Bug#1135004: tzdata: Improve discoverability of Asia/Seoul in Debian installer (wishlist)
Mo Mo <[email protected]> Mon, 27 Apr 2026 05:08:20 +0900
| Newsgroups | gmane.linux.debian.devel.glibc |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <CACFjPwrJ-QgUyGE_SEHwdEo5gm-CXXr+91i5+QeZDDGmTxDWpA__10625.3071500518$1777234286$gmane$org@mail.gmail.com> |
Package: tzdata
Severity: wishlist
Tags: l10n
Dear Maintainers,
First, I want to express my appreciation for the long-standing work on
tzdata and the Debian installer. I understand that timezone data ultimately
follows the IANA tzdb conventions, and that the installer UI reflects those
upstream decisions rather than any intentional editorial choice.
That said, I would like to respectfully raise a usability concern on behalf
of Korean users.
During the Debian installer's Asia timezone selection, "Korea, Republic of"
/ Asia/Seoul is not immediately discoverable, while Asia/Tokyo (Japan)
appears as a clearly prominent option. Since both regions share the UTC+9
offset with no DST, Korean users are practically guided to select
Asia/Tokyo as a workaround.
I fully understand this is likely a byproduct of alphabetical or IANA
canonical ordering, not an intentional decision. However, the practical
effect is that users in South Korea — a country with a historically and
diplomatically complex relationship with Japan — are implicitly asked to
identify their system with a Japanese locale. Even if the technical result
is identical, the experience is uncomfortable and can feel exclusionary.
For additional context: this pattern is not unique to Debian. In the
broader Linux ecosystem, Korean users have noted similar friction — for
example, some distributions' official mirror lists have historically
grouped Korea and Japan under a single regional mirror ("Asia/Japan"),
which compounds the perception that Korean users are an afterthought.
I am not suggesting any fault on the part of the Debian team. I simply hope
this context helps illustrate why visibility parity for Asia/Seoul matters
to Korean users beyond the purely technical level.
Requested improvement:
- Ensure "Korea, Republic of" / Asia/Seoul is presented with the same
prominence as Asia/Tokyo in the installer's region selection UI.
- Consider adding "South Korea" as a user-facing alias to improve
discoverability.
Thank you for your time and for maintaining such a foundational part of the
Linux ecosystem.
Best regards