Bug#363644: locales: fails to install/postinst

[Denis Barbier <barbier@linuxfr.org>]

On Thu, Apr 20, 2006 at 01:09:36AM -0500, Adam Porter wrote:
> Package: locales
> Version: 2.3.6-7
> Severity: important
> 
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> Hash: SHA1
> 
> After a dist-upgrade the other day, the locales package seems broken.  During the postinst process, and upon subsequent 'dpkg-reconfigure locales', I get these errors:
> 
> $ sudo dpkg-reconfigure locales
> perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
> perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
>         LANGUAGE = "en_US:en_GB:en",
>         LC_ALL = (unset),
>         LANG = "en_US"
>     are supported and installed on your system.
> perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C").
> locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
> locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
> locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
> /usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure: locales is broken or not fully installed
> 
> I saw the notice in NEWS.Debian, and I copied /etc/environment to /etc/default/locale, but that didn't fix it.  I searched on Google and the mailing lists, but I couldn't 
> find an answer.  I don't know what else to do, and it seems like a bug since all I did was upgrade, so I'm filing here.

The message
  /usr/sbin/dpkg-reconfigure: locales is broken or not fully installed
tells that the locales package is in a broken state and cannot be
reconfigured.  In such a case, you may try to remove and reinstall it,
or use the --force flag.
Can you please post your /etc/locale.gen, /etc/environment and
/etc/default/locale files?

[...]
> * locales/default_environment_locale: en_US
> * locales/locales_to_be_generated:

These settings seem to imply that you or a program removed /etc/locale.gen;
this will indeed cause trouble because a non-existing locale is selected.  
Maintainer scripts should ensure that this cannot happen.

Denis