NAME¶
update-locale-config - Update differnt programs' language settings
SYNOPSIS¶
update-locale-config [
--preinst|-p] [
--list|-l] <
language>
DESCRIPTION¶
update-locale-config is a script that automatically updates the language
settings of different programs based on the language code passed as parameter.
This script is run by
base-config throughout the Debian installation
process so that the user language selection is made visible to packages and
thus preventing debconf interfaces from asking questions related to language
settings and adjusting packages' system-wide configuration files to the user
selection.
update-locale-config can run in two modes, pre-inst or post-inst (the
default). Pre-inst mode will run all scripts under
/usr/lib/localization-config with a
preinst suffix, most of these
scripts will do
debconf preseeding and will run before packages are
actually installed. The postinst mode (default) will run all scripts under the
same directory with a
postinst suffix, most of these will modify
configuration files that are available once the package has been installed on
the system.
System administrators should not need to run
update-locale-config by
hand, although this option is available. Notice, however, that running
update-locale-config in pre-inst mode will not affect the system unless
the packages whose debconf configuration has changed are reconfigured (with
dpkg-reconfigure PACKAGE).
Users should not run
update-locale-config as all the changes this script
makes are systemwide. If a user wants to change his
locale
configuration and adjust the language configuration of his own
configuration files set-language-env (available in the
language-env package) should be used instead.
OPTIONS¶
- -d | --debug
- Debugging mode
- -l | --list
- List supported locales.
- -p | --preinst
- Run the pre-install scripts instead of the (default)
postinst scripts.
- language
- specify your favorite native language. Here are some of the
supported languages:
ca_ES@euro Catalan (Spain)
da_DK Danish
de_BE@euro German (Belgium)
de_DE@euro German (Germany)
el_GR.UTF-8 Greek (Greece, UTF-8 mode)
es_ES@euro Spanish (Spain)
es_MX Spanish (Mexico)
fr_BE@euro French (Belgium)
fr_FR@euro French (France)
lv_LV Latvian
nb_NO or no_NO (depricated) Norwegian Bokmaal
nds_DE Low Saxon
nl_BE@euro Dutch (Belgium)
nl_NL@euro Dutch (The Netherlands)
nn_NO Norwegian Nynorsk
se_NO Northern Sami
PACKAGE SCRIPTS¶
Support for new packages is based on scripts present in
/usr/lib/localization-config. These scripts must analyse the official locale
language code (
language[_territory][.codeset][@modifier]) and modify
the package as appropriate. Since language modifications might vary between
different package versions, the scripts in that directory should just check
the package version and call scripts in per-distribution subdirectories (
sarge,
woody, etc.).
These scripts take as input the locale language code and should do whatever
modifications are need in order to configure the package. Possible
modifications include:
- debconf-preseeding
- If the package asks to the user through debconf
settings that might depend on the language and charset, and if an accurate
guess can be made based on the users locale language code then the script
should preseed the debconf values so that the user will not have to answer
the questions himself upon package installation. Debconf preseeding is
usually done in the preinst phase.
configuration file modification If the package has configuration
files that can be modified to adjust for the user's selection of locale
language code, the script should make any reasonable changes in order to
help the user configure the package. Conffiles (see Debian policy)
should be treated with extreme care (to avoid prompts of configuration
file changes by dpkg when upgrading).
- All changes done by the scripts should be idempotent.
LANGUAGE SUPPORT¶
Language support is embedded in the scripts available at
/usr/lib/localization-config. These scripts hold the
knowledge on how
to transform a given language code into a package's modification. Adding
support for a new language (or variant) should be done by modifying these
scripts. The code presently available that provides support for some languages
could be used as a basis for new language support. In many scripts, adding
support for a new language is just a matter of defining it and the values that
need to be changed for it in a
database of languages and changes
(actually implemented in most cases as hash array in Perl)
FILES¶
- /usr/lib/localization-config
- Location of the scripts that adjust programs to use the
user configured locale.
SEE ALSO¶
base-config(8), debconf(1), language-env(1),
locale(1)
Recommended reading also includes
Debian GNU/Linux - Install manual
(available at
http://www.debian.org/releases/stable/installmanual)
which descirbes how language and country selection works in the debian
installer and
Introduction to i18n (available at
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/intro-i18n/) which describes i18n
(and locale) to developers.
BUGS¶
Bugs regarding this software should be sent against the
localization-config package, preferably using the
report-bug
script.
AUTHOR¶
This software and a first version of the manpage was written by Dagfinn Ilmari
Mannsaaker <ilmari@ping.uio.no> for the Skolelinux distribution. This
manpage was later modified for the Debian GNU/Linux by Javier
Fernandez-Sanguino. Minor changes by Konstantinos Margaritis