AM/PM string missing in es_DO locale

[Edwin Pujols]

This is basically the same as bug #38892, but for Spanish (Latin American) locales. Can't the AM/PM format be defined for at least all the latin alphabet locales (where I think it makes more sense than not)?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: locales 2.13+git20120306-11
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-15.35-generic 3.13.5
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-15-generic i686
ApportVersion: 2.13.2-0ubuntu5
Architecture: i386
Date: Thu Mar 6 12:17:14 2014
Dependencies:
 gcc-4.9-base 4.9-20140303-0ubuntu2
 libc6 2.19-0ubuntu2
 libgcc1 1:4.9-20140303-0ubuntu2
 multiarch-support 2.19-0ubuntu2
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-01-14 (51 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Alpha i386 (20140113)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: langpack-locales
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

Hi Edwin,

Thanks for your bug report. I'm not sure why you filed it, though, considering bug 593436. As far as I can tell this is a pure duplicate.

Anyway, if this is an issue for Latin American users, it would be good if it could be fixed. If you are ready to help moving it forward, I'd like to ask you to:

1. Specify exactly which locales you are talking about, and

2. For each of those locales, provide some kind of evidence that the am/pm time format is in use in written Spanish. It could be links to e.g. governmental sites or major news sites.

If you do that, I'll help to get it into the Ubuntu archive.

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

I have another question, btw. Can you please give some examples of applications where this matters?

I use the Swedish locale, and if I for example click the clock in the menu bar and go to Time & Date settings, I can effectively select 12-hour time, even if no am/pm is shown (since no such thing exists in written Swedish).

[Edwin Pujols (edwinpm5)]

Notice that my main preoccupation is wrt to the _latin alphabet_ (Spanish, English, Portuguese, ...). In languages/locales with this alphabet, I strongly believe that having the AM/PM format string makes more sense than waiting for a bug report being filed.

1. In this bug report I am speaking about es_do in particular, but my worries lie with latin alphabet locales in general.

2. - Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (in the "Eventos" lower-right tab):
        http://uasd.edu.do/index.php/es/

    - Ministerio de Educación (in the copyright at the bottom and in the "Servicios y Consultas" tab):
        http://www.minerd.gob.do/Pages/inicio.aspx

3. In indicator-datetime, if you don't have the AM/PM string it looks unpolished and inaccurate. This is accentuated when the installation defaults to 12h format.

FWIW, notice that I am not aware of an international attempt to send the 12h format to oblivion. If so, at the very least the installation image should default to 24h format for all (latin alphabet) locales (since, IMO, 12h format without AM/PM doesn't look right or polished).

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson (gunnarhj)]

On 2014-03-07 20:03, Edwin Pujols wrote:
> Notice that my main preoccupation is wrt to the _latin alphabet_
> (Spanish, English, Portuguese, ...). In languages/locales with this
> alphabet, I strongly believe that having the AM/PM format string makes
> more sense than waiting for a bug report being filed.

Well, I disagree that it would make sense to include the AM/PM format in all locales for countries with the latin alphabet. The conventions differ between countries - that's why we have different locales. My own country, Sweden, and Germany are just two examples I know of where AM/PM is not in use at all. So this has to be handled locale by locale.

> 1. In this bug report I am speaking about es_do in particular,

I changed the bug title accordingly.

It should be noted that also bug 1239842 deals with the es_DO locale, but it suggests also other changes but the am/pm thing.

> 2. - Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (in the "Eventos" lower-right tab):
> http://uasd.edu.do/index.php/es/
>
> - Ministerio de Educación (in the copyright at the bottom and in the
> "Servicios y Consultas" tab):
> http://www.minerd.gob.do/Pages/inicio.aspx

Thank you! That's good enough for me.

I cherry picked the am/pm part in bug 1239842 and used it in the attached patch.

[Edwin Pujols (edwinpm5)]

> Thank you! That's good enough for me.

Thank you for your time, Gunnar :-)

I didn't know about the locale specific situation, I thought that 12h + AM/PM was a set.

[Martin Pitt (pitti)]

Sponsored, thanks!

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package langpack-locales - 2.13+git20120306-12

---------------
langpack-locales (2.13+git20120306-12) trusty; urgency=medium

  * debian/patches/ubuntu-es_DO-am_pm.patch:
    Define 12-hours a.m./p.m. format (LP: #1288843).
 -- Gunnar Hjalmarsson <email address hidden> Sun, 09 Mar 2014 01:21:00 +0100