Re: Bug#263575: base-files: LANG=C for some languages when root login from console
reassign 263575 debian-installer
retitle 263575 Some LANG values are dangerous (?)
thanks
On Thu, 5 Aug 2004, Kenshi Muto wrote:
> Package: base-files
> Version: 3.0.15
> Severity: wishlist
> Tags: d-i
>
> Hi,
>
> d-i writes LANG which is chosen by user on /etc/environment.
> This is generally good, because normal user doesn't need to set LANG
> by him/herself.
>
> But unfortunately, Linux console can't show some languages directly
> (such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese).
>
> - normal user see broken characters on console: sad, but you may use X
> Window System.
> - root user see broken characters on console: Well, this is a problem.
> If user didn't install X Window System on d-i stage, root user needs
> to install by him/herself. When user runs apt-get install ...
> Oops. console shows broken characters and we can't read provided
> debconf messages.
>
> I considered how to avoid this problem, and created a code for
> /usr/share/base-files/dot.profile (This file will be installed as
> /root/.profile).
>
> -------------------------
> if [ "$TERM" = "linux" ]; then
> case "$(locale charmap)" in
> EUC-*|GB*|BIG5*)
> LANG=C
> export LANG
> ;;
> esac
> fi
> -------------------------
>
> Adding this to /usr/share/base-files/dot.profile, console root
> user with some (problematic) languages uses LANG=C automatically.
Sorry, I don't think base-files should fiddle with the LANG variable.
The CD #1 of woody had support for Asian languages via the frame
buffer device, and it worked "on the console". If this does not work
anymore in sarge, it should probably be fixed. Setting LANG only for
root would be a hack, not a solution. Moreover, if there are really
some values for LANG which are "dangerous" and unusable on console,
debian-installer should warn about it.
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