# locale-gen - generate localisation files from templates - man(8) - [phpMan]

[_LOCALE-GEN_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/LOCALE-GEN/8/markdown)                          System Manager's Manual                         [_LOCALE-GEN_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/LOCALE-GEN/8/markdown)

## NAME
       locale-gen — generate localisation files from templates

## SYNOPSIS
       **locale-gen **[**--keep-existing**]

## DESCRIPTION
       As compiled locales are large, only templates are distributed in the default **locales **package,
       and only the desired locales are compiled on the target system.

       After  selecting  the  locales  into  _/etc/locale.gen_  (via  **dpkg  **package configuration, for
       example), **locale-gen **is run to compile them via [_localedef_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/localedef/1/markdown).

## OPTIONS
       **--keep-existing  **Do not remove _/usr/lib/locale/locale-archive_, only compiling new locales.

## FILES
       _/etc/locale.gen_  Whitespace-separated newline-delimited _locale_ _charset_  list  of  locales  to
                        build with **# **start-of-line comments.
       _/var/lib/locales/supported.d_  A  directory  containing  locale.gen  snippets provided by lan‐
                                     guage-pack packages.  Do not edit these manually, they will  be
                                     overwritten on package upgrades.

## SEE ALSO
       [_locale_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/locale/1/markdown), [_localedef_(1)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/localedef/1/markdown), [_locale.gen_(5)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/locale.gen/5/markdown)

       _/usr/share/i18n/SUPPORTED_  (_/usr/local/share/i18n/SUPPORTED_)  — list of all supported locales
       on the current system.

       The **locales-all **package, which contains all supported locales in compiled form.

Debian                                       May 5, 2022                               [_LOCALE-GEN_(8)](https://www.chedong.com/phpMan.php/man/LOCALE-GEN/8/markdown)