Setting the LANG environment variable for xfce












4















I am on a multi user Debian Stretch system which has en_US.UTF-8 as default locale, but I want de_DE.UTF-8 for my user. I was able to set it for terminals, by adding export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 to ~/.bashrc.



The problem is that my X environment (with XFCE as window manager and lightdm as login manager) still uses the default locale, which isn't a surprise as .bashrc is just for bash. So I tried setting the variable in various other files:



~/.xinitrc



This file doesn't seem to get executed at all.



~/.config/xfce4/xinitrc



Setting the variable here didn't work either (no observed change in behaviour). Also, if I switch the window manager, I need to set it for the new one again, which isn't very appealing.



~/.xsession



Setting the variable here presumably works, but I would also need to start the window manager here, so I'm hoping to find a better place.



~/.pam_environment



Seems to be ignored on Debian



~/.xsessionrc



Setting environment variables here actually seems to work, but it looks like LANG is set to en_US.UTF-8 later in the startup process.



~/.i18n



Setting a language here doesn't seem to work.



It seems like all these aren't the right place to set the LANG variable. Where should I set it, to get the desired result?










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  • ~/.pam_environment is read by default on Debian. Did you write LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 or export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8? export is wrong there, this isn't a shell script, just a list of VARIABLE=value lines.

    – Gilles
    Feb 6 '16 at 21:41











  • I wrote LANG=de_DE.UTF-8. I also tried TEST=something to be sure that LANG isn't overwritten somewhere else. However, I TEST wasn't set on either physical or X terminals.

    – Kritzefitz
    Feb 7 '16 at 16:36
















4















I am on a multi user Debian Stretch system which has en_US.UTF-8 as default locale, but I want de_DE.UTF-8 for my user. I was able to set it for terminals, by adding export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 to ~/.bashrc.



The problem is that my X environment (with XFCE as window manager and lightdm as login manager) still uses the default locale, which isn't a surprise as .bashrc is just for bash. So I tried setting the variable in various other files:



~/.xinitrc



This file doesn't seem to get executed at all.



~/.config/xfce4/xinitrc



Setting the variable here didn't work either (no observed change in behaviour). Also, if I switch the window manager, I need to set it for the new one again, which isn't very appealing.



~/.xsession



Setting the variable here presumably works, but I would also need to start the window manager here, so I'm hoping to find a better place.



~/.pam_environment



Seems to be ignored on Debian



~/.xsessionrc



Setting environment variables here actually seems to work, but it looks like LANG is set to en_US.UTF-8 later in the startup process.



~/.i18n



Setting a language here doesn't seem to work.



It seems like all these aren't the right place to set the LANG variable. Where should I set it, to get the desired result?










share|improve this question














bumped to the homepage by Community 6 mins ago


This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.
















  • ~/.pam_environment is read by default on Debian. Did you write LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 or export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8? export is wrong there, this isn't a shell script, just a list of VARIABLE=value lines.

    – Gilles
    Feb 6 '16 at 21:41











  • I wrote LANG=de_DE.UTF-8. I also tried TEST=something to be sure that LANG isn't overwritten somewhere else. However, I TEST wasn't set on either physical or X terminals.

    – Kritzefitz
    Feb 7 '16 at 16:36














4












4








4


1






I am on a multi user Debian Stretch system which has en_US.UTF-8 as default locale, but I want de_DE.UTF-8 for my user. I was able to set it for terminals, by adding export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 to ~/.bashrc.



The problem is that my X environment (with XFCE as window manager and lightdm as login manager) still uses the default locale, which isn't a surprise as .bashrc is just for bash. So I tried setting the variable in various other files:



~/.xinitrc



This file doesn't seem to get executed at all.



~/.config/xfce4/xinitrc



Setting the variable here didn't work either (no observed change in behaviour). Also, if I switch the window manager, I need to set it for the new one again, which isn't very appealing.



~/.xsession



Setting the variable here presumably works, but I would also need to start the window manager here, so I'm hoping to find a better place.



~/.pam_environment



Seems to be ignored on Debian



~/.xsessionrc



Setting environment variables here actually seems to work, but it looks like LANG is set to en_US.UTF-8 later in the startup process.



~/.i18n



Setting a language here doesn't seem to work.



It seems like all these aren't the right place to set the LANG variable. Where should I set it, to get the desired result?










share|improve this question














I am on a multi user Debian Stretch system which has en_US.UTF-8 as default locale, but I want de_DE.UTF-8 for my user. I was able to set it for terminals, by adding export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 to ~/.bashrc.



The problem is that my X environment (with XFCE as window manager and lightdm as login manager) still uses the default locale, which isn't a surprise as .bashrc is just for bash. So I tried setting the variable in various other files:



~/.xinitrc



This file doesn't seem to get executed at all.



~/.config/xfce4/xinitrc



Setting the variable here didn't work either (no observed change in behaviour). Also, if I switch the window manager, I need to set it for the new one again, which isn't very appealing.



~/.xsession



Setting the variable here presumably works, but I would also need to start the window manager here, so I'm hoping to find a better place.



~/.pam_environment



Seems to be ignored on Debian



~/.xsessionrc



Setting environment variables here actually seems to work, but it looks like LANG is set to en_US.UTF-8 later in the startup process.



~/.i18n



Setting a language here doesn't seem to work.



It seems like all these aren't the right place to set the LANG variable. Where should I set it, to get the desired result?







debian environment-variables xfce desktop-environment locale






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











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asked Feb 5 '16 at 18:02









KritzefitzKritzefitz

3542719




3542719





bumped to the homepage by Community 6 mins ago


This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.







bumped to the homepage by Community 6 mins ago


This question has answers that may be good or bad; the system has marked it active so that they can be reviewed.















  • ~/.pam_environment is read by default on Debian. Did you write LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 or export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8? export is wrong there, this isn't a shell script, just a list of VARIABLE=value lines.

    – Gilles
    Feb 6 '16 at 21:41











  • I wrote LANG=de_DE.UTF-8. I also tried TEST=something to be sure that LANG isn't overwritten somewhere else. However, I TEST wasn't set on either physical or X terminals.

    – Kritzefitz
    Feb 7 '16 at 16:36



















  • ~/.pam_environment is read by default on Debian. Did you write LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 or export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8? export is wrong there, this isn't a shell script, just a list of VARIABLE=value lines.

    – Gilles
    Feb 6 '16 at 21:41











  • I wrote LANG=de_DE.UTF-8. I also tried TEST=something to be sure that LANG isn't overwritten somewhere else. However, I TEST wasn't set on either physical or X terminals.

    – Kritzefitz
    Feb 7 '16 at 16:36

















~/.pam_environment is read by default on Debian. Did you write LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 or export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8? export is wrong there, this isn't a shell script, just a list of VARIABLE=value lines.

– Gilles
Feb 6 '16 at 21:41





~/.pam_environment is read by default on Debian. Did you write LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 or export LANG=de_DE.UTF-8? export is wrong there, this isn't a shell script, just a list of VARIABLE=value lines.

– Gilles
Feb 6 '16 at 21:41













I wrote LANG=de_DE.UTF-8. I also tried TEST=something to be sure that LANG isn't overwritten somewhere else. However, I TEST wasn't set on either physical or X terminals.

– Kritzefitz
Feb 7 '16 at 16:36





I wrote LANG=de_DE.UTF-8. I also tried TEST=something to be sure that LANG isn't overwritten somewhere else. However, I TEST wasn't set on either physical or X terminals.

– Kritzefitz
Feb 7 '16 at 16:36










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I had the same problem that the language is not correctly set by lightdm (see this bug).
Adding the LANG exports to both .bashrc and .xsessionrc did the trick for me. I export to LANG, LANGUAGE and LC_ALL to be sure.






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    I had the same problem that the language is not correctly set by lightdm (see this bug).
    Adding the LANG exports to both .bashrc and .xsessionrc did the trick for me. I export to LANG, LANGUAGE and LC_ALL to be sure.






    share|improve this answer






























      0














      I had the same problem that the language is not correctly set by lightdm (see this bug).
      Adding the LANG exports to both .bashrc and .xsessionrc did the trick for me. I export to LANG, LANGUAGE and LC_ALL to be sure.






      share|improve this answer




























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        I had the same problem that the language is not correctly set by lightdm (see this bug).
        Adding the LANG exports to both .bashrc and .xsessionrc did the trick for me. I export to LANG, LANGUAGE and LC_ALL to be sure.






        share|improve this answer















        I had the same problem that the language is not correctly set by lightdm (see this bug).
        Adding the LANG exports to both .bashrc and .xsessionrc did the trick for me. I export to LANG, LANGUAGE and LC_ALL to be sure.







        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited Jan 19 '18 at 13:00









        Pierre.Vriens

        99251015




        99251015










        answered Jan 19 '18 at 10:30









        pianoslumpianoslum

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