systemd-localed.service

systemd-localed

The systemd-localed service manages the system's locale settings.
It persists changes to the system locale, keymaps and related settings across reboots by writing to the /etc/locale.conf and /etc/vconsole.conf files.
This service is essential for ensuring that the system presents the correct language, character encoding, and other locale-specific settings to users and applications.
It interacts with the user through the localectl command-line tool, which allows users to query and modify these settings.
It ensures that system services and applications use the appropriate locale for displaying text, formatting dates and numbers, and other locale-dependent operations. Incorrect locale settings can lead to display issues, incorrect sorting, and other application malfunctions.
systemd-localed facilitates consistent locale configurations across the system.
The service starts automatically during boot, so no manual starting is usually needed.

Directly editing /etc/locale.conf or /etc/vconsole.conf is discouraged; always use localectl to modify locale settings to ensure consistency with systemd-localed.

While systemd-localed manages the system-wide locale, individual user sessions can override these settings.
This is typically handled by display managers or desktop environments that allow users to configure their preferred locale settings.
However, applications that don't respect user-specific locale settings may still use the system-wide locale managed by systemd-localed.

If applications are not using the expected locale, verify that the system locale is correctly configured using localectl status.
Also, check the application's configuration to see if it has specific locale settings that override the system-wide configuration.
Ensure that the necessary locale packages are installed on the system. systemd-localed depends on these packages to provide the locale data.

systemd-localed was introduced as part of the systemd suite, aiming to centralize and standardize system configuration management, including locale settings.
It replaced older, ad-hoc methods of managing locales, providing a more reliable and consistent approach.

localectl(1), locale.conf(5), vconsole.conf(5)