> > So is there a safe way to use utf-8 with firebird 1.5.3?
>
> UTF8 is an alias for UNICODE_FSS in Firebird 1.5.x. The question is

what you

> understand under "safe". Jaybird handled UTF-8 in Firebird 1.5.x

correctly

> and will continue doing so.

I havent used anything but unicode(utf-8) charsets for several years
now in a database backends. It has solved all problems i18n
applications. Clients are usually html webtier or JavaGUI.

I use daily:
* MySQL with utf-8: works without any problems and easy to setup
* MSSQL with nvarchar cols: works without any problems and easy to setup

Then I have tried Firebird 1.5/2.x but its not main stream ready yet.
At least FB1.5 is unable to do it well. FB2.x has fixed most problems,
but admintools may lack UTF8 support a bit.
http://koti.mbnet.fi/akini/ib/
http://koti.mbnet.fi/akini/fb/flamerobin.html
(sorry about the webpage design look&feel)

I think if I could find a decent html-based crossdatabase admin tool,
it should display utf8 data no problem. Web browser have an excellent
utf8 support nowdays.

I believe once FB2.x has officially relased it has a solid utf-8
support along the utils and drivers. Well, I care about the jdbc
driver only.

If/When you try UTF-8:
* try upper/lowercase functions how it works for utf-8 cols
* sort i18n varchar columns to see how sorting and collation works
* join tables using utf8 columns (simple joins, left outers, ...)
* best would use reference installation such as MySQL or MSSQL with
identical table values to see differences