$ cat /dev/brain > /dev/blog

Monolingual (OS X): List of problematic applications

I use Monolingual from time to time to reconquer some of the hard disk space on my MacBook Pro (sorry, some parts of that post are in German). The tool has been quite helpful: hey, it gave me 2 more gigabytes for … spreadsheets! Note that using Monolingual is kind of messing around with Mac OS X system files — do it at your own risk. It may brake your system, shave your cat or crumble on your keyboard. You’ve been warned.

Nevertheless, some Mac applications really don’t like their languages to be stripped from the .app package! Keep in mind that you should never ever remove the English language (en) from applications as it may be used as a language default.

I couldn’t find a list with applications having trouble with Monolingual, therefore I try to compile one here. Feel free to post additions in the comments section below.

List of Mac OS X applications known to have some trouble after Monolingual was used:

• Almost all Adobe products (Acrobat, Creative Suite) for OS X. Acrobat needs to repair PDF browser preview and PDF printer. Repair process hangs. Updates don’t work anymore.
• Skype (version < 2.6). Crashes during start-up. Version 2.7.0.195 beta seems to work without any problems, though.
• Cyberduck. Crashes when trying to establish a SSH/SFTP connection. Needs to be re-installed.
  
• Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird. Automatic (incremental) updates fail.
• Viscosity OpenVPN client. Crashes during connection, ask for the key password and fails to set it.
  

Remove additional languages from OS X applications

I just found out, that in the File Info Box (select an application and press Apple + I) you can actually delete languages from the application file (I can’t do that to iCal.app you see on the screenshot because I’m logged in without administrative rights).

I’ve not recognized that before — did Apple introduce that function with the 10.4.9 updates? Anyone running an older 10.4 version who could verify that?

Of course this function does not make such nice applications like Monolingual obsolete, but i’s really nice if you just want to remove additional languages from one of your applications and not from the whole system (a.k.a. all applications).

As I’ve had problems with Monolingual before (see this post), you want to make sure you do have a (working!) backup. Don’t remove the English language from an application (just in case; you may try but I wouldn’t). Be careful. As always, your mileage may vary. Your fridge might explode or your cat might put dead mice in front of your bed. You know what I mean.