locale settings ignored

[Phundrak]

When I launch any session from ly (tested in my case with a shell session and Awesome), the locale set in /etc/locale.conf is not respected and all locales are set to en_US.UTF-8.

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

However, if I manually create a new session from any available TTY (such as TTY1), I get the correct output as set in my locale configuration, be it in the TTY console or in a graphical session started with startx.

$ locale
LANG=en_DK.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_DK.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_TIME=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=C
LC_MONETARY=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_DK.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_NAME=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_ALL=

For the record, here is my /etc/locale.conf file:

LANG=en_DK.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=C
LC_NAME=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_TIME=fr_FR.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=fr_FR.UTF-8

I am currently running an up-to-date Arch Linux system with the package ly 0.5.2-2, and the output of ly --version is Ly version v0.5.2.r0.g1523d08.

I tested if a workaround was possible with a per-user locale config in $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/locale.conf (in my case $HOME/.config/locale.conf) as instructed on the Arch Wiki, but to no avail, I still get the same output when running locale.

[negativeExponent]

i wonder if this is whats causing your issue:
https://github.com/Phundrak/dotfiles/blob/master/.etc/ly/config.ini#L38

try changing lang = en to lang = fr from your /etc/ly/config.ini (assuming you are using the config from your dotfile)

[Phundrak]

My ly config from my dotfiles is not up to date with my actual ly config. The only meaningful line I have in my /etc/ly/config.ini is

blank_password = true

The rest is either comments or blank lines. So that is unfortunately not the source of this issue.

[negativeExponent]

apparently, "lang" in config only affects language on ly's UI.

somewhat semi-related:
i too have issue with ly when LANG is null causing login to fail. Im not entirely sure systemd sources /etc/locale.conf before the shell starts but on the distro i use, /etc/locale is not source untill my shell starts (meaning after ly's login)

#216 (comment)

you can for the mean time source out the /etc/locale.conf as what the wiki already showed you to override whatever locale is being set.

ok, just installed vanilla arch, and indeed, LANG is never set until successful login, hence /etc/profile.d/locale.sh will be able to source /etc/locale.conf correctly.

LY on the other hand, somehows sets LANG to en_US.UTF-8, so when /etc/profile.d/locale.sh is called, it skips sourcing /etc/locale.conf due to LANG already set. Maybe one of the modules used in ly is setting it, because does not directly sets LANG variable.

[robertjk]

I have similar problem on Arch Linux. This is my /etc/locale.conf:

LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8

When I log into my system using ly I have the following:

$ locale
LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="pl_PL.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

So LC_MESSAGES value is set to pl_PL.UTF-8, even though it should be en_US.UTF-8.

LY on the other hand, somehows sets LANG to en_US.UTF-8, so when /etc/profile.d/locale.sh is called, it skips sourcing /etc/locale.conf due to LANG already set. Maybe one of the modules used in ly is setting it, because does not directly sets LANG variable.

Exactly - seems the problem is caused by ly setting LANG environment variable by itself, instead of waiting for it to be set later by /etc/profile.d/locale.sh.

Is that a bug to fix, or does that simply result from Arch doing things differently to other distributions?

[valentino-sm]

I ran into the same problem

However I commented that line and everything works.

ly/src/login.c

Line 223 in 78e2fd1

setenv("LANG", lang ? lang : "C", 1);

It remains to find out where LANG variable comes from.

[negativeExponent]

This should not have been merged because doing so will ignore system-configured /etc/profile locale as I've already stated above. Any system not using en_EN as.local will have some issues.

[Cavernosa]

I'm having the same issue on Artix openrc. The only file defining LANG env vars is /etc/profile.d/locale.sh which runs after login.
It might be possible to mimick this file's behaviour (like sddm did)

[MaximMaximS]

Does any1 have a temporary fix? This is the only thing that's preventing me from using ly...

[Cavernosa]

Does any1 have a temporary fix? This is the only thing that's preventing me from using ly...

valentino-sm commented on May 15
I ran into the same problem
However I commented that line and everything works.

ly/src/login.c

Line 223 in 78e2fd1

setenv("LANG", lang ? lang : "C", 1);

valentino-sm's fix worked for me as well.

[valentino-sm]

@negativeExponent if the issue is arch-specific there could be the workaround in AUR package like:
sed -i "/setenv(\"LANG\"/s/^/\/\//" src/login.c

[hnorkowski]

This issue is still a thing. I am having it on arch with Ly version v0.6.0.r0.g1c2be47.

[yCocoJamboo]

Unfortunately, the problem is current.

Name            : ly
Version         : 0.6.0-1.1

[cameloper]

Since this issue still persists I thought I'd explain how to apply @valentino-sm solution easily on arch in case anyone needs it:

1. Clone the package repo from Arch using the pkgctl tool

pkgctl repo clone --protocol=https ly
cd ly

3. Change the build() method (line 41) as follows:

build() {
    sed -i "/setenv(\"LANG\"/s/^/\/\//" $srcdir/ly/src/login.c
    make -C "$pkgname"
}

so basically add the sed line

4. Build and install the package using makepkg

makepkg -si

Of course one could write a patch for this or automate it in some other way but it doesn't look like ly receives updates that often so it souldn't be too much work.

P.S. I didn't explain much about the steps but I think becoming familiar with arch build/packaging system is pretty important anyway so I'd suggest taking a look at the links if you don't know what the commands do

[sluedecke]

Since this issue still persists I thought I'd explain how to apply @valentino-sm solution easily on arch in case anyone needs it:

Thanks @cameloper and @valentino-sm, this solution works for me just fine.

Arch Linux