gnome-language-selector -> Regional Formats: Please indicate if it is overriden by LC_ALL

[David Hedlund]

* Open gnome-language-selector, and click on the Regional Formats tab.
* Change the value in the `Display numbers, dates and currency amounts in the usual format for:` drop-down list, say `English (Canada)`
* Close the gnome-language-selector window.
* Run this in a terminal: `your_locale="en_US"; sudo update-locale LANG="$your_locale".UTF-8 LANGUAGE="$your_locale" LC_ALL="$your_locale".UTF-8`
* Log out and in from the desktop environment
* Again, open gnome-language-selector, and click on the Regional Formats tab. As you can see, it appears like `English (Canada)` even if it is overridden by LC_ALL ("English (United States)")

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 23.04
Package: language-selector-gnome 0.221
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.2.0-20.20-generic 6.2.6
Uname: Linux 6.2.0-20-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.26.1-0ubuntu2
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: unknown
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Sep 11 01:42:32 2023
InstallationDate: Installed on 2023-04-23 (140 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 23.04 "Lunar Lobster" - Release amd64 (20230418)
PackageArchitecture: all
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 TERM=xterm-256color
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
SourcePackage: language-selector
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Setting LC_ALL that way persistently on a desktop is a misconfiguration. There is no way to do that through Language Selector or any other GUI. I doubt it would be reasonable to expect from a GUI that it warns for that kind of misconfiguration.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

If you want the settings be applied system wide, there is the button "Apply System-Wide" in Language Support for the purpose. Pressing that button will make changes to /etc/default/locale and should be effective at next login (or possibly a reboot is needed). But LC_ALL must of course not be set anywhere.

[David Hedlund (g-public)]

> If you want the settings be applied system wide, there is the button "Apply System-Wide" in Language Support for the purpose. Pressing that button will make changes to /etc/default/locale and should be effective at next login (or possibly a reboot is needed). But LC_ALL must of course not be set anywhere.

I tried that a few weeks ago. After I logged out and in:

$ cat /etc/default/locale
# File generated by update-locale
LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_CA.UTF-8"

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_CA.UTF-8
LC_ALL=

$ locale | grep en_US | grep LC_
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"

The latter variables are not set to "en_CA.UTF-8"

"Setting LC_ALL that way persistently on a desktop is a misconfiguration"?

Is it? This will set LC_CTYPE, LC_COLLATE, LC_MESSAGES, etc:

* $ your_locale="en_CA"; sudo update-locale LANG="$your_locale".UTF-8 LANGUAGE="$your_locale" LC_ALL="$your_locale".UTF-8
* $ source /etc/default/locale
* $ locale
LANG=en_CA.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_CA
LC_CTYPE="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_CA.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=en_CA.UTF-8

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

> $ cat /etc/default/locale
> # File generated by update-locale
> LANG="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_NUMERIC="en_CA.UTF-8"
> LC_TIME="en_CA.UTF-8"
> LC_MONETARY="en_CA.UTF-8"
> LC_PAPER="en_CA.UTF-8"
> LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_CA.UTF-8"
> LC_NAME="en_CA.UTF-8"
> LC_ADDRESS="en_CA.UTF-8"
> LC_TELEPHONE="en_CA.UTF-8"
> LC_MEASUREMENT="en_CA.UTF-8"
>
> $ locale
> LANG=en_US.UTF-8
> LANGUAGE=en_US
> LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_NUMERIC=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_TIME=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_MONETARY=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_PAPER=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_NAME=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_ADDRESS=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_TELEPHONE=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_MEASUREMENT=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_IDENTIFICATION=en_CA.UTF-8
> LC_ALL=
>
> $ locale | grep en_US | grep LC_
> LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
>
> The latter variables are not set to "en_CA.UTF-8"

That's true, and it's intended behavior. The idea is to distinguish between language and regional formats, and the latter variables are considered to be part of the language option.

> "Setting LC_ALL that way persistently on a desktop is a misconfiguration"?
>
> Is it?

Yes it is. If you want the same locale for every locale category, just make sure that you select the same locale for both language and regional formats.

LC_ALL is typically used by coders. It's not suitable as an environment variable on a desktop, since it makes any UI for this purpose useless.

If you want to make an exception for a particular locale category, e.g. LC_CTYPE or LC_TIME, then set that category separately. But leave LC_ALL unset.

> How does gnome-language-selector reload ~/.pam_environment ?

It doesn't. PAM loads ~/.pam_environment at login.

[David Hedlund (g-public)]

It doesn't. PAM loads ~/.pam_environment at login.

I moved this discussion to a new feature request that I made at https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/language-selector/+bug/2035212