Tcl Source Code

Running the following script in Tcl 8.6 and Tcl 9 gives different results, Tcl 8.6 seems correct behavior.

package require msgcat
namespace eval ::tcl::clock {
    ::msgcat::mcset fr_xx DATE_FORMAT "%e|%B|%Y"
}
puts [package require Tcl]
puts [clock format 0 -format %x -locale fr]
puts [clock format 0 -format %x -locale fr_xx]

Output from Tcl 8.6:

8.6.16
 1 janvier 1970
 1|janvier|1970 <- Note pipe separator

Output from 9.0.1:

9.0.1
 1 janvier 1970
 1 janvier 1970 <- fr_xx format seemingly ignored

If the line for the fr locale is commented, Tcl 9 correctly prints the fr_xx format.

Good catch, Ashok!

The reason for that is that new clock-engine caching the msgcat dictionary internally in merged catalog (from parent to child locale), but more important here is that "%x" is so called "localized" format (since it expanding in ::tcl::clock::LocalizeFormat) and its result becomes also cached in merged catalog with keys FMT_* (here by FMT_%x), but (because it is not overwritten), the value remains as the value from parent catalog (after merge in ::tcl::clock::mcMerge).

The fix is simple, so I'll fix it now (and cover by a test).