[Bug 1858883] [NEW] date utility format unexpectedly changed after upgrade from bionic to focal

[Mike Pontillo]

Public bug reported:

After upgrading my Bionic system to Focal, I noticed a significant
change in the output of the `date` utility. This could potentially cause
regressions for those who are relying on a consistent date format when
using `date` in shell scripts.

EXPECTED BEHAVIOR
=================

I expected to see the same date format that can be seen on Ubuntu
releases (at least) from Trusty through Bionic:

$ date -u
Wed Jan  8 21:00:14 UTC 2020

ACTUAL BEHAVIOR
===============

On Focal (and Eoan) the following date format is seen by default:

$ date -u
Wed 08 Jan 2020 09:00:14 PM UTC

Note the differences in zero-padding, whitespace, placement of the year,
and the extraneous "PM" (I had expected to see a 24-hour time).

FURTHER DETAILS
===============

This machine was originally on Bionic and has been upgraded to
development releases between Bionic and Focal.

$ locale
LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

** Affects: coreutils (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Attachment added: "ubuntu-bug.txt"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1858883/+attachment/5318665/+files/ubuntu-bug.txt

** Description changed:

  After upgrading my Bionic system to Focal, I noticed a significant
  change in the output of the `date` utility. This could potentially cause
  regressions for those who are relying on a consistent date format when
  using `date` in shell scripts.
  
- 
  EXPECTED BEHAVIOR
  =================
  
- The date format seen below can be seen on Ubuntu releases from Trusty
- through Bionic:
+ I expected to see the same date format that can be seen on Ubuntu
+ releases (at least) from Trusty through Bionic:
  
  $ date -u
  Wed Jan  8 21:00:14 UTC 2020
- 
  
  ACTUAL BEHAVIOR
  ===============
  
  On Focal (and Eoan) the following date format is seen by default:
  
  $ date -u
  Wed 08 Jan 2020 09:00:14 PM UTC
  
  Note the differences in zero-padding, whitespace, placement of the year,
  and the extraneous "PM" (I had expected to see a 24-hour time).
- 
  
  FURTHER DETAILS
  ===============
  
  This machine was originally on Bionic and has been upgraded to
  development releases between Bionic and Focal.
  
  $ locale
  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
  LANGUAGE=
  LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_ALL=

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1858883

Title:
  date utility format unexpectedly changed after upgrade from bionic to
  focal

Status in coreutils package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  After upgrading my Bionic system to Focal, I noticed a significant
  change in the output of the `date` utility. This could potentially
  cause regressions for those who are relying on a consistent date
  format when using `date` in shell scripts.

  EXPECTED BEHAVIOR
  =================

  I expected to see the same date format that can be seen on Ubuntu
  releases (at least) from Trusty through Bionic:

  $ date -u
  Wed Jan  8 21:00:14 UTC 2020

  ACTUAL BEHAVIOR
  ===============

  On Focal (and Eoan) the following date format is seen by default:

  $ date -u
  Wed 08 Jan 2020 09:00:14 PM UTC

  Note the differences in zero-padding, whitespace, placement of the
  year, and the extraneous "PM" (I had expected to see a 24-hour time).

  FURTHER DETAILS
  ===============

  This machine was originally on Bionic and has been upgraded to
  development releases between Bionic and Focal.

  $ locale
  LANG=en_US.UTF-8
  LANGUAGE=
  LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_TIME="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_MONETARY="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_PAPER="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_TELEPHONE="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
  LC_ALL=

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