[Bug 829314] [NEW] Login shell sets LC_CTYPE=UTF-8

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I'm using Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on several servers.  On all of the servers
the login shell sets LC_CTYPE=UTF-8.  See the output below:

Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS

Welcome to Ubuntu!
 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com/
Last login: Fri Aug 19 04:15:31 2011 from localhost
root at gains:~# locale
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
LANG=en_US.utf8
LC_CTYPE=UTF-8
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.utf8"
LC_TIME="en_US.utf8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.utf8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.utf8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.utf8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.utf8"
LC_NAME="en_US.utf8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.utf8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.utf8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.utf8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.utf8"
LC_ALL=
root at gains:~# 

A LC_CTYPE=UTF-8 value generate rather annoying messages such as "Cannot
set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory".

However if I start a shell via "su -", the variable setting changes to
LC_CTYPE="en_US.utf8".  See below.

root at gains:~# su -
root at gains:~# locale
LANG=en_US.utf8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.utf8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.utf8"
LC_TIME="en_US.utf8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.utf8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.utf8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.utf8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.utf8"
LC_NAME="en_US.utf8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.utf8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.utf8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.utf8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.utf8"
LC_ALL=

The "su -" behavior is what I expect to be correct, since the contents
of my "/etc/defaul/locale" file is:

root at gains:~# cat /etc/default/locale
LANG=en_US.utf8

Which from my understanding should mean that all the LC_* environment
variables are set to match LANG.

Note this problem also manifests in bash tab completion for a non-
privileged user, see below:


Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS

Welcome to Ubuntu!
 * Documentation:  https://help.ubuntu.com/
Last login: Fri Aug 19 03:28:55 2011 from localhost
warren at gains:~$ cd /-bash: warning: setlocale: LC_CTYPE: cannot change locale (UTF-8)
-bash: warning: setlocale: LC_CTYPE: cannot change locale (UTF-8)

bin/        dev/        home/       lib32/      lost+found/ mnt/        proc/       sbin/       srv/        tmp/        var/        
boot/       etc/        lib/        lib64/      media/      opt/        root/       selinux/    sys/        usr/        
warren at gains:~$ cd /^C
warren at gains:~$ su - warren
Password: 
warren at gains:~$ cd /
bin/        dev/        home/       lib32/      lost+found/ mnt/        proc/       sbin/       srv/        tmp/        var/        
boot/       etc/        lib/        lib64/      media/      opt/        root/       selinux/    sys/        usr/        
warren at gains:~$ cd /^C
warren at gains:~$ 

After "su -" tab completion now works.

I imagine that the work around would be to set the desired LC_CTYPE
value in /etc/default/locale, but I'd kind of like Ubuntu (particularly
LTS - which I use for server installs) to "just work".

Regards,


Warren.

** Affects: console-setup (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

-- 
Login shell sets LC_CTYPE=UTF-8
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/829314
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