Why does xclock start with the error 'Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion'?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

Issue

  • How do we prevent the following error message when we run the command xclock?
Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion
Warning: Unable to load any usable fontset

Resolution

Set the LC_ALL=C variable. As the user run:

$ export LC_ALL=C

To make this setting permanent for user, add it to the .bash_profile of user:
In /home/testUser/.bash_profile

LC_ALL=C
export LC_ALL

Root Cause

  • Improper locale environment variable.

Diagnostic Steps

  • Check the error logs
  • Check the locale settings for the user with:
$ locale

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