Locale settings are configured either in a user's ~/.login_conf or in the startup file of the user's shell: ~/.profile, ~/.bashrc, or ~/.cshrc.

Two environment variables should be set:

In addition to the user's shell configuration, these variables should also be set for specific application configuration and Xorg configuration.

Two methods are available for making the needed variable assignments: the login class method, which is the recommended method, and the startup file method. The next two sections demonstrate how to use both methods.

me:\
	:charset=ISO-8859-1:\
	:lang=de_DE.ISO8859-1:

#Users who do not wish to use monetary units or time formats
#of Taiwan can manually change each variable
me:\
	:lang=zh_TW.Big5:\
	:setenv=LC_ALL=zh_TW.Big5,LC_COLLATE=zh_TW.Big5,LC_CTYPE=zh_TW.Big5,LC_MESSAGES=zh_TW.Big5,LC_MONETARY=zh_TW.Big5,LC_NUMERIC=zh_TW.Big5,LC_TIME=zh_TW.Big5:\
	:charset=big5:\
	:xmodifiers="@im=gcin": #Set gcin as the XIM Input Server

language_name|Account Type Description:\
	:charset=MIME_charset:\
	:lang=locale_name:\
	:tc=default:

german|German Users Accounts:\
	:charset=ISO-8859-1:\
	:lang=de_DE.ISO8859-1:\
	:tc=default:

# cap_mkdb /etc/login.conf

user:password:1111:11:language:0:0:User Name:/home/user:/bin/sh

Enter login class: default []:

# adduser -class language

# pw useradd user_name -L language

LANG=de_DE.ISO8859-1; export LANG
MM_CHARSET=ISO-8859-1; export MM_CHARSET

setenv LANG de_DE.ISO8859-1
setenv MM_CHARSET ISO-8859-1

LANG=de_DE.ISO8859-1; export LANG

setenv LANG de_DE.ISO8859-1

Several localized fonts are available for the console. To see a listing of available fonts, type ls /usr/share/syscons/fonts. To configure the console font, specify the font_name, without the .fnt suffix, in /etc/rc.conf:

font8x16=font_name
font8x14=font_name
font8x8=font_name

The keymap and screenmap can be set by adding the following to /etc/rc.conf:

scrnmap=screenmap_name
keymap=keymap_name
keychange="fkey_number sequence"

To see the list of available screenmaps, type ls /usr/share/syscons/scrnmaps. Do not include the .scm suffix when specifying screenmap_name. A screenmap with a corresponding mapped font is usually needed as a workaround for expanding bit 8 to bit 9 on a VGA adapter's font character matrix so that letters are moved out of the pseudographics area if the screen font uses a bit 8 column.

To see the list of available keymaps, type ls /usr/share/syscons/keymaps. When specifying the keymap_name, do not include the .kbd suffix. To test keymaps without rebooting, use kbdmap(1).

The keychange entry is usually needed to program function keys to match the selected terminal type because function key sequences cannot be defined in the keymap.

Next, set the correct console terminal type in /etc/ttys for all virtual terminal entries. Table 22.2, “Defined Terminal Types for Character Sets” summarizes the available terminal types.:

For languages with wide or multibyte characters, install a console for that language from the FreeBSD Ports Collection. The available ports are summarized in Table 22.3, “Available Console from Ports Collection”. Once installed, refer to the port's pkg-message or man pages for configuration and usage instructions.

If moused is enabled in /etc/rc.conf, additional configuration may be required. By default, the mouse cursor of the syscons(4) driver occupies the 0xd0-0xd3 range in the character set. If the language uses this range, move the cursor's range by adding the following line to /etc/rc.conf:

mousechar_start=3

Chapter 5, The X Window System describes how to install and configure Xorg. When configuring Xorg for localization, additional fonts and input methods are available from the FreeBSD Ports Collection. Application specific i18n settings such as fonts and menus can be tuned in ~/.Xresources and should allow users to view their selected language in graphical application menus.

The X Input Method (XIM) protocol is an Xorg standard for inputting non-English characters. Table 22.4, “Available Input Methods” summarizes the input method applications which are available in the FreeBSD Ports Collection. Additional Fcitx and Uim applications are also available.