Arch Linux

Kulpo

Member

Registered: 2021-05-25

Posts: 6

[SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

I tried to make Vim my main text editor, then I realized that i can't write Polish characters like: ą, ę, etc. It's quite strange because those characters work in every other place. During debugging process I also noticed that I can't use those characters before starting X server.
Some outputs:

➜  ~ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

➜  ~ locale -a
C
en_US.utf8
pl_PL.utf8
POSIX

➜  ~ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

➜  ~ cat /etc/locale.gen | grep '^[^#]'

en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
pl_PL.UTF-8 UTF-8

Last edited by Kulpo (2021-05-26 09:18:46)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,729

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

What's in /etc/locale.conf?

Kulpo

Member

Registered: 2021-05-25

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

➜  ~ cat /etc/locale.conf
LANG=en_US.UTF-8

I tried

localectl set-locale LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8

but it didn't help.

Last edited by Kulpo (2021-05-25 22:47:42)

Scimmia

Fellow

Registered: 2012-09-01

Posts: 13,729

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

So everything lines up with what you have set in locale.conf, what's the problem?

Kulpo

Member

Registered: 2021-05-25

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

I can't use Polish characters before starting X server nor in vim. I tried once again switching back /etc/locale.conf to LANG=pl_PL.UTF-8.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,462

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

I can't use Polish characters

I assume you mean you can't type them on your keyboard rather than they don't appear on screen in an existing text?

cat /etc/vconsole.conf

Try "loadkeys pl" - there seem to be 5(!) polish keyboard layouts - pl and pl[1-4] so you might need another variant.

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kulpo

Member

Registered: 2021-05-25

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

I assume you mean you can't type them on your keyboard rather than they don't appear on screen in an existing text?

They don't appear on screen, e.g. when I tried to cat files with those characters instead of them I received gray squares.

Try "loadkeys pl" - there seem to be 5(!) polish keyboard layouts - pl and pl[1-4] so you might need another variant.

Just tried, it didn't help.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,462

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

You need to select a different console font, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Linux_console#Fonts & https://alexandre.deverteuil.net/pages/consolefonts/

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How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

Kulpo

Member

Registered: 2021-05-25

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

Thanks, that resolved problem with console characters. Maybe it will be useful for someone, I had to change /etc/vconsole.conf to:

KEYMAP=pl
FONT=Lat2-Terminus16.psfu.gz
FONT_MAP=8859-2

It doesn't resolve problem wit vim tho, still can't use all characters, instead of them I have some other strange letters. I'm not sure if it's because of arch or rather some vim issue.

Kulpo

Member

Registered: 2021-05-25

Posts: 6

Re: [SOLVED]locale settings don't work before starting X nor in Vim

@Seth thank you once again for your tip. I manage to to solve my problems by changing console font and terminal font.