de_DE has been using the wrong group separator for over 18 years

Carlos O'Donell carlos@redhat.com
Tue Apr 17 20:53:00 GMT 2018


On 04/17/2018 01:40 PM, kdex wrote:
> I have noticed that the locale `de_DE` has erroneously been using a full stop 
> (U+002E) for the thousands (group) separator in `mon_thousands_sep` and 
> `thousands_sep` ever since 2000. The usage of a full stop to group thousands 
> has (to my knowledge) has never been standardized.
> 
> As per DIN 1333, DIN 5008, and DIN EN ISO 80000, the separator should have 
> been a thin space (U+2009).
> 
> In fact, DIN 1333 even explicitly forbids the usage of U+002E to group 
> thousands, and DIN EN ISO 80000 explicitly excludes all other characters than 
> a thin space.
> 
> Has anyone noticed this before? I fear that this change might break a lot of 
> code that relies on the separator being wrong. Yet, this really should be 
> fixed…
> 
> What's the best way to deal with this?

Gather consensus among the senior developers who speak German and might have
some context here. 

You can do that by posting to libc-alpha@sourceware.org and asking for input.

-- 
Cheers,
Carlos.



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