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How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 10:57 am
by powerhouse
Linux Mint 13 (and subsequent releases 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18) introduced some changes regarding local language support and how it's setup. As a result, you will see the following warning, for example when running update-initramfs:
Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf8
This is because locale-gen is using an archive file to store all the locales, but many utilities are still looking for the locale files.

Have a look at /usr/lib/locale/. If your output looks like this, read on:

Code: Select all

# ls /usr/lib/locale/
C.UTF-8  locale-archive
The warning isn't critical, as far as I can tell. However, user austin.texas reported that the remedy below also fixed the sort order in his file browser. So if this bothers you or causes troubles, try the following in a terminal window:

Code: Select all

sudo locale-gen --purge --no-archive
This command purges (deletes) the archive file and replaces it with the .utf8 files.

Code: Select all

# ls /usr/lib/locale/
C.UTF-8     de_LI.utf8  en_CA.utf8  en_IN       en_US.utf8
de_AT.utf8  de_LU.utf8  en_DK.utf8  en_NG       en_ZA.utf8
de_BE.utf8  en_AG       en_GB.utf8  en_NZ.utf8  en_ZM
de_CH.utf8  en_AU.utf8  en_HK.utf8  en_PH.utf8  en_ZW.utf8
de_DE.utf8  en_BW.utf8  en_IE.utf8  en_SG.utf8
Remark: The above output represents the English and German locale files, your output may be different depending on the languages you selected.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 11:35 am
by xenopeek
Thanks! I had been wondering about that error :)

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:59 pm
by martywd
I saw a 'fix' for this issue somewhere else. It didn't work for me.

This fix with very fine explanation does!

Code: Select all

$
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo update-initramfs -u
[sudo] password for marty:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf8
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo locale-gen --purge --no-archive 
Generating locales...
  en_AG.UTF-8... done
  en_AU.UTF-8... done
  en_BW.UTF-8... done
  en_CA.UTF-8... done
  en_DK.UTF-8... done
  en_GB.UTF-8... done
  en_HK.UTF-8... done
  en_IE.UTF-8... done
  en_IN.UTF-8... done
  en_NG.UTF-8... done
  en_NZ.UTF-8... done
  en_PH.UTF-8... done
  en_SG.UTF-8... done
  en_US.UTF-8... done
  en_ZA.UTF-8... done
  en_ZM.UTF-8... done
  en_ZW.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo update-initramfs -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
marty@xxxxxx:~
$
No error(s).

Thanks 'powerhouse'
.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 3:31 pm
by powerhouse
xenopeek wrote:Thanks! I had been wondering about that error :)
Yep, it's one of these things that might get people worried. Hope it's going to be fixed, if only for cosmetic reasons.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 3:39 pm
by powerhouse
martywd wrote:I saw a 'fix' for this issue somewhere else. It didn't work for me.

This fix with very fine explanation does!

Code: Select all

$
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo update-initramfs -u
[sudo] password for marty:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf8
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo locale-gen --purge --no-archive 
Generating locales...
  en_AG.UTF-8... done
  en_AU.UTF-8... done
  en_BW.UTF-8... done
  en_CA.UTF-8... done
  en_DK.UTF-8... done
  en_GB.UTF-8... done
  en_HK.UTF-8... done
  en_IE.UTF-8... done
  en_IN.UTF-8... done
  en_NG.UTF-8... done
  en_NZ.UTF-8... done
  en_PH.UTF-8... done
  en_SG.UTF-8... done
  en_US.UTF-8... done
  en_ZA.UTF-8... done
  en_ZM.UTF-8... done
  en_ZW.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo update-initramfs -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
marty@xxxxxx:~
$
No error(s).

Thanks 'powerhouse'
.

You're welcome! Though I believe it's only a cosmetic issue. Can't remember that it caused any problems. In case it gets fixed, you could run sudo locale-gen --purge to get back to the archive way of storing locales (haven't tried it though).

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2012 3:53 pm
by martywd
powerhouse wrote: ......
...In case it gets fixed, you could run sudo locale-gen --purge to get back to the archive way of storing locales...


I'll remember to try that if/when the fix comes along.

Thanks. Again!
.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Wed Jan 02, 2013 7:41 am
by Catbuntu
Thanks! The local-gen command worked like a charm. No more odd warnings!

Catbuntu

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 8:54 pm
by powerhouse
Catbuntu wrote:Thanks! The local-gen command worked like a charm. No more odd warnings!

Catbuntu
You're welcome!

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2013 12:03 pm
by horirevens
martywd wrote:I saw a 'fix' for this issue somewhere else. It didn't work for me.

This fix with very fine explanation does!

Code: Select all

$
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo update-initramfs -u
[sudo] password for marty:
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf8
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo locale-gen --purge --no-archive 
Generating locales...
  en_AG.UTF-8... done
  en_AU.UTF-8... done
  en_BW.UTF-8... done
  en_CA.UTF-8... done
  en_DK.UTF-8... done
  en_GB.UTF-8... done
  en_HK.UTF-8... done
  en_IE.UTF-8... done
  en_IN.UTF-8... done
  en_NG.UTF-8... done
  en_NZ.UTF-8... done
  en_PH.UTF-8... done
  en_SG.UTF-8... done
  en_US.UTF-8... done
  en_ZA.UTF-8... done
  en_ZM.UTF-8... done
  en_ZW.UTF-8... done
Generation complete.
marty@xxxxxx:~
$ sudo update-initramfs -u
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-29-generic-pae
marty@xxxxxx:~
$
No error(s).

Thanks 'powerhouse'
.
It work for me too. thanks a lot :D

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Thu Oct 24, 2013 7:47 am
by michalko
It works for me, thanks a lot.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Thu Nov 21, 2013 1:10 pm
by ddalley
So, a year later, what are the chances of this finally getting fixed?

I presume that only one utility needs to be updated, to use the more modern method of looking for locales.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 5:27 am
by powerhouse
ddalley wrote:So, a year later, what are the chances of this finally getting fixed?

I presume that only one utility needs to be updated, to use the more modern method of looking for locales.
Just for reference, I'm NOT following my own instructions, that is I use the new locales format (archive file) for over a year now and I never had any issue with it. With certain updates it throws error messages at me, but that is all - no problems whatsoever. Perhaps this is the reason no one bothers with it: if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sat Nov 23, 2013 5:44 am
by xenopeek
It doesn't throw errors at you powerhouse, it throws a warning :wink:

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 3:37 pm
by FabioBeneditto
Hi!

Works fine to me! :mrgreen:

Thanks for sharing your knowledge :D

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 4:11 pm
by Adelante
Thanks a lot. It always bugs me.
powerhouse wrote:The warning isn't critical, as far as I can tell, but if it bothers you or causes troubles, try the following in a terminal window:

Code: Select all

sudo locale-gen --purge --no-archive
This command purges (deletes) the archive file and replaces it with the .utf8 files.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Thu Jan 23, 2014 4:58 pm
by Tz2001
Thanks! I'd seen this error when installing things via apt all the time, however because I'm on en_GB I'd always assumed it was because whatever software I'd installed only had translations for en_US and not the GB version.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2014 7:22 pm
by thanosfrag
Thanks powerhouse. It did work perfectly well.

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Wed Apr 02, 2014 3:05 pm
by GRAVEL
Thank you for this info,
sincerely,

Roger

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2015 7:25 pm
by ack0329
Awesome and thanks - been bugging me so often :D

Re: How-to fix "Warning: No support for locale: en_US.utf"

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2015 5:18 pm
by KabirGandhiok
Thanks so much for this. I've been getting this warning whenever I run apt-get upgrade and it doesn't let me go further into the upgrade. I'm glad this won't bother me any more :-)