--- /usr/share/pear/DB/mysqli.php~	2006-05-05 19:37:08.000000000 +0200
+++ /usr/share/pear/DB/mysqli.php	2006-06-10 01:03:20.523531813 +0200
@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ class DB_mysqli extends DB_common
      *     + capath   The path to a directory that contains trusted SSL
      *                 CA certificates in pem format.
      *     + cipher   The list of allowable ciphers for SSL encryption.
+     *   + charset    The default character set for a database.
      *
      * Example of how to connect using SSL:
      * <code>
@@ -336,6 +337,12 @@ class DB_mysqli extends DB_common
             }
         }
 
+        if (!empty($dsn['charset'])) {
+            if (!mysqli_set_charset($this->connection, $dsn['charset'])) {
+                printf("Error loading character set {$dsn['charset']}: %s\n", mysqli_error($this->connection));
+            }
+        }
+
         if ($dsn['database']) {
             $this->_db = $dsn['database'];
         }