<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/strict.dtd"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >The locales.conf file</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.79"><LINK REL="HOME" TITLE="FreeTDS User Guide" HREF="index.htm"><LINK REL="UP" TITLE="Install FreeTDS" HREF="install.htm"><LINK REL="PREVIOUS" TITLE="The freetds.conf file" HREF="freetdsconf.htm"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Environment variables" HREF="envvar.htm"><LINK REL="STYLESHEET" TYPE="text/css" HREF="userguide.css"><META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=utf-8"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="SECT1" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="NAVHEADER" ><TABLE SUMMARY="Header navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TH COLSPAN="3" ALIGN="center" ><SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > User Guide: A Guide to Installing, Configuring, and Running <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN ></TH ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="freetdsconf.htm" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="80%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="bottom" >Chapter 3. Install <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN ></TD ><TD WIDTH="10%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="bottom" ><A HREF="envvar.htm" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT1" ><H1 CLASS="SECT1" ><A NAME="LOCALES" >The <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > file</A ></H1 ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="LOCALESPURPOSE" >What it does</A ></H2 ><P >For an English-speaking American, not much. <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > originated in the United States, and uses U.S. conventions if no <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > is present. The <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > provided with the installation also reflects these conventions.</P ><DIV CLASS="IMPORTANT" ><P ></P ><TABLE CLASS="IMPORTANT" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="25" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="TOP" ><IMG SRC="../images/important.gif" HSPACE="5" ALT="Important"></TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" ><P ><TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > will probably be dropped from <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > one day. Its only real purpose now is to control the format of date strings. The Right Way™ to deduce the appropriate default date format is from the application's locale settings, while allowing an override in <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >freetds.conf</TT >. That's the direction we're headed.</P ><P >If your purpose is to affect the client charset description, use <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >freetds.conf</TT > instead.</P ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ><P >Information on locales and locale strings is easily (even too easily!) found on the Internet, or see <B CLASS="COMMAND" >man locale</B > for your system. <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > will examine its environment for a <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >LOCALE</TT > string. If it finds one, it will look it up in <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > to find your preferred settings. If it fails to find one, it will use its defaults.</P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="LOCALESLOCATION" >Where it goes</A ></H2 ><P >Like <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >freetds.conf</TT >, the location of <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > is determined by the value of <CODE CLASS="OPTION" >--sysconfdir</CODE > to <B CLASS="COMMAND" >configure</B >. The default is <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >PREFIX/etc</TT >.</P ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="SECT2" ><H2 CLASS="SECT2" ><A NAME="LOCALESFORMAT" >What it looks like</A ></H2 ><P >The format of <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > is similar to that of <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >freetds.conf</TT >. There is a <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >[default]</TT > section, and a section for each locale. <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > controls three settings <P ></P ><DIV CLASS="VARIABLELIST" ><DL ><DT ><TT CLASS="LITERAL" >date format</TT ></DT ><DD ><P >This entry will be passed (almost) literally to <CODE CLASS="FUNCTION" >strftime(3)</CODE > to convert dates to strings.</P ><P >For the most part, see you system documentation for <CODE CLASS="FUNCTION" >strftime(3)</CODE > (<B CLASS="COMMAND" >man 3 strftime</B >). You will see there though that <CODE CLASS="FUNCTION" >strftime(3)</CODE > has no provision for milliseconds. The <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT > format string uses <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >%z</TT > for milliseconds. <DIV CLASS="NOTE" ><P ></P ><TABLE CLASS="NOTE" WIDTH="90%" BORDER="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="25" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="TOP" ><IMG SRC="../images/note.gif" HSPACE="5" ALT="Note"></TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" ><P >If your system's <CODE CLASS="FUNCTION" >strftime(3)</CODE > does employ <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >%z</TT > for its own use, it will not be given that chance by <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN >. <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > will consume the <TT CLASS="LITERAL" >%z</TT > for its milliseconds needs, and will not pass it on to <CODE CLASS="FUNCTION" >strftime(3)</CODE >.</P ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></P ></DD ><DT ><TT CLASS="LITERAL" >language</TT ></DT ><DD ><P >The language that will be used for error/status messages from the server. A <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >SQL Server</SPAN > client can specify a language for such messages at login time. <DIV CLASS="NOTE" ><P ></P ><TABLE CLASS="NOTE" WIDTH="90%" BORDER="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="25" ALIGN="CENTER" VALIGN="TOP" ><IMG SRC="../images/note.gif" HSPACE="5" ALT="Note"></TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" ><P ><SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN > issues a few messages of its own. Messages from the server are called <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"messages"</SPAN >; those from the client library (i.e., from <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN >) are called <SPAN CLASS="QUOTE" >"error messages"</SPAN >. <SPAN CLASS="PRODUCTNAME" >FreeTDS</SPAN >-issued messages are not affected by <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >locales.conf</TT >.</P ></TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></P ></DD ><DT ><TT CLASS="LITERAL" >charset</TT ></DT ><DD ><P >Indicates to the server what character set should be used for communicating with the client.</P ></DD ></DL ></DIV ></P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="freetdsconf.htm" ACCESSKEY="P" >Prev</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="index.htm" ACCESSKEY="H" >Home</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="envvar.htm" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" >The <TT CLASS="FILENAME" >freetds.conf</TT > file</TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="install.htm" ACCESSKEY="U" >Up</A ></TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Environment variables</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >