Changing settings on a user level always is a good idea. As long as you are fine with System wide logs coming in English, I see no downside to this. Why can't we have this as the default recommended approach? On Mon, Aug 25, 2014 at 4:07 AM, Alad Wenter <the.changing.side@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi,
Arch Linux currently emphasises on setting the locale system-wide. If a non-english language is desired, it should be uncommented in /etc/locale.gen (besides en_US.UTF-8), and set in /etc/locale.conf.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Installation_guide#Configure_the_system
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginner%27s_guide#Locale
While the Locale article mentions a user-wide setting (.config/locale.conf), this is more an aside for "multi-user" systems.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Locale#Setting_per-user_locale
An alternative approach is mentioned in the Funtoo FAQ:
"The next thing I recommend is to try to avoid changing the global system LANG setting, and instead set the LANG setting on a per-user basis by adding the desired LANG setting to your ~/.bashrc. This will preserve English log output in /var/log and make it easier to search for more common matching English strings on the Internet when you need help."
http://www.funtoo.org/Funtoo_Linux_FAQ#What_if_I_want_to_use_a_non-English_l...
Thus /etc/locale.conf would have LANG=en_US.UTF-8, and other languages would be defined in ~/.bashrc (or rather ~/.config/locale.conf).
This sounds like a fair argument. Are there possible downsides to this approach in Arch, or can/should the respective articles be updated?
Regards,
-- Alad Wenter <the.changing.side@gmail.com>