Language

obd-diag speaks English and German: user interface, command line, PDF report, CSV and the trouble code texts from the catalog.

Which language applies

  • User interface: menu Options → Sprache / Language, then Deutsch or English. The menu name is bilingual so that it can be found in either language. The choice is stored per user (~/.config/obd-diag/obd-diag.conf) and applies immediately to all menus, tabs and messages. Trouble code texts from the catalog switch at the next scan.

  • Command line: --lang en or --lang de, before or after the subcommand (obd-diag --lang en scan or obd-diag scan --lang en). It applies to all output, the help texts and the trouble code texts.

  • Default: the system language as for other programs (LANGUAGE, LC_ALL, LC_MESSAGES, LANG). German if the system language is German, otherwise English.

obd-diag --lang en diagnose --port /dev/ttyUSB0 --pdf report.pdf
LANG=de_DE.UTF-8 obd-diag scan --port /dev/ttyUSB0     # German, from the system language

What changes with the language

English

German

Texts and trouble code catalog

English

German

Numbers in the user interface and the PDF

12.4 V

12,4 V

CSV (export and live recording)

, separator, decimal point

; separator, decimal comma

Date in the PDF report

2026-10-07, 14:32

07.10.2026, 14:32 Uhr

Saved sessions are language-neutral except for the trouble code texts, which keep the language of the scan (Sessions, report and trace). Traces, log messages and the developer documentation in the code (docstrings, comments) stay German.

Translations

The texts in the code are German; the English translations are in src/obd_diag/locale/en.po. How to add new texts is described in Contributing and rules.