check-language-support
Check language support status and configurations
TLDR
Display a list of missing language packages based on installed software and enabled locales
List packages for a specific locale
Display installed packages as well as missing ones
SYNOPSIS
check-language-support [OPTION]... [LOCALE]
PARAMETERS
-h, --help
Display help and exit.
-V, --version
Output version information and exit.
-l LOCALE, --language=LOCALE
Check specific LOCALE (e.g., fr_FR, de); defaults to system locale.
-L, --list-supported-languages
List all locales with package support available.
--requires
List packages needed for full LOCALE support.
--list-missing
Show packages still missing for LOCALE.
--list-installed-languages
List fully supported installed languages.
DESCRIPTION
check-language-support is a utility in Debian/Ubuntu systems to check if full language support packages are installed for a given locale.
It scans for required components like fonts, input methods, spellcheckers, locales, and translations. This ensures proper i18n functionality, preventing issues like garbled text or missing features in applications.
Commonly used post-installation or during setup to identify missing language-pack-* or language-support-* packages. Run without arguments, it checks the system's primary locale. Output indicates completeness: full, partial, or unsupported.
Ideal for automated scripts verifying multilingual setups before deployment.
CAVEATS
Ubuntu/Debian-specific; requires language-pack-* data. May not detect all app-specific needs.
EXIT CODES
0: full support; 1: partial/missing packages; 2: unsupported language or error.
Non-zero prompts package installation.
HISTORY
Developed for Ubuntu 6.10 (2006) to manage language-pack installations; evolved with multiarch support.
SEE ALSO
locale(1), localectl(1), dpkg-query(1), apt(8)
