#IT #admin friends, I'm stuck. I'm pushing a #linux #debian config to some computers in my school after forcing it to #apt install what I need, and then copying a skeleton of config files. Systems are in French (FR-BE) set during installation.

For some reason, #Firefox (available without an extra install), stays in English. I want to avoid requiring manual work to switch all instances to French.

I have tried tweaking prefs.js, user.js, policies, ... But nothing wrks. At best, A prompt shows up in the options, which requires a click.

Any idea how to natively have FIrefox in French, or if in English, to switch it to English in an automated way?

Thank you!

@gaufff
Are the required langpack extension packages installed and activated in each user's mozilla profile folder? If yes, then Firefox should be able to automatically discern the language to use based on the user's $LOCALE settings.
For #wmlive, this was solved by supplying preconfigured mozilla extension configurations, which are automatically personalized for each user during account creation. See the content of package wmlive-base at https://wmlive.rumbero.org/repo/pool/main/w/wmlive-base/ .
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@gaufff In the wmlive-base package, the script usr/local/sbin/adduser.local contains the functions to manage user account personalization.
The required mozilla preconfiguration files are contained in the etc/skel/.mozilla/firefox/ folder of the wmlive-skel-firefox-esr package at https://wmlive.rumbero.org/repo/pool/main/w/wmlive-skel-firefox-esr/ .
Feel free to adapt as needed for your own custom purposes.
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@wmlive Thanks a lot for your time and help!

I read the package content and... I am nowhere near you in terms of complexity, and already lost 😞

What I notice on my system is that $LANG equals to fr_BE.UTF-8 but $LOCALE is actually empty.

I have indeed the xpi language pack in extension (and it shows when I click on FIrefox options), but it is not automatically enabled.

Could this be the simple reason? What is the expected value in $LOCALE?

Thank you!

@gaufff Mea maxima culpa: $LOCALE is not relevant, but $LANG actually is. So if $LANG exists, firefox should do the right thing, as long as a matching language extension exists and is enabled. Sorry for the confusion!

Does the command "grep ^fr /etc/locale.gen" return a fr_BE locale?

What are the contents of /etc/locale.conf ?

When starting up firefox at the command line, are there any error messages regarding the locale settings?

@wmlive @ledub Thanks a lot for your help guys!

I realised that I should just install firefox-esr-l10n-fr to solve my issue.

I'll keep note of that $LANG note in case I'd face a similar language issue

Thanks again!