the same as me. The only difference I can find between us is that Tümer is under win2003, while Joshua & me are under Linux. -- Paul POULAIN et Henri Damien LAURENT Consultants indépendants en logiciels libres et bibliothéconomie (http://www.koha-fr.org)