Multiple Language (mageia 9)

[flafla]

Hello,

I just finished to migrate from mageia 8 to megeia 9.

It seems that now I dont' have multi language support, so, If I go to MCC to add a language, the language is not added to existing one, but it just replaces the existing one.

Not 100% sure about my configuration on Mageia 8.

So my questions are :

• How to add a new language ? (I would like to add French & Chinese to be able to switch from one to another when I need it)
• Should I reinstall Mageia 9 to be able to have multiple language or is there another way to do it ?

Thanks

Fla

[doktor5000]

Hi there, do you still remember what media you originally installed from? Live DVD or Classic DVD or ... ? As the language installation varies between those.
Please post what value(s) you have in /etc/rpm/macros for the "%install langs" macro

Also how do you go about to add a language, what package are you trying to instal? Or did you try only with localedrake? https://doc.mageia.org/mcc/9/en/content ... ocaledrake

And please add some more information on what you refer to as using multiple languages in particular.

[flafla]

Hi there, do you still remember what media you originally installed from? Live DVD or Classic DVD or ... ? As the language installation varies between those.

==> I did not use any DVD as it was the update process from mageia 8

Also how do you go about to add a language, what package are you trying to instal? Or did you try only with localedrake? https://doc.mageia.org/mcc/9/en/content ... ocaledrake

==> With localedrake, I just can choose another language and it will replace my existing chosen language
What I want is to have multiple language ...

Thanks for your reply

Cheers

[doktor5000]

==> I did not use any DVD as it was the update process from mageia 8

The question is what medium you used to install initially what was your Mageia 8 install before ...

==> With localedrake, I just can choose another language and it will replace my existing chosen language
What I want is to have multiple language ...

That's why I've asked. localedrake is used to select the main language for the system.

Also you didn't really answer what having multiple languages does actually mean for you.
Do you only want to switch some particular program between french or chinese? Or do you want to run your whole desktop session in one of those languages?
Do you need only e.g. man pages or handbooks in those languages? Some more information what you actually want would be helpful.

In general you need to install the locales-xx package for the languages you want. ( you probably want locales-fr and locales-zh )
Based on those and/or what you have in /etc/rpm/macros for the "%install langs" macro, the respective language files are installed when you install any package which contains language-specific files like man pages, documentation or translations.
See e.g. https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Packaging_localisation_policy#.25lang

[flafla]

==> I did not use any DVD as it was the update process from mageia 8

The question is what medium you used to install initially what was your Mageia 8 install before ...

==> I used a DVD to install mageia 8

==> With localedrake, I just can choose another language and it will replace my existing chosen language
What I want is to have multiple language ...

That's why I've asked. localedrake is used to select the main language for the system.

Also you didn't really answer what having multiple languages does actually mean for you.
Do you only want to switch some particular program between french or chinese? Or do you want to run your whole desktop session in one of those languages?
Do you need only e.g. man pages or handbooks in those languages? Some more information what you actually want would be helpful.

In general you need to install the locales-xx package for the languages you want. ( you probably want locales-fr and locales-zh )
Based on those and/or what you have in /etc/rpm/macros for the "%install langs" macro, the respective language files are installed when you install any package which contains language-specific files like man pages, documentation or translations.
See e.g. https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Packaging_localisation_policy#.25lang

In fact, what I want to do is :
For some particular program, I want to be able to use chinese input instead of French or english. (so need to swith language to be able to switch with a chinese keyboard)
I need this at least for Office writer and Firefox (mail)

Regarding etc/rpm/macros I guess I already have all what I need :

Code: Select all

cat /etc/rpm/macros
%_install_langs ENCODINGS:cmn_TW:en:en_AG:en_AU:en_BE:en_BW:en_CA:en_DK:en_GB:en_HK:en_IE:en_IL:en_IN:en_NG:en_NZ:en_PH:en_SC:en_SG:en_US:en_ZA:en_ZM:en_ZW:fr:fr_BE:fr_CA:fr_CH:fr_FR:fr_LU:hak_TW:lzh_TW:nan_TW:nan_TW:zh:zh_CN:zh_CN.GB2312:zh_CN.GBK:zh_HK:zh_SG:zh_TW:zh_TW.Big5

Thanks for your time ...

Fla

[doktor5000]

For some particular program, I want to be able to use chinese input instead of French or english. (so need to swith language to be able to switch with a chinese keyboard)

Input methods are totally separate from languages and not really related. Have a look at https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Input_methods
You should probably select chinese there to install some of the packages needed for the input methods, that does not prevent you from using french language or regular input method for other programs.

[flafla]

For some particular program, I want to be able to use chinese input instead of French or english. (so need to swith language to be able to switch with a chinese keyboard)

Input methods are totally separate from languages and not really related. Have a look at https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Input_methods
You should probably select chinese there to install some of the packages needed for the input methods, that does not prevent you from using french language or regular input method for other programs.

Thanks for this information, but this is why I have my problem, as it looks my configuration is no more in 'multiple language', and, in the documentation, it is written :

In Mageia, to have an interface in a given language, you must install it during the Mageia installation (Language step). It is possible to have more that one thanks to the "Multiple languages" option

I will read it again next week-end as may be I did not understand the documentation correctly, but it look like if I don't have "Multiple languages" option, it is not possible.

Anyway thanks for your time

Fla

[doktor5000]

Thanks for this information, but this is why I have my problem, as it looks my configuration is no more in 'multiple language', and, in the documentation, it is written :

In Mageia, to have an interface in a given language, you must install it during the Mageia installation (Language step). It is possible to have more that one thanks to the "Multiple languages" option

Well, the information in that wiki page is quite a bit older and also incomplete.
You should also probably not be that tied to the exact wording but instead try to get it working.

Although what that part is maybe trying to described is that it's non-trivial to install further languages and also install man pages, documentation and such for that additional language.

If you have the option then it might be an idea to simply reinstall with the languages you want.