| name | system_locale |
| description | Maintains the ansible/roles/system_locale Ansible role that sets LANG in /etc/locale.conf on RHEL-family systems, restricted to C.UTF-8, en_US.UTF-8, or auto, as part of the Linux SOE. Rebuilds the initramfs and reboots by default when the locale changes. Use when checking or setting the system locale. |
system_locale
Maintains ansible/roles/system_locale/. See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for
the shared conventions.
ansible/roles/system_locale/README.md documents this role's full
configuration surface (every defaults/main.yml variable, with its
original inline comments, rendered as a single reference). Read it
before proposing or explaining how to configure this role — it
reflects the role's actual current defaults even if a variable summary
elsewhere in this file has drifted out of sync with the role.
What the role actually does
Encoded in ansible/roles/system_locale/defaults/main.yml:
system_locale (default auto): only C.UTF-8, en_US.UTF-8, or
auto are accepted — anything else fails the play immediately via an
explicit ansible.builtin.fail task, not an assert. auto resolves
to C.UTF-8 on RHEL 9+ (glibc ships it natively there) or
en_US.UTF-8 on RHEL 8.- Installs
glibc-minimal-langpack, plus glibc-langpack-en if the
resolved target is en_US.UTF-8 (either chosen directly, or via auto
on RHEL 8).
- Rewrites
LANG= in /etc/locale.conf via replace.
- If that changed, rebuilds the initramfs (
dracut -f --regenerate-all).
- If
system_locale_reboot: true (the default) and the locale changed,
reboots the host — same pattern as boot_parameters, no separate
confirmation gate inside the role.
What to do
Audit: ansible-playbook ansible/configure_rhel.yml --tags system_locale --check --diff
Remediate: same command without --check. Because
system_locale_reboot defaults to true, a remediate run that actually
changes the locale reboots the host — get explicit confirmation
first, and consider -e system_locale_reboot=false if the user wants the
/etc/locale.conf change applied now but the reboot deferred.
Propose a change to the role itself (e.g. supporting an additional
locale): never commit directly. On a branch named
soe/system_locale/<short-desc>, edit the role, validate locally
(--syntax-check, ansible-lint roles/system_locale/, --check --diff),
push, and open a PR titled [system_locale] <what changed> with the
--check --diff output in the body — then stop for human review. See
docs/ARCHITECTURE.md's "Contribution workflow".
Notes
- The role only ever supports exactly three values for
system_locale —
it isn't a general-purpose "set any locale" role. Extending it to a
different language/locale is a role change (new package logic, new
accepted value), not a variable override.
- Unlike
system_keyboard, there's no localectl-based read here — the
current locale is read straight from /etc/locale.conf.
- If the target locale package isn't installable (bad repo config,
offline host), the
dnf task fails loudly rather than silently leaving
the old locale in place — that's expected, not a role bug to work
around.
