uutils/coreutils

l10n: `LC_ALL` is ignored

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#8922 opened on Oct 16, 2025

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J - LocaleU - Allgood first issue

Description

When setting the locale with LC_ALL, we ignore the specified locale and always use the English locale:

$ LC_ALL=fr_FR.UTF-8 cargo run -q sleep --help
Pause for NUMBER seconds.

Usage: sleep NUMBER[SUFFIX]...
       sleep OPTION
// snipped the rest of the output

It works fine with LANG:

$ LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 cargo run -q sleep --help
Faire une pause de NOMBRE secondes.

Utilisation: sleep NOMBRE[SUFFIXE]...
       sleep OPTION
// snipped the rest of the output

GNU supports both environment variables:

$ LC_ALL=fr_FR.UTF-8 sleep --help
Utilisation : sleep NOMBRE[SUFFIXE]...
         ou : sleep OPTION
// snipped the rest of the output
$ LANG=fr_FR.UTF-8 sleep --help
Utilisation : sleep NOMBRE[SUFFIXE]...
         ou : sleep OPTION
// snipped the rest of the output

Contributor guide

Tech stack
rust
Domain
localization
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
1-3 hours
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
clear
Prerequisites
Basic RustKnowledge of Unix locale environment variablesFamiliarity with coreutils project structure
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
80
Research direction
Look into how locale settings are read in the codebase; likely there is a function or module that checks LANG but ignores LC ALL. Search for references to LANG and LC ALL in the source, possibly in a locale related file. Check if the issue is specific to the 'sleep' utility or affects all utilities. The fix should ensure that LC ALL takes precedence over LANG as per POSIX. Examine the GNU coreutils behavior for guidance.