How to Uninstall 2GB worth of language files

You can use a great little app called monoligual or XSlimmer.

delocalizer or monolingual.

if you use mono, make sure you DO NOT remove any of the architecture files (uncheck them ALL).

KYBOSH said:

When clean installing Leopard you have option to customize your install to include or omit over 2GB worth of language support.

If I installed it but now rather have my 2GB back (since I wont be computing in Russian anytime in the near future) how can I do this?

I really don't want to reinstall Leopard to accomplish this and there should be a way to do this easily.

TIA

Click to expand...

What is 2 Gigs worth of stuff on the average HD today? Hardly a fart really.
If you need 2 Gigs that badly, you probably need a new computer.

The only really annoying thing about the localisation files IMO is the cluttering of the font menu with dozens and dozens of fonts that you will never use and all look similar to the ones you will use. Those are easy to get rid of though. The part of localisation that controls the multi-lingual support on the other hand is hidden deep in the system and never bothers anyone other than using a bit of space.

Be sure to back up everything first...I used monolingual with Leopard and I was doing a clean install the next day when it wouldn't start up. Tread cautiously...

Clone your system to an external HD. Erase and install leopard with the custom options you want. Migration assistant to transfer files and apps from the external HD clone. All better. And you know what, 2GB actually IS a lot of space.

PatrickC said:

Be sure to back up everything first...I used monolingual with Leopard and I was doing a clean install the next day when it wouldn't start up. Tread cautiously...

Click to expand...

I bet you removed the architecture files (architecture tab), didn't you.

i ran delocalizer a few days ago and shed nearly 3 gigs.

Mindflux said:

I bet you removed the architecture files (architecture tab), didn't you.

Click to expand...

Actually no, I made sure that none of those boxes were checked. Something still got screwed up by removing the languages.

I just reinstalled leopard... lets you get rid of a few gigs of printer drivers, too.

Don't Use Monolingual

I know this is an old thread, but I just used Monolingual last night and had to do a clean install. It is NOT a safe application. I did not heed the above warnings. Don't make the same mistake I did.

I double and triple checked my settings and selected only to keep English. Started Chrome before the process was complete only to find English had been removed.

cshuman said:

I know this is an old thread, but I just used Monolingual last night and had to do a clean install. It is NOT a safe application. I did not heed the above warnings. Don't make the same mistake I did.

I double and triple checked my settings and selected only to keep English. Started Chrome before the process was complete only to find English had been removed.

Click to expand...

Monolingual is safe to use IF you pay attention to what you're doing, as you should with any such app. You should also make a current backup before attempting to use any such app. You should check the items you want to remove, not the ones you want to keep.

Freeing up drive space in Mac OS X

Removing Architecture files

So let me get this right - people are finding that it isn't even safe to remove PowerPC files if they are on Intel??

suelay said:

So let me get this right - people are finding that it isn't even safe to remove PowerPC files if they are on Intel??

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Yes, it is safe. Just pay attention to what you're removing.

Disk storage is cheap. Hacking (in the butchery sense) your files up just to squeeze a couple of gigs more free space is not worth the inevitable aggravation.

Am I ever going to use those Chinese resource files on my computer? No.
Does it matter if they stay there? No.
Might it matter if they are removed? Yes.

With Code-signing of apps, invasive alteration to package contents may cause an app to stop working.

benwiggy said:

Disk storage is cheap. Hacking (in the butchery sense) your files up just to squeeze a couple of gigs more free space is not worth the inevitable aggravation.

Am I ever going to use those Chinese resource files on my computer? No.
Does it matter if they stay there? No.
Might it matter if they are removed? Yes.

With Code-signing of apps, invasive alteration to package contents may cause an app to stop working.

Click to expand...

It is important for those who want to maximize their internal storage space to avoid having to carry an external drive, especially those with MBA or MBPr models. It's not a problem at all if unused architectures are removed. As far as languages, there have been a few instances where an app didn't perform as expected if a certain non-English language was removed, but such cases are extremely rare and none involved removing the Chinese language. If you run a backup before using Monolingual (as you should before performing any such operation), it's perfectly safe.