1 <?xml version='
1.0'
?> <!--*-nxml-*-->
2 <!DOCTYPE refentry PUBLIC
"-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.5//EN"
3 "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.5/docbookx.dtd">
4 <!-- SPDX-License-Identifier: LGPL-2.1-or-later -->
6 <refentry id=
"locale.conf">
8 <title>locale.conf
</title>
9 <productname>systemd
</productname>
13 <refentrytitle>locale.conf
</refentrytitle>
14 <manvolnum>5</manvolnum>
18 <refname>locale.conf
</refname>
19 <refpurpose>Configuration file for locale settings
</refpurpose>
23 <para><filename>/etc/locale.conf
</filename></para>
27 <title>Description
</title>
29 <para>The
<filename>/etc/locale.conf
</filename> file configures
30 system-wide locale settings. It is read at early boot by
31 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
33 <para>The format of
<filename>locale.conf
</filename> is a newline-separated list of environment-like
34 shell-compatible variable assignments, ignoring comments and empty lines. It is possible to source the
35 configuration from shell scripts, however, beyond mere variable assignments, no shell features are
36 supported, allowing applications to read the file without implementing a shell compatible execution
38 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>os-release
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>5</manvolnum></citerefentry> for a
39 detailed description of the format.
</para>
41 <para>Note that the kernel command line options
42 <varname>locale.LANG=
</varname>,
43 <varname>locale.LANGUAGE=
</varname>,
44 <varname>locale.LC_CTYPE=
</varname>,
45 <varname>locale.LC_NUMERIC=
</varname>,
46 <varname>locale.LC_TIME=
</varname>,
47 <varname>locale.LC_COLLATE=
</varname>,
48 <varname>locale.LC_MONETARY=
</varname>,
49 <varname>locale.LC_MESSAGES=
</varname>,
50 <varname>locale.LC_PAPER=
</varname>,
51 <varname>locale.LC_NAME=
</varname>,
52 <varname>locale.LC_ADDRESS=
</varname>,
53 <varname>locale.LC_TELEPHONE=
</varname>,
54 <varname>locale.LC_MEASUREMENT=
</varname>,
55 <varname>locale.LC_IDENTIFICATION=
</varname> may be
56 used to override the locale settings at boot.
</para>
58 <para>The locale settings configured in
59 <filename>/etc/locale.conf
</filename> are system-wide and are
60 inherited by every service or user, unless overridden or unset by
61 individual programs or users.
</para>
63 <para>Depending on the operating system, other configuration files
64 might be checked for locale configuration as well, however only as
67 <para><filename>/etc/locale.conf
</filename> can be updated
69 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-localed.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
70 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>localectl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
71 may be used to alter the settings in this file during runtime from
73 <citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry>
74 to customize them on mounted (but not booted) system images.
</para>
78 <title>Options
</title>
80 <para>The following locale settings may be set using
81 <filename>/etc/locale.conf
</filename>:
82 <varname>LANG=
</varname>,
83 <varname>LANGUAGE=
</varname>,
84 <varname>LC_CTYPE=
</varname>,
85 <varname>LC_NUMERIC=
</varname>,
86 <varname>LC_TIME=
</varname>,
87 <varname>LC_COLLATE=
</varname>,
88 <varname>LC_MONETARY=
</varname>,
89 <varname>LC_MESSAGES=
</varname>,
90 <varname>LC_PAPER=
</varname>,
91 <varname>LC_NAME=
</varname>,
92 <varname>LC_ADDRESS=
</varname>,
93 <varname>LC_TELEPHONE=
</varname>,
94 <varname>LC_MEASUREMENT=
</varname>,
95 <varname>LC_IDENTIFICATION=
</varname>.
96 Note that
<varname>LC_ALL
</varname> may not be configured in this
97 file. For details about the meaning and semantics of these
99 <citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>locale
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry>.
</para>
103 <title>Example
</title>
106 <title>German locale with English messages
</title>
108 <para><filename>/etc/locale.conf
</filename>:
</para>
110 <programlisting># Custom settings
113 LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-
8</programlisting>
119 <title>See Also
</title>
120 <para><simplelist type=
"inline">
121 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
122 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>locale
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>7</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
123 <member><citerefentry project='man-pages'
><refentrytitle>localectl
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
124 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-localed.service
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>8</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>
125 <member><citerefentry><refentrytitle>systemd-firstboot
</refentrytitle><manvolnum>1</manvolnum></citerefentry></member>