diff --git a/debian/rules b/debian/rules
index fa155e311d2..d029eead974 100755
--- a/debian/rules
+++ b/debian/rules
@@ -97,7 +97,6 @@ endif
 	    -DSYSTEM_TYPE="debian-$(DEB_HOST_GNU_SYSTEM)" \
 	    -DCMAKE_SYSTEM_PROCESSOR=$(DEB_HOST_ARCH) \
 	    -DBUILD_CONFIG=mysql_release \
-	    -DCONC_DEFAULT_CHARSET=utf8mb4 \
 	    -DPLUGIN_TOKUDB=NO \
 	    -DPLUGIN_CASSANDRA=NO \
 	    -DPLUGIN_AWS_KEY_MANAGEMENT=NO \
diff --git a/debian/salsa-ci.yml b/debian/salsa-ci.yml
index fcdcf5678a8..579d43aac66 100644
--- a/debian/salsa-ci.yml
+++ b/debian/salsa-ci.yml
@@ -196,40 +196,6 @@ blhc:
   - pkg-config --cflags --libs libmariadb
   - pkg-config --cflags --libs mariadb
   - apt-get install -y --no-install-recommends g++
-  - |
-    # Build a test binary that depends on libmysqlclient
-    cat > b933063.cpp <<EOF
-    #include <iostream>
-    #include <mysql/mysql.h>
-    #include <stdexcept>
-    int main()
-    {
-      MYSQL h;
-      if (!mysql_init(&h)
-        || mysql_options(&h, MYSQL_READ_DEFAULT_GROUP, "")
-        // || mysql_options(&h, MYSQL_SET_CHARSET_NAME, "utf8mb4")
-        || !mysql_real_connect(&h, "", "", NULL, "", 0, NULL, 0))
-        throw std::runtime_error(mysql_error(&h));
-      std::string q = "show variables like '%char%'";
-      if (mysql_real_query(&h, q.data(), q.size()))
-        throw std::runtime_error(mysql_error(&h));
-      MYSQL_RES* result = mysql_store_result(&h);
-      if (!result && mysql_errno(&h))
-        throw std::runtime_error(mysql_error(&h));
-      while (MYSQL_ROW row = mysql_fetch_row(result))
-      {
-        std::cout << row[0] << ": " << row[1] << "\n";
-      }
-      return 0;
-    }
-    EOF
-    apt-get install -y ./*.deb # Server must be installed for client to connect
-    echo "Testing -l mysqlclient"
-    g++ b933063.cpp -l mysqlclient && ./a.out | tee result
-    if grep --quiet latin result; then echo "ERROR: Charset latin found!"; exit 1; fi
-    echo "Testing -l mariadbclient"
-    g++ b933063.cpp -l mariadbclient && ./a.out | tee result
-    if grep --quiet latin result; then echo "ERROR: Charset latin found!"; exit 1; fi
 
 .test-install-all-libs: &test-install-all-libs
   - apt-get install -y ./libmariadb3_*.deb ./libmariadb-dev_*.deb ./libmariadb-dev-compat_*.deb ./libmariadbd19_*.deb ./libmariadbd-dev_*.deb ./mariadb-common_*.deb