diff --git a/admin/cli/mysql_collation.php b/admin/cli/mysql_collation.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9938a3af9f8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/admin/cli/mysql_collation.php
@@ -0,0 +1,211 @@
+<?php
+// This file is part of Moodle - http://moodle.org/
+//
+// Moodle is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+//
+// Moodle is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+//
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with Moodle.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+/**
+ * MySQL collation conversion tool.
+ *
+ * @package    core
+ * @copyright  2012 Petr Skoda (http://skodak.org)
+ * @license    http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html GNU GPL v3 or later
+ */
+
+define('CLI_SCRIPT', true);
+
+require(dirname(dirname(dirname(__FILE__))).'/config.php');
+require_once($CFG->libdir.'/clilib.php');      // cli only functions
+
+if ($DB->get_dbfamily() !== 'mysql') {
+    cli_error('This function is designed for MySQL databases only!');
+}
+
+// now get cli options
+list($options, $unrecognized) = cli_get_params(array('help'=>false, 'list'=>false, 'collation'=>false, 'available'=>false),
+    array('h'=>'help', 'l'=>'list', 'a'=>'available'));
+
+if ($unrecognized) {
+    $unrecognized = implode("\n  ", $unrecognized);
+    cli_error(get_string('cliunknowoption', 'admin', $unrecognized));
+}
+
+$help =
+    "MySQL collation conversions script.
+
+It is strongly recommended to stop the web server before the conversion.
+This script may be executed before the main upgrade - 1.9.x data for example.
+
+Options:
+--collation=COLLATION Convert MySQL tables to different collation
+-l, --list            Show table and column information
+-a, --available       Show list of available collations
+-h, --help            Print out this help
+
+Example:
+\$ sudo -u www-data /usr/bin/php admin/cli/mysql_collation.php --collation=utf8_general_ci
+";
+
+if (!empty($options['collation'])) {
+    $collations = mysql_get_collations();
+    $collation = clean_param($options['collation'], PARAM_ALPHANUMEXT);
+    $collation = strtolower($collation);
+    if (!isset($collations[$collation])) {
+        cli_error("Error: collation '$collation' is not available on this server!");
+    }
+
+    echo "Converting tables and columns to '$collation' for $CFG->wwwroot:\n";
+    $prefix = $DB->get_prefix();
+    $prefix = str_replace('_', '\\_', $prefix);
+    $sql = "SHOW TABLE STATUS WHERE Name LIKE BINARY '$prefix%'";
+    $rs = $DB->get_recordset_sql($sql);
+    $converted = 0;
+    $skipped   = 0;
+    $errors    = 0;
+    foreach ($rs as $table) {
+        echo str_pad($table->name, 40). " - ";
+
+        if ($table->collation === $collation) {
+            echo "NO CHANGE\n";
+            $skipped++;
+
+        } else {
+            $DB->change_database_structure("ALTER TABLE $table->name DEFAULT COLLATE = $collation");
+            echo "CONVERTED\n";
+            $converted++;
+        }
+
+        $sql = "SHOW FULL COLUMNS FROM $table->name WHERE collation IS NOT NULL";
+        $rs2 = $DB->get_recordset_sql($sql);
+        foreach ($rs2 as $column) {
+            $column = (object)array_change_key_case((array)$column, CASE_LOWER);
+            echo '    '.str_pad($column->field, 36). " - ";
+            if ($column->collation === $collation) {
+                echo "NO CHANGE\n";
+                $skipped++;
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            if ($column->type === 'tinytext' or $column->type === 'mediumtext' or $column->type === 'text' or $column->type === 'longtext') {
+                $notnull = ($column->null === 'NO') ? 'NOT NULL' : 'NULL';
+                $default = (!is_null($column->default) and $column->default !== '') ? "DEFAULT '$column->default'" : '';
+                // primary, unique and inc are not supported for texts
+                $sql = "ALTER TABLE $table->name MODIFY COLUMN $column->field $column->type COLLATE $collation $notnull $default";
+                $DB->change_database_structure($sql);
+
+            } else if (strpos($column->type, 'varchar') === 0) {
+                $notnull = ($column->null === 'NO') ? 'NOT NULL' : 'NULL';
+                $default = !is_null($column->default) ? "DEFAULT '$column->default'" : '';
+                // primary, unique and inc are not supported for texts
+                $sql = "ALTER TABLE $table->name MODIFY COLUMN $column->field $column->type COLLATE $collation $notnull $default";
+                $DB->change_database_structure($sql);
+            } else {
+                echo "ERROR (unknown column type: $column->type)\n";
+                $error++;
+                continue;
+            }
+            echo "CONVERTED\n";
+            $converted++;
+        }
+        $rs2->close();
+    }
+    $rs->close();
+    echo "Converted: $converted, skipped: $skipped, errors: $errors\n";
+    exit(0); // success
+
+} else if (!empty($options['list'])) {
+    echo "List of tables for $CFG->wwwroot:\n";
+    $prefix = $DB->get_prefix();
+    $prefix = str_replace('_', '\\_', $prefix);
+    $sql = "SHOW TABLE STATUS WHERE Name LIKE BINARY '$prefix%'";
+    $rs = $DB->get_recordset_sql($sql);
+    $counts = array();
+    foreach ($rs as $table) {
+        if (isset($counts[$table->collation])) {
+            $counts[$table->collation]++;
+        } else {
+            $counts[$table->collation] = 1;
+        }
+        echo str_pad($table->name, 40);
+        echo $table->collation.  "\n";
+        $collations = mysql_get_column_collations($table->name);
+        foreach ($collations as $columname=>$collation) {
+            if (isset($counts[$collation])) {
+                $counts[$collation]++;
+            } else {
+                $counts[$collation] = 1;
+            }
+            echo '    ';
+            echo str_pad($columname, 36);
+            echo $collation.  "\n";
+        }
+    }
+    $rs->close();
+
+    echo "\n";
+    echo "Table collations summary for $CFG->wwwroot:\n";
+    foreach ($counts as $collation => $count) {
+        echo "$collation: $count\n";
+    }
+    exit(0); // success
+
+} else if (!empty($options['available'])) {
+    echo "List of available MySQL collations for $CFG->wwwroot:\n";
+    $collations = mysql_get_collations();
+    foreach ($collations as $collation) {
+        echo " $collation\n";
+    }
+    die;
+
+} else {
+    echo $help;
+    die;
+}
+
+
+
+// ========== Some functions ==============
+
+function mysql_get_collations() {
+    global $DB;
+
+    $collations = array();
+    $sql = "SHOW COLLATION WHERE Collation LIKE 'utf8\_%' AND Charset = 'utf8'";
+    $rs = $DB->get_recordset_sql($sql);
+    foreach ($rs as $collation) {
+        $collations[$collation->collation] = $collation->collation;
+    }
+    $rs->close();
+
+    $collation = $DB->get_dbcollation();
+    if (isset($collations[$collation])) {
+        $collations[$collation] .= ' (default)';
+    }
+
+    return $collations;
+}
+
+function mysql_get_column_collations($tablename) {
+    global $DB;
+
+    $collations = array();
+    $sql = "SELECT column_name, collation_name
+              FROM INFORMATION_SCHEMA.COLUMNS
+             WHERE table_schema = DATABASE() AND table_name = ? AND collation_name IS NOT NULL";
+    $rs = $DB->get_recordset_sql($sql, array($tablename));
+    foreach($rs as $record) {
+        $collations[$record->column_name] = $record->collation_name;
+    }
+    $rs->close();
+    return $collations;
+}