Bug#1103722: gnome-terminal: does not open when locale in dconf isn't generated

[Jeremy Bícha]

On Sun, Apr 20, 2025 at 7:21 PM Bart Martens <bartm at debian.org> wrote:
> When the value of /system/locale/region in .config/dconf/user is no
> longer in /etc/locale.gen, then gnome-terminal silently fails to open.
> The expected behavior is that gnome-terminal still opens. It could use
> the locale from /etc/default/locale.
>
> A quick fix/workaround is: dconf reset /system/locale/region
>
> === start of AI generated summary ===

I think your AI had the order backwards. It would be more helpful to a
maintainer with steps for how to reproduce the bug rather than how to
solve it.

I figured out two ways to set the locale:
1. Install dconf-editor and set /system/locale/region to a nonexistent locale
Log out and log back in: this is an important step that the AI left out!

2. Open the Settings app (gnome-control-center). Go to the Region &
Language page and change the format to one of the listed locales.
The Settings app will helpfully tell you need to log out for it to go
into effect.
Somehow delete that locale from your system.


What do you think about
https://salsa.debian.org/gnome-team/meta-gnome3/-/merge_requests/15 as
a possible solution to this issue for Trixie?

I guess it would still be possible for someone to manually break their
system from the command line but I think it would be nice if people
did not need to use the command line to switch between languages (or
regional formats).

Thank you,
Jeremy Bícha