Ubuntu
lightdm package

language selection not preserved accross upgrades (need some .dmrc migration code)

Bug #889252 reported by Michael Vogt
14
This bug affects 3 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
lightdm (Ubuntu)
Triaged
High
Unassigned

Bug Description

After a natty->oneiric upgrade and the switch from gdm to lightdm the language settings on login are not remembered.

The user account in question had "german" as the default language, the .dmrc settings are:
"""
[Desktop]
Language=de
Session=ubuntu
"""
However when I log into the system I get english locales and shows that LANGUAGE is not set.

What makes this bug worse is that the language can no longer be set in the greeter. This means that a user
who does not speak english is lost. Finding language-selector and use the drag-n-drop (with a explaination how
it works in english and a non-intutive UI) is difficult.

The system itself is a english default and english install, its just this particular user that requires a german
environment.

I did reproduce this bug in a stock natty->oneiric upgrade, to reproduce, set userlanguage in gdm to "german", login,
upgrade, login again -> english desktop.

Revision history for this message
Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote :

Hi Michael,

I can confirm your description. ~/.dmrc is the principal place for storing language settings in 11.04. ~/.profile is used as well, but ~/.profile is only updated if language-selector is used to change language.

In 11.10 ~/.profile is the principal storing place, and possible language related values in ~/.dmrc are ignored. If the last change of the user language in 11.04 is made from the GDM greeter, which it is in the case you describe, that change will need to be redone after an upgrade to 11.10.

If it's considered important enough, code might be added that compares ~/.dmrc and ~/.profile at a distro upgrade, and modifies ~/.profile if needed.

It may be worth mentioning that in 11.10 a helpful admin can change the language settings for any user from System Settings -> User Accounts.

Changed in lightdm (Ubuntu):
status: New → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Michael Vogt (mvo) wrote :

Thanks Gunnar for this explanation! I think its important. While it only affects a small amount of users those who are affected have a hard time to change the settings if they don't read english (or do not read it well). So I would be in favor of fixing it, especially with the LTS->LTS upgrade in mind.

Revision history for this message
Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote :

indeed, it seems like lightdm should have some migration code there

Changed in lightdm (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → High
summary: - language selection not preserved accross upgrades
+ language selection not preserved accross upgrades (need some .dmrc
+ migration code)
Revision history for this message
Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj) wrote :

We should bear in mind that in Precise the user language/locale settings will be stored in ~/.pam_environment instead of ~/.profile; please see bug #866062. Together with other changes, e.g. the planned switch of UI from l-s to gnome-control-center's Region and Language widget, it means that in any case there are significant migration issues to consider for the LTS->LTS upgrade, and even the 11.10->LTS upgrade.

A fix of this issue in 11.10 would need to be SRUed, or else it wouldn't make a difference. While I'm not opposed to such an SRU, I can think that it may be better to concentrate on the migration to 12.04.

Pedro Villavicencio (pedro)
Changed in lightdm (Ubuntu):
status: Confirmed → Triaged
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