Debian 11 issue with locale: No such file or directory

Question

The problem I encounter with Debian bullseye (v11):

If I execute locale -a, I get the following output:

locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_COLLATE to default locale: No such file or directory
C
C.UTF-8
POSIX
aa_DJ
aa_DJ.iso88591
aa_DJ.utf8
aa_ER
aa_ER.utf8
...
zh_TW
zh_TW.big5
zh_TW.euctw
zh_TW.utf8
zu_ZA
zu_ZA.iso88591
zu_ZA.utf8

Also, if I try to use tlmgr (package manager for LateX), I get the following:

perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
        LANGUAGE = "en_US:fr:en_GB",
        LC_ALL = "en-US.UTF-8",
        LC_MESSAGES = "en_US.UTF-8",
        LC_CTYPE = "en_US.UTF-8",
        LC_COLLATE = "en_US.UTF-8",
        LANG = "fr_FR.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to a fallback locale ("fr_FR.UTF-8").
tlmgr: no action given; try --help if you need it.

I searched the issue, and tried the following:

dpkg-reconfigure locales and selecting only used locales (fr utf8, en-us utf8 and en-gb utf8)
dpkg-reconfigure locales and selecting all locales (as you can see above)
locale-gen
restarting the PC with each change
editing /etc/default/locale

More information

cat /etc/default/locale gives:

#  File generated by update-locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8

ls /usr/share/locale/en gives:

LC_MESSAGES

ls /usr/share/locale/en/LC_MESSAGES gives:

accounts-service.mo  gtk30-properties.mo  iso_3166-2.mo  kcoreaddons5_qt.qm  kwidgetsaddons5_qt.qm
cups-pk-helper.mo    gtk30.mo

Questions

Should I reconfigure locales and only select used locales?
The error message says that it expects file/folder that does not exist. Where should this file/folder be located? in /usr/share/locale/en?
How to solve this issue (non-blocking, because all applications seem to work, but annoying)?

If you have suggestions for documentations to read to dive deeper on this issue I'm also all hear.

Thank you.

Edits

Questions from @StéphaneChazelas

Output of locale

locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US:fr:en_GB
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=en-US.UTF-8

Output of strace locale 2>&1 | grep ENOENT:

access("/etc/ld.so.preload", R_OK)      = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US.UTF-8/LC_CTYPE", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US.utf8/LC_CTYPE", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US/LC_CTYPE", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US.UTF-8/LC_MESSAGES", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US.utf8/LC_MESSAGES", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US/LC_MESSAGES", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US.UTF-8/LC_IDENTIFICATION", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US.utf8/LC_IDENTIFICATION", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)
openat(AT_FDCWD, "/usr/lib/locale/en-US/LC_IDENTIFICATION", O_RDONLY|O_CLOEXEC) = -1 ENOENT (No such file or directory)

ls /usr/lib/locale gives:

C.UTF-8
locale-archive

Strange dpkg-reconfigure locales output

If I'm not wrong, dpkg-reconfigure locales should list locales and say for each of them "up to date" if already generated. But in my case, it re-process each locale and says "done":

perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
  LANGUAGE = "en_US:fr:en_GB",
  LC_ALL = "en-US.UTF-8",
  LC_MESSAGES = "en_US.UTF-8",
  LC_CTYPE = "en_US.UTF-8",
  LC_COLLATE = "en_US.UTF-8",
  LANG = "fr_FR.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to a fallback locale ("fr_FR.UTF-8").
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
/usr/bin/locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
Generating locales (this might take a while)...
  aa_DJ.UTF-8... done
  aa_DJ.ISO-8859-1... done
  aa_ER.UTF-8... done
  aa_ER.UTF-8@saaho... done
  aa_ET.UTF-8... done
  af_ZA.UTF-8... done
  af_ZA.ISO-8859-1... done
  agr_PE.UTF-8... done
  ak_GH.UTF-8... done
  am_ET.UTF-8... done
  an_ES.UTF-8... done
  an_ES.ISO-8859-15... done
  anp_IN.UTF-8... done
  ar_AE.UTF-8... done
  ar_AE.ISO-8859-6... done
  ar_BH.UTF-8... done
  ar_BH.ISO-8859-6... done
  ar_DZ.UTF-8... done
  ar_DZ.ISO-8859-6... done
  ar_EG.UTF-8... done
  ar_EG.ISO-8859-6... done
  ar_IN.UTF-8... done
  ar_IQ.UTF-8... done
  ...

Question by @K-att-

dpkg -l | grep "language-pack" does not return anything.

Question from @ThatsWhatSheCoded

sudo apt-get install -y locales locales-all:

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
locales is already the newest version (2.31-13+deb11u2).
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  locales-all
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 10.8 MB of archives.
After this operation, 227 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main amd64 locales-all amd64 2.31-13+deb11u2 [10.8 MB]
Fetched 10.8 MB in 21s (515 kB/s)                                                                                                                                                                                                          
apt-listchanges: Can't set locale; make sure $LC_* and $LANG are correct!
perl: warning: Setting locale failed.
perl: warning: Please check that your locale settings:
        LANGUAGE = "en_GB:en_US:fr",
        LC_ALL = "en-US.UTF-8",
        LC_CTYPE = "en_US.UTF-8",
        LC_COLLATE = "en_US.UTF-8",
        LC_MESSAGES = "en_US.UTF-8",
        LANG = "fr_FR.UTF-8"
    are supported and installed on your system.
perl: warning: Falling back to a fallback locale ("fr_FR.UTF-8").
locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
Selecting previously unselected package locales-all.
(Reading database ... 182206 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../locales-all_2.31-13+deb11u2_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking locales-all (2.31-13+deb11u2) ...
Setting up locales-all (2.31-13+deb11u2) ...

After restarting, locale -a still gives:

locale: Cannot set LC_CTYPE to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_MESSAGES to default locale: No such file or directory
locale: Cannot set LC_COLLATE to default locale: No such file or directory
...

Print of `env` after reinstalling `locales`

Executed: sudo apt-get remove locale, then sudo apt-get install -y locales and then env:

SHELL=/bin/bash
WINDOWID=79691783
QT_ACCESSIBILITY=1
KDED_STARTED_BY_KDEINIT=1
COLORTERM=truecolor
XDG_SESSION_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Session1
LANGUAGE=en_GB:en_US:fr
SSH_AUTH_SOCK=/tmp/ssh-eAB2uCmvHnDY/agent.872
SHELL_SESSION_ID=08a2a2b1e969432881e34e2775568d69
DESKTOP_SESSION=plasma
SSH_AGENT_PID=911
GTK_RC_FILES=/etc/gtk/gtkrc:/home/nkoniishvt/.gtkrc:/home/nkoniishvt/.config/gtkrc
XCURSOR_SIZE=24
GTK_MODULES=gail:atk-bridge
XDG_SEAT=seat0
PWD=/home/nkoniishvt
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=KDE
LOGNAME=nkoniishvt
XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11
GPG_AGENT_INFO=/run/user/1000/gnupg/S.gpg-agent:0:1
XAUTHORITY=/home/nkoniishvt/.Xauthority
GTK2_RC_FILES=/etc/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:/home/nkoniishvt/.gtkrc-2.0:/home/nkoniishvt/.config/gtkrc-2.0
HOME=/home/nkoniishvt
LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8
LS_COLORS=rs=0:di=01;34:ln=01;36:mh=00:pi=40;33:so=01;35:do=01;35:bd=40;33;01:cd=40;33;01:or=40;31;01:mi=00:su=37;41:sg=30;43:ca=30;41:tw=30;42:ow=34;42:st=37;44:ex=01;32:*.tar=01;31:*.tgz=01;31:*.arc=01;31:*.arj=01;31:*.taz=01;31:*.lha=01;31:*.lz4=01;31:*.lzh=01;31:*.lzma=01;31:*.tlz=01;31:*.txz=01;31:*.tzo=01;31:*.t7z=01;31:*.zip=01;31:*.z=01;31:*.dz=01;31:*.gz=01;31:*.lrz=01;31:*.lz=01;31:*.lzo=01;31:*.xz=01;31:*.zst=01;31:*.tzst=01;31:*.bz2=01;31:*.bz=01;31:*.tbz=01;31:*.tbz2=01;31:*.tz=01;31:*.deb=01;31:*.rpm=01;31:*.jar=01;31:*.war=01;31:*.ear=01;31:*.sar=01;31:*.rar=01;31:*.alz=01;31:*.ace=01;31:*.zoo=01;31:*.cpio=01;31:*.7z=01;31:*.rz=01;31:*.cab=01;31:*.wim=01;31:*.swm=01;31:*.dwm=01;31:*.esd=01;31:*.jpg=01;35:*.jpeg=01;35:*.mjpg=01;35:*.mjpeg=01;35:*.gif=01;35:*.bmp=01;35:*.pbm=01;35:*.pgm=01;35:*.ppm=01;35:*.tga=01;35:*.xbm=01;35:*.xpm=01;35:*.tif=01;35:*.tiff=01;35:*.png=01;35:*.svg=01;35:*.svgz=01;35:*.mng=01;35:*.pcx=01;35:*.mov=01;35:*.mpg=01;35:*.mpeg=01;35:*.m2v=01;35:*.mkv=01;35:*.webm=01;35:*.webp=01;35:*.ogm=01;35:*.mp4=01;35:*.m4v=01;35:*.mp4v=01;35:*.vob=01;35:*.qt=01;35:*.nuv=01;35:*.wmv=01;35:*.asf=01;35:*.rm=01;35:*.rmvb=01;35:*.flc=01;35:*.avi=01;35:*.fli=01;35:*.flv=01;35:*.gl=01;35:*.dl=01;35:*.xcf=01;35:*.xwd=01;35:*.yuv=01;35:*.cgm=01;35:*.emf=01;35:*.ogv=01;35:*.ogx=01;35:*.aac=00;36:*.au=00;36:*.flac=00;36:*.m4a=00;36:*.mid=00;36:*.midi=00;36:*.mka=00;36:*.mp3=00;36:*.mpc=00;36:*.ogg=00;36:*.ra=00;36:*.wav=00;36:*.oga=00;36:*.opus=00;36:*.spx=00;36:*.xspf=00;36:
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=KDE
KONSOLE_DBUS_SERVICE=:1.63
KONSOLE_DBUS_SESSION=/Sessions/1
PROFILEHOME=
XDG_SEAT_PATH=/org/freedesktop/DisplayManager/Seat0
KONSOLE_VERSION=201203
KDE_SESSION_UID=1000
XDG_SESSION_CLASS=user
TERM=xterm-256color
USER=nkoniishvt
COLORFGBG=15;0
KDE_SESSION_VERSION=5
PAM_KWALLET5_LOGIN=/run/user/1000/kwallet5.socket
DISPLAY=:0
SHLVL=1
LC_MESSAGES=en_US.UTF-8
XDG_VTNR=7
XDG_SESSION_ID=3
LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=/run/user/1000
LC_ALL=en-US.UTF-8
QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0
LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8
XCURSOR_THEME=breeze_cursors
KDE_FULL_SESSION=true
PATH=/home/nkoniishvt/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/local/games:/usr/games
DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS=unix:path=/run/user/1000/bus
KDE_APPLICATIONS_AS_SCOPE=1
KONSOLE_DBUS_WINDOW=/Windows/1
_=/usr/bin/env

What's the output of locale and of strace locale 2>&1 | grep ENOENT? — Stéphane Chazelas, Nov 10, 2021 at 14:29
@StéphaneChazelas I did not have strace installed and the strace + grep returned blank. I edited the output after installing strace — nkoniishvt, Nov 10, 2021 at 14:35
When it's happening physically, I also have no idea. The idea with SSH would have been that SSH clients can send their own environment variables when connecting to the server, which might lead to problems of this type. — Binarus, Nov 18, 2021 at 14:59
Remove export LANGUAGE=en_GB:en_US:fr from your.bashrc then dpkg-reconfigure locales — GAD3R, Nov 19, 2021 at 8:50

GAD3R · Accepted Answer · 2021-11-19 09:25:20Z

2

+50

Remove export LANGUAGE=en_GB:en_US:fr from your.bashrc then run dpkg-reconfigure locales.

edited Nov 19, 2021 at 9:25

answered Nov 10, 2021 at 15:47

GAD3R

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Debian 11 issue with locale: No such file or directory

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Questions from @StéphaneChazelas

Strange dpkg-reconfigure locales output

Question by @K-att-

Question from @ThatsWhatSheCoded

Print of `env` after reinstalling `locales`

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Debian 11 issue with locale: No such file or directory

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Strange dpkg-reconfigure locales output

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Print of env after reinstalling locales

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