On Sun, Sep 9, 2012 at 9:47 PM, Chris Stankevitz <chrisstankev...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello, > > Section 8c of the handbook tells me: > > === > > You now have the possibility to set the system-wide locale settings in > the /etc/env.d/02locale file: > > === > > Code Listing 3.8: Setting the default system locale in /etc/env.d/02locale > LANG="de_DE.UTF-8" > LC_COLLATE="C" > > === > > Q1: Do I have the possibility to set the system-wide locale settings? > A1: YES [I knew the answer to this one!] > > Q2: Should I? > A2: ? > > Q3: If yes, what should I set them to? [The example sets them to a > magical value that seems to be related to code listing 3.6, but it is > not exactly the same. I am in the united states and I speak english > if that helps answer this one.] > A3: ? > > Thank you! > > Chris > > PS: In case it is not clear already I have no idea what a locale is > and have no preference or what it is so long as gentoo and all my apps > are happy.
A 'locale' is a collection of character set, language, date/time format, currency format, etc [1]. For US English, Dale's response pretty well covers it. As for whether you 'should' set a system-wide locale, it's dependent on the system. If it's a system used exclusively by people with a common choice of locale, it potentially saves on per-user configuration. If it's a system used by people from around the globe, it can break their expectations of how a 'default' system should act before they configure their own account for their own locale. I believe, in the event a locale isn't specified, it defaults to "POSIX". Of course, all of this also depends on the software involved actually honoring the setting, but luckily enough (for selfish people like me, that is), US English tends to be the de facto standard even when things don't honor the locale. [1] http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/programming_books/gnu_libc_guide/Effects-of-Locale.html -- Poison [BLX] Joshua M. Murphy
