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xim:glibc ships no locale data and its compiled locale path points outside the payload, so every program runs in the C locale #621
Description
Observed
The xim:glibc payload ships no compiled locale data: there is no lib/locale/ and no locale-archive. The locale path compiled into libc.so.6 points outside the payload:
| payload | compiled-in locale path |
|---|---|
| 2.44 | /home/xlings/.xlings_data/xim/xpkgs/fromsource-x-glibc/2.44/lib/locale (the build machine) |
| 2.44.3 | /nonexistent/xlings-use-rpath-not-default-search/lib/locale (the placeholder) |
As a result, every program that runs under this loader gets setlocale(LC_ALL, "") returning C, whatever the host's LANG is. Qt 6 reports this at startup:
Detected locale "C" with character encoding "ANSI_X3.4-1968", which is not UTF-8.
Qt depends on a UTF-8 locale, but has failed to switch to one.
The program's own multibyte and wide-character conversions (mbstowcs, std::locale("")) are limited to ASCII.
Measured: the payload's own localedef -i C -f UTF-8 produces C.utf8 (416 KB). With that directory supplied through LOCPATH, Qt switches to UTF-8:
Qt depends on a UTF-8 locale, and has switched to "C.UTF-8" instead.
Request
- The glibc payload ships
lib/locale/C.utf8. - The locale path compiled into
libc.so.6resolves to the payload's ownlib/locale, for example by rewriting the placeholder prefix at install time, in the same way the interpreter is patched.
LOCPATH is not a substitute. It does not reach a packaged program that a user starts directly.
The fix spans the glibc recipe in xim-pkgindex and, if the prefix is rewritten at install time, xlings/libxpkg.
Activity
feat(spec, glibc): version-entry revision; glibc 2.44.3 revision 1 re…
Sunrisepeak commentedon Sep 27, 2026
Resolved by glibc 2.44.3 revision 1 (openxlings/xim-pkgindex#892), which xlings 2026.9.27.1 installs over a revision 0 payload (#620), and on the mcpp side by mcpp 2026.9.27.1 (mcpp-community/mcpp#719).
C.utf8and its gconv modules.mcpp packcopies the payload'slib/localeandlib/gconvinto the bundle, and the bundle's entry script exportsLOCPATHandGCONV_PATH(a value the user already set is kept).Verified after the releases inside an xlings subos sandbox (
xlings subos use eco-0927 --sandbox --cmd ..., mirror CN), with an isolatedXLINGS_HOMEorMCPP_HOME:xlings install glibc@2.44.3with xlings 2026.9.27.1: the payload'slocale -alistsC.utf8, and UTF-8 U+4E2D converts to GBKd6 d0through the payload's own gconv modules.mcpp pack --mode self-contained: the bundle holdslib/locale(C.utf8) andlib/gconv,run.shexports both variables, and the unpacked program, started with neither variable set, runssetlocale(LC_ALL, "C.UTF-8")and converts U+4E2D to GBKd6d0.xim:qt-base6.11.1: Qt now reportshas switched to "C.UTF-8"where it reported that itfailed to switchto a UTF-8 locale before; the program runs and renders its Chinese translation.