Configuring Locales

The Easy Way

1. Install debconf (i.e. run apt-get update then apt-get install debconf, as root)
2. Run dpkg-reconfigure locales as root

The Hard Way

1. Edit /etc/locale.gen as root. If /etc/locale.gen does not exist, create it. An example /etc/locale.gen is below.
2. Run /usr/sbin/locale-gen as root

A sample /etc/locale.gen

# This file lists locales that you wish to have built. You can find a list
# of valid supported locales at /usr/share/i18n/SUPPORTED. Other
# combinations are possible, but may not be well tested. If you change
# this file, you need to rerun locale-gen.
#
# XXX GENERATED XXX
#
# NOTE!!! If you change this file by hand, and want to continue
# maintaining manually, remove the above line. Otherwise, use the command
# "dpkg-reconfigure locales" to manipulate this file. You can manually
# change this file without affecting the use of debconf, however, since it
# does read in your changes.

en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8