Re: Unhelpful error message

["Ronald F. Guilmette" <rfg tristatelogic com>]

In message <E0A53782-0596-4B60-A5DF-9F1F8884FA3A ceridwen fremont ca us>, you w
rote:

> On Oct 5, 2013, at 4:00 PM, Steve White <stevan white gmail com> wrote:
>
> > Hi John,
> >
> > We're clueless about the nature of the problem partly because the
> > warning message is opaque.
> >
> > Ronald's question was how and to whom to report.  You mention Gtk devs...
> >
> > We are both suggesting, a better message might reduce our
> > cluelessness, and the cluelessnes of many other users.
>
> This is a Gtk list, and the warning is from Gtk, so I mentioned Gtk devs
> since that's who can add a better warning message. Some of us monitor this
> list, but more can be reached by filing a bug.
>
> Would you find phrasing like the following less opaque?
>
> "The locale you have set in your environment isn't supported by your operating
> system. Please consult the appropriate operating system documentation to eith
> er change the locale to one that is supported or to install the one you have s
> et. 
> In the meantime, the program will run in the 'C' locale, which almost always 
> means US English."

A bit verbose, I think.

The current message alleges that _something_ specific is "not supported"
as I recall.

Unfortunately, it fails to name that particular something with any helpful
specificity.