Backport #6656: Time#strftime('%Z') should return 'UTC' instead of 'GMT'

• Status: Closed
• Assignee: -

[stomar (Marcus Stollsteimer)]

=begin
Time#strftime('%Z') should return 'UTC' instead of 'GMT',
as in Time#to_s and Time#zone. This is also the behaviour of Ruby 1.9.3.

irb(main):001:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).to_s
=> "Wed Jun 27 00:00:00 UTC 2012"
irb(main):002:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).zone
=> "UTC"
irb(main):003:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).strftime('%Z')
=> "GMT"
=end

[akr (Akira Tanaka)]

2012/6/27 stomar (Marcus Stollsteimer) [e-mail]:

Issue #6656 has been reported by stomar (Marcus Stollsteimer).

Time#strftime('%Z') should return 'UTC' instead of 'GMT',
as in Time#to_s and Time#zone. This is also the behaviour of Ruby 1.9.3.

irb(main):001:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).to_s
=> "Wed Jun 27 00:00:00 UTC 2012"
irb(main):002:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).zone
=> "UTC"
irb(main):003:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).strftime('%Z')
=> "GMT"

Ruby 1.8 uses strftime() in libc.

Ruby 1.9 uses own strftime() which %Z should produce UTC.

% ruby-1.8.7p357 -ve 'p Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).strftime("%Z")'
ruby 1.8.7 (2011-12-28 patchlevel 357) [x86_64-linux]
"GMT"
% ruby-1.9.3p194 -ve 'p Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).strftime("%Z")'
ruby 1.9.3p194 (2012-04-20 revision 35410) [x86_64-linux]
"UTC"

Do you really sure that it returns "GMT" with Ruby 1.9.3?

Tanaka Akira

[stomar (Marcus Stollsteimer)]

Am 28.06.2012 02:29, schrieb Tanaka Akira:

2012/6/27 stomar (Marcus Stollsteimer) [e-mail]:

Issue #6656 has been reported by stomar (Marcus Stollsteimer).

Time#strftime('%Z') should return 'UTC' instead of 'GMT',
as in Time#to_s and Time#zone. This is also the behaviour of Ruby 1.9.3.

irb(main):001:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).to_s
=> "Wed Jun 27 00:00:00 UTC 2012"
irb(main):002:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).zone
=> "UTC"
irb(main):003:0> Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).strftime('%Z')
=> "GMT"

Ruby 1.8 uses strftime() in libc.

Ruby 1.9 uses own strftime() which %Z should produce UTC.

% ruby-1.8.7p357 -ve 'p Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).strftime("%Z")'
ruby 1.8.7 (2011-12-28 patchlevel 357) [x86_64-linux]
"GMT"
% ruby-1.9.3p194 -ve 'p Time.utc(2012, 6, 27).strftime("%Z")'
ruby 1.9.3p194 (2012-04-20 revision 35410) [x86_64-linux]
"UTC"

Do you really sure that it returns "GMT" with Ruby 1.9.3?

Sorry, what I meant is:

The desired behavior would be that "UTC" is used consistently
in all 3 methods, as is already the case in Ruby 1.9.3.

At the moment, strftime('%Z') behaves differently in versions 1.8.7
and 1.9.3 and additionally even behaves in an unexpected and
most inconsistent way within 1.8.7: #strftime('%Z') and #zone
should output the same time zone name.

rdoc for Time#zone (1.8.7):

Returns the name of the time zone used for time.
As of Ruby 1.8, returns “UTC” rather than “GMT” for UTC times.

rdoc for strftime with '%Z' (1.8.7):

%Z - Time zone name

Marcus

--
https://github.com/stomar/

[akr (Akira Tanaka)]

2012/6/28 Marcus Stollsteimer [e-mail]:

The desired behavior would be that "UTC" is used consistently
in all 3 methods, as is already the case in Ruby 1.9.3.

I see. I misunderstood.

However Ruby 1.8's %Z behavior is intended behavior because
Ruby 1.8 uses just a strftime() in libc.

So, this issue is a new feature request.
I guess it is difficult to implement, discuss and accept for Ruby 1.8.7
until the next (and last) Ruby 1.8.7 release.

Tanaka Akira

[stomar (Marcus Stollsteimer)]

Am 28.06.2012 15:08, schrieb Tanaka Akira:

However Ruby 1.8's %Z behavior is intended behavior because
Ruby 1.8 uses just a strftime() in libc.
So, this issue is a new feature request.

I disagree.

A programmer should not have to worry about the implementation of
the method. Furthermore, in the documentation #strftime is not marked
as a mere wrapper for the C library's strftime().

The different behavior of strftime('%Z') and #zone / #to_s
is unexpected and seems even contradictory to the statement
in the #zone documentation, that "UTC" is used since 1.8.

Regards,
Marcus

--
https://github.com/stomar/

[akr (Akira Tanaka)]

2012/6/29 [e-mail]:

A programmer should not have to worry about the implementation of
the method. Furthermore, in the documentation #strftime is not marked
as a mere wrapper for the C library's strftime().

Hm. It may be possible to consider it a documentation bug.

Tanaka Akira

[ayumin (Ayumu AIZAWA)]

• Project changed from Ruby master to Ruby 1.8

[jeremyevans0 (Jeremy Evans)]

• Tracker changed from Bug to Backport
• Project changed from Ruby 1.8 to Backport186
• ruby -v deleted (ruby 1.8.7 (2010-08-16 patchlevel 302) [i686-linux])

[jeremyevans0 (Jeremy Evans)]

• Tracker changed from Backport to Bug
• Project changed from Backport186 to Ruby master
• Status changed from Open to Closed
• Backport set to 2.5: UNKNOWN, 2.6: UNKNOWN

[jeremyevans0 (Jeremy Evans)]

• Tracker changed from Bug to Backport
• Project changed from Ruby master to Backport187
• Backport deleted (2.5: UNKNOWN, 2.6: UNKNOWN)