diff --git a/BUILD/build_rpm_local.sh b/BUILD/build_rpm_local.sh
index 78e2d018f..ba93f63d4 100755
--- a/BUILD/build_rpm_local.sh
+++ b/BUILD/build_rpm_local.sh
@@ -18,11 +18,11 @@ then
     ctest --output-on-failure || exit 1
 fi
 
-if [ $remove_strip == "yes" ] ; then
-	sudo rm -rf /usr/bin/strip
-	sudo touch /usr/bin/strip
-	sudo chmod a+x /usr/bin/strip
-fi
+# Never strip binaries
+sudo rm -rf /usr/bin/strip
+sudo touch /usr/bin/strip
+sudo chmod a+x /usr/bin/strip
+
 sudo make package
 res=$?
 if [ $res != 0 ] ; then
diff --git a/Documentation/Authenticators/MySQL-Authenticator.md b/Documentation/Authenticators/MySQL-Authenticator.md
index f2397d018..ffbdb0c7d 100644
--- a/Documentation/Authenticators/MySQL-Authenticator.md
+++ b/Documentation/Authenticators/MySQL-Authenticator.md
@@ -67,3 +67,16 @@ injected into the list of users.
 ```
 authenticator_options=inject_service_user=false
 ```
+
+### `lower_case_table_names`
+
+Enable case-insensitive identifier matching for authentication. This parameter
+is disabled by default.
+
+The parameter functions exactly as the MariaDB Server system variable
+[lower_case_table_names](https://mariadb.com/kb/en/library/server-system-variables/#lower_case_table_names).
+This makes the matching done by the authenticator on database names to be
+case-insensitive by converting all names into their lowercase form.
+
+**Note:** The identifier names are converted using an ASCII-only function. This
+  means that non-ASCII characters will retain their case-sensitivity.
diff --git a/server/core/gateway.cc b/server/core/gateway.cc
index a65e5d38d..1d900d42f 100644
--- a/server/core/gateway.cc
+++ b/server/core/gateway.cc
@@ -1398,15 +1398,15 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     char*    cnf_file_arg = NULL;         /*< conf filename from cmd-line arg */
     THREAD    log_flush_thr;
     char*    tmp_path;
-    char*    tmp_var;
     int      option_index;
-    int      *syslog_enabled = &config_get_global_options()->syslog; /** Log to syslog */
-    int      *maxlog_enabled = &config_get_global_options()->maxlog; /** Log with MaxScale */
-    int      *log_to_shm = &config_get_global_options()->log_to_shm; /** Log to shared memory */
+    MXS_CONFIG* cnf = config_get_global_options();
+    ss_dassert(cnf);
+    int      *syslog_enabled = &cnf->syslog; /** Log to syslog */
+    int      *maxlog_enabled = &cnf->maxlog; /** Log with MaxScale */
+    int      *log_to_shm = &cnf->log_to_shm; /** Log to shared memory */
     ssize_t  log_flush_timeout_ms = 0;
     sigset_t sigpipe_mask;
     sigset_t saved_mask;
-    bool config_check = false;
     bool to_stdout = false;
     void   (*exitfunp[4])(void) = { mxs_log_finish, cleanup_process_datadir, write_footer, NULL };
     int numlocks = 0;
@@ -1415,7 +1415,6 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     const char* specified_user = NULL;
 
     config_set_global_defaults();
-    MXS_CONFIG* cnf = config_get_global_options();
     ss_dassert(cnf);
 
     maxscale_reset_starttime();
@@ -1719,7 +1718,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
             goto return_main;
 
         case 'c':
-            config_check = true;
+            cnf->config_check = true;
             break;
 
         case 'p':
@@ -1753,7 +1752,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
         goto return_main;
     }
 
-    if (config_check)
+    if (cnf->config_check)
     {
         daemon_mode = false;
         to_stdout = true;
@@ -1918,7 +1917,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     {
         bool succp;
 
-        if (mkdir(get_logdir(), 0777) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
+        if (!cnf->config_check && mkdir(get_logdir(), 0777) != 0 && errno != EEXIST)
         {
             fprintf(stderr,
                     "Error: Cannot create log directory: %s\n",
@@ -1965,19 +1964,23 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
     MXS_NOTICE("Commit: %s", MAXSCALE_COMMIT);
 #endif
 
-    /*
-     * Set the data directory. We use a unique directory name to avoid conflicts
-     * if multiple instances of MaxScale are being run on the same machine.
-     */
-    if (create_datadir(get_datadir(), datadir))
+    if (!cnf->config_check)
     {
-        set_process_datadir(datadir);
-    }
-    else
-    {
-        MXS_ERROR("Cannot create data directory '%s': %d %s\n",
-                  datadir, errno, mxs_strerror(errno));
-        goto return_main;
+        /*
+         * Set the data directory. We use a unique directory name to avoid conflicts
+         * if multiple instances of MaxScale are being run on the same machine.
+         */
+        if (create_datadir(get_datadir(), datadir))
+        {
+            set_process_datadir(datadir);
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            char errbuf[MXS_STRERROR_BUFLEN];
+            MXS_ERROR("Cannot create data directory '%s': %d %s\n",
+                      datadir, errno, strerror_r(errno, errbuf, sizeof(errbuf)));
+            goto return_main;
+        }
     }
 
     if (!daemon_mode)
@@ -2027,9 +2030,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
         goto return_main;
     }
 
-    cnf->config_check = config_check;
-
-    if (!config_check)
+    if (!cnf->config_check)
     {
         /** Check if a MaxScale process is already running */
         if (pid_file_exists())
@@ -2130,7 +2131,7 @@ int main(int argc, char **argv)
         goto return_main;
     }
 
-    if (config_check)
+    if (cnf->config_check)
     {
         MXS_NOTICE("Configuration was successfully verified.");
         rc = MAXSCALE_SHUTDOWN;
diff --git a/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/dbusers.c b/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/dbusers.c
index 8f450f6a8..434e7422b 100644
--- a/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/dbusers.c
+++ b/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/dbusers.c
@@ -184,7 +184,10 @@ int validate_mysql_user(MYSQL_AUTH* instance, DCB *dcb, MYSQL_session *session,
                         uint8_t *scramble, size_t scramble_len)
 {
     sqlite3 *handle = get_handle(instance);
-    size_t len = sizeof(mysqlauth_validate_user_query) + strlen(session->user) * 2 +
+    const char* validate_query = instance->lower_case_table_names ?
+        mysqlauth_validate_user_query_lower :
+        mysqlauth_validate_user_query;
+    size_t len = strlen(validate_query) + 1 + strlen(session->user) * 2 +
                  strlen(session->db) * 2 + MYSQL_HOST_MAXLEN + session->auth_token_len * 4 + 1;
     char sql[len + 1];
     int rval = MXS_AUTH_FAILED;
@@ -196,7 +199,7 @@ int validate_mysql_user(MYSQL_AUTH* instance, DCB *dcb, MYSQL_session *session,
     }
     else
     {
-        sprintf(sql, mysqlauth_validate_user_query, session->user, dcb->remote,
+        sprintf(sql, validate_query, session->user, dcb->remote,
                 dcb->remote, session->db, session->db);
     }
 
@@ -212,7 +215,7 @@ int validate_mysql_user(MYSQL_AUTH* instance, DCB *dcb, MYSQL_session *session,
     if (!res.ok && strchr(dcb->remote, ':') && strchr(dcb->remote, '.'))
     {
         const char *ipv4 = strrchr(dcb->remote, ':') + 1;
-        sprintf(sql, mysqlauth_validate_user_query, session->user, ipv4, ipv4,
+        sprintf(sql, validate_query, session->user, ipv4, ipv4,
                 session->db, session->db);
 
         if (sqlite3_exec(handle, sql, auth_cb, &res, &err) != SQLITE_OK)
@@ -231,7 +234,7 @@ int validate_mysql_user(MYSQL_AUTH* instance, DCB *dcb, MYSQL_session *session,
         char client_hostname[MYSQL_HOST_MAXLEN] = "";
         get_hostname(dcb, client_hostname, sizeof(client_hostname) - 1);
 
-        sprintf(sql, mysqlauth_validate_user_query, session->user, client_hostname,
+        sprintf(sql, validate_query, session->user, client_hostname,
                 client_hostname, session->db, session->db);
 
         if (sqlite3_exec(handle, sql, auth_cb, &res, &err) != SQLITE_OK)
diff --git a/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/mysql_auth.c b/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/mysql_auth.c
index d9b0d4614..21aa6deb6 100644
--- a/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/mysql_auth.c
+++ b/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/mysql_auth.c
@@ -179,6 +179,7 @@ static void* mysql_auth_init(char **options)
         instance->inject_service_user = true;
         instance->skip_auth = false;
         instance->check_permissions = true;
+        instance->lower_case_table_names = false;
 
         for (int i = 0; options[i]; i++)
         {
@@ -204,6 +205,10 @@ static void* mysql_auth_init(char **options)
                 {
                     instance->skip_auth = config_truth_value(value);
                 }
+                else if (strcmp(options[i], "lower_case_table_names") == 0)
+                {
+                    instance->lower_case_table_names = config_truth_value(value);
+                }
                 else
                 {
                     MXS_ERROR("Unknown authenticator option: %s", options[i]);
diff --git a/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/mysql_auth.h b/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/mysql_auth.h
index ae81ccaf9..a4adac022 100644
--- a/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/mysql_auth.h
+++ b/server/modules/authenticator/MySQLAuth/mysql_auth.h
@@ -66,6 +66,12 @@ static const char mysqlauth_validate_user_query[] =
     " WHERE user = '%s' AND ( '%s' = host OR '%s' LIKE host) AND (anydb = '1' OR '%s' = '' OR '%s' LIKE db)"
     " LIMIT 1";
 
+/** Query that checks if there's a grant for the user being authenticated */
+static const char mysqlauth_validate_user_query_lower[] =
+    "SELECT password FROM " MYSQLAUTH_USERS_TABLE_NAME
+    " WHERE user = '%s' AND ( '%s' = host OR '%s' LIKE host) AND (anydb = '1' OR '%s' = '' OR LOWER('%s') LIKE LOWER(db))"
+    " LIMIT 1";
+
 /** Query that only checks if there's a matching user */
 static const char mysqlauth_skip_auth_query[] =
     "SELECT password FROM " MYSQLAUTH_USERS_TABLE_NAME
@@ -111,6 +117,7 @@ typedef struct mysql_auth
     bool inject_service_user; /**< Inject the service user into the list of users */
     bool skip_auth;           /**< Authentication will always be successful */
     bool check_permissions;
+    bool lower_case_table_names; /**< Disable database case-sensitivity */
 } MYSQL_AUTH;
 
 /**