init_connect='SET NAMES utf8' stops RT functioning

RT Users
1

Hi All,

I am trying to import and export data with phpMyAdmin. When I look into the
database, I can see garbage instead of the accented characters - however on
the RT WebUI everything is OK.
If I try the following in /etc/my.cnf:
default-character-set=utf8
character-set-server=utf8
default-collation=utf8_unicode_ci
Nothing happens.
But if I try: init_connect=‘SET NAMES utf8’ then RT simply stops the normal
functions, I cannot login normally, etc.

  1. Basically I cannot figure out what it the character encoding used by RT
    default to store data in MySQL. (Export and Import functions are just
    providing garbage independently what Character set I am trying.)
  2. Is it make sense to try to use utf8 everywhere, or it makes more
    headache?

Thanks in advance.

BR

A.