Set console font automatically when selecting language

archinstall/lib/args.py

@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ def from_config(cls, args_config: dict[str, Any], args: Arguments) -> Self:
 
 		if archinstall_lang := args_config.get('archinstall-language', None):
 			arch_config.archinstall_language = translation_handler.get_language_by_name(archinstall_lang)
+			translation_handler.activate(arch_config.archinstall_language)
 
 		if disk_config := args_config.get('disk_config', {}):
 			enc_password = args_config.get('encryption_password', '')

archinstall/lib/general/general_menu.py

@@ -106,9 +106,9 @@ async def select_archinstall_language(languages: list[Language], preset: Languag
 	group = MenuItemGroup(items, sort_items=True)
 	group.set_focus_by_value(preset)
 
-	title = 'NOTE: If a language can not displayed properly, a proper font must be set manually in the console.\n'
-	title += 'All available fonts can be found in "/usr/share/kbd/consolefonts"\n'
-	title += 'e.g. setfont LatGrkCyr-8x16 (to display latin/greek/cyrillic characters)\n'
+	title = 'NOTE: Console font will be set automatically for supported languages.\n'
+	title += 'For other languages, fonts can be found in "/usr/share/kbd/consolefonts"\n'
+	title += 'and set manually with: setfont <fontname>\n'
 
 	result = await Selection[Language](
 		header=title,

archinstall/lib/translationhandler.py

@@ -6,6 +6,10 @@
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import override
 
+from archinstall.lib.command import SysCommand
+from archinstall.lib.exceptions import SysCallError
+from archinstall.lib.output import debug
+
 
 @dataclass
 class Language:
@@ -14,6 +18,7 @@ class Language:
 	translation: gettext.NullTranslations
 	translation_percent: int
 	translated_lang: str | None
+	console_font: str | None = None
 
 	@property
 	def display_name(self) -> str:
@@ -31,6 +36,52 @@ def json(self) -> str:
 		return self.name_en
 
 
+_DEFAULT_FONT = 'default8x16'
+_ENV_FONT = os.environ.get('FONT')
+_FONT_BACKUP = Path('/tmp/archinstall_font_backup')
+_CMAP_BACKUP = Path('/tmp/archinstall_cmap_backup')
+
+
+def _set_console_font(font_name: str | None) -> None:
+	"""
+	Set the console font via setfont.
+	Falls back to default8x16 if font_name is None or setfont fails.
+	"""
+	target = font_name or _DEFAULT_FONT
+
+	try:
+		SysCommand(f'setfont {target}')
+	except SysCallError as err:
+		debug(f'Failed to set console font {target}: {err}')
+		if target != _DEFAULT_FONT:
+			try:
+				SysCommand(f'setfont {_DEFAULT_FONT}')
+			except SysCallError as fallback_err:
+				debug(f'Failed to set default console font: {fallback_err}')
+
+
+def _save_console_font() -> None:
+	"""Save the current console font (with unicode map) and console map to backup files."""
+	try:
+		SysCommand(f'setfont -O {_FONT_BACKUP} -om {_CMAP_BACKUP}')
+	except SysCallError as err:
+		debug(f'Failed to save console font: {err}')
+
+
+def _restore_console_font() -> None:
+	"""Restore console font (with unicode map) and console map from backup, falling back to default8x16."""
+	if _FONT_BACKUP.exists():
+		args = str(_FONT_BACKUP)
+		if _CMAP_BACKUP.exists():
+			args += f' -m {_CMAP_BACKUP}'
+		_set_console_font(args)
+	else:
+		_set_console_font(None)
+
+	_FONT_BACKUP.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+	_CMAP_BACKUP.unlink(missing_ok=True)
+
+
 class TranslationHandler:
 	def __init__(self) -> None:
 		self._base_pot = 'base.pot'
@@ -57,6 +108,7 @@ def _get_translations(self) -> list[Language]:
 			abbr = mapping_entry['abbr']
 			lang = mapping_entry['lang']
 			translated_lang = mapping_entry.get('translated_lang', None)
+			console_font = mapping_entry.get('console_font', None)
 
 			try:
 				# get a translation for a specific language
@@ -71,7 +123,7 @@ def _get_translations(self) -> list[Language]:
 					# prevent cases where the .pot file is out of date and the percentage is above 100
 					percent = min(100, percent)
 
-				language = Language(abbr, lang, translation, percent, translated_lang)
+				language = Language(abbr, lang, translation, percent, translated_lang, console_font)
 				languages.append(language)
 			except FileNotFoundError as err:
 				raise FileNotFoundError(f"Could not locate language file for '{lang}': {err}")
@@ -134,6 +186,8 @@ def activate(self, language: Language) -> None:
 		# The install() call has the side effect of assigning GNUTranslations.gettext to builtins._
 		language.translation.install()
 
+		_set_console_font(_ENV_FONT if _ENV_FONT else language.console_font)
+
 	def _get_locales_dir(self) -> Path:
 		"""
 		Get the locales directory path

archinstall/locales/languages.json

@@ -169,7 +169,7 @@
  {"abbr": "tr", "lang": "Turkish", "translated_lang" :  "Türkçe"},
  {"abbr": "tw", "lang": "Twi"},
  {"abbr": "ug", "lang": "Uighur"},
- {"abbr": "uk", "lang": "Ukrainian"},
+ {"abbr": "uk", "lang": "Ukrainian", "console_font": "UniCyr_8x16"},
  {"abbr": "ur", "lang": "Urdu", "translated_lang": "اردو"},
  {"abbr": "uz", "lang": "Uzbek", "translated_lang": "O'zbek"},
  {"abbr": "ve", "lang": "Venda"},

archinstall/main.py

@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
 from archinstall.lib.output import debug, error, info, warn
 from archinstall.lib.packages.util import check_version_upgrade
 from archinstall.lib.pacman.pacman import Pacman
-from archinstall.lib.translationhandler import tr
+from archinstall.lib.translationhandler import _ENV_FONT, _restore_console_font, _save_console_font, _set_console_font, tr
 from archinstall.lib.utils.util import running_from_iso
 from archinstall.tui.ui.components import tui
 
@@ -79,6 +79,11 @@ def run() -> int:
 	OR straight as a module: python -m archinstall
 	In any case we will be attempting to load the provided script to be run from the scripts/ folder
 	"""
+	_save_console_font()
+
+	if _ENV_FONT:
+		_set_console_font(_ENV_FONT)
+
 	arch_config_handler = ArchConfigHandler()
 
 	if '--help' in sys.argv or '-h' in sys.argv:
@@ -159,6 +164,8 @@ def main() -> int:
 			_error_message(exc)
 			rc = 1
 
+		_restore_console_font()
+
 	return rc