<i18n dev> [9] RFR: 8075173: DateFormat in german locale returns wrong value for month march

[Masayoshi Okutsu]

Hello Jacob,

Thank you for your input. We plan to switch the default source of 
locale-dependent resources from the legacy JDK data to CLDR in JDK 9. 
So, it's likely we will follow CLDR blindly. :-)

Thanks,
Masayoshi

On 3/25/2015 1:37 AM, Jacob Wisor wrote:
> Am 24.03.2015 um 17:12 schrieb Jacob Wisor:
>> Am 24.03.2015 um 10:29 schrieb Masayoshi Okutsu:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Please review the fix for 8075173. There's an inconsistent month 
>>> abbreviation
>>> between the traditional JDK resources and CLDR-derived ones. We 
>>> decided to take
>>> the CLDR one, Mär.
>>
>> After looking into the CLDR and comparing with some existing 
>> operating systems I
>> am unsure whether the CLDR is actually correct, so that the 
>> abbreviated form
>> should probably be Mrz indeed.
>>
>> Regardless of what some operating systems are printing, it just looks 
>> strange to
>> me that the CLDR abbreviated form of März is Mär. Usually, ÄÖÜ (the 
>> umlauts) are
>> dropped first when building abbreviated forms because they are an 
>> abbreviation
>> themselves already and they should also be avoided in abbreviations 
>> in general.
>> Ä is short for AE, Ö for OE, and Ü for UE. The German judiciary 
>> system and the
>> military are probably the heaviest users of abbreviations and the German
>> language. And, while doing so they typically avoid having any umlauts 
>> or ß
>> (U+00DF small letter sharp S) in any abbreviations.
>>
>> As always, I may be wrong and the DIN 5008 norm does sufficiently 
>> specify
>> abbreviated month names. However, I do not have access to the full 
>> DIN 5008 text
>> to verify because it is behind a pay wall. It is also very likely 
>> that the
>> German administration (the bureaucracy) has evolved some "proper" 
>> form of
>> abbreviation for months because it is full of abbreviations. However, 
>> a DIN or
>> any German administrative regulation would apply to the de_DE locale 
>> only. I do
>> not know how to deal with the default de locale and the other de_XX 
>> locales in
>> this case.
>>
>> But, if Java is to follow the CLDR blindly then this discussions is 
>> obsolete, I
>> guess. ;-)
>
> Hmm, according to http://www.din-5008-richtlinien.de/datum.php "Mär." 
> should be actually correct. So, the CLDR seems to be correct but 
> missing the dot suffix. But then, the CLDR may have a policy on 
> suffixes to abbreviations and this patch looks to be okay then.
>
> Regards,
> Jacob