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AarizCREATOR

Member

Registered: 2026-04-18

Posts: 4

locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

Whenever I use "cowsay" or "asciiquarium" as well as after an system update, this text pops up:

locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=en_US.UTF-8
LC_NAME=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=en_US.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=en_US.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

very annoying and how do I fix it (please be user friendly)

dimich

Member

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Registered: 2009-11-03

Posts: 722

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

$ locale -a
$ grep -v ^# /etc/locale.gen

?

Do you see the error message if run

$ LC_ALL='' cowsay "Hello"
$ LC_ALL=C cowsay "Hello"

AarizCREATOR

Member

Registered: 2026-04-18

Posts: 4

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

I do infact see an error when I only do

$ LC_ALL='' cowsay "Hello"

but its normal when its

$ LC_ALL=C cowsay "Hello"

my locales are:

C
C.utf8
en_US.utf8
POSIX

and its using

en_US.utf8

dimich

Member

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Registered: 2009-11-03

Posts: 722

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

and its using en_US.utf8

"en_US.utf8" is wrong locale name. It should be "en_US.UTF-8".

AarizCREATOR

Member

Registered: 2026-04-18

Posts: 4

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

sorry that was my typo, again I am so sorry. It is in fact

en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8  

dimich

Member

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Registered: 2009-11-03

Posts: 722

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

that was my typo

That's ok. Sorry, I was confused by "locale" vs "locale -a" output.

$ locale -av

would be more informative.

Can you show output of

$ strace -e openat -f -yy -s256 cowsay Hello 2>&1 >/dev/null | grep -i locale

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,012

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

"en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" in locale.gen will result in en_US.utf8 in locale -a.
Please don't paraphrase, https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855

localectl
locale
locale -a
printenv | grep LC

Please post those verbatim including any errors - the details matter a lot.

LC_ALL is a debug measure, it should™ generally not be set anywhere.

LC_ALL='' locale

would unset it on most shells (nb. there's no blank between the quotes!)

cat /proc/$$/cmdline

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AarizCREATOR

Member

Registered: 2026-04-18

Posts: 4

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

Its now giving me another error

perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
	LANGUAGE = "en_US",
	LC_ALL = "",
	LC_CTYPE = (unset),
	LC_NUMERIC = "en_US.UTF-8",
	LC_COLLATE = (unset),
	LC_TIME = "en_US.UTF-8",
	LC_MESSAGES = (unset),
	LC_MONETARY = "en_US.UTF-8",
	LC_ADDRESS = "en_US.UTF-8",
	LC_IDENTIFICATION = (unset),
	LC_MEASUREMENT = "en_US.UTF-8",
	LC_PAPER = "en_US.UTF-8",
	LC_TELEPHONE = "en_US.UTF-8",
	LC_NAME = "en_US.UTF-8",
	LANG = "en_US.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to a fallback locale ("en_US.UTF-8").

dimich

Member

From: Kharkiv, Ukraine

Registered: 2009-11-03

Posts: 722

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

Its now giving me another error

Looks like something screwed up in locale configuration.
Run

$ sudo locale-gen

re-login and try again.
If this doesn't fix the issue, please post exact output of  all the commands adviced above.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 77,012

Re: locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory

LC_ALL = "",

Why is that variable set?
Please post the output of the commands in #7

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