[GNC] GnuCash Language

Thu Sep 10 10:13:37 EDT 2026

Hello Paul, thank you for your comment.

I made a feature request some time ago,
(https://bugs.gnucash.org/show_bug.cgi?id=798412) asking for a language
chooser to be included in GnuCash's preferences. And I did that because all
these 'solutions' require some level of computer knowledge, command line,
deeply buried files, environment variables, etc. I don't believe the regular
accountant or user will go through that trouble.

I could do that, start GC from the command line, loosing the precious double
click on an icon ;). But the situation still exists unexplained. Not really a
bug, but not pretty. I would like to understand it, that's all.

I usually use Linux, no problem there. When in Windows, I usually use
PortableApps, in which GC also works perfectly.

-----
Regards,
Pedro Albuquerque
Join StarLink

Em 10/09/2026 às 14:56, "Paul Kroitor" <paul at kroitor.ca> escreveu:
>Years ago here I had a requirement that the same Gnucash file was available
in both French and English on the same (Windows) system. With the group’s
help, I found that it was fairly straightforward to start Gnucash in a command
shell established to use another language.
>
>There will be posts from me in the archives here about it. I’ll do a search
if it becomes important to you.
>
>
>> On Sep 10, 2026, at 9:09 AM, Pedro Albuquerque via gnucash-user
<gnucash-user at gnucash.org> wrote:
>>
>> Here goes, attached the changed file and an image. Not sure the list
accepts this.
>>
>> 
>> -----
>> Regards,
>> Pedro Albuquerque
>> [Join StarLink](https://starlink.com?referral=RC-DF-11719992-38576-14)
>>
>>> Em 10/09/2026 às 14:01, Murugan Mariappan <m.muruganandam at hotmail.com>
escreveu:
>>>
>>> Hi Pedro,
>>>
>>> I made the changes and saved the file as `environment.local` in the same
directory. After launching GNUCash, I could see that the language had changed
to Portuguese. Please refer the file and screen shot. Not sure why it is not
working for you
>>>
>>> Saludos Cordiales
>>>
>>> Murugan
>>>
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>> From: Pedro Albuquerque <pmra at protonmail.com>
>>> Sent: 10 September 2026 13:44
>>> To: Murugan Mariappan <m.muruganandam at hotmail.com>
>>> Cc: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org <gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org>;
adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net>; John Ralls
<jralls at ceridwen.us>
>>> Subject: Re[2]: [GNC] GnuCash Language
>>>
>>> Thank you Murugan, for the suggestion.
>>>
>>> If I rename the file like that, .local becomes the file extension. Not
sure if that is what you want. Anyway, GC still starts in English.
>>> 
>>> -----
>>> Regards,
>>> Pedro Albuquerque
>>> [Join StarLink](https://starlink.com?referral=RC-DF-11719992-38576-14)
>>>
>>>> Em 10/09/2026 às 12:48, Murugan Mariappan <m.muruganandam at hotmail.com>
escreveu:
>>>>
>>>> Pedro
>>>>
>>>> Can you save the environment file changes to file name environment.local
and restart GNUCash
>>>>
>>>> Saludos Cordiales
>>>>
>>>> Murugan
>>>>
>>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>
>>>> From: gnucash-user
<gnucash-user-bounces+m.muruganandam=hotmail.com at gnucash.org> on behalf of
Pedro Albuquerque via gnucash-user <gnucash-user at gnucash.org>
>>>> Sent: 10 September 2026 05:21
>>>> To: John Ralls <jralls at ceridwen.us>
>>>> Cc: gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org <gnucash-user at lists.gnucash.org>;
adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net>
>>>> Subject: Re: [GNC] GnuCash Language
>>>>
>>>> Hello, and thank you all for the comments.
>>>>
>>>> Tracefile (today 4h 54m) content:
>>>> * 04:53:55 WARN <gnc.backend.dbi> [gnc_module_init_backend_dbi()] No DBD
>>>> drivers found
>>>> * 04:54:04 WARN <gnc.app-utils.gsettings> [transform_settings()] Failed
to
>>>> load preferences transformation file
>>>> 'D:\Programas\Escritório\gnucash/share\gnucash/pref_transformations.xml'
>>>>
>>>> John, obviously, Windows environment variables and GnuCash environment
file
>>>> were modified by me. But there is some kind of issue, yes.
>>>>
>>>> As you can see in the image, command systeminfo shows pt as my locale,
but
>>>> running:
>>>>
>>>> C:\Windows\System32>dism /online /get-intl
>>>>
>>>> Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
>>>> Version: 10.0.26100.5074
>>>>
>>>> Image Version: 10.0.26200.8037
>>>>
>>>> Reporting online international settings.
>>>>
>>>> Default system UI language : pt-PT
>>>> The UI language fallback is : en-US
>>>> System locale : pt-PT
>>>> Default time zone : GMT Standard Time
>>>> Active keyboard(s) : 0816:00000816
>>>> Keyboard layered driver : PC/AT Enhanced Keyboard (101/102-Key)
>>>>
>>>> Installed language(s): pt-PT
>>>> Type : Partially localized language, MUI type.
>>>> Fallback Languages en-US
>>>>
>>>> The operation completed successfully.
>>>>
>>>> Shows some partial fault, I don't know why or what. GnuCash runs fine in
>>>> another laptop with Win10. This one was upgraded to Win11 following this
>>>> procedure:
>>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_p3dBrr_Sg. It uses a Win server
version, pt
>>>> language based. Maybe that is the issue. Funny thing is it only affects
>>>> GnuCash, all other programs recognize pt as default.
>>>>
>>>> -----
>>>> Regards,
>>>> Pedro Albuquerque
>>>> Join StarLink
>>>>
>>>> Em 10/09/2026 às 00:56, "John Ralls" <jralls at ceridwen.us> escreveu:
>>>>> The install-time language dialog box on Windows is just for the
installer’s
>>>> UI. All of the GnuCash and Gtk translations are included in the
>>>> gnucash-xx-setup.exe.
>>>>>
>>>>> From the screenshot it looks like you’re unable to get GnuCash to give
you
>>>> Portuguese no matter what: Setting LANG=pt_PT in the environment file
would
>>>> override the system locale setting.
>>>>>
>>>>> Is there anything in the trace file?
>>>> (https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Tracefile)
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> John Ralls
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sep 9, 2026, at 14:18, Adrien Monteleone
>>>> <adrien.monteleone at lusfiber.net> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Were you not given a choice at install time?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I vaguely recall threads here of some mixed-locale systems having
issues
>>>> though. If that is the case with your setup, it could be why GnuCash
defaulted
>>>> to English. Do a search just on this list and you should find the
solution. I
>>>> also vaguely recall there being a step of editing a locale file to
resolve it.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 9/9/26 05:23, Pedro Albuquerque via gnucash-user wrote:
>>>>>>> Hello,
>>>>>>> I'm looking for ideas on how to convince GnuCash to use the default
system
>>>> language. Can anyone think of something? Because I can't. Thank you in
>>>> advance.
>>>>>>
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>>>>>
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>> <environment_file_folder_2026-09-10_14-04.png>
>> <environment.local>
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