Bug#458914: locales overwrites /etc/default/locale
Package: locales
Version: 2.7-5
I edited /etc/default/locale to say
LANG=C
I found that something reverted it without my permission. So I used
chattr +i and discovered that locale was the culprit.
See the transcript below where I reproduce the problem.
Ian.
thule:~# dpkg-reconfigure debconf
Configuring debconf
-------------------
Packages that use debconf for configuration share a common look and feel. You
can select the type of user interface they use.
The dialog frontend is a full-screen, character based interface, while the
readline frontend uses a more traditional plain text interface, and both the
gnome and kde frontends are modern X interfaces, fitting the respective desktops
(but may be used in any X environment). The editor frontend lets you configure
things using your favorite text editor. The noninteractive frontend never asks
you any questions.
1. Dialog 2. Readline 3. Gnome 4. Kde 5. Editor 6. Noninteractive
Interface to use: 2
Debconf prioritizes the questions it asks you. Pick the lowest priority of
question you want to see:
- 'critical' only prompts you if the system might break.
Pick it if you are a newbie, or in a hurry.
- 'high' is for rather important questions
- 'medium' is for normal questions
- 'low' is for control freaks who want to see everything
Note that no matter what level you pick here, you will be able to see every
question if you reconfigure a package with dpkg-reconfigure.
1. critical 2. high 3. medium 4. low
Ignore questions with a priority less than: 4
thule:~# dpkg-reconfigure locales
Configuring locales
-------------------
Locales are a framework to switch between multiple languages and allow users to
use their language, country, characters, collation order, etc.
Please choose which locales to generate. UTF-8 locales should be chosen by
default, particularly for new installations. Other character sets may be useful
for backwards compatibility with older systems and software.
1. All locales 210. fr_LU@euro ISO-8859-15
2. 211. fur_IT UTF-8
3. aa_DJ ISO-8859-1 212. fy_DE UTF-8
...
117. en_GB.ISO-8859-15 ISO-8859-15 326. pt_PT@euro ISO-8859-15
118. en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8 327. ro_RO ISO-8859-2
...
208. fr_LU ISO-8859-1 417. zu_ZA ISO-8859-1
209. fr_LU.UTF-8 UTF-8 418. zu_ZA.UTF-8 UTF-8
(Enter the items you want to select, separated by spaces.)
Locales to be generated: 118
Many packages in Debian use locales to display text in the correct language for
the user. You can choose a default locale for the system from the generated
locales.
This will select the default language for the entire system. If this system is a
multi-user system where not all users are able to speak the default language,
they will experience difficulties.
1. None 2. en_GB.UTF-8
Default locale for the system environment: 1
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
en_GB.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
thule:~# cat /etc/default/locale
#LANG=C
thule:~# ed /etc/default/locale
8
s/^#
LANG=C
w
7
q
thule:~# apt-get --reinstall install locales
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 1 reinstalled, 0 to remove and 5 not upgraded.
Need to get 0B/4486kB of archives.
After unpacking 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]?
Preconfiguring packages ...
(Reading database ... 32928 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace locales 2.7-5 (using .../archives/locales_2.7-5_all.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement locales ...
Setting up locales (2.7-5) ...
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
en_GB.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
thule:~# cat /etc/default/locale
#LANG=C
thule:~#
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