Bug->Doc #69481 [Opn]: how php initializes locale is not documented

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=69481&edit=1

 ID:                 69481
 Updated by:         [email protected]
 Reported by:        glen at delfi dot ee
 Summary:            how php initializes locale is not documented
 Status:             Open
-Type:               Bug
+Type:               Documentation Problem
 Package:            *General Issues
 PHP Version:        Irrelevant
 Block user comment: N
 Private report:     N

 New Comment:

> the fact that there even is setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "") done
> unconditionally in php init, […]

This is fortunately no longer the case as of PHP 8.0.0[1].

[1] <https://github.com/php/php-src/commit/c4ad8beaa890b931031a5cf8a1d2d38550fca3af>


Previous Comments:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2015-04-19 08:11:52] glen at delfi dot ee

Description:
------------
seems php initializes ONLY LC_CTYPE from enviroment, leaving default behaviour that declaring LC_ALL value overrides any other category BROKEN:

this seems to be related to some experiment done in 2000 and then reverted:
https://github.com/php/php-src/commit/7e0baa7a1daa531e39881e59842c88d12e42c901

the fact that there even is setlocale(LC_CTYPE, "") done unconditionally in php init, is not documented.

but i think it should be either:
1. no unconditional setlocale() call at all
2. setlocale(LC_ALL, "");
3. setlocale(LC_ALL, "C");

the last one is probably the worst.

Test script:
---------------
compare how system date command behaves and how php behaves:

test1: only LC_ALL env var is set, but php resets LC_CTYPE, meaning LC_CTYPE gets env value, the other categories get reset to C:

$ env -i LC_ALL=et_EE.utf8 php -r 'var_dump(setlocale(LC_ALL, 0)); passthru("set -x;env;date +%A%d.%B"); echo "\nPHP:", strftime("%A, %d. %B"), "\n";'
string(169) "LC_CTYPE=et_EE.utf8;LC_NUMERIC=C;LC_TIME=C;LC_COLLATE=C;LC_MONETARY=C;LC_MESSAGES=C;LC_PAPER=C;LC_NAME=C;LC_ADDRESS=C;LC_TELEPHONE=C;LC_MEASUREMENT=C;LC_IDENTIFICATION=C"
+ env
_=/usr/bin/env
LC_ALL=et_EE.utf8
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin
+ date +%A%d.%B
pühapäev19.aprill

PHP:Sunday, 19. April


test2: if php would do setlocale(LC_ALL, "") instead of setlocale(LC_CTYPE, ""), then result is as expeted, LC_ALL overrides all categories. shell and php behaviour matches:

$ env -i LC_ALL=et_EE.utf8 php -r 'setlocale(LC_ALL, ""); var_dump(setlocale(LC_ALL, 0)); passthru("set -x;env;date +%A%d.%B"); echo "\nPHP:", strftime("%A, %d. %B"), "\n";'
string(10) "et_EE.utf8"
+ env
_=/usr/bin/env
LC_ALL=et_EE.utf8
PATH=/usr/bin:/bin
+ date +%A%d.%B
pühapäev19.aprill

PHP:pühapäev, 19. aprill







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Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=69481&edit=1