import java.sql.Connection;
import java.sql.DriverManager;
import java.sql.ResultSet;
import java.sql.Statement;
import java.sql.SQLException;

class MySQLCJ8Issue {
  public static void main(String[] args) {
    try {
      Class.forName("com.mysql.cj.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
      Connection c = DriverManager.getConnection(
        "jdbc:mysql://localhost:3306/mysql?sslMode=DISABLED&cacheResultSetMetadata=true&user=root&password=test"
      );
      Statement s = c.createStatement();
      s.executeQuery("set autocommit = 0");
      //s.executeQuery("set character_set_client = 'utf8'");
      //s.execute("set autocommit = 0"); // this is fine
    } catch (Throwable ex) {
      ex.printStackTrace();
    }
  }
}