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On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 9:47 PM, Chris Stankevitz |
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<chrisstankevitz@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> Hello, |
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> |
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> Section 8c of the handbook tells me: |
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> |
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> === |
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> |
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> You now have the possibility to set the system-wide locale settings in |
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> the /etc/env.d/02locale file: |
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> |
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> === |
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> |
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> Code Listing 3.8: Setting the default system locale in /etc/env.d/02locale |
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> LANG="de_DE.UTF-8" |
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> LC_COLLATE="C" |
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> |
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> === |
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> |
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> Q1: Do I have the possibility to set the system-wide locale settings? |
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> A1: YES [I knew the answer to this one!] |
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> |
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> Q2: Should I? |
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> A2: ? |
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> |
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> Q3: If yes, what should I set them to? [The example sets them to a |
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> magical value that seems to be related to code listing 3.6, but it is |
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> not exactly the same. I am in the united states and I speak english |
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> if that helps answer this one.] |
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> A3: ? |
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> |
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> Thank you! |
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> |
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> Chris |
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> |
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> PS: In case it is not clear already I have no idea what a locale is |
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> and have no preference or what it is so long as gentoo and all my apps |
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> are happy. |
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|
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A 'locale' is a collection of character set, language, date/time |
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format, currency format, etc [1]. For US English, Dale's response |
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pretty well covers it. As for whether you 'should' set a system-wide |
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locale, it's dependent on the system. If it's a system used |
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exclusively by people with a common choice of locale, it potentially |
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saves on per-user configuration. If it's a system used by people from |
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around the globe, it can break their expectations of how a 'default' |
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system should act before they configure their own account for their |
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own locale. I believe, in the event a locale isn't specified, it |
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defaults to "POSIX". Of course, all of this also depends on the |
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software involved actually honoring the setting, but luckily enough |
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(for selfish people like me, that is), US English tends to be the de |
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facto standard even when things don't honor the locale. |
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|
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[1] http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/programming_books/gnu_libc_guide/Effects-of-Locale.html |
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|
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-- |
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Poison [BLX] |
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Joshua M. Murphy |
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