diff --git a/lib/db/migrate2utf8.xml b/lib/db/migrate2utf8.xml
index f22f9752871..1f9d108d806 100755
--- a/lib/db/migrate2utf8.xml
+++ b/lib/db/migrate2utf8.xml
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
     </TABLE>
     <TABLE name="config_plugins">
       <FIELDS>
-        <FIELD name="plugin" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="100" dropindex="plugin_name"/>
+        <FIELD name="plugin" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="100" dropindex="plugin_name" default="core"/>
         <FIELD name="name" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="100" adduniqueindex="plugin_name(plugin(100), name(100))"/>
         <FIELD name="value" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="text" length="0">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
@@ -153,7 +153,7 @@
     <TABLE name="grade_exceptions" />
     <TABLE name="grade_letter">
       <FIELDS>
-        <FIELD name="letter" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="8">
+        <FIELD name="letter" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="8" default="NA">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
             migrate2utf8_grade_letter_letter(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@
             migrate2utf8_groups_description(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
         </FIELD>
-        <FIELD name="lang" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="10">
+        <FIELD name="lang" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="10" default="en">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
             migrate2utf8_groups_lang(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
@@ -349,7 +349,7 @@
     <TABLE name="user_coursecreators" />
     <TABLE name="user">
       <FIELDS>
-        <FIELD name="auth" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="20" dropindex="auth" addindex="auth(auth(20))"/>
+        <FIELD name="auth" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="20" dropindex="auth" addindex="auth(auth(20))" default="manual"/>
         <FIELD name="username" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="100" dropindex="username" adduniqueindex="username(username(100))"/>
         <FIELD name="password" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="32">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
@@ -443,28 +443,28 @@
             migrate2utf8_user_summary(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
         </FIELD>
-        <FIELD name="format" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="10" />
+        <FIELD name="format" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="10" default="topics"/>
         <FIELD name="modinfo" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="longtext" length="0">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
             migrate2utf8_user_modinfo(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
         </FIELD>
-        <FIELD name="teacher" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="100">
+        <FIELD name="teacher" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="100" default="Teacher">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
             migrate2utf8_user_teacher(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
         </FIELD>
-        <FIELD name="teachers" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="100">
+        <FIELD name="teachers" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="100" default="Teachers">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
             migrate2utf8_user_teachers(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
         </FIELD>
-        <FIELD name="student" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="100">
+        <FIELD name="student" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="100" default="Student">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
             migrate2utf8_user_student(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
         </FIELD>
-        <FIELD name="students" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="100">
+        <FIELD name="students" method="PHP_FUNCTION" type="varchar" length="100" default="Students">
           <PHP_FUNCTION>
             migrate2utf8_user_students(RECORDID)
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
@@ -475,7 +475,7 @@
           </PHP_FUNCTION>
         </FIELD>
         <FIELD name="theme" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="50" />
-        <FIELD name="lang" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="10" />
+        <FIELD name="lang" method="NO_CONV" type="varchar" length="10" default="en" />
       </FIELDS>
     </TABLE>
   </TABLES>
diff --git a/lib/db/mysql.sql b/lib/db/mysql.sql
index 4a205b82dd5..e5316f6f101 100644
--- a/lib/db/mysql.sql
+++ b/lib/db/mysql.sql
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_course_sections` (
   `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
   `course` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   `section` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
-  `summary` text NOT NULL,
+  `summary` text NOT NULL default '',
   `sequence` text NOT NULL default '',
   `visible` tinyint(1) NOT NULL default '1',
   PRIMARY KEY  (`id`),
@@ -192,8 +192,8 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_course_request`  (
   `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
   `fullname` varchar(254) NOT NULL default '',
   `shortname` varchar(15) NOT NULL default '',
-  `summary` text NOT NULL,
-  `reason` text NOT NULL,
+  `summary` text NOT NULL default '',
+  `reason` text NOT NULL default '',
   `requester` int(10) NOT NULL default 0,
   `password` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
   PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
@@ -256,7 +256,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_cache_filters` (
   `filter` varchar(32) NOT NULL default '',
   `version` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   `md5key` varchar(32) NOT NULL default '',
-  `rawtext` text NOT NULL,
+  `rawtext` text NOT NULL default '',
   `timemodified` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   PRIMARY KEY  (`id`),
   KEY `filtermd5key` (filter,md5key)
@@ -271,7 +271,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_cache_filters` (
 CREATE TABLE `prefix_cache_text` (
   `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
   `md5key` varchar(32) NOT NULL default '',
-  `formattedtext` longtext NOT NULL,
+  `formattedtext` longtext NOT NULL default '',
   `timemodified` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   PRIMARY KEY  (`id`),
   KEY `md5key` (`md5key`)
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_message` (
   `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
   `useridfrom` int(10) NOT NULL default '0',
   `useridto` int(10) NOT NULL default '0',
-  `message` text NOT NULL,
+  `message` text NOT NULL default '',
   `format` int(4) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   `timecreated` int(10) NOT NULL default '0',
   `messagetype` varchar(50) NOT NULL default '',
@@ -461,7 +461,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_message_read` (
   `id` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
   `useridfrom` int(10) NOT NULL default '0',
   `useridto` int(10) NOT NULL default '0',
-  `message` text NOT NULL,
+  `message` text NOT NULL default '',
   `format` int(4) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   `timecreated` int(10) NOT NULL default '0',
   `timeread` int(10) NOT NULL default '0',
@@ -515,7 +515,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_scale` (
   `courseid` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   `userid` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
-  `scale` text NOT NULL,
+  `scale` text NOT NULL default '',
   `description` text NOT NULL default '',
   `timemodified` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   PRIMARY KEY  (id),
@@ -529,10 +529,10 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_scale` (
 #
 
 CREATE TABLE `prefix_sessions` (
-  `sesskey` char(32) NOT null,
-  `expiry` int(11) unsigned NOT null,
-  `expireref` varchar(64),
-  `data` text NOT null,
+  `sesskey` char(32) NOT null default '',
+  `expiry` int(11) unsigned NOT null default '0',
+  `expireref` varchar(64) default '',
+  `data` text NOT null default '',
   PRIMARY KEY (`sesskey`), 
   KEY (`expiry`) 
 ) TYPE=MyISAM COMMENT='Optional database session storage, not used by default';
@@ -606,7 +606,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_user` (
   `secret` varchar(15) default NULL,
   `picture` tinyint(1) default NULL,
   `url` varchar(255) default NULL,
-  `description` text,
+  `description` text default '',
   `mailformat` tinyint(1) unsigned NOT NULL default '1',
   `maildigest` tinyint(1) unsigned NOT NULL default '0',
   `maildisplay` tinyint(2) unsigned NOT NULL default '2',
@@ -726,12 +726,12 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_user_coursecreators` (
 #
 
 CREATE TABLE `adodb_logsql` (
- `created` datetime NOT NULL,
- `sql0` varchar(250) NOT NULL,
- `sql1` text NOT NULL,
- `params` text NOT NULL,
- `tracer` text NOT NULL,
- `timer` decimal(16,6) NOT NULL
+ `created` datetime NOT NULL default '0000-00-00 00:00:00',
+ `sql0` varchar(250) NOT NULL default '',
+ `sql1` text NOT NULL default '',
+ `params` text NOT NULL default '',
+ `tracer` text NOT NULL default '',
+ `timer` decimal(16,6) NOT NULL default '0'
 );
 
 CREATE TABLE `prefix_stats_daily` (
@@ -750,7 +750,7 @@ CREATE TABLE `prefix_stats_daily` (
    `uniquelogins` int(10) unsigned NOT NULL default 0,
    PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
    KEY `courseid` (`courseid`),
-   KEY `timeend` (`timeend`)	 
+   KEY `timeend` (`timeend`)
 );
 
 CREATE TABLE prefix_stats_weekly (