Comment 59 for bug 553162

[ moving discussion from bug 655427, so more people get notified ]

On 2010-11-10 03:10, trespasser wrote:
> I agree this is a duplicate to the certain point but (please, correct
> me if I am wrong or missed something in discussion on bug 553162)
> your patch makes sure $LANG, $LANGUAGE and $LC_MESSAGES all point to
> the same language.

Ok, then I'll correct you. :-) The patch makes sure that LANGUAGE and LC_MESSAGES state the same language, so messages and menus are translated as expected. LANG is separated to handle other localization aspects.

With 10.04 language-selector introduced a separation between language for message translation and other localization stuff. However, a couple of related issues were left unsolved. I'm trying to address those issues and with that help complete the separation.

> My issue is to separate those variables as I want to see Polish
> currency (zł or PLN) but English/US decimal separator (. instead of
> ,) as well as Polish date format (2010-11-10) but English name of
> days (Wednesday instead of Środa) and Polish days order (weeks in
> Poland traditionally starts on Monday).

It sounds like you want to not only separate the variables you mention, but rather set each LC_* variable (except for LC_ALL) individually. In addition to that, you are affected by the issue that names of days and months are not actually subject to translation. To completely satisfy such a complex wishlist, you'd need to create a custom locale.

However, I believe that you can come close (except for the decimal separator) by doing the following:

* Install the patch I mentioned.

* Use language-selector for setting LANGUAGE to 'en_GB:en' (and with
  that setting LC_MESSAGES to 'en_GB.utf8').

* Use language-selector for setting LANG to 'pl_PL.utf8'.

* Edit your ~/.profile file manually and add:
  export LC_TIME="en_DK.utf8"

> Therefore, in my opinion, language-selector should be reduced to
> choosing a language only

Please note that that would be a step backwards.

> and more advanced changes should be done in
> custom locale editor (such thing should be introduced). What's more,
> standard regarding locale should be better documented and guidance
> for developers on using particular locale variables should be
> outlined with strong examples.

Personally I hope that the GUI will be enough intuitive to limit the need for comprehensive docs.