Thread: Locale Issue

Don Parris <parrisdc@gmail.com> writes:
<SNIP>

initdb will absorb locale/encoding from its environment, unless told
otherwise through a --locale switch.  So the usual expectation would be
that it'd work like you want.  Perhaps the Ubuntu packager set LANG=C in
the postgres user's ~/.profile, or some such?  Poke around a bit in the
package's files, it shouldn't be too hard to find where the damage is
being done.

                        regards, tom lane

On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 4:55 PM, Don Parris <parrisdc@gmail.com> wrote:

> I did run pg_dropcluster, pg_createcluster (setting locale to C.UTF8) - and
> that seemed to work, except that I could not thereafter make remote
> connections (despite resetting the hba and postgres.conf files as they
> should be).

Rather than chasing locales, I'd look into why you failed here. When
you install the PostgreSQL packages, it runs pg_createcluster for you.
If you don't like the locale or encoding you used, you run
pg_dropcluster and pg_createcluster as you did. The reason why your
database did not work after doing this is probably obvious from your
log files.

Hi Stuart,

Hi Stuart,

Your point is valid and well-taken.  I discovered a couple of other issues in my poking around:

<> The pgsql logs turned up empty (literally), so would have to rely on system logs for any hints of connection issues.

<> It seems my iptables was ruined - I kept getting errors about needing an update and the software update manager kept giving me errors on kernel updates.  I could not create iptables rules to open the port.

<> I also had problems with my SSH service.

I really suspect the whole connectivity issue was related to updates and something going South with my iptables setup (among other possible issues).  I had been able to connect remotely before I replaced the cluster, but not after, so I just cannot be too sure what ultimately caused the problem.

But I still come back to the locale issue.  I am glad I was on the right track in replacing the cluster.  Still, how could I have made UTF-8 the default encoding at install time?  Maybe the very first step on a Kubuntu system should be to replace the cluster before doing anything else.  Or maybe there is a locale setting that can be changed to ensure the pgsql package gets the 'right' cues? 

An OpenSUSE 12.3 installation with pgsql 9.2 comes up with a UTF8-encoded template1.  So why does the (K)Ubuntu package default to an ASCII-encoded template1?  When I read the fine manual (and it really is pretty good), I get the impression it is best to let initdb/pg_createcluster take its cue from the OS locale settings.  If my locale on Kubuntu shows up as UTF-8, then why the seeming miscue?  I am certain there is a reasonable explanation, but that eludes me at this point.

On Thu, Aug 22, 2013 at 3:23 AM, Stuart Bishop <stuart@stuartbishop.net> wrote:

On Wed, Aug 21, 2013 at 4:55 PM, Don Parris <parrisdc@gmail.com> wrote:

you install the PostgreSQL packages, it runs pg_createcluster for you.
If you don't like the locale or encoding you used, you run
pg_dropcluster and pg_createcluster as you did. The reason why your
database did not work after doing this is probably obvious from your
log files.

Hi Stuart,

 <SNIP>

But I still come back to the locale issue.  I am glad I was on the right track in replacing the cluster.  Still, how could I have made UTF-8 the default encoding at install time?  Maybe the very first step on a Kubuntu system should be to replace the cluster before doing anything else.  Or maybe there is a locale setting that can be changed to ensure the pgsql package gets the 'right' cues? 

~#export LANGUAGE=en_US.UTF-8
~#export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
~#export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
~#locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
~#dpkg-reconfigure locales

Le jeudi 22 août 2013 à 11:29 -0400, Don Parris a écrit :

>   Still, how could I have made UTF-8 the default encoding at install
> time?

I did several recent installations of Postgresql on Debian Wheezy with
UTF8 and LATIN9, and my system's encoding was used every time.

Installation steps outlined below.

Before you install Postgresql, make sure your systems encoding is set to
UTF-8, which you can check with :
locale -a

If it's not, run :
dpkg-reconfigure locales

and select UTF-8 for your language.

Use apt-get to install Postgresql :
apt-get install postgresql postgresql-client

I'm not sure if Kubuntu adds some overhead to the installation process.
You might want to try a regular debian install and add the KDE desktop
to it.