docker-library / docker-library/postgres

no usable system locales were found - Alpine postgres

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Description

Getting this error during postgres startup,

sh: locale: not found
2025-01-30 10:33:25.556 UTC [36] WARNING:  no usable system locales were found

I dont see any issues beacuse of this. Databases are created with en-US ICU locale,

Image

Need to understand if there is anything needs to be configure to avoid this error. Also are there any impact because of this error?

Currently I'm using, postgres:16.6-alpine3.20

I tried setting this environment variable, still it is not resolved,

POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS: --locale-provider=icu --icu-locale=en-US

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reproducing the warning with postgres:16.6-alpine3.20 and the shown POSTGRES_INITDB_ARGS setting. Compare startup behavior and determine whether the missing locale utility affects the created databases; document the required configuration or confirm that no action is needed.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
docker, postgres
Domain
databases
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
30/100

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