[SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

D3vil0p3r · 2023-10-06 08:44:42

I'm using an Arch Linux environment where I'm testing the usage of "pacstrap". When I run:

sudo pacstrap /mnt base

after the installation of packages, I get as output:

<SNIP>
:: Running post-transaction hooks...
( 1/12) Creating system user accounts...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
( 2/12) Updating journal message catalog...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
( 3/12) Reloading system manager configuration...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
  Skipped: Running in chroot.
( 4/12) Updating udev hardware database...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
( 5/12) Applying kernel sysctl settings...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
  Skipped: Running in chroot.
( 6/12) Creating temporary files...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
( 7/12) Reloading device manager configuration...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
  Skipped: Running in chroot.
( 8/12) Arming ConditionNeedsUpdate...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
( 9/12) Rebuilding certificate stores...
/bin/bash: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
(10/12) Reloading system bus configuration...
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)
  Skipped: Running in chroot.
(11/12) Add Athena specific config
/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

I guess it is considering "LC_ALL" variable from the host and not the one from the mount point (?).

The "/etc/locale.conf" of the Arch host is:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8

While "/etc/locale.gen" of the host contains:

en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

"locale -a" output from the host:

C
C.utf8
en_US.utf8
POSIX

How can I solve the warning "/bin/sh: warning: setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)" in the mount point before running "pacstrap /mnt base"?

If I run "sudo locale-gen" on the Arch host, it does not solve the warning. I can "arch-chroot" inside "/mnt" and try to run "locale-gen" but if I do that BEFORE running "pacstrap /mnt base" command, I don't have "locale-gen" command available.

Last edited by D3vil0p3r (2023-10-06 15:06:34)

loqs · 2023-10-06 10:23:12

Why is LC_ALL set in /etc/locale.conf?
Edit:
Also LANGUAGE is wrong see Locale#LANGUAGE:_fallback_locales.

Last edited by loqs (2023-10-06 10:27:41)

D3vil0p3r · 2023-10-06 10:31:14

loqs wrote:

Why is LC_ALL set in /etc/locale.conf?

Because if I don't set it there, I get that warning message as:

perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
	LANGUAGE = (unset),
	LC_ALL = (unset),
	LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C").

I know that ArchWiki says:

LC_ALL is the only LC_* variable which cannot be set in locale.conf files

ref: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/locale … leshooting

So it means that I should not set "LC_ALL" anywhere in a production environment? If so, how can I avoid that warning with (unset)?

loqs · 2023-10-06 10:54:47

What if you change /etc/locale.conf to:

LANG=en_US.utf8

D3vil0p3r · 2023-10-06 12:12:51

If I set only that variable in /etc/locale.conf and keeping only "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" in /etc/locale.gen, in the mount point I get:

(11/12) Warn about old perl modules
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
        LANGUAGE = (unset),
        LC_ALL = (unset),
        LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C").

Last edited by D3vil0p3r (2023-10-06 12:14:08)

loqs · 2023-10-06 12:23:27

If you replace en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 with en_US.utf8 is there any chance?

Scimmia · 2023-10-06 12:27:03

What does `locale` give?

D3vil0p3r · 2023-10-06 12:29:48

loqs wrote:

If you replace en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 with en_US.utf8 is there any chance?

So, you mean to remove the charset part of "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" (that is the last UTF-8) and remove the dash in "en_US.UTF-8" in /etc/locale.gen?

If I try to do this in the host and run"sudo locale-gen", I get an error:

Generating locales...
error: Bad entry 'en_US.UTF-8 '
Generation complete.

if I keep the dash or:

Generating locales...
error: Bad entry 'en_US.UTF8 '
Generation complete.

if I don't keep it.

Scimmia · 2023-10-06 12:32:38

They meant in locale.conf, not locale.gen.

D3vil0p3r · 2023-10-06 12:34:26

Scimmia wrote:

They meant in locale.conf, not locale.gen.

locale.conf was already as:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Scimmia wrote:

What does `locale` give?

locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
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=

Last edited by D3vil0p3r (2023-10-06 12:35:53)

D3vil0p3r · 2023-10-06 12:40:06

I can solve those errors/warnings by entering the mount point by "arch-chroot" and running "locale-gen". But "locale-gen" should be a binary obtained from "glibc" that is inside "base" metapackage, but if I install "base" by pacstrap, it generates the output on the first post and I cannot run "locale-gen" before "pacstrap /mnt base" because at that time "locale-gen" command does not exist. I hope the scenario is clear.

Last edited by D3vil0p3r (2023-10-06 12:40:54)

Scimmia · 2023-10-06 12:45:06

Are you giving us some output from outside the chroot and some from inside?

D3vil0p3r · 2023-10-06 12:51:39

Scimmia wrote:

Are you giving us some output from outside the chroot and some from inside?

Here an example according to the changes done during this discussion. I have a fresh Arch Linux environment with "/etc/locale.conf":

LANG=en_US.UTF-8

and "/etc/locale.gen":

en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8

I run "sudo pacstrap /mnt /base" and I get the output of the install of packages of base metapackage and after the install, during the post transactional hooks I get:

(11/12) Warn about old perl modules
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
        LANGUAGE = (unset),
        LC_ALL = (unset),
        LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to the standard locale ("C").

If I enter by "sudo arch-chroot /mnt" by making its /etc/locale.conf and .gen as the ones of the host (so, with the en_US strings), and then I run "locale-gen" in this chroot, I fix. The problem is that I should fix "before" I run "pacstrap /mnt base" because I would like to manage this warning above produced by running "sudo pacstrap /mnt base".

Last edited by D3vil0p3r (2023-10-06 12:52:36)

loqs · 2023-10-06 13:09:14

$ sudo pacstrap /mnt /base
==> Creating install root at /mnt
==> Installing packages to /mnt
:: Synchronizing package databases...
 core is up to date
 extra is up to date
error: database not found: base
==> ERROR: Failed to install packages to new root

Specify LANG=C.UTF8 to use a locale that is prebuilt in glibc, also I had to add perl as it is not pulled in by base:

sudo LANG=C.UTF-8 pacstrap /mnt base perl

or install glibc-locales so all the locales are prebuilt

sudo LANG=C.UTF-8 pacstrap /mnt base perl glibc-locales

Note warnings are not errors.
Edit:
Did the warnings you posted result in any issues in the resulting install?

Last edited by loqs (2023-10-06 13:10:20)

D3vil0p3r · 2023-10-06 15:06:16

Thank you very much. I performed several tests. In my scenario I needed only to run:

sudo pacstrap /mnt base glibc-locales

by keeping "locale.conf" and "locale.gen" unchanged with English entry.

It solved the issue. The warning is not produced anymore.

golk · 2026-04-27 03:54:49

D3vil0p3r wrote:

Thank you very much. I performed several tests. In my scenario I needed only to run:
sudo pacstrap /mnt base glibc-locales
by keeping "locale.conf" and "locale.gen" unchanged with English entry.
It solved the issue. The warning is not produced anymore.

Thanks, echo this.
I'm very paranoid about any kind of warnings system emits while compiling stuff so this helps a lot.

Last edited by golk (2026-04-27 03:55:34)

schard · 2026-04-27 07:22:38

Mod note: Please don't necro-bump. Closing this old thread.

Arch Linux

#1 2023-10-06 08:44:42

[SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#2 2023-10-06 10:23:12

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#3 2023-10-06 10:31:14

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#4 2023-10-06 10:54:47

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#5 2023-10-06 12:12:51

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#6 2023-10-06 12:23:27

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#7 2023-10-06 12:27:03

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#8 2023-10-06 12:29:48

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#9 2023-10-06 12:32:38

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#10 2023-10-06 12:34:26

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#11 2023-10-06 12:40:06

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#12 2023-10-06 12:45:06

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#13 2023-10-06 12:51:39

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#14 2023-10-06 13:09:14

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#15 2023-10-06 15:06:16

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#16 2026-04-27 03:54:49

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

#17 2026-04-27 07:22:38

Re: [SOLVED] setlocale: LC_ALL: cannot change locale (en_US.UTF-8)

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