# Ansible ubuntu locale & keyboard-configuration

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786>\
**Category:** Get Help\
**Tags:** locale, playbook, ubuntu\
**Created:** [September 15, 2023, 9:07am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786 "2023-09-15T09:07:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nesbit7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Nesbit7](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nesbit7)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 9:07am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/1 "2023-09-15T09:07:07Z")

</div>

[I can’t believe my questions haven’t been asked here previously, am I using search properly?]

OK, so my current challenge is to configure my Ubuntu 22 boxes for GB keyboard & locale [en\_GB.UTF-8].

This is my code:-

```auto
   - name: Update and upgrade apt packages
     become: true
     apt:
       update_cache: yes
       upgrade: 'yes'
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

   - name: Apply localectl settings to Ubuntu
     community.general.locale_gen:
       name: en_GB.UTF8
       state: present
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

   - name: set as default locale
     command: localectl set-locale LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 LC_ALL=en_GB.UTF-8
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

```

These are the errors encountered:-

fatal: [hostname]: FAILED! =\> {“changed”: false, “msg”: “The locale you’ve entered is not available on your system.”}

and

fatal: [hostname]: FAILED! =\> {“changed”: true, “cmd”: [“localectl”, “set-locale”, “LANG=en\_GB.UTF-8”, “LC\_ALL=en\_GB.UTF-8”], “delta”: “0:00:00.125000”, “end”: “2023-09-15 09:58:17.548654”, “msg”: “non-zero return code”, “rc”: 1, “start”: “2023-09-15 09:58:17.423654”, “stderr”: “Failed to issue method call: Locale assignment LC\_ALL=en\_GB.UTF-8 not valid, refusing.”, “stderr\_lines”: [“Failed to issue method call: Locale assignment LC\_ALL=en\_GB.UTF-8 not valid, refusing.”], “stdout”: “”, “stdout\_lines”: }

[My script works for RedHat by following the following guidance:-

> <https://serverfault.com/questions/959026/how-do-i-generate-and-set-the-locale-using-ansible>

though that only applies to RHEL and clones.]

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gwmngilfen](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/gwmngilfen/32/6_2.png) [@gwmngilfen](https://forum.ansible.com/u/gwmngilfen)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 9:10am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/2 "2023-09-15T09:10:08Z")

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> [@Nesbit7](#):
>
> [I can’t believe my questions haven’t been asked here previously, am I using search properly?]

We don’t (yet) have the archives from the mailing-lists available to search over, so you’re working with a _very_ fresh support site (it’s only been live for a week!). We’ll be able to fix that in the future, but for now search is not going to return much, indeed. Thanks for asking, it means the next person _will_ find it in search 🙂

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**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 12:02pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/3 "2023-09-15T12:02:56Z")

</div>

I’ve [a role that does this for Debian](https://github.com/webarch-coop/ansible-role-locale), I’ve not tested it on Ubuntu but next time I do any work on it I’ll update the GitLab CI to run it using Molecule on several Debian versions and Ubuntu, it might work without adjustments!

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**Author:** ![Leo](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/leo/32/23_2.png) [@Leo](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Leo)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/4 "2023-09-15T17:06:06Z")

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Hey @Nesbit7

Your playbook should work if you remove the `LC_ALL=en_GB.UTF-8` from the last task, this is not actually related to Ansible itself, `LC_ALL` is not supported in the `locale.conf` file. Try:

```auto
   - name: set as default locale
     command: localectl set-locale LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

```

Using a role as stated above if you intend to do more complex set-ups is also a good idea!

You could use `/etc/profile` or the `.bashrc` file for LC\_ALL.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\
**Post date:** [September 17, 2023, 10:03am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/5 "2023-09-17T10:03:02Z")

</div>

If the `locales` package is not already present on the machine try adding the following after updating and upgrading apt packages:

```yaml
- name: Debconf set default locale
  ansible.builtin.debconf:
    name: locales 
    question: locales/default_environment_locale
    value: en_GB.UTF-8
    vtype: select

- name: Locales package present 
  ansible.builtin.apt:
    pkg:
      - locales

```

This will ensure that `en_GB.UTF-8` is available on your system before you try to set it as the default locale.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nesbit7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Nesbit7](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nesbit7)\
**Post date:** [September 18, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/6 "2023-09-18T13:46:13Z")

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Hi Leo & Chris,

thanks for your help thus far, I’m not sure about the ansible ‘role’ method, it’s currently a stretch too far for my ansible experience, I have not tackled ‘roles’ yet, though I’m sure in time I may be able to incorporate it.

I don’t like using ‘command’, as it kind of is obviating the use of ansible modules, but as it works, I’ll run with the proposed solution for the time being and I’ve confirmed the following works for my current config:-

```auto
   - name: Debconf set default locale Ubuntu
     ansible.builtin.debconf:
       name: locales
       question: locales/default_environment_locale
       value: en_GB.UTF-8
       vtype: select
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

   - name: Locales package present Ubuntu
     ansible.builtin.apt:
       pkg:
         - locales
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

   - name: set as default locale Ubuntu
     command: localectl set-locale LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

   - name: set as default x11-keymap Ubuntu
     command: localectl --no-convert set-x11-keymap gb
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

   - name: create vconsole.conf for VC Keymap Ubuntu
     ansible.builtin.copy:
       dest: /etc/vconsole.conf
       content: |
         KEYMAP=gb
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu'

```

These settings now result in the desired outputs:-

```auto
localectl
   System Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
       VC Keymap: gb
      X11 Layout: gb

```

The VC Keymap eluded me for a while until I found a solution;  
the way I was configuring those settings manually was with the command: dpkg-reconfigure …

Once again, I’ve marked your contributions as Solutions to my question, thanks for your help.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nesbit7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Nesbit7](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nesbit7)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 11:58am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/7 "2023-09-19T11:58:41Z")

</div>

Ah, spoke too soon,  
my code isn’t idempotent.

I see yours is by use of the ‘question:’

So my next question is how do you find what ‘question’ to ask?

‘locales/default\_environment\_locale’ isn’t listed in the ansible\_facts, so how do I know what question to ask to prevent my changes happening again ?

thanks,

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\
**Post date:** [September 19, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/8 "2023-09-19T19:18:43Z")

</div>

You can get the questions via the command line:

```bash
debconf-show locales
  locales/locales_to_be_generated: en_GB.UTF-8 UTF-8
* locales/default_environment_locale: en_GB.UTF-8

```

So try something like this with `locale_lang` set to `en_GB.UTF-8`:

```yaml
- name: Get existing debconf values for locales 
  ansible.builtin.debconf:
    name: locales 
  register: locale_dcnf

- name: Set a variable for the current locales
  ansible.builtin.set_fact:
    locale_dcnf_locale: "{{ locale_dcnf | community.general.json_query(locale_dcnf_jpq) }}"
  vars:
    locale_dcnf_jpq: 'current.["locales/default_environment_locale"]|[0]'
  
- name: Debug existing debconf value for locales/default_environment_locale
  ansible.builtin.debug:
    var: locale_dcnf_locale
  
- name: Debconf set default locale
  ansible.builtin.debconf:
    name: locales 
    question: locales/default_environment_locale
    value: "{{ locale_lang }}"
    vtype: select
  when: locale_dcnf_locale != locale_lang

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nesbit7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Nesbit7](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nesbit7)\
**Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 4:24pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/9 "2023-09-26T16:24:42Z")

</div>

sorry may I appear to have gone ‘cold’ on this, but I’m currently off work sick.  
I’ll run with it when I’m back at work in hopefully a couple of weeks.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nesbit7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Nesbit7](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nesbit7)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/10 "2023-10-10T13:37:51Z")

</div>

update on that and to keep this ticket ‘live’, I’m not likely to return to work until next month now.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gwmngilfen](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/gwmngilfen/32/6_2.png) [@gwmngilfen](https://forum.ansible.com/u/gwmngilfen)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2023, 9:39am UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/11 "2023-10-12T09:39:42Z")

</div>

Thanks @Nesbit7 I’ve removed the topic timer so you don’t have to “ping” it. Get well soon!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nesbit7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Nesbit7](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nesbit7)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 4:33pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/12 "2024-02-09T16:33:48Z")

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Hi,

pleased to say I’m back at work [have been for a couple of months, but with the backlog of work not had a chance to revisit ansible until now.]

I have attempted Chris’s solution, but unfortunately get the following error, but I’m unfamiliar with the constructs used, I’ve tried to get my head round them, but thought I’d paste the error here just i case someone rolls their eyes and goes, “yeah that’s because…!”:-

fatal: [ansiblemasterhost]: FAILED! =\> {“msg”: “The conditional check ‘locale\_dcnf\_locale != locale\_lang and ansible\_distribution == ‘Ubuntu’ and ansible\_distribution\_version == ‘22.04’’ failed. The error was: error while evaluating conditional (locale\_dcnf\_locale != locale\_lang and ansible\_distribution == ‘Ubuntu’ and ansible\_distribution\_version == ‘22.04’): ‘locale\_lang’ is undefined. ‘locale\_lang’ is undefined\n\nThe error appears to be in ‘/home/sisroot/ansible/ansiblescript.yml’: line 270, column 6, but may\nbe elsewhere in the file depending on the exact syntax problem.\n\nThe offending line appears to be:\n\n\n - name: Debconf set default locale Ubuntu 22\n ^ here\n”}

Here’s the relevant excerpt from my script:-

```auto
   - name: Get existing debconf values for locales Ubuntu 22
     ansible.builtin.debconf:
       name: locales
     register: locale_dcnf

   - name: Set a variable for the current locales Ubuntu 22
     ansible.builtin.set_fact:
       locale_dcnf_locale: "{{ locale_dcnf | community.general.json_query(locale_dcnf_jpq) }}"
     vars:
       locale_dcnf_jpq: 'current.["locales/default_environment_locale"]|[0]'
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' and ansible_distribution_version == '22.04'

   - name: Debug existing debconf value for locales/default_environment_locale Ubuntu 22
     ansible.builtin.debug:
       var: locale_dcnf_locale
     when: ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' and ansible_distribution_version == '22.04'

   - name: Debconf set default locale Ubuntu 22
     ansible.builtin.debconf:
       name: locales
       question: locales/default_environment_locale
       value: "{{ locale_lang }}"
       vtype: select
     when: locale_dcnf_locale != locale_lang and ansible_distribution == 'Ubuntu' and ansible_distribution_version == '22.04'
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![chris](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/chris/32/293_2.png) [@chris](https://forum.ansible.com/u/chris)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 5:23pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/13 "2024-02-09T17:23:44Z")

</div>

> [@chris](#):
>
> So try something like this with `locale_lang` set to `en_GB.UTF-8`:

☝ Try setting `locale_lang` or hard code it and then run the tasks?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Nesbit7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/53a042/32.png) [@Nesbit7](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Nesbit7)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/14 "2024-02-16T16:58:15Z")

</div>

Hi Chris,

thanks, that worked a treat.

When I was looking at the code, I couldn’t see where the variable was set, and that was the crux of my issue, it wasn’t set.

I’ve now learned how to define ansible variables, so that’s another day at school for me this week, testing complete on this.

happy for closure of this request now I’m sorted.

thanks very much for everyone’s guidance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/original/1X/1882d9a01da5d8996a862359b0913cc568a39b84.svg) [@system](https://forum.ansible.com/u/system)\
**Post date:** [March 17, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-ubuntu-locale-keyboard-configuration/786/15 "2024-03-17T16:58:30Z")

</div>

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