CREATE TABLE `phppos_modules_actions` (
  `action_id` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `module_id` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `action_name_key` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `sort` INT NOT NULL ,
  PRIMARY KEY ( `action_id` , `module_id` )
) ENGINE = INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;

Options in my.cnf
sql-mode=""
default-storage-engine=MYISAM
skip-innodb uncommented (without#)

Return on execution of your create statement:
Error Code: 1071. Specified key was too long; max key length is 1000 bytes

Explanation: INNODB is not active, the engine is automatically switched to MYISAM
that returns this error as they key is longer than MYISAM 1000 bytes limit.
The key length is:
2 fields x 255 char x 3 bytes utf8 encoding + 2 x 1 length byte = 1532 bytes

Options in my.cnf
sql-mode="NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION"
default-storage-engine=MYISAM
skip-innodb uncommented (without#)

Return on execution of your create statement:
Error Code: 1286. Unknown table engine 'INNODB'

Explanation: INNODB is not active but the engine substitution is not permitted
by sql mode therefore the DB returns an error about the attempt of using a disabled engine.

Options in my.cnf
sql-mode="NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION"
default-storage-engine=MYISAM
skip-innodb commented (with#)

Return on execution of your create statement:
Table creation OK!

Explanation: INNODB is active (skip-innodb commented) and it is used also if
the default engine is MYISAM.

Error Code: 1071. Specified key was too long; max key length is 1000 bytes

Error Code: 1071. Specified key was too long; max key length is 767 bytes

256 x 3 + 2 = 770 bytes

255 x 3 + 1 = 766 bytes

Error Code: 1071. Specified key was too long; max key length is 767 bytes

Error Code: 1071. Specified key was too long; max key length is 3072 bytes

CREATE TABLE `phppos_modules_actions` (
  `action_id` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `module_id` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `action_name_key` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `action_name_key1` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `action_name_key2` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `sort` INT NOT NULL ,
  PRIMARY KEY ( `action_id` , `module_id`, `action_name_key`, `action_name_key1`, `action_name_key2` )
) ENGINE = INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;

Error Code: 1071. Specified key was too long; max key length is 3072 bytes

KEY `key_name` (`action_id`(50),`module_id`(50))

CREATE TABLE `phppos_modules_actions` (
  `action_id` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `module_id` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `action_name_key` VARCHAR( 255 ) CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL ,
  `sort` INT NOT NULL ,
  PRIMARY KEY ( `action_id`(50) , `module_id`(50) )
) ENGINE = INNODB CHARACTER SET utf8 COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci;

SELECT
 ROUND(SUM(LENGTH(`action_id`)<10)*100/COUNT(*),2) AS pct_length_10,
 ROUND(SUM(LENGTH(`action_id`)<20)*100/COUNT(*),2) AS pct_length_20,
 ROUND(SUM(LENGTH(`action_id`)<50)*100/COUNT(*),2) AS pct_length_50,
 ROUND(SUM(LENGTH(`action_id`)<100)*100/COUNT(*),2) AS pct_length_100
FROM `phppos_modules_actions`;


+---------------+---------------+---------------+----------------+
| pct_length_10 | pct_length_20 | pct_length_50 | pct_length_100 |
+---------------+---------------+---------------+----------------+
|         42.86 |         80.20 |        100    |         100    |
+---------------+---------------+---------------+----------------+