-# use full locales setup only in classes GRML_FULL and LOCALES
-if ifclass GRML_FULL || ifclass LOCALES ; then
- echo 'Using /etc/locale.gen.grml for locales generation'
- cp $target/etc/locale.gen.grml $target/etc/locale.gen
+# set up /etc/locale.gen, only GRML_FULL and LOCALES have
+# the full setup, GRMLBASE installs a minimal configuration
+fcopy /etc/locale.gen
+
+# get rid of locales unless using class LOCALES
+set +u
+if ! ifclass LOCALES ; then
+set -u
+ echo 'Removing /usr/share/locale'
+
+ # get rid of the original
+ rm -rf $target/usr/share/locale
+
+ # restore *empty* directories because otherwise installation/upgrade of packages might fail
+ [ -d "$target"/usr/share/locale ] || mkdir "$target"/usr/share/locale
+ $ROOTCMD ln -s /etc/locale.alias /usr/share/locale/locale.alias
+
+ # make sure the directories of removed locales exist; ugly hack but no other solution present :(
+ echo 'Creating empty /usr/share/locale/*/LC_MESSAGES directories'
+ for f in $($ROOTCMD dpkg -S LC_MESSAGES | awk '{print $2}' | grep '/usr/share/locale/' | sed 's#LC_MESSAGES.*##' | sort -u) ; do
+ if ! [ -d "$target/$f"/LC_MESSAGES ] ; then
+ $ROOTCMD mkdir -p "$f"/LC_MESSAGES
+ fi
+ done
+fi
+
+# make sure:
+# localepurge localepurge/nopurge multiselect ....
+# is set so localepurge works as expected
+if [ -x $target/usr/sbin/localepurge ] ; then
+ $ROOTCMD dpkg-reconfigure -f noninteractive localepurge
+fi
+
+if ! [ -x $target/usr/sbin/locale-gen ] ; then
+ echo 'Warning: locale-gen [package locales] not installed'