On 11/26/2011 07:32 AM, Mike Edenfield wrote: >> Can anyone explain what is going on ? > > Different packages include different levels of support for filtering > their installed localization messages, typically one of "install > everything", "install what's requested", or "whats a locale?" > > The reason you mostly have files under LC_MESSAGES is because that's 99% > of what is needed to localize a package. The files in there are string > resource packages, translations of the strings used by the program, > which are picked up by the localization library (gettext) automatically > based on your locale settings. (coreutils installs file into LC_TIME for > locales with date/time formatting requirements; I don't think I've ever > seen any other locale files.) > > The standard way to inform a package which languages you want is to set > your LINGUAS variable in /etc/make.conf to the locale name(s) you want > installed (without the charset specifier). LINGUAS works like any other > portage expansion variables: for those packages that support it, you get > a set of USE-flag-like language keywords set on build. (LINGUAS is the > well-known environment variable used by most autotools-based packages to > select languages, but portage provides support above and beyond that.) > > Unfortunately, proper locale support is spotty -- mostly due to upstream > maintainers being too lazy to properly add it to their builds. Instead, > the package will install every message file it has available all the time. > > You can safely delete any folders from /usr/share/locale for locales > that you don't have installed, since the normal locale support in glibc > will never ask for them. But they'll just get put back next time you > upgrade the package. > > --Mike
Excellent description -- thank you! In case I find time to blog about this on Planet Gentoo: would you allow using the above text under some Creative Commons license, say CC-BY-SA/3.0? Do you have a personal website or blog that I could add a link to? Best, Sebastian
