AFAIK we did not discuss this further. LC_MESSAGES and changing locale functionality for functions like to_date on windows remains broken.
To summarize the problem: 1) On *nix systems, we use lc_messages and lc_locale both for functions (like to to_date and to_char) and other system messages where locale plays any role. Lc_messages and lc_locale are read from the environment variables. Unfortunately on Windows the meaning of these variables is not the same as on *nix systems, resulting locale assignment behave unexpectedly (broken). 2) On both systems we are using gettext library which is responsible to read and translate to the correct locale. Gettext on *nix and Windows (and MAC) also has different implementations for the same functionality. Not to mention we are using a very old version of gettext on Windows. 3) As I was working on the patch to fix this I encountered places where the usage of LC_MESSAGES and LC_LOCALE was not clear, especially for functions where the functionality of Oracle was mimicked. 4) The entire problem came to light when we started to compile PG with MSVC (8.3+). On 8.2 which was compiled using MinGW (I guess we do not support it anymore) the behavior of lc_messages and lc_locale was also broken but not as visible as with MSVC. 5) To give you an example: On *nix, the locale system acts when the value of lc_messages or lc_locale (environment variables) changes. The expected values are like: "en_US". On Windows on the other hand, en_US has no meaning. It becomes something like "English (United States)", which is ignored by gettext. Leaving us with no alternative than translating the "English (United States)" to "en_US" and force it to gettext which does not work all the time because gettext discards the forced value when it reloads itself. 6) As I mentioned before, I stopped developing a patch for this because this problem is somewhat deeper than it appears. Any attempt to fix this problem will also result changing code for both locale aware functions like to_date and to_char as for when to use lc_locale and lc_messages in the codebase. Any thoughts? Regards, Gevik Babakhani ------------------------------------------------ PostgreSQL NL http://www.postgresql.nl TrueSoftware BV http://www.truesoftware.nl ------------------------------------------------ > -----Original Message----- > From: Bruce Momjian [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, December 07, 2008 4:26 AM > To: Gevik Babakhani > Cc: 'Magnus Hagander'; 'Tom Lane'; 'Thomas H.'; > pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org > Subject: Re: [BUGS] BUG #4186: set lc_messages does not work > > Gevik Babakhani wrote: > > My apologies on this late reply. > > The way LC_MESSAGES is handled on windows is much less > efficient and faulty. > > While ago I started with a patch to fix some of the issues I > > encountered on windows and LC_MESSAGES. But I stopped > working on that > > patch because this problem needed to be fixed on many other > places. In > > Windows, handling LC_MESSAGES will not work the same way as *nix > > systems, forcing us to make ugly workarounds. (as I > actually was doing > > with my patch) > > > > To my opinion, unless we think of a coherent solution for handling > > LC_MESSAGES/locale for both *nix and win32 platforms, fixing > > lc_messages and locale issues would break more than fixing it. > > > > BTW: The gettext library we are using on win32 is a very old one. > > This is the most recent posting on the topic, I think. Status? > > -------------------------------------------------------------- > ------------- > > > > > > Regards, > > Gevik. > > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > From: Magnus Hagander [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > Sent: Tuesday, August 05, 2008 4:54 PM > > > To: Bruce Momjian > > > Cc: Tom Lane; Thomas H.; pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org; Gevik > Babakhani > > > Subject: Re: [BUGS] BUG #4186: set lc_messages does not work > > > > > > Bruce Momjian wrote: > > > > Tom Lane wrote: > > > >> Magnus Hagander <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > >>> Thomas H. wrote: > > > >>>> so at least that explains the "changed" behaviour. > > > >>>> nevertheless, LC_MESSAGES seems to be defunct - with > the "locale" > > > folder present, > > > >>>> pg always picks the os' language and ignores the > > > lc_message value. > > > >>> This looks like I can reproduce though, at least on cvs head. > > > >>> Did this work for you in previous versions? > > > >> Maybe we were using a different build of gettext in > the previous > > > >> releases, one that didn't look at the same info as the > > > current code? > > > >> > > > >> Anyway the patch mentioned at the start of the thread > > > >> > http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-02/msg00038.php > > > >> purports to fix this. It doesn't seem to have gotten reviewed > > > >> though. > > > > > > > > Agreed. Magnus, someone, can we get feedback on the patch > > > at this URL? > > > > > > > > > > > http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2008-02/msg00038.php > > > > > > IIRC, there was further work to be done on the patch > before it was > > > to be applied, and we held off the review until then. > > > > > > Gevik - can you comment on this? Where are we, what needs > ot be done > > > still? > > > > > > //Magnus > > > > > -- > Bruce Momjian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://momjian.us > EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com > > + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. + > -- Sent via pgsql-bugs mailing list (pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-bugs
