Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2020 12:53:55 +0200 From: Polytropon <freebsd@edvax.de> To: mbj@mbjnet.dk Cc: Morten Bo Johansen via freebsd-questions <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org>, Morten Bo Johansen <listmail@mbjnet.dk> Subject: Re: Locale oddity Message-ID: <20200720125355.4fd333bf.freebsd@edvax.de> In-Reply-To: <slrnrhap1p.1gr.listmail@smtp.simply.com> References: <slrnrh8vv3.j55.listmail@smtp.simply.com> <0467d480-ba58-3d5d-ca77-34d784b667f9@yuripv.dev> <slrnrhap1p.1gr.listmail@smtp.simply.com>
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On Mon, 20 Jul 2020 11:30:33 +0200, Morten Bo Johansen via freebsd-questions wrote: > On 2020-07-19 Yuri Pankov wrote: > > > I'm not sure what exactly you are asking, so I'll just quote the > > specification, > > https://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap08.html, > > for the logic used: > > Well, the reason I was asking was that I was working on a > script where one of the functions will determine the user's > language reliably from the locale settings. Therefore I tried > various error handling, like e.g. the LANG variable not being > set, etc. and I noticed this behaviour and I wondered why. I > see the rule #4 you are referring to, but the logic in it is > still not clear to me: Some script or program might set the > $LANG variable to an empty value and then the LC_* variables > that I set myself will be changed behind my back? No, the variables (being set, and how)won't affect one another. Rule #4 states that if $LANG is not usable (and no other information is present), the default "fallback locale" _should_ be used, which is "C". So the "hierarchy" is this: 1. LC_ALL 2. LC_* depending on category 3. LANG 4. fallback (usually "C") Just as an example, if you have not set $LANG, but you have set the several $LC_* variables, except $LC_ALL, rule #2 applies. With $LC_ALL set, all $LC_* variables will be overridden, as says rule #1. If no $LC_<anything> is set, but $LANG is set, rule #3 applies. If there is nothing set, rule #4 says to use the implementation-specific locale, which usually is "C". So the $LC_* variables you've set yourself will always keep their value. The question simply is: Will a program use them according to the standard? A program _might_ do the wrong thing and even though you have set $LC_MESSAGES to "da_DK.UTF-8", but the program expects and only reads $LANG, it could say something like "no locale found, falling back to 'C' locale", which of course is _not_ the correct (!) thing to do... :-) The common solution is: Use LC_ALL to define all locale types with the same value. Use LC_* variables individually, but do not set LC_ALL, if you want to have different locale interpretations for different things, like collation information or decimal notation according to your local language, but messages in English. Optionally set LANG to the value of LC_ALL. Sidenote: You can use the login.conf mechanism to have the system set the variables for you; for example in ~/.login_conf: me:\ :charset=UTF-8:\ :lang=de_DE.UTF-8: This should work as expected. -- Polytropon Magdeburg, Germany Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0 Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...
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