How to preserve custom locales across glibc-* updates?

Solution Verified - Updated

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    • 5.x
    • 6.x
    • 7.x
    • 8.x
    • 9.x
  • glibc
  • glibc-common

Issue

  • How to preserve custom locales across glibc-* updates?

  • Why does customized locale info disappear after updating glibc-*?

  • How to preserve custom locales after glibc-common re-install?

  • After updating glibc and dependent packages, some locale info is missing from the output of # locale -a.

       # localedef -f WINDOWS-31J -i ja_JP ja_JP.SJIS

   # locale -a | grep ja
   ja_JP
   ja_JP.eucjp
   ja_JP.sjis   <===  here it is.
   ja_JP.ujis
   ja_JP.utf8
   japanese
   japanese.euc

   # yum update glibc -y
   (..SNIP..)

   # locale -a | grep ja
   ja_JP
   ja_JP.eucjp
   ja_JP.ujis
   ja_JP.utf8
   japanese
   japanese.euc

     /*  ja_JP.sjis is missing  */

    Why does this happen? And should I define it again?

Resolution

  • Use the --no-archive option to add custom locales. This would create a subdirectory under in /usr/lib/locale for the new locales instead of adding it to the locale-archive /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive.

    --no-archive
           Do  not use the locale archive file, instead create outputpath as a subdirectory in the same directory as the locale archive file, and create separate output files for locale categories in it.

  • Example : To add a new locale tr_TR@SAP, below command should be used.

       # localedef --no-archive -f ISO-8859-9 -i tr_TR@SAP tr_TR@SAP

   # ls /usr/lib/locale/
   locale-archive  locale-archive.tmpl  tr_TR@SAP  <--==== 

   # ls /usr/lib/locale/tr_TR\@SAP/
   LC_ADDRESS  LC_COLLATE  LC_CTYPE  LC_IDENTIFICATION  LC_MEASUREMENT  LC_MESSAGES  LC_MONETARY  LC_NAME  LC_NUMERIC  LC_PAPER  LC_TELEPHONE  LC_TIME

   # locale -a | grep -i SAP
   tr_TR@SAP

  • How does this help?

    • An update or reinstall of glibc-common will not destroy the folder /usr/lib/locale/tr_TR@SAP. Therefore, the custom user locale will not be lost.
    • The build-locale-archive called in the %post install of next update of glibc-common will merge the folder into the locale-archive but will not delete the folder.
    • The locale-archive file will also contain the custom user locale tr_TR@SAP.
         # yum update glibc glibc-common
     Setting up Update Process
     (...)

     Complete!

     # locale -a | grep -i SAP
     tr_TR.iso88599@SAP
     tr_TR@SAP

     # ls /usr/lib/locale/
     locale-archive  locale-archive.tmpl  tr_TR@SAP

     # localedef --list-archive | grep -i SAP
     tr_TR.iso88599@SAP
     tr_TR@SAP

  • The locale folder needs to be kept on system to get it merged into locale-archive every time glibc-common is updated or reinstalled.

Root Cause

  • If installed without using --no-archive option, then the new locale is added to the archive /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive.
  • The next update of glibc-common will call /usr/sbin/build-locale-archive in the %post install script which will delete the existing locale-archive and create a new one from the /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive.tmpl file contained in the glibc-common rpm. Therefore, the custom user locale is lost after glibc-common update.

Diagnostic Steps

  • Add the custom locales using localedef command.

       # localedef -f ISO-8859-9 -i tr_TR@SAP tr_TR@SAP

   # locale -a | grep -i SAP
   tr_TR.iso88599@SAP
   tr_TR@SAP

   # localedef --list-archive | grep -i SAP
   tr_TR.iso88599@SAP
   tr_TR@SAP

  • Update glibc packages on system.

    # yum update glibc glibc-common nscd

  • Check for the locales after after update.

       # locale -a | grep -i SAP
   #

   # localedef --list-archive | grep -i SAP
   #
SBR
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