Google Cloud SQL. Sorting in THAI in mysql

Question

We have an application where we use Google Cloud SQL (mysql) as database server. The databases are in the collation: utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci A user of the application from Thailand reported that their content appears in wrong ordering and demonstrated: Wrong alphabetic sorting in Thai

They also suggested this:

modify 'Collate' of our database from 'utf8mb4_unicode_520_ci' or whatever to 'utf8mb4_thai_520_w2' which is available already in Maria DB 10.1.15 or above version

We have a different database per instance. Each database needs to work well in a specific language, so it is not a problem if we changed the collation of their database.

But, I don't see this (or any other Thai related) collation available in MySQL inside cloudSQL.

Anyone knows: a) If any other available collation would do the trick? b) How one could go to a different version of mysql that supports this (or any other working well in thai) collation?

Thanks

Answer 1

a) The question of acceptable collations must be directed towards people fluent in the language and your business requirements. Expectations about the order of language are extremely locale specific.

Inquire as to what specifically is superior about the requested locale compared to ones based on Unicode Collation Algorithm.

b) GCP Cloud SQL is currently at MySQL 5.7. Later MariaDB developments are not available. Either select something available in SHOW COLLATION or consider a migration a different database.

The latter could be a major porting effort. Especially if GCP PostgreSQL does not meet your needs either and this service cannot sort your data properly. You could run MariaDB on your own infrastructure, but that changes your operations.