When running Gitea with MariaDB, the Admin Self-Check may display a warning about the expected database collation.

Typical message:

Expected database collation: utf8mb4_0900_as_cs

This collation exists only in MySQL 8. MariaDB instead uses modern UCA 14 collations (e.g. utf8mb4_uca1400_as_cs).

• MySQL 8 → utf8mb4_0900_as_cs (UCA 9.0)
• MariaDB 10.6+ / 11.x → utf8mb4_uca1400_as_cs (UCA 14.0)

Both variants are functionally equivalent:

• UTF8MB4
• Case-sensitive
• Accent-sensitive
• Modern Unicode sorting

• Enforce consistent UTF8MB4 usage
• Maintain uniform collation across all tables
• Avoid implicit character set conversions
• Ensure future-proof configuration for MariaDB

In the Gitea configuration file /path/to/app.ini:

[database]
CHARSET = utf8mb4
CHARSET_COLLATION = utf8mb4_uca1400_as_cs

Important: The correct parameter is CHARSET_COLLATION. The older key „COLLATION“ is not used in newer versions.

in SQL Console

SELECT DEFAULT_CHARACTER_SET_NAME, DEFAULT_COLLATION_NAME
FROM information_schema.SCHEMATA
WHERE SCHEMA_NAME = 'giteadb';

Expected result:

utf8mb4 + utf8mb4_uca1400_as_cs

SELECT TABLE_NAME, TABLE_COLLATION
FROM information_schema.TABLES
WHERE TABLE_SCHEMA = 'giteadb'
ORDER BY TABLE_NAME;

All tables should use the same collation.

SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'character_set%';
SHOW VARIABLES LIKE 'collation%';

Important:

character_set_server = utf8mb4

The server default may differ from the database collation. What matters is consistency within the Gitea database.

To verify configuration:

sudo -u git gitea doctor check --config /etc/gitea/app.ini

Expected result:

All checks OK
No collation-related warnings

Note: The warning regarding utf8mb4_0900_as_cs is not applicable when using MariaDB, as that collation is MySQL 8 specific.

• Ensure the correct app.ini file is being used
• Confirm CHARSET_COLLATION is properly set
• Restart the Gitea service after changes
• Re-run the Self-Check from the Admin panel

find /etc /var/lib -name app.ini

Only the configuration file referenced by the systemd service is relevant.

In this case, perform a uniform conversion:

ALTER TABLE <table> 
CONVERT TO CHARACTER SET utf8mb4 
COLLATE utf8mb4_uca1400_as_cs;

• Gitea operates fully MariaDB-compliant
• No MySQL 8 dependency
• Consistent sorting and indexing
• No collation mismatch warnings
• Stable and future-proof deployment

When using MariaDB, do not attempt to enforce utf8mb4_0900_as_cs.

For MariaDB 10.6+ and 11.x, utf8mb4_uca1400_as_cs is the technically correct choice.