[Bug 2007611] Re: Undocumented date format (via date_fmt) change from Bionic to Focal, then reverted again from Focal to Jammy

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson]

Thanks for your report.

The definition of date_fmt in the en_US locale and later correction are
described in this commit message:

https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=commit;h=8cde9770

As regards documentation, Ubuntu's changelog does not cover all upstream
changes. If you want to closely follow the upstream glibc changes, this
file is a better starting point:

https://sourceware.org/git/?p=glibc.git;a=blob;f=NEWS

At least you find BZ #24046 mentioned there.

> ... if we can be consistent in the format of that file in those
> versions of the package.

Unfortunately a mistake made it into focal, and was corrected later. But
the focal users can be assumed to have adapted, and it would be worse to
now make that kind of change to a stable release. So it won't happen,
sorry.

** Changed in: glibc (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Opinion

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Foundations Bugs, which is subscribed to glibc in Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2007611

Title:
  Undocumented date format (via date_fmt) change from Bionic to Focal,
  then reverted again from Focal to Jammy

Status in glibc package in Ubuntu:
  Opinion

Bug description:
  It seems like the output of `date` has changed between Bionic, Focal
  and Jammy, resulting from the lack of, inclusion of and subsequent
  removal of the `date_fmt` line in the `/usr/share/i18n/locales/en_US`
  file included in the glibc package.

  Since this change is not reflected in the ChangeLog for those
  respective releases, I'm wondering what the motivator for that change
  was, and if we can be consistent in the format of that file in those
  versions of the package.

  https://changelogs.ubuntu.com/changelogs/pool/main/g/glibc/glibc_2.37-0ubuntu1/changelog

  ubuntu at date-bionic-repro:~$ date
  Thu Feb 16 20:34:21 UTC 2023

  ubuntu at date-focal-repro:~$ date
  Thu 16 Feb 2023 08:34:21 PM UTC

  ubuntu at date-jammy-repro:~$ date
  Thu Feb 16 08:34:21 PM UTC 2023

  In each of these versions, we see:

  Bionic:
  =====================
  $ grep ^date_fmt /usr/share/i18n/locales/en_US; echo $?
  1

  Focal:
  =====================
  $ grep ^date_fmt /usr/share/i18n/locales/en_US; echo $?
  date_fmt "%a %d %b %Y %r %Z"
  0

  Jammy: 
  =====================
  $ grep ^date_fmt /usr/share/i18n/locales/en_US; echo $?
  date_fmt "%a %b %e %r %Z %Y"
  0

  Can we please ensure consistency in the `date_fmt` for these 3
  releases, so it doesn't change 3 different ways when upgrading through
  releases?

To manage notifications about this bug go to:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/glibc/+bug/2007611/+subscriptions