locale-antix (name pending aproval) beta testing

[Member Xecure]

It took longer than expected (my catchphrase when creating things), but is is finally here.

locale-antix
Easy GUI to change language and other locale options.

Features:
– Change system language and other locale options (desktop launcher disabled for now)
sudo locale-antix
– Change user language and other locale options. Each antiX user can have a different prefferred language (requires desktop-session running)
– Integration with desktop-session-antix (applies a patch to desktop-session-antix so that it can load user defined language). Changing language will automatically reload desktop-session (all new apps launched will be using the selected language by the user).
– Manage “installed” locales. You can add and remove them with a simple GUI (only can be launched with administrative powers, to avoid problems).
– Option to replace all user folders for localized folders (will ask the user before moving the folders).
– “Translate” the antiX menu (fluxbox, icewm, jwm) to your language (current support is for es, de, fr, pt, el, as this is just a test, to show how it works; requires no extra work for antiX developers, as it should use the make-menu translations in transifex).
– Initial “check language support” (very early version). You can get a list of suggested packages to localize installed programs. Can be launched as GUI from locale-antix or simply display the list in terminal to be used with apt or other applications:
check-lang-support
– Includes the translation-info.sh script developed by Robin, which will launch if you switch to a language that is “not supported” (can be disabled).

How to Install and use:
1. Download the deb package from gitlab.
2. Install using APT command line.
3. It will patch desktop-session-antix, so you will need to restart or log-out/in before you can test it.
4. If you want to test user language options, you can launch locale-antix from the menus or from terminal.
5. If you want to test system language settings, launch locale-antix with sudo (desktop launcher is disabled for now, so there is no confusion in the menus).
6. You can change to any of the loaded languages and see if the new apps you launch after that work properly.
7. You can also test out the change user xdg folders, translate menus and “Localize programs”, and give me feedback on what doesn’t work or what you think it is missing.

Missing:
– Multi-language fallback. I didn’t have this in mind when creating the GUI, so it isn’t going to be considered for now. I am talking about “LANGUAGE=de:fr:en”, having a list of languages to fallback when showing GUi texts.
– Separating the “translate menus” part to the correct desktop-menu-antix package (I included it here for testing), and send the locale patch for desktop-session-antix upstream (if it is OK with anticapitalista).
– An easy way to switch from user-locale and system-locale. Right now I disabled the system Language launcher, first so we can iron out errors without breaking the system, and second to make it possible to revert changes by deleting the ~/.config/locale file and restarting. Anyone can test the system language features (like adding/removing locales). I have tried to make it fool-proof, but having different system and user locales (and removing all available or “loaded” locales) can make it difficult to revert back to a functional system.
– An easy way to delete from GUI the user’s locale in case there is a configuration problem.
– A lot of improvements in check-lang-support (like adding the option to install hunspell spellchecker and libreoffice extra language support). I also want it to launch faster (maybe caching the packagelist), and fix the incorrect recommendations that pop up fro some languages. FInally, have an extra functionality to suggest fonts and packages needed to make the system work properly with non-latin languages (like Japanese, Hindi, etc.).
– I need recommendations on the texts being displayed and if locale options need to be removed or added. Also, if interacting with the GUI isn’t intuitive, I appreciate any advice given.
– Translations for other languages (I will upload to transifex once texts are final; I hate giving extra work).
– More time. I have squeezed out as much time as possible this week, but I also have a packed week starting tomorrow, so changes will probably be made during the weekend.

Testing
Please, test in a “testing environment” (meaning, don’t use it in your normal antiX installation). Though I have been testing it on my working system (because I know how it works, so I can revert the errors), I still recommend to only test it on a system that you don’t care if it “breaks”.
It should work on both antiX 19 and 21, though I have only tested this on antiX 21.
Please update the system before installing. Any desktop-session updates will remove the locale patch I have applied right now.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Thanks.

First bug is that the icewm.template is wrong. It is the same as jwm.template.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member Xecure]

Helpful

Up

0

::

anticapitalista wrote:

First bug is that the icewm.template is wrong. It is the same as jwm.template.

Shit. I overwrote it by mistake. I will recreate it and rebuild.

Sorry for this.

EDIT: Just uploaded the newer version. Link still the same and old version was removed. Installing over the old version is required (and should give no problem at all).

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Xecure. Reason: uploaded fix

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

Helpful

Up

0

::

IceWM menu fixed.
More tests in default Rox-IceWM
Another bug found.
Trying to switch main menu to Greek causes it to be mostly blank.
The newly created menu seems correct when opened in leafpad, but it cannot display Greek characters when opened on the desktop.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member Xecure]

Helpful

Up

0

::

You are right. The problem is in the desktop-session patch.
I wrote down the wrong paths for the locale files (I didn’t write them at all).

Sorry for that.
If you edit /usr/local/lib/desktop-session/desktop-session-load-locale and replace line 2 and 3 with

user_locale="$HOME/.config/locale";
system_locale="/etc/default/locale";

and log-out log-in it should fix it.

I will upload a new version now.

Thanks for testing.

EDIT: fixed the bug and installing the new version forces to fix the desktop-session patch. Loging out-in fixes the issue.
EDIT2: The issue is related to a fallback I have set in desktop-session for when a Language is mis-configured or was removed (be it by accident or intentionally), to load the “C” locale. As the path to the locale files was missing in the patch, so the fallback “C” was loaded. Sorry for any annoyances.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Xecure.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Xecure.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Xecure.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member Xecure]

Helpful

Up

0

::

I found that testing the default icewm themes has some issues fro the Greek language. I think this is related to the font being used for those icewm themes. I will see the difference the generated menu and the one created in the live usb lang=el_GR to see why it fails only with the generated menus and not with the originally created from live-USB menus.

EDIT: Found the issue. It is related to having LANGUAGE=el_GR and LANG=en_US. I just need to go to the advanced Format options in the locale-antix gui and set Characters (LC_CTYPE) to el_GR and the menu will correctly display the Greek characters.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Xecure.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member PPC]

Helpful

Up

0

::

@Xecure- I just tested “locale-antix” localization button, used it to localize vlc (I haven’t even noticed it was not in portuguese)- very nice feature, great implementation! I hope this gets to be in the control centre- I dare making this suggestion: the localize menus and applications could be an independent app, that could be launched after instalation, if a network connection is detected, making this feature painless to use, almost integrated into the install process itself (I know, that’s not up to you, but I leave the suggestion here anyway)
EDIT: that may be achieved by launching the “localize applications” function using a command line option, ex:
“locale-antix –localize-apps” or something similar

Congratulations for, as always improving the OS even more!

P.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by PPC.

[Member Xecure]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Thanks, PPC.

PPC wrote:

the localize menus and applications could be an independent app, that could be launched after instalation, if a network connection is detected, making this feature painless to use, almost integrated into the install process itself

You are right. I will separate the “Localize Program” gui to its own script so that it can be called from the package installer. I also need to improve the check-lang-support script to remove the false positives and try to find a way to improve its speed. I would also want to add options for it to show recommended packages (like what Robin mentioned in the other thread, thesaurus for libreofiice and other programs) and recommended fonts or special programs needed for non-latin languages, like I think Japanese needs some special programs to be able to properly work with writing in their language (I have no idea here, and can only base it on posts I saw on this forum and the MX forum).

The translate menus scrip, unfortunately it isn’t as complete as what comes with desktop-defaults-<wm>-antix, which also brings localized initial rox desktop icons and icewm/jwm toolbar, and are loaded when changing language in the live session, (I didn’t include them for fear of removing all the users previous work when using TIM or moving and adding icons to the desktop, so I decided no to touch it). The main menus people normally don’t touch them, so replacing them isn’t so bad (and if they want to recover the original one, I have it saved as a backup in ~/.<wm>/backup/).
Once the bugs are ironed out, I was thinking of getting it to the correct desktop-menu-antix package, as it is related to the antiX desktop menus, but I still don’t know if it should be launched automatically at any point in time. Better let the user decide when they change language.

Thanks for the feedback.

PPC wrote:

EDIT: that may be achieved by launching the “localize applications” function using a command line option, ex:
“locale-antix –localize-apps” or something similar

I was also thinking of this, for adding/removing locales, but as the script works differently when launching with or without sudo, I need to think about a better way to access the options.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Greek now working correctly (tested fluxbox, icewm, jwm with and without zzzfm/rox).
Great job, @Xecure.

When changing menus, it only changes one wm at a time. (This is good IMO).
But, how about an option to change all wm menus with just one click?

Re – name of app.
How about Localize/Localization or Internationalize/Internationalization rather than locale?

I think having the option to localize rox pinboard and tray/toolbars would be an asset.
Perhaps with a warning that user configurations (if any) will be overwritten.

Thanks again.

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member ModdIt]

Helpful

Up

0

::

I think having the option to localize rox pinboard and tray/toolbars would be an asset.
Perhaps with a warning that user configurations (if any) will be overwritten.

Please do warn, if users kill toolbar configuration at start of new school or university year
as is here the case my safety is in danger 🙂 :-).

Name Localise should be fine, not a fan of everything in US english. Anyways just a suggestion.

[Member Xecure]

Helpful

Up

0

::

anticapitalista wrote:

But, how about an option to change all wm menus with just one click?

OK. Should not be difficult.

anticapitalista wrote:

Re – name of app.
How about Localize/Localization or Internationalize/Internationalization rather than locale?

ModdIt wrote:

Name Localise should be fine, not a fan of everything in US english. Anyways just a suggestion.

I can change the window name and desktop entry to that (instead of User/system Language), but for the package name and command, which is better?

locale-antix
localise-antix
language-antix

But if you mean for the check-lang-support, maybe this one should be named localise-programs.
Whatever you consider is best, I will change it to that. I want a name that make sense and explains what the app does, and the command to be short and easy enough so that it is easy to write and remember (language-antix may be better I think). Right now, this is how I have it set up.

$ apt show locale-antix
Package: locale-antix
Version: 0.1.2
Status: install ok installed
Priority: optional
Section: localization
Maintainer: nXecure <not@telling.you>
Installed-Size: 1,142 kB
Depends: gettext, locales, yad, apt, gtkdialog
Recommends: desktop-session-antix, antix-goodies, system-keyboard-qt
Homepage: https://gitlab.com/antix-contribs/locale-antix
Download-Size: unknown
APT-Manual-Installed: yes
APT-Sources: /var/lib/dpkg/status
Description: GUI to help change Language and other locale options
 This package contains a GUI application that lets the user set and change
 the system language (or user language if running desktop-session-antix).
 It also brings a script to recommend the correct packages to improve
 language support for installed apps automatically. Try it, the command is
 check-lang-support.

Any improvements will be well received.

anticapitalista wrote:

I think having the option to localize rox pinboard and tray/toolbars would be an asset.
Perhaps with a warning that user configurations (if any) will be overwritten.

ModdIt wrote:

Please do warn, if users kill toolbar configuration at start of new school or university year
as is here the case my safety is in danger :-).

It shouldn’t be too difficult. Right now the window manager translations are sourced from make-wm-menus in transifex. If the toolbar and desktop icons are also there, then there is little I need to do except for creating a toolbar template for icewm and jwm and a icon.template fro when rox manages the desktop.
This afternoon I will start working on this.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 7 months ago by Xecure. Reason: fixed quotes

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member marcelocripe]

Helpful

Up

0

::

Hello Xecure.

I thank you for this important program.

Olá Xecure.

Eu agradeço por mais este importante programa.

demo@antix1:~
$ inxi -S
System:
  Host: antix1 Kernel: 4.9.0-264-antix.1-486-smp i686 bits: 32 
  Desktop: IceWM 2.7.0 Distro: antiX-19.4_386-full Grup Yorum 20 May 2021 
demo@antix1:~
$ 

The USB device has been prepared with the Ventoy program.
O dispositivo USB foi preparado com o programa Ventoy.

demo@antix1:~
$ sudo apt install '/home/demo/Downloads/locale-antix_0.1.2_all.deb'

Presumimos que você recebeu as instruções de sempre do administrador
de sistema local. Basicamente, resume-se a estas três coisas:

    #1) Respeite a privacidade dos outros.
    #2) Pense antes de digitar.
    #3) Com grandes poderes vêm grandes responsabilidades.

[sudo] senha para demo: 
Lendo listas de pacotes... Pronto
Construindo árvore de dependências       
Lendo informação de estado... Pronto
Note, a seleccionar 'locale-antix' em vez de '/home/demo/Downloads/locale-antix_0.1.2_all.deb'
Os NOVOS pacotes a seguir serão instalados:
  locale-antix
0 pacotes atualizados, 1 pacotes novos instalados, 0 a serem removidos e 0 não atualizados.
É preciso baixar 0 B/288 kB de arquivos.
Depois desta operação, 1.142 kB adicionais de espaço em disco serão usados.
Obter:1 /home/demo/Downloads/locale-antix_0.1.2_all.deb locale-antix all 0.1.2 [288 kB]
A seleccionar pacote anteriormente não seleccionado locale-antix.
(Lendo banco de dados ... 155834 ficheiros e directórios actualmente instalados.)
A descompactar locale-antix (0.1.2) ........................................] 
A processar 'triggers' para mime-support (3.62) ...#############............] 
Writing Menu: fluxbox
Writing Menu: icewm
Writing Menu: jwm
demo@antix1:~
$ 

Your program managed to fix/update most of the menus, even without applying the “sudo apt update” command.
O seu programa conseguiu corrigir/atualizar a maioria dos menus, mesmo sem aplicar o comando “sudo apt update”.

demo@antix1:~
$ sudo apt update
Obter:1 http://security.debian.org buster/updates InRelease [65,4 kB]
Obter:2 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports InRelease [46,7 kB]      
Obter:3 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster-updates InRelease [51,9 kB]     
Obter:4 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster InRelease [122 kB]              
Obter:5 http://mirror.ufam.edu.br/mx/antix/buster buster InRelease [27,4 kB]   
Obter:6 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/main i386 Packages [304 kB]
Obter:7 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/main Translation-en [160 kB]
Obter:8 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main i386 Packages [480 kB]
Obter:9 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/non-free i386 Packages [556 B]
Obter:10 http://security.debian.org buster/updates/non-free Translation-en [344 B]
Obter:11 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/main Translation-en [409 kB]
Obter:12 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster-updates/main i386 Packages [15,2 kB]
Obter:13 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster-updates/main Translation-en [13,9 kB]
Obter:14 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/contrib i386 Packages [8.408 B]
Obter:15 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/contrib Translation-en [8.044 B]
Obter:16 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free i386 Packages [23,5 kB]
Obter:17 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports/non-free Translation-en [38,3 kB]
Obter:18 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster/main i386 Packages [7.863 kB]
Obter:19 http://mirror.ufam.edu.br/mx/antix/buster buster/main i386 Packages [321 kB]
Obter:20 http://mirror.ufam.edu.br/mx/antix/buster buster/nonfree i386 Packages [24,3 kB]
Obter:21 http://mirror.ufam.edu.br/mx/antix/buster buster/nosystemd i386 Packages [5.131 B]
Obter:22 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster/main Translation-pt_BR [683 kB]
Obter:23 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster/main Translation-en [5.968 kB]
Obter:24 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster/main Translation-pt [309 kB]
Obter:25 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster/contrib i386 Packages [46,0 kB]
Obter:26 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster/contrib Translation-en [44,2 kB]
Obter:27 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster/non-free i386 Packages [76,2 kB]
Obter:28 http://ftp.br.debian.org/debian buster/non-free Translation-en [88,9 kB]
Baixados 17,2 MB em 6s (2.664 kB/s)                                            
Lendo listas de pacotes... Pronto
Construindo árvore de dependências       
Lendo informação de estado... Pronto
103 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
demo@antix1:~
$ 

These were the programs listed:
Estes foram os programas listados:

e2fsprogs-l10n
libgphoto2-l10n
libreoffice-l10n-pt-br
libreoffice-help-pt-br-l10n
menu-l10n
firefox-esr-l10n-pt-br
gnupg1-l10n
libjs-jquery-i18n
libgpg-error-l10n
libparted-i18n

demo@antix1:~
$ sudo apt upgrade
Lendo listas de pacotes... Pronto
Construindo árvore de dependências       
Lendo informação de estado... Pronto
Calculando atualização... Pronto
Os NOVOS pacotes a seguir serão instalados:
  libevent-core-2.1-6 libpolkit-backend-1-0 libpolkit-backend-elogind-1-0
Os pacotes a seguir serão atualizados:
  add-desktop-antix add-key-antix advert-block-antix alsamixer-equalizer-antix
  antix-goodies antix-installer antix-libs antix-user app-select-antix
  automount-antix base-files bluetooth bluez bluez-obexd bootrepair-antix
  cli-aptix cli-installer-antix connectshares-antix connman connman-vpn
  console-grid-gui control-centre-antix ddm-mx desktop-defaults-base-antix
  desktop-defaults-core-antix desktop-defaults-fluxbox-antix
  desktop-defaults-icewm-antix desktop-defaults-jwm-antix
  desktop-defaults-rox-antix desktop-session-antix droopy-antix ds-mouse-antix
  faq-docs-antix feh firefox-esr formatusb gir1.2-polkit-1.0 herbstluftwm
  icewm icewm-common intel-microcode isc-dhcp-client isc-dhcp-common
  iso-snapshot-antix klibc-utils libaspell15 libbluetooth3 libexiv2-14
  libgcrypt20 libglib2.0-0 libgnutls30 libgssapi-krb5-2 libhogweed4
  libk5crypto3 libklibc libkrb5-3 libkrb5support0 liblz4-1 libmariadb3
  libnettle6 libnss-myhostname libntfs-3g883 libpolkit-agent-1-0
  libpolkit-gobject-1-0 libpolkit-gobject-elogind-1-0 libsndfile1 libssl1.1
  libwebp6 libwebpdemux2 libwebpmux3 libx11-6 libx11-data libx11-xcb1 libxml2
  links2 live-kernel-updater live-usb-maker-gui-antix mariadb-common
  menu-manager-antix mountbox-antix network-assistant ntfs-3g openssl
  packageinstaller packageinstaller-pkglist-libre policykit-1 remaster-antix
  repo-list repo-manager rxvt-unicode screenshot-antix seamonkey set-dpi-antix
  smxi-inxi-antix squashfs-tools streamlight-antix system-keyboard-qt tmux
  tzdata virtualbox-guest-dkms virtualbox-guest-utils virtualbox-guest-x11
  wallpaper-antix
103 pacotes atualizados, 3 pacotes novos instalados, 0 a serem removidos e 0 não atualizados.
É preciso baixar 142 MB de arquivos.
Depois desta operação, 4.125 kB adicionais de espaço em disco serão usados.
Você quer continuar?  s
.
.
.

Baixados 142 MB em 27s (5.200 kB/s)                                            
Extraindo templates dos pacotes: 100%
Pré-configurando pacotes ...
(Lendo banco de dados ... 155984 ficheiros e directórios actualmente instalados.)
.
.
.
Writing Menu: fluxbox
Writing Menu: icewm
Writing Menu: jwm
Updating Slim
Writing file: /usr/share/desktop-session/wm-menus/fluxbox-wm-menu
Writing file: /usr/share/desktop-session/wm-menus/icewm-wm-menu
Writing file: /usr/share/desktop-session/wm-menus/jwm-wm-menu
Writing file: /usr/share/desktop-session/wm-menus/RAW-wm-menu
demo@antix1:~
$ 

After updating the command “sudo apt upgrade”, all programs listed were installed, except: libreoffice-l10n-pt-br and libreoffice-help-pt-br-l10n. When I opened the program again, only LibreOffice translations remained in the list. I tried to reapply both translations, the terminal window opens, displays the list of programs to be installed and then the window closes.
Most of the first level menus have been fixed for pt-BR, except some of the IceWM Settings menu and the Personal Menu Help Video menu. Correction of first level menus did not occur in JWM and Fluxbox.

Após a atualização do comando “sudo apt upgrade”, todos os programas listados foram instalados, exceto: libreoffice-l10n-pt-br e libreoffice-help-pt-br-l10n. Quando eu abri novamente o programa, somente as traduções do LibreOffice permaneciam na lista. Eu tentei aplicar novamente as duas traduções, a janela do terminal abre, exibe a lista de programas a serem instalados e em seguida a janela fecha.
A maioria dos menus do primeiro nível foram corrigidos para pt-BR, exceto alguns do menu Configurações do ICeWM e do menu Pessoal Menu Help Video. A correção dos menus do primeiro nível não ocorreu no JWM e no Fluxbox.

For now, that’s what I managed to test, I plan to do more tests next Saturday.
Por enquanto, foi o que eu consegui testar, eu pretendo fazer mais testes no próximo sábado.

Grateful.
Grato.

[Member Xecure]

Helpful

Up

0

::

@marcelocripe, as the script doesn’t contemplate if the package was installed from a different source, after installing the other localized packages, you would need to specify that the remaining (libreoffice) localization packages be installed from buster-backports
sudo apt install -t buster-backports $(check-lang-support)

Note: I am not planning on translating the Personal menus. Those are really up to the user to select the items they want there. I see anticapitalista is updating them for antiX-21, so they work with pt_BR and other languages, but I fear they will return to English next time a user adds a new item to the personal menus with menu-manager, but I may be mistaken about this behavior).

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member marcelocripe]

Helpful

Up

0

::

… but I fear they will return to English next time a user adds a new item to the personal menus with menu-manager, but I may be mistaken about this behavior

Unfortunately I saw this happen, the text that was initially translated “Vídeo de Ajuda do Menu Pessoal” has reverted to English language “Personal Menu Help Video”.

Infelizmente eu vi isto acontecer, o texto que inicialmente estava traduzido “Vídeo de Ajuda do Menu Pessoal” voltou a ficar em idioma Inglês “Personal Menu Help Video”.

[Author]

Posts