Description of problem: This is RFE proposes enhancements that allows system administrator to set a locale for initscripts which is independent of the system-wide setting (set in `/etc/sysconfig/i18n'. Note: This was created on CentOS 4 but applies to REHL 4 as well (initscripts package are quite the same in both distros -- the CentOS modifications are minimal and should cause no difference in this regard). Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable): 7.93.29.EL-1 (actually 7.93.29.EL-1.centos4) Additional info: With the current implementation, the initscripts already support locale settings which are taken from the above mentioned system-wide configuration. The same system-wide config also constitutes default setting for any user who doesn't override them with his own settings in `~/.i18n'. This can prove to be a problem if the admin likes to use a locale for the init scripts (including the services which don't set supply own setup) that is different from what a typical user would expect. For example, I don't like to see the boot and shutdown messages in Czech. (Have a dislike against localised messages in general and additionally there are still some bugs with the fonts and the like.) So I prefer the messages in English. But a typical user may expect a Czech locaele since we're in Czech republic. ;-) Therefore I propose (and also provide a patch) which provides the ability to set a different locale for the initscripts that is independent from the system-wide config. If there's no specific setting, the system-wide values are used. That means the change is backwards compatible. It is possible to override the `LANG' and `LC_MESSAGES' variables. `LC_MESSAGES' is provided for those who only care about the messages. It has proved useful to me to use the Czech locale and only override `LC_MESSAGES' to English. The settings are taken from the `/etc/sysconfig/i18n' as usually, but two new variables are recognized. They're `LANG_INIT' `LC_MESSAGES_INIT' and if set, they override `LANG' and `LC_MESSAGES' respectively.
Created attachment 156828 [details] proposed implementation
Forgot to mention a bug 161075 which, is similar but still different. This proposal should be less tricky and should *not* break anything.
I think this is a really good RFE. I want all system ids and startup scripts to run under a special system locale. Only normal users get a different locale and translations. Maybe /etc/sysconfig/i18n could be replaced with a longer shell script to make this happen. +1 to get this as an option where some parts of the system get translations, but bootup stays in en_US locale. Some system daemons already allow an override of this, but this should be a generic option for all services. regards, Florian La Roche
I'm still not convinced of the need for it; if you want the system locale to be en_US, then set it that way; users can still set their own locale in a variety of ways.
Bill, you're right that the user can set up his own locale. But the typical user may (and I believe also will) expect the administrator to provide a suitable default. By suitable default, one would probably mean the locale used in the local country (unless the system is being used by users from different countries; this may make things a bit more complicated). Such locale may often be different from `en_US'. As reasoned in the first paragraph, I consider it useful to be able to provide a suitable (particularly non-`en_US') default while still being able to use `en_US' for the system startup.
Apologies for the delay in response. At this stage in the lifecycle of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, with the goal of mantaining stability and consistency for our custormers, we are only adding critical bugfixes and security fixes; this issue would not qualify under those criteria. Hence, marking this as WONTFIX for RHEL 4. Again, apologies for the inconvenience.