Re: [PATCH 0/2] Avoiding incompatible locale data in LOCPATH

[Mark H Weaver <mhw@netris.org>]

Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> writes:

> So, below are a couple of patches implementing ideas that were discussed here
> and on IRC to improve the locale mess.
>
> The first patch adds the 'GUIX_LOCPATH' environment variable, the idea being
> that on foreign distros, users could set this variable instead of 'LOCPATH',
> and the host distro's programs wouldn't break.
>
> The second patch was suggested by Mark.  It basically adds "/2.22" to every
> directory name specified in LOCPATH, as well as to the default locale
> directory.  The idea here is that libc would only stumble on compatible
> locale data.
>
> Actually with that second patch, I think 'GUIX_LOCPATH' is unneeded, because
> effectively Guix's libc would already be interpreting 'LOCPATH' differently.
> So my inclination would be to apply only the second one.
>
> Thoughts?

For compatibility reasons, I think we should add "/2.22" _only_ to the
entries of GUIX_LOCPATH.  IMO, it's unwise to change the meaning of
LOCPATH.  Some programs, build systems, or user scripts might use
"localedef" in a directory, set LOCPATH to that directory, and expect it
to work.

      Mark