[techtalk] locale

Martin.Caitlyn at epamail.epa.gov Martin.Caitlyn at epamail.epa.gov
Mon Apr 16 15:41:05 EST 2001


Hi, Ryan,  and everyone else,

> Thanks for helping me out. I am running Redhat 6.2.

OK.   If you're running KDE and your problem is specifically with a KDE/QT
app, you can do this graphically and on the fly, but not in the version of
Gnome that came with 6.2.  I don't know if this has changed with later
versions of Gnome.  For command line applications you are definitely
looking at recompiling that application (up to and including the kernel)
unless that app has specific internationalization support code.  Do you see
why I need you to be more specific as to what the problem is?

You can determine the kernel locale options your system is running now by
typing in:

locale

at the command line.  This will let you know if just one of your kernel
locale options is wrong, or if they all are.  For someone in the United
States running an American English system they should all read en_US.
Next, type in

locale -a | more

This will list all your available locales.  I've piped it to more because
Red Hat (unlike Mandrake, for example) tends to install a huge number of
locales by default.  This isn't terribly useful if you don't, for example,
speak, read, and write Slovenian, French, Esperanto, Turkish, and about 40
other languages, but Red Hat does it anyway.  Anyway, make sure the one you
want is there.  If not, you will need to add it.  Red Hat, does not, for
example, install Hebrew support.  (Mandrake does :)

OK, let's say that you have one of your locale variables accidentally set
up for a system that speaks Afrikaans or whatever CX is, and you really
want American English.  You can use the setlocale option to change that
variable.  Please do read the man page on this one:

man setlocale

and make sure you understand what the variables are. Note once again that
this is a *compilation* variable.  That means that whatever is wrong needs
to be recompiled.  If you want to do a blanket change you can use LC_ALL.

I do not know of an easy way to change the locale variables for an entire
system on the fly under Red Hat 6.2.  Does anyone here know that one???  I
do know that KDE apps are frequently compiled with multiple locale support
and that you can change locale on the fly from the KDE Control Center.  I
do that all the time for Hebrew and French support.  Anything else, though,
and I really do believe you are looking at a recompilation of the program
code, up to and including the kernel if that is where the problem is.

If you give me some more specifics (i.e.:  where are you seeing "CX"?) then
I might be able to give you a specific set of steps to solve your problem.

Side note to Chris:  can you see why I like Mandrake so much now???
Nothing against Debian, of course.  My internationalization requirements,
in part, dictate my choice of distro.

Regards,
Caity


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Caitlyn M. Martin             martin.caitlyn at epa.gov
Systems Analyst              (919) 541-4441
Lockheed Martin
(a contractor for the US EPA)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                                                                                                                      
                    Ryan Thibodeau                                                                                                    
                    <rthibode at onlineat        To:     Caitlyn Martin/RTP/USEPA/US at EPA                                                 
                    hens.com>                 cc:     techtalk at linuxchix.org                                                          
                    Sent by:                  Subject:     RE: [techtalk] locale                                                      
                    techtalk-admin at lin                                                                                                
                    uxchix.org                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                      
                    04/16/01 09:30 AM                                                                                                 
                    Please respond to                                                                                                 
                    rthibode                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                      




Thanks for helping me out. I am running Redhat 6.2.



-----Original Message-----
From: Martin.Caitlyn at epamail.epa.gov
[mailto:Martin.Caitlyn at epamail.epa.gov]
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2001 5:37 PM
To: rthibode at onlineathens.com
Cc: techtalk at linuxchix.org; techtalk-admin at linuxchix.org
Subject: Re: [techtalk] locale



Hi, Ryan,

Locale refers to the country you are in and/or the language you are using.
It is a setting for internationalization/localization.  "C" just means
default, which is determined by what you set as your default at install
time.  I have no idea what CX is.

How you switch locales does vary by distribution, and there are different
tools in KDE or Gnome to set the locale and/or language.  Can you tell us
what distro and version you are running?  I can answer the question for
some, but not for others.

Regards,
Caity

----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Caitlyn M. Martin             martin.caitlyn at epa.gov
Systems Analyst              (919) 541-4441
Lockheed Martin
(a contractor for the US EPA)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------




                    Ryan Thibodeau
                    <rthibode at onlineat        To:
techtalk at linuxchix.org
                    hens.com>                 cc:
                    Sent by:                  Subject:     [techtalk]
locale
                    techtalk-admin at lin
                    uxchix.org


                    04/13/01 02:37 PM
                    Please respond to
                    rthibode






Exactly what is the "locale" in Linux, and how does one change it?
Apparently mine should be C, which apparently is by far the most common
value, but is set to CX. It is causing some of my programs that run off of
the X server to behave erratically, or not function at all. Anybody know
anything about this?



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