Re: Dolphin, how to let it show locale time format

On 15.04.25 11:26 PM, Marco Möller wrote:
> On 4/15/25 18:24, Marco Möller wrote:
>> To unset LC_ALL use the following command:
>> $ sudo update-locale LC_ALL=
>> Dolphin now shows the wished display format for the columns showing 
>> times.
>> There might be apps complaining about this value not being set, 
>> though. Those apps could always be started by explicitly setting for 
>> them a LC_ALL value in front of the app starting command, then.
> 
> Unfortunately, this cannot be the solution.
> Too many apps used at the CLI complain about the missing LC_ALL 
> definition.
> What I currently have set up:
> 
> $ locale
> 
> locale: Cannot set LC_ALL to default locale: No such file or directory
> LANG=en_US.UTF-8
> LANGUAGE=en_US
> LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_NUMERIC=en_DE.UTF-8
> LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8
> LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_MONETARY=en_DE.UTF-8
> LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_PAPER=en_DE.UTF-8
> LC_NAME=es_ES.UTF-8
> LC_ADDRESS=es_ES.UTF-8
> LC_TELEPHONE=es_ES.UTF-8
> LC_MEASUREMENT=en_DE.UTF-8
> LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
> LC_ALL=
> 
> Even more confusing, even in Debian package "locales-all" there does not 
> exist "en_DE.UTF-8", just checked it for Trixie. But KDE System Settings 
> defined it, obviously. How can this be?


SOLVED:
A full day of life time lost to learn that KDE offers supposedly 
available definitions in its selection lists under Region & Languages, 
which in fact do not exist, like for instance the "en_DE" option does 
not exist.


SOLUTION:
The user has to know that not all options can be used successfully, 
although offered! Some of them are simply illusion.
Instead, the user demanding an international desktop environment has to 
look up and only request options which originally appear in file:

/etc/locale.gen

At the bottom of this file there may, after many attempts to solve the 
problem, appear some final lines:

# generated by KDE Plasma Region & Language KCM
en_DE.UTF-8 UTF-8

These lines are not to be understand as original. Actually, what is 
listed here is a clear indicator for trouble! This, for example, 
"en_DE.UTF-8" is exactly the option which shall be avoided to select in 
KDE System Settings - Region & Languages.


Only having chosen valid options, LC_ALL can stay unset, then. Like this 
LC_ALL will not overrule anything. If commands would not ask for 
specific settings but for a global setting, like for the one possibly 
defined in LC_ALL, then an automatic fallback mechanism will 
alternatively read for them what is defined in LANG, if LC_ALL is not 
defined. By this all CLI commands continue to work as expected.
Apps, which do interpret the specific settings individually, for 
instance graphical apps like Dolphin running under KDE Plasma 6.3 in 
Debian Trixie, can do so: they for instance can be displayed in one 
language but using locale formatting from other languages.


Thus, a working setup is the following, for instance:

$ locale

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_US
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_NAME=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_ADDRESS=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=es_ES.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=


I am not sure if I should place a bug report to request KDE System 
Settings - Region & Languages selection lists to not offer options prone 
to provoke problems like the one I suffered and having burned so much 
time of life. The internet is already full of similar reports, many 
claiming that bug reports would have been placed already, but for years 
not solved. The Year of the Linux Desktop will come, though!


I am really grateful to the developers of KDE, Debian, and many other 
developers who make Linux possible! THANKS A LOT FOR IT!!
Still, concerning some parts of it, even after using it for some 25 
years now, I only can shake my head in disbelief.