UTF-8

Problem: When using UTF-8 system wide, some programs like XMMS have issues (bad fonts size, etc…).
Solution: Launch such programs with a custom LANG setting set in their .desktop file.
First, enable UTF-8. Run liloconfig and select UTF-8 for the text consoles:

Alternatively, edit /etc/lilo.conf by hand (run lilo -v afterwards):

# Append any additional kernel parameters:
append=" vt.default_utf8=1"

Now, edit /etc/profile.d/lang.sh to use UTF-8, commenting out the default:

# en_US is the Slackware default locale:
#export LANG=en_US

And uncommenting the UTF-8:

# There is also support for UTF-8 locales, but be aware that
# some programs are not yet able to handle UTF-8 and will fail to
# run properly.  In those cases, you can set LANG=C before
# starting them.  Still, I'd avoid UTF unless you actually need it.
export LANG=en_US.UTF-8

Save the file and log your user out and in. To set the custom LANG setting in XMMS, open /usr/share/applications/xmms.desktop and do:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=XMMS
GenericName=Audio Player
Comment=Play music
Comment[hu]=Zene lejátszása
Comment[de]=Musik abspielen
#Exec=xmms %U
Exec=env LANG=en_US xmms %U
Icon=xmms
MimeType=application/x-ogg;audio/mp3;audio/mpeg;audio/mpegurl;audio/prs.sid;audio/x-flac;audio/x-it;audio/x-mod;audio/x-mp3;audio/x-mpeg;audio/x-mpegurl;audio/x-ms-wma;audio/x-musepack;audio/x-s3m;audio/x-scpls;audio/x-stm;audio/x-wav;audio/x-xm;application/ogg;audio/x-vorbis+ogg
Categories=Application;GTK;AudioVideo;Player;
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8

That’s it! The menus in XMMS should look nice again.