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[Bug localedata/19385] New: Time separator in bg_BG should be colon, not comma


https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=19385

            Bug ID: 19385
           Summary: Time separator in bg_BG should be colon, not comma
           Product: glibc
           Version: 2.21
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: localedata
          Assignee: unassigned at sourceware dot org
          Reporter: dam+gnu at ktnx dot net
                CC: libc-locales at sourceware dot org
  Target Milestone: ---

Created attachment 8856
  --> https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/attachment.cgi?id=8856&action=edit
Trivial patch

Initially reported for the Debian package in <https://bugs.debian.org/808143>.
The Debian maintainer asked to report it here after collecting some proof.

The time format specified in the bg_BG locale is:

 $ locale -k t_fmt t_fmt_ampm date_fmt
 t_fmt="%k,%M,%S"
 t_fmt_ampm="%l,%M,%S"
 date_fmt="%a %b %e %H:%M:%S %Z %Y"

t_fmt[_ampm] should use colons instead of commas, like date_fmt already does.

An example of the badly formatted time can be seen in empathy chat windows when 
using 'Boxes' or 'Planet GNOME' themes.

Trivial patch attached.

Now about the rationale. The only official source is the "Official spelling
dictionary of the Bulgarian language, Prosveta 2012", which states there are
three ways to separate time components: comma, colon and dot. That same
dictionary doesn't say which one is preferred.

So I turned to the mailing list of the translators of free software in
Bulgarian. The consensus is that colon is the only separator that is widely
used in Bulgarian texts and everything else will just be confusing.

The discussion started at
<http://lists.ludost.net/pipermail/dict/2015-December/000538.html>. It is all
in Bulgarian, but I'll summarize opinions below:

 * Alexander Shopov (the author of the current setting): "I always use a colon.
The comma is also used as a decimal sign and may lead to confusion. Is '10,25'
25 minutes after 10 o'clock or 10 hours and 25/100ths?".
 * Mikhail Balabanov: "I also prefer the colon as most unambiguous and I think
most used variant of the officially allowed separators. The dot is also used
for dates and the comma for decimal numbers".
 * Borislav Mitev: "+1 for the colon"
 * Sah War: "The colon is the only right symbol."

My opinion is not there, but in case it is not obvious, I use comma when
translating and writing times, and expect that the locale uses it too.

There were no opinions against the change.

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