Changing the language on an already-live box

punt · 07-09-2006, 11:39 PM

I administer a Linux box overseas and the default installation is not in English. That makes it rather difficult for me to figure out what a variety of error messages mean. I would like to switch this to English, but I don't know how. Is there an easy way to do this? I believe the guy's got Debian... but I can't understand what anything says

Thanks!

Tinkster · 07-10-2006, 02:07 AM

Have a look around in /etc

Most distros will have a *version* or *release* file floating around
in that area ... that should help with assessing the possibilities.

Cheers,
Tink

punt · 07-10-2006, 07:27 AM

Okay, /etc/debian_version brings up 3.1. So I guess my initial assessment was correct. How can I proceed?

Thanks!

punt · 07-10-2006, 07:32 AM

Aha, okay, so I found out that I should

# dpkg-reconfigure console-data
# dpkg-reconfigure locales

which I did, but I still see output in the other language.

Do I need to reboot now for the changes to go into effect? Otherwise, I'm still in the dark.

Thanks!

punt · 07-11-2006, 07:20 AM

Any ideas? The CLI is still pretty much foreign to me.

punt · 07-11-2006, 04:47 PM

How could nobody know the answer?

osor · 07-11-2006, 05:17 PM

You may not have to reboot the machine entirely, but you may have to restart any processes (any open shells, any running daemons: sshd, agetty, (ba)sh, etc.).

punt · 07-11-2006, 06:29 PM

I think I may have to reboot... restarted the shell, and no love. Thanks for responding, osor.