Arch Linux

susanna_95

Member

Registered: 2019-11-14

Posts: 2

Thunderbird: Date/time format

Hi everyone,

I'm having trouble with the format displayed dates and times in Thunderbird.

According to this help site, Thunderbird respects the LC_TIME environment variable. But even though LC_TIME=en_DK.utf8, dates and times are still displayed in en_US style.

The output of "locale" (no arguments) is:

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_CTYPE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8
LC_COLLATE="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_MESSAGES="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_NAME="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US.UTF-8"
LC_ALL=

Inspecting the environment of my thunderbird process reveals the correct values.

LANG=en_US.UTF-8
LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.UTF-8
LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8

As far as I can see, everything should be in working order. Am I missing something?

8472

Member

From: Slovakia

Registered: 2010-05-15

Posts: 89

Re: Thunderbird: Date/time format

Try the LANG=en_GB.UTF-8 for an european date/time format.
"LANG=en_GB.UTF-8" must be enabled in /etc/locale.gen and rebuilded with 'locale-gen' command.

---

Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.

Lone_Wolf

Administrator

From: Netherlands, Europe

Registered: 2005-10-04

Posts: 15,396

Re: Thunderbird: Date/time format

That trick is no longer needed for me.

Go to Edit > Preferences > Advanced > General
Under Date & Time Formatting you should have 2 choices :
application locale
regional settings locale

I have LC_TIME set to nl_NL.UTF-8    and the regional settings locale does show that choice.

---

Disliking systemd intensely, but not satisfied with alternatives so focusing on taming systemd.

clean chroot building not flexible enough ?
Try clean chroot manager by graysky

susanna_95

Member

Registered: 2019-11-14

Posts: 2

Re: Thunderbird: Date/time format

@8472:
Unfortunately, that didn't change anything for me, even though the environment of Thunderbird now correctly has LANG=en_GB.UTF-8.

@Lone_Wolf:
That setting appears to be set correctly. Thunderbird even picks up on the different locales involved, displaying the options for Application locale: English (United States) and Regional settings locale: English (Denmark).

Maybe support for ISO 8601 has been dropped silently, defaulting to US layout?

8472

Member

From: Slovakia

Registered: 2010-05-15

Posts: 89

Re: Thunderbird: Date/time format

Well, the LC_TIME apparently is a buggy one, see: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Th … _respected
However, I have in my system the following, and it works for me:
LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8
You can try also the LANGUAGE.

---

Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.