Problem with locale

[Michi21609]

Hi!

If I type on my GNU/Linux "locale -a" it says that I only have installed POSIX and C locales.

How can I add some new? Where do I get them?

I want to do this on the terminal without any YAST or so....

Tanks!
Michael

[Rubberman]

What distribution+version of Linux are you running?

[Michi21609]

Kernel: 2.6.24
"Distribution": ELDK 4.2 (denx.de/wiki/DULG/ELDK)
Target: MPC52xx

It's not a distribution like, fedora or so...

Regards!

[Rubberman]

Ok. You need to get the locale database and install it with the localedef command. I am attaching the locale definition files that you can use which I have on my RHEL/CentOS system since I couldn't find them in a usable format elsewhere on the internet after google searching. Unfortunately, the charmap files are too big as a group to upload, but I am including some more common ones, such as utf-8, etc. Let me know if you need any other charmaps and I can email them to you. You can find where your system expects these files to be found with the command: localedef --help
On my system, the charmap and locales definition files are under /usr/share/i18n. Anyway, I hope you can use these.

[Michi21609]

OK, I'll try it as soon I have access to my system on monday!

Thanks for your support!

BTW: Is ISO-8859 (or 8895?) also included there?

[Rubberman]

Yes. All the 8859 files are there.

[Michi21609]

Hmmm.... I don't understand how it works...

If I type: "locale -a" I get (just the important things posted):
> C
> POSIX

If I type "localedef --help" I get (also just the important things posted":
> /usr/share/i18n/charmaps
> /usr/share/i18n/repertoiremaps
> /usr/lib/locale:/usr/share/i18n

So, now I want to make it possible that I can configure de_CH.ISO-8859-1 as my locale I tried it with: "localedef -f ISO-8859-1 -i de_CH de_CH.ISO-8859-1", then it says:
cannot create temporary file: No such file or directory

If I try: "localedef -f ISO-8859-1 -i de_CH ./" (local path) then it generates all the LC_*-files in my current directory... But what have I to do with them now???

I don't find any suitable info googling....

Thanks!

[Rubberman]

Run

localedef --help

That will show you where stuff is located (or should be). Also, if you read the man pages I think it shows where the default locale files (compiled ones) or database should be located. Also, you need to build the locales as root.

[Michi21609]

Thanks!

But my problem is a bit deeper... I don't understand the "philosophie" of this locale-thing....

I compiled it into the folder which was suggested by localedef (Then it builded all the LC_TYPE, LC_NAME, etc. stuff. And also a folder LC_MESSAGES which contains SYS_LC_MESSAGES)... But how do I "activate" the locale now? There's a bit confusion...

[Rubberman]

Locales are used to determine what symbols to use for monetary values, and how to format them, as well as other numbers (where to put the commas and what to use for decimals), what are standard paper sizes for printing, how to collate string data, etc. You set your local locale (sic) by setting the LANG environment variable.