[arch-projects] [initscripts][RFC][PATCH] locale.sh: add support for user-specific locale.conf, drop DAEMON_LOCALE

[Dave Reisner]

On Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 07:53:34PM +0200, Tom Gundersen wrote:
> We use the first configuration file we find out of:
> 
>  * $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/locale.conf
>  * /etc/locale.conf
>  * /etc/rc.conf
> 
> All subsequent config files are ignored. E.g., an emtpy /etc/locale.conf
> means that LOCALE from rc.conf is ignored.
> 
> This will easily allow users to set one locale to be used for
> daemons/boot and a separate one to be used for users consoles etc.
> 
> This eliminates the need for DAEMON_LOCALE, so remove that
> functionality. A post-install note will be added.
> 
> The constraints that led to this suggestion:
> 
> 1) The default locale should work even if locale-gen has not been run,
>    i.e., it should be "C".
> 2) It is common to want the system locale to be "English", which a
>    priori "C" satisfies. However, "C" is not UTF-8, which causes issues
>    when the user locale is in UTF-8 (as it is the system locale that
>    configures the console mode).
> 3) Users might (and often do) want a different locale than what is used
>    system-wide. Moreover, different users might want different locales.
> 
> In case this seems far-fetched: This computer is shared by two people
> neither of whose mother tongue is English (and whose mother tongue
> is  not the same). I also want all my daemons to output in English so I can
> paste the output in bug reports etc.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Tom Gundersen <teg at jklm.no>
> ---

Finally getting around to reviewing this. In short, this won't work. See
below.

>  functions     | 24 ++++++++----------------
>  locale.sh     | 10 ++++++----
>  rc.conf.5.txt | 13 +++----------
>  3 files changed, 17 insertions(+), 30 deletions(-)
> 
> diff --git a/functions b/functions
> index e8ff7b8..7e7549a 100644
> --- a/functions
> +++ b/functions
> @@ -9,7 +9,14 @@ localevars=(LANG LC_CTYPE LC_NUMERIC LC_TIME LC_COLLATE LC_MONETARY
>              LC_MESSAGES LC_PAPER LC_NAME LC_ADDRESS LC_TELEPHONE
>              LC_MEASUREMENT LC_IDENTIFICATION LC_ALL)
>  
> -vconsolevars=(KEYMAP KEYMAP_TOGGLE FONT FONT_MAP FONT_UNIMAP)
> +
> +# clear the TZ envvar, so daemons always respect /etc/localtime
> +unset TZ
> +
> +# sanitize the locale settings
> +unset "${localevars[@]}"
> +
> +. /etc/profile.d/locale.sh

This is going to read locale from root's home, if such a thing exists.
An odd case perhaps, but do we really want this side effect?

>  
>  if [[ $1 == "start" ]]; then
>  	if [[ $STARTING ]]; then
> @@ -66,12 +73,6 @@ if (( $? != 3 )); then
>  fi
>  unset TERM_COLORS
>  
> -# clear the TZ envvar, so daemons always respect /etc/localtime
> -unset TZ
> -
> -# sanitize the locale settings
> -unset "${localevars[@]}"
> -
>  parse_envfile() {
>  	local file=$1 validkeys=("${@:2}") ret=0 lineno=0 key= val=
>  	local -r quotes=$'[\'"]' comments=$'[;#]*'
> @@ -723,15 +724,6 @@ if (( RC_FUNCTIONS_HOOK_FUNCS_DEFINED != 1 )); then
>  	declare -r RC_FUNCTIONS_HOOK_FUNCS_DEFINED=1
>  fi
>  
> -if [[ $DAEMON_LOCALE != [nN][oO] ]]; then
> -	export LANG=${LOCALE:-C}
> -	if [[ -r /etc/locale.conf ]]; then
> -		parse_envfile /etc/locale.conf "${localevars[@]}"
> -	fi
> -else
> -	export LANG=C
> -fi
> -
>  # set colors
>  if [[ $USECOLOR != [nN][oO] ]]; then
>  	if tput setaf 0 &>/dev/null; then
> diff --git a/locale.sh b/locale.sh
> index c465f6f..48c3c50 100644
> --- a/locale.sh
> +++ b/locale.sh
> @@ -1,10 +1,12 @@
>  unset LANG
>  
> -if [ -s /etc/locale.conf ]; then
> +if [ -s $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/locale.conf ]; then
> +	. $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/locale.conf

This is a problem. I'm going to say that most of the time,
XDG_CONFIG_HOME won't be defined here. We read iterate over
/etc/profile.d in glob order (defined by current LC_COLLATE). If
XDG_CONFIG_HOME is set by /etc/profile.d/xorg.sh, we aren't ever going
to see this var defined.

In addition, when XDG_CONFIG_HOME isn't defined, then under absurd
circumstances, /locale.conf would be read. I think you meant to combine
this case with the one below it for $HOME/config:

if [ -s "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/locale.conf" ]; then
  . "${XDG_CONFIG_HOME:-$HOME/.config}/locale.conf"
fi

But, again, with the current conditions, this just won't ever be
defined. It's furthermore, impossible to set/override XDG_CONFIG_HOME in
user config since it's all read post /etc/profile.

Maybe we just stick to $HOME/.config/locale.conf?

> +elif [ -s $HOME/.config/locale.conf ]; then
> +	. $HOME/.config/locale.conf
> +elif [ -s /etc/locale.conf ]; then
>  	. /etc/locale.conf
> -fi
> -
> -if [ -z "$LANG" ] && [ -s /etc/rc.conf ]; then
> +elif [ -s /etc/rc.conf ]; then
>  	LANG=$(. /etc/rc.conf 2>/dev/null; echo "$LOCALE")
>  fi

This means that /etc/rc.conf has the last say which is contrary to the
documentation below. And, if /etc/rc.conf exists without LOCALE defined,
you just set locale to an empty string.

>  
> diff --git a/rc.conf.5.txt b/rc.conf.5.txt
> index 73c2423..8983871 100644
> --- a/rc.conf.5.txt
> +++ b/rc.conf.5.txt
> @@ -190,21 +190,14 @@ FONT_MAP in /etc/vconsole.conf takes precedence (see vconsole.conf(5)), and is r
>  This sets your system language, which will be used by all i18n-friendly applications and utilities.
>  See `locale -a` (or locale.gen) for available options.
>  
> -LANG in /etc/locale.conf takes precedence (see locale.conf(5)), and is recommended.
> +LANG in /etc/locale.conf takes precedence (see locale.conf(5)), and is recommended. User-specific
> +locale settings which override both /etc/locale.conf and /etc/rc.conf are set in
> +$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/locale.conf using the same syntax as /etc/locale.conf.
>  
>  If unset, it falls back to the C locale.
>  
>  	LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8"
>  
> -*DAEMON_LOCALE=*
> -
> -	- If set to 'no', export the C locale to daemons and during the boot process.
> -	- Otherwise, export LANG (or LOCALE) as configured in /etc/locale.conf (or /etc/rc.conf).
> -
> -Leave this unset, unless you have a specific reason to set it to 'no'.
> -
> -	DAEMON_LOCALE="yes"
> -
>  *USECOLOR=*
>  
>  Use ANSI color sequences in start-up messages, unless set to 'no'.
> -- 
> 1.7.11.4
>