Chapter 24. Localization - i18n/L10n Usage and Setup

Contributed by Andrey Chernov.
Rewritten by Michael C. Wu.
Table of Contents
24.1. Synopsis
24.2. The Basics
24.3. Using Localization
24.4. Compiling i18n Programs
24.5. Localizing FreeBSD to Specific Languages

24.1. Synopsis

FreeBSD is a distributed project with users and contributors located all over the world. This chapter discusses the internationalization and localization features of FreeBSD that allow non-English speaking users to get real work done. Since there are many aspects of the i18n implementation in both the system and application levels, more specific sources of documentation are referred to, where applicable.

After reading this chapter, you will know:

  • How different languages and locales are encoded on modern operating systems.

  • How to set the locale for a login shell.

  • How to configure the console for non-English languages.

  • How to use Xorgeffectively with different languages.

  • Where to find more information about writing i18n-compliant applications.

Before reading this chapter, you should:

This, and other documents, can be downloaded from http://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/doc/

For questions about FreeBSD, read the documentation before contacting <questions@FreeBSD.org>.

For questions about this documentation, e-mail <doc@FreeBSD.org>.