Request: An option to install only the locales we need

[AK-47]

@MikeR Yeah but no. I'm not keen on incorporating a third-party tool that will probably end in a disaster for users. We have MX Cleanup, this should be sufficient for most users to clean up unused space from their MX Linux system. Beyond MX Cleanup and supplied package management tools, you're on your own.

If it works for you then great, but I don't see what this has to do with the OP's suggestion.

[Nokkaelaein]

I don't see what this has to do with the OP's suggestion.

It removes selected locales completely from disk, addressing OP's "saving disk space by removing unused locales" wish. I've done this to no ill effect in the past. However, I agree with your caution, and wouldn't recommend this as a safe tool for common use, as a whole. One needs to know what they are doing with this one, with all the erasing options present.

[b3ta]

Please use regular colors, as coloring makes text harder to read for some of our members.

I'd love to, Eadwine; here is my story. I'm sorry if it ruffles feathers, but I'm just recounting my experience here. It relates to both colour and code.

Colour

I would really like to write posts which can be read with equal ease by those who prefer light backgrounds and those who (like me) really struggle with them and prefer dark backgrounds on their screens. Sadly, a fair number of requests to have that enabled on this board have been denied and shut down. Thus I (and others like me) are forced to use work-arounds which sometimes cause other sites to break. I was hoping that this colour is easy to read in both a light and a dark background. It appears I was wrong.

Code

In a related vein, it is really useful to be able to indicate in-line code as such. My request to enable in-line code was also denied, and I was told to use code blocks instead. In other words, I was told that the [icode] tag would not be enabled. Using code blocks instead of inline means posts will be horrible to read because each otherwise in-line bit of code will now be a separate block, vertically interrupting the sentence. So I resorted to changing the colour, but see above.

Actually, installing the Markdown plug-in (https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/extension/markdown/) would make other things easier as well, plus users can enable it themselves if they want to use it.

Anyway, I'll see how it goes using code blocks everywhere.

[fehlix]

This will kill two birds with one stone:

As others stated, user can cleanup anything they like before running the installer. simple tools the reduce compiled locale archived exists like mx-locale
and further any type of removal tool for other locale related files, like bleachbit or similar dangerous tools.
So cleanup of not-needed locales would better stay out of scope of the installer.

[b3ta]

@MikeR Yes, I am aware of

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Bleachbit

, but as per fehlix's post (viewtopic.php?p=789332#p789332), the next package upgrade will put it all back again, while

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localepurge

can deal with that.

@AK-47

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Bleachbit

can be used for this, but requires an extra work-around to keep the changes. Also,

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Bleachbit

does a lot more, and if you don't use it correctly, you can blast way more than you intend to. My suggestion is to look at the code for

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localepurge

, as it's quite well written and documented, so incorporating its functionality should not add too much of a maintenance requirement. Just note its entry under

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/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99-localepurge

, as you'd need that as well.

A simple approach would be to give users the choice at installation time (just like you do with creating the default and root users) to decide whether they want to trim their locales then or later. If they go for it, just install

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localepurge

at the end of the installation process (probably in a

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chroot

environment), given the next paragraph.

A point from my experiences today: be aware that installing

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localepurge

triggers

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dpkg-reconfigure localepurge

as part of the installation process and theirs doesn't have a

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Cancel

option. So be ready to configure it, as breaking out of

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dpkg-reconfigure localepurge

causes some pain involving the process table to get the whole

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apt

ecosystem happy again.

I haven't used antiX for years, but doubt this would break anything there.

Now I need to go and use a screwdriver on real hardware (a heater) to maintain household harmony ;-)

[AK-47]

@b3ta Feel free to provide a patch to review, code is here: https://github.com/gazelle-installer/ga ... ree/trixie
(fun fact: that's how I ended up on the dev team)

I can't read your post very well without straining myself because of your colors and formatting, this is unnecessary and makes your posts exceptionally hard to read. If you want to make your posts easy to read for all users, just avoid the fancy colors altogether. It would take me a while to decipher that post, so sorry if I am not addressing the whole thing.

[oops]

... Maybe you can only modify after the MX install and by hand the file: /etc/locale.gen to only keep your locales ( # Other-Locales ).

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locale -a #to list

# my locale here:
cat /etc/locale.gen | grep -v "#"

en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8
en_US ISO-8859-1
en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8
fr_FR@euro ISO-8859-15
fr_FR ISO-8859-1
fr_FR.UTF-8 UTF-8

[DukeComposed]

... Maybe you can only modify after the MX install and by hand the file: /etc/locale.gen to only keep your locales ( # Other-Locales ).

I've done something similar in the past with not inconsiderable success:

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  echo en_US ISO-8859-1   > ${TARGET}/etc/locale.gen
  echo en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 >> ${TARGET}/etc/locale.gen
  chroot ${TARGET} env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive locale-gen "en_US.UTF-8"
  chroot ${TARGET} env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive dpkg-reconfigure locales

It shaves a couple minutes off of a new install without impacting textual behavior.

[oops]

... Maybe you can only modify after the MX install and by hand the file: /etc/locale.gen to only keep your locales ( # Other-Locales ).

I've done something similar in the past with not inconsiderable success:

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  echo en_US ISO-8859-1   > ${TARGET}/etc/locale.gen
  echo en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 >> ${TARGET}/etc/locale.gen
  chroot ${TARGET} env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive locale-gen "en_US.UTF-8"
  chroot ${TARGET} env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive dpkg-reconfigure locales

It shaves a couple minutes off of a new install without impacting textual behavior.

Thanks for sharing.
My procedure only shaves a couple minutes off when locales are upgraded.

[CharlesV]

I've done something similar in the past with not inconsiderable success:

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  echo en_US ISO-8859-1   > ${TARGET}/etc/locale.gen
  echo en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8 >> ${TARGET}/etc/locale.gen
  chroot ${TARGET} env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive locale-gen "en_US.UTF-8"
  chroot ${TARGET} env DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive dpkg-reconfigure locales

It shaves a couple minutes off of a new install without impacting textual behavior.

Oh I like that! Thank you for sharing that one and THAT is going in my notes :-)